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Showing posts from August, 2006

The Real Chef

After reading so much about how top chefs must expand and move out of the kitchen in order to make money, it was a relief to see that there are still purists out there. Masa has what sounds like the supreme Japanese restaurant in America. Reading about his food put me in mind of going with Rose to Fujiyama for her East Asian research; it was the most pure sushi place we'd ever been. Filled with Japanese customers, beautiful and simple design, with the most delicious raw fish you can imagine, prepared by an aged master behind the sushi counter. It was an experience that stretched the envelope for all of us. Masa, I realized, was something unique in this age of the chef-CEO; he was unique perhaps to any age of the chef. He had created the most extraordinary restaurant experience in New York. "Here is my money," he'd said, holding up his hands. "Here is my money," he'd said, touching his chest. He'd realized this as a young man, and he would do someth

Pork Chops with White Wine

A more accurate name for this would be "My Mom's Pork Chops." This was a favorite when I was growing up and remains so with my family. Over time, as the poor pig has had all natural fat bred out of it, I've had to adapt which chops are used so that they don't wind up tough and dry after the simmering, which is necessary to get the onions soooo delicious that Tom and I fight over who gets the last bits from the platter. Step 1: 4 large pork chops, I use shoulder or blade chops 1/2 teaspoon dry mustard 1 teaspoon salt 1/4 teaspoon pepper 1 tablespoon butter 1 tablespoon oil Season chops with spices. Brown quickly. Step 2: 1 tablespoon butter 1 medium onion, sliced 1 teaspoon tomato paste 1/2 cup white wine Remove chops and add butter; sauté onion until soft, but not brown. Blend in tomato paste. Add wine; return chops to pan. Cover and simmer until tender, about 30-40 minutes. Tags: Food

Culinary Mythology: Lobsters Scream with Pain When Boiled

It's commendable that people do not want to inflict pain on animals, but this one is false on two accounts. First of all, pain doesn't just happen automatically - it is the result of specific receptors, nerve pathways, and brain regions all cooperating to convert certain physical stimuli into the perception of pain. This has all been thoroughly worked out in humans and other vertebrates. But guess what - lobsters and other crustaceans are not vertebrates and simply do not have these nerve pathways and brain regions (they don't have a real brain at all, for that matter). In other words, no brain, no pain (sorry, I couldn't resist that one!). What about the "scream" that lobsters sometime emit when dropped in the boiling water? There's the problem that lobsters have no throat, no vocal cords, no lungs, so how could they scream at all? The fact is that the noise is caused by air trapped in the shell. When heated it expands and forces itself out through smal

"I get no kick from champagne" ... but champagne grapes on the other hand ...

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Photo source ... the name comes from their sweet, winelike flavor, or the fact that they look like champagne bubbles, depending on whom you quote. And they are no relation to the grapes that produce Champagne. To eat them, don't bother picking off the individual berries. Just place a cluster between your lips and pull the stem so the grapes come off gently in your mouth. Dallas Morning News Anyone else have these in their store? They are favorites of ours and only show up for a short time. I love to give them to small children but the big kids around our house devour them also. Tags: Food

Now Serving Hot Links

SUMMER READING FOR THE FOOD FREAK A good, fairly comprehensive list over at Slashfood. I really loved Garlic and Sapphires, found Heat fascinating, and enjoyed My LIfe in France (briefly reviewed earlier this week) so much that I bought it for my mother as a birthday gift. The Nasty Bits ... well, a bit of Tony Bourdain goes a long way. His book Kitchen Confidential is a masterpiece of putting you right in the restaurant kitchen (sans celebrity chef) and I highly recommend it but that's enough Bourdain for me. Gael's Greene's autobiography ... hmmm ... well, the excerpts I've read make it sound as if it's more about bedhopping than food and I just don't care. Two for the Road and The Omnivore's Dilemma are both requested from the library so we will see how they turn out when I eventually reach my turn. As for On Food and Cooking, I bow to no man in my admiration for the author's achievement but the old and new volumes are very different propositions in s

Quick Book Review

88. My Life in France by Julia Child and Alex Prud'Homme This book is the charming and fascinatingly told story of Julia Child and her husband living in France. What elevates this beyond the usual food/life memoir is Child's telling of the whole picture, not just the food oriented moments. Yes, the food is there. After all, we are in France, n'est-ce pas? And this is Julia Child's story. However, just as in life, the food memories wind their way through the rest of her stories which make us understand just why she adores France. A snippet to whet your appetite. ... I had come to the conclusion that I must really be French, only no one had ever informed me of this fact. I loved the people, the food, the lay of the land, the civilized atmosphere, and the generous pace of life. August in Paris was known as la morte-saison, "the dead season," because everybody who could possibly vacate did so as quickly as possible. A great emptying out of the city took place,

A Good Reason for the Celebrity Chef, Part III

Continued from part II . Chefs, thanks to their celebrity, now have the clout and the passion, as well as the knowledge, to point us back to the things that matter -- to sustainable farming, to raising animals naturally in fresh air, rather than inside cement barracks pumped full of antibiotics. We're slowly, too slowly, recognizing the scary results of chemical-laced livestock in overcrowded spaces -- not merely inferior beef and tasteless chicken, or unpleasant bacteria such as Salmonella and Listeria , but also the evolution of truly deadly bacteria such as E. Coli O157:H7. Alice Waters, of Chez Panisse, began working with farmers thirty years ago and asked us all to understand better where our food comes from because it matters. This former schoolteacher had the authority to do this because she ran a popular restaurant. A generation later, chefs are a powerful force in the way we raise hogs, cattle, and chicken because Americans are spending their dollars at these chefs'

Now Serving Hot LInks

Two Beers a Day Can Prevent Alzheimer's ... good to know that you can self-medicate for this. I'll get right on that. Indian Tiffin Deliveries Are Going High Tech ... websites for lunchbox delivery in India. A good and easy substitute for mole? ... no, think again. Kellogs Planning to Raise Cereal Prices ... I already don't buy name brand cereal. Who can afford it? For heavens sakes, chips are often cheaper on a per-ounce basis. New Joy of Cooking in October ... I never cared for that classic cookbook but for those who do this will be good news. Tags: Food

Looking for Those Chocolate Chip Cookies?

For those Beyond Cana retreat group folks who wanted to be able to make these themselves, here you go . For anyone else who hasn't tried them ... what are you waiting for? It doesn't get any easier or tastier than these cookies. Tags: Food

A Good Reason for the Celebrity Chef, Part II

Continued from part I . But in addition to our inept thinking about the egg, we've also managed to debase our eggs on a massive scale, to contaminate them so that they may actually make you sick if you don't cook them till they're hard, and downright dangerous for the very young and the very old. We've done the same to our animals, too, by pumping them full of chemicals and feeding them crap they wouldn't naturally choose in generations of evolution. Our major commercial hog producers are breeding the fat out of hogs to try to please the knuckleheaded consumer, who doesn't know anymore what's good for him or not -- how could he? he's been taught to fear the egg! -- degrading a once-fine animal beyond recognition, and yet we think nothing of supersizing our french fries and burgers and Cokes. We're breeding chickens without feathers. Most people scarcely know anymore what their food looks like when it's alive. They get grossed out at a proper pig

A Good Reason for the Celebrity Chef, Part I

Perhaps, on the other hand, our chef-mania, our grossly out-of-touch understanding of the work, is a good thing, a way for America to at last get a grip on its own relationship with food. Since the end of World War II, this country has been our of synch with the natural order of sustenance and nourishment, embracing processed foods, revering canned goods, "instant" breakfasts, and frozen dinners, then elevating fast food to a way of life with such force that its impact has become global, then simultaneously abhorring animal fat for health and dietary reasons, while still becoming the fattest community on earth, then turning around to proselytize on diets composed entirely of salt-rich protein and animal fat, and banishing bread of all things -- the staff of life was now the evildoer, and just when bakers in this country had figured out how to make it well. We completely upended the food pyramid we'd always accepted as undeniable and good common sense. Ours is a country t

Sound Familiar?

In our first mail delivery in Marseille came a letter from Avis De Voto. In responding to some photos we'd sent of ourselves, she wrote: "I am very pleased with your looks, so warm and vigorous and handsome. I am rather astonished that you are such a big girl. Six feet, whoops. I adore height in women ... I think you both look absolutely wonderful. Then she addressed our sauce chapter: "I have not got beurre blanc licked to a frazzle and I am getting bilious. Also have put on 5 lb. which on a figure like mine ain't good. It looks all right, but I like to be able to wiggle freely in my clothes instead of bursting out the seams. Also I have made yr top secret mayonnaise with great success in spite of the fact that both my electric beaters broke down and I had to shift to the whisk. It's delicious and lovely and I am pleased. But I do so hate to diet. Blast you." We had grown really fond of Avis. Odd, to feel as though you knew someone quite well whom you had n

Chicken Stir-Fried with Fresh Ginger

Never did a cookbook live up to its name more than Quick & Easy Vietnamese: 75 Everyday Recipes does with this recipe. Simple, quick, and delicious, it was enjoyed by every member of the family and that ain't easy! The 15-20 minutes marinating time was more than enough to permeate the chicken, especially since it is cooked with the marinade. The longer time mentioned below is not necessary. Also, the chicken is never really going to be "golden brown" as the marinade takes care of coloring everything a uniform brown already. I served this over steamed rice. There is not much sauce, but the chicken is so highly flavored that a lot of something fairly neutral is necessary to keep from the taste being overpowering. 2 tablespoons fish sauce 1 tablespoon soy sauce 1 tablespoon honey or brown sugar 1/2 teaspoon salt 1/4 teaspoon black pepper 3/4 pound boneless chicken thighs or breasts, cut into long, thin strips 2 tablespoons vegetable oil 2 tablespoons finely chopped fres