Liams guide to "Food & Drink"

I thought, seeing as I was putting up some recipes today I should maybe write a guide to how I cook and what the purpose of this forum is.

For those of you that don't know me, I like to cook. Its one of my passions and when I get the chance to I like to cook big meals for large groups of people. I taught myself almost everything I know and I think I've gotten pretty good at it. Actually, thats not entirely true. My mum taught me some of the most important things that got me started and then I learnt from there.

I have learnt one important thing though over the last 15 years of cooking though. You can never know it all, and the best way to learn to cook better is to share your ideas and to see what other people do with your recipes.

So the purpose here is twofold. Firstly this forum is an oportunity for me to share some of my ideas, tips, tricks and recipes with you. Secondly it is an opportunity for us all to share what we like to cook and to share ideas on those recipes with each other. Maybe we can all learn a trick or two from each other.

So onto the other stuff. When I cook, it tends to be spontaneous and mostly by instinct. I don't tend to follow recipes to the letter, adapting as I go. All my measurements therefore are guestimates from what I remember doing. Everyone has different tastes and what works for me might not work for you. I don't like a lot of salt in my food, nor do I like it to be too greasy, sharp or sour. I do like sweet flavours and I like my food rich and hearty. I tend to use organic ingredients where I can, and when I can afford it and have the time I buy at Farmers Markets and from smaller deli's and grocers rather than supermarkets.

In my recipes, I will usually try to add an options section where I'll try and suggest other things you can do or you can use if you can't get the ingredients or don't like something. If you try a recipe and come up with something else then please post it here and let us know.

I like criticism of my cooking as long as its constructive. If you think that a recipe is better with Creme Fraiche rather than Cream then tell me, just please explain why and what the difference in the end result is. I always like to learn more and lets face it I'm not perfect. If me and my cooking were I'd be running a multi million pound chain of restaurants by now ;)

So without further ado, get over to the recipes section, pick one and give it a try. Once you're done, post and let us all know what you thought and what (if anything) you'd change.

Cheers, and here's to us all eating and cooking better food.

- Liam