Food

give Wing Yip in croydon a ring. those guys can get you anything.

Bit late to the game but this is @giofox88 snapguide page, he does a few pasta recipes, should be worth a shot.
https://snapguide.com/gioele-nunziatini/

Don't you live in the sticks? In which case shirley there are stocked lakes galore within a modest drive? You could fish them yourself for a tenner or whatever they charge for a half day (with a 4 x fish limit or something). Or give the owner a few quid and they'd catch one on your behalf if you've got no rod.

You could also get in touch with estates/landowners etc who might flog you one.

Lastly you could try this place: http://www.aquavisiononline.com/

They started the first organic carp farm (most farmed fish will be chock full of ground up bits of chemically reared pig/other fish) and got some press about it 10 years ago or thereabouts. Not sure they sell fish based on that website but they certainly used to. Depends how much you want a fresh carp I suppose : )

Aye, I do live in the sticks, well rural Herts anyway :)
I have no idea about fishing but I could ask a few people in the local pub. they are 'here hare here' types.
Want one bad. Need to recreate the traditional czech christmas lunch at home, and that's what they eat.

Christ. That is serious. Asking font of fish knowledge, Father CYOA

Apparently Waitrose sells it over Christmas!

But yeah, even Father CYOA pointed to Aquavision and said those two were the first to really do 'fancy' carp in the UK so if they don't make direct sales then they can point you to someone who can.

He then reiterated what's been said upthread that Chinese and Polish shops should have plenty of it though you may have to 'fish around' to find good ones as quality will vary from place to place.

EDIT: He also said you'd almost certainly find some at Billingsgate.

For online:

https://www.thefishsociety.co.uk/shop-by-fish-type/large-whole-fish/carp.html

Love the Compleat Angler recipe at the bottom.

provincial garden centers often have a koi pond section. could set you back £500 to feed a family of four.

Where are you based?
Best wet fish place I know is in West Ealing. Always at least a dozen types I cannot immediately name.

Thanks for all the tips!
But dem prices from fish society... so apparently its important the carp are fattened quickly and purged in fresh water for a few days before being sold. In Czech you go to a farm which has some big freshwater tanks out back, point to a couple of fish and bobs your uncle. They used to put them in the bath at home alive for a few days for the kids to have fun, but nowadays more common to have them killed. MIL still prepares delicious soup from the head and offal tho. For the main event the fish is cut into thick steaks through the backbone, breaded and fried. It's served with an obnoxiously rich and special potato salad with mayo, gherkins, boiled eggs, the works and washed down with flagons of Czech pilsner. Anyway, lots of leads there thanks chaps you might just help my other half feel a bit closer to home for her first British Christmas. (That is before we chant the brexit song in her face, sing the national anthem and make in-jokes about Fawlty Towers for 48 hours straight)

Surely a trip to billingsgate is well worth it. Buy some carp and a bacon and scallop roll from the corner cafe, bobs yer uncle!

Actually fuck it, I’m goinb billingsgate this weekend

Mad isn't it! I've never come across that site before - all frozen too apparently. The descriptions make me laugh though. The king crab claws for example reads something like: "hedge fund managers please form an orderly queue".

I reckon Billingsgate the best/most obvious bet.

Yeah my dad was saying everywhere he's eaten carp on the continent has had their own stock ponds (or tanks) on site - usually some pretty murky looking water but he says he didn't get any silty/muddy taste as you might if it were coarse fish in the UK. I remember watching a River Cottage episode where HFW nabs some carp from his posh neighbour and digs a kind of mini tributary from the river through his garden to pop the carp in for a week or so to 'filter' them out a bit.

Czech christmas sounds ace. Especially the pilsner.

I want a bacon and scallop roll so fucking badly right now... Thanks! *weeps*

As has already been said, anything @giofox88 rates is generally good. But my recipe* is

• 90g '00' pasta flour
  
• 1 medium egg
  
• 2 tsp salt
  
• glug of olive oil, probably 2 tbsp
  
  

Mix together until it forms a ball, add a little more flour if too wet. It shouldn't be sticky but will have a light sheen from the oil. Consistency should be like soft Play D'oh. Then knead until nice and velvety, usually 5–7 minutes. You want to stretch it out and turn it back in on itself, look for videos on YouTube. Then I usually let it sit for 30 minutes, lightly dusted. Once done, start rolling through the machine. You want to roll it through, fold it on itself and run through again. Do this a 4–5 times on the first setting, after that can decrease the amount of folds. On the penultimate or final setting I'll give it only a couple of turns. I find it helps to keep the dough lightly dusted (very lighty) as it goes through.

Check consistency. If it's a warm, humid day you'll need to dust it and let it dry a bit more. If it's cold and dry, you can throw it straight into rapidly boiling water. Time it for 3 minutes after it comes back to the boil, drain and save some liquid for the sauce. Done.

** This is my personal tried and tested recipe but I've never served it to an Italian, but only for lack of one. I find you need to keep the pasta thick to achieve that ristorante style, no less than the penultimate setting. Thicker for things like parpadelle, of course. I made it with water once when I had no eggs, which is alright but I like it eggy.

^sounds like excellent run through to me

I made ravioli with a soft yolk inside this eve - quite tricky but only one burst and tasted great.

Cooked some prawns and scallops the other night and took out just before they were done, finished with a garlic butter foam. Peng.

Here

Thermopen is miles above any competitors that I've used.

Why’s that?

Anyone own an Anova (or other sous-vide)? I've been pondering one for a while and they're reduced again but not sure if it's another gadget that I'll use a few times and then stick in the back of the cupboard.

I have one (well a sansaire). I loved it and used it loads before i stopped eating meat. Great for steak and the "classic" stuff but also good for things like confit duck legs.

Not so good for vegetables and so has been relegated to the back of my cupboard

cough sell it to aggi cough

Method for putting in yolks and how big were the parcels, I imaging quite big for chicken eggs ??

Nicely described and thanks for the praises from both you and @Bernhard (I haven’t taken care of that guides blog in a log time)
The egg to flour ratio always ultimately depends on the actual size of the eggs, not always standard. I also find the ultimate consistency of the dough to be a personal matter, according to how firm you like your pasta, I always knead mine for a good 10/15min and add small amounts of flour if needed.
Good tips about folding the dough when rolling it through the pasta machine, that’s very important. One thing I do when I leave it sitting before rolling it, is to wrap it in cling film, to avoid the outside drying out. Keeping it thick and cooking times vary for different tipes of pasta. Tagliatelle/pappardelle need to be thicker and cook in 2 min, stuffed pasta needs to be thinner and cook 3 to 4min.
In general the way is to try it and see it for yourself.