There's an article in this issue on how mean the British food reviewers can be. Here are a couple of quotes from reviews of very fine British restaurants:
...was the most disgusting thing I've put in my mouth since I ate earthworms at school.
...I didn't put a single thing in my mouth twice, it all went back.
...stupid, ill thought-out, just plain nasty. I may not be able to to call it the worst cooking in Britain, but that's only because I haven't eaten in every restaurant.
I hope the British reviewers have lightened up a bit since 2005.
Aside from the stew Dave and I made last week (which was delicious,) I can't imagine preparing any of the recipes. At this point in my life they're just too complicated to prepare and to eat. But so much fun to read about.
For instance, on page 38, there's a recipe for Zhong Shui Jiao (Zhong Crescent Dumplings.) There are 13 ingredients. But the second ingredient is fu zhi you (sweet aromatic soy sauce). So we have to go to page 83 to figure out how to make this ingredient. The 10th ingredient is shaoxing jiu (Chinese rice wine.) We must travel to page 87 to discover where to purchase this wine.
On page 67 we find a recipe for Torta di Pane (Bread Cake.) The first of about 16 ingredients for this 9" cake is....18 cups of cubed crusty Italian country bread.
Let's just think a minute about what that would do to my wheat belly!
