Meta tags:

Headings (most frequently used words):

saturday, 2009, august, 21, 2010, january, new, wednesday, july, february, 07, 10, monday, 05, friday, 22, 2008, about, me, questions, comments, farewell, what, learnt, at, school, today, love, food, hate, waste, leiths, series, year, beginning, murano, the, first, review,

Text of the page (most frequently used words):
the (196), and (103), with (41), was (36), for (33), but (26), this (25), you (25), were (23), which (23), there (20), share (19), have (19), that (18), new (17), not (16), restaurant (15), had (15), all (14), are (14), one (13), they (13), from (13), well (12), like (12), some (12), food (12), course (11), who (11), what (11), #leiths (11), just (10), our (10), when (10), could (10), really (10), more (10), first (9), time (9), work (9), been (9), will (9), cocoa (9), than (8), also (8), lamb (8), very (8), little (8), only (8), many (8), today (8), butter (8), email (7), fahara (7), about (7), posted (7), menu (7), too (7), served (7), being (7), into (7), their (7), out (7), full (7), something (7), last (7), your (7), ramsey (7), make (7), school (7), can (7), pinterest (6), facebook (6), blogthis (6), before (6), chef (6), much (6), dish (6), few (6), see (6), staff (6), week (6), don (6), way (6), fish (6), labels (5), murano (5), know (5), best (5), looking (5), made (5), come (5), through (5), sauce (5), chocolate (5), enough (5), even (5), fact (5), working (5), although (5), never (5), here (5), get (5), would (5), think (5), students (5), sole (5), comments (4), home (4), any (4), flavour (4), delicious (4), tomatoes (4), roasted (4), after (4), once (4), big (4), quite (4), people (4), eye (4), top (4), both (4), kitchens (4), angela (4), off (4), going (4), experience (4), other (4), long (4), whole (4), without (4), expect (4), eat (4), getting (4), lot (4), such (4), feel (4), hope (4), cooking (4), making (4), started (4), cook (4), room (4), most (4), recipe (4), has (4), healthy (4), souperior (4), review (3), comment (3), beautifully (3), 100 (3), waiters (3), over (3), wait (3), tender (3), though (3), every (3), second (3), next (3), small (3), raw (3), why (3), excellent (3), meat (3), veal (3), three (3), down (3), taste (3), lovely (3), past (3), rather (3), evening (3), beginning (3), table (3), then (3), everything (3), already (3), may (3), almost (3), due (3), kitchen (3), service (3), back (3), post (3), meal (3), gordon (3), his (3), she (3), extremely (3), side (3), still (3), amongst (3), restaurants (3), days (3), learning (3), under (3), expected (3), part (3), always (3), day (3), life (3), did (3), love (3), taken (3), proper (3), skills (3), away (3), fortunately (3), them (3), space (3), certainly (3), give (3), plenty (3), things (3), how (3), actually (3), order (3), prep (3), use (3), bones (3), wonderful (3), used (3), waste (3), freezer (3), year (3), 2009 (3), pace (3), whilst (3), recipes (3), attention (3), hate (3), classic (3), hard (3), saturday (3), theme (2), view (2), fried (2), risotto (2), crisp (2), free (2), incredibly (2), right (2), substantial (2), tasting (2), foie (2), mind (2), breads (2), basil (2), thin (2), yes (2), ham (2), ever (2), sharp (2), sweet (2), particular (2), fan (2), truffles (2), usually (2), came (2), san (2), marzano (2), found (2), does (2), public (2), blog (2), supermarket (2), seems (2), eating (2), salad (2), vinaigrette (2), simply (2), properly (2), main (2), rack (2), cream (2), savoury (2), rich (2), delicately (2), cooked (2), young (2), cheese (2), white (2), dessert (2), strawberries (2), sorbet (2), glass (2), ice (2), plate (2), juice (2), strawberry (2), house (2), sorbets (2), selection (2), flavours (2), tastebuds (2), black (2), those (2), mentioned (2), olive (2), asked (2), range (2), salt (2), beautiful (2), chocolates (2), round (2), five (2), necessary (2), atmosphere (2), mark (2), hartnett (2), heart (2), knows (2), seen (2), described (2), group (2), lit (2), lights (2), charming (2), female (2), surprise (2), better (2), nice (2), several (2), team (2), dance (2), said (2), given (2), including (2), chefs (2), age (2), high (2), end (2), london (2), serving (2), choose (2), lunch (2), ingredients (2), august (2), since (2), writing (2), however (2), worked (2), professional (2), previously (2), university (2), these (2), want (2), etc (2), soft (2), thoroughly (2), ways (2), lack (2), future (2), term (2), months (2), ahead (2), between (2), great (2), good (2), stoves (2), sure (2), tell (2), involved (2), class (2), odd (2), less (2), key (2), find (2), pay (2), daily (2), help (2), basic (2), stuff (2), let (2), onion (2), learnt (2), giant (2), sweating (2), using (2), hobs (2), hefty (2), bone (2), teacher (2), thing (2), herb (2), take (2), anything (2), goes (2), charity (2), stew (2), following (2), monday (2), january (2), stock (2), far (2), trying (2), interesting (2), wondering (2), earth (2), dems (2), watching (2), mirror (2), tuesday (2), brought (2), should (2), masterchef (2), world (2), wouldn (2), perhaps (2), throw (2), bring (2), lots (2), fat (2), point (2), either (2), money (2), leftovers (2), february (2), because (2), cheeses (2), habits (2), planning (2), amount (2), site (2), budget (2), com (2), solids (2), bar (2), mass (2), 2010 (2), simple, powered, blogger, questions, complete, profile, appetisers, deep, mushroom, balls, spot, grease, probably, caliber, subtle, seasoned, piquing, appetite, attacking, grilled, gras, took, loooong, arrive, sent, apologise, didn, handsome, basket, fresh, tomato, foccacia, ciabatta, paper, board, outrageously, pata, negra, spanish, italian, wasn, quibbling, tastier, parma, finally, arrived, worth, caramelised, outside, meltingly, within, sour, fungi, rice, followed, generous, spoonfuls, covered, wafer, shavings, truffle, dissolved, each, mouthful, waft, savouriness, nonetheless, eaten, mountain, decidedly, obscene, oven, ones, cans, globules, mozzarella, derived, chosen, picture, look, rude, trust, distinctly, reminiscent, certain, item, men, anatomy, smile, anyway, renowned, pretty, shoddy, edibles, own, canning, process, ubiquitous, shelves, similarly, juicy, developed, tongue, ulcer, couple, initially, unimpressed, green, beans, apple, cider, tasted, primarily, squeak, bean, polished, teeth, forkfuls, turned, matter, having, tossed, mixed, superb, palate, cleanser, hunks, follow, choice, fillet, welsh, two, won, hands, seared, juicily, pink, parmesan, accompanied, packed, umami, wickedly, boot, dollop, unidentifiable, sludgy, brown, smokey, completely, overpowered, delicate, sheep, nearly, midnight, obliged, skip, optional, miffed, trolley, sitting, calling, its, pervasive, aromas, run, vanilla, parfait, custard, peaches, supposed, compensation, offered, rein, size, allowing, sample, balsamic, jelly, marscarpone, brittle, chunks, meringue, spectacularly, dry, middle, hot, grappa, poured, create, amazing, volcano, clouds, wafting, across, eruption, created, mingled, prior, interlude, icecreams, tiny, scoops, winner, astonishing, explosion, herbaceous, jolted, volts, outstanding, mango, cherry, absolutely, bursting, concentrated, fruit, addition, blood, orange, pear, banana, feeling, country, mile, creams, creamy, unctuous, stomachs, groaning, bill, presented, lemony, tiramisu, topped, espresso, strength, coffee, granita, accompany, tuile, biscuits, ranging, nuts, beetroot, homemade, liqueur, quick, tour, chat, astonishingly, relaxed, rounded, perfectly, tweaks, left, automatically, flushing, toilets, commented, habit, times, sat, minor, adjustments, declare, favourite, venue, definitely, jewel, crown, soon, burrata, campana, hoped, bit, quicker, published, opened, mayfair, night, unfortunately, hour, finishing, 1am, fell, mightiest, late, managed, drag, head, pillow, morn, everyone, surely, protege, refer, dismiss, venture, everywhere, throughout, vulgar, punter, place, pealed, laughter, pointing, currently, tropical, holiday, bless, him, terms, itself, different, rest, venues, twelve, seater, tables, least, arrival, told, maître, problem, lamps, claridges, petrus, maze, familiar, faces, manager, jose, garcia, recognise, recent, stint, obviously, relative, newbies, hiccups, tend, characterise, early, waiting, together, waited, hiccup, four, descending, raise, cloches, raised, mental, eyebrows, splitting, hairs, fail, enthusiastic, fun, spirited, put, average, unusual, wealthiest, district, standards, nit, picking, fabulous, hint, italiana, compared, hardly, clearly, gunning, michelin, star, pasta, forno, pizza, margarita, menus, carte, vegetarian, set, mean, easily, bored, possible, tire, obvious, fondness, bitter, accompaniments, sweeter, crop, successfully, word, friday, 2008, practice, regular, posts, explore, exciting, career, scale, bistro, brasserie, degree, front, open, experiences, confirmed, hours, backbreaking, pain, 