tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-67320490073021302042024-03-27T07:30:06.497+00:00More Cookbooks Than Sense@jontseng A blog about the cookbooks you didn't know you neededJon Tsenghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01916149961326205602noreply@blogger.comBlogger37125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6732049007302130204.post-41297951695148480812014-06-09T07:00:00.000+01:002014-06-09T07:00:00.772+01:00Seven Days of Foie Gras BONUS: Turron Foie Gras from Pasacal Aussignac<div class="MsoNormal">
<i>I originally started
off with seven days of foie gras but as a bonus here’s an eighth unconventional
foie gras. Haven’t had this one so not entirely sure it works, but it’s so
wacky it demands a mention!<o:p></o:p></i></div>
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<i>Previous entries:</i></div>
<ol>
<li><i><a href="http://morecookbooksthansense.blogspot.com/2014/06/seven-days-of-foie-gras-1-shaved-foie.html">Shaved Foie Gras, Lychee & Pine Nut Brittle from the Momofuku Cookbook</a></i></li>
<li><i><a href="http://morecookbooksthansense.blogspot.com/2014/06/seven-days-of-foie-gras-2-foie-gras.html">Foie Gras Ganache from Aquavit and the New Scandinavian Cuisine</a></i></li>
<li><i><a href="http://morecookbooksthansense.blogspot.com/2014/06/seven-days-of-foie-gras-3-steamed-foie.html">Steamed Foie Gras with Broad Beans and Peas from Essential Cuisine</a></i></li>
<li><i><a href="http://morecookbooksthansense.blogspot.com/2014/06/seven-days-of-foie-gras-4-whole-roasted.html">Whole Roasted Moulard Foie Gras with Apples and Black Truffles from the French Laundry Cookbook</a></i></li>
<li><i><a href="http://morecookbooksthansense.blogspot.com/2014/06/seven-days-of-foie-gras-5-hot-foie-gras.html">Hot Foie Gras, Lentilles du Pays, Sherry Vinegar Sauce from White Heat</a></i></li>
<li><i><a href="http://morecookbooksthansense.blogspot.com/2014/06/seven-days-of-foie-gras-6-foie-gras.html">Foie Gras Five Ways from Charlie Trotter's Meat & Game</a></i></li>
<li><a href="http://morecookbooksthansense.blogspot.com/2014/06/seven-days-of-foie-gras-7-roast-smoked.html"><i>Roast Smoked Foie Gras with Onion Mousse from Made in Great Britain</i></a></li>
</ol>
<h2>
<span style="font-size: x-large; font-weight: normal;">Bonus Recipe: </span><span style="font-size: x-large; font-weight: normal;"><i>Turron</i> Foie Gras</span></h2>
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<o:p></o:p></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjwKBSW0ioJde5lWIgY0d7j7xmg5LpNIM1rnz_AubxZZ-XjZrBWCnnb36aOYXKCj_ccIIbctalfhLrlCXSHB4uzoXmPIOQIPyZXaEB2mUG6aYRPFBO843R6E0sRnJbe3t6rN7OipyigK4Ou/s1600/Gascon+Turron.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjwKBSW0ioJde5lWIgY0d7j7xmg5LpNIM1rnz_AubxZZ-XjZrBWCnnb36aOYXKCj_ccIIbctalfhLrlCXSHB4uzoXmPIOQIPyZXaEB2mUG6aYRPFBO843R6E0sRnJbe3t6rN7OipyigK4Ou/s1600/Gascon+Turron.jpg" height="425" width="640" /></a><b>The dish:</b> <i>Turron</i> is traditionally a rather moreish
French nougat. So what’s it doing at Club Gascon, London’s premier foie-gras eatery?
Infiltrated with duck liver of course! This is effectively a traditional foie
gras terrine, but instead of macerating in port the foie gras is marinated in
Baileys and sugar. Then, instead of being studded with truffles, it’s studded
with chunk of <i>turron</i> and walnut. To
finish it’s dusted with cocoa and served as a dessert with a passion fruit
coulis.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<b>Why it’s special: </b>It’s
a dessert. With foie gras. Nuff said. To be fair I have no idea if it’s a car
crash or really does taste “amazing” as the cookbook says. Actually it may well
be both, but as they say you should try everyone in life once apart from Morris
dancing and incest… (Pass the jingle bells…)<o:p></o:p></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhy2BEtOWDQ95xvjQ9wBHMM1aNM3YByjmfz6AeMCFn_hIPzN4sFsUmgqVE3gmGN9Sa53kgPos8b9_d8w1t-F0F-QjxKBlgjxZNO3iw4tlebGLIFGuYdY5mCPiiB0-ScEas0tYPmgqaxwnQk/s1600/Gascon+Cover.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhy2BEtOWDQ95xvjQ9wBHMM1aNM3YByjmfz6AeMCFn_hIPzN4sFsUmgqVE3gmGN9Sa53kgPos8b9_d8w1t-F0F-QjxKBlgjxZNO3iw4tlebGLIFGuYdY5mCPiiB0-ScEas0tYPmgqaxwnQk/s1600/Gascon+Cover.jpg" height="404" width="640" /></a></div>
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<b>The Chef and the
Book: </b>Pascal Aussignac is London’s unofficial ambassador of Gascon Cuisine
and Conspicuous Foie Gras Consumption. After training with <i>sud-ouest</i> master Alain Dutournier in Paris he decamped to London to
found a pocket-size <a href="http://www.gasconconnection.com/">restaurant-empire</a>
on the edge of the financial district (so far: one-star restaurant Club Gascon,
epicerie-cum-bistro Comptoir Gascon and wine bar Cellar Gascon). It vaguely
reminds me of Christian Constant’s <a href="http://www.slate.fr/story/4211/le-mini-empire-de-christian-constant">7<sup>th</sup> arrondisement mini-empire</a> in Paris, just
with a higher duck count.</div>
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<o:p></o:p></div>
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His book <i>Cuisinier
Gascon</i> is an enticing combination of the old and the new. Think of it as <a href="http://morecookbooksthansense.blogspot.co.uk/2012/09/two-bookcooks-to-watch-out-for-koffmann.html"><i>Memories of Gascony</i></a><i> </i>for millennials (Pierre Koffmann even
provides the foreword). While regional classics like <i>garbure, poule au pot </i>and <i>cassoulet
</i>get a look-in, the spine of the book is the more contemporary cuisine served
at Club Gascon. This is unmistakably bolshy, rustic food (think duck hearts
with spinach, or beef fillet with oyster sauce) but dotted with off-beat cheffy
touches - foie gras with popcorn, pigeon with onion & elderflower and, most
outrageously, that turron foie gras. There are many regional cuisine books and
many cheffy books, but this is one of the few unmistakably regional cheffy
books.<o:p></o:p></div>
Jon Tsenghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01916149961326205602noreply@blogger.com51tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6732049007302130204.post-950226157019730082014-06-08T07:00:00.000+01:002014-06-08T07:00:00.593+01:00Seven Days of Foie Gras 7): Roast Smoked Foie Gras With Onion Mousse from Aiden Byrne<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
<i>Continuing this week's series highlighting seven great foie gras recipes and the cookbooks behind them. Previous entries:</i></div>
<div>
<ol>
<li><i><a href="http://morecookbooksthansense.blogspot.com/2014/06/seven-days-of-foie-gras-1-shaved-foie.html">Shaved Foie Gras, Lychee & Pine Nut Brittle from the Momofuku Cookbook</a></i></li>
<li><i><a href="http://morecookbooksthansense.blogspot.com/2014/06/seven-days-of-foie-gras-2-foie-gras.html">Foie Gras Ganache from Aquavit and the New Scandinavian Cuisine</a></i></li>
<li><i><a href="http://morecookbooksthansense.blogspot.com/2014/06/seven-days-of-foie-gras-3-steamed-foie.html">Steamed Foie Gras with Broad Beans and Peas from Essential Cuisine</a></i></li>
<li><i><a href="http://morecookbooksthansense.blogspot.com/2014/06/seven-days-of-foie-gras-4-whole-roasted.html">Whole Roasted Moulard Foie Gras with Apples and Black Truffles from the French Laundry Cookbook</a></i></li>
<li><i><a href="http://morecookbooksthansense.blogspot.com/2014/06/seven-days-of-foie-gras-5-hot-foie-gras.html">Hot Foie Gras, Lentilles du Pays, Sherry Vinegar Sauce from White Heat</a></i></li>
<li><a href="http://morecookbooksthansense.blogspot.com/2014/06/seven-days-of-foie-gras-6-foie-gras.html"><i>Foie Gras Five Ways from Charlie Trotter's Meat & Game</i></a></li>
</ol>
<h2>
<span style="font-size: x-large; font-weight: normal;">Recipe 7: Roast Smoked Foie Gras with Onion Mousse</span></h2>
</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi875USzYZuZzDuKNyZmQqhTYwyxh1rZ1Cphb_4nrp3PoowGRZ_WDSckp5D_wrTMBgfzABdr0qX740fELMVEjl_Av2s5WMMgOBokmFoZ7aEF_8YArV61AtqOaKd3AZddU-GgTbyRC6z3-wZ/s1600/Aiden+Foie+Gras.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi875USzYZuZzDuKNyZmQqhTYwyxh1rZ1Cphb_4nrp3PoowGRZ_WDSckp5D_wrTMBgfzABdr0qX740fELMVEjl_Av2s5WMMgOBokmFoZ7aEF_8YArV61AtqOaKd3AZddU-GgTbyRC6z3-wZ/s1600/Aiden+Foie+Gras.jpg" height="392" width="640" /></a></div>
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<b>The dish:</b> A
tranche of foie gras is hot-smoked over wood before being pan-fried until
golden-brown and just soft in the center. It’s served alongside a set custard
of white onions and parmesan studded with caramelised baby onions, a spoonful
of stock, and nothing more.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<b>Why it’s special:</b>
This is a dish I enjoyed many years ago at the Dorchester Grill. At first sight
this is a traditional hot-foie-gras- with-something-sweet dish. However two
things elevate Byrne’s version. Firstly there are the extra little grace notes
– smoking the foie gras; using a sweet onion custard rather than the usual
fruit sludge. They lift it above the ordinary. Second there’s a certain sense
of restraint. Lesser chefs would be tempted to smother it with an extra slick
of this or an extra crunch of that. Here the two main components stand alone.
It’s a reminder that at the highest levels of cuisine, less is often more.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgky0kItb3GfvZC25JEPPc1nyX0VSkoYhD4DFrxSCMx3FvqWGAoDM2gmVBtuH4N2yBZW6EYzRcoCnbmCvYI_FXeUsW1On_fvASEVfHdq-wP4Yk6d-EgPxWY_jkhu-N8d4oHhKt8_OdlWnEo/s1600/Aiden+Cover.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgky0kItb3GfvZC25JEPPc1nyX0VSkoYhD4DFrxSCMx3FvqWGAoDM2gmVBtuH4N2yBZW6EYzRcoCnbmCvYI_FXeUsW1On_fvASEVfHdq-wP4Yk6d-EgPxWY_jkhu-N8d4oHhKt8_OdlWnEo/s1600/Aiden+Cover.jpg" height="382" width="640" /></a></div>
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<b>The chef and the
book: </b>Aiden Byrne is possibly the world’s unluckiest chef. After
apprenticing in a number of fine kitchens around the UK (Adlards, Tom Aikens
etc.) he finally got his big break as head chef at the Dorchester Hotel. Then,
just as he was <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2007/may/27/foodanddrink.restaurants">starting
to make waves</a> with his <a href="https://www.google.co.uk/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=9&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=0CH0QFjAI&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffoodsnobblog.wordpress.com%2F2008%2F10%2F23%2Fthe-grill-at-the-dorchester-london%2F&ei=McCJU5anKMGZPZ3vgOAH&usg=AFQjCNHPkqJvYvhjocTLnXYjK8KfZW6lCA&sig2=bzl_e2falj6GEr46fMDEng">snappy
modern British food</a>, management decided to install a certain <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2007/dec/30/foodanddrink.restaurants">M.
Ducasse</a> in the restaurant across the hall, which took our Aiden from
flagship to sidekick sooner than you could say “have you nicked my truffles
again Alain?” Undaunted he decamped to a gastropub in Cheshire only to find
that the locals didn’t really appreciate “fayn dining” (it’s a North/South
divide thing). He is now at the theatrical <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2013/nov/30/manchester-house-aiden-byrne-restaurant-review-jay-rayner">Manchester
House</a>, still chasing stars. I wish him well – he deserves a break!<o:p></o:p></div>
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In between gigs he published the wildly underrated <i>Made in Great Britain</i>. This is one of
the most delicious, unpretentious chefbooks of recent years. Despite the title,
it doesn’t harp on about some ersatz British cuisine like, say, <a href="http://morecookbooksthansense.blogspot.co.uk/2014/01/historic-heston-by-heston-blumenthal.html">Historic
Heston</a>. Nor it is an exhaustive personal story like the <a href="http://morecookbooksthansense.blogspot.co.uk/2013/07/signatures-momofuku-pork-buns-david.html">Momofuku</a>
or <a href="http://morecookbooksthansense.blogspot.co.uk/2012/11/signatures-black-cod-with-miso-nobu.html">Nobu</a>
books. It simply presents a dazzling sequence of dishes featuring (primarily)
British ingredients.<o:p></o:p></div>
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This is a book which lives or dies by its recipes (some of the highlights shown below). They are
what makes it such as great work. A few themes particularly stand out:</div>
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<ul>
<li><b>The first is a certain lightness and
freshness,</b> exemplified in a lovely summer Tomato and Peach Salad with Pine
Nut Vinaigrette or zingy composition of Chicken Breast with Lemon, Rosemary and
Figs. Despite Byrne’s roots in a Liverpool council estate, there is an almost
Italian sensibility at play.</li>
<li><b>The second
is a sense of restraint</b> – there are rarely more than two or three components
on the plate (e.g. the Veal Fillet with Lobster, Apple Fondants and Jabugo
Ham). NB this isn’t St John “raw peas on a plate” simplicity; the dishes are
undeniably complex but as I said earlier Byrne has the rare ability to sense
what <i>not</i> to put on the plate.</li>
<li><b>The third are the flavour combinations.</b>
Everywhere you look there are interesting little touches – scallops poached in
red wine with scallop tripe, pork chop with pear and hawthorn flowers, vension
baked with Polish bison-grass. These are unusual, almost pastoral, pairings but
ones which make sense rather than only being included for shock value. Highly
recommended.</li>
</ul>
<i>Coming up tomorrow: One last sweet little bonus!</i><br />
<br />
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<o:p></o:p></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiF9O_Ggzr6FDfZxrRw5gE5rDIE-CKIgbC7HPA3Nh0XTnUMXP5gIZXC3A1ZnzLEsbAbreXqFJR9Ec2cpY3D9SFbJXAGFJgk_1tEeArViTC3IGw9tm-t_QoMj_sjULR40BNem5j5uTQL6T8f/s1600/Aiden+Scallop.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; display: inline !important; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiF9O_Ggzr6FDfZxrRw5gE5rDIE-CKIgbC7HPA3Nh0XTnUMXP5gIZXC3A1ZnzLEsbAbreXqFJR9Ec2cpY3D9SFbJXAGFJgk_1tEeArViTC3IGw9tm-t_QoMj_sjULR40BNem5j5uTQL6T8f/s1600/Aiden+Scallop.jpg" height="390" width="640" /></a><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgsJtlJ3dEe58PhdAdnYJInGV3f_lnbmzrP6KJ76MUpElsTK7K8lK_-sY0cr20qDNyR5e_9om-As9WVFcigdbavkA5yVLwAUTxWdg00oUkDsAaYwoeaOAskGHbaPKBrKKr63It1c9YI2lKH/s1600/Aiden+Pork+Venison.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; display: inline !important; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgsJtlJ3dEe58PhdAdnYJInGV3f_lnbmzrP6KJ76MUpElsTK7K8lK_-sY0cr20qDNyR5e_9om-As9WVFcigdbavkA5yVLwAUTxWdg00oUkDsAaYwoeaOAskGHbaPKBrKKr63It1c9YI2lKH/s1600/Aiden+Pork+Venison.jpg" height="392" width="640" /></a>Jon Tsenghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01916149961326205602noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6732049007302130204.post-92087651029760044132014-06-07T07:00:00.000+01:002014-06-07T23:04:29.134+01:00Seven Days of Foie Gras: 6) Foie Gras Five Ways from Charlie Trotter<i>Continuing this week's series highlighting seven great foie gras recipes and the cookbooks behind them. Previous entries:</i><br />
<div>
<ol>
<li><i><a href="http://morecookbooksthansense.blogspot.com/2014/06/seven-days-of-foie-gras-1-shaved-foie.html">Shaved Foie Gras, Lychee & Pine Nut Brittle from the Momofuku Cookbook</a></i></li>
<li><i><a href="http://morecookbooksthansense.blogspot.com/2014/06/seven-days-of-foie-gras-2-foie-gras.html">Foie Gras Ganache from Aquavit and the New Scandinavian Cuisine</a></i></li>
<li><i><a href="http://morecookbooksthansense.blogspot.com/2014/06/seven-days-of-foie-gras-3-steamed-foie.html">Steamed Foie Gras with Broad Beans and Peas from Essential Cuisine</a></i></li>
<li><i><a href="http://morecookbooksthansense.blogspot.com/2014/06/seven-days-of-foie-gras-4-whole-roasted.html">Whole Roasted Moulard Foie Gras with Apples and Black Truffles from the French Laundry Cookbook</a></i></li>
<li><a href="http://morecookbooksthansense.blogspot.com/2014/06/seven-days-of-foie-gras-5-hot-foie-gras.html"><i>Hot Foie Gras, Lentilles du Pays, Sherry Vinegar Sauce from White Heat</i></a></li>
</ol>
<h2>
<span style="font-size: x-large; font-weight: normal;">Recipe 6: Foie Gras Five Ways</span></h2>
</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjSVFRKEZIUk_dEHRgAoI5Sj8NRM1YkPJYaDvnP9X1Is__qfRKWHiiYm9_-LcYw5fM9kDObr2yH1Naicroo9c9tbuP_LDyttKnhOwXI0a-QA6YIQFy2XbadxZF2Bi1OUxug8PKzuXZbB6lo/s1600/CT+Recipe.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjSVFRKEZIUk_dEHRgAoI5Sj8NRM1YkPJYaDvnP9X1Is__qfRKWHiiYm9_-LcYw5fM9kDObr2yH1Naicroo9c9tbuP_LDyttKnhOwXI0a-QA6YIQFy2XbadxZF2Bi1OUxug8PKzuXZbB6lo/s1600/CT+Recipe.jpg" height="428" width="640" /></a></div>
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhFzbD9l4Pru_83ZJLEpdLbkF57YvsxeMgwIomcA1Grao13yiBuVSdoamAHnJoI1pKjtImEvecjs-gD5EDxYx497KHA4-960OTbKY7BPSudy4xLKQ6RiQ7BAH61qDJK2tM6tNoK0W7r3cFw/s1600/CT+Pic.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; display: inline !important; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhFzbD9l4Pru_83ZJLEpdLbkF57YvsxeMgwIomcA1Grao13yiBuVSdoamAHnJoI1pKjtImEvecjs-gD5EDxYx497KHA4-960OTbKY7BPSudy4xLKQ6RiQ7BAH61qDJK2tM6tNoK0W7r3cFw/s1600/CT+Pic.jpg" height="432" width="640" /></a><br />
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<br /></div>
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<b>The dish:</b> This is a mighty composite plate comprising five
separate foie gras preparations.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
</div>
<ol>
<li><span style="text-indent: -18pt;">Seared foie gras served with braised cabbage and
golden raisins.</span></li>
<li><span style="text-indent: -18pt;">A foie gras terrine interleaved with slices of
Buddha’s hand fruit (no I’ve got no idea either; apparently it’s a type of
exotic citrus).</span></li>
<li><span style="text-indent: -18pt;">Another terrine of cured foie gras, smothered
with a chanterelle gelee.</span></li>
<li><span style="text-indent: -18pt;">A foie gras custard (basically foie gras crème
brulee without the brulee).</span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: 7pt; text-indent: -18pt;"> </span><span style="text-indent: -18pt;">A foie gras and apple ice-cream.</span></li>
</ol>
<br />
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<o:p></o:p></div>
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<o:p></o:p></div>
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<o:p></o:p></div>
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<o:p></o:p></div>
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<o:p></o:p></div>
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<b>Why it’s special:</b>
This dish might as well be called “Heart Attack Five Ways”. I’m not going to
claim it’s the most radically inventive plate ever created (although there are
nice touches, like the Buddha’s hand fruit and the ice-cream). However as a
set-piece shock-and-awe assault on the palate and the arteries it cannot be
matched. <o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgnxY_FXclqgCKk6FD1R85WMRURG7s7nGQ0PU8Zg9WRbnd26FilM1t7UrtOYEW_AQjSMsa5_VQisLyd9l6uJwuZHhiK_d1T9dmZyaO68PjiW13flRTDPBy-XTDQZF6zi7GSLmz8tsKa330s/s1600/CT+Cover.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgnxY_FXclqgCKk6FD1R85WMRURG7s7nGQ0PU8Zg9WRbnd26FilM1t7UrtOYEW_AQjSMsa5_VQisLyd9l6uJwuZHhiK_d1T9dmZyaO68PjiW13flRTDPBy-XTDQZF6zi7GSLmz8tsKa330s/s1600/CT+Cover.jpg" height="434" width="640" /></a></div>
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<br /></div>
<br />
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<b>The chef and the
book: </b>The late Charlie Trotter is a controversial figure in the foie gras
world – it was his original decision to ban it from his restaurant that lit the
touch paper for the acrimonious Chicago foie gras ban. This book dates from
just before that announcement so we have the peculiar picture of him cutely
shooing chicks at a foie gras farm (see scan below), despite later claiming <a href="http://articles.chicagotribune.com/2005-10-05/features/0510040325_1_force-fed-ducks-dish">it
was just such a visit</a> which turned him against foie gras. However I much
prefer to focus on the book itself which is IMHO the highlight of his
blockbuster quintet of <i>Charlie Trotter’s</i>
cookbooks. Even though he predates the molecular wave, we shouldn’t forget how
much we owe him for his improvisional style and (for the time) daring flavour
combinations. This is a must-have volume full of big, ballsy, beefy flavours.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br />
<i>Coming up tomorrow: We end the series with the world's unluckiest chef (and author of one of the worlds most underrated cookbooks)...</i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<o:p></o:p></div>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh-DjVP9suGoPgPa2hO_qOdBHZDIKTuHL2wEFvKlzl2vsh0dcX3n18AIrO4BI8HF9qalUwOOM46eQSZBLLeuhag21FEskKMkbee7g3eORGcxPAwFCchAtps0OP2ul7wpKSg6yY7p7HiGnFP/s1600/CT+Chicks.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh-DjVP9suGoPgPa2hO_qOdBHZDIKTuHL2wEFvKlzl2vsh0dcX3n18AIrO4BI8HF9qalUwOOM46eQSZBLLeuhag21FEskKMkbee7g3eORGcxPAwFCchAtps0OP2ul7wpKSg6yY7p7HiGnFP/s1600/CT+Chicks.jpg" height="462" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>Charlie relaxes with a few feathered friends...</i></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div>
<br /></div>
Jon Tsenghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01916149961326205602noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6732049007302130204.post-55518742553661578112014-06-06T07:00:00.000+01:002014-06-06T07:00:00.540+01:00Seven Days of Foie Gras: 5) Hot Foie Gras, Lentilles Du Pays, Sherry Vinegar Sauce from Marco Pierre White<div>
<i>Continuing this week's series highlighting seven great foie gras recipes and the cookbooks behind them. Previous entries:</i></div>
<div>
<ol>
<li><i><a href="http://morecookbooksthansense.blogspot.com/2014/06/seven-days-of-foie-gras-1-shaved-foie.html">Shaved Foie Gras, Lychee & Pine Nut Brittle from the Momofuku Cookbook</a></i></li>
<li><i><a href="http://morecookbooksthansense.blogspot.com/2014/06/seven-days-of-foie-gras-2-foie-gras.html">Foie Gras Ganache from Aquavit and the New Scandinavian Cuisine</a></i></li>
<li><i><a href="http://morecookbooksthansense.blogspot.com/2014/06/seven-days-of-foie-gras-3-steamed-foie.html">Steamed Foie Gras with Broad Beans and Peas from Essential Cuisine</a></i></li>
<li><i><a href="http://morecookbooksthansense.blogspot.com/2014/06/seven-days-of-foie-gras-4-whole-roasted.html">Whole Roasted Moulard Foie Gras with Apples and Black Truffles from the French Laundry Cookbook</a></i></li>
</ol>
<h2>
<span style="font-size: x-large; font-weight: normal;">Recipe 5: Hot Foie Gras, Lentilles du Pays, Sherry Vinegar Sauce</span></h2>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgYWGbFIhCYbjhVSsXAzAWEdAz9jJRDEemV0EE57lILNYO5bJr8Do_50e9N9sdis00V0o-1a8zSVjdn6XnEHd9RUf4rQ1kUPeTqIVlGiUPIxXSMFwZYlyQrjUihDEkm1J5dE0NKT13bYFYj/s1600/White+Heat+Recipe.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgYWGbFIhCYbjhVSsXAzAWEdAz9jJRDEemV0EE57lILNYO5bJr8Do_50e9N9sdis00V0o-1a8zSVjdn6XnEHd9RUf4rQ1kUPeTqIVlGiUPIxXSMFwZYlyQrjUihDEkm1J5dE0NKT13bYFYj/s1600/White+Heat+Recipe.jpg" height="400" width="305" /></a></div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
<b>The dish: </b>An
escalope of foie gras (almost certainly goose, given the vintage of the book) is
fried until just brown and crunchy and served on a bed of braised lentils and
garnished with ceps. The dish is finished with a demi-glace spiked with sherry
vinegar and a touch of cream.</div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
PS At the risk of being a pedant I have to say the fungi in the picture look a damn sight more like chantarelles than ceps to me! And I'd wager good money those are actually <i>lentilles du puy</i>, not <i>lentilles du pays</i>... :-p</div>
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<div>
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<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b>Why it’s special: </b>Mixing
humble and haute ingredients is an old kitchen trope. Robuchon did it with his
cauliflower cream and caviar; Thomas Keller with his oysters and tapioca
pearls. This is Marco Pierre White’s version – allegedly inspired by pork pies
with mushy peas/vinegar (squint and you might see a slight resemblance). Although
the recipe and techniques are slightly dated now (why use demi-glace when you
have a cryo-filtration rig?) the combination – rich buttery foie gras and
earthy piquant lentils is a good one; Robuchon’s <i>Cuisine Actuelle</i> also has a version (reproduced at the end of this post) where he steams the foie gras
and presents it on a soup-like lentil cream.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgkG4oTawkgVqXuogoBbxVbmPNZunLQHurEhIbSZ0PDQiWKn8oU2BXzaGc-Yin-3weztkn55mT-GYd9nPYpUUiWajdpfp-GZjHZsOSWMe9dfcFzYLvovzr1ldLSq3XGKrxY9YeYMvZevwT-/s1600/White+Heat+Cover.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgkG4oTawkgVqXuogoBbxVbmPNZunLQHurEhIbSZ0PDQiWKn8oU2BXzaGc-Yin-3weztkn55mT-GYd9nPYpUUiWajdpfp-GZjHZsOSWMe9dfcFzYLvovzr1ldLSq3XGKrxY9YeYMvZevwT-/s1600/White+Heat+Cover.jpg" height="349" width="640" /></a><br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><br /></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b>The chef and the book:</b>
Marco, Marco. Another chef who needs no introduction. Three Michelin stars at
the age of 33, and it’s been downhill ever since. Last seen getting <a href="http://www.birminghammail.co.uk/whats-on/food-drink-news/marco-pierre-whites-birmingham-restaurant-7134153">slammed
by hygiene inspectors</a> in Birmingham – how far you have fallen! But in his
time he gave us some great food and one truly iconic cookbook. <a href="http://morecookbooksthansense.blogspot.co.uk/2012/09/before-they-were-famous-mpw-ramsay.html"><i>White Heat</i></a> was a genuine revolution.
