Mandolia

@chessiegal The article remains a "work in progress" (there was no specific deadline, more a case of let-us-have-it-when-you-feel-like-it so all very relaxed!). It's been absolutely fascinating uncovering the back story to dishes one has heard of and wondered why they're called after whoever. Fettucine Alfredo is worth a article of its own. Re Jamie Oliver, I think he's best described as a tale of two Jamies: Jamie the TV chef (with cookery books in tandem with his shows) and Jamie the restauranteur, each operating independently of the other. He is infinitely more successful at the former. His cookery shows are - on the whole - really good and he produces food that one a) wants to eat and b) can make without having a nervous breakdown over attempting complicated techniques, etc. And the travelogue progs he's done have also been good - he did a series in the States which explored different cultures' food and how old traditions are maintained and - hopefully - passed on. With the restaurants, from what I've read he overextended hugely - perhaps not so much him as his team at the top who either advised him badly or made some bad business decisions (JO does not pretend to be a businessman). When he started Jamie's Italian (I think that's what it was called) it was good, just one restaurant...then more opened and it became a run-of-the-mill chain. Expensive, too, and pretty poor reviews on the food. I think there were 3 different brands, inc where you dined, and they went belly-up, owing huge amounts to suppliers, in wages, to HMRC (like your IRS). He still has food outlets of some sort - or maybe they're franchised? - at Gatwick airport, and I think Jamie's Italian remains franchised all over the world and therefore wasn't part of the business going kaput in the UK. Jamie the TV chef has earned a fortune and he did inject some of that money into the restaurant side but too little, too late. It didn't go down well in the press when it was announced that he'd bought a huge great place in the country for £7 million at more or less at the same time as administrators were called in and staff were laid off. Not a great PR triumph.

I honestly think my time on this thread is done. Snark about PW is fine but I'm uncomfortable reading comments about someone who is engaged to one of Ree's daughters and (frankly, weird) speculation about his motives. Which has led to a whole new chain of thought which has zero to do with PW. I know: I can just scroll on past posts which are of no interest. Maybe I'll come back at some point and enjoy some epic snarkiness about PW's burgeoning commercial empire (and possibly the odd new show...when they happen!).

It always strikes me as being ultra manipulative, not to mention a questionable ploy, but marketing is all about creating a revenue stream.

Anchovy in its "visible" form - salad Nicoise. as an example - makes me squirm in horror! And I once went to a rather pretentious (therefore expensive) "gastropub" (not sure what the equivalent would be in the States, if there is one!) and ordered Cassar salad and the plate arrived with an OCEAN of anchovy fillets swimming within the romaine lettuce, croutons, etc. I sent it back, commenting that Caesar salad does not have anchovy fillets on and the chef was extremely rude and more or less said I knew nothing and his was the correct recipe. I stood my ground, much to my companions' embarrassment! On the other hand, I'm absolutely fine with anchovy paste or whole anchovies mashed up. You don't really know it's there, just adds a certain je ne sais quoi with not a hint of fishiness. Excellent addition to all sorts of things.

Thank you so much for the replies to my rather off-the-wall question! chessiegal, Caesar Salad is on my list! I saw the rather theatrical way it was presented at the table during a Rick Stein show - think it was called The Road to Mexio...really interesting combo of travelog and food, him recreating a road trip he did from San Francisco to Puerto Vallarta in his 20s. One of his stopping points was Tijuana and the restaurant where Casesar Salad originated and they keep to the original recipe. It's "evolved" from the original and you meet it, so speak, in the most surprising places and it bears very little resemblance to the original. And a big debate on whether anchovy should or shouldn't form a part of the dressing. (Thoroughly recommend any of Rick Stein's shows - think they're shown in the States?)

Super odd! If I'm making a slightly "currified" chicken salad (basically Coronation Chicken, which is a staple for buffet lunch parties in the UK during the summer) I put a tablespoon of apricot jam (failing that, thin cut orange marmalade) into a microwaveable bowl with some curry paste, zap it for a few seconds to make it runny, then add it to the mayo mixture. Proportions of sweet to curry/spice/seasoning is really down to personal taste.

Thank you so much!

