Crabmeat mixed with very finely sliced celery and sauce ravigote, returned to the crab shell and garnished with capers and shredded lettuce.
A pâtisserie term meaning to make an incision in puff pastry with a sharp knife. This is done partly for decoration and partly to allow any trapped air to escape and the dough to rise evenly.
Sea kale. Grows wild. Young leaves make good eating and are good in salads. The entire leaf, including the stalk, is edible. Along the coast of England, where it is commonly found above High Tide Mark on shingle beaches, local people heaped loose shingle around the naturally occurring root crowns in springtime, thus blanching the emerging shoots, which can be served like asparagus with either melted butter or béchamel sauce. It is apt to get bruised or damaged in transport and should be eaten very soon after cutting, this may explain its subsequent decline in popularity.
"Toad (of the sea)." Monkfish (US: angler fish). A fish with a sweet flavour and succulent firm flesh but with the ugliest appearance imaginable. It is found in the Mediterranean and Atlantic, in coastal waters of north western Europe. It can be recognised by its large head and fan-shaped fins. The fins and the operculum are spiny. It can be eaten fried or in soup. The larger fish often have better flavour. It has a hideous head, which is why it is usually displayed without it, and a muddy colour. It is known as the anglerfish as it bears on its head a 'rod' and 'lure' which attract its prey. The meat of the tail is sweet and succulent - almost like lobster meat, entirely compensating for is appearance. The flavour may well be assisted by its own diet which is high in shellfish. The best monkfish are Lophius piscatorius and the similar Lophius budegassa, the favourite of the Spanish. American monkfish or goosefish (Lophius americanus) is considered inferior, while New Zealand monkfish (Kathetostoma giganteum) is related to the stargazer and is only fit for soup. In some places this may be used as a name for rascasse.
Fly agaric. A type of mushroom, the classic red with white spots. Famous for its psychoactive hallucinogenic properties this is the magic mushroom and is actually poisonous to eat.
"Toad fish." Monkfish (US: angler fish). A fish with a sweet flavour and succulent firm flesh but with the ugliest appearance imaginable. It is found in the Mediterranean and Atlantic, in coastal waters of north western Europe. It can be recognised by its large head and fan-shaped fins. The fins and the operculum are spiny. It can be eaten fried or in soup. The larger fish often have better flavour. It has a hideous head, which is why it is usually displayed without it, and a muddy colour. It is known as the anglerfish as it bears on its head a 'rod' and 'lure' which attract its prey. The meat of the tail is sweet and succulent - almost like lobster meat, entirely compensating for is appearance. The flavour may well be assisted by its own diet which is high in shellfish. The best monkfish are Lophius piscatorius and the similar Lophius budegassa, the favourite of the Spanish. American monkfish or goosefish (Lophius americanus) is considered inferior, while New Zealand monkfish (Kathetostoma giganteum) is related to the stargazer and is only fit for soup.