Just as Jaws spawned the summer blockbuster, every soft-focus cheffy book owes
its origins to Marco and his photographer Bob Carlos Clark. Up until <i>White Heat</i> the food was the star, after <i>White Heat</i> the chef was the star.<o:p></o:p><br />
<i><br /></i>
<i>Coming up tomorrow: Shock and Awe from Chicago's controversial culinary godfather...</i></div>
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<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEidT5tjoZhtGyjU95O8OXqvcwHm4zmcdMtc0gH7xrl0jtdKdMAmzRsQVd7HKhOQpGlklnWjUrMTPleeUzunj5la_vch-CrVBWaFKQ12ru8zQHLQcAJ34klG45_ZHrImj2USynGHRrfEUObY/s1600/Robuchon+Recipe.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEidT5tjoZhtGyjU95O8OXqvcwHm4zmcdMtc0gH7xrl0jtdKdMAmzRsQVd7HKhOQpGlklnWjUrMTPleeUzunj5la_vch-CrVBWaFKQ12ru8zQHLQcAJ34klG45_ZHrImj2USynGHRrfEUObY/s1600/Robuchon+Recipe.jpg" height="278" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>Joel Robuchon's alternative foie-gras-meets-lentil recipe</i></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
</div>
</div>
Jon Tsenghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01916149961326205602noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6732049007302130204.post-70456622708333425692014-06-05T07:00:00.000+01:002014-06-05T20:31:01.242+01:00Seven Days of Foie Gras: 4) Whole Roasted Moulard Duck Foie Gras with Apples and Black Truffles from Thomas Keller<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<div>
<i>Continuing this week's series highlighting seven great foie gras recipes and the cookbooks behind them. Previous entries:</i></div>
<div>
<ol>
<li><i><a href="http://morecookbooksthansense.blogspot.com/2014/06/seven-days-of-foie-gras-1-shaved-foie.html">Shaved Foie Gras, Lychee & Pine Nut Brittle from the Momofuku Cookbook</a></i></li>
<li><i><a href="http://morecookbooksthansense.blogspot.com/2014/06/seven-days-of-foie-gras-2-foie-gras.html">Foie Gras Ganache from Aquavit and the New Scandinavian Cuisine</a></i></li>
<li><a href="http://morecookbooksthansense.blogspot.com/2014/06/seven-days-of-foie-gras-3-steamed-foie.html"><i>Steamed Foie Gras with Broad Beans and Peas from Essential Cuisine</i></a></li>
</ol>
<h2>
<span style="font-size: x-large; font-weight: normal;">Recipe 4: Whole Roasted Moulard Duck Foie Gras with Apples and Black Truffles</span></h2>
</div>
<div>
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgMINgS1YCVwUplhyphenhyphen9ZiWbVkOc1Ehi9ObembBK3BIcUcADmBBpocpf3x65fV8RC8q9sR2_NKPjSsjSiy2ylCtamqStWRUiROQclF_Zi18g-2rVRBNx9ZdwzqHS0_Zp0OdZIc5wuplAirLJP/s1600/FL+Recipe.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgMINgS1YCVwUplhyphenhyphen9ZiWbVkOc1Ehi9ObembBK3BIcUcADmBBpocpf3x65fV8RC8q9sR2_NKPjSsjSiy2ylCtamqStWRUiROQclF_Zi18g-2rVRBNx9ZdwzqHS0_Zp0OdZIc5wuplAirLJP/s1600/FL+Recipe.jpg" height="236" width="640" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b>The dish:</b> A whole
duck foie gras is scored, seared and then roasted in the oven for five minutes
until slightly soft, like a rare steak. The liver is rested and sliced, while
in the meantime apple pieces and truffles are sautéed together in the rendered
fat and served on this side.<o:p></o:p><br />
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b>Why it’s special:</b>
Cooking a whole foie gras is a rare and festive dish which you almost never see
in restaurants (aside from the cost, it just doesn’t work in a traditional individual-plated-portion
setting). This rarity makes it a magical dish – <a href="http://carolcookskeller.blogspot.co.uk/2007/12/whole-roasted-moulard-duck-foie-gras.html">serving
up a whole foie gras</a> sends a certain message about generosity and luxury which
you just couldn’t with a comparable weight of individual portions. Do bear in
mind this dish isn’t one for the faint-hearted due to the main ingredient’s
alarming tendency to melt away to a puddle almost as fast as you can cook it.<br />
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhbJWt2sue2kXR957Wuus4jZSymOlDcaOIPI_OlsYThbCpI6Tzp5FIsz4d2ujubFu97bH9n5Sb-uNgEB2SmjB79UdQG-eIgydnANE_LiBnQOdmUPn7REqI7wejHRsq_GDZ-lnASCXx7ZNvk/s1600/FL+Cover.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhbJWt2sue2kXR957Wuus4jZSymOlDcaOIPI_OlsYThbCpI6Tzp5FIsz4d2ujubFu97bH9n5Sb-uNgEB2SmjB79UdQG-eIgydnANE_LiBnQOdmUPn7REqI7wejHRsq_GDZ-lnASCXx7ZNvk/s1600/FL+Cover.jpg" height="312" width="640" /></a></div>
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<b><br /></b></div>
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<b><br /></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b>The chef and the book:
</b>Neither really need any introduction. I would say though that the French
Laundry Cookbook is also one of the best hands-on books for foie gras you will
find anywhere. There is an extensive spread going through the cooking options
and preparation techniques (including the dreaded deveining process) and along
with the roast foie gras there are also an <a href="http://carolcookskeller.blogspot.co.uk/2008/03/gewrztraminer-poached-moulard-duck-foie.html">unusual
poached foie-gras recipe</a> (cooked in Gewurztraminer) as well as Keller’s
famous <a href="http://carolcookskeller.blogspot.co.uk/2007/07/poached-moulard-duck-foie-gras-au.html">foie
gras au torchon</a> where the liver is not so much cooked as barely melted
together. Also don’t miss Keller’s iconic description of what a perfect hot
foie gras looks like on p105:</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<i>… you need the proper
thickness-three quarters of an inch to 1 inch-for the three textures you want
in perfectly sautéed foie gras: a crisp exterior, an almost-molten interior,
and a very slim center this is firm because it’s still rare</i>.</blockquote>
<i>Coming up tomorrow: A humble take on pork pies and vinegar from one of Britain's greatest chefs.</i></div>
Jon Tsenghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01916149961326205602noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6732049007302130204.post-44353748068511073072014-06-04T07:00:00.000+01:002014-06-04T07:21:54.734+01:00Seven Days of Foie Gras: 3) Steamed Foie Gras with Salad Of Broad Beans and Peas from Stefano Cavallini<div>
<i>Continuing this week's series highlighting seven great foie gras recipes and the cookbooks behind them. Previous entries:</i></div>
<div>
<ol>
<li><i><a href="http://morecookbooksthansense.blogspot.com/2014/06/seven-days-of-foie-gras-1-shaved-foie.html">Shaved Foie Gras, Lychee & Pine Nut Brittle from the Momofuku Cookbook</a></i></li>
<li><i><a href="http://morecookbooksthansense.blogspot.com/2014/06/seven-days-of-foie-gras-2-foie-gras.html">Foie Gras Ganache from Aquavit and the New Scandinavian Cuisine</a></i></li>
</ol>
<h2>
<span style="font-size: x-large; font-weight: normal;">Recipe 3: Steamed Foie Gras with Broad Beans and Peas</span></h2>
</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjFZWNdotjcVAJLRdZNJ9vlsOxppRlblUeZC5007rDIL8Vvq_GJ2PtbECE3OqslwTII7a66ZZK51R38FkWq48m2aNs82u3gXBT_FF5ZeaUhuTSzKpm0DEB3TsnWCq6Xd8bVNIix-jwa3uWo/s1600/Cavellini+Recipe.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; display: inline !important; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjFZWNdotjcVAJLRdZNJ9vlsOxppRlblUeZC5007rDIL8Vvq_GJ2PtbECE3OqslwTII7a66ZZK51R38FkWq48m2aNs82u3gXBT_FF5ZeaUhuTSzKpm0DEB3TsnWCq6Xd8bVNIix-jwa3uWo/s1600/Cavellini+Recipe.jpg" height="406" width="640" /></a><br />
<div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><br /></b>
<b>The dish:</b> This is
a bright, summery dish. An escalope of foie gras is lightly steamed and laid on
a bed of ripe broad beans, peas and tomatoes. It is simply dressed with a
beetroot vinaigrette. That is all.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><br /></b>
<b>Why it’s special:</b>
Steaming or poaching is my favourite way of cooking foie gras. While you don’t
get the crispy crust of the sauté pan, it’s made up for by a much cleaner foie
gras flavour. And (unlike the terrine) you still get the bursting juiciness you
get as you bite into the hot liver. Unfortunately recipes which use this technique
are rare: Alain Senderens was famous in his time for steaming foie gras in a wrapping
of cabbage leaves and Joel Robuchon paired steamed foie gras with a lentil
cream, I struggle to think of many other versions. This recipe is also notable
for ditching the thuggish foie/fruit combination and instead opting for fresh,
green vegetable flavours.<br />
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg0ZsnLJ21dDmIrme1_zjNGb9Brsi-lU7-H-jPCS2ifK-Vi7tT_gzdmev_GAmol7CpQR4U4AYQMHtoQrl3M8n3KdqpR_vo7NFn3fQBUQKXK_l7DTx8KS6KkYlmVV9mIyH82TeV48r9GeIWN/s1600/Cavellini+Cover.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; display: inline !important; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg0ZsnLJ21dDmIrme1_zjNGb9Brsi-lU7-H-jPCS2ifK-Vi7tT_gzdmev_GAmol7CpQR4U4AYQMHtoQrl3M8n3KdqpR_vo7NFn3fQBUQKXK_l7DTx8KS6KkYlmVV9mIyH82TeV48r9GeIWN/s1600/Cavellini+Cover.jpg" height="398" width="640" /></a></div>
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<b>The chef and the book:</b>
Trained in Italy with Gualtiero Marchesi, Cavallini ran a one-star Italian at
London’s Halkin Hotel for a number of years. He dropped off the radar for a
number of years (I vaguely remember him running a deli in Clapham which seemed
a crying waste of his talents) but seems to have resurfaced recently at a
restaurant called <a href="http://www.baccolondon.co.uk/team.aspx">Bacco</a> so
maybe there is still hope. <i>Essential
Cuisine</i> is his only book, a modish late-90s translation for Italian cuisine
with Michelin-star accents. I wouldn’t say this is a must-have book but it’s a
pleasant read and contains an excellent step-by-step masterclass on risotto
Milanese (one of his mentor Marchesi’s most famous signatures).<o:p></o:p><br />
<br />
<i>Coming up tomorrow: A dish which doesn't do things by halves, from America's very own Mr Torchon.</i></div>
</div>
Jon Tsenghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01916149961326205602noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6732049007302130204.post-60114504806782577312014-06-03T06:00:00.000+01:002014-06-03T07:05:09.629+01:00Seven Days of Foie Gras: 2) Foie Gras Ganache from Marcus Samuelsson<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<i>Continuing this week's series highlighting seven great foie gras recipes and the cookbooks behind them. Previous entries:</i></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<ol>
<li><i><a href="http://morecookbooksthansense.blogspot.com/2014/06/seven-days-of-foie-gras-1-shaved-foie.html">Shaved Foie Gras, Lychee & Pine Nut Brittle from the Momofuku Cookbook</a></i></li>
</ol>
</div>
<br />
<h2>
<span style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: x-large;">Recipe 2: Foie Gras Ganache</span></span></h2>
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</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEilXkXQ2JZOagxHP8_qYWRdMlVahl9q_goJlbeyUXqFE1E1e8Jmw6CB7z32KKwL0VpXHoics-ohVFp-IJaglz-lhuRoifT1oRH0TioGlKn3MKccRYM9TeeY3IiCf_woUyGkjjv_B8Pl1xwL/s1600/Aquavit+Ganache.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEilXkXQ2JZOagxHP8_qYWRdMlVahl9q_goJlbeyUXqFE1E1e8Jmw6CB7z32KKwL0VpXHoics-ohVFp-IJaglz-lhuRoifT1oRH0TioGlKn3MKccRYM9TeeY3IiCf_woUyGkjjv_B8Pl1xwL/s1600/Aquavit+Ganache.jpg" height="290" width="640" /></a></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<b><br /></b></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<b>The dish:</b> This is
the signature of Ethiopian-Swedish-American chef (it’s a long story) Marcus
Samuelsson. Basically it’s the Michel Bras chocolate coulant cake, except its
spiced with garam masala and using foie gras instead of chocolate. It’s not
that hard to make, but as with many coulants the trick is to get the timing
exactly right so the outside is lightly browned by the centre is still liquid.</div>
<br />
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<b>Why it’s special: </b>This
is one of the most unusual foie gras dishes you will ever find – notable for
having no connection with either the traditional terrine or sautéed slice. It’s
also a rare example of crossover between the sweet and savoury kitchen – the
sort of thing that <a href="http://morecookbooksthansense.blogspot.co.uk/2012/09/if-youre-happy-and-you-know-it-richard.html">Michel
Richard</a> does well but no-one else quite manages to pull off.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiQEsrhmbvoUOdNp7pyt3dozSzB_8hUWlaVTUnjJjduERY1Cwd4oNA1lMLz-VZukJ8QhQTpdEdafgdWSyZGQWN8wtlI8VH05IVBra3VuGRUyMgdZlFtLetH5RlhioN654OC25L5LONM9G24/s1600/Aquavit+Cover.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiQEsrhmbvoUOdNp7pyt3dozSzB_8hUWlaVTUnjJjduERY1Cwd4oNA1lMLz-VZukJ8QhQTpdEdafgdWSyZGQWN8wtlI8VH05IVBra3VuGRUyMgdZlFtLetH5RlhioN654OC25L5LONM9G24/s1600/Aquavit+Cover.jpg" height="282" width="640" /></a></div>
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<b>The chef and the
book:</b> <i>Aquavit </i>is a sparkling
book, taken from the eponymous restaurant which won three NYT stars in its day
for its updated Scandinavian cuisine. The style could best be described as Nobu-meets-Nordic,
substituting salmon & lox for black cod & miso. As well as their use of
Scandi ingredients, the recipes are notable for a certain lightness of touch.
Stand-out dishes include Rice-Smoked Duck Breasts with Honey-Ice Wine Sauce,
Crispy Seared Salmon Bundles with Orange-Fennel Broth and half a dozen
different recipes for aquavit to get you through those long winter nights… (Having
said that Pickled Herring Sushi-Style on balls of mashed potato are probably a
fusion too far.)<o:p></o:p><br />
<br />
<i>Coming up tomorrow: Getting hot and steamy with a forgotten Italian star.</i></div>
Jon Tsenghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01916149961326205602noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6732049007302130204.post-31802196590199149262014-06-02T07:00:00.000+01:002014-06-04T07:20:02.021+01:00Seven Days of Foie Gras: 1) Shaved Foie Gras, Lychee and Pine Nut Brittle from David Chang<i>A follow-up to my
recent review of Ginor’s Foie Gras book. I’ve gone back and raided my bookshelf
to find other great ways with foie gras</i><i>. </i><i>Rather than one big essay</i><i> I thought
I’d try something different and spend a week and highlight seven individual
dishes with seven shorter daily posts. Here's the first - next one coming up the same time tomorrow.</i><br />
<br />
<h2>
<span style="font-size: x-large; font-weight: normal;">#firstworldproblems</span></h2>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgpLOvClde5pKS39_vvCgPlMTbewJt7Cw8vjdG16APsPqww6bMFfPMX42ov7u9LRxY-tGrFjEyE-MbqjMzhKQZvF88idew_lXMPYcqatB1Pm4zVn3JttspmTRzlT6gGzgBx0KKfTCOgTyJm/s1600/Terrine.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgpLOvClde5pKS39_vvCgPlMTbewJt7Cw8vjdG16APsPqww6bMFfPMX42ov7u9LRxY-tGrFjEyE-MbqjMzhKQZvF88idew_lXMPYcqatB1Pm4zVn3JttspmTRzlT6gGzgBx0KKfTCOgTyJm/s1600/Terrine.jpg" height="299" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>Not... another... bloody... terrine!</i></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
You know what? Sometimes even foie gras gets a bit dull.<br />
<br />
Nothing wrong with the taste of course. It's just that everyone only ever seems to cook it one of two ways.<br />
<ol>
<li>Either
it’s served up cold as a terrine, with some fruity mush on the side to cut the
richness or,</li>
<li>It’s served up hot as sautéed slices with – you guessed it – some
fruity mush on the side to cut the richness.</li>
</ol>
Not that I’m complaining of course! But nowadays I do tend
to shy away from ordering the foie gras in a restaurant because well, to be
honest, there’s only so many variations of foie gras + fruity mush a man can
take. Plus I’m perfectly capable of sautéing a piece of foie gras at home for
a fraction of the price Ducasse charges, and even making a terrine isn’t that
difficult once you get the hang of it (anyhow you can always do the cheats
version where you saute pieces of foie gras, cool, layer and weight them to
produce an ersatz-terrine).<br />
<br />
#firstworldproblems!<br />
<br />
Thankfully it doesn’t have to be this way. As the Ginor book
showed, there is a galaxy of other foie gras preparations out there without a
terrine or a fruit compote in sight. The problem is however that so few chefs
bother to make the effort.<br />
<br />
So to save you the time I had a dig around my bookshelf and
pulled out seven great foie gras recipes each which go beyond the conventional.<br />
<br />
Enjoy.<br />
<br />
<h2>
<span style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: x-large;">Recipe 1: Shaved Foie Gras with Lychee and Pine Nut Brittle</span></span></h2>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi_ENpZMdnin6bYffz4k-iR0Q_kI0JBWXT0OFemcXcIAWwRrQRjf8piljEPQosnPDJAjFilUPDVVvUS_L34Ea55h5mIm_36l6vHtnk2LOLxuQMCYIQ1exo4fIMEEPrNjnK1LXatLcM9hQTB/s1600/Momofuku+Recipe+1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi_ENpZMdnin6bYffz4k-iR0Q_kI0JBWXT0OFemcXcIAWwRrQRjf8piljEPQosnPDJAjFilUPDVVvUS_L34Ea55h5mIm_36l6vHtnk2LOLxuQMCYIQ1exo4fIMEEPrNjnK1LXatLcM9hQTB/s1600/Momofuku+Recipe+1.jpg" height="406" width="640" /></a></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhMY3PMx7YJcJUBKwkVU_rxGfm-DlNtXrVfVgUABJNmSBk3j3d6TVcdd3qWNIJq2VCUPZovar1-QFgIxekiV0VwuCYboP6e31PDR7as23uSAzE9MHJwXTdOmeQVfoHHR5YfdsH_xX2zT2GK/s1600/Momofuku+Recipe+2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhMY3PMx7YJcJUBKwkVU_rxGfm-DlNtXrVfVgUABJNmSBk3j3d6TVcdd3qWNIJq2VCUPZovar1-QFgIxekiV0VwuCYboP6e31PDR7as23uSAzE9MHJwXTdOmeQVfoHHR5YfdsH_xX2zT2GK/s1600/Momofuku+Recipe+2.jpg" height="408" width="640" /></a></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjNV4qMrJRThmQ9pyMEXwYr6nbmcFxO3kjB4vSX9N6eiYfdwD-5iT1bKFS6XAozHsF9THe9tWwpPjx0t77lWN7muA9OEo7FYzsTw41ADMq9ZiOoRlRwLlSHPnaOO2gtmdwHq92owC6-MX-l/s1600/Momofuku+Recipe+3.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjNV4qMrJRThmQ9pyMEXwYr6nbmcFxO3kjB4vSX9N6eiYfdwD-5iT1bKFS6XAozHsF9THe9tWwpPjx0t77lWN7muA9OEo7FYzsTw41ADMq9ZiOoRlRwLlSHPnaOO2gtmdwHq92owC6-MX-l/s1600/Momofuku+Recipe+3.jpg" height="408" width="640" /></a></div>
<br />
<br />
<b>The dish:</b> The
first dish is David Chang’s notorious shaved foie gras with lychees, the
signature dish at his high-end Momofuku Ko. Canned lychees (the cheaper/nastier
the better) are chopped, placed in a bowl and topped with a Riesling/rice
vinegar gelee and crushed pine-nut brittle (made with isomalt and glucose to
keep the sweetness in check). Finally a mound of frozen foie gras torchon is
shaved over the top with a microplane grater.<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<b><br /></b></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
<b>Why it’s special:</b>
This is a radical take on the tradition foie gras terrine + fruit combination.
What elevates it are two things. Firstly the textural contrast from the crunchy
brittle, the soft gelee and the melting snow-like foie gras. Second the
temperature contrast where the coldness of the foie gras keeps its overwhelming
fattiness in check. As Chang writes, <i>it
tastes almost light when you spoon it into your mouth, but as soon as it hits
the back of your tongue – boom! Creamy, fatty, sweet and cold. Delicious.</i></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
<i><br /></i></div>
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgKike1ns_y7wEimvyWCxYDx4lUpwwbyDJp_U-1P2suY8KdZKlnLcxvOgAQ71GCkpmzV1595FfhOnFYM9qwU26RI8xJvhD8DvjeosDE7Dr6EW8M2ANVFIN9B348yACiXMSPhj-tR6NjZNLd/s1600/Momofuku+Cover.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgKike1ns_y7wEimvyWCxYDx4lUpwwbyDJp_U-1P2suY8KdZKlnLcxvOgAQ71GCkpmzV1595FfhOnFYM9qwU26RI8xJvhD8DvjeosDE7Dr6EW8M2ANVFIN9B348yACiXMSPhj-tR6NjZNLd/s1600/Momofuku+Cover.jpg" height="392" width="640" /></a><br />
<b><span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><br /></span></b>
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><b><span style="line-height: 107%;">The
chef and the book: </span></b><span style="line-height: 107%;">I’ve
already written extensively about <a href="http://morecookbooksthansense.blogspot.co.uk/2013/07/david-chang-chef-who-makes-weather.html">David
Chang</a> and <a href="http://morecookbooksthansense.blogspot.co.uk/2013/07/signatures-momofuku-pork-buns-david.html">the
Momofuku cookbook</a>. Let is simply be known 1) David Chang <a href="http://ny.eater.com/archives/2009/03/on_the_house_4.php">is a badass</a>, 2)
all he cares about is making food delicious (viz the cheap and nasty tinned
lychees – if it works he will use it). 3) The pork buns ain’t bad either.</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="line-height: 107%;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="line-height: 107%;"><i>Coming up tomorrow: A classic dessert reinvented with foie gras by the world's most travelled chef.</i></span></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><br /></span>
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Jon Tsenghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01916149961326205602noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6732049007302130204.post-39694287056098371462014-05-26T12:42:00.000+01:002014-05-27T16:45:36.433+01:00Foie Gras: A Passion by Michael Ginor: Tour de Foies<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh6v7rBCKKo2LgJGiUuOiI3Itpxotintze6ZsxRgG_qFstIZTJTQwB2LQ71BBnjGDEsnL2Lapn-VqzoqRFkkH-oPM2ACUxl66piG2_s5NK7lF8_u8is_xHZhnVTrK14W_LC5A3VcEGO9nr6/s1600/Raw+Foie+Gras+Wikimedia+Commons.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh6v7rBCKKo2LgJGiUuOiI3Itpxotintze6ZsxRgG_qFstIZTJTQwB2LQ71BBnjGDEsnL2Lapn-VqzoqRFkkH-oPM2ACUxl66piG2_s5NK7lF8_u8is_xHZhnVTrK14W_LC5A3VcEGO9nr6/s1600/Raw+Foie+Gras+Wikimedia+Commons.jpg" height="264" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: left;"><i>Source: Wikimedia Commons</i></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
</div>
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<span style="color: #9fc5e8;"><i><br /></i></span>
<br />
<h4>
<span style="color: #9fc5e8;"><i>Easier than frying an egg</i></span></h4>
Foie gras is
one of those legendary foods, like truffles, sweetbreads and <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8y4MS7mSzX8&feature=kp">plumped
ortolans</a>, which tend to intimidate the home cook. Maybe it’s the cost,
maybe it’s the historical baggage, but I suspect the average chef would rather
tackle cloudberry soufflé for fifteen than prepare a foie gras terrine.<br />
<br /></div>
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<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh3GZn1RYkYZPeVR3L2zHb4oBwjPOdUGSMDM61kYnp1BbhDkIwWCvi8v_qoeguVXEWZ5UXv1Cddw2WPSZXUwXhavTJ4ILM4h3-V4sP3UiBFuaESzwRT2IwIC7H5CcWmqrShHHTfXZbhCuSi/s1600/FG+Fried+Egg.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh3GZn1RYkYZPeVR3L2zHb4oBwjPOdUGSMDM61kYnp1BbhDkIwWCvi8v_qoeguVXEWZ5UXv1Cddw2WPSZXUwXhavTJ4ILM4h3-V4sP3UiBFuaESzwRT2IwIC7H5CcWmqrShHHTfXZbhCuSi/s1600/FG+Fried+Egg.jpg" height="259" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="font-size: 13px; text-align: center;"><i>Not nearly as hard as you think</i></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
But that just ain't so.<br />
<br />
If you can
fry an egg <a href="http://www.seriouseats.com/2012/12/food-lab-pan-seared-foie-gras-how-to.html">then
you can cook foie gras</a>.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhNzbiubs_5WP4Fi2RUU81YzAboOBwVw780w4b4wJE3dL-MiKMuqQZX1lpi5RdKUy59PPyzYmTTMAFZ8sqZYEhXPbDJpOLn-cpjqzvSw8mLGMOLKqe8q0wrTGi7mtge0ws1FO5kF-gTvo2_/s1600/Cover.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em; text-align: center;"><br /></a>Simply carve some fat slices off a raw duck foie gras (about the width
of your thumb). Season and drop into a smoking-hot frying pan for thirty
seconds until a brown crust forms, flip, repeat (don’t be alarmed if it seems
to be melting away – after it is effectively a slab of slightly livery
duck-butter) and serve on toasted brioche points with a few segments of gently
warmed orange.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhNzbiubs_5WP4Fi2RUU81YzAboOBwVw780w4b4wJE3dL-MiKMuqQZX1lpi5RdKUy59PPyzYmTTMAFZ8sqZYEhXPbDJpOLn-cpjqzvSw8mLGMOLKqe8q0wrTGi7mtge0ws1FO5kF-gTvo2_/s1600/Cover.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em; text-align: center;"><br /></a></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhNzbiubs_5WP4Fi2RUU81YzAboOBwVw780w4b4wJE3dL-MiKMuqQZX1lpi5RdKUy59PPyzYmTTMAFZ8sqZYEhXPbDJpOLn-cpjqzvSw8mLGMOLKqe8q0wrTGi7mtge0ws1FO5kF-gTvo2_/s1600/Cover.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em; text-align: center;"><br /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhNzbiubs_5WP4Fi2RUU81YzAboOBwVw780w4b4wJE3dL-MiKMuqQZX1lpi5RdKUy59PPyzYmTTMAFZ8sqZYEhXPbDJpOLn-cpjqzvSw8mLGMOLKqe8q0wrTGi7mtge0ws1FO5kF-gTvo2_/s1600/Cover.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em; text-align: center;"><br /></a>The problem
then isn’t difficulty, or even expense (a generous portion of raw foie gas
doesn’t actually cost much more than a good filet mignon). <b><i>It’s simply unfamiliarity</i>.</b> Foie gras sits on a pedestal of
unapproachability <i>because people don’t
know any better</i>.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
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And there’s
also the image problem. In recent years foie gras has come under increasing
attack for the allegedly “cruelty” involved in its production. <i><b>Because of their unfamiliarity</b></i>, people simply swallow
that line that foie gras is “torture in a tin”. It becomes a guilty pleasure,
which people enjoy in spite of themselves.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
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That’s where
Michael Ginor comes in with his 1999 book <i>Foie Gras: A
Passion</i>.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhNzbiubs_5WP4Fi2RUU81YzAboOBwVw780w4b4wJE3dL-MiKMuqQZX1lpi5RdKUy59PPyzYmTTMAFZ8sqZYEhXPbDJpOLn-cpjqzvSw8mLGMOLKqe8q0wrTGi7mtge0ws1FO5kF-gTvo2_/s1600/Cover.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhNzbiubs_5WP4Fi2RUU81YzAboOBwVw780w4b4wJE3dL-MiKMuqQZX1lpi5RdKUy59PPyzYmTTMAFZ8sqZYEhXPbDJpOLn-cpjqzvSw8mLGMOLKqe8q0wrTGi7mtge0ws1FO5kF-gTvo2_/s1600/Cover.jpg" height="400" width="300" /></a></div>
</div>
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<br />
<br /></div>
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<h4>
<b><i><span style="color: #9fc5e8;">Magic
Mike</span></i></b></h4>
</div>
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</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhcOezPMkbwA4j-5tbwF7vx9yldzsAvj_L96-C7h2q_FEZTObVf0TiiMQu3wWI9Yp2sSiXlPqwsVz74ilB6rT_yiRBqqReM35vlH5jGO9H9Q4vBEaCIsf3e1HKztxsx_T1-OR6D_GZZk4rl/s1600/Ginor+Small.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhcOezPMkbwA4j-5tbwF7vx9yldzsAvj_L96-C7h2q_FEZTObVf0TiiMQu3wWI9Yp2sSiXlPqwsVz74ilB6rT_yiRBqqReM35vlH5jGO9H9Q4vBEaCIsf3e1HKztxsx_T1-OR6D_GZZk4rl/s1600/Ginor+Small.jpg" /></a></div>
Michael
Ginor is the Israeli/American co-founder of Hudson Valley, America’s largest
foie gras producer, and the godfather of the US foie gras trade. Softly-spoken
and philosophical, he has been one of the driving forces behind turning foie
gras in America from an unpronounceable French import into a fine-dining staple. More recently he has become the voice of reasonableness defending
his industry against the increasingly vocal anti-foie gras lobby.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
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More
importantly his book <i>Foie Gras: A
Passion</i> is the single best book on the subject ever written. Although he
clearly has a vested interested in promoting what he calls the “foie gras
gospel” this is so much more than a puff piece. The man is absolutely
passionate about what it does, and it shows.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgBPeicB8Cixr0AOe5A5Pd2wBCClHzodIamJiO7vsOToFfcMQohpd7VlouW70_SwOIkxRlP-gNk0owdsrNOJ-9MsL8wIwCEOniHUUIDwVCKl7JnQyz_q_1bpoRyJZlnhmAfBGaPn9Z_iRqO/s1600/Wiley+List.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgBPeicB8Cixr0AOe5A5Pd2wBCClHzodIamJiO7vsOToFfcMQohpd7VlouW70_SwOIkxRlP-gNk0owdsrNOJ-9MsL8wIwCEOniHUUIDwVCKl7JnQyz_q_1bpoRyJZlnhmAfBGaPn9Z_iRqO/s1600/Wiley+List.jpg" height="286" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>Phaidon would kill to have this line-up</i></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
The
publisher is Wiley; an academic house best known for the CIA (no not <i>that</i> CIA) textbook <a href="http://www.ciaprochef.com/fbi/books/professionalchef.html"><i>The Professional Chef</i></a> (which was,
until <i>Modernist Cuisine</i>, probably the
world’s heaviest cookbook). It’s a shame to pigeonhole them as a textbook-shop
though because they have also published some of the most significant food books
of the past twenty years – not least among them Dornenburg & Page’s ground-breaking
<a href="http://next-course.com/2012/05/29/book-review-culinary-artistry/"><i>Culinary Artistry</i></a>, <a href="http://eu.wiley.com/WileyCDA/WileyTitle/productCd-0471287695.html"><i>Grande Finales: The Art of the Plated
Dessert</i></a><i> </i>(the ultimate volume
of dessert-food-porn), and <a href="http://www.jimcooks.com/blog/index.php/cookbooks/">the works of James
Peterson</a>, the greatest teacher-chef since Jacques Pepin.</div>
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And Ginor’s <i>Foie Gras</i> is very much in keeping with
this grand tradition. What you get is actually two books in one – the first is
an exhaustive treatise running to nearly a hundred pages on the history,
production and usage of foie gras. The second part – and the heart of the book
- contains over eighty foie gras recipes contributed by the great and the good
of the (1999) culinary firmament.</div>
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<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
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Let’s take a
look.<o:p></o:p><br />
<br /></div>
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<h2>
<span style="font-size: x-large; font-weight: normal;">Foie Gras – The Potted History</span></h2>
</div>
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<h4>
<b><i><span style="color: #9fc5e8;">Ancient
history</span></i></b></h4>
</div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjyy218NBVFq1pYc3bEo9Cd1t_Out4rkpjV66GUklCQyd5cASP2eHBO0-SXVg0CFe9a_54lmuqBBOVHk7JZGR2PPRGpPI30pwHGinQVEDLgRiWhlo2vsXI0QOyEMQbq3zllevamZ3gInqZ1/s1600/Yehuda+Crop.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjyy218NBVFq1pYc3bEo9Cd1t_Out4rkpjV66GUklCQyd5cASP2eHBO0-SXVg0CFe9a_54lmuqBBOVHk7JZGR2PPRGpPI30pwHGinQVEDLgRiWhlo2vsXI0QOyEMQbq3zllevamZ3gInqZ1/s1600/Yehuda+Crop.jpg" height="269" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>The menu from the Yehuda Avazi grill in Tel Aviv. Foie<br />gras skewers cost 25 shekels (around $6 in 1999 money)</i></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
Ginor starts with his own story. His first taste of foie gras came not in some Parisian
temple but at a humble <a href="http://www.silverbrowonfood.com/silverbrow_on_food/2007/12/avazi.html">outdoor
grill in Tel Aviv</a> where skewers of charred foie gras were served up
alongside fries and freshly-based flatbreads (I guess that would be why they call
it the Promised Land… :-p).<o:p></o:p></div>
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He swiftly
moves on to the history of foie gras, a fascinating exercise in
culinary archaeology. He begins with the tomb reliefs of ancient Egypt, the
first known examples of <i>gavage</i>
(fattening waterfowl by force-feeding), and then follows the thread through the
writings and the raucous banquests of ancient Rome, where</div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiwwsLV3W39e-8EIFU1IIqzlxUXuX6znGioJ-3aVxysGCQCfkHUgvT31IxoUys_6RjxX6ju0Ft6JvRPLhWhKi2hoXOJPYcjJ8YTaU3Se_9R-B4tHy8Wj1VmvJeolwyDYHfsPMebwL7tcQTL/s1600/Egypt+Reliefs.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiwwsLV3W39e-8EIFU1IIqzlxUXuX6znGioJ-3aVxysGCQCfkHUgvT31IxoUys_6RjxX6ju0Ft6JvRPLhWhKi2hoXOJPYcjJ8YTaU3Se_9R-B4tHy8Wj1VmvJeolwyDYHfsPMebwL7tcQTL/s1600/Egypt+Reliefs.jpg" height="268" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>Ancient Egyptian carvings show the first recorded<br />examples of foie gras production</i></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<blockquote>
<span style="text-align: center;"><i>The livers were customarily served whole to
display their size and whiteness, then carved at the table. In this way, guests
could watch as the carver’s knife sliced into the soft flesh and the clear,
slightly pink juices ran onto the platter. The flavour and feel of the meat was
well suited to the Roman taste for luxury… the meat’s high percentage of fat
causes it to flow down the throat like warm cream.</i></span></blockquote>
</div>
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<i><o:p></o:p></i></div>
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From here he
follows the quest into the Dark Ages, unpicking the mystery of how foie gras
production was handed down after the fall of Rome. Although received wisdom is
that crafty French peasants kept the old ways alive, Ginor presents an
alternate theory that Ashkenazi Jews also plays a role, teasing out oblique
references fattening geese from the writings of medieval rabbis to support his thesis. The detective work is commendable.</div>
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<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
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<h4>
<b><i><span style="color: #9fc5e8;">French
lessons</span></i></b></h4>
</div>
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</div>
Once we
reach medieval Europe the story of foie gras also intertwines with another
tale, that of the rise of French cuisine and fine dining. So we see foie gras
described in La Varennes’ <i>Le Cuisinier
Francois</i>, the foundational text of French cookery (including an inevitable
pairing with truffles). As we move into the Renaissance we see recipes for foie
gras ragouts and <i>tourtes </i>(the
ancestor of the modern <i>foie gras en
croute</i>), as well as more outre preparations such as a stew of sea duck,
foie gras and chocolate (sounds like something Pierre Gagnaire might whip up today).</div>
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<br /></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgo8U4j74bAlewlo_9qfqAC8gSs8PJ-FcOCQoKeRNVokpP4PxTu1D6PzeHDcLpzsXnF9ITu4FYNhaMSYx20crRpoqF7St2AWUHHPJ5NQKzWNdmkfCJ0LhPuaf_HDePYy72d74bw8NX7ESMb/s1600/Careme+Ragout+Small.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgo8U4j74bAlewlo_9qfqAC8gSs8PJ-FcOCQoKeRNVokpP4PxTu1D6PzeHDcLpzsXnF9ITu4FYNhaMSYx20crRpoqF7St2AWUHHPJ5NQKzWNdmkfCJ0LhPuaf_HDePYy72d74bw8NX7ESMb/s1600/Careme+Ragout+Small.jpg" height="267" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>Careme's humble foie gras stew... :-x</i></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
Come the
Revolution the aristocrats go to the guillotine and their grand
houses are dissolved, which of course opens the way for the modern <i>restaurant</i> as hundreds of unemployed
country-house chefs rush to earn their keep. Foie gras is, of course, an
essential part of their toolkit and soon we are onto Careme, Escoffier and all
that jazz (e.g. Careme's <i>ragout a
la financiere</i> employing a small Strasbourg foie gras, half a pound of
truffles, cocks coms, kidneys and lamb sweetbreads :-x).<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br />
<br />
<br />
<br /></div>
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<h4>
<b><i><span style="color: #9fc5e8;">Foie
gras without the French</span></i></b></h4>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
However the
great strength of this account is that for Ginor's world doesn’t just revolve
around France. His American/Israeli background gives him a perspective which
most other Francophone (or Francophile) treatments lack. So he also presents a
number of interesting counterpoints to the thus-far French-driven narrative:<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
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<b>One
counterpoint is the British,</b> who stand aloof on the edge of the story. They are
the first to comment on the apparent cruelty of the force-feeding, something
which Ginor theorises prevented them from producing foie gras themselves.</div>
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<br /></div>
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<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgn7OK2wqnXQvKK3a5XvUGzUyy1FBt8aPcjbw9GZ7PX0m_YSA1nzRIPv5kj47SlQ1ZJg69zWU9OadHfdXNtYMYyg8FQGuLGib9k7hO2ss9QOvdQRCsCkwH19S6XF8JIj_poMXEBGTSfOSye/s1600/Rabbi+Foie+Gras+Crop.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgn7OK2wqnXQvKK3a5XvUGzUyy1FBt8aPcjbw9GZ7PX0m_YSA1nzRIPv5kj47SlQ1ZJg69zWU9OadHfdXNtYMYyg8FQGuLGib9k7hO2ss9QOvdQRCsCkwH19S6XF8JIj_poMXEBGTSfOSye/s1600/Rabbi+Foie+Gras+Crop.jpg" height="320" width="212" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>An Alsatian rabbi examines<br />a fattened goose</i></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<b>A second
counterpoint is Israel,</b> where Hungarian Holocaust survivors brought the secrets
of foie-gras preparation to the fledgling state in 1948 (which explains how
Ginor came across the delicacy that evening in Tel Aviv).<o:p></o:p></div>
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<b>But the last
and most important counterpoint is the American experience.</b> He provides a
potted history of the evolution for French restaurants in New York. We start
with Delmonico’s in the nineteenth century, serving up imported Strasbourg
pates for railway magnates like “Diamond Jim” Brady, who’s Rabelasian appetites
expanded his stomach to three times that of a normal man. Fast forward through
the Prohibition era and we have The Colony, a faux-Continental establishment
frequented by hard-drinking socialites and celebrities. However it is not until
the 1940s and Henri Soule’s Le Pavillon that haute cuisine really began to
arrive. The foie gras though, as Jacque Pepin discovered when he came to NY in
1959, was still tinned although enterprising French chefs ran a smuggling ring
shipping in the fresh stuff hidden in suitcases or cases of fish.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
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Then in the
1980s as American chefs started to discover their own cuisine, so they also
discovered domestically produced foie gras pioneered by Hudson Valley on the
East Coast and by Sonoma Foie Gras in California. This brings to story full
circle to Ginor’s day job – the raising of ducks and the production of foie
gras. This is where he speaks with real authority, which is important for the controversies that follow:<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br />
<br /></div>
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<h2>
<span style="font-size: x-large; font-weight: normal;">The Foie Gras Wars </span></h2>
</div>
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<br />
<h4>
<span style="color: #9fc5e8;"><i>Battle Stations...</i></span></h4>
</div>
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</div>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgEYnR4phxj5HZfoUF0aMESYH_4KOsJOMXKQkQIsPKSKMxpakmRIAWqpNd-wjKvfVUs1S4I4LSivd13Y7i8rG1PWKBKQQFUWf8wxY7OLHkYnkx3U8U63P2hvSFhPaH8HQklu144KUmo4rpa/s1600/faux+gras.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgEYnR4phxj5HZfoUF0aMESYH_4KOsJOMXKQkQIsPKSKMxpakmRIAWqpNd-wjKvfVUs1S4I4LSivd13Y7i8rG1PWKBKQQFUWf8wxY7OLHkYnkx3U8U63P2hvSFhPaH8HQklu144KUmo4rpa/s1600/faux+gras.jpg" height="320" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>Not to be confused with Foie Gras! Source: Ocado</i></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
In the
fifteen years since the publication of this book foie gras – hitherto a rather