12hour, shifts, feet, step, closer, passion, profession, prestigious, diploma, competent, formal, disciplines, training, springboard, fellows, skipped, designed, turn, haven, picked, wooden, spoon, snow, bunny, chalet, girls, now, start, orientation, opportunity, teachers, check, beginners, approved, jump, scary, reentering, education, while, contemporaries, vast, wont, college, born, nerves, worst, butterflies, tummy, clutching, bag, tighter, barrier, playground, bullies, starting, conversations, thrown, number, literally, cheek, jowl, near, premium, means, information, absorb, managing, director, principal, spoke, felt, throats, strain, surprises, periods, feeding, strangers, weeks, theory, exams, require, memorise, egg, yolks, 150ml, mayonnaise, identify, criteria, browning, suddenly, began, wonder, evenings, weekends, job, damn, homework, 5pm, schedule, muddle, prepping, assumed, mostly, admin, assess, veg, slice, dice, carrots, julienne, brunoise, baton, chiffonades, herbs, industrial, onions, easy, eight, trimmed, satisfying, procedure, removing, chine, skinning, joint, scraping, rib, vigorous, manner, filled, screech, unlike, fingernails, blackboard, pronounced, hear, manages, balance, serious, professionalism, friendly, approachability, yet, meet, isn, tomorrow, quiche, lorraine, crusted, cutlets, local, homeless, none, wasted, fantastic, enrichen, bolognese, beef, include, adds, prescribed, style, tweaking, wine, truly, goodness, opening, sheer, relentless, brutal, faced, pro, teaching, sinking, running, mad, march, hare, stages, done, fighting, ovens, half, dozen, eager, competitive, looks, drop, outs, disgruntling, others, thought, leisurely, beginner, september, return, pressure, increase, sizes, double, works, got, speed, seem, walk, park, reading, happened, sudden, introductory, article, lecture, demonstrations, techniques, doing, ourselves, later, challenge, span, fascinating, action, via, width, angled, ceiling, allows, birds, perspective, demonstration, vat, flat, carcasses, simmering, fleshy, skeletons, shots, alien, laboratory, jars, subject, widely, known, reasons, wanted, taught, cajoled, forced, capacity, conceed, option, private, john, torode, insist, wannabees, themselves, winges, along, makes, soup, real, sometimes, normal, circumstances, inoffensive, fishy, problems, apart, gag, reflex, pick, blasted, forward, pet, piscine, salmon, seasonings, secret, teach, cookery, old, french, modern, care, emphasis, joys, causing, concern, self, conscious, moderating, intake, fashionable, cause, dem, consists, pan, fillets, molten, lemon, fashionista, fry, predictably, answer, entirely, largest, ingredient, accept, fats, drizzled, 10floz, oil, meuniere, face, huggers, series, poor, student, again, saving, dear, fellow, bin, theirs, collection, suitable, fiancee, dinner, nights, separate, ploughing, christmas, family, compulsively, single, someone, father, cheeseboard, doesn, need, myself, say, discovered, medium, freeze, slowly, final, chunk, dolcelatte, sprit, economy, hugging, recycling, chic, draw, online, campaign, promote, asking, nation, positively, loving, wasting, shopping, list, keeping, portions, creative, reduce, save, applaud, encourage, visit, hopefully, treat, austerity, control, dishes, wandering, shops, buying, produce, contents, cupboards, fridge, pictured, example, mmmmm, duck, gyoza, leftover, lovefoodhatewaste, fuss, bang, until, frankly, macho, idiot, hasn, sake, interestingly, significant, percentage, hiding, revealing, aren, rub, skin, where, ratio, anyone, surreptitious, lick, arm, smeared, bodyshop, body, lie, smell, tastes, nowt, explains, posh, proudly, boasting, content, insipid, choccie, wednesday, july, announcements, faretheewell, blogspot, moved, redesign, refocus, particularly, attached, worry, republished, lost, priority, www, wordpress, farewell,

Text of the page (random words):
of techniques and recipes we ll be doing ourselves later on is a challenge too my attention span is not what it once was the dems are fascinating though and watching a lot of the action via a giant room width angled ceiling mirror is very interesting as it allows us a birds eye view of what s going on it does give some odd perspective though at a demonstration on stock making on tuesday there was a vat of flat fish carcasses simmering away and looking at them through the mirror the fleshy skeletons brought to mind the shots from alien with face huggers in laboratory jars on the subject of fish it s widely known that i m not a big fan and in fact one of the many reasons i wanted to do this course was so i could be taught cajoled forced into learning to work with fish in a professional capacity even if my tastebuds never conceed to it as a menu option in my private life it s all very well for john torode to insist to the masterchef wannabees that they should never cook something they don t like to eat themselves it s one of his key winges in fact along with what makes