Barbel. A European river fish related to the carp with little taste, many bones and barbels around the mouth. It has a brown back, yellowish sides and a white abdomen. It is usually poached or braised. A small one is known as a barbillon.
Red mullet or surmullet. A high quality fish of a different family from the other (grey) mullets, and which has a far better flavour and lean, firm flesh. Its liver is highly prized. Do not confuse it with gurnard, which has a slightly paler colour. This fish may vary from pinkish-reddish crimson to rosy pink in colour with golden streaks and two long barbels on the chin. Mullus barbatus is the smaller of the two and is of not quite such good quality. Mullus surmuletus is more properly known as surmullet and is larger.
Red mullet or surmullet. A high quality fish of a different family from the other (grey) mullets, and which has a far better flavour and lean, firm flesh. Its liver is highly prized. Do not confuse it with gurnard, which has a slightly paler colour. This fish may vary from pinkish-reddish crimson to rosy pink in colour with golden streaks and two long barbels on the chin. Mullus barbatus is the smaller of the two and is of not quite such good quality. Mullus surmuletus is more properly known as surmullet and is larger.
Some claim that "barbecue" is from the French "barbe à queue" meaning head to tail, indicating that the whole beast is cooked. It is perhaps more likely that it is from the term ‘barbacao’ used in Latin America to describe food cooked slowly over flames and embers or, more properly, food cooked in a pit in the earth.
Scaly tooth mushroom or tiled hydnum, an edible fungus with a slightly bitter aftertaste.
"Beard of oak." Hedgehog fungus. Cream-coloured mushrooms, excellent to eat, easily found in woods from late summer to late autumn (US: fall). They have a sort of downy white stem leading up to a cap which is centrally depressed and under which are masses of little spines, giving the mushroom its English name. It is quite a good mushroom to collect as it is easily distinguished from other mushrooms, is a relative of the chanterelle, and, like it, has good flavour and good retention of texture on long cooking.
"Goat's beard." Hedgehog fungus. Cream-coloured mushrooms, excellent to eat, easily found in woods from late summer to late autumn (US: fall). They have a sort of downy white stem leading up to a cap which is centrally depressed and under which are masses of little spines, giving the mushroom its English name. It is quite a good mushroom to collect as it is easily distinguished from other mushrooms, is a relative of the chanterelle, and, like it, has good flavour and good retention of texture on long cooking.
"Cow's beard." Hedgehog fungus. Cream-coloured mushrooms, excellent to eat, easily found in woods from late summer to late autumn (US: fall). They have a sort of downy white stem leading up to a cap which is centrally depressed and under which are masses of little spines, giving the mushroom its English name. It is quite a good mushroom to collect as it is easily distinguished from other mushrooms, is a relative of the chanterelle, and, like it, has good flavour and good retention of texture on long cooking.