rare and obscure delicacy – has become a controversial topic. Most famously,
California and Chicago both banned its sale (although the latter has since been
repealed). In the UK a campaign fronted by Roger Moore has persuaded middle-class
stalwarts Waitrose and Selfridges to stop carrying it (although Waitrose does
sell an endearing ersatz liver pate called Faux Gras; it resembles foie gras in
the same way that a Big Mac resembles a hamburger). France, of course, carries
inflating and slaughtering duck livers with merry abandon.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<h4>
<b><i><span style="color: #9fc5e8;">Three reasons why foie gras critics are wrong</span></i></b></h4>
A full
discussion of the rights and wrongs of foie gras is beyond the scope of this
review, <o:p></o:p></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhbeCj9jFNih6BAvKFWjWwF581vcMJYwcPX9YosaisqF8EYvsZ8H1S2a3Rhdt_ZknjFstrLRKtvh7124897jXJusXG2lcP22IvlsqrDbnF_keA5IGVRg9kvHs82lnWErx0wbGFSxQZkG7EZ/s1600/Foie+Gras+Banner+Ad+Fail.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><br /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhbeCj9jFNih6BAvKFWjWwF581vcMJYwcPX9YosaisqF8EYvsZ8H1S2a3Rhdt_ZknjFstrLRKtvh7124897jXJusXG2lcP22IvlsqrDbnF_keA5IGVRg9kvHs82lnWErx0wbGFSxQZkG7EZ/s1600/Foie+Gras+Banner+Ad+Fail.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><br /></a>but having
spent a <i>long</i> time ploughing through
material from both sides I would make the following points:<br />
<br />
<ul>
<li><b style="text-indent: -18pt;"><span style="color: #9fc5e8;">Many of
the arguments against foie gras are actually arguments against bad husbandry:</span> </b><span style="text-indent: -18pt;">The
anti-foie gras lobby tend to use highly emotive pictures of caged and rather
distressed looking birds. However they fail to make clear is why these are
arguments against foie gras. What they are really showing are arguments against bad animal
husbandry. There is nothing about keeping a duck in a cage which is intrinsic to the foie gras process (actually cages are not used in the US and will be phased out in Europe from next year). If you mistreat a duck you will get a sick duck, just as if
you mistreat a cow you will get a sick cow. But a sick cow is not an argument
against foie gras. What it <i>is</i>, is an argument against bad husbandry.</span></li>
</ul>
</div>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhbeCj9jFNih6BAvKFWjWwF581vcMJYwcPX9YosaisqF8EYvsZ8H1S2a3Rhdt_ZknjFstrLRKtvh7124897jXJusXG2lcP22IvlsqrDbnF_keA5IGVRg9kvHs82lnWErx0wbGFSxQZkG7EZ/s1600/Foie+Gras+Banner+Ad+Fail.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhbeCj9jFNih6BAvKFWjWwF581vcMJYwcPX9YosaisqF8EYvsZ8H1S2a3Rhdt_ZknjFstrLRKtvh7124897jXJusXG2lcP22IvlsqrDbnF_keA5IGVRg9kvHs82lnWErx0wbGFSxQZkG7EZ/s1600/Foie+Gras+Banner+Ad+Fail.png" height="320" width="180" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>Anti foie-gras piece overlaid<br />with amusing automated mobile<br />advert-targeting fail :-p</i></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<ul>
<li><b style="text-indent: -18pt;"><span style="color: #9fc5e8;">Many
arguments against foie gras are driven by misguided anthropomorphism: </span></b><span style="text-indent: -18pt;">Sticking
a feeding tube down <i>your</i> throat is cruel. Ergo sticking a feeding tube
down a duck’s throat is cruel right? Well no actually, </span><a href="http://www.seriouseats.com/2010/12/the-physiology-of-foie-why-foie-gras-is-not-u.html" style="text-indent: -18pt;">because of the simple fact that a duck isn’t a human</a><span style="text-indent: -18pt;">. For example, duck's throats are
lined with a keratinous (horn-like) coating because they are designed to ingest
spiny fish; compared to that a feeding tube is chickenfeed. What's more the tube doesn’t even
choke the duck because ducks breath through a tube in their tongue <i>not through their throats</i></span><span style="text-indent: -18pt;">. The underlying fallacy here is a
misguided anthropomorphism which says <i>"if it’s wrong to do something to a person
it’s wrong to do something to a duck"</i>. Well, it’s also wrong to kill a human and eat
its flesh, but that’s not going to stop me enjoying my next steak…</span></li>
<li><b style="text-indent: -18pt;"><span style="color: #9fc5e8;">Foie gras
is attacked because it’s an easy target:</span> </b><span style="text-indent: -18pt;">If animal rights protesters really
cared about eliminating the greatest suffering for the greatest number of
animals then you’d have thought they’d pick another target. For example rather
than going after the US foie gras industry (450k birds a year) they might
think about going after the boiler hen industry (9 BILLION birds a year)
which raises more animals in greater squalor and suffering than the most
wild-eyed </span><i style="text-indent: -18pt;">gavage</i><span style="text-indent: -18pt;">-monger. But they
don’t for the simple reason that foie gras is an easy target. The industry is
small, it lacks lobbying clout, it’s perceived as elitist and it has a funny
foreign name (remember many bans were enacted in the febrile post-9/11 era when
France and “Old Europe” refused to back the war in Iraq). In short the
anti-foie gras lobby is acting like a classic playground bully, picking on the
easiest target and trying to create cynical “<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wedge_issue">wedge issue</a>”. Even if their
arguments were coherent, their motives would still be dishonourable.</span></li>
</ul>
<ul>
</ul>
</div>
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<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgobinliSjqVpiNQZzgdr9LARgZ6YQaYABIOC_2Ny2KxfpH4YiwkKaGhPe3J9iZ5dDwjh8xnm8Avuip-ala0PBiWAWToHNLhN3Q10nVvz9miwCJJVAXGAQE_amyURnlxye7YOynVhX4_1UK/s1600/Foie+Gras+Wars.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgobinliSjqVpiNQZzgdr9LARgZ6YQaYABIOC_2Ny2KxfpH4YiwkKaGhPe3J9iZ5dDwjh8xnm8Avuip-ala0PBiWAWToHNLhN3Q10nVvz9miwCJJVAXGAQE_amyURnlxye7YOynVhX4_1UK/s1600/Foie+Gras+Wars.jpg" height="320" width="212" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>You'd be quackers not to read it</i></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
There’s a
lot more to be written on this which I would like to cover in a separate post,
but if you do want to understand what’s really going on then you should do two
things. First order and read Mark Caro’s <a href="http://www.amazon.com/The-Foie-Gras-Wars-000-Year-Old/dp/1416556680/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1400974271&sr=8-1&keywords=foie+gras+wars"><i>The Foie Gras Wars</i></a>, a thorough and
even-handed piece of reportage from the frontlines of the US debate. Secondly
download and listen to <a href="http://www.wbez.org/episode-segments/easy-target-foie-gras-pragmatic-and-problematic-target-animal-rights-organizations-">this
talk</a> from anthropologist and foie gras obsessive Michaela DeSoucey, which
expertly teases out the politics behind the protests.</div>
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<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br />
<h4>
<span style="color: #9fc5e8;"><i>Michael's Modest Proposal</i></span></h4>
</div>
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I said at
the beginning of this post the biggest challenge for foie gras producers isn’t
actually winning the argument, it’s public unfamiliarity with foie gras. For his part Ginor
devotes two pages to the cruelty debate. If the book were written more recently
I suspect they would be more, but in the space allotted he does a good job of addressing
some of the basic misconceptions:<br />
<br />
<ul>
<li><span style="text-indent: -18pt;">The anatomy of waterfowl are different from
humans; birds gorge natural before flight and the oesophagus is lined with keratin
so tube-feeding does not cause discomfort.</span></li>
<li><span style="text-indent: -18pt;">Monitoring of corticosterone levels in ducks
show they are <u>not</u> stressed by the force-feeding process.</span></li>
<li><span style="text-indent: -18pt;">Fattened foie gras livers are not “diseased” as
diseases like diabetes and “fatty liver” does not occur in ducks as in mammals</span></li>
</ul>
</div>
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<o:p></o:p></div>
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His full comments are shown below (click on the image to zoom). If you can set aside any "well he would say that wouldn't he" cynicism, it is actually a sensible and well-reasoned piece:<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjFPH_5d-ANSBkYdZP3yVu9FEoSX5XtoWEPGj3kSq0bPQ767qEp1YlnzKCJBAqc20h99y8rmUj-KvC4AJbhmDAFojoKvdSQNfArV6HHJm2rnoMk4Pt7xDkYIPamlLEZw1RC2VT_NGXPc5S4/s1600/Animal+Rights.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjFPH_5d-ANSBkYdZP3yVu9FEoSX5XtoWEPGj3kSq0bPQ767qEp1YlnzKCJBAqc20h99y8rmUj-KvC4AJbhmDAFojoKvdSQNfArV6HHJm2rnoMk4Pt7xDkYIPamlLEZw1RC2VT_NGXPc5S4/s1600/Animal+Rights.jpg" height="408" width="640" /></a></div>
<br /></div>
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<h4>
<b><i><span style="color: #9fc5e8;">First
catch your duck…</span></i></b></h4>
</div>
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The first half
of the book concludes with five pages on the practicalities of choosing,
preparing and cooking foie gras. There is good material on what to look for in
a liver, but this is the one part of the book where I feel he could have done more. In particular the section dealing with the notoriously
tricky business of cleaning a de-veining the raw liver could definitely do with some hands-on pictures. If you want a better hands-on guide I thoroughly recommend
either the section in Thomas Keller’s <i><a href="http://houseofcaviarandfinefoods.com/blog/item/35-how-to-make-a-foie-gras-torchon">French Laundry Cookbook</a></i>, or the chapter James Peterson’s comprehensive
guide-to-French cuisine-with-knobs-on, <i>Glorious
French Food</i>. <o:p></o:p></div>
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<br />
<br /></div>
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<h2>
<span style="font-size: x-large; font-weight: normal;">The Recipes</span></h2>
</div>
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<br /></div>
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It is in the
second part that this book really shines as we pile into the eighty-two foie
gras recipes – the largest single selection in any cookbook (the closest I
could find is Alain Ducasse’s <a href="http://morecookbooksthansense.blogspot.co.uk/2012/09/how-200-cookbook-is-actually-incredibly.html"><i>Grand Livre de Cuisine</i></a> with a mere
fourteen).<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgPtxRCQxLPeqBKE20k1AcUC43n6WO42Hm7mpF4VLT-F7ZcWodJTlqoBbHB_1AJCvJp4mOI2reLju4gmYg6ebM1tyNllj-vyz2Uh6No7CpS5gd8u5Kvlv8tB-ACW8kFCX_UUJv6D9IX6N7J/s1600/82+Shades+of+Foie+Gras.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgPtxRCQxLPeqBKE20k1AcUC43n6WO42Hm7mpF4VLT-F7ZcWodJTlqoBbHB_1AJCvJp4mOI2reLju4gmYg6ebM1tyNllj-vyz2Uh6No7CpS5gd8u5Kvlv8tB-ACW8kFCX_UUJv6D9IX6N7J/s1600/82+Shades+of+Foie+Gras.jpg" height="172" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>82 shades of foie gras - the full list of recipes!</i></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
The recipes
aren’t Ginor’s, rather they come from his cheffy mates. And not just any old
cheffy mates – the contributor list is a Who’s Who of haute cuisine. With the
possible exception of the Adrias (remember El Bulli was a random provincial
three star back then) anyone who was <i>anyone</i>
in 1999 then gets a look-in.</div>
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<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
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From Europe
we have Ducasse, Gagnaire and Bocuse. From America the godfathers of 80s
cuisine all feature (Pepin, O’Connell, Palladin) as well as the new generation
who surpassed them (Keller, Nobu, Ripert). Also notable are the presence of
some regional American chefs not normally seen outside of James Beard House
dinners (Alan Wong from Hawaii, Susur Lee from Toronto, Susanna Foo from
Philly).<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
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And the
great thing is these chefs have brought their A-Game. Often compilation
cookbooks are full of recycled off-cuts, culled from a chef’s latest book. Not
so here. Perhaps it’s the magic spell of foie gras, or perhaps it’s just
Ginor’s persuasiveness but this book is <i>chock-full</i>
of eye-popping and drool-worthy recipes.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
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<h4>
<b><i><span style="color: #9fc5e8;">Truffles
three times a day</span></i></b></h4>
</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhynMQkyaB8WYqLRwYpOB0ikOFPbSIFduQCuNbgD7p8zMHhn-eIijQvYDkMfSZmvJgOhFt1WlzNcd46Mowqwr17oGiIxadi4RvTSwzZSYF_RZGmao3btxW7V89fFjHcekvgoP0SqDcnFpYx/s1600/Cromsequis.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhynMQkyaB8WYqLRwYpOB0ikOFPbSIFduQCuNbgD7p8zMHhn-eIijQvYDkMfSZmvJgOhFt1WlzNcd46Mowqwr17oGiIxadi4RvTSwzZSYF_RZGmao3btxW7V89fFjHcekvgoP0SqDcnFpYx/s1600/Cromsequis.jpg" height="420" width="640" /></a></div>
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Let’s start
with the truffles. This is a foie gras book so of course there are plenty of
truffles. The very first recipe is <b>Marc
Meneau’s</b> famous Cromequis of Foie Gras (p96), crispy breaded shells filled
with a molten truffled foie gras centre. He uses the old Shanghai soup dumpling
trip of setting the filling with gelatine and letting it melt in the final
cooking.<b> Paul Bocuse</b> of course chips
in with his signature Soupe aux Truffes VGE, a beef consommé larded with
truffles and topped with puff-pastry (think of it as a truffle pot-pie without
the pie; p242). <b>Eric Ripert</b> also
plays the <i>tuber melanosporum</i> card by
matching seared foie gras with sautéed scallops, crispy artichokes and black
truffle (p248).</div>
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<h4>
<b><i><span style="color: #9fc5e8;">And for something a bit different...</span></i></b></h4>
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<div>
Of course it’s not all foie gras and truffle (#firstworldproblems!). There are plenty of more innovative combinations. <b>Pierre Gagnaire</b> has a typically off-the-wall dish of tea-poached foie gras with watermelon, papaya, pine nuts… and cheese (this is one of the few recipes I’ve seen which poach foie gras – a highly underrated way of cooking it; p146). Strasbourg veteran <b>Marc Haeberlin</b> offers a rustic vision of foie gras with poached and crispy tripe (p164). <b>Thomas Keller</b> deploys a similar textural contrast by stacking a crouton with sautéed foie gras, abalone and a Meyer lemon sauce (p246).</div>
</div>
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<h4>
<b><i><span style="color: #9fc5e8;">Foie
gras TV dinners</span></i></b></h4>
</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiNikv7z4owwmoh4mw1jQj5NELRTLXGOf8fdXfOuHVVtfeuuF7zFosdV9ayklnMs46TTszNmM9PjWWvof-ajvtSWrB3LjTzTq1mOIYgClgRNs_GOdyUAZ68-nyRAfTEjm8nG_iK4jkfZMu9/s1600/Foiereos.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiNikv7z4owwmoh4mw1jQj5NELRTLXGOf8fdXfOuHVVtfeuuF7zFosdV9ayklnMs46TTszNmM9PjWWvof-ajvtSWrB3LjTzTq1mOIYgClgRNs_GOdyUAZ68-nyRAfTEjm8nG_iK4jkfZMu9/s1600/Foiereos.jpg" height="434" width="640" /></a></div>
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Then there
are also a bunch of dishes which I would call “haute cuisine TV dinners” –
home-style comfort food with an injection of foie gras. “<a href="http://morecookbooksthansense.blogspot.co.uk/2012/09/if-youre-happy-and-you-know-it-richard.html">Happy
Chef</a>” <b>Michel Richard</b> has a
typically whimsical “FoieReo”, sandwiching foie gras mousse between buttery
foie-gras cookies (p98). <b>Susanna Foo</b>
does the whole fusion-thing with foie gras & shiitake pot-stockers (p178).
But to me the most evocative dish comes from Ukrainian
ballet-dancer-turned-chef <b>Dano Hutnik</b>
with his family recipe for peasant-style potted foie gras with Hungarian duck
crackling biscuits (p228).<o:p></o:p></div>
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Let me
repeat that. <b>DUCK. CRACKLING. BISCUITS. </b>:-p<o:p></o:p></div>
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Need I say
more?<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
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<h4>
<b><i><span style="color: #9fc5e8;">New
World tastes</span></i></b></h4>
<o:p></o:p></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiB0CSOp2UdR9B8sV6OUlX3iDVwZeTwd6P4b-SqAG5iR3HncwZWJOBbDg70kGaSheAd6fGXPueNfLqgnu68acN8EYbV8jDzoWGaqtqOJ-B0D1hullK3tAhzhx3mEWnReM2slKYyeeHsc3Z-/s1600/Caraway+Egg.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiB0CSOp2UdR9B8sV6OUlX3iDVwZeTwd6P4b-SqAG5iR3HncwZWJOBbDg70kGaSheAd6fGXPueNfLqgnu68acN8EYbV8jDzoWGaqtqOJ-B0D1hullK3tAhzhx3mEWnReM2slKYyeeHsc3Z-/s1600/Caraway+Egg.jpg" height="436" width="640" /></a></div>
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But to me
the most interesting dishes are the ones which come from the generation of
younger US-born chefs who were just making their mark as this book went to
press. Two in particular stand out for me, both from NY chef <b>David Burke</b>. The first is a
caraway-infused corn custard, served steamed in eggshells and topped with
honey-glazed foie gras (p102). Think of it as the bastard half-child of a foie gras chawanmushi and the Arpege egg. A smooth custard with a corny-sweetness, lifted
by a hit of smoky toasted caraway. Crispy melting foie gras. Kernels of crunchy
corn and a scattering of chives. It’s a deceptively simple dish, but one with a
rare sense of balance.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhAOD1s2HJ-HtCVYXgI31BM1nOF88BmXnFmtF2V-wKXSpwh7Cxk1QX3ZROmTUvXtQ1NIV5yZ3KqpEPSqIOduZSzj3uy9YvhMllpf_q4rLRfKloaNKzxZqBQd3La9IzKLMyD6qHFo_LKNNxm/s1600/Squab.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhAOD1s2HJ-HtCVYXgI31BM1nOF88BmXnFmtF2V-wKXSpwh7Cxk1QX3ZROmTUvXtQ1NIV5yZ3KqpEPSqIOduZSzj3uy9YvhMllpf_q4rLRfKloaNKzxZqBQd3La9IzKLMyD6qHFo_LKNNxm/s1600/Squab.jpg" height="428" width="640" /></a></div>
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Burke’s
second dish is a complete contrast: Crispy barbecued squab is served on a
layered torte of cornbread, foie gras and the shredded leg. On the side is a
coffee-barbecue sauce and an onion-pistachio marmalade (p292). A much more
aggressive dish but again one which pulls together French luxury and American flavours
(cornbread, barbecue). It is not a foie gras dish per se, rather a modern
American dish which uses foie gras.<o:p></o:p></div>
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Of course
with that many dishes not all of them are perfect. There are a few rather ropey
Tex-Mex-With-Foie dishes which don’t quite work for me. And occasionally
hilarious examples of culinary-overreach – most notably Susur Lee’s condiment
inferno of “Almond-Crusted Croquette of Foie Gras with Truffled Scallop Mousse,
Carrot-Ginger Marmalade, Tomato-Fennel Seed Confit and Crab Bisque” (bear in
mind this is the chef who <a href="http://www.quillandquire.com/review/susur-a-culinary-life/">produced a
two-part concertina-folding biography-cum-cookbook</a>; p156).<o:p></o:p></div>
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<h2>
<span style="font-size: x-large; font-weight: normal;">Read this book if you care about your food</span></h2>
</div>
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To sum up, this
isn’t just the best book every written about foie gras. <i>It is one of the best examples of an ingredient-led cookbook full stop</i>.</div>
</div>
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<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
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Here are
three reasons why:<o:p></o:p></div>
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<span style="color: #9fc5e8;"><b>First Ginor provides new and insightful
content.</b> </span>There is a wealth of content here that you <i>will not find anywhere else. </i>His experience as a practitioner means
he can explain where the ingredient comes from, not just how it is prepared. But
on top of the practical experience his exhaustive history of foie gras is a
work of genuine scholarship.<br />
<br />
This is
particularly important in the context of the ongoing “Foie Gras Wars”. As I
said at the beginning <i>the biggest
challenge for foie gras producers isn’t having the right answers, it is
addressing public ignorance and indifference</i>. Ginor’s passion and knowledge
help balance the scales.</div>
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<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh6BHGZcONHtJS5YJj79jNm8TYhtNBD96nlfX84jNTwm_b1TbfT3sTWFykf0xKoRfyRck7mS1X3sU9EUV-Jnb785rT1Kt8QVJD5-2G6IJsBpKVcHlXcJDY47zb3L5HKlbvU470SGva_795b/s1600/Charcoal+Zoom.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><br /></a><b><span style="color: #9fc5e8;">Second he has marshaled a treasury of
fantastic recipes.</span> </b>He has not only convinced the greatest chefs in the
world to contribute, but he has made sure they have brought their best to the
party. This man should herd cats for a living, not ducks.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh6BHGZcONHtJS5YJj79jNm8TYhtNBD96nlfX84jNTwm_b1TbfT3sTWFykf0xKoRfyRck7mS1X3sU9EUV-Jnb785rT1Kt8QVJD5-2G6IJsBpKVcHlXcJDY47zb3L5HKlbvU470SGva_795b/s1600/Charcoal+Zoom.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh6BHGZcONHtJS5YJj79jNm8TYhtNBD96nlfX84jNTwm_b1TbfT3sTWFykf0xKoRfyRck7mS1X3sU9EUV-Jnb785rT1Kt8QVJD5-2G6IJsBpKVcHlXcJDY47zb3L5HKlbvU470SGva_795b/s1600/Charcoal+Zoom.jpg" height="365" width="400" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh6BHGZcONHtJS5YJj79jNm8TYhtNBD96nlfX84jNTwm_b1TbfT3sTWFykf0xKoRfyRck7mS1X3sU9EUV-Jnb785rT1Kt8QVJD5-2G6IJsBpKVcHlXcJDY47zb3L5HKlbvU470SGva_795b/s1600/Charcoal+Zoom.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><br /></a><b><span style="color: #9fc5e8;">Finally there’s the subject matter itself. </span></b>It’s
hard to get excited about a cookbook about <a href="http://www.amazon.co.uk/Duck-Cookbook-James-Peterson/dp/1584792957/ref=la_B000AP7XGY_1_13?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1400971475&sr=1-13">duck</a>,
or even say <a href="http://www.amazon.co.uk/Trout-Cookbook-A-D-Livingston-cookbook/dp/0811725812">trout</a>,
no matter how well written they may be. However foie gras is an ingredient of unique luxury and deliciousness. As
Sydney Smith once said, “my idea of heaven is eating pate de foie gras to the
sound of trumpets.”<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh6BHGZcONHtJS5YJj79jNm8TYhtNBD96nlfX84jNTwm_b1TbfT3sTWFykf0xKoRfyRck7mS1X3sU9EUV-Jnb785rT1Kt8QVJD5-2G6IJsBpKVcHlXcJDY47zb3L5HKlbvU470SGva_795b/s1600/Charcoal+Zoom.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><br /></a>But foie
gras is more than just an ingredient. The arguments raised in the “Foie Gras Wars”
touch on fundamental debates about animal rights and how industrialisation affects
what we eat. <i>That is why even fifteen years after it was published, this book remains
as essential as ever.</i> If you care about the food you eat, then you should read
this book.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<o:p></o:p></div>
Jon Tsenghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01916149961326205602noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6732049007302130204.post-69387535338241878542014-02-10T06:25:00.000+00:002014-02-11T06:16:59.809+00:00Signatures: Gargouillou of Young Vegetables (Bras)<h2>
<i style="font-size: medium; font-weight: normal;">After six months in abeyance, a return for my <a href="http://morecookbooksthansense.blogspot.co.uk/2013/07/signatures-momofuku-pork-buns-david.html">occasional series</a> exploring famous signature dishes, and the cookbooks where you can find them.</i></h2>
<div>
<i style="font-size: medium; font-weight: normal;"><br /></i></div>
<h2>
<span style="font-size: x-large;">Salad Days</span></h2>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhLiINdDxkGSv0RgmHiUWO0kwNIlqNvcL28lQDmtA3HpLzGcTKI72Nf5bZ1M5ndWGreoG8uj0ZLp1ta9Fb4YDAjnUdJBMJz9Pjb_MRhj4fuR5Jb_7lQgjcQ6RRnUCOVQc6y7dN3fbhJ9Ecf/s1600/robuchon+salad+edited.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhLiINdDxkGSv0RgmHiUWO0kwNIlqNvcL28lQDmtA3HpLzGcTKI72Nf5bZ1M5ndWGreoG8uj0ZLp1ta9Fb4YDAjnUdJBMJz9Pjb_MRhj4fuR5Jb_7lQgjcQ6RRnUCOVQc6y7dN3fbhJ9Ecf/s1600/robuchon+salad+edited.jpg" height="200" width="157" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><div style="text-align: left;">
<i>Robuchon's </i>Salade Marachiere</div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
aux Truffes<i>. Fiver if you can</i></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<i>spot the novelty salad leaf...</i></div>
</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhLiINdDxkGSv0RgmHiUWO0kwNIlqNvcL28lQDmtA3HpLzGcTKI72Nf5bZ1M5ndWGreoG8uj0ZLp1ta9Fb4YDAjnUdJBMJz9Pjb_MRhj4fuR5Jb_7lQgjcQ6RRnUCOVQc6y7dN3fbhJ9Ecf/s1600/robuchon+salad+edited.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em; text-align: center;"><br /></a>Salad, it
appears is staging a comeback.</div>
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<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhLiINdDxkGSv0RgmHiUWO0kwNIlqNvcL28lQDmtA3HpLzGcTKI72Nf5bZ1M5ndWGreoG8uj0ZLp1ta9Fb4YDAjnUdJBMJz9Pjb_MRhj4fuR5Jb_7lQgjcQ6RRnUCOVQc6y7dN3fbhJ9Ecf/s1600/robuchon+salad+edited.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em; text-align: center;"><br /></a>Not just, of
course, any old salad. Certainly not the limpid concoctions of lettuce and
tomato you’d find at your local sandwich bar. Nor (alas) the glorious <i>fin de siècle</i> “composed salads” of the
Escoffier era (primary ingredients: lobster, crayfish, as little shrubbery as
possible). And not even the 1980s <i>salade gourmandes
</i>of Guerard or Robuchon (primary ingredients: truffles, truffles and a
little shaved truffle).<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
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No this
isn’t just any ordinary salad. In fact it’s more like a bonsai horticulture
show. Imagine thirty, forty, fifty different varieties of shoots, roots and
leaves: Each of them individually trimmed, blanched, and carefully arranged on
the plate. To go with them no thuggish vinaigrette, rather a puree of this, a
slick of infused that and a sprinkle of freeze-dried crunch.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
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The effect
is overwhelming, and deliberately so. But rather than coming from expensive
ingredients like truffles or lobster, it is the sheer variety on the plate that
delivers shock and awe: The freshness of perfect shoots and tendrils plucked in
their prime (preferably that morning, ideally about five minutes before the
start of service). The painstaking work which has gone into preparing and
cooking each little leaf. The glorious array of them laid out together…</div>
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<br /></div>
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</div>
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</div>
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</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhaHnamM8Fh2jZBcVbiPqfjQuFeM-RmxiwWuMmTw0uVTcULLhz43r5z65jEzsuSQ56VqEI_XxP09TD61d1o7m7BSUEiZuK644HM699s2uXalsKe4g4FLSK4KGxyKORtPAKb5hV_JEFrmhAj/s1600/Gargouillou+Recipe+Pic+Only+3.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhaHnamM8Fh2jZBcVbiPqfjQuFeM-RmxiwWuMmTw0uVTcULLhz43r5z65jEzsuSQ56VqEI_XxP09TD61d1o7m7BSUEiZuK644HM699s2uXalsKe4g4FLSK4KGxyKORtPAKb5hV_JEFrmhAj/s1600/Gargouillou+Recipe+Pic+Only+3.jpg" height="352" width="640" /></a></div>
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<o:p><br /></o:p></div>
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It’s salad
Jim, but not as we know it…</div>
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<br /></div>
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<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<b><i><span style="color: #9fc5e8;">Salad modernista</span></i></b></div>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiLSK3AGB5vDuuyYF9UQ1g7WkehzpEX-NC6K_5XJFfx-LxcPv70Ks8VYLQQcp83KnO_GWq00NYmmkXpeOAcbphzAmucloBMT2h8bSG59plR3yXdaAi9R_e62lOzU_Rhmv491Gk9dnM_dZKD/s1600/Into+The+Garden+Edited+Scaled.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiLSK3AGB5vDuuyYF9UQ1g7WkehzpEX-NC6K_5XJFfx-LxcPv70Ks8VYLQQcp83KnO_GWq00NYmmkXpeOAcbphzAmucloBMT2h8bSG59plR3yXdaAi9R_e62lOzU_Rhmv491Gk9dnM_dZKD/s1600/Into+The+Garden+Edited+Scaled.jpg" height="188" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>David Kinch: </i>Into the Vegetable Garden</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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This modern
style of salad has become a recurring feature in some of the world’s greatest
restaurants:</div>
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<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -18.0pt;">
</div>
<ul>
<li><span style="text-indent: -18pt;">In California </span><a href="http://morecookbooksthansense.blogspot.co.uk/2014/01/manresa-edible-reflection-by-david.html" style="text-indent: -18pt;">David
Kinch</a><span style="text-indent: -18pt;"> has made </span><i style="text-indent: -18pt;">Into the Vegetable
Garden </i><span style="text-indent: -18pt;">the high point of his nose-to-the-ground Californian cuisine.</span></li>
<li><span style="text-indent: -18pt;">In New York, Paul Liebrandt serves up at $48
entrée simply called “</span><a href="http://nypost.com/2014/01/05/chef-paul-liebrandts-marvelously-meatless-dish/" style="text-indent: -18pt;">Garden</a><span style="text-indent: -18pt;">”,
a mix of 30-50 greens, tubers and roots dished up in a Le Creuset pot.</span></li>
<li><span style="text-indent: -18pt;">A world away in icy Noma, Rene Redzepi’s </span><a href="http://www.catererandhotelkeeper.co.uk/Articles/14/05/2009/327651/vegetable-field-with-malt-soil-and-herbs-by-ren-redzepi.htm" style="text-indent: -18pt;"><i>Vegetable Field</i></a><span style="text-indent: -18pt;"> applies the same idea
to root vegetables, with their earthy connection emphasised with his famous </span><i style="text-indent: -18pt;">trompe l’oeil </i><span style="text-indent: -18pt;">malt soil.</span></li>
<li><span style="text-indent: -18pt;">Meanwhile in sunny Lancashire (that last
adjective was ironic, by the way), Simon Rogan serves up signature “</span><a href="http://cheesenbiscuits.blogspot.co.uk/2013/10/the-french-manchester.html" style="text-indent: -18pt;">salad
explosions</a><span style="text-indent: -18pt;">” at L’Enclume and The French, adding his own touch to the dish
with a sprinkle of lovage-salt.</span></li>
<li><span style="text-indent: -18pt;">And in sunny Spain (that last adjective was not
ironic, BTW), chef Adoni Anduriz dishes up his </span><a href="https://www.starchefs.com/features/ten-international-pioneers/recipe-vegetables-roasted-raw-andoni-luiz-aduriz.shtml" style="text-indent: -18pt;"><i>Vegetables: Roasted and Raw, Sprouts and
Leaves, Wild and Cultivated</i></a><span style="text-indent: -18pt;"> in two-starred restaurant Mugaritz.</span></li>
</ul>
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<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh1whSPfHjiImDF_aGJBrq8m5wNeFjF6yGeFyRSh7sN_r0c2BzFBKaP5f_YhiU-Bri9rZ6CG69xd-xzUJCpQ-4FSu6aAQ4JV1OUPfalFSsv6hO4WXrWbeUDkHXFP2-LQqEBuXM9DHoo5xq3/s1600/Vegetable+Field+Edited.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh1whSPfHjiImDF_aGJBrq8m5wNeFjF6yGeFyRSh7sN_r0c2BzFBKaP5f_YhiU-Bri9rZ6CG69xd-xzUJCpQ-4FSu6aAQ4JV1OUPfalFSsv6hO4WXrWbeUDkHXFP2-LQqEBuXM9DHoo5xq3/s1600/Vegetable+Field+Edited.jpg" height="189" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>Rene Redzepi: </i>Vegetable Field</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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The genius
of this dish is that it allows chefs to do is present a dish which showcases
local produce cooked with the utmost <i>simplicity</i>,
but also create an incredibly <i>complex</i>
dish with variations of flavour and texture to challenge the most discerning
palate. Remember, it is very easy to serve prime ingredients with little
adornment (the Chez Panisse style). And it’s very easy, given enough gadgetry
and work-slave <i>stagieres</i> (the <a href="http://chefhermes.com/chef-stagiaires-career-progression-free-labour/">El
Bulli/Fat Duck/Noma model</a>), to create incredibly complicated dishes with dozens of different elements. But it is very difficult
to do both.</div>
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<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
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Of course
this dish isn't just called a “salad” or even a “modern salad”. It has a very
specific name and lineage.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
Le
Gargouillou.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
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<br /></div>
<h2>
<span style="font-size: x-large;">The Dish</span></h2>
<h4>
<i><span style="color: #9fc5e8;">Michel
Bras: Mountain Main</span></i></h4>
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<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhLi0BOfq0Vh5GTgRvr2Nt5Ur_AFvrRZNp7giAx3CxrJzjExGT5C4tzEv-MYfqwDgXoPYTroPnihLb8Oh6iv-vmAwd-LPY6D2xsPmkYL1haeBkAYYSJIkEQueHn66bx1O50TEHG_fAjEpwy/s1600/Miche+Bras+kitchen.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhLi0BOfq0Vh5GTgRvr2Nt5Ur_AFvrRZNp7giAx3CxrJzjExGT5C4tzEv-MYfqwDgXoPYTroPnihLb8Oh6iv-vmAwd-LPY6D2xsPmkYL1haeBkAYYSJIkEQueHn66bx1O50TEHG_fAjEpwy/s1600/Miche+Bras+kitchen.jpg" height="249" width="320" /></a></div>
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If there is
ever a dish which is completely intertwined with its inventor, it's Michel
Bras and his <i>Gargouillou de Jeune Legumes</i>. After all, the <i>Gargouillou</i> is all about showcasing
the local <i>terroir</i> on a plate, and
Michel Bras is the three star chef most closely identified with a certain sense of
place.</div>
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<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
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That place
is the windswept Aubrac plateau of central France, where Bras’ and his family
run their eponymous three star restaurant. Locally-born and self-taught he has
created a unique cuisine that is tightly bound with the rugged Auvergne
landscape. Out on the hills he forages wild leaves and shoots for his
Gargouillou. In the kitchen he prepares the hardy Aubrac beef which roams the
neighbouring hills. In his dining room dishes he lays out traditional Laguiole
steak names, made in the next village across. Indeed the whole restaurant
complex – hewn from the peak of a lonely mountain with sweeping views across
the hills, means the landscape is utterly inescapable for diner and chef like.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgr6lC04MgbibePbLxj12nbirEFqu0VbSTgv9GpMUoZfRpfUru9nNgaR8nYYfXbTV_Uwc46UK1LdzXSCfT20Q_kO4cuR4SH3TfldJcXjGiqGWLhLo2jxcWKlxKYfVB-nabjQ4YJKQPuNItd/s1600/beef+closeup+3.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgr6lC04MgbibePbLxj12nbirEFqu0VbSTgv9GpMUoZfRpfUru9nNgaR8nYYfXbTV_Uwc46UK1LdzXSCfT20Q_kO4cuR4SH3TfldJcXjGiqGWLhLo2jxcWKlxKYfVB-nabjQ4YJKQPuNItd/s1600/beef+closeup+3.jpg" height="368" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>Dead Aubrac cow, in extreme close-up...</i></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<br /></div>
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<br /></div>
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In short the
food Michel Bras cooks is resolutely tied to his tradition and region. But at
the same time, it is equally forward looking and willing to innovate. Nowhere is
this contrast shown more clearly than the Gargouillou.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
<h4>
<i><span style="color: #9fc5e8;"><span lang="EN-US">Le Vrai </span>Gargouillou</span></i></h4>
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The idea, he
says, came to him during a long run in the countryside in 1978. It was June and
the fields were in full flower. He wanted to capture the richness and the
beauty, to translate it into a dish….<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
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His starting
point was the <i>Gargouillou</i>, a
traditional and rather obscure peasant dish. The 1988 <i>Larousse</i> mentions it in passing as “a country ragout of vegetables”
but adds no detail. It was actually so obscure that none of my traditional
French recipe books (include Edisud’s <i>Cuisine
d’Auverge et du Bourbonnais</i>!) even mention it. It was only a desperate
Google.fr query for “le vrai gargouillou” which turned up the elusive <a href="http://www.marmiton.org/recettes/recette_pommes-de-terre-en-gargouillou_10670.aspx"><i>Pommes de terre en gargouillou</i></a>.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
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The original
<i>Gargouillou</i>, <span lang="EN-US">it</span><span lang="EN-US"> </span><span lang="EN-US">turns out, is completely different
from the Bras version. It’s a simple stew made by frying some country ham with
bay leaves and then simmering it with potatoes, onions and a little broth </span>(the
name “<i>gargouillou</i>” comes from the
bubbling of the simmering broth – shares a root with the English “gargle”), <span lang="EN-US">before</span><span lang="EN-US"> </span><span lang="EN-US">finishing</span><span lang="EN-US"> </span><span lang="EN-US">with a dash of parsley, cream and
lemon juice.</span><span lang="EN-US"> </span><span lang="EN-US">The</span><span lang="EN-US"> </span>sort of humble dish you’d expect an
Auvergnat farmer to have bubbling away on a cold winters night – filling, cheap
but unremarkable.<span lang="EN-US"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjh7HRDAKpnzGBoPyiV4-k4Ff52NKUzEiRjR8IcL1jy-rTsl46ZvI2YODyQe94AgSpNTPDKDjvoaVeL1MRD_sk-uftRyZULAfTvrOexU2rbLAPpQGrrehMCid86JSOq-PvXBtJkfWWfnyWK/s1600/plateau+3+edited.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjh7HRDAKpnzGBoPyiV4-k4Ff52NKUzEiRjR8IcL1jy-rTsl46ZvI2YODyQe94AgSpNTPDKDjvoaVeL1MRD_sk-uftRyZULAfTvrOexU2rbLAPpQGrrehMCid86JSOq-PvXBtJkfWWfnyWK/s1600/plateau+3+edited.jpg" height="151" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="font-size: 13px; text-align: center;"><i>Good enough to eat...</i></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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Of course
Michel Bras’ version <span lang="EN-US">is</span><span lang="EN-US"> nothing like that</span> – <span lang="EN-US">more</span> “<span lang="EN-US">deconstructed</span><span lang="EN-US"> </span><i>gargouillou</i>” <span lang="EN-US">than peasant potage. He begins by
replacing the potato with vegetables and flowers. In a hat-tip to the original
recipe some of the vegetables are simmered first, although individually rather
than all together. The ham remains, but is gently fried and added at the last
minute. </span>As Michel Bras said, the countryside on a plate.<span lang="EN-US"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<h4>
<i><span style="color: #9fc5e8;">Niac,
niac niac…</span></i></h4>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgUfTVgdVpEvxqt_qVVaE5ZMssAaxgAMaNCc13Z7PFcuUjv6iaTDbN6Z6Xl9DmHx7yVgf9VAxsTpMam3GNbDojkaVgzFzX8j9Ik_0LXi_3I3yWyNqeF8VluWivxwlt2_4Be4U2-3xkVHzPf/s1600/Niacs.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><br /></a></div>
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Of course so
far what we have described is nothing more than an extremely posh mixed salad.