you think soup is good enough for masterchef but for those of us in the real world we sometimes have to do things which we wouldn t choose to do under normal circumstances fortunately we ve started with sole which is about as inoffensive and un fishy a fish as one could hope to get so i ve had no problems there apart from the gag reflex when i have to pick one of the blasted things up whole but i m not looking forward to getting to my pet hate of the piscine world salmon perhaps i ll just throw in the seasonings and hope for the best it s no secret that leiths teach classic cookery of the old school i e french and although they work hard to bring a modern feel to lots of the recipes and pay due care and attention to healthy eating there is a hefty emphasis on the joys of butter cream and salt this seems to be causing some concern amongst some of the more self conscious female students and whilst i m all for moderating one s fat intake and the like i feel the fashionable healthy cause could be taken too far watching a dem on the classic sole meuniere a dish which consists of pan fried fillets of sole served with a sauce of molten butter and lemon juice one fashionista asked the chef if you could use something other than butter to fry the fish in order to be more healthy predictably enough the answer was well you could but there wouldn t be much point given the sauce is almost entirely butter with a classic recipe in which the second largest ingredient is butter and there are only 5 ingredients there really is no point trying to make it more healthy either eat it and accept the fats involved or don t right or perhaps a sole drizzled in 10floz of olive oil would be better posted by fahara at 5 33 pm 1 comment email this blogthis share to x share to facebook share to pinterest labels fish leiths sole stock monday january 05 2009 new year new beginning my my my such a long time since i last posted i feel quite out of practice writing today is the first day of my new life however and i hope to mark it with regular blog posts as i explore an exciting new career in of course food i ve worked in professional kitchens on a small scale previously back at school i did my work experience in a lovely little bistro brasserie and as part of my university degree i worked both front and back of house at the open to the public restaurant there both these experiences confirmed to me that as much as i love cooking i ll never want to work full time as a restaurant chef the hours the backbreaking pain of 12hour shifts on your feet etc etc not for a soft one like me today however i have taken a step closer to making my food writing passion a profession and started the prestigious diploma at leiths school of food wine in london although a thoroughly competent cook in many ways i lack the formal disciplines of proper chef training and leiths is an excellent springboard to the future like many of my fellows who started today i ve skipped the first term designed to turn people who haven t so much as picked up a wooden spoon into snow bunny chalet girls in 3 months and now start a week of orientation which could also be described as an opportunity for the teachers to check you really do have all the beginners skills you said you had when you were approved to jump ahead it s big and scary reentering education when you ve been away from it for a long while although the age range of my contemporaries is so vast there are several who wont have been at university college since i was born and i had proper first day of school nerves so i can t have had it worst even with butterflies in the tummy and clutching my bag rather tighter than necessary as it it was the only barrier between me and playground bullies or some such i ve never been great at starting conversations when thrown into a room full of people i don t know but fortunately the course is full of people who are and by the end of the day i d started to get to know a substantial number of them which is good as we ll be working quite literally cheek to jowl for the next 6 months space near the stoves is at a premium a new course always means a lot of information to absorb and there was certainly no lack of it for us today the managing director and also the principal spoke to us for so long i felt sure their throats would give way under the strain and there were certainly plenty of surprises in what they had to tell us like the 3 periods of work experience involved not mentioned previously or the group work which could see me feeding the whole class 50 odd with 3 almost strangers for a team in less than 2 weeks or the fact that our