Hello friends over the Atlantic! A quick question, if anybody has a moment to answer. I'm putting together a little piece for a weeny local mag (probably read by 3 men and a dog, but it's quite fun to cobble together a few paragraphs from time to time) with a vague theme of "food named after people" and the history behind the dishes..Peach Melba, Oysters Rockerfeller, Beef Wellington, Fettucine Alfredo (this history behind this is fascinating!), etc, etc. Anyway: a question about Cobb Salad, which isn't something we have in the UK. What I can't work out, despite there being MILLIONS (thousands, perhaps) of references to it if you do an internet search, is whether it's something that's served on a big platter for people to dig into or is it served on individual plates? I know where Cobb Salad originated and the original components in the 1920s/30s. But would love to know how it's served as a restaurant dish (or, indeed, at home) nowadays. Many thanks!

I had a look at the "new improved" website, now under the umbrella of the Hearst organisation with its content written by others. PW now is well and truly branded (never has a word been more appropriate!): clever Mrs Drummond.

The more I watch PW, the more apparent it becomes that she doesn't so much create recipes as throw together ingredients.

Today, which is remarkably up-to-date in terms of Food Network UK scheduling as it usually takes ages for anything "new" to appear over here), we start PW's Staying Home (think that's what it's called) series. I can't honestly say that I'm clock-watching in a countdown to 5.30 p.m.! But at least it's something different...even if the recipes are the same-old-same-old concoctions and/or variations on a theme.

If you use your imagination just a smidge, this lockdown photo of Sarah, Duchess of York bears a rather startling resemblance to the Pawhuska Princess

I have an idea that the production time do fly in (from the West Coast?) and spend time at the ranch filming episodes in series "chunks". I remember something being mentioned during the period of filming immediately after Nan's death - which made for extremely uncomfortable viewing and was, to my mind, horribly/unnecessarily intrusive.

I've not been watching much tv since January (not quite true: I've been watching stuff on my iPad but I can't get Food Network on it without subscribing and I am NOT doing that!), but I did turned on "proper" television yesterday a.m., wondering what Ree-ness was on offer. Needless to say, it was a reeeeee-peat of a reeeee-peat, the show where she was doing another test run of dishes to be served at the Merc, this time to be sampled by My Best Friend Hyacinth & Co. The first time I saw it (and subsequently), I didn't take in exactly how she made her version x 2 of chicken salad. I was astounded to realise that she adds sugar to both "recipes", brown sug in the herby chick salad and ordinary white sug in the curried chick salad. And in the curried chick salad, curry powder is used. I had a slight fit of horror about this, particularly with the curried chick salad! To get a bit of sweetness, I wouldn't dream of adding sugar. In any event, curried chick salad is a very British thing (more or less everyone has their own version of Coronation Chicken with shortcuts applied to the original, circa 1953 to celebrate the Queen's coronation - it's a ridiculously lengthy performance to create that version, hence the shortcuts which have developed over time). Ree adding curry powder is all well and good (I add it to mayo if I'm doing tuna mayo salad/filling for a baked potato just for me) but using it in a dish to serve on a wider scale is most odd, ditto sugar. It just seems all wrong! If you don't cook out the curry powder in any quantity - or, indeed, curry paste - it can be extremely "acrid" and really rather unpleasant: zero subtlety to it (granted, PW doesn't do subtlety or embrace the concept of "layers of flavour"). The addition of sugar seems potentially horribly grainy, not to mention the wrong sort of sweetness. Perhaps I'm being rather possessive about something which features over here at practically every summer lunch party one goes to! The way I make it is putting curry powder OR curry paste into a microwavable dish along with a few spoons of apricot jam, and then zapping it in the m'wave so that the components of the curry powder/paste release and the jam/preserve "melts". Then stir the mixture into mayo (Helmans or similar, not homemade which has too much character of its own!) before mixing in the cold, cubed chick. Sometimes I ring the changes and also add some chopped celery and a few grapes (water chestnuts are good, too...the Crunch Factor). Quantity of curry powder/paste and apricot is a bit trial and error, depending on personal taste and also how many one is preparing the dish for. I had forgotten just how strange PW's concoctions can be!

Goodness knows why I watched it but another riveting (not) reeee-peat of PW making and delivering "goodies" to various lucky souls. This episode included something to do with marshmallows dipped into melted chocolate and then, yes, embellished with sprinkles etc...marshallows on a skewer, shoved arranged decoratively into a block of tinfoil-covered florists foam. As usual, the delivery process saw Ree pitching up at the recipient's front door and handing over the treasure without putting a toe over the threshold which always seems most unnatural (who can forget the "Happy Good Friday" greeting to the Minister and his wife when delivering hot cross buns?!!). Particularly odd/unnatural in this instance as Ree drove to Bartlesville to deliver a plate of coconut cookies to her step-mother. A doorstep hug for the camera, gushing gratitude from her step-mother and away Ree drove. Sooooo contrived.

If it's a private party for the legions of Drummonds and their friends, I don't think serving of alcohol would be an issue? i.e. not open to the public/no money passing hands.

Yep, you've nailed another of my pet irritations. It seems more or less everything is an all-time favourite. And another irritation: when she's making one of her legendary (in her eyes, anyway) salads of many components - in fact, just about anything which involves a mixing bowl - always, without fail, there's a Ree giggle and little aside to camera of "maybe I should have used a bigger bowl?". I don't know why I find it so irritating but it REALLY narks me!

I've never seen crystal light - just standard diet Coke/caffeine-free. But maybe it's something that one can get at really big supermarkets in more metropolitan areas. To be honest, if the food as shown on her shows is how she and her family really eat all the time, I'm surprised they're not the size of a small country!

Another method which a friend swears by and I sometimes use - except I always seem to have a battle when using plastic wrap! In mug or teacup, place a piece of plastic wrap inside so that it covers the entire inside of the mug and there's an overlap the top. Crack the egg into the plastic wrap (trying not to break the yolk!!) Pull the excess plastic wrap together and tie it into a knot, creating an "egg parcel" (the excess creates a sort of handle for conveying to the pan). Make the parcel as air-free as possible. Gently place the "parcel" into a saucepan of boiling water for 4-6 minutes depending on how set you like your eggs. Remove from the pan with a slotted spoon. Cut the top off the "parcel" and gently slide the egg out onto a plate/a piece of toast/English muffin/whatever. Et voila, as they say in France, a perfect poached egg without the performance of swirling whirlpools - sorry, whirlwinds in Ree-speak - and escaped stringy white bits.

Actually, I don't begrudge her the wine (in moderation, of course!) as against gallons of so-called diet drinks...I always think that wine (in moderation!!) is better for you than diet coke (I say this as someone who drinks a LOT of diet coke - caffeine free, in a nod to being vaguely healthy!). Way more calorific are the weird-and-not-remotely-wonderful cocktails she sometimes throws together which look and sound revolting.

I am no Edward Lear when it comes to "limericks" but here goes... There once was a girl called Ree Who was desperate to be on tv She was granted her wish By creating a dish Involving brisket, sprinkles and brie It needs to be read aloud to get the full effect of the, cough, rhyme,

Any time you're in Blighty, Lura, you are more than welcome to not just stroll by but of course come in: advance warning, please...so that I can don a marquee-sized floaty top and fix my face/hair to appropriate PW level of well turned out!

I sometimes do little choux "buns" (one mouthful - not nearly big enough for a PW offering which would be the size of small house, requiring a knife and fork) with a savoury filling...maybe chicken liver pate or a shrimp/spicy mayo mixture or - if I'm feeling extravagant - smoked salmon & crème fraiche flavoured with a bit of horseradish. Rather good for a drinks/cocktail party.

Lura - the conductor's baton waving of a fork or spoon post-mouthful manoeuvre is one of my Major Irritations! It SO affected.

In the UK we don't really "do" Christmas cookies but Food Network UK always shows hours of the US Xmas cookie shows and Xmas cake baking/decorating competitions at this time of year. Which I watch with eye-wide fascination. They're not necessarily recent shows, but I have glimpsed Ree in her judging role. Why or why is she chosen to be a judge? She's not a great cookie baker in terms of doing anything new and different, and her decorating skills are laughable. But the contestants seem to go weak at the knees when she's introduced as part of the judging panel. Beyond odd. The comments she makes are borderline infantile and really don't add anything to the overall critique. I'd much prefer to be judged by someone who is a genuine expert rather than by a manufactured "name".