Shrubbery? Tick. Plate? Tick. All we need is a dribble of vinaigrette and they
we’re done.</div>
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<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
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Of course
that’s where you’re wrong.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: right;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgUfTVgdVpEvxqt_qVVaE5ZMssAaxgAMaNCc13Z7PFcuUjv6iaTDbN6Z6Xl9DmHx7yVgf9VAxsTpMam3GNbDojkaVgzFzX8j9Ik_0LXi_3I3yWyNqeF8VluWivxwlt2_4Be4U2-3xkVHzPf/s1600/Niacs.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgUfTVgdVpEvxqt_qVVaE5ZMssAaxgAMaNCc13Z7PFcuUjv6iaTDbN6Z6Xl9DmHx7yVgf9VAxsTpMam3GNbDojkaVgzFzX8j9Ik_0LXi_3I3yWyNqeF8VluWivxwlt2_4Be4U2-3xkVHzPf/s1600/Niacs.jpg" height="320" width="295" /></a></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh0aoti7nPwNBe3zmj6vIbWlR2c59SmTobt2wRnsy5vWrRBR1GjNTj1iuW_Jmm8XOeK54TamxOMRLGBAzFT6ZeiXqxVnqFMcizW3CqNv1ptVn3dbjRUtZ9tIXRJj8o0y4Vwnf3-lazGsz34/s1600/Niacs.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em; text-align: center;"><br /></a>What sets it
apart is the deployment of <i>Niacs</i> to
create contrast and flavour in the dish. <i>Niac</i>
is Michel Bras own term for little condiments, techniques or touches which add
excitement to a dish. It could be anything from a herb puree to a dash of local
fire-water to a sprinkle of dried olive. As Bras writes:</div>
<div style="text-align: right;">
</div>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<i>… we enliven our plates with many different
combinations that I call </i>niac<i>. </i>Niacs<i> are structures of visual, scented, and
tactile elements that sharpen the senses and prepare for new discoveries. A </i>niac<i> livens up, energizes, stimulates and
provokes inquiry. When placed alongside the dish being presented, I design them
as “touches” or “traces.” Or the </i>niacs<i>
could be an emulsion of sorrel leaves or sweet peppers, or mixtures made from
dry black olives, combinations of unrefined sugar cane and fruits, vegetable
structures-the possibilities expand every day… I can find </i>niac<i> in a coffee cup. When the sugar has
dissolved, I drink it without stirring. A teaspoon of sugar mixed with coffee
remains at the bottom of the cup-the combination of strong flavours is
comforting.<o:p></o:p></i></blockquote>
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In the
Gargouillou a number of <i>niacs</i> are
deployed. “Flavoured pearls” of cep braised with a little garlic, coriander and
parsley are used as a garnish. Parsley oil is painted onto the plate. “Crystal
leaves” (oven dried herbs, shiny and brittle as glass) add a crunch, fried
slices of country ham a salty note. These are all little touches which seem
insignificant in isolation, but together create the little crunches and flashes
which elevate the dish.</div>
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<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
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<br /></div>
<h2>
<span style="font-size: x-large;">The Recipe</span></h2>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<o:p></o:p></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
</div>
<h4>
<span style="color: #9fc5e8;"><b><i>First
take one large French plateau…</i></b></span></h4>
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The recipe
for <i>Gargouillou of Young Vegetables</i> was first published in of
Michel Bras’ <i>Essential Cuisine</i> (of
which more later) but is now <a href="http://www.bras.fr/site_blanc/pdf/gargouillou-en.pdf">readily available</a>
from the Bras website. Actually it’s more an “instruction set” then a “recipe”
per se; Unless you have access to a large French, mountainous plateau, a wide
variety of its vegetation and a certain breed for French country ham, it is
nigh on impossible to exactly recreate the dish. (That’s sort of the point –
it’s a dish which is inescapably rooted in a certain place.)<o:p></o:p></div>
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<o:p><br /></o:p></div>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiuNacHvyS2isADbCq4sR5xrJeD9WZ_y1_h-tf2MkdiynzkJoNtCVzvLTLunXQUAAT9qyvKzIFAk9mc8reTtGI8G16mxKr6HJMA3IVd4r_0vsKFHcJLCOenuTanv9aV3zPErfa5MnDo0LvM/s1600/Garg+Recipe+Part+1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiuNacHvyS2isADbCq4sR5xrJeD9WZ_y1_h-tf2MkdiynzkJoNtCVzvLTLunXQUAAT9qyvKzIFAk9mc8reTtGI8G16mxKr6HJMA3IVd4r_0vsKFHcJLCOenuTanv9aV3zPErfa5MnDo0LvM/s1600/Garg+Recipe+Part+1.jpg" height="418" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>The original </i>Gargouillou <i>recipe (pages 1 & 2)</i></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<o:p><br /></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
Nonetheless
the broad formula is definitely replicable, requiring little more than a pan, some water and quite a lot of vegetable matter.</div>
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<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
Variety and
freshness of ingredients are the key. The recipe recommends several distinct
categories of vegetables: perennials (asparagus, fiddlehead ferns, artichokes
etc), leafy vegetables (with flowers), bulbs, roots, vegetables with pods and
fruits (by this it means vegetables with seeds like cucumbers, tomatoes and
pumpkins, not sweet things). There will inevitably be some kinds
of plant life he mentions that you don't have access to (e.g. bryony, pascal celery, geslu, crapaudine, conopode, saint fiacre
green beans, chayote, burnet, yarrow), but
please don’t despair. I guess that’s why Michel Bras is a three-starred
Michelin chef and you’re not!<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
The recipe
gives instructions for preparing and cooking each vegetable – a list that
stretches to nearly three pages. Mostly it’s just blanching in salted boiling
water, but there are variations. Artichokes, cardoons and garlic are cooked in
a broth flavoured with coriander and orange zest. Some greens (e.g. beet tops
or fennel bulbs) are sauteed in butter or oil; <i>crosnes</i> are also pan-fried. Onions are wrapped in foil and roasted.
A number of roots (e.g. parsley root or turnip root) are prepared as a puree,
which presumably adds a bit of textural variation to the finished dish.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi_1cKxmzCXhlJOH7f1rd9Eqqw4fS90ysIeAvFjAHV0xXHC6rarrf126Q3RNOxWSJBhXuu-rCL3YZCGTBw6TjhPhLIKXv3BHYffH2JVYEFj8F6JhLE5VE7kKm4rQLe2PBaAOovi7Hd96Tkx/s1600/Garg+Recipe+Part+2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi_1cKxmzCXhlJOH7f1rd9Eqqw4fS90ysIeAvFjAHV0xXHC6rarrf126Q3RNOxWSJBhXuu-rCL3YZCGTBw6TjhPhLIKXv3BHYffH2JVYEFj8F6JhLE5VE7kKm4rQLe2PBaAOovi7Hd96Tkx/s1600/Garg+Recipe+Part+2.jpg" height="414" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>The original </i>Gargouillou<i> recipe (pages 3 & 4)</i></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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The remaining pages
covers the various <i>niacs</i> and
dressings. Ceps (rather poetically termed “flavoured pearls and touches”) are
blanched and then fried with garlic, coriander, parsley and thyme. There is
also a parsley oil (the stems and leaves are simply macerated with the oil,
rather than blitzed together as is more common). He also recommends sprouts
which are gathered by soaking the seeds and sticking them in a dark place for a
few days until they sprout.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
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To finish
the dish an emulsion is prepared by frying slices of country ham and deglazing
with vegetable broth and butter (note there is no viniger or acidic component,
which you would normally expect). Everything is then tossed together –
vegetables, sprouts, garnishes – and heated slightly before being plated “to
give an impression of motion”. The recipe ends with the whimsical instruction to
“Play with flavoured pearls and touches”.<o:p></o:p></div>
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</div>
<h4>
<b><i><span style="color: #9fc5e8;">The
other Gargouillou:</span></i></b></h4>
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEizJR5TtItaLU2PRLmQ0QXkB0Zhn49fcBuDOfPbIjeDPl7LQLSXbqqZirhcm_2KVn1V3fuED7ObBBL_qS2wq7H1N5Jz7l2WHAZtAueubMbHN0MeaB_QPwqdBv-WBEjvvhZHW_oO2CSheeKl/s1600/Autumn+Garg+Edited.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEizJR5TtItaLU2PRLmQ0QXkB0Zhn49fcBuDOfPbIjeDPl7LQLSXbqqZirhcm_2KVn1V3fuED7ObBBL_qS2wq7H1N5Jz7l2WHAZtAueubMbHN0MeaB_QPwqdBv-WBEjvvhZHW_oO2CSheeKl/s1600/Autumn+Garg+Edited.jpg" height="418" width="640" /></a></div>
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There is
also a second variation later in the book, the <i>Gargouillou of Leaves, Roots, Mushrooms and Fruits in Autumn</i>
(p128). As the name suggests it’s a variation on the theme which focuses more
on Autumn produce like roots, squashes and mushrooms. The flavours are slightly
sweeter (on <i>niac</i> is a red wine,
juniper and fig reduction, another step purees pumpkin with a slug of sugar).
Also, rather than being dressed with ham butter he uses a more traditional
hazelnut vinaigrette (the garnish is also raw prosciutto rather than fried
country ham). The overall effect however is much the same. <o:p></o:p></div>
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<o:p><br /></o:p></div>
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<h2>
<span style="font-size: x-large;">The Book</span></h2>
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<o:p></o:p></div>
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<b><i><span style="color: #9fc5e8;">Once
upon a time in Connecticut…</span></i></b></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjn3XCufpE5OvcoQMqdA0DTWFwNtPNZtcFjlgAkVSXY3XINRIzpFTjuXzrdmrTSClbb4gWoQJl1KgxM_S9k0ZofvjpH_dONEm20-tTrlDg5t8FntqFWn1PA5CeT-JNcimuxJKq1_t0M4ZnU/s1600/Cover+Edited.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjn3XCufpE5OvcoQMqdA0DTWFwNtPNZtcFjlgAkVSXY3XINRIzpFTjuXzrdmrTSClbb4gWoQJl1KgxM_S9k0ZofvjpH_dONEm20-tTrlDg5t8FntqFWn1PA5CeT-JNcimuxJKq1_t0M4ZnU/s1600/Cover+Edited.jpg" height="320" width="241" /></a></div>
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Both recipes
were originally appeared in Michel Bras <i>Essential
Cuisine</i>. First published in French in 2002 we owe its existence in English
to a remarkable outfit called <a href="http://www.good-news-cafe.com/ici/">Ici
La Press</a>. This is a boutique publisher was founded by husband-and-wife
restauranteurs Bernard Jarrier and Carole Peck who ran the <a href="http://www.good-news-cafe.com/">Good News Café</a> in Danbury,
Connecticut. In 2000 they teamed up with local typesetter Dennis Pistone to
start a brand new publisher with a simply mission: to translate and published
great European cookbooks for an American audience.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
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They had
spotted a gap in the market for the treasury of world-class French chefbooks
which never made it into English because their authors were thought of as too
obscure or esoteric for an American audience. They basically took a bet that
great food writing would sell whatever the audience.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
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Their<i> modus
operandi</i> was to take the pick of French-language cookbooks, keep the existing design and layout but translate and update the text and recipes for an
American audience. Notable coups included the first Spoon cookbook, <i>Marvellous Recipes from the French Heartland</i>
by future three-star chef Regis Marcon, and <i>Vegetables</i>
by Guy Martin of Le Grand Vefour. But their greatest triumph was, of course, Michel
Bras’ definitive work, <i>Essential Cuisine</i>.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgRcIF9gBtfeqE9vAWhBHfuxDMiq2aqn_pAstbj8-v9FDScu0KzuqIrsHpUriMCDROm4WB7CF_qlxieWsRF7bOncQaZh312iMBKc7LeVnzDKbWU3Qf6n9nY7ayBeOSAF3VFhc6vhRkaaRlp/s1600/plateau+1+edited.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgRcIF9gBtfeqE9vAWhBHfuxDMiq2aqn_pAstbj8-v9FDScu0KzuqIrsHpUriMCDROm4WB7CF_qlxieWsRF7bOncQaZh312iMBKc7LeVnzDKbWU3Qf6n9nY7ayBeOSAF3VFhc6vhRkaaRlp/s1600/plateau+1+edited.jpg" height="320" width="243" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>Time and Place in French Cuisine...</i></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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Even twelve
years on the book feels remarkably modern. One reason is the design. Rather
than the soft-focus “restaurant dishes on a plate” prevalent at the time,
dishes are arranged in a flowing, vertical style and shot against a pure white
background. This technique was unusual at the time, but is now widely used
(e.g. in the Mugaritz and Coi cookbooks) to create an absolute focus on the
food.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
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Another pioneering feature comes at the end of the book. At the time almost every cookbook finished with the Dessert section and acknowledgements. But in <i>Essential Cuisine</i> once you are through with the recipes it launches into a fifty-five-page travel-essay-cum-photo-montage which is
basically a love-letter from Bras to his countryside. Today
this sort of “mood and inspiration” essay is a common feature of any
self-respecting chefbook (in <i>Noma: Time and Place in Nordic Cuisine</i> it pretty much takes up entire
book). But in 2002 this felt entirely new.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<h4>
<b><i><span style="color: #9fc5e8;">Melting
middles and monochrome monkfish</span></i></b></h4>
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And the
recipes aren’t bad either. Along with the two variations of Gargouillou, the
standout dish is the recipe for <i>Chocolate
Biscuit Coulant </i>(p166) - the original “melting middle” chocolate cake. Bras' version is unusual because achieves the molten effect by first freezing a ball
of chocolate ganache which is then embedded in the cake batter and baked. This
contrasts with most other recipes which simply part-bake the batter so the
middle is half-cooked and runny. The advantage of the Bras recipe is a) you don't need to time it
perfectly to get the middle right and b) the interior isn't laced with raw
flour. <o:p></o:p></div>
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<o:p><br /></o:p></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjXeRKThW5KCB0J8qzCG51DKm95eN0fLJy2H6ZYpA38vvL6BVqTxxf-b1g8eXxleIYhzFtsE-yL3kZhe1c9zhvMIi_oCOMiEZ4yDU_rumCWbboeC5dp9-I0rCz-GyVOsLe4ww3VughGrWD0/s1600/Coulant+Edited.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjXeRKThW5KCB0J8qzCG51DKm95eN0fLJy2H6ZYpA38vvL6BVqTxxf-b1g8eXxleIYhzFtsE-yL3kZhe1c9zhvMIi_oCOMiEZ4yDU_rumCWbboeC5dp9-I0rCz-GyVOsLe4ww3VughGrWD0/s1600/Coulant+Edited.jpg" height="418" width="640" /></a></div>
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Also check out the monkfish poached in black olive-oil (p74), a strikingly black/white presentation intended to evoke the light and shade of Aubrac:<br />
<br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjXTGhlM8zzmQ9Zox4SNDE7PdwUQ66PQL6qb-NuxOpzArMy8ZWiJIezGnbJ2QtLabODuvN-WF7b6RKKewjTYJBcXd-3H-GyfnT1V9BJxd_GhAO-1lqFkOorg5ipAVM3FUJWjCNFu28fct5e/s1600/monkfish+edited.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjXTGhlM8zzmQ9Zox4SNDE7PdwUQ66PQL6qb-NuxOpzArMy8ZWiJIezGnbJ2QtLabODuvN-WF7b6RKKewjTYJBcXd-3H-GyfnT1V9BJxd_GhAO-1lqFkOorg5ipAVM3FUJWjCNFu28fct5e/s1600/monkfish+edited.jpg" height="412" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="font-size: 13px; text-align: center;"><i>Michel Bras' striking olive oil/monkfish combo. Shades of Heston's Salmon & Liquorice...</i><br />
<div>
<i><br /></i></div>
</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
</div>
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In short
this book is well worth seeking out; even without the <i>Gargouillou</i> it would qualify as a minor classic on the
basis of the<i> Chocolate Coulant</i> alone.
Although the Ici La Press edition is becoming increasingly hard to track down
(listing for <a href="http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/1931605076/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1634&creative=19450&creativeASIN=1931605076&linkCode=as2&tag=morcoothasen-21">well
into three figures</a> on Amazon), there is a 2008 <a href="http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/2841569357/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1634&creative=19450&creativeASIN=2841569357&linkCode=as2&tag=morcoothasen-21">reprint</a> from the original French publishers which is easier to find (the restaurant website also has
it for €59).</div>
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<br /></div>
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Unfortunately, the
intervening years haven’t been as kind to Ici La Press. Despite their early
success I’ve seen nothing new from them for ten years. My suspicion is that the
globalisation of the online foodie world meant previously undiscovered French
chefs suddenly attained a much higher international profile. This attracted bigger
publishing houses like Flammarion, Phaidon and Ten Speed Press, leaving little
room for a niche publisher like Ici La Press. Today the idea that a Rene
Redzepi or Pierre Gagnaire would go with a small typesetting outfit from the
backwoods of Connecticut sounds vaguely quaint. Commercial reality but, for
lovers of fairy-tales, the food world’s loss.</div>
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<br /></div>
<h4>
<span style="color: #9fc5e8;"><i>Postscript: A few more spreads from the book (because it really is that good)</i></span></h4>
<div>
<span style="color: #9fc5e8;"><i><br /></i></span></div>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjtUiozz9A8MVMjN1UskfjeaiJn9uGLipbN7T6KsLIkjuAwyjL8ggrFKfSm0JNDiBpq8CpeIADsjzz1S2PRiexCmyb0wDEtItN8pJtyXjE9WaEdBhUeDNROGLyZ8SfMmqRbNagxjglXQ143/s1600/Egg+Soldiers+Edited.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjtUiozz9A8MVMjN1UskfjeaiJn9uGLipbN7T6KsLIkjuAwyjL8ggrFKfSm0JNDiBpq8CpeIADsjzz1S2PRiexCmyb0wDEtItN8pJtyXjE9WaEdBhUeDNROGLyZ8SfMmqRbNagxjglXQ143/s1600/Egg+Soldiers+Edited.jpg" height="408" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>No self-respecting modern(ist) chef would be caught without a childhood-nostaligia based hors d'oeuvre...</i></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh42wtkCYYkDe0QCKYmc0K0naLoGGBE4bSeRkw1Y8AvFKxtRJ-mH0x7hvlSmkIdKJ5WD51dqDc7889y471DJL4cCAgvB-M1jJHxcoEl_6YV5eiMKvlTdvRTw7SrZDMaUgESNnzPOV2j_2SE/s1600/Foie+Edited.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh42wtkCYYkDe0QCKYmc0K0naLoGGBE4bSeRkw1Y8AvFKxtRJ-mH0x7hvlSmkIdKJ5WD51dqDc7889y471DJL4cCAgvB-M1jJHxcoEl_6YV5eiMKvlTdvRTw7SrZDMaUgESNnzPOV2j_2SE/s1600/Foie+Edited.jpg" height="416" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>Foie gras sandwiches. Because if you're a French chef no matter how many hydrocolloids you have,<br />some ingredients never go out of fashion...</i></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiNWrcBM-pFpn-Xga5DiGB-QDWaoxNXSEUI1HMTmp5dH2LqR95OMdLum7z7jT2CBnAYEzzqtAGF-xIt1QjJeeSTWIbV6yYS5C8L7BMt8OBnfxkL0cSbz1MwBfOb6hEUbRZH579FdIt7fP_p/s1600/skate+edited.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiNWrcBM-pFpn-Xga5DiGB-QDWaoxNXSEUI1HMTmp5dH2LqR95OMdLum7z7jT2CBnAYEzzqtAGF-xIt1QjJeeSTWIbV6yYS5C8L7BMt8OBnfxkL0cSbz1MwBfOb6hEUbRZH579FdIt7fP_p/s1600/skate+edited.jpg" height="412" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>Michel Bras is a man who would never mix his whites and his coloureds in the washing... :-p</i></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div>
<span style="color: #9fc5e8;"><i><br /></i></span></div>
Jon Tsenghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01916149961326205602noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6732049007302130204.post-44473891170708625202014-01-20T22:35:00.001+00:002014-02-11T06:51:06.538+00:00Manresa - An Edible Reflection by David Kinch: The Anticelebrity Chef<h2>
</h2>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgt3Q0A6UwYjQxk8ZQhZuef4sLn_ijTGtvo5BAS42LtzO4EX83mTdwH90nB14ju8elckx8is4rU-VJn010QXDjDi5paYrHtUvfNHRYghSabeURV2tlqbLVmqDHwdlalR7SzIiPolfzEeoIB/s1600/Kinch+Portrait.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgt3Q0A6UwYjQxk8ZQhZuef4sLn_ijTGtvo5BAS42LtzO4EX83mTdwH90nB14ju8elckx8is4rU-VJn010QXDjDi5paYrHtUvfNHRYghSabeURV2tlqbLVmqDHwdlalR7SzIiPolfzEeoIB/s1600/Kinch+Portrait.jpg" height="320" width="260" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgt3Q0A6UwYjQxk8ZQhZuef4sLn_ijTGtvo5BAS42LtzO4EX83mTdwH90nB14ju8elckx8is4rU-VJn010QXDjDi5paYrHtUvfNHRYghSabeURV2tlqbLVmqDHwdlalR7SzIiPolfzEeoIB/s1600/Kinch+Portrait.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em; text-align: center;"><br /></a>David Kinch
is the anticelebrity chef.</div>
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<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
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He doesn’t
do aprons. He doesn’t do branded fry pans. He doesn’t do diffusion restaurant
lines and would never be caught dead opening in Vegas.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
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Actually he
almost never does TV, although he appeared once on Iron Chef, emerging like a
bear from hibernation to give Bobby Flay <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m0m2yfDyZOo">one of the most brutal
maulings</a> in the show’s history (do watch the link; Flay really has no idea
what’s about to hit him). <o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
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What he <i>does
</i>do is quietly get on with running two-michelin starred Manresa, acclaimed by
those in the know as one of the greatest restaurants in the Bay Area, if not
the World (although unsurprisingly he only charts around #50 among the
fashionista-obsessed 50 Best Restaurant Awards. That is not a coincidence).<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
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In short David
Kinch is the greatest chef you’ve never heard of.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
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Thankfully
he has done one very important piece of self-promotion.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
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He’s finally
written a cookbook.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
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<br /></div>
<h2>
<span style="font-size: x-large;">The Book</span></h2>
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<o:p></o:p></div>
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<o:p> </o:p><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgr8oY4N9B3_YSqzT-nhpQw6cXoHs98qwLbSUhIXX8cnSO3TEvHtLzFP1l1rtt54NSIo4-m5zc9J87k6fdohIKqZNFSl4Phm9lTGDhs8zmsZ1GoGh22i1OTzhzYwn9xkbaBKey0Ku-gElS0/s1600/Cover+Edited+Border.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgr8oY4N9B3_YSqzT-nhpQw6cXoHs98qwLbSUhIXX8cnSO3TEvHtLzFP1l1rtt54NSIo4-m5zc9J87k6fdohIKqZNFSl4Phm9lTGDhs8zmsZ1GoGh22i1OTzhzYwn9xkbaBKey0Ku-gElS0/s1600/Cover+Edited+Border.jpg" height="640" width="544" /></a></div>
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<i>Manresa: An Edible Reflection </i>is one of
the finest cookbooks written in the last few years. Forget the soft-focus
gastro-tint from <a href="http://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2010/09/the-inspiring-new-cookbook-from-the-worlds-best-chef/63033/">Noma</a>.
Forget self-congratulatory ego-trips from <a href="http://www.elizabethonfood.com/content/1349/2/%22Too_Many_Chiefs_Only_One_Indian%22_by_Sat_Bains.html">Sat
Bains</a>. Forget even the Upcoming <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m0m2yfDyZOo">Big Fat El Bulli Cookbook</a>
(all 2,720 pages of it). If you want an example of how to capture the spirit of
a chef in three hundred pages, look no further.</div>
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<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: right;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj2xnWfXKv1LsQxdmxvCrwGDgPeyhqrvVfXXurTlwJ0F_HcNXCXDvl72ZGN2kNXVzSPfqi0E8uRGoJOqOZMKII8ZI2DBJ0yrcsoFhvfy0jr_IfyRUJg_ZENOYzx-PGLaAriW-onHU1bY0Mz/s1600/Muhlke+Edited.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj2xnWfXKv1LsQxdmxvCrwGDgPeyhqrvVfXXurTlwJ0F_HcNXCXDvl72ZGN2kNXVzSPfqi0E8uRGoJOqOZMKII8ZI2DBJ0yrcsoFhvfy0jr_IfyRUJg_ZENOYzx-PGLaAriW-onHU1bY0Mz/s1600/Muhlke+Edited.jpg" height="200" width="160" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
Of course we
shouldn’t be that surprised. Kinch’s co-author is <a href="http://www.aesop.com/uk/stories/christine-muhlke/">Christine Mulhke</a> (pictured at right doing her scary ice-maiden look), who was last
sighted working on Eric Ripert’s <i>On The
Line. </i>That book is probably <a href="http://morecookbooksthansense.blogspot.com/2012/10/signatures-pounded-tuna-with-foie-gras.html">the best invocation</a> of a three
star restaurant I know of – a perfect balance of cookbook and reportage. In the
world of food writers, Mulhke is out of the top draw.</div>
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<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
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The book is
a large (but not stupidly large) format volume. The publisher is Ten Speed
Press (who also did the Alinea book, the Charlie Trotter books and, er, <i>Alan Wong’s New Wave Luau</i>). The cover is
a detail shot of an abalone, with the ridges and whorls slightly embossed
giving a cute 3D effect. The paper is glossy and the photography is suitably
lush. In short it wouldn’t stand out from half a dozen other American/Anglo/Antipodean
cheffy volumes in the bookshop.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
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Okay, so far
“so what?” But where Kinch – and Muhlke – really stand out is using their three
hundred and twenty seven pages to get inside the head of the chef. That’s not
as easy as it sounds. There are a lot of cookbooks, even successful ones, which
fail miserably at this (just turn to <i>Noma:
Time and Space in Nordic Cuisine</i> if you want an example). <i>Manresa</i>, thankfully, is not like that.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
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Let me show
you the difference.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
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<br /></div>
<h2>
<span style="font-size: x-large;">The Manresa Way</span></h2>
<h4>
<b><i><span style="color: #9fc5e8;">A tale
of twelve seasons</span></i></b></h4>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
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Kinch’s food
starts with the land – unavoidably so because of his unique partnership with
Love Apple Farms. This 22 acre farm, located twelve miles from the restaurant
has only one customer – Manresa. Kitchen and farm exist in a symbiotic
relationship, with the farm planting nine months ahead and the restaurant
planning menus nine months ahead so “Ultimately, we’ll both be ready on the
same afternoon, when it goes from raised bed to plate in a matter of hours.”<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
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For Manresa
the restaurant is as much on the farm as it is the kitchen. Kinch calls Love
Apple his “culinary laboratory”, the secret weapon which allows him to
experiment and innovate. This closeness gives his food a remarkable sensitivity
to ingredients. For Manresa there aren’t just four seasons to cook with, there
are twelve.</div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhzgBCLxUNnsXgv3uqdU_yDRHHmTJaycAmIQ7Eqblw7UJ2mDfm3b_e2tBiU8D0pbR_r7TcF4Dy9OfWgrXoAIL841GX6_s7Qb5HOXkfLAJSGilbwuz0THsS2hvFXjy7eu8RFQZNPDZ2AcZ35/s1600/Into+The+Garden+Edited.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhzgBCLxUNnsXgv3uqdU_yDRHHmTJaycAmIQ7Eqblw7UJ2mDfm3b_e2tBiU8D0pbR_r7TcF4Dy9OfWgrXoAIL841GX6_s7Qb5HOXkfLAJSGilbwuz0THsS2hvFXjy7eu8RFQZNPDZ2AcZ35/s1600/Into+The+Garden+Edited.jpg" height="378" width="640" /></a></div>
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<br /></div>
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This is
brought out in Manresa’s signature dish called simply <i>Into The Vegetable Garden… </i>(p73). This is basically a riff on
Michel Bras famous <i>Gargouillou</i> – a
melange of individually prepared vegetables, root shoot and leaf, raw cooked
and pureed, 120 components in all each painstakingly arranged on the plate. The
concept itself isn’t new but only a restaurant with Manresa’s sensitivity can
make it the climax of the tasting menu (you know, the spot on a degustation
between the langoustine-wrapped turbot and the first pre-dessert which is
normally occupied by a foie-gras stuffed beef fillet with a truffled
demi-glace).<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
<h4>
<b><i><span style="color: #9fc5e8;">The
pleasure principle, and California v2.0</span></i></b></h4>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEicEKNn_9UXj5V_UrfyqpDBFnjZaMftmdM_CLTmAgJft1-zr1pIUYrTiodMcfypxFWjxsS2t-_Ux7FM363iWwa_EajunUTlGDmuApckjwrhejYBUZuB8hgEwQ5xo-AspaEBFP_0oxgYtJxk/s1600/Foie+Gras+Creme+Caramel+Edited.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEicEKNn_9UXj5V_UrfyqpDBFnjZaMftmdM_CLTmAgJft1-zr1pIUYrTiodMcfypxFWjxsS2t-_Ux7FM363iWwa_EajunUTlGDmuApckjwrhejYBUZuB8hgEwQ5xo-AspaEBFP_0oxgYtJxk/s1600/Foie+Gras+Creme+Caramel+Edited.jpg" height="268" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>Foie Gras and Cumin Caramel. Vegans with nut<br />allergies look away now.</i></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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Note that
Kinch is clear that this is not a “farm to table” restaurant. The difference is
that he is not driven by politics or the need to make some sort of “more
locavore-than-thou” statement (there are plenty of recipes for foie gras
despite the state-wide bad, most notably a gorgeous foie gras-cumin crème
caramel on p116). All he cares about is producing the best damn food possible. Love
Apple gives him is complete control over the vegetables he uses in the
restaurant: What is grown, how much is grown and how good it tastes. As he
admits later in the book, “I am a hedonist. I am into the pleasure principle…
I’m not into the politics of food.”<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
What Kinch
does represent is the second evolution of Californian cuisine. Along with
Daniel Patterson at Coi he is at the vanguard of a generation which is moving
on from the “<a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2005/11/06/style/tmagazine/t_l_2192_2194_talk_tyranny_.html?_r=0">tyranny
of Chez Panisse</a>”, most famously mocked by David Chang’s “<a href="http://www.foodgal.com/2009/10/take-five-with-momofukus-david-chang-on-the-flap-over-fig-gate/">figs
on a plate</a>” jibe. Whereas Alice Waters' model revolved around respecting
the best ingredients by doing as little to it as possible, now they are trying
to play with their food more, because they feel they owe it to the ingredient.
The difference is subtle but on the plate it’s as clear as daylight.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh_76K-W51fLw3jeUnb3CJVk0Mv1EKKgMelYdTR1QVuzjgq9O07TH_ED-9e2R0HD9IrntEZybmb4eZZ29x1MoR5Z6UAV8NSo2oCHK75r_YHFW9MaCG1lSIxy37sqoDSQFKDGWfQ-z82TGYk/s1600/Elemental+Oyster+Recipe+Edited.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh_76K-W51fLw3jeUnb3CJVk0Mv1EKKgMelYdTR1QVuzjgq9O07TH_ED-9e2R0HD9IrntEZybmb4eZZ29x1MoR5Z6UAV8NSo2oCHK75r_YHFW9MaCG1lSIxy37sqoDSQFKDGWfQ-z82TGYk/s1600/Elemental+Oyster+Recipe+Edited.jpg" height="320" width="253" /></a></div>
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A good
example of this is a dish called <i>Elemental
Oyster</i> (p134). It looks like a simple oyster on the half shell, but each
component has been carefully treated to amplify their natural flavours. The
oyster is cooked sous-vide still clamped in its shell so it poaches in its own
juices. What seems to be the natural juices is actually a cold maceration of
konbu and <i>laiture de mer</i>, slightly
thickened with a seaweed extract.</div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
This is the new New California cuisine on a plate. He doesn't just present the ingredient "as is", but he doesn't torture it with hydrocolloids in a centrifuge to turn it into something it is not. Rather he applies all the tools and techniques of classical and modernist cuisine to simply make it taste more of itself.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
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<br /></div>
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<br /></div>
<h2>
<span style="font-size: x-large;">The Evolution of a Chef</span></h2>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<o:p></o:p></div>
<h4>
<b><i><span style="color: #9fc5e8;">Standing
on the shoulders of giants</span></i></b></h4>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
One thing
Kinch does well is acknowledge the debt he owes to his mentors. The most
obvious is Alain Passard – who has a similar approach taking the “less-travelled
road” of one restaurant, a vegetable patch and a literary output which
constitutes “a children’s cookbook, a graphic novel, and a vegetable cookbook
featuring his own collages.” (check out Bobby Flay’s <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Bobby-Flay/e/B000APY1VE/ref=sr_tc_2_0?qid=1389825264&sr=8-2-ent">Amazon
page</a> if you want to know what the alternative looks like). Homage is most
obviously rendered in the recipe he presents for Passard’s maple infused <i>Arpege Egg</i> (p52), a constant on the
Manresa menu. Also don’t miss Passard’s slightly unorthodox omelette technique
(p54) – a new way to make a very old dish.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj8KBOSQe7U2rKrb-9Wuo3iDVtBnnoJr4JYC_1occgMy3UQMvBI9eIjNo2pFpZrw7vp_q8NAVcdQWFRdgLvDoq1B9WbY2E9t62dQlE5TQaXwkiaJBa-b-aN3ifNxRImtccFZKPJq9k0V9WB/s1600/Quilted+Giraffe+Psycho+Edited.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj8KBOSQe7U2rKrb-9Wuo3iDVtBnnoJr4JYC_1occgMy3UQMvBI9eIjNo2pFpZrw7vp_q8NAVcdQWFRdgLvDoq1B9WbY2E9t62dQlE5TQaXwkiaJBa-b-aN3ifNxRImtccFZKPJq9k0V9WB/s1600/Quilted+Giraffe+Psycho+Edited.jpg" height="187" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>Patrick Bateman would kill to get a reservation... :-p</i></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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The other
great inspiration is Barry Wine, the free-thinking genius behind New York
landmark The <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/1992/12/30/garden/the-quilted-giraffe-joins-the-dinosaurs.html?pagewanted=all&src=pm">Quilted
Giraffe</a>. This restaurant <a href="http://www.townandcountrymag.com/leisure/dining/quilted-giraffe-profile">symbolised
all that was terrible and beautiful</a> about 1980s excess (it even gets
name-checked in <i>American Psycho</i>). The
most famous dish were the signature Begger’s Purses, filled with Beluga caviar
and served on silver pedestals. Kinch includes his version, filled with
albacore and lightly smoked vegetables on p58. More important it opened his
eyes to Japanese (or at least Wine’s pantagruelian take on it), a sensibility
which runs through Manresa to this day.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
There are
other mentions too (Kinch is nothing if not well travelled). Marc Meneau’s
famous <a href="http://www.globalgourmet.com/food/special/1999/foiegras/cromesquis.html#axzz2qViPTNls"><i>Cromsequis of Foie Gras</i></a> are
referenced with the Sweet Corn Croquettes (p114). And we have already mentioned
the influence wielded by Michel Bras’ <i>Gargouillou</i>.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<h4>
<b><i><span style="color: #9fc5e8;">Lessons
in simplicity</span></i></b></h4>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
Kinch is
well aware of how he adapted from other chefs, and developed. To him the
lifetime of a chef has three stages: At first you imitate which, copying from
the chefs you work with or idolise. Then you start to assimilate, putting
together ideas you have gathered and then moving ahead. But it is only in the
third and final stage that a chef finds their own voice and truly begins to
innovate.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhskbKsTM8JSGZbsGIBNnxPXqbdS0zDQHRGOBfD20CyP9WCbu-w7qv_xwIFAJQ6otidnJEGCW1Z27b0j5TBivmeuqB7XHjcw9F5HD0Q4BfqFFFP9h7Sm3MPssNKfP-BkBqoM_kJbXQifkoD/s1600/Duck+Walnut+Wine+Trimmed.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhskbKsTM8JSGZbsGIBNnxPXqbdS0zDQHRGOBfD20CyP9WCbu-w7qv_xwIFAJQ6otidnJEGCW1Z27b0j5TBivmeuqB7XHjcw9F5HD0Q4BfqFFFP9h7Sm3MPssNKfP-BkBqoM_kJbXQifkoD/s1600/Duck+Walnut+Wine+Trimmed.jpg" height="320" width="282" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>Duck with Walnut Wine: An exercise in simplicity</i></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
When a chef
gets to this stage they actually end up cooking the simplest food they have
ever cooked because they have confidence in their technique and their style and
feel no need to hide behind unnecessary complexity. It’s at this stage that
they have developed their own independent style. When chefs get to this stage
you can look at a plate of their food and, even without being told, know it was
by Achatz, or Ducasse, or Redzepi. Or by Kinch.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
Personally I
find this take refreshing in a world where chefs seem to be finding fame and
acclaim at an ever younger age. They think that, just because they’ve done a
stage at Alinea or the Fat Duck they are ready to take on the world. Luke
Thomas makes headlines <a href="http://www.standard.co.uk/news/uk/the-boy-with-michelin-stars-in-his-eyes-youngest-head-chef-hailed-as-the-new-marco-pierre-white-7496721.html">simply
for being young</a>. Hot openings like Restaurant Story or the Clove Club are
praised to the nines (take my word for it – neither of them are worth the
trip). It is, as Kinch says, “chefs trying to impress other chefs”.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
David Kinch
is the antidote to all of that. To him cookery is a craft, not a get-rich-quick
scheme. The food he cooks is uniquely his own. But there are no short-cuts to
getting there. As he says in this <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f7lw4_sgcDI">Google Talk</a> (8:17):</div>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<i>"Nowadays people are attracted to the
industry because they feel that it’s incredibly glamorous. Now I can tell you
I’m 52 years old and I still work til one thirty am in the morning. There’s
nothing glamorous about that. I work weekends. I work nights. I work holidays.
I work when you all have time to go out and eat at nice restaurants. That’s
what we do."</i></blockquote>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
(By the way,
if you listen to the rest of the talk you’ll also find he’s no fan of vegans
with nut allergies. But that’s a different story.)</div>
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<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
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<br /></div>
<h2>
<span style="font-size: x-large;">The Food</span></h2>
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<o:p></o:p></div>
<h4>
<b><i><span style="color: #9fc5e8;">Of
abalone and pigs feet</span></i></b></h4>
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Of course
where this all comes together is on the plate. And as a cookbook this contains
a number of remarkable recipes.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
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</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEggL9jVB2WwREuxcS8pGGR3TVRvwuT5NUkNmL-r2bdFGURvlYlod39OkDYiSs5EjwNlgVziyezdUzD6wUdmXgW-59st0jdTdKQEsCywdpDWZ8Qp5u03D7BL3SDCx-mmsC40SKUhnpR4Ebg3/s1600/Abalone+Pig+Edited+v2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEggL9jVB2WwREuxcS8pGGR3TVRvwuT5NUkNmL-r2bdFGURvlYlod39OkDYiSs5EjwNlgVziyezdUzD6wUdmXgW-59st0jdTdKQEsCywdpDWZ8Qp5u03D7BL3SDCx-mmsC40SKUhnpR4Ebg3/s1600/Abalone+Pig+Edited+v2.jpg" height="388" width="640" /></a></div>
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<br /></div>
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The most
outstanding are a breath-taking series of shellfish recipes in a chapter called
“The Pacific as a Muse”. Particularly noteworthy are the abalone recipes –
(Kinch is one of the few Western chefs to regularly work with this challenging
delicacy). First he serves it braised, with a delicate local milk pannacotta
and an abalone jelly (p155). Then he presents a bold Catalan-inspired pairing
with pigs trotters and milk skin (a riotous celebration of texture p158). More
classically he sautees it <i>meuniere </i>with
a <i>persillade</i>, but one made not with
parsley but seaweed (p152). These are dishes of the highest order – innovative
but with classical echoes; complex in conception but simple in execution.</div>
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<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
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The
desserts, scattered throughout the book, stand out because they often feature
vegetal elements – Candy Cap (mushroom) ice-cream with a Pine-Nut Pudding
(p184); wedges of beet with chocolate and sorrel ice-cream (p96). What’s more
interesting is the reason why – as he explains, Kinch isn’t trying to be
creative for its own sake. Rather it is to make the desserts blend more harmoniously
with the progression of the (vegetable-driven) tasting menu.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
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</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<br /></div>
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Another
notable recipe is the Strawberry Gazpacho (p202) where refreshing strawberries
stand in for ultraripe tomato. This is one of the Manresa classics and I think
this is the first time I’ve seen the recipe in print (although <i>Modernist Cuisine</i> features a version,
“inspired by” Manresa). And a few pages on the Duck with Walnut Wine (p210) is
probably the most time-consuming recipes ever published in a cookbook – you need
to begin preparing the sauce 9 months before service dish (start now and you
might be able to plate up by Christmas!).<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
<h4>
<b><i><span style="color: #9fc5e8;">As simple as 1, 2, 3</span></i></b></h4>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
Many of
these dishes can seem quite disorientating at first, but Kinch also provides a
really good chapter (“Building a Dish 1, 2, 3”) explaining how he comes up with
new dishes. The process is surprising simply</div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -18.0pt;">
</div>
<ul>
<li><span style="text-indent: -18pt;">First take a single ingredient. </span><i style="text-indent: -18pt;">A juicy Sun Jewel Melon perhaps.</i></li>
<li><span style="text-indent: -18pt;">Then find something that goes with it – it could
be something that complements it (meat + potatoes). It could be something that
contrasts or surprises.</span><i style="text-indent: -18pt;"> In this case some
onions, sautéed in homemade butter and pureed with the melon</i></li>
<li><span style="text-indent: -18pt;">Then add a third element – a bridge that ties
the two together. This could be an unexpected ingredient, a modern technique,
or even a juxtaposed texture. </span><i style="text-indent: -18pt;">In this
case some soft tofu laced with almond to round out the texture, and picked
mackerel and chanterelles to add some acidity.</i></li>
<li><span style="text-indent: -18pt;">Finally finish the dish with something dynamic –
by this is means something about the dish that changes between the plate being
set down and eaten. </span><i style="text-indent: -18pt;">In this case the
melon soup, poured tableside onto a salad of melon, mackerel and tofu.</i></li>
</ul>
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The result
is a dish that is “balanced, complex, alive”. Sounds nuts. Somehow it works.</div>
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<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhxHiGC2JKjFjKQt0ufV8sVgRFzxMyNunMJespGFKW6Vrtvxs9LI8dCYeArW7yvVepIIU4xujkMlRV5WfK1C9u953w4d6rtIU-LQy-dFC6UhTWD6etAJ6GqRvWEyEAnRjJBa0-aPHnq0hEI/s1600/Melon+Recipe+Edited.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhxHiGC2JKjFjKQt0ufV8sVgRFzxMyNunMJespGFKW6Vrtvxs9LI8dCYeArW7yvVepIIU4xujkMlRV5WfK1C9u953w4d6rtIU-LQy-dFC6UhTWD6etAJ6GqRvWEyEAnRjJBa0-aPHnq0hEI/s1600/Melon+Recipe+Edited.jpg" height="414" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>Melon, tofu, onion. Who knew?</i></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
Of course
it’s not that easy. It’s one thing to say “add something that contrasts” or
“find an element that ties this all together”, it’s another thing to have the
smarts to figure out what. But as a template this is a really good guide to
building a dish because it encourages you to strip the dish back to two or
three key contrasts. In my experience the number one failing of haute cuisine
chefs is to try too much as once. But for Kinch a dish is complete “not when
you can’t add anything else to it, but when you can’t take anything away.”<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<h4>
<b><i><span style="color: #9fc5e8;">“He’s
never going to be the one to figure out how to make hot ice cream.”</span></i></b></h4>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
But the most
chapter in the book is when Kinch his attitude to shock-driven modernist
cuisine and its idolisation of technology.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
In
particular, he <a href="http://eater.com/archives/2012/02/13/david-kinch-on-noma-clones-japan-doing-your-own-thing.php">rails
against the obsession with sous-vide</a>. If you read Thomas Keller’s <i>Under Pressure</i> you might come away with
the impression that it’s the most wonderfully extraordinary cooking technique
ever conceived. David Kinch begs to differ. To him it’s a confidence trick. It
allows you to give cheaper cuts the same luxurious texture as scallops, racks
of veal or filet mignon, but in the process it destroys the textural integrity
of the ingredient. Lamb to him should have a bit of chew – it shouldn’t be
rendered soft, mushy and indistinguishable from the next water-bathed,
aroma-free protein:</div>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<i>“Softness and richness are no longer the
definition of luxury. Instead, roasting celebrates meat’s inherent
characteristics. Texture is at the fore: a slight chew is not a flaw but a
facet to relish… Most important, the meat will retain its unique
characteristics, whether veal, beef, lamb, chicken, venison or pork-something
you don’t get with sous vide. Roasts tastes of what they are, making the choice
of quality ingredients paramount-the true fundamental of good cooking.”</i></blockquote>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhh1PQ5BKTU6kOsIx_ovDa6xRi5iQyUgyMT1eE85ngyi0Xe5mcnvpym9tNGWgEXAZH2cFrgED6Tk3Aj0lYsTF84_F1c3s314wMBVh8YS3KxRgJhRafXbRbC98v0MYjwl1Y6MoYjvAlkemjL/s1600/Veal+Edited.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhh1PQ5BKTU6kOsIx_ovDa6xRi5iQyUgyMT1eE85ngyi0Xe5mcnvpym9tNGWgEXAZH2cFrgED6Tk3Aj0lYsTF84_F1c3s314wMBVh8YS3KxRgJhRafXbRbC98v0MYjwl1Y6MoYjvAlkemjL/s1600/Veal+Edited.jpg" height="382" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>Roast lamb. Sous-vide not required (don't tell Thomas Keller!)</i></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
Another
example is the Pacojet, the industrial-strength micro-grinder which allows you
to turn any frozen block of anything into an instant ice-cream. To Kinch what
comes out of a Pacojet isn’t ice-cream. There’s no hit of rich cream and eggs.
Instead stabilisers like egg white power and dextrose are used which produce a
weird ice-cream which doesn’t taste and doesn’t melt.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
To be clear
he isn’t against new technology per se. As we’ve already seen sous vide is used
to gently poach the Elemental Oyster in its juices. Pacojets <i>are</i> used at Manresa to make perfect
fruit sorbets or intensely flavoured herb oils. Xanthan gum is used to stablise
an emulsion of bone marrow and vegetable broth. He actually can’t shut up about
one piece of kitchen tech – his controlled-steam combi oven which lets his
program five cycle of roasting without doing a thing.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
What he
hates though is fetishising technology for its own sake; turning it into an end
in itself rather than a means to an end. This is, by far, the most personal
part of the book. While everyone else ran amok with anti-griddles and thermomixes,
Kinch was ploughing his furrow (quite literally) with Love Apple and cooking
the best damn vegetables he could find in the best way he could. And the
criticism hurt. As he says:</div>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<i>“I felt like the voice in the wilderness,
like people were saying, “Oh, look at David, growing his beets. He’s never
going to be the one to figure out how to make hot ice cream.” To keep up, I
experimented with all of the new technologies (or at least the ones I could
afford). But I realized that the food didn’t </i>taste<i> good. I hated the textures. Why puree a carrot and then rethicken it
with a chemical developed for industrial cooking? Sure it has an interesting
texture, but it’s not the texture of a carrot, with all of its beautiful
imperfections.”<o:p></o:p></i></blockquote>
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Of course
now that El Bulli has faded into history it is precisely Manresa’s style of food
that has come to the fore. The restaurants which reap acclaim are places like
Noma in Denmark or L’Enclume in England, which take best of innovative
techniques, but blend them with an ineffable sense of time and place.</div>
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<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
David Kinch
was doing that ten years ago.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
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<br /></div>
<h2>
<span style="font-size: x-large;">Why You Should Read This Book</span></h2>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
To wrap up,
I think there are three reasons why this is one of the finest, and most
important cookbooks to be written in recent years.</div>
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<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
The first is
that this is a portrait of a great (and criminally under-appreciated) chef at
the prime of his powers. If you haven’t heard of David Kinch, I hope you have
now.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
The second
is that it’s a masterclass in how to write a chef-driven cookbook. If you want
an object lesson in how to capture the spirit of a chef in three hundred pages,
then look no further. Ms Muhlke has done a superb job.</div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
The third is
that this is a book packed with eternal lessons and insights are applicable to <i>any</i> chef. There will always a new food
fad to follow – this book warns us not to get carried away. There will always
be the temptation to add one more shaving of truffle/foie-gras/cube of crispy
belly pork to a dish – this book reminds us why less is more. Basic principles
about balance, restraint and respect for ingredients never go out of fashion.
And hopefully neither should this book.</div>
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<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjMyha3cUsQ7diBW6lr9MrD7YPbe3WV2XtJkooyV-OswTSY6jwcpxDcZwZF90DJ6ZJF2qba4rQiM5iKtGC0LL9tfQPRSDvHyatiPV492WnR7wjUwoqrhckWMca5Yon9xqP2jq54G0EPQLni/s1600/Abalone+Pannacotta+Edited+v2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjMyha3cUsQ7diBW6lr9MrD7YPbe3WV2XtJkooyV-OswTSY6jwcpxDcZwZF90DJ6ZJF2qba4rQiM5iKtGC0LL9tfQPRSDvHyatiPV492WnR7wjUwoqrhckWMca5Yon9xqP2jq54G0EPQLni/s1600/Abalone+Pannacotta+Edited+v2.jpg" height="592" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>Raw Milk Pannacotta with Abalone and an Abalone-Dashi Gelee, cunningly disguised as a Damien Hirst painting</i></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<br /></div>
Jon Tsenghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01916149961326205602noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6732049007302130204.post-32728156800646335622014-01-02T20:06:00.000+00:002014-07-03T08:22:03.496+01:00Historic Heston by Heston Blumenthal: What's for Dinner?<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj3TZ-LSnk5zfexV0u44Ui7TC_jafML43-7JqqfF8dNmVKXSBee5iKWgI1rLet4GoKxNlnNAXKT7mI63dlDF3Suq0yySHyXfNM5Jdl1awFB5eFMNns49K4ZA1QreurTA-7jmrvB4gGF0Nmh/s1600/IMG_20140101_204535.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj3TZ-LSnk5zfexV0u44Ui7TC_jafML43-7JqqfF8dNmVKXSBee5iKWgI1rLet4GoKxNlnNAXKT7mI63dlDF3Suq0yySHyXfNM5Jdl1awFB5eFMNns49K4ZA1QreurTA-7jmrvB4gGF0Nmh/s640/IMG_20140101_204535.jpg" height="420" width="640" /></a></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<br />
<i><span style="color: white;">Apologies for the lack of recent posts. Starting a new job does that to you. Am back now though - and lots more stuff in the pipeline to write about. J.</span></i><br />
<i><br /></i>
<br />
<h4>
<i><span style="color: #9fc5e8;">Dinner
by Heston: The Cookbook</span></i></h4>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
Historic
Heston is Blumenthal’s second Big Book. Forget the TV spin-offs and the kiddies
cook-books. This is the true successor to 2008’s Big Fat Duck Cookbook. It has
a similarly commanding bulk and price tag (although the street price has been
consistently closer to £80 than the £120 list), which is appropriate as this is
the definitive record of Heston’s second Big Restaurant.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiJNtsLMk8kkw0onrIgR17PsK7ItTcNEPZIlLzjULTwCdCKbiiVfFHL94700pBvFM5OGvQZ23G43KSo9wf9NFNB1jR-kCiUU0Mz-acWDBD9iUI0Ki8Un4DfoCXgKDACS_nBG5mGJo_hAxr6/s1600/Dinner_by_Heston_Blumenthal,_Knightsbridge.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiJNtsLMk8kkw0onrIgR17PsK7ItTcNEPZIlLzjULTwCdCKbiiVfFHL94700pBvFM5OGvQZ23G43KSo9wf9NFNB1jR-kCiUU0Mz-acWDBD9iUI0Ki8Un4DfoCXgKDACS_nBG5mGJo_hAxr6/s320/Dinner_by_Heston_Blumenthal,_Knightsbridge.jpg" height="213" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><div style="text-align: left;">
<i>Dinner by Heston. Tell you a secret - I actually much</i></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<i>preferred </i><i>it when it was <a href="http://www.andyhayler.com/restaurant/foliage">Foliage</a>. (Wikimedia Commons)</i></div>
</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
Let’s be
clear although it’s never stated this is to all intents and purposes the Dinner
by Heston Cookbook. You may have heard of Dinner – it’s Heston’s London
gastronomic sextravaganza: holder of two Michelin stars, <a href="http://www.theworlds50best.com/list/1-50-winners/dinner-by-heston-blumenthal/">seventh
best restaurant in the world</a> and with Saturday night reservations rarer
than a PETA foie gras appreciation party.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
Okay a few
of the recipes in the book are served at The Fat Duck or The Hind’s Head
(Heston’s Bray gastropub), but the vast majority come from Dinner. It includes
all the Dinner’s most iconic recipes such as Meat Fruit and the Tipsy Cake. The
philosophy of the book and the philosophy behind Dinner are one and the same.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<h4>
<i><span style="color: #9fc5e8;">“A
glorious culinary heritage”</span></i></h4>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
One thing
that’s clear from the introduction is that Heston is most definitely Trying To
Make A Point About English Food. His basic argument has two parts:<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<u>The first</u> is
the belief that England has a culinary heritage which is more than a match for
any other nation.</div>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<i>If, as history encourages, you take the long
view, our culinary heritage is in fact a glorious one. King Richard II was a
noted gourmet who both gave and inspired magnificent feasts. Our invention of
the pudding sent foreign visitors into raptures, and our skill at the spit was
once the envy of the world… </i></blockquote>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
In short there
should be no cultural cringe when facing our cousins from across the channel
and two hundred and forty-six varieties of cheese! (I actually completely agree
with this thesis – a point I made <a href="http://morecookbooksthansense.blogspot.co.uk/2012/10/the-english-terroir-mary-hanson-moore.html"><span style="text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;">in one of the earliest posts
on this blog</span></a>).</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgJiLjxX1eTCl4qaKyTRj6fDL8TDJBhSaNWAnTVndiBtP90EFkh07iuJzY1FEhcJ3Z61S4DMOUqLc-yX7j_fRSpiXkPqgKezSXfZK55jmmrHz26TZYaWqzxfqBiRZftCD0dYVN9EqI2XQPj/s1600/IMG_20140101_203748.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgJiLjxX1eTCl4qaKyTRj6fDL8TDJBhSaNWAnTVndiBtP90EFkh07iuJzY1FEhcJ3Z61S4DMOUqLc-yX7j_fRSpiXkPqgKezSXfZK55jmmrHz26TZYaWqzxfqBiRZftCD0dYVN9EqI2XQPj/s320/IMG_20140101_203748.jpg" height="199" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><div style="text-align: left;">
<i>Apparently English food used to look just like this!</i></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<i>(pocket watches optional)</i></div>
</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<u>The second</u>
is that the renaissance of British food since the lows of the seventies should
build on this history by combining new techniques with historical tradition.