theory exams require us to memorise such things as how many egg yolks make 150ml mayonnaise or identify the 5 key criteria in browning meat i suddenly began to wonder when i was going to find the time in evenings and weekends to do a part time job to pay for the damn course what with all this homework on top of a 9 5pm daily schedule actually at the school fortunately for me leiths is full of the most excellent staff who i m sure will help me muddle through we were in the kitchens prepping after lunch a great surprise to many who like i had assumed today would be mostly admin this week is plenty of the more basic stuff in order to let the staff assess our skills so we did basic veg prep onion slice dice the proper way carrots three ways julienne brunoise and baton and chiffonades of herbs we learnt to use the giant industrial stoves by sweating onions not as easy as one would think there were eight of us using hobs side by side with only enough space really for 5 at a time and trimmed a rack of lamb a very satisfying procedure including removing the hefty chine bone skinning the joint and scraping the rib bones in such a vigorous manner the room filled with a screech not unlike fingernails on a blackboard my lamb bones were pronounced beautiful by our teacher b always nice to hear she manages a wonderful balance between serious professionalism and friendly approachability but then i have yet to meet a teacher at leiths who isn t like that which is wonderful tomorrow we are in the kitchens first thing and i expect to come home with some really lovely food we are making quiche lorraine and herb crusted lamb cutlets the herb prep and onion sweating today will be used here we get to eat take home everything we cook and prep and anything we don t want or use goes to a local homeless charity so none of the students waste is actually wasted which i think is fantastic i have a freezer full of all the lamb bones from today which will enrichen many a stew and bolognese to come i ve found if you make a stew sauce with beef but include a raw lamb bone from the beginning of cooking it adds a wonderful rich flavour it s a whole new way for me cooking to a prescribed style following a recipe without tweaking it learning new skills i can t wait to see how it goes posted by fahara at 7 56 pm 2 comments email this blogthis share to x share to facebook share to pinterest labels leiths friday august 22 2008 murano the first review i had hoped to be a bit quicker off the mark and make this post the first review published of angela hartnett s new restaurant murano which opened in the heart of mayfair last night unfortunately a 3 hour 12 course meal finishing well past 1am will fell even the mightiest of us and so it was a little late before i managed to drag my head off the pillow this morn angela hartnett is as everyone surely knows protege to gordon ramsey but to refer to this as a ramsey restaurant is to dismiss the fact that murano is very much angela s venture not his she was everywhere to be seen in the restaurant and kitchen throughout the evening and when some vulgar punter described the restaurant as gordon ramsey s new place she pealed with laughter before pointing out that gordon was currently on a tropical holiday bless him in terms of the restaurant itself it is incredibly different to the rest of the ramsey group s venues being both extremely small just twelve 4 seater tables a chef s table and also extremely well lit or at least it was when the lights were working on our arrival we were told by the charming female maître d that there was a little problem with the lights which came as a surprise to us as even with only the little side lamps on the restaurant was still better lit than claridges petrus or maze it was nice to see a few familiar faces amongst the staff not just the restaurant manager jose garcia who many will recognise from his recent stint on the f word but several of the waiters have come from the other ramsey restaurants so although there were obviously relative newbies amongst the team there were very few of the hiccups in service which tend to characterise the early days of a new restaurant when the staff are still learning to dance their waiting dance together that said i ve never waited so long to be given a menu and the little hiccup with four waiters descending on us to raise just 3 cloches raised a few mental eyebrows but i m splitting hairs here as really the staff were what made the whole experience they were without fail charming enthusiastic and fun spirited they were also all including the chefs young i d put the average age of the staff at something under 30 very unusual in the high end restaurants of london s wealthiest district as for the food well high standards are to be expected here so expect some nit picking on my part but really the meal was fabulous there is only a hint more of italiana to the menu compared to any of the other ramsey restaurants but then you hardly expect a restaurant clearly gunning for a michelin star to be serving pasta al forno and pizza margarita do you a selection of menus to choose from tasting a la carte vegetarian and a set lunch menu mean you could easily eat here five days a week without getting bored although it s possible you d tire of the chef s obvious fondness for serving extremely bitter accompaniments with sweeter main ingredients they crop up a lot not always successfully appetisers of deep fried mushroom risotto balls were spot on beautifully crisp and 100 free of grease which is probably a first for me in a restaurant of any caliber the flavour was incredibly subtle but well seasoned just right for piquing the appetite before attacking the substantial tasting menu our first course of grilled foie gras took a loooong time to arrive one of the waiters was sent over by the chef to apologise for the wait but we didn t mind too much as we were served with a handsome basket of fresh breads tomato basil foccacia ciabatta and paper thin crisp breads with a board of outrageously tender and delicious pata negra yes i know spanish ham in an italian restaurant i wasn t quibbling though it was tastier than the best ever parma ham when the foie finally arrived it was worth every second of the wait being beautifully caramelised on the outside meltingly tender within and served with sharp and delicious sweet and sour tomatoes our second fungi rice dish followed a few generous spoonfuls of risotto covered in wafer thin shavings of truffle which dissolved into each mouthful with a waft of savouriness not a particular fan of truffles usually i nonetheless could have eaten a mountain of this next came a decidedly obscene looking dish of oven roasted san marzano tomatoes the ones usually found in cans served with small globules of the mozzarella derived burrata campana i ve chosen a picture that does not look too rude this is a public blog after all but trust me the tomatoes were distinctly reminiscent of a certain item of men s anatomy well it made us smile anyway san marzano tomatoes are renowned for being pretty shoddy as raw edibles but they really come into their own in the canning process which is why they are so ubiquitous on supermarket shelves they work similarly well once roasted so it seems and were juicy and delicious but also so sharp i developed a tongue ulcer after eating a couple i was initially unimpressed by our salad of green beans apple with cider vinaigrette as it tasted primarily of the squeak of a raw bean on polished teeth but after a few forkfuls this turned out to be simply a matter of the salad not having been tossed properly with the vinaigrette properly mixed through the dish was superb and an excellent palate cleanser before the big hunks of meat to follow for the main course there was a choice of roasted fillet of veal or rack of welsh lamb there being three of us we had two veal and one lamb and the veal won hands down being beautifully seared but juicily pink and tender the parmesan cream which accompanied it was quite simply the best sauce i ve ever had with meat packed full of the savoury taste umami and wickedly rich to boot the lamb was delicately cooked and lovely too but it was served with a dollop of something unidentifiable sludgy brown and smokey in flavour which completely overpowered the delicate taste of the young sheep being by this time very nearly the last people in the restaurant and it being well past midnight we were obliged to skip the optional cheese course which i was rather miffed about as the cheese trolley had been sitting next to us all evening and had been calling to me with its pervasive aromas they had also run out of the vanilla parfait with chocolate custard and roasted white peaches which was supposed to be our dessert but as compensation we were offered free rein on the full size dessert menu allowing me to sample a dish i d had my eye on from the beginning strawberries served with white balsamic jelly marscarpone sorbet and little brittle chunks of meringue spectacularly enough this was served with a glass of dry ice in the middle of the plate hot grappa was poured on top to create an amazing volcano of clouds wafting across the table and the eruption created the sauce which then mingled wi...