The happiest recent news in Gastroblogia is that Owen of Tomatilla has revived Paper Chef after a six-month hiatus. Paper Chef was our introduction to the food blogging world, and it’s always been Chopper’s favorite event. He loves the excuse to play.

For this episode, Paper Chef #25, the four ingredients are:
Smoked Swordfish (or [...]

This dish was served on Wednesday, September 12th, 2007 at 2:37 pm and is filed under chopper's lab, culinary insanity, in the garden, paper chef. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.

I think it’s about time we made some chicken stock.
(This brief post brought to you by MizD’s freezer, over-stuffed with bones.)

This dish was served on Wednesday, May 16th, 2007 at 7:31 am and is filed under culinary insanity. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.

No, we’re not done with the pig’s blood just yet.
In fact, I’ve a feeling there could be 38 different dishes you can cook with Black Pudding. Thirty-eight at the very least.
Not that I plan on naming them all here.
In fact, I’ll just mention two or three.
First off: Chopper’s Lancashire Hotpot. [...]

This dish was served on Tuesday, May 8th, 2007 at 10:31 am and is filed under chopper's lab, culinary insanity, recipes. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.

Is English food a joke?
No! It’s not a joke, it’s an adventure!
I happen to believe one should firmly embrace one’s ancestors’ culinary traditions. Especially when one has ancestors who interbred, had bad teeth, killed one another off on a regular basis, and consumed far too many unnervingly rich, meat-based dishes.

I am, of course, talking [...]

This dish was served on Saturday, April 21st, 2007 at 8:16 am and is filed under chopper's lab, culinary insanity, food blogging events. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.

Ilva has asked to see kitchen photos and I am compelled to comply.
I blame a web stat for this.
See, back in October of 2005, way back when Belly Timber was less than a year old and our notion of search strings was all shiny and new, we discovered something quite amusing: [...]

This dish was served on Tuesday, January 9th, 2007 at 11:58 pm and is filed under culinary insanity. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.

Most people recoil in horror when they are told what the primary ingredient is in the classic Mexican breakfast dish menudo. No, it’s not Ricky Martin…
The first time I ever tried menudo was at a tiny Mexican cafe in San Diego back in the mid-nineties. My friends told me it was good, and having never [...]

This dish was served on Friday, September 8th, 2006 at 8:28 pm and is filed under chopper's lab, culinary insanity, recipes. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.

(In our so-tardy-it-shouldn’t-count second entry for Paper Chef, we stick close to home for our tale of Independence. How close to home? Oh, about 400 yards up the road. And as for that tardy thing — what was it the late, great Douglas Adams once said? Oh yes: “I love [...]

This dish was served on Wednesday, July 12th, 2006 at 11:03 am and is filed under culinary insanity, food blogging events, island local, paper chef, recipes. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.

On June 3rd we took a road trip to Seattle and indulged in a wee bit of geeky revelry. Here, at long last, is our trip report.

1. The party begins with a cheese sandwich.
It’s the beginning of February and we’re waist deep in The Great Cheese Sandwich Controversy of 2006. Chopper’s just [...]

This dish was served on Saturday, June 24th, 2006 at 4:13 pm and is filed under culinary insanity, in vino vis, off this rock. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

… And we here at Belly Timber, being rather nautically inclined to begin with, believe that nowhere else can one find dishes more quintessentially English than aboard the great ships of the British Navy during the Golden Age of Sail. …

This dish was served on Sunday, April 23rd, 2006 at 11:49 pm and is filed under culinary insanity, food blogging events. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.

… Whoa. Okay, okay, we’re not really going to cook penguin. They’re too cute and fluffy, and honestly where is one supposed to find penguin meat on this short notice? …

This dish was served on Monday, December 5th, 2005 at 10:47 pm and is filed under culinary insanity, food blogging events, paper chef, recipes. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.

… Be warned, the following contains large doses of C.I.P. (Capsaicin Induced Profanity). Proceed with extreme caution. Seriously. Don’t say I didn’t warn ya. I get near Capsaicin and I swear like a sailor. I mean it. …

This dish was served on Thursday, October 20th, 2005 at 6:03 pm and is filed under culinary insanity. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.

… That’s right. “Messy kitchen” is our number one search string result. And not by a nose either. It beats out “belly timber” at number two by a substantial margin. What is up with that? Are messy kitchens so rare that visitors must come to gawk?

Oh very well. If you must, we will accommodate. …

This dish was served on Monday, October 3rd, 2005 at 5:52 pm and is filed under culinary insanity, metabelly. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.

… But since we are, as we said, weird, we believe that instead of ignoring food blogging events when we’re pressed for time, we should embrace them. Both at once. With zeal.

And with (yes, you’ve guessed it by now) weirdness.

And so, with a cupful of grapefruit juice and a sea of aspic (ocean blue, of course), we christen the Sweet Fleet …

This dish was served on Thursday, May 19th, 2005 at 10:58 pm and is filed under culinary insanity, food blogging events, imbb, sugar high friday. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.

… Trouble is, my notion really was loony. As in (and I’m quoting Chopper Dave here) “This is a harebrained scheme and it’s not going to work.”

But trouble with that is, I’m the Peter Quincy Taggart of harebrained schemes. You know, never give up, never surrender? That’s me. …

This dish was served on Sunday, April 24th, 2005 at 12:37 am and is filed under culinary insanity, food blogging events, imbb. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.

… (Then there’s the furry thing. Ew! The leaves are furry — I can’t eat that! Well, that’s never stopped anyone from eating anchovies. Actually, I take that back. It’s stopped me from eating anchovies, but that’s beside the point.) …

This dish was served on Tuesday, April 19th, 2005 at 9:56 pm and is filed under culinary insanity. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.