This leads to the creation of a distinct culinary identity.</div>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<i>Somewhere along the line we seem to have
forgotten that we once had an impressive culinary reputation. I want this book
to provide a reminder of that fantastic heritage. Over the last decade or so,
there has been revolution in British food. As a result, there is a new-found
pride in this country’s cooking that has led to us regaining our culinary
identity. What you’re about to read is a testament to that, and I hope it also
shows how great cuisine comes from a sense of tradition mixed with the spirit
of innovation.</i></blockquote>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
(NB –
Although Heston says “British” food above, the book itself unashamedly revolves
solely English dishes, so any Irish, Scots or Welsh food historians out there
are likely to be sorely disappointed.)</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
The rest of
the book is the application of this philosophy in the real world. He takes a
series of historical recipes, shows the cultural context behind them, and
explains how he has reinterpreted them using modern techniques The dishes were
never trying to be authentic reconstructions of past dishes, simply
“inspired-by” reinterpretations.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
Let’s see
how he does…<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<h2>
<span style="font-size: x-large;">The Book</span></h2>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg7Iw2uqs_m7z4bivC_9Sdmw82sZEanoRm2UhCaCRWJ291A0ZvGqcSA2zZVSsIQGJAMF5yqqdNK-C4QC_lpRgLjtCnAugXcU2b9tyeQcbFm81ouobW-w5jaleFSiGTrXiwfT2zgFFMPEIyl/s1600/IMG_20140101_202803.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg7Iw2uqs_m7z4bivC_9Sdmw82sZEanoRm2UhCaCRWJ291A0ZvGqcSA2zZVSsIQGJAMF5yqqdNK-C4QC_lpRgLjtCnAugXcU2b9tyeQcbFm81ouobW-w5jaleFSiGTrXiwfT2zgFFMPEIyl/s640/IMG_20140101_202803.jpg" height="436" width="640" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<b><i><span style="color: #9fc5e8;">A
Bloomsbury stunna<o:p></o:p></span></i></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
A word first
of all on the book. It’s a stunner of a volume. Bloomsbury (who also did with
original Fat Duck book) have done a great job.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiMv1Vu9OGbRPmyy_N9m_wHbiSikr9h1Ea1l_pQXUT0er5H2G_lSVXq_saJAi-HR9IaWCmsnnUMWElCwrM8UFePgRNO7kLpdtW0huKA5owQ30eZNeOfepYE4uq2DyC4FDuKL7iTDqfRX5uX/s1600/IMG_20140101_203020.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiMv1Vu9OGbRPmyy_N9m_wHbiSikr9h1Ea1l_pQXUT0er5H2G_lSVXq_saJAi-HR9IaWCmsnnUMWElCwrM8UFePgRNO7kLpdtW0huKA5owQ30eZNeOfepYE4uq2DyC4FDuKL7iTDqfRX5uX/s200/IMG_20140101_203020.jpg" height="147" width="200" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
Weighing in
at 3.626kg, this is a hefty volume [note to self: when your latest accession
weighs as much as a small goose, you know it’s time cut back on your cookbook
habit]. The style is decidedly Victorian Gothic Revival: luxuriously decked out
in burgundy and gold with the edges hemmed by Tudor-roses. Alongside there’s a
matching slip-case, with Heston’s coat of arms picked out in gold. If <a href="https://www.google.co.uk/search?q=pugin+gothic+revival+detail&safe=off&rlz=1C1CHFX_en-GBGB567GB567&espv=210&es_sm=122&tbm=isch&tbo=u&source=univ&sa=X&ei=thnEUsqkGab07AaFmYCADQ&ved=0CEoQsAQ&biw=1368&bih=642#es_sm=122&espv=210&q=pugin+gothic+revival+ornament+detail&safe=off&tbm=isch">Augustus
Pugin</a> did cookbooks, this is what they’d look like. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<o:p> </o:p> </div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
One quibble
– despite their similar presentation it’s a shame that it’s a slightly
different size from the original Fat Duck book. A shame - they would have made a handsome
matching pair on the bookshelf:<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhSxnD6pJpNg5aJ0m_Hxr_E1bnBsGSbg8HOkm6Ml10GoVuTRCcZlDTGM9bSH0-jydEI3VLlJ_kHQ7iQYVDASixaUrXjKFY-usCqjjpd_m_ECxoNh_GbPvVDshp4VQxbUTUE__OcPFBjxy0g/s1600/Fat+Duck+Book+Comparison.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhSxnD6pJpNg5aJ0m_Hxr_E1bnBsGSbg8HOkm6Ml10GoVuTRCcZlDTGM9bSH0-jydEI3VLlJ_kHQ7iQYVDASixaUrXjKFY-usCqjjpd_m_ECxoNh_GbPvVDshp4VQxbUTUE__OcPFBjxy0g/s640/Fat+Duck+Book+Comparison.jpg" height="318" width="640" /></a><br />
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<b><i><span style="color: #9fc5e8;">Structural strengths (and one big flaw)</span></i></b><br />
Inside the
structure of the book is very simple. After a brief intro outlining the
thinking behind the book (qv), it launches straight into the recipes. They are
all laid out in the same way:<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;">
</div>
<ol>
<li><span style="font-size: 7pt; text-indent: -0.25in;"> </span><span style="text-indent: -0.25in;">A stylised "still-life" style photo of the
original historic recipe.</span></li>
<li><span style="text-indent: -0.25in;">The text of the recipe which acted as an
inspiration.</span></li>
<li><span style="text-indent: -0.25in;">A discussion of some historical or cultural
trend which provides context.</span></li>
<li><span style="text-indent: -0.25in;">An account of how Heston went from original
inspiration to modern reinterpretation.</span></li>
<li><span style="text-indent: -0.25in;">The full recipe for the modern reinterpretation.</span></li>
<li><span style="text-indent: -0.25in;">A picture of the final dish.</span></li>
</ol>
<!--[if !supportLists]--><o:p></o:p><br />
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<o:p></o:p></div>
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<o:p></o:p></div>
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<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;">
<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpLast" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;">
<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
Each recipe follows this order rigidly, (so much so that actually that I could
assemble a nice grid in Excel to help me keep track of everything going on – click <a href="https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B46hxTELCaJZdjhfTFFzNmNqbGc/edit?usp=sharing">here</a> to view). It’s definitely
not a bad thing given the volume of material; once you've found a recipe you clearly know what yo're in for.<br />
<br />
Where I do have an issue is the table of contents, which is pretty much the most unusable version I've ever come across. It tries to pack far too much into one place, and by the time you've figured out if you're reading up, down, left or right you've probably forgotten what you were looking for in the first place:</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<o:p></o:p></div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiTHcN3Zy1xxCWB1r9PDiQpsl-Y21u3moZYomEw9-vy96GPLz2ykhTOQj641E0PwtH0bjfdyvGK8lgRA5HVeKGWdbK4Lm_xDqpCPxAU9XhTl7WZgQ1ZvoyDoLTtbxRIbTUgWOyZLUCLUZCw/s1600/Contents.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiTHcN3Zy1xxCWB1r9PDiQpsl-Y21u3moZYomEw9-vy96GPLz2ykhTOQj641E0PwtH0bjfdyvGK8lgRA5HVeKGWdbK4Lm_xDqpCPxAU9XhTl7WZgQ1ZvoyDoLTtbxRIbTUgWOyZLUCLUZCw/s640/Contents.jpg" height="392" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>Probably the worst table of contents in the world. Does someone have <a href="https://www.vitsoe.com/gb/about/good-design">Dieter Rams</a>' mobile?</i></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<b><i><span style="color: #9fc5e8;">Photography to make you weep</span></i></b><br />
What does
deserve praise though is the <i>stunning</i> photography from <a href="http://romasfoord.co.uk/">Romas Foord</a>, particularly the “still-life”
compositions of historical recipes. These are richly
textured, burnished plates which wouldn’t look out of place on the walls of a Jacobean mansion. In many cases I needed to do a double take to check they
were actually photos, not paintings Heston dredged up. In many cases I’m still
not sure!</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<o:p></o:p></div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjF0PYl6LPKP1h_r75oj2vCi3tbKbooHIE1ULBnHXGytczOOei-arFbCT-aLEhKbzvoNwFDaYhwWJPEjBuZeMX1y8DXiLQ6Ggh6lzz9dJtHffS9STAVnK_iKZ8wIaYpRI7YJ631o0d7rpDt/s1600/Strawberry+Tart.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjF0PYl6LPKP1h_r75oj2vCi3tbKbooHIE1ULBnHXGytczOOei-arFbCT-aLEhKbzvoNwFDaYhwWJPEjBuZeMX1y8DXiLQ6Ggh6lzz9dJtHffS9STAVnK_iKZ8wIaYpRI7YJ631o0d7rpDt/s640/Strawberry+Tart.jpg" height="394" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>Traditionally Strawberry Tart as photographed by Romas Foord</i></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<o:p><br /></o:p></div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh5sUmp_L6zti3cu8jYfgK5Yg-s7ph6PEaOFRzonmeljaa5Qo4Xb2norSm3-GnilWY7uvXyymCcNshwG9KWsg6hNlA_YLh3DffLpbqnWHSApUCNUYM2-ZN6g1du2Vg6BhMBlFcuciyGr3qU/s1600/Lamb+Broth.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh5sUmp_L6zti3cu8jYfgK5Yg-s7ph6PEaOFRzonmeljaa5Qo4Xb2norSm3-GnilWY7uvXyymCcNshwG9KWsg6hNlA_YLh3DffLpbqnWHSApUCNUYM2-ZN6g1du2Vg6BhMBlFcuciyGr3qU/s640/Lamb+Broth.jpg" height="400" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>Ingredients for Lamb Broth a la R Foord. Vegetarians look away now!</i></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<b><i><span style="color: #9fc5e8;">Heston’s
history lessons<o:p></o:p></span></i></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
The
historical discussions themselves are good value, ranging across an eclectic
range of topics, from medieval medical theory to the cuisine of Pall Mall
gentleman’s clubs with stopovers to consider early Hanoverian politics, the
history of porridge and the use of snails in cookery. Culinary magpies will find
plenty to keep them amused.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
One theme
that jumps out here is the ongoing relationship England has with the outside
world: We are an island but Heston shows ours is not an insular cuisine. In Tudor times the
Renaissance and the discovery of the New World had a profound influence. Pineapples from the West Indies were the height of eighteenth century refinement. And the Victorian era trade with India brought spices, pickles and chutneys
(popularised by among others Mr Crosse and Mr Blackwell).<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
A related theme discussed is our love/hate relationship with the French. On the one hand
much of our national identity and cuisine was defined by opposition to Bourbon
and post-Revolutionary France (for more on why we get our kicks from beating on
the French I thoroughly recommend Linda Colley’s landmark study <a href="http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/book-review--a-hand-up-for-the-nation-britons-forging-the-nation-17071837--linda-colley-yale-1995-pounds-1554079.html"><i>Britons: Forging the Nation 1707 – 1837</i></a>).
On the other hand it was French chefs like Soyer and Careme who came to London
and helped drag our cuisine into the modern age. The French - can't live with 'em; can't live without 'em.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<b><i><span style="color: #9fc5e8;">Into
the mind of a the chef</span><o:p></o:p></i></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
However the
best part for me is when Heston talks about how he reinterpreted these
traditional recipes as modern dishes to be served at Dinner. These sections
provide real insight into the creative work of a chef – not only the sources
and inspirations, but the endless experimenting used to tune even the finest
details (e.g. the unending experimentation to get the texture of the Quaking
Pudding just right or make the orange peel on the Meat Fruit look “just so”). Even
if you’ve already been to Dinner, these parts will make you see the food there
in a new light.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhn6_iQ43xLQGAwGzRe7JJveI6oWZ47zMgzz5UPsoIWcOCB2j_0Uf_7p63dzO1ibErU1_tzKJMSu6vYNJYYhUGCWpThjKbzAmmnavAfdEZ8JKiOBndFO4UJP_PK_dO2FGGPiKRQOpKPrRW8/s1600/Mock+Turtle+Soup+Recipe.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhn6_iQ43xLQGAwGzRe7JJveI6oWZ47zMgzz5UPsoIWcOCB2j_0Uf_7p63dzO1ibErU1_tzKJMSu6vYNJYYhUGCWpThjKbzAmmnavAfdEZ8JKiOBndFO4UJP_PK_dO2FGGPiKRQOpKPrRW8/s640/Mock+Turtle+Soup+Recipe.jpg" height="262" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="font-size: 13px;"><i>A typical Heston recipe for a quick week-night supper. Although apparently a bit to much for poor Mr Levy...</i></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
The Heston
recipes themselves are unabashed full-fat restaurant versions of the dishes.
Obviously it’s impractical to pull most of these off at home with a centrifuge,
a vacuum packer and an awful lot of time (something Paul Levy of the Telegraph <a href="http://www.telegraph.co.uk/foodanddrink/foodanddrinkbooks/10380253/Heston-Blumenthals-new-book-These-faux-cookbooks-leave-me-simmering.html">rather
shrilly takes issue with</a>), but that’s not the point. What you do get from
the pages-long recipes is an understanding of why restaurant cooking is
profoundly different from home cooking, and how the sum of many small touches
and components can create something truly magical. This is a book to imbibe,
not to cook from. <o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<b><i><span style="color: #9fc5e8;">Enter the ammanuensis</span></i></b></div>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi88WrABVVWhhGabzV9m9seyUyU-pfHNoDl1op6wuzi8wPvruNU3ihuvsmiuk_1KBzBZc0xnvSsACRG1v45gTsR32kkB9GBKoQ7kdxKtCKW8fWyvKjjqK1I-VH7UkkrK8xILnkp-Ee5w_uz/s1600/Pascal+Cariss.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi88WrABVVWhhGabzV9m9seyUyU-pfHNoDl1op6wuzi8wPvruNU3ihuvsmiuk_1KBzBZc0xnvSsACRG1v45gTsR32kkB9GBKoQ7kdxKtCKW8fWyvKjjqK1I-VH7UkkrK8xILnkp-Ee5w_uz/s200/Pascal+Cariss.jpg" height="200" width="170" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><div style="text-align: left;">
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<i>This bloke co-writes all of</i></div>
</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<i style="text-align: left;"><i>Heston's books (Linkedin)</i></i><i></i></div>
<i>
</i></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
It’s
probably also worth a call-out at this point to Heston’s superb co-writer <a href="http://www.linkedin.com/pub/pascal-cariss/68/87b/89b">Pascal Cariss</a>. The use of barely-credited <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2012/03/14/dining/i-was-a-cookbook-ghostwriter.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0">ghostwriters</a>
is a fact of life in the modern food industry - of course no one's going to think Heston wrote over four hundred pages of culinary musings by himself. But I do think the lack of recognition they
get is a genuine scandal. We’ll never know how much of the book is Pascal rather than Heston, but I suspect it’s quite a lot.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
Heston does (eventually) give him due credit, but unless you get to halfway down the first paragraph of page 426, you'll never know. I do think even a small byline on the spine or even the frontispiece might be a nice idea (ghostwriters occasionally get billing in US cookbooks, but normally only if they are big-name food journos). Surely it won't make <i>that</i> much of a difference to all that gorgeous design?</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<b><i><span style="color: #9fc5e8;">When does "inspired by" become "vaguely something to do with"?<o:p></o:p></span></i></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
And while I'm on a critical theme, I do think that on occasion Heston stretches the historical
connection/inspiration too far. For example, <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/77788903@N00/7510568848/in/photolist-crFCsm-8pccss-8p9618-96rbmX-96uczy-bGKn2i-atP78D-fHenwb-9MKkwW-bCey85-aF54eg-9ju2h7-9BTatF-dgcisx-c2ccim-9ovCjF-9RYn8b-7P9jSk-byp7px-9wsBZP-9wvxP7-9wsCa6-9wsCk4-9oyH7Y-bVG63u-f3t5mR">Rice & Flesh</a> may be inspired
by a medieval English conconction, but it looks suspiciously to me like a posh
risotto Milanese (right down to the saffron flavouring and using Gualtiero
Marchesi’s technique of finishing with acidulated butter). I think to say this foreign plate is forever England pushes it a teeny bit too far.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
Also the
<a href="http://www.tripadvisor.co.uk/LocationPhotoDirectLink-g186338-d2000067-i67044302-Dinner_by_Heston_Blumenthal-London_England.html">Tart of Strawberries</a> (lovely though it sounds) has virtually nothing to do with its
alleged inspiration – Heston happily admits to swapping out the original
cinnamon and ginger for chamomile and mint because he thought it went better.
It’s certainly a fine dish which reeks of summer, but again the connection sounds a bit too generic to be convincing.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<o:p> </o:p> </div>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjN4eYt28NsSJXNr-WofjSPpgwSk99OT4z7NzcRLonHD52yEoV805Tia8THyiFF6l95t3ofP4HFc6jyyVdQi2FGbcBujx_Mu-dYbNSAdg-NwZlkvYpjM73lIvCnYIrJMkz4vEtCJfeCS2Tl/s1600/Robert+Label.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjN4eYt28NsSJXNr-WofjSPpgwSk99OT4z7NzcRLonHD52yEoV805Tia8THyiFF6l95t3ofP4HFc6jyyVdQi2FGbcBujx_Mu-dYbNSAdg-NwZlkvYpjM73lIvCnYIrJMkz4vEtCJfeCS2Tl/s320/Robert+Label.jpg" height="294" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: left;"><i>Sauce Robert: Coming soon to a supermarket near you.</i></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
And his
<a href="http://www.insearchofheston.com/2012/05/saucy-hestons-sauce-robert-from-waitrose-reviewed/">Sauce Robert</a> nags me. The justification for including this traditional French concoctions seems to be that Antonin Careme (Famous chef. Frustrated architect. Extremely French) had a brief residency at the Brighton Pavilion and therefore anything he cooked is English by adoption (by this rationale it's equally Russian, given he also worked for Tsar
Alexander I). To add insult to injury it’s then served alongside an Iberico pork
chop (although on a positive note those nice people at Waitrose now sell genuine Heston Sauce Robert in a packet - though no sign of them stocking <i>pluma Iberico</i> anytime soon).<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
But to be
honest these are a minority of the cases. For most of the recipes I can clearly
follow Heston’s thought process. And the remainder are not less delicious for
the lack of it.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<h2>
<span style="font-size: x-large;">The Recipes</span></h2>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<b><i><span style="color: #9fc5e8;">Meat
Fruit and other illusions<o:p></o:p></span></i></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjdLU-6TMNs-y3g7rfXF3dm-AuPeOInwJnhN99nlAFErevSIWpI407bUWUv7TolWl0EPIo9FsuRtmzwdcF6Vru4HcQ6SJ-rQwWL2EgViaoTUuZe8QoKHbiJ56clrIumw2jjB9-q82JeCCxZ/s1600/Meat+Fruit.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjdLU-6TMNs-y3g7rfXF3dm-AuPeOInwJnhN99nlAFErevSIWpI407bUWUv7TolWl0EPIo9FsuRtmzwdcF6Vru4HcQ6SJ-rQwWL2EgViaoTUuZe8QoKHbiJ56clrIumw2jjB9-q82JeCCxZ/s640/Meat+Fruit.jpg" height="396" width="640" /></a>There are
twenty eight recipes in total, starting with Rice & Flesh (c.1390) and
ending some six centuries later with Mock Turtle Soup c.1892). The ones that
will attract the most attention are the great signature dishes from Dinner –
the Meat Fruit and the Tipsy Cake.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
The Meat
Fruit recipe has been published <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2010/dec/02/heston-blumenthal-christmas-canapes-meat">in
various forms</a> before, but this is the first time the full-fat recipe has
made an appearance. The original inspiration was actually quite different from
the modern dish – <i>Pome Dorres</i>,
spit-roast balls of pork mince, covered in a paste of flour and sugar and made
to look like apples. As Heston says, his reinterpretation</div>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<i>Was to take advantage of the latest
equipment and create a meat fruit that the medieval chef could only dream of. A
dish that, were he transported to my kitchen in a time machine, would appeal to
his wit and-who knows?-perhaps the cunning in his bowels as well.</i></blockquote>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEinLyZMEKKFYoCYZjiRKbQ3idBjgpLQcFy15CsaH0JigSVZ6M5GmEJB2YU_gScLJwzocj13PZT6FFTXL-kZgqFbqSX6depikjTklzmKnzK3P-AkKvQG2deSx-c1H4MP-YufaeQN3S_kyhSJ/s1600/Parfait+Recipe.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEinLyZMEKKFYoCYZjiRKbQ3idBjgpLQcFy15CsaH0JigSVZ6M5GmEJB2YU_gScLJwzocj13PZT6FFTXL-kZgqFbqSX6depikjTklzmKnzK3P-AkKvQG2deSx-c1H4MP-YufaeQN3S_kyhSJ/s320/Parfait+Recipe.jpg" height="186" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><div style="text-align: left;">
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<i>The Meat Fruit parfait has a surprising amount in common</i></div>
</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<i style="text-align: left;"><i>with the recipe in MPW's Canteen Cuisine</i></i><i></i></div>
<i>
</i></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
Leaving
aside the bowels of medieval chefs, what we end up with is the iconic
foie-gras-chicken-liver-parfait-dressed-as-a-mandarin we know so well.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
Actually the
parfait itself is relatively undemanding. Although Heston doesn't mention it, I'd put good money on the parfait recipe being nicked from Marco Pierre White (remember Heston trained briefly at Harveys). For a start, the ingredients (see pic right) are pretty much identical. Also the method that follows is pretty much identical: 1) reduce booze and aromatics, 2) chop livers and gently heat (Heston uses sous vide at this point, MPW just takes it to just above blood heat), 3) blitz with lots of butter and egg and finish in a bain marie. There are a lot of alternate ways of making a liver parfait; the fact both have chosen the same way is unlikely to be a coincidence.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
The point is that people who go to Dinner and rave about how amaaaazing the Meat Fruit tastes really shouldn't. You could have had the same mouthful at The Restaurant Marco Pierre White nearly twenty years ago. What they <i>are </i>right to rave about is the skill with which the balls of parfait are dressed up as perfect mandarins, particularly the magic on the mandarin jelly "peel". The trick (which Heston stumbled upon by accident) is to
freeze the fruit before the second dipping, to create the distinctive dimpled
finish:<br />
<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgpE_oMsY_CiDpTDxY8_sOmoIjflArkJDIwrFWVFV_bXgwZHMbl0RGHFpzhqr6wJsn-ywJDTvWGHd1wIUjEJiFFRdFAvMymzeKnT0F-Nqwq_AzPxLrPBd2GaWjU8f25gMn_uMoIp2VmqxzP/s1600/Meat+Fruit+Recipe.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgpE_oMsY_CiDpTDxY8_sOmoIjflArkJDIwrFWVFV_bXgwZHMbl0RGHFpzhqr6wJsn-ywJDTvWGHd1wIUjEJiFFRdFAvMymzeKnT0F-Nqwq_AzPxLrPBd2GaWjU8f25gMn_uMoIp2VmqxzP/s640/Meat+Fruit+Recipe.jpg" height="394" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>The Meat Fruit recipe in all its glory (click image for more detail)</i></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
Actually the idea of <i>trompe l’oeil</i> – making a dish look like something else – is a recurring
theme in this book. It’s also deployed in the Sambocade, where a goat and elderflower
cheesecake is made up to look exactly like a log of ash-rolled goats cheese,
and in Wassail, an bracing Autumn dessert where a fake apple is fashioned from
apple mousse and gel and served alongside caramelised brioche tarts which are
charred to look like tree stumps.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
It’s seem
most exuberantly though Verjus in Egg, a dessert made to look for all the world
like a perfectly boiled egg. Now <i>trompe l’oeil</i> eggs are nothing new (for many
years Martin Blunos served a famous <a href="http://blog.thistle.com/an-easter-recipe-from-chef-martin-blunos/">Boiled
Egg & Soldiers</a> dessert at his two-starred Lettonie). However Heston
takes it to a new level by crafting the entire egg-shell from paper-thin
chocolate (white on the inside, brown on the outside), which is presented whole and then cracked open to reveal a just-poached pannacotta “white” and mandarin-puree
“yolk”.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi9RkJ6unDbnI2_5KgOMlthwMOHAC2iYjpZiDOEfcNdw__jwAe9s3iAWiYNDOxejMkR6wJtfdLXtm3YZUlql7X8oNBHCLu6Ura1FvJ1SVqFnhh1mQdIEP68QmFaFTItWA3VMyuzCyzouCmo/s1600/Verjus+Egg.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi9RkJ6unDbnI2_5KgOMlthwMOHAC2iYjpZiDOEfcNdw__jwAe9s3iAWiYNDOxejMkR6wJtfdLXtm3YZUlql7X8oNBHCLu6Ura1FvJ1SVqFnhh1mQdIEP68QmFaFTItWA3VMyuzCyzouCmo/s640/Verjus+Egg.jpg" height="398" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>The only ingredient missing from this dish is actually... Egg!</i></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<o:p> </o:p>As I said –
don’t try this at home.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<b><i><span style="color: #9fc5e8;">A
very, very tipsy cake</span></i></b></div>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiNUud3986M0qbnnJY6bWzCgHjUKJPsxIc14tZPHvyeui9YSEBYgrLua46-ozk0Nf6FCN6eloSruwcLTalS8h_q2VWuRdQI1H5Hok9SJwKevYMWlytQCCJ8hx4vK4hfUNuur0M1rwPHVfJc/s1600/Tipsy_Cake_at_Dinner_by_Heston.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiNUud3986M0qbnnJY6bWzCgHjUKJPsxIc14tZPHvyeui9YSEBYgrLua46-ozk0Nf6FCN6eloSruwcLTalS8h_q2VWuRdQI1H5Hok9SJwKevYMWlytQCCJ8hx4vK4hfUNuur0M1rwPHVfJc/s200/Tipsy_Cake_at_Dinner_by_Heston.jpg" height="200" width="133" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><div style="text-align: left;">
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<i>Tipsy Cake at Dinner</i></div>
</div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<i><i>(Wikimedia Commons)</i></i></div>
</div>
<i>
</i></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
Tipsy Cake
is Dinner’s other great creation: a boozy caramelised cake, served in a cocotte
with a shard of pineapple from Dinner’s steampunk rotisserie.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
This recipe
is published for the first time in this book, and it’s a humdinger. Like the
Meat Fruit, the basic components are surprisingly simple. The cake itself is
little more than a straightforward brioche dough baked in a pot (not dissimilar
a German pudding called the Dumph Noodle).<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
But, as with
many recipes in this book, the magic is in the small details. Instead of
soaking the brioche in alcohol at the start (too boozy), Heston concocts a
cooking cream of sauternes, brandy, demerara and whipping cream which gradually
bastes the bread as it cooks. Then to finish the cocottes go on a hot pizza
stone to crisp up the bottom, and a final lick of brandy gives the requisite
kick.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<o:p><br /></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<o:p></o:p></div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgY8HGgfCpcAn5mGMkRMYeq-rMkknpC6tELp1LMO725pQvTCFZwoW-fnM7Vq_36uGlkcNoxY2aPWA9dBEM31oNqP8D198XGGZcBDZNIJWEJxgBb2194nGfws3zqe4wG7DEFZiea9R1efwNa/s1600/Tipsy+Cake+Recipe.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgY8HGgfCpcAn5mGMkRMYeq-rMkknpC6tELp1LMO725pQvTCFZwoW-fnM7Vq_36uGlkcNoxY2aPWA9dBEM31oNqP8D198XGGZcBDZNIJWEJxgBb2194nGfws3zqe4wG7DEFZiea9R1efwNa/s640/Tipsy+Cake+Recipe.jpg" height="396" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="font-size: 13px;"><i>The full recipe for Dinner's legendary Tipsy Cake.</i></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
The funny
thing is that when you get to the restaurant it is the smoky roasted pineapple
on its gleaming rotiesserie that grabs all the attention for this dish. But for
me it is the brioche which is the epitome of the chef’s craft – great cooking
is the sum of many small things done right.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<b><i><span style="color: #9fc5e8;">Crab
loaf, pigs ears and mock turtles</span></i></b></div>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjcmFUIv8dlg5hhSIYIGP7_0XSr0lT3DlbSNkY8VHckKH6L9qdJ24pind3efoFsJR1eR4SPXF2pnNh7TsUtRI_cnScevnA79PwnpLOAToJpqfuFXcnGYbdePp6ivEu-_IAzVLdOK83nzSHv/s1600/Crab+Loaf.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjcmFUIv8dlg5hhSIYIGP7_0XSr0lT3DlbSNkY8VHckKH6L9qdJ24pind3efoFsJR1eR4SPXF2pnNh7TsUtRI_cnScevnA79PwnpLOAToJpqfuFXcnGYbdePp6ivEu-_IAzVLdOK83nzSHv/s320/Crab+Loaf.jpg" height="320" width="256" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>Buttered Crab Loaf. Not a siphon in sight.</i></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
Of course
there are many other recipes which stand out in this book. The Buttered Crab
Loaf for one – basically a savoury French toast made by soaking bread with a
creamy crab bisque. It’s one of those things which is just stands on its own as
an excellent idea (and owes little or nothing, I might add, to molecular
tomfoolery).</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
Ragoo of
pigs ears is another one which just sounds like great fun to eat. Pigs ears braised in pigs ear sauce on toast
topped with crispy pigs ears. Just the thing to terrify your vegetarian friends
with.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
And that’s
not forgetting the puddings. Begging Mr Levy’s pardon, but the Quaking Pudding
is nothing more complicated than a simple set custard garnished with some
quick-pickled apple. The magic is in fine-tuning the exact proportions for a
perfect texture – thankfully Heston has done all the hard work for us. Even the
most curmudgeonly of Telegraph hacks should be able to manage that.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
However the
tour de force is the final recipe – a Mock Turtle Soup which features on the
tasting menu at The Fat Duck. Again I think this is the first time the recipe
has emerged in print (the dish was developed shortly after the first Fat Duck
book came out) – but either way it’s a corker: A three page recipe for an <i>a la minute</i> beef and mushroom consommé
served with mock turtle eggs (made of turnip and swede), cubes of ox tongue,
cucumber and truffle accompanied by a side of egg, truffle and bone marrow
salad sandwiches.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEihSILu3vo-grpRpVQT7Zd1572V1UyxFXc4sZB3Q21ro25Ui8-2a8rG9yc8t_53LvHtidj4vT884kR3mjCXn6KAEvCARvbckahQ1NARor2ZqZKSCKzBWVJWSlMD4gzz9Ec_IidAdw15fA_1/s1600/Mock+Turtle+Soup+Picture.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEihSILu3vo-grpRpVQT7Zd1572V1UyxFXc4sZB3Q21ro25Ui8-2a8rG9yc8t_53LvHtidj4vT884kR3mjCXn6KAEvCARvbckahQ1NARor2ZqZKSCKzBWVJWSlMD4gzz9Ec_IidAdw15fA_1/s640/Mock+Turtle+Soup+Picture.jpg" height="264" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>Mock Turtle Soup with various truffley bone-marrowy sandwichy things. :-p</i></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
It sums up
all that Heston has been trying to achieve with this book. It’s historical.
It’s modern. It’s inspired.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<h4>
<i><span style="color: #9fc5e8;">Postscript - Will we get Historic Heston on a budget??</span></i></h4>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
One last
point; if the £120 list price of this one scares you off remember that a year
after publication the £150 Big Fat Duck Cookbook was reprinted as the £40 Fat
Duck Cookbook with virtually all of the original content intact. I’ve got no
particular insight into whether Bloomsbury do the same with this one (it makes
sense to follow the same strategy, but having splashed out for the original
I’ll be a bit hacked off if they do), but if you don’t HAVE TO have this volume
right now it might be holding off til the Autumn just in case.<o:p></o:p><br />
<br />
EDIT (Jul-14): Yup looks like I was spot-on. Cut-price version <a href="http://eater.com/archives/2014/07/02/blumenthals-historic-heston-will-be-rereleased-as-a-smaller-less-expensive-book.php">just announced</a> - $65 vs. $135 for the original! Out in October...</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
<h4>
<i><span style="color: #9fc5e8;">Post-post script - A few more pics I've thrown in for good measure</span></i></h4>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
Just because the photography really is <i>that</i> good - especially Romas Foord's retro-still life work: (clicking should open up a larger version):</div>
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<br /></div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh-yXg1lmRbiluU4kykBEpreP5lqlWtqri2ONUwYe70Igh_POYRVQtQMyzxNjdze6hbm-oxtePBjJ2XjMLBqvtIcgk910oSZHZqdyHztqVXvWKk9yaIvDTfhw2x1V4S_kSyumbad4J11v_V/s1600/IMG_20140101_203521.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh-yXg1lmRbiluU4kykBEpreP5lqlWtqri2ONUwYe70Igh_POYRVQtQMyzxNjdze6hbm-oxtePBjJ2XjMLBqvtIcgk910oSZHZqdyHztqVXvWKk9yaIvDTfhw2x1V4S_kSyumbad4J11v_V/s640/IMG_20140101_203521.jpg" height="388" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>Historical Still Life: Taffety Tart</i></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiOT5s9UJm9Xr3v0knFBXPxxc-NMxusKtpKHbBe-LQCgbOlmJUCOxj-9nA2IEzHMoFrH9Aod1LhbhFNCs38ZPbgHlTHmyrcSeIaf9q75yW4biWzTVQvCM7kXtA0v4dZGPu12LF4UnoD-DLW/s1600/IMG_20140101_203557.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiOT5s9UJm9Xr3v0knFBXPxxc-NMxusKtpKHbBe-LQCgbOlmJUCOxj-9nA2IEzHMoFrH9Aod1LhbhFNCs38ZPbgHlTHmyrcSeIaf9q75yW4biWzTVQvCM7kXtA0v4dZGPu12LF4UnoD-DLW/s640/IMG_20140101_203557.jpg" height="394" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>Historical Still Life: Powdered Duck</i></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjlOW5WYRrkcr6dJEN724hZ0cVmDKK4qiLLE4tONmzF2CxgPLWK0DEOS12dw_Gnt6tgWgJLrTrwAAKvzzfyeQ9Yuqc4UhVtO8SQyRBog_d7hfQWyvjS0Hxj7M45reBUF8LZsJVuucvT-Lm7/s1600/IMG_20140101_203626.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjlOW5WYRrkcr6dJEN724hZ0cVmDKK4qiLLE4tONmzF2CxgPLWK0DEOS12dw_Gnt6tgWgJLrTrwAAKvzzfyeQ9Yuqc4UhVtO8SQyRBog_d7hfQWyvjS0Hxj7M45reBUF8LZsJVuucvT-Lm7/s640/IMG_20140101_203626.jpg" height="366" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>Historical Still Life: Buttered Crab Loaf</i></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg1eyC6iEAKpSf1G-mJkxFpnpK-2G7IJsI0KztRldrYgWTnOaBEh0TWRDBKh6tZByTems6udLIwxPLLYR7gDUWgJmt6P-Lvb8kDDlnIg1HG1RdPpK98Ru6GU-v6tDA6Yhl9yFrGjIQb8kb0/s1600/IMG_20140101_203252.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg1eyC6iEAKpSf1G-mJkxFpnpK-2G7IJsI0KztRldrYgWTnOaBEh0TWRDBKh6tZByTems6udLIwxPLLYR7gDUWgJmt6P-Lvb8kDDlnIg1HG1RdPpK98Ru6GU-v6tDA6Yhl9yFrGjIQb8kb0/s640/IMG_20140101_203252.jpg" height="380" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>Modern Dish: Hash of Snails</i></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiZnYfdxw5WbBDcK0Es3Z7PJb9flija1vhldHfoWvsrvyQms3AuVQ-EdrFKJx-p38XB5fNiSHcyF-cQ7F3uoN1eyIKz1sxtfLbxTwibvUHSXmc_rWqiV3uw-6bLsVMxQFt70Lp48CTuIKGE/s1600/IMG_20140101_203511.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiZnYfdxw5WbBDcK0Es3Z7PJb9flija1vhldHfoWvsrvyQms3AuVQ-EdrFKJx-p38XB5fNiSHcyF-cQ7F3uoN1eyIKz1sxtfLbxTwibvUHSXmc_rWqiV3uw-6bLsVMxQFt70Lp48CTuIKGE/s640/IMG_20140101_203511.jpg" height="392" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>Modern Dish: Tart of Strawberries</i></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh1uAvL7pUpPefGqlqTTJ3uhLUK9G9SyISgHEd2DaC60D1DiXM8C0i6zpwSMAmKSQjcp0ZN5xPTmc7x0PkGwRnQOmcCXnBLIXZ1IV4yF1H0CO-lLcGWUgDsFK5cDfDqAXUkib4AYZIqsoom/s1600/IMG_20140101_203448.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh1uAvL7pUpPefGqlqTTJ3uhLUK9G9SyISgHEd2DaC60D1DiXM8C0i6zpwSMAmKSQjcp0ZN5xPTmc7x0PkGwRnQOmcCXnBLIXZ1IV4yF1H0CO-lLcGWUgDsFK5cDfDqAXUkib4AYZIqsoom/s640/IMG_20140101_203448.jpg" height="400" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>Modern Dish: Wassail (trompe l'oeil apples and apple tarts charred to look like hewn wood)</i></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
Jon Tsenghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01916149961326205602noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6732049007302130204.post-24974803634867943672013-07-23T06:34:00.000+01:002014-01-03T12:53:27.322+00:00David Chang: The Chef Who Makes the Weather <i>This piece was originally part of my <a href="http://morecookbooksthansense.blogspot.co.uk/2013/07/signatures-momofuku-pork-buns-david.html">recent post</a> on the Momofuku Pork Bun, but I decided to cut it as a) I was rambling on for far too long (in writing, less is almost always more) and b) last last thing the world needs is another "Hey look! I've figured out David Chang!" piece.</i><br />
<i><br /></i>
<i>Nonetheless I'm quite fond of it, so I thought I'd whack it up separately. After all I had spent quite a long time figuring out David Chang. Bet no one's written about that before... :-p</i><br />
<i><br /></i>
<i>Enjoy.</i><br />
<br />
<h2>
<span style="font-size: x-large;">Get with the Chang</span></h2>
<br />
Pork Buns are taking over the world.<br />
<br />
And it’s all down to one man.<br />
<br />
David Chang.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEicAx127bYYklc_wqDsiG6GxYBFrnWDb3rhOYWYbxjc2jGwYpprRa5m2dtEqZcGI6Z6Ym3T139oPRw6HddkTERjClrr4uRrXdqOQ0geR2fqJNZQ5qJVstsyEchwMjVjcqW5TYGKlijybRSi/s1600/Chang+Scary+Pic.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="452" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEicAx127bYYklc_wqDsiG6GxYBFrnWDb3rhOYWYbxjc2jGwYpprRa5m2dtEqZcGI6Z6Ym3T139oPRw6HddkTERjClrr4uRrXdqOQ0geR2fqJNZQ5qJVstsyEchwMjVjcqW5TYGKlijybRSi/s640/Chang+Scary+Pic.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
<br />
Chang is a chef who divides opinion like no other. For the food bloggeratti of New York, home of his Momofuku empire, he can do no wrong. Having conquered the Big Apple not once, but thrice, he has earned that ultimate accolade: an <a href="http://momofukufor2.com/about/">entire blog</a> devoted to his cookbook.<br />
<br />
But it's not all plain sailing. For sniffier members of the establishment like Antoinette Bruno of Star Chefs he is "overrated". London's Jay Rayner <a href="http://ny.eater.com/archives/2011/03/dave_chang_not_cool_with_jay_rayners_ma_peche_review.php">didn't think much of him either</a>. And San Francisco <a href="http://www.chow.com/food-news/8322/san-francisco-to-david-chang-go-momofuku-yourself/">was unimpressed</a> when Chang dissed their entire culinary subculture as "serving figs on a plate with nothing on it" .<br />
<br />
For me, I'm in the yea camp. When I look today at the cutting-edge trends which dominate 2013 London, it's hard to deny the influence of Chang and his Momofuku brand of “fuck-you” haute cuisine.<br />
<ul>
<li>Hot & dirrty food joints like <a href="http://www.meatliquor.com/">MEATliquor</a> blast the music as they turn out gourmet staples (just like Momofuku).</li>
<li><a href="http://www.pittcue.co.uk/home/">Pitt Cue</a> has them <a href="http://honestcooking.com/worth-wait-pitt-cue-london/">queuing round the block</a> for bar-stool dining (Momofuku pretty much invented the queue).</li>
<li><a href="http://bonedaddiesramen.com/">Bone Daddies'</a> brand of gourmet ramen is the hottest ticket in town (Momofuku wrote the manual on this one - more on this below!).</li>
<li><a href="http://kitchentablelondon.co.uk/">Bubbledogs</a> has migrated fine dining from the hotel dining to a <a href="http://www.andyhayler.com/restaurant/bubbledogs">round-the-counter degustation</a> (the Momofuku Ko format).</li>
<li>... Not to mention Yum Bun and the other pork-bun rip-offs, op cit.</li>
</ul>
Now why didn't I think of all that?<br />
<br />
<br />
<h2>
<span style="font-size: x-large;">The Fury</span></h2>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEidKq-fxABE-aM55WDtyvJoMF51JVHGtrczpSDmqqbNjOh9Kaf3rwT_QB3fEAeOmS9YKBB2m5XdAWs2HopkMhCYZHe6k1c8WlxKhLe-BDcmkwP0VfFtspM6QeIawRuOCy9i95MLUognCsT2/s1600/The+Fury_0001b.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="238" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEidKq-fxABE-aM55WDtyvJoMF51JVHGtrczpSDmqqbNjOh9Kaf3rwT_QB3fEAeOmS9YKBB2m5XdAWs2HopkMhCYZHe6k1c8WlxKhLe-BDcmkwP0VfFtspM6QeIawRuOCy9i95MLUognCsT2/s320/The+Fury_0001b.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
For those unfamiliar with him, David Chang is the Korean-American founder of <a href="http://momofuku.com/">Momofuku restaurant group</a>. It started in 2004 with the <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2005/04/13/dining/reviews/13unde.html">Momofuku Noodle Bar</a> – originally a Japanese ramen joint which mutated into a no-holds barred Korean-Asian-American-Fusion monster. After a fair bit of trial and error he repeated the trick with the <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2007/02/21/dining/reviews/21rest.html?pagewanted=all">Momofuku Sssam Bar</a>, before branching out into haute cuisine (albeit served to diners seated around a kitchen counter) with the impossible-to-book <a href="http://newyork.seriouseats.com/2013/03/momofuku-ko-five-year-anniversary-dinner.html">Momofuku Ko</a>.<br />
<br />
He also oversees Sydney’s <a href="http://www.notquitenigella.com/2013/06/04/momofuku-seiobo-pyrmont/">Momofuku Seiobo</a> (similar style to Ko but marginally easier to book), sort-of-bistro <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/lifeandstyle/2011/mar/13/restaurant-review-ma-peche">Ma Peche</a>, a <a href="http://www.blowtorchpudding.com/?p=550">chain of spin-off bakeries</a>, a <a href="http://www.torontolife.com/daily-dish/features-dish/2012/11/22/momofuku-fever/">Momofuku dining complex</a> in Toronto and a bunch of stuff I’ve probably forgotten to mention.<br />
<br />
And along the way he’s also reinvented global fine dining.<br />
<span style="text-align: center;"><br /></span><span style="text-align: center;">I could carry on about the man, but I won’t. Instead I will simply point you towards the excellent profile featured in Tony Bourdain’s </span><a href="http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/1408809745/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1634&creative=19450&creativeASIN=1408809745&linkCode=as2&tag=morcoothasen-21" style="text-align: center;">Medium Raw</a><span style="text-align: center;"> entitled, simply, </span><i style="text-align: center;">The Fury</i><span style="text-align: center;">:</span><br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<i>… the simple fact is that David Chang is the most important chef in America today. It's a significant distinction. He's not a great chef-as he'd be the first to admit-or even a particularly experienced one, and there are many better, more talented, more technically proficient cooks in New York City. But he's an important chef, a man who, in a ridiculously brief period of time, changed the landscape of dining, creating a new kind of model for high-end eateries, and tapped once, twice, three times and counting into a zeitgeist whose parameters people are still struggling to identify.</i></blockquote>
For the moment let us simply conclude that David Chang is a badass.<br />
<br />
<br />
<h2>
<span style="font-size: x-large;">The Perfectionist</span></h2>
<br />
How do we define his food? Momofuku could be called Asian-fusion. It could be called modern-American (after isn't America's melting-pot the original fusion cuisine?). But it’s actually simpler than that.<br />
<br />
It’s defined by being delicious.<br />
<br />
You see, Chang is <i>absolutely ruthless in the pursuit of deliciousness</i>. Yes the cooking at Momofuku was shot through with his Korean heritage (<a href="http://momofukufor2.com/2010/02/brussels-sprouts-with-kimchi-puree-bacon/">kimchi with brussel sprouts</a>, <a href="http://momofukufor2.com/2010/05/ko-kimchi-consomme-with-pork-belly-napa-cabbage-and-oysters/">kimchee consomee with the oysters</a>, <a href="http://images.notquitenigella.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/05/momofuku-seiobo-28-2-460x690.jpg">kimchee as a parting gift at Seiobo</a>). But then he goes and breaks the rules, for one simple reason: He understands what delicious is, and will let nothing get in the way of achieving that.<br />
<br />
Take the shaved <a href="http://momofukufor2.com/2010/08/shaved-foie-gras-lychee-pine-nut-brittle/">foie gras on lychee</a> which is the signature at Momofuku Ko. You know what? The cheaper and nastier the tinned lychees are, the better the dish tastes. So make it with tinned lychees. Even if you’re charging $175 for lunch. It’s not the provenance of the ingredients that count, it’s what they taste like.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjkdW_dtg3lOJm4hywUtgEVDzlqm_eI8_k6ZJypoFztimSPgUqo_4b7auCQGtLByCNpEnBz2QfHL_uB6_ooocoh2ZLxsYNBw4JV2y1SUKGxdohTzKGm43LaRKw5ENDNNqiihwWwsTkhTR2T/s1600/Foie+Gras+1b.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="304" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjkdW_dtg3lOJm4hywUtgEVDzlqm_eI8_k6ZJypoFztimSPgUqo_4b7auCQGtLByCNpEnBz2QfHL_uB6_ooocoh2ZLxsYNBw4JV2y1SUKGxdohTzKGm43LaRKw5ENDNNqiihwWwsTkhTR2T/s640/Foie+Gras+1b.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
<br />
<br />
<br />
Take the <a href="http://momofukufor2.com/2010/02/bacon-dashi/">bacon dashi</a>. Dashi is traditionally made with konbu and bonito flakes. But you know what? Like most things it tastes better with bacon. So make it with bacon.<br />
<br />
Take the dish that started it all – the <a href="http://www.foodiebuddha.com/tag/momofuku-ramen-recipe/">Momofuku Ramen</a>. Chang realised that if he had the same noodles and eggs as everyone else, it would taste just like everyone else’s. So he embarked on a quest to find the the ultimate ramen recipe. It looks something like this:<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgt-BR-_lNRbtnfI9rKnyjtm-RSXsERS81JWF64uOBOTbpYamfNvhbGEm4gOcS_8URY3eNn0cRfllUYXSeStyl_sUjEIjskmhNK3Z_hfp4RG9TgmIgrVHzeIZWNrys81G3ub1zYkSdIu-Aq/s1600/Ramen+Row+All+Lo+Res.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="422" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgt-BR-_lNRbtnfI9rKnyjtm-RSXsERS81JWF64uOBOTbpYamfNvhbGEm4gOcS_8URY3eNn0cRfllUYXSeStyl_sUjEIjskmhNK3Z_hfp4RG9TgmIgrVHzeIZWNrys81G3ub1zYkSdIu-Aq/s640/Ramen+Row+All+Lo+Res.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
<br />
Yup, that's eighteen (count 'em) pages dedicated to all aspects of Ramen. To be more specific: Ramen Broth, Tare, Dashi (and Bacon Dashi), the perfect Alkaline Noodle (the result of a multi-year quest), the iconic own Pork Belly (and shoulder), slow-poached Onsen Eggs (sous-vide by any other name), and a battery of toppings (nori, bamboo shoots, fish cakes, veggies).<br />
<br />
It's probably the longest single recipe in my cookbook library. It's a monument to one man's obsession.<br />
<br />
You see, when it comes to the pursuit of flavour David Chang respects no boundaries, and takes no prisoners.<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<h2>
<span style="font-size: x-large;">The Thinker</span></h2>
<br />
But Chang is more than a cook. Like all the best chefs – from Escoffier to Adria – he doesn’t just cook. He also thinks deeply about what he’s doing.<br />
<br />
Do yourself a favour and watch <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gu2m6i9pEaQ">this talk</a> he gave at Google. The discussion about authenticity (32' 18") will make you rethink everything you believe about your local New-York style pizza (unless, of course, you live in New York!):<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<i>Just think of it vice versa. You've probably been abroad, like you go to say, you're in Shanghai. Right? And you see some ex-pat serving authentic New-York style pizza. And your reaction is gonna be what? No. That's the dumbest thing I've ever heard. There like, you know, soy sauce on the pizza. What the fuck are you talkin' about? So that's the thing. I think it's easier to understand authenticity when you take an ex-pat's point of view.</i> </blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<i>It's like, I always use the, 'cause I did meet a German guy from Munich that wanted to make American barbecue. He's like "I'm gonna make it authentic. It's gonna be just like Memphis style barbecue." And I was like "No, it's not gonna be Memphis style barbecue. 'Cause you're number one not using the beef that's coming from, or any of the meat that's coming from America. You're not using and of the wood from America. You're not even using any of the workers, the hands, the invisible stuff. All the things that make something special, that taste the way its does at a unique area. So don't tell anybody you're serving authentic American barbecue."</i></blockquote>
Also check out his take on the <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/lifeandstyle/2005/jul/10/foodanddrink.features3">MSG-myth</a> (38' 52")<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<i>Fear of MSG. Which, people say they're allergic to. And I'm not saying thy're, I just believe that it happens to be possibly more psychosomatic than anything else. 'Cause there's nothing that proves that MSG. In fact all the studies, there have been many that are, try to prove that MSG creates this Chinese Restaurant Syndrome. There's no evidence at all. In fact, everything supports that it's psychosomatic.</i> </blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<i>And we serve Asian food in part, I'm particularly interested in it because we serve a lot of Asian ingredients and people say "Oh, I can't eat your food because there's soy sauce in it." But they're happy going to Babbo and eating a plate of pasta with tomatoes and Parmesan cheese. <meehan: are="" both="" in="" ingredients="" of="" rich="" that="" which=""> Glutamic acid, which equal umami. You know. And the only difference between that and artifically made MSG is they add one molecule of sodium so you can disperse the glutamic acid. Your body digests and breaks down glutamic acid in the same way as one would eat a bag of Doritos or anything else. Soy. Like, Doritos. You know, a plate of Parmesan is extraordinarily high in MSG. <meehan: campaigning="" for="" in="" is="" magazine="" msg="" of="" one="" ongoing="" the="" things="" yeah="">.</meehan:></meehan:></i></blockquote>
(Bottom line: the Italians gorge themselves on Parmesan and they don't get Chinese restaurant syndrome. What gives?)<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgnL71m7hslHXz2u3Z-DT6saAL2dsI0JDLiOi_Fq3NQHdfv3u5wVQO2MHklodHDFOFlrMbclt59v20gpHP8HZnH53-2pg3RoiRWvYYNoFUIr_FbQzhETCohDTsDyalS0vy7CcIGrDbfH5WU/s1600/Lucky+Peach+Ramen+Issue.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgnL71m7hslHXz2u3Z-DT6saAL2dsI0JDLiOi_Fq3NQHdfv3u5wVQO2MHklodHDFOFlrMbclt59v20gpHP8HZnH53-2pg3RoiRWvYYNoFUIr_FbQzhETCohDTsDyalS0vy7CcIGrDbfH5WU/s200/Lucky+Peach+Ramen+Issue.jpg" width="161" /></a></div>
Then there’s <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2011/08/01/business/media/lucky-peach-magazine-a-comfort-to-those-preferring-print.html?pagewanted=all">Lucky Peach</a>, the attempt to create a digital food magazine which ended up as an entirely analogue food journal. <a href="http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/1936365464/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1634&creative=19450&creativeASIN=1936365464&linkCode=as2&tag=morcoothasen-21">Issue 1 (The Ramen Issue)</a> has already become one of the most sought-after rarities in the cookbook world – a "<a href="http://morecookbooksthansense.blogspot.co.uk/2013/03/noma-celler-can-roca-bocuse-co-culinary.html">Culinary Unicorn</a>" if there ever was one.<br />
<div>
<br /></div>
Most amusingly is the take-down he issued against the anti-foie gras lobby. His glorious <a href="http://ny.eater.com/archives/2009/03/on_the_house_4.php">“fuck-you” note to the Duck Liver Liberation Front</a> (bottom line – <i>from now on we will guarantee there is at least one foie-gras based dish on every menu we serve</i>) is hilarious not only in its chutzpah, but also because he tackles their argument head-on.<br />
<br />
<br />
<h2>
<span style="font-size: x-large;">The Chef Who Makes the Weather</span></h2>
<br />
In short Chang is one of those chefs with the rare ability to reshape the world around them by sheer force of will. That puts him into exalted company:<br />
<br />
<ul>
<li>Paul Bocuse was another one, slaying on the ghosts of Escoffier with one hand, creating the modern celebrity chef with the other.</li>
<li>Ferran Adria was another, challenging and testing every rule about what is possible in the kitchen.</li>
<li>Alan Yau is arguably a third, redefining Asian dining with the clattering-benches of Wagamama before repeating the trick with the achingly cool Hakkasan.</li>
</ul>
<br />
It takes a curious mix of ego, bravery and luck to do this.<br />
<br />
David Chang has all that and more:<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEipgOpOvdI0Z_CdJZavPN4BpOupByEL5JK4axRf8X4z7UV5of7W-LlvnhyMFK6cBIi5A5aekGCLZ-RN67DfF7c6nf7BCng-5ydZPMqrj0viRo6lXlnnT5i3Wf7qH7mNtcG-uij7ltcM-rww/s1600/Keanu+Reeves+Matrix.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="282" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEipgOpOvdI0Z_CdJZavPN4BpOupByEL5JK4axRf8X4z7UV5of7W-LlvnhyMFK6cBIi5A5aekGCLZ-RN67DfF7c6nf7BCng-5ydZPMqrj0viRo6lXlnnT5i3Wf7qH7mNtcG-uij7ltcM-rww/s640/Keanu+Reeves+Matrix.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="font-size: 13px;"><i>Yeah, David Chang can probably do that too...</i></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
Jon Tsenghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01916149961326205602noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6732049007302130204.post-80235412773968693672013-07-18T22:49:00.000+01:002014-01-04T22:28:58.398+00:00Signatures: Momofuku Pork Buns (David Chang)<i>The latest post in an <a href="http://morecookbooksthansense.blogspot.co.uk/2013/01/signatures-pommes-puree-robuchon.html">occassional series</a> exploring famous signature dishes, and the cookbooks where you can find them.</i><br />
<i><br /></i>
<i>Edit: I also put up a <a href="http://morecookbooksthansense.blogspot.co.uk/2013/07/david-chang-chef-who-makes-weather.html">companion piece profiling David Chang</a>, originally part of this post but cut for reasons of brevity. Less is more an' all that. But in case you're interested...</i><br />
<h2>
<span style="font-size: x-large;">The Pork Bun Supremacy</span></h2>
<h4>
</h4>
<h4>
<i><span style="color: #9fc5e8;">The bun that conquered the world.</span></i></h4>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgRLUkKAk5on3fDcPnuFoFGTeRuQOunAgt5m7PVd9l8Ei9NH3W4O3-t28F_mQtdH7xfKbYJglhAosWjDGYGhyKlhCBnQt37-SvzmU9AyBPkmvsULlYw7rGYxD4BJYINMHfaVvdORLynL0Sg/s1600/Pork+Bun+1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgRLUkKAk5on3fDcPnuFoFGTeRuQOunAgt5m7PVd9l8Ei9NH3W4O3-t28F_mQtdH7xfKbYJglhAosWjDGYGhyKlhCBnQt37-SvzmU9AyBPkmvsULlYw7rGYxD4BJYINMHfaVvdORLynL0Sg/s640/Pork+Bun+1.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
<br />
Like Nobu’s <a href="http://morecookbooksthansense.blogspot.co.uk/2012/11/signatures-black-cod-with-miso-nobu.html">Black Cod</a>, the steamed pork bun from David Chang's Momofuku's is a dish the world can’t get enough of. It may have started in New York but today the steamed bun has gone defiantly global.<br />
<br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgPyA1NqEvwIn-xr-YJhg3s4oX6MmtyRr9UYjksZN-KwH0fs-Q9gPRuDPKaJ4JIujv4no-Di9kbD_0PHkVGGHQja5An5HEyA48smIw9C9B9EwJqMffTsEjXI4V9y1acC0P3h_8DXNKUQYo_/s1600/Yum+Bun.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="153" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgPyA1NqEvwIn-xr-YJhg3s4oX6MmtyRr9UYjksZN-KwH0fs-Q9gPRuDPKaJ4JIujv4no-Di9kbD_0PHkVGGHQja5An5HEyA48smIw9C9B9EwJqMffTsEjXI4V9y1acC0P3h_8DXNKUQYo_/s200/Yum+Bun.jpg" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: left;"><i>Yum Bun's </i>hommage <i>a la Momofuku</i></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
London is one candidate for steamed bun central. Exhibit one is <a href="http://www.yumbun.co.uk/">Yum Bun</a>, an achingly trendy food-cart now transformed into an aching-trendy hole-in-the-wall. They have built an entire business on unashamedly ripping off the New York original. Imitation, flattery, sincerity and all that...<br />
<br />
And on the other side of town new opening <a href="http://fleshandbuns.com/">Flesh and Buns</a> is preparing to unleash an avalanche of steamed buns on the denizens of Soho - not just traditional pork but also slow-roasted Korean lamb, chicken with yuzu and seabass and coriander.<br />
<br />
And from New York the juggernaut has moved south to Mexico, where <a href="https://www.facebook.com/delibao">Deli Bao</a> is bringing Pork Bun Goodness to the denizens of Guadalajara.<br />
<br />
Then leap across to the other side of the world to Melbourne’s <a href="https://www.facebook.com/wonderbaokitchen">Wonderbao</a> (the clue’s in the name) which offers a range of buns: <a href="http://simonfoodfavourites.blogspot.co.uk/2013/05/wonderbao-chinese-steamed-buns-and.html">roasted pork belly</a> (Momofuku-style), braised pork belly (the Taiwanese classic) or fried silken tofu (for misguided vegetarians).<br />
<br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhDizc1ACPLN0IlBngjKfq2l4dMiKWAdGSdZlyFl0RItDh5a0P4WLITWS73PvT_xLIAaV-fuIGWQVfLM1JcM-elURJCxo-rpF_-hvjJky9WWCcIIDWDzl9aSyIezyVKw0iBia7jH93jy13N/s1600/WP_20130529_001.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="127" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhDizc1ACPLN0IlBngjKfq2l4dMiKWAdGSdZlyFl0RItDh5a0P4WLITWS73PvT_xLIAaV-fuIGWQVfLM1JcM-elURJCxo-rpF_-hvjJky9WWCcIIDWDzl9aSyIezyVKw0iBia7jH93jy13N/s200/WP_20130529_001.jpg" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: left;"><i>Hirata McBuns from Ippudo</i></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
And while you’re in that part of the world stop off at Sydney the branch of world-spanning <i>ramen-ya</i> <a href="http://www.ippudo.com.au/">Ippudo</a>, which offers their own <a href="http://foodmab.blogspot.co.uk/2013/06/ippudo-18-june-2013.html">Hirata Pork Buns</a> pairing roast pork belly with crisp lettuce and mayo – basically a Momofuku pork bun crossed with a McChicken sandwich.<br />
<br />
We live in the age of the Pork Bun Supremacy.<br />
<br />
<br />
<h2>
</h2>
<h2>
<span style="font-size: x-large;">The Dish</span></h2>
<br />
<h4>
<i><span style="color: #9fc5e8;">Steamed buns and red herrings</span></i></h4>
It's oh-so-simple:<br />
<br />
Take a slab of pork belly. Slow-roast it in its own fat til its almost confit. Cool, slice, fry, crisp.<br />
<br />
Split a freshly steamed Chinese bun and slather the inside with hoisin sauce. Stuff it with slices of pork belly, quick-pickled cucumber and add a dash of sriracha hot sauce.<br />
<br />
And there you have it – fatty, salty, meaty, sweet.<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjgoH6HHqjmVJDHIt_28qMzoQKBNnrqOf-Za_3Zo4DlmecXtl_3U_RZ-9fE6A4hkBORWn_9WrSoi6E2MgYPrjnd6Hg0O1fR3WdIeNxppb1rGDC9p-YapJ4zTBOzufgLwiTXhEp5TdYYJIy3/s1600/WP_20130607_001.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="358" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjgoH6HHqjmVJDHIt_28qMzoQKBNnrqOf-Za_3Zo4DlmecXtl_3U_RZ-9fE6A4hkBORWn_9WrSoi6E2MgYPrjnd6Hg0O1fR3WdIeNxppb1rGDC9p-YapJ4zTBOzufgLwiTXhEp5TdYYJIy3/s640/WP_20130607_001.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>The Pork Bun served at Momofuku Seiobo</i></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
If you believe David Chang's book, the buns were last-minute addition to the restaurant menu. A take on a “pretty common Asian food formula: steamed bread + tasty meat = good eating”. If you believe the book, there were three big influences for the dish:<br />
<br />
1)<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span><i>Char siu bao </i>buns stuffed with “dark, sweet roast pork” he ate in Beijing<br />
2)<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span><i>Niku-man </i>steamed buns (very similar to Chinese baozi) from Tokyo convenience stores, and<br />
3)<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>The Peking Duck served at Chinatown’s Oriental Garden, which is served with folded over steamed buns rather the traditional thin pancakes.<br />
<br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgnFhCyhQTIXkeUpofEL7zCc4jk6n5EXTkv-xALEl0W1qUXdZyYT7MDPMLNU-0qcl214LZlgr7ZgpLt9YyyQcezPK-hLYQuFi9UA_z4R9X2aL8d3Huf3xvgEVcym85JEyiQD9_Ki1OOJX4E/s1600/Niku-man.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="140" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgnFhCyhQTIXkeUpofEL7zCc4jk6n5EXTkv-xALEl0W1qUXdZyYT7MDPMLNU-0qcl214LZlgr7ZgpLt9YyyQcezPK-hLYQuFi9UA_z4R9X2aL8d3Huf3xvgEVcym85JEyiQD9_Ki1OOJX4E/s200/Niku-man.jpg" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><div style="text-align: left;">
<i>A </i>Niku-man <i>bun: Nothing like the</i></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<i>Momofuku version...</i></div>
</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
Actually I suspect this list is a complete red herring.<br />
<br />
For one thing you don’t get <i>char siu bao </i>in Beijing. It's a Cantonese dish. yes there are plenty of steamed bao in Beijing but they're stuffed with minced pork and scallions, not roasted <i>char siu</i>. Also both the <i>char-siu</i> and <i>niku-man</i> buns are <i>nothing like</i> the Momofuku dish. They are stuffed buns with the filling steamed inside the raw dough, rather than being loosely-assembled sandwiches.<br />
<br />
<br />
<h4>
<i><span style="color: #9fc5e8;">The real story (or at least, my version)</span></i></h4>
I want to suggest two alternate inspirations for the Momofuku pork bun:<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjkF0KdyCemayPx7nSIi3u6pH2fIQD0M2ahKx42U23Mg82QHGc0CkeS4kIiDEZQ_lVIscTWmEPq8PkcC0IJ7XT_BCkbzcVuBogJ9WBzyC3mGH7NH-7yyg_X1TVeFLkhYo3hTsVHJBMKoy0f/s1600/Guabao.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="182" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjkF0KdyCemayPx7nSIi3u6pH2fIQD0M2ahKx42U23Mg82QHGc0CkeS4kIiDEZQ_lVIscTWmEPq8PkcC0IJ7XT_BCkbzcVuBogJ9WBzyC3mGH7NH-7yyg_X1TVeFLkhYo3hTsVHJBMKoy0f/s640/Guabao.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>A Taiwanese </i>Guabao<i>, painstakingly dissected (it was a tough job, but someone had to do it...)</i></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
The first is the Taiwanese <i>guabao </i>(刮包), a common fast-food staple. Like the Momofuku pork bun it’s a steamed Chinese bun, split and filled with pork belly. However there are some ciritcal differences. In the <i>guabao </i>the pork belly tends to be braised rather than roasted and it's often shredded. Also rather than cucumber and hoisin, it's topped with pickled mustard greens and crushed peanut. The result is a slightly sloppier tasting product without the delicious sweet-fatty punch of the Momofuku version.<br />
<br />
The second inspiration is the famed Sichuanese <a href="http://www.chinesefoodfans.com/chinese-food-recipes/chicken/zhangcha-duck/">tea-smoked duck</a> (<i>zhangcha ya</i>). Fuschia Dunlop's <i><a href="http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/0140295410/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1634&creative=19450&creativeASIN=0140295410&linkCode=as2&tag=morcoothasen-21">Sichuan Cookery</a></i> has a wonderful account of the dish. A whole duck is marinated with Sichuan pepper, hot-smoked over dried tea-leaves and then steamed for an hour. Then the whole this is deep-fried, chopped up and served up like a Peking Duck, with scallion, cucumber and hoisin sauce.<br />
<br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhtXedJ0z40mI56Uz3UBCP-QXLKtGnrjzDrmEq-0OA_Zb3VvO-iu-ARBZr8BZ5fhF3jkrG7ipYxEKZD7KHSQypMPrIgDuNhpHPQlD8iCzoommMDEVBPz-6_Xh1mzSUmcgrvFii0dWJ_Uf3Y/s1600/Tea-Smoked+Duck+2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhtXedJ0z40mI56Uz3UBCP-QXLKtGnrjzDrmEq-0OA_Zb3VvO-iu-ARBZr8BZ5fhF3jkrG7ipYxEKZD7KHSQypMPrIgDuNhpHPQlD8iCzoommMDEVBPz-6_Xh1mzSUmcgrvFii0dWJ_Uf3Y/s320/Tea-Smoked+Duck+2.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="font-size: 13px; text-align: center;"><i>Tea-smoked duck with lotus-leaf buns - the fluted shape of</i><br />
<i>the bun supposedly resembles a lotus leaf (Source: Yelp)</i></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
The key difference though is that while Peking Duck is served with thin pancakes, tea-smoked duck is served with fluted steamed buns known as <a href="http://tangstein.wordpress.com/2008/08/26/lotus-leaf-buns/">lotus-leaf buns</a> (<i>heye bing</i>), so named because the shape of the bun resembles a lotus leaf. These are folded up at the table with crispy duck, hoisin and cucumber.<br />
<br />
Think about it - that’s pretty much the Momofuku recipe. Swap confit pork for the duck and you have a perfect match. Different meat, but the same salty-fatty-smoky-crispy hit.<br />
<br />
So take these traditional dishes, throw them together, and amp them up in the pursuit of ultimate deliciousness. A <i>guabao </i>can be a bit tame. Tea-smoked duck a little faffy. But add them together and you have a modern classic.<br />
<br />
<br />
<h2>
<span style="font-size: x-large;">The Recipe</span></h2>
<br />
Of course you don’t have to travel to NYLON or Australia to sample these delights. Thanks to the wonders of modern publishing, the recipe is right there in the <a href="http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/1906650357/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1634&creative=19450&creativeASIN=1906650357&linkCode=as2&tag=morcoothasen-21">Momofuku cookbook</a>:<br />
<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjHS94n40_DxZouM0W9LDvi_9oW39hYUR4sgjkX6EGNSp-aefGCMyTVpbrZUtKKAFDXtG7lDmzLKnq4XgS6-hakubJkYnY-Z8Jn2KAMAQ7YcFQXDt9tAH4Dqul_Gf-2LfJgYoS59pGuubLw/s1600/Pork+Bun+Recipe.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="410" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjHS94n40_DxZouM0W9LDvi_9oW39hYUR4sgjkX6EGNSp-aefGCMyTVpbrZUtKKAFDXtG7lDmzLKnq4XgS6-hakubJkYnY-Z8Jn2KAMAQ7YcFQXDt9tAH4Dqul_Gf-2LfJgYoS59pGuubLw/s640/Pork+Bun+Recipe.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>The recipe from the Momofuku cookbook.</i></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<br />
Let’s dig in.<br />
<br />
<h4>
<i><span style="color: #9fc5e8;">The Meat</span></i></h4>
The most important part of the recipe is undoubtedly the meat. The recipe is on page 50, a beautifully simple one that demands only three (count 'em!) ingredients.<br />
<br />
The belly is marinated in a rub of equal parts salt and sugar (6 – 24 hours; I would advise the lower end of the range), blasted in a hot oven for an hour to brown and then cooked on the lowest-possible setting until tender and pillowy. It’s then chilled and pressed, before being sliced finger-thick and heated in a pan for service.<br />
<br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgfKHIqMHjpE_C5RFil0bTILig9oxyDl3DT9P_URvV4QmaXftM8BclOIEcCg11aoBMLMXzC2kgRfPUdhcvD6UVcWVc_IGdHuV15BpJKkHdSxqPt11CrUED-WhQ_fomDEqKG3VMMOY1eWJnq/s1600/Pork+Belly+Recipe.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgfKHIqMHjpE_C5RFil0bTILig9oxyDl3DT9P_URvV4QmaXftM8BclOIEcCg11aoBMLMXzC2kgRfPUdhcvD6UVcWVc_IGdHuV15BpJKkHdSxqPt11CrUED-WhQ_fomDEqKG3VMMOY1eWJnq/s320/Pork+Belly+Recipe.jpg" width="248" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="font-size: 13px;"><div style="text-align: center;">
<i>The Pork Belly Recipe.</i></div>
</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
A few cook's notes:<br />
<ul>
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiUH1RIrjqo9rdiGbN5sIXd8I3igwCD8WHsaHDzNh9NGVNOD7rju6wD6egeGMWSUk4Wbaas6vyw9bAr67cG-VHp6rfoTBbkjiUPnGa2Q8LTFjDuWVuIdURzpd4ItcNXFf46PWPz9OTlp2iv/s1600/Pork+Belly+Pic.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em; text-align: center;"><br /></a>
<li>This recipe is unusual because its uses skinless pork belly (the skin can be a little hassle to take off if you’re knife isn’t sharp enough so ask the butcher). Most roast-belly pork recipes obsesses over keeping the skin on and getting the crackling just-so (you known… shock with boiling water, shock with cold water, rub with vinegar, score to buggery, rub with salt, crisp in the oven, crisp under the grill… the list goes on). Having tried them all I've now decided that actually the Momofuku approach is the best. Leave the perfect crackling to the pros – if you trim off the skin and leave a nice rind of fat it crisps up equally well with the minimum of fuss.</li>
<li>I personally think the salt-sugar rub is a stroke of genius – Chang also uses it to prepare the pork shoulder for his <i>Bo Ssam</i>. I’m not sure where this comes from (traditional recipes for Bossam are completely different) – possibly from American-style bbq rubs?</li>
<li>While the recipe tells you to roasting the pork belly, scuttlebutt suggests (e.g. the see comment from <i>Rarrgarr </i>at the <a href="http://momofukufor2.com/2010/01/roasted-pork-belly/">bottom of this article</a>) that in the restaurant they actually go the whole hog and confit the belly completely submerged in lard. I wouldn’t be surprised...</li>
<li>How much you want to heat up your belly slices at the end is a matter of preference. I like them slightly crispy on the cut surface, but at the restaurants they are sometimes just warmed, rather than crisped (see the Seiobo pork bun pictured above). </li>
</ul>
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</div>
<br />
<h4>
<i><span style="color: #9fc5e8;">The Buns</span></i></h4>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhi6Jr0e8e8Hc4KqjxtcB9Gg6yIWKAML9c_HqHRuIsIxXKI24ZDLxhNZhHma26IyjeECCRCq2F9qgw_gFOvavle7YvHGx_XbpGOI3Ut_4ioXe1NLnp6W3fckaRkPyp7tNkoiIrMJErgufDO/s1600/Steamed+Bun+Recipe.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhi6Jr0e8e8Hc4KqjxtcB9Gg6yIWKAML9c_HqHRuIsIxXKI24ZDLxhNZhHma26IyjeECCRCq2F9qgw_gFOvavle7YvHGx_XbpGOI3Ut_4ioXe1NLnp6W3fckaRkPyp7tNkoiIrMJErgufDO/s320/Steamed+Bun+Recipe.jpg" width="249" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>The steamed bun recipe.</i></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
I’d wouldn't lose sleep over your buns. After all Momofuku started off by buying theirs in from the nearest Chinatown outlet – I suggest you do likewise. The most important thing is that it has that little bit of sweetness – traditional Chinese steamed bread has a tablespoon of sugar slipped in to give it that edge. As long you have that covered, you’re laughing.<br />
<br />
If you are going to make the buns yourself, the recipe in the Momofuku book looks as good as any. One tip - do make sure use you lard for your shortening (something Yum Bun also copy in <a href="http://www.souschef.co.uk/bureau-of-taste/recipe-yum-bun-chinese-steamed-buns/">their recipe</a>). Using lard in bread is less common in the West, but its the magic ingredient in much Chinese bread making, most notably the ineffably flaky <i>shaobing </i>griddle-cakes of Northern China.<br />
<br />
As a subversive alternative, I tend to use brioche buns for this recipe. While not quite as soft as steamed buns, they have the same slight sweetness, and are a lot easier to find.<br />
<br />
<h4>
<span style="color: #9fc5e8;"><i>The Sides</i></span></h4>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjA-lpBJt3QFr3_YhpTsLE5Uu5Xdgrn-FbgttWf1tfBDDn4olOcBHGbsEkPfVkfCC34wL2qJHTVIOJ_HNaytjb6MJlEkYd0XJIhmR3ozMFt9sSYKK_dyGELsvqyeSLCHMkcJqockvWChAgo/s1600/WP_20130607_006.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjA-lpBJt3QFr3_YhpTsLE5Uu5Xdgrn-FbgttWf1tfBDDn4olOcBHGbsEkPfVkfCC34wL2qJHTVIOJ_HNaytjb6MJlEkYd0XJIhmR3ozMFt9sSYKK_dyGELsvqyeSLCHMkcJqockvWChAgo/s200/WP_20130607_006.jpg" width="120" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="font-size: 13px; text-align: center;"><i>Sriracha on the side<br />at Seiobo</i></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
Momofuku adds quick-pickled cucumber into the buns (p65). Thankfully there’s not need to muck around with pickling jars or three month waits – sliced cucumber is simply tossed with a mixture of 3:1 sugar salt for 5-10 minutes and rinsed off.<br />
<br />
I noticed many imitators such as Yum Bun tend to simply throw in freshly-sliced unpickled cucumber. I find the pickled option to be vastly superior, or alternately substitute thickly-cut slices of pickled Japanese <i>daikon</i> (it has the same sweet-vinegary-crunchy hit).<br />
<br />
Hoisin sauce is self-explanatory. If you want a similar salty-sweet hit you might also want to try playing around with <a href="http://tastingmenu.wordpress.com/2011/01/01/nobu-style-saikyo-miso/">Nobu-style miso</a> as a substitute.<br />
<br />
Nowadays Momofuku also serves Sriracha hot pepper sauce on the side (e.g. at Seiobo in Sydney). I don’t think this adds much to the dish, but each to their own…<br />
<br />
Once you have your meat, steamed buns and sides all you need to do is put them together. Voila!<br />
<br />
<br />
<h2>
<span style="font-size: x-large;">The Book</span></h2>
<br />
<h4>
<i><span style="color: #9fc5e8;"><b>An Ode to the Pig</b></span></i></h4>
To finish off, a few thoughts on the <a href="http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/1906650357/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1634&creative=19450&creativeASIN=1906650357&linkCode=as2&tag=morcoothasen-21">Momofuku cookbook</a>:<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiqdI3cn_0Eur9htKYkVFbhtXc-vS6p49kx3Ish62cGjeSoIYxEO22GjCjC-ncXbz6_izZyt51ePGYd8QILcVrmAplcwpGnea-00b6O679FUaYU6Rb9kslU4dMzDsV8J91zppCWpw_JAPey/s1600/Book+Cover.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="402" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiqdI3cn_0Eur9htKYkVFbhtXc-vS6p49kx3Ish62cGjeSoIYxEO22GjCjC-ncXbz6_izZyt51ePGYd8QILcVrmAplcwpGnea-00b6O679FUaYU6Rb9kslU4dMzDsV8J91zppCWpw_JAPey/s640/Book+Cover.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
<br />
<br />
If I had to sum this book up it would be: <i>Ode to the Pig</i>. Just as Alain Ducasse books bang on endlessly about truffles & foie gras, Chang bangs on about pork and everything you can do with it. From the Bo Ssam (roast pork shoulder in lettuce wraps) to the pork buns to the English muffins smeared in bay-leaf butter (made with lard), this book yells: COOKED PORK PRODUCTS.<br />
<br />
What’s not to like?<br />
<br />
<h4>
<i><span style="color: #9fc5e8;">Every chapter tells a story</span></i></h4>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhpyIdSoRXPE51XQIXa1gVP6chtSfB7c0GZUKGJ8ciq5_YVjdGVFYRktc86slZJf99c_YtejilyfMFj6hGj-wyfaeHA9E-1XtfzYXm-ks8JyHwdv6ovt9JS1ZF7VTlW5qirJVXEklvi09qX/s1600/Ahab+Whale+Quoteb.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="161" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhpyIdSoRXPE51XQIXa1gVP6chtSfB7c0GZUKGJ8ciq5_YVjdGVFYRktc86slZJf99c_YtejilyfMFj6hGj-wyfaeHA9E-1XtfzYXm-ks8JyHwdv6ovt9JS1ZF7VTlW5qirJVXEklvi09qX/s320/Ahab+Whale+Quoteb.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
But beyond that it’s a great book because it tells a story – a strength it shares with the <a href="http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/156836489X/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1634&creative=19450&creativeASIN=156836489X&linkCode=as2&tag=morcoothasen-21">Nobu cookbook</a>.<br />
<br />
That book was the story of how Nobu struggled back from the fire that consumed his original restaurant to fame, fortune and multiple-Miami-based spinoffs. This book is the tale of how David Chang (if you believe the hype) blundered from short-order soba chef to world-spanning culinary deity.<br />
<br />
The story is told via three restaurants, which make up the three chapters of the book (Noodle Bar, Ssam Bar, Ko). Each chapter starts with a great intro which basically runs 1) initial struggle to start restaurant, 2) stroke of genius involving cooked pork products, 3) success and moving on to next venture. Above all though it’s a story about Chang and his struggles – with his audience, with the his critics but above all himself. As he wryly comment on Ko, his failing burrito bar: “<i>I was Ahab, and the burrito was my white whale</i>”.<br />
<br />
This is undoubted lubricated by his co-writer and partner-in-crime Peter Meehan. As Anthony Bourdain points out, journalist Meehan is a mix of thermostatic regulator and <i>consigliere</i> for the notoriously volatile Chang. I suspect many of the books finer moments from Meehan’s pen as much as from Chang’s mouth. But at the end of the day there’s no difference.<br />
<br />
<h4>
<i><span style="color: #9fc5e8;">Brussel sprouts, chicken wings, and other things</span></i></h4>
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgBXTuPBDstfgA_sqZ5ay9N75SB90RSomeI8n2O35wLXrxfoCE549YW7Yz0QohhsQA6KfWOT7xGGP1MRFSwj5nKBM0monQYcMDW5IvD4W0PHOS6aIk2Eg47lS1569dvDBPs1tk9G2yczZ5k/s1600/Momofuku+Ramen+2b.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgBXTuPBDstfgA_sqZ5ay9N75SB90RSomeI8n2O35wLXrxfoCE549YW7Yz0QohhsQA6KfWOT7xGGP1MRFSwj5nKBM0monQYcMDW5IvD4W0PHOS6aIk2Eg47lS1569dvDBPs1tk9G2yczZ5k/s200/Momofuku+Ramen+2b.jpg" width="176" /></a>And like all great books this packed with iconic recipes, and remarkably approachable ones. “Molecular” touches such cryofiltration or transgultaminase feature, but they’re there for a reason rather than just to show off. Mostly it’s just good old-fashioned cooking.<br />
<br />
For example the Momofuku Ramen recipe on page 39 goes on for a good seventeen pages – the most comprehensive treatment of the subject this side of Tokyo (although the upcoming <a href="http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/1607744465/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1634&creative=19450&creativeASIN=1607744465&linkCode=as2&tag=morcoothasen-21">Ivan Ramen</a> book might give it a run for its money). The Chicken Wings on p86 and the Fried Chicken over the page have spawned a generation of down & dirty gourmet chicken imitators. The Brussel Sprouts Kimchee Puree & Bacon on p94 are pure Chang and proof that his fallback strategy runs “<i>If in doubt add bacon. If that doesn’t work add kimchee</i>”.<br />
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The Bo Ssam on p168 is a monster of a recipe which has received its own separate <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2012/01/15/magazine/the-bo-ssam-miracle.html">write-up in the NY Times</a>. I’ve cooked it for 40 people. It works. The Ghetto Sous-Vide set-up on p170 is the forerunner for any number of DIY sous-vide set-ups (from <a href="http://morecookbooksthansense.blogspot.co.uk/2012/11/the-hacker-way-potter.html">Cooking for Geeks</a> to the upcoming <a href="http://codlo/">Codlo</a>). Also noteworthy is the caprese salad on p95 which subs tofu and shiso for mozzarella and basil. Jean-Georges Vongerichten says it’s the best dish Chang ever came up with.<br />
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If there’s one weakness it’s that the book has very little in the way of dessert and sweets (apart from the Momofuku Shortcakes and an homage-to-McDonalds hot apple pie). This has of course been remedied with Christina Tosi’s <a href="http://www.austinchronicle.com/blogs/food/2012-11-02/cookbook-review-momofuku-milk-bar/">Momofuku Milk Bar book</a>, although I personally don’t find that volume nearly as engaging as the original.<br />
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<i><span style="color: #9fc5e8; font-family: inherit;">Appendix: The following buns were harmed in the production of this article...</span></i></h4>
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<i>Field work for this article was primarily conducted whilst on a trip to Sydney. Preparatory research had already taken place in London and New York.</i><br />
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<ul>
<li><b><a href="http://www.nytimes.com/restaurants/1113295835448/momofuku-noodle-bar/details.html">Momofuku Noodle Bar (New York):</a> </b>Original and best.</li>
<li><b><a href="http://www.notquitenigella.com/2013/06/04/momofuku-seiobo-pyrmont/">Momofuku Seiobo (CBD, Sydney):</a></b> Slightly out of place in a multi-course tasting menu. Felt daintier than the original - pork just warmed through. Cucumber fresh not pickled.</li>
<li><b><a href="http://www.kaveyeats.com/2009/10/restaurant-review-leong-legend.html">Yum Bun (London):</a> </b>Three trips. The first time (from the market stall) underwhelming. Second time much improved - bigger and juicier all round. Third trip pork ugh overcooked with a bark-like exterior. Needs to be more consistent. </li>
<li><b><a href="http://www.kaveyeats.com/2009/10/restaurant-review-leong-legend.html">Leong's Legends (London):</a> </b>Slightly skimpy Taiwanese <i>Guabao </i>(listed on the menu as "Taiwanese Mini Kebab with Pork"). Pork much more pulpy and shredded + could be more of it.</li>
<li><b><a href="http://bellyrumbles.com/ippudo-sydney/">Ippudo (CBD, Sydney):</a></b> Distinctly different variation with lettuce and mayo. Makes it lighter and soft-sweet, but still very more-ish.</li>
<li><b><a href="http://thesydneytarts.blogspot.co.uk/2012/08/bao-dao-taiwanese-kitchen-chatswood.html">Bao Dao (Chatswood, Sydney):</a></b> Superior version of the Taiwanese <i>Guabao</i>. Meaty and filling.</li>
<li><b><a href="http://www.streetfood.com.au/2011/08/ryos-noodles-japanese-ramen-crows-nest.html">Ryo's (Crow's Nest, Sydney):</a> </b>Peerless <i>Niku-man</i> Japanese bun with a minced pork filling. Juicy and tasty, but more a traditional Chinese <i>baozi</i> than an actual pork bun.</li>
<li><a href="http://www.urbanspoon.com/rph/70/1607017/854889/sydney-peking-inn-tea-smoke-duck-photo"><b>Peking Inn (Pymble, Sydney):</b></a> Somewhat thuggishly prepared tea-smoked duck and buns at the local Chinese. A touch overdone, but it gets the general idea across.</li>
</ul>
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Jon Tsenghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01916149961326205602noreply@blogger.com11tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6732049007302130204.post-72003290066596678452013-06-14T21:23:00.002+01:002013-06-14T22:47:43.673+01:00Cookbook Hunting, Sydney-Style.<h2>
<span style="font-size: x-large;">On Cookbook Safari in Oz</span></h2>
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Just back from Sydney. As ever, I was out hunting for cookbooks. The bookstock
at <a href="http://www.dymocks.com.au/contentstatic/corporate/about.aspx">Dymocks </a>(the <a href="http://morecookbooksthansense.blogspot.co.uk/2012/10/the-best-place-in-london-for-cookbooks.html">Foyles</a> of Australia) was somewhat underwhelming. The surplus
bookshop in the St Ives Shopping Village was a bust. But thankfully I was saved
when my wife pointed me toward the bibliophile awesomeness of<b> <a href="http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2006/08/07/1154802808084.html">Books Kinokuniya</a></b>, sprawling across the
top of the <i>Galeries Victoria</i> mall.</div>
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As you can tell from the name Kinokuniya is a <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Books_Kinokuniya">Japanese outfit</a>, packing
a decent selection of manga and associated paraphernalia <i>[note to self: stop pigeonholing an entire nation’s literary output in
terms of comic books. It’s enough to drive any <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yukio_Mishima">self-respecting playwright</a> to suicide</i><i>]</i>. But they also
have an outstanding Food & Drink section, sprawling across five generously
stocked aisles:<o:p></o:p></div>
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Let’s dive in!<o:p></o:p></div>
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<span style="font-size: x-large;">A Taste of Australia</span></h2>
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<b><span style="color: #9fc5e8;"><i>Zumbarons </i>by Adriano Zumbo:</span></b> My first target is, of course, the Australian Cuisine section. In
London we get a fair share of the big name chefbooks coming across (Quay,
Origin and anything by Bill Granger), but back at base there are a piles more
books which never make the import quota.</div>
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A good example is Sydney-based Patissier <a href="http://www.goodfood.com.au/good-food/food-news/from-lolly-boy-to-master-of-the-macaron-20130607-2nvr4.html">Adriano Zumbo</a>. A cynical might
say he’s a big fish in a small pond, but I find his wacky style quite endearing.
His gaudy first volume <i><a href="http://forums.egullet.org/topic/140582-zumbo/">Zumbo</a></i> received
a low-key release in the UK, which is a shame as if you can get past the
nursery-school typography it’s a lot more fun than the stentorian style of
Pierre Herme’s ego-liths. And here’s his latest book: <i><a href="http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/1742669700/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1634&creative=19450&creativeASIN=1742669700&linkCode=as2&tag=morcoothasen-21">Zumbarons</a></i>, a slim volume which is a credible addition to the
how-to-bake-macaron sub-genre. The fun is in the wacky flavours he comes up
with for his macarons: Hot Cross Bun, Pancake and Maple Syrup, Gingerbread
House or Fig, Burnt Honey & Red Wine. There’s even a Satay-flavoured
macaron.<o:p></o:p></div>
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Listen carefully and you can hear Mr Laduree turning in his grave.</div>
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<b><span style="color: #9fc5e8;"><i>Fine Family Cooking </i>by Tony Bilson: </span></b>If Zumbo is the man of the moment, then Tony Bilson is the utter
opposite, a bow-tie toting chef of the old school. He is the Godfather of
Sydney fine-dining having trained many of today’s stars, from Tetsuya Wakuda to Quay's Peter
Gilmore. So I was pleased to see at least one of his books represented, a
recent reprint of his 1995 <i>Fine Family
Cooking</i> (although annoyingly there was no sign of his recent <a href="http://thefoodsage.com.au/2011/10/03/bilson-from-bo-ho-to-culinary-boffin/">autobiography</a>).</div>
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I’ll say straight up the presentation of this book is old-school 1980s
(viz Raymond Blanc’s original <a href="http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/0316908177/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1634&creative=19450&creativeASIN=0316908177&linkCode=as2&tag=morcoothasen-21">Le Manoir cookbook</a>) and the recipes aren’t much more evolved. But amidst the utter
Frenchness of <i>Garbure</i> and Duck Liver
Mousse you see hints of what later involved into modern Australian cooking.
Coconut Bavarois with Pureed Tamarind. Fillet of Kangaroo with Glazed Shallots.
Or Braised Brisket with Star Anise. Bilson reminds me of California Alice Waters
/ Jeremiah Tower generation. If you read their cookbooks they still talk a lot
of Escoffier, but you occasionally see flashes of something new.<o:p></o:p></div>
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Plus there was one recipe that was very interesting – <i>Coddled Salmon with Red Wine Sauce</i>. As
I’ve written before – this was the direct inspiration for Tetsuya’s <a href="http://morecookbooksthansense.blogspot.co.uk/2012/10/signatures-confit-of-petuna-ocean-trout.html">Confit of Petuna Ocean Trout</a>. Salmon is confited at 70c in duck fat (one of the first
uses of-temperature cooking in a chefbook) and served (unusually) on a red-wine
sauce. I’ll let you decide whether Tony came up with the idea or if he nicked
it from Pierre Koffmann…</div>
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<b><span style="color: #9fc5e8;"><i>Kitchen Coquette </i>by Katrina Meynink: </span></b>But Oz isn’t just about professional chefs – if you want proof of that
just look at the unstoppable onslaught of Australian Masterchef. The number of
books written by former winners (and non-winners) is absolutely straight-out
terrifying. It got to the stage where I would spot to a book and tell it was by
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- Young photogenic author? Tick.</div>
- Their only book on the shelf? Tick.<br />
- Vaguely pan-Asian tilt? Tick.<br />
- Reference to “my journey” “my food” “my kitchen”? Tick.<br />
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This is what I found in a quick five-minute sweep. I’m pretty sure missed
some:</div>
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With all due respect, I mostly found them glossy, repetitive and rather
pointless. I’m sure their homespun pan-Asian recipes are delicious, but there
are only so many versions of crispy Asian-spiced pork belly a man can take.
Even me.</div>
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Which makes it even more bizarre that the one amateur effort which was
interesting was this one: <i><a href="http://thelittlecrumb.com.au/cookbook">Kitchen Coquette</a></i> by <a href="http://www.thelittlecrumb.com.au/">Katrina Meynink</a>. This book should
represent everything I hate about the “prosumer generation” (think: any
cookbook written by a food blogger). It’s a first-time cookbook from a vaguely
photogenic Aussie foodie. The recipes are group not by course or ingredient but
by life event (Recipes for meeting in-laws! Recipes for meeting with your ex!).
The food-style is Domesticated Fusion.<o:p></o:p></div>
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But I have to say it’s an excellent cookbook.<o:p></o:p></div>
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It’s very efficiently laid-out with a no-nonsense workbook-style. And
the weird recipe categories actually grow on you – case in point <i>Stealth Food</i>: snacks for eating in places
like libraries, lecture theatres or art galleries where you aren’t supposed to
have food. Actually quite useful…<o:p></o:p></div>
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But above its the recipes which strike a perfect note – she deploys
Fusion for the sake of deliciousness rather than for the sake of fusion.
Mexican Smoky Pork Cheesies. Pork and Rhubarb Pies (to be served at a Wake!),
Drunken Scallops with Ponzu Granita (for “The Make-Up”). For meeting potential
in-laws she recommends slipping them Fig, Raspberry, Pistachio and Burnt-Butter
Cake with Mascarpone.</div>
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This women should go on Masterchef.<o:p></o:p></div>
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And before we leave the Australian section, let’s not forget the
revered output of the <a href="http://www.australian-womens-weekly.com/catalogue">Australian Women’s Weekly</a> (Tripled-Tested for Guaranteed Success!).<o:p></o:p></div>
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<span style="font-size: x-large;">Foreign Gems</span></h2>
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But what I love about Sydney bookstores isn’t just the local stuff.
It’s that you also get the best of London and New York thrown in. For one
thing, the selection of UK chefbooks is as good or better than London, with hot
titles like David Everitt-Matthias’ <i>Beyond
Essence</i>, <i><a href="http://morecookbooksthansense.blogspot.co.uk/2012/09/two-bookcooks-to-watch-out-for-koffmann.html">The Square Cookbook</a></i> and <i>Polpo</i> all on show. For
another, there’s also a great line-up of imported US books – something I’ve sorely
missed in London since Borders went bust.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<i>In short: There are stores with a
better range of UK books and ones with a better range of US books, but I can’t
think of any which beat Kunokuniya Sydney for the two combined.</i></div>
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Plus
there’s all that Aussie stuff thrown in as well.<o:p></o:p></div>
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Putting the UK books to one side here are a few of the international
books which caught my eye. These aren’t necessarily the newest or the trendiest
books – just ones that got my cookbook-antennae twitching:<o:p></o:p></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgo9PcugDUVD-rTqpvN2lDRqe9nmUqAcz3KpgnT7UMfKWnjkgMH54gAjfChFMamLy_2xBzJRENXSLVfHH3-A51sM1dR_P9O-m25A5b6_3tXXcmdTXEHwcl4RtxcEGl7Lho6u5-tqlCGBWm3/s1600/WP_20130610_028.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; display: inline !important; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgo9PcugDUVD-rTqpvN2lDRqe9nmUqAcz3KpgnT7UMfKWnjkgMH54gAjfChFMamLy_2xBzJRENXSLVfHH3-A51sM1dR_P9O-m25A5b6_3tXXcmdTXEHwcl4RtxcEGl7Lho6u5-tqlCGBWm3/s200/WP_20130610_028.jpg" width="166" /></a></h4>
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<b><span style="color: #9fc5e8;"><i>LUDOBITES </i>by Ludo Lefebvre: </span></b>Classically trained French chef (Gagnaire, Passard, Grand Vefour) hits
LA, quits restaurant, starts a pop-up kitchen. Basically it’s the I’ve-Jumped-on-the-Street-Food-Bandwagon-And-Here’s-My-Cookbook
cookbook, but by someone who can actually <i>cook</i>.
It’s street/dude food with a Hollywood vibe (including jumping on a private jet
to lunch at the Fat Duck). But when you have Cabbage-Wrapped Foie Gras with
Kimchee Consomee (<a href="http://www.deandeluca.com/recipes/recipe_fresh_seared_foie_gras_steamed_in_leaves_of_savoy_cabbage.aspx">Alain Senderens</a> meets <a href="http://momofukufor2.com/2010/05/ko-kimchi-consomme/">Momofuku</a>!!),
Bouillabaisse Milk Shake and Foie Gras Miso Soup on the menu, who’s arguing?<o:p></o:p></div>
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<b><span style="color: #9fc5e8;"><i>Mission Street Food</i> by Anthony Myint & Karen Liebowitz: </span></b>Still on the Street Food theme, recipes from San Francisco’s <a href="http://blog.missionstreetfood.com/">original gourmet street food collective</a> (you know the idea – multi-course tasting menus and two hour
queues). The book is a few years old (though new to me), but it still reads and
eats great.<o:p></o:p></div>
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The first half is the fascinating story of the SF food collective which
set out to apply haute-cuisine technique to food with a broad appeal (not
surprisingly Momofuku co-author Peter Meehan provides a pull-quote). There’s a
lot of smart commentary and discussion here which is very applicable today’s
Twitter-fuelled-culture “hot” new restaurants (e.g. feature on the
“Sportification of Food” – how new restaurants have become a form of
entertainment).<o:p></o:p></div>
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The second half provides recipes for how they did it – reinventing
Street Food with haute techniques. Burgers for 200 <a href="http://foodosophy.wordpress.com/2010/01/30/mission-burger-by-mission-street-food-san-francisco-ca/">done Heston-style</a>, Peking
Duck reinvented from confit meat and duck cracklings, and of course lots and
lots of pork belly. If you loved Momofuku you’ll love this.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<b><span style="color: #9fc5e8;"><i>In the Kitchen with Alain Passard</i> by Christophe Blain</span></b>: Only the French could turn a haute cuisine cookbook into a <i>bandes-dessine</i> graphic novel <i>[note to self: Again, STOP pigeonholing
entire nations literary output on their comics. French novelists also produce
excellent<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Les_Mis%C3%A9rables"> novelisations of cheesy musicals</a> :-p].</i> Basically graphic novelist
gets invited to hang out with Alain Passard at this three star restaurant
L’Arpege (and associated vegetable garden). In return he renders a bunch of the
master’s recipes as comic strips. The <i><a href="http://www.ediblesanfrancisco.com/?p=1195">Arpege Egg</a></i> is included here, although unfortunately not the smoked potatoes or 12-spiced tomato dessert.<o:p></o:p></div>
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As I said, only in France…<o:p></o:p></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEis6A60jOU982mX93dLFzJ7NIuedEp5Cpj2U43kuK4hyphenhyphen9qIp9JtFK6e0BTQ9c9hLvebwnEUBG5Re5tZBi09Cz9Y4aNnN3eJJzCp9fkYWI8xcO5Oz6ZQcCTIKPy7PN6frSAN0jZ77deL1Ty8/s1600/WP_20130610_045.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEis6A60jOU982mX93dLFzJ7NIuedEp5Cpj2U43kuK4hyphenhyphen9qIp9JtFK6e0BTQ9c9hLvebwnEUBG5Re5tZBi09Cz9Y4aNnN3eJJzCp9fkYWI8xcO5Oz6ZQcCTIKPy7PN6frSAN0jZ77deL1Ty8/s200/WP_20130610_045.jpg" width="150" /></a></div>
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<b><span style="color: #9fc5e8;"><i>100 Vintage Treasures from the World's Finest Wine Celler</i> by Michel-Jack Chasseuil:</span></b> Fabulously well-connected Frenchman amasses 35,000 bottle wine cellar.
Writes coffee-table-book headlining up his top-100 bottles. This book should reek
of worthless vanity-piece but it’s actually utterly engrossing, particularly in
its coverage of pre-war (or even pre-20<sup>th</sup> century) vintages. Where
else can you vicariously enjoy an 1811 Yquem (a wonder-vintage overseen by
Halley’s Comet), a 1901 Tokay (from the cellar of Otto of Habsburg), a pre-phylloxeria
Constantia and a selection of the legendary stickies from the Tsar’s vineyards
in Massandra? Oh and he also has a ’71 La Tache and a ’45 Mouton if you’re into
the younger stuff. <o:p></o:p></div>
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<b><span style="color: #9fc5e8;"><i>Grand Finales Series </i>by Tish Boyle & Timothy Moriarty: </span></b>To finish a sight I thought I’d never see again: A complete set of the
short-lived Boyle/Moriarty <i>Grand Finales</i>
series on ridiculously over-plated pro- restaurant desserts. Probably wildly
outdated by now but always fun, and very hard to find nowadays (I own a copy of
the one of the right).<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhGleAhpk49jT5GIGAgQu6UyJjPtyfNDXLQgWzTakd-nAwMXUqPxXCzP43b1BucXPHy2hN150C3pWLdI6NVyHB3DHcn2XPKHOhyphenhyphen3bzJvi7wzSUjlj-nRj0UEZMw82SJLMoqNt4lNI3vjFm6/s1600/WP_20130610_041.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; display: inline !important; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" height="354" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhGleAhpk49jT5GIGAgQu6UyJjPtyfNDXLQgWzTakd-nAwMXUqPxXCzP43b1BucXPHy2hN150C3pWLdI6NVyHB3DHcn2XPKHOhyphenhyphen3bzJvi7wzSUjlj-nRj0UEZMw82SJLMoqNt4lNI3vjFm6/s640/WP_20130610_041.jpg" width="640" /></a></h4>
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Bon app!<o:p></o:p></div>
Jon Tsenghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01916149961326205602noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6732049007302130204.post-30909805522446579092013-04-21T17:56:00.000+01:002013-04-23T20:47:05.787+01:00Les Recettes Originales de Alain Chapel: Looking for Alain<i>Over the last few months writing this blog one name has been a recurring theme in the books I have read: Alain Chapel. A chef acclaimed</i><i> by his contemporaries, but whose greatness I have always struggled to understand. So I spend two months doing some serious digging about what made him tick. And this is what I discovered...</i><br />
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<span style="font-size: x-large;">What if The Fat Duck closed and nobody cared?</span></h2>
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Restaurant closes. No one cares.</span></h4>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiPQZiqpfKehRwumocEy_YKNYsv6yCmgu9eUJ1ieQPTSsqxBfOIaWzrY_y4mjQ17cx8R-wxnozNzzz-fUR3doiTYdJ3FZk5klZAerