Cake Flavourings

I love baking and have accumulated several essences and extracts that I just couldn't live without.
My favourite and most used is vanilla extract, this transforms a plain sponge just by adding a teaspoonful to a basic cake mixture.
Vanilla paste purchased from www.vanillaworks.co.uk is a gourmet grade made with real vanilla seeds. This is perfect to use in custard, icecream etc.
How about using almond extract in a simple sponge fruit cake topped with toasted flaked almonds.
Lemon extract is wonderful, it helps lift lemon cake by giving an extra hit of lemon, or use it sparingly in lemon icing.
Orange flower water is wonderful in a syllabub, cream or just simply add to cake mixture.
One of my new discoveries is coconut essence, which can be purchased from www.jane-asher.co.uk and was first introduced to me through reading Nigella Lawson's cookery books. In How to be a Domestic Goddess it is used in coconut macaroons and there are a couple of recipes in Feast where she also uses this. This essence is also wonderful in any baking where you use coconut.
It is important to buy good quality extracts and to use them sparingly.

LANCASHIRE HOT POT

There are numerous recipes for Lancashire hot pot and the only thing they have in common are the main ingredients of lamb, onions and potatoes. In some recipes kidneys, black pudding and even oysters are used.
In the photograph you can see I have used lamb chops and this is the way I prefer to eat mine.
Brian Turner in his book Favourite British Recipes uses lamb chump chops and Mark Hix in his book British uses lamb neck fillet.
I haven't called this dish Traditional Lancashire Hot Pot for the very reason I do not come from that part of the world and even in Lancashire I am sure everyone has their own particular way of making this wonderful dish.
This recipe is very simple and requires good quality ingredients. I use lamb from my local Q Guild butcher, organic carrots and herbs from my garden. For the stock I buy a Beef concentrated bouillon.


LE CORDON BLEU - HOME COLLECTION CASSEROLES

ISBN 1853917303 - PAGE 35

SERVES: 4 people

Skill Level: Easy

Taste Test: The lamb is meltingly tender and the stock is very flavoursome.

1. Preheat the oven to 180°C(350°F/Gas 4). Melt 20g butter in a frying pan and over a high heat, quickly fry 1kg middle neck of lamb chops until lightly browned. Remove from the pan.

2. Slice 900g peeled potatoes into 2mm thick discs and cover the base of a casserole dish with about a third of the slices, season lightly. Place the lamb on the potato, scatter with 2 large onions which have been finely sliced, 2 carrots sliced into 2mm thick discs, ½ teaspoon of fresh thyme and a bay leaf, season lightly with salt and pepper. Put the remaining potato slices on top. Pour 500ml of brown stock to come up to just under the top layer of potato, by pouring the stock down one side of the dish, so that the top layer doesn't get wet. Brush with 60g melted butter and season. Place a few sprigs of thyme on top. Cover and cook for 1½ hours.

3. Remove the lid, then add more stock if required. Return to the oven for about 45 minutes, uncovered, until the potato top is browned. Serve hot with a green vegetable.

Kitchen Equipment Used: Le Creuset Casserole Dish

Jon Anderson: El Camino de los Negros

Batey Smoker - Image Copyright © Jon Anderson
A superb photographer and photojournalist, a talented writer, a blogger of incisive intellect, a captivating storyteller, a graphic artist, a website designer and a multimedia artist, Jon divides his time between Santo Domingo in the Dominican Republic and New York City. He was recently awarded a fellowship by the Alicia Foundation to pursue his ongoing project documenting the plight and exploitation of braceros (gatherers and cutters) in the sugarcane plantations of the Dominican Republic.

He studied journalism at Columbia University, and initially joined the famed Black Star photo agency.

To showcase Jon's many talents, I chose his multimedia documentary El Camino de los Negros, which deals with religious rituals and some of the endangered traditions of the Dominican Republic. We all heard of santeria and voodoo practiced in parts of the Caribbean, but this is somewhat different.

Jon's enormous talents are in clear evidence here; the composition of his black and white photography, the intelligent juxtaposition of ritualistic music and songs with narration, the judicious use of the Ken Burns effect, combined with his narrative make this powerful documentary a mandatory stop for all of us who are entering the world of multimedia photography.

Jon's El Camino de los Negros

Jon's website "Dark Horse Images"

Jon's Blog: The Spark of Accident

GMB Akash: Bangladesh

Image Copyright © G M B Akash-All Rights Reserved
I'm pleased to see that GMB Akash, a photographer from Bangladesh, has been named as one of PDN's 30 New & Emerging Photographers for 2007. Since I started TTP blog, I've been introduced to the enormous talent coming from South Asia and Asia itself. This emerging talent is still under-represented in the international media and lacks the exposure it deserves, but it's getting there.

Akash (I don't really know what GMB stands for, so I'll use Akash rather than an acronym) is a brave photographer, documenting sides of society that are not pretty. His photographs are courageous, complex and make us think. His use of color, available light and sense of timing allows him to photograph what others may not.

I read that his photograph of the young boy in chains caused a furore in Bangladesh, and that Akash has had to seek temporary refuge, or was stranded, in Germany. I don't know if that is true or not, but he now seems to be back in his country, photographing as usual.

I've chosen his gallery of photographs on Muslim medresas to showcase here on TTP. While some of you will form an opinion on Muslim schools from these photographs (if you don't have one already), I'd like you to also consider that not all medresas shackle their students nor treat them badly. I don't know why this unfortunate boy was treated in such a barbaric and primitive way but for the sake of fairness and objectivity, here's a photograph I've taken in an Indonesian Muslim school in Bali (Indonesia). The photograph is from my Bali Canang gallery. I had just dropped in on the school where I was warmly welcomed, and invited to photograph as I pleased. You'll agree that the difference is striking.

Still reflecting on the boy in chains...is it to keep him from running away, and joining street kids...and is it therefore for his own good? He looks well-fed, clean and healthy. Is there a story behind the photograph, and was it that which caused the furore in Bangadesh? There must be a reason why this child is treated this way and not the rest of the medresa's children. I'm certainly not condoning this treatment (which I deem barbaric) but questions must be asked and hopefully answered, and I -for one- will not take the photograph at its face value.

Akash's website has many other galleries, most of which deal with issues related to certain facets of non-mainstream South Asian society, so go ahead...explore a world many of us do not know.

GMB Akash's Muslim Schools

Image Copyright © GMB Akash

Books: William Dalrymple

The Last Mughal is the most recent book by one of my favorite authors, William Dalrymple. I bought this book in London, and read a few chapters during my flight back. It's a massive book, and a must for any Indiaphile. It presents a brilliant narrative of last days of the Mughal empire, its capital and its final destruction.

Dalrymple lives in Delhi, and rearched this book by minutely combing through the Indian National Archives. I was struck -even by the initial chapters that I read so far- that the Great Mutiny which brought about the downfall of Emperor Bahadur Shah, the last Mughal, by the British, parallels contemporary events. For instance, the Indian rebels (sepoys) raised the flag of 'jihad', and called themselves 'mujaheddin' to legitimize their conflict. A fascinating read, which only proves 'plus ca change, plus c'est la meme chose'.