Some recipes (+drink recommendations)

Gold phesant with truffles (faisan dore aux truffes) (for 4 pers)

Ingrediants:1 gold-phesant (sparsely still lives freely in the U.K. countryside- but "normal" phesants abound in Ungary and Central Europe); hunting-season: oktober to january), 3 truffles, 150g green olives, 1 glas Madeira-wine, 200g creme fraiche, 50g butter, 5 egg-yolks, 150g ham from York, old bread, salt, cayenne-pepper, paprika.

First prepare a filling made of the phesant-liver and stomach, the ham, the bread, pepper, the sliced truffles and 3 egg yolks. Then melt the butter and braise the phesant in the oven till it takes on a nicely red colour, add salt, the Madeira wine, paprika and a little cayenne pepper. leave the phesant to braise for 2 more hours. Add the olives a quarter an hour before serving. In a seperate frypan mix the creme fraiche with 2 eggyolks and the condensed farce (=the sauce) from the phesant. The resulting sauce should not boil- so I'd recommend to use a bain marie.

Cut the phesant in pieces and the filling in slices. Now "align" the bird with the daring sauce (the farce) and serve.

For wine I'd recommend a Cuvee Cru de Loire and for desert fraise de bois [wild strawberries] in wine or a good softcheese...

Saumon fumé aux pommes (Smoked salmon with apples) (for 4 persons)

Ingredients: 3 James Grieve (apples), 6 Bintje (potatoes) of medium size, smoked salmon (flown in directly from Bornholm or Scotland), fresh lemon juice (preferably lemons from Morocco), Crème Fraiche and black pepper.

Cut the apples, the boiled potatoes and the salmon into small cubes; add Crème Fraiche, the pepper and a few drops of lemon. Mix and serve cool, with a good Champagne (preferably a good Millésimé, or even a Rosé one). Add to this freshly prepared Blini with much Caviar.

Safe brands for Champagne are Krug and Roederer -I like them brut or extra brut (drinking a good champagne I never get a hangover no matter how much I drink)-also Moet et Chandon is ok (esp when used for cooking- e.g. mousse au champagne etc) of course the Millesimés of nearly all brands are good- like La Grande Dame or Clos du Mesnil...

Pertaining wine the label can be a general orientation, only (its worth a try though, when it has a medaille d'or or d'argent) it can never tell you what it'll taste like even less whether you will like it or not.

I have no affectations and like wine when its good -be it cheap or not [actually I generally speaking prefer whites, though Bordeaux and Bourgogone are always chic, too] (so also grapes like Riesling and Veltliner)- but I cant abide of the PR for some French wines like Chateau d'Yquem, Chateauneuf-du-Pape or Chateau Calon-Segur etc and ppl who buy wine as an investment suggested by greedy lawyers like Johnson who in his dubious books influences the prices by his ranking and then makes profit out of them...

Out of a thousand ppl who buy top-wines like those I mentioned there are only two or three who really can appreciate them cause taste has to be refined and trained and this is only possible by trying out a lot of different sorts and vintage yrs or travel to the region yourself...and not by reading some parochal books!

For whiskey I like Laphroaig (not too much of it), Lagavulin (too much of it), Talisker, etc...actually nearly all even the more terrible ones (Tobermory) it depends on my mood etc (Bowmore 5yrs is too salty though) also the mild Glenrothes etc- esp scotch in general...also the blends- I also like to thin them down (of course only w water).

Vodka is cool cause ideally it has nearly no taste of its own-my favourite is Stolichnaya of course- here mixing is ok for me -OJ or whatever- I just dont like cocktails if they are too sweet- the worst are the creamy ones with milk etc; Caipirinha or Mojito etc. are ok but I try to avoid cocktail-bars as a rule due to their cheap glitter-atmosphere and such cretinous customer like David Copperfield or Claudia Schiffer who have nearly no decency and manners, well one should try (to learn to avoid) the New Colonies as a whole, isn't worth it anymore...

Cool on that. Im glad that I could entertain you guys!

What I meant was: Wines like Chateau d'Yquen etc are so damn expensive that nearly no one will (be able) to have tasted them...and of those who buy them only some sample them and many store them. This again is furthered by various profit-hungry wine-guide authors. Hope that clears it up.

Good suggestion there, Huntsman.

I would have gone another way- namely make a filling with them and then put that in a paste ("puff pastry") dough-mantle that you can easily fry. This is a Magrebinian dish, then.

You simply boil the pidgeons in salted water, brown some onions with olive oil in a fry-pan and (seperately) prepare scrambled eggs using a bit of the pidgeon-bouillon. When the birds are cooked just take the meat off, add it to the onions and again add the scrambled eggs. Let this cook slowly for about 15-20 min., then add various spices: finely hacked almonds, salt-pepper (also before), clove, coriander.

Mix this very well and apply it to the pastry with a teaspoon. Cut out triangles about 2x1" (10x6cm), wrap them up, and fry them in oil. Place them on kitchen-paper that sucks up the excess oil and powder them with a mixture of fine sugar and cinnamon on the top.

Serve them dressed up in a dschellaba like a prince from 1001 Nights or employ staff who does that. Its very much fun! To add to your guests' entertainment further you can serve them traditional tea (cha'i) or open a magunum bottle of Rosé-Champagne...wine doesnt fit *that* well but the Gewürztraminer was a good suggestion there- or a Corbières with the fine aroma-bouquet of cherries, figs and liquorice is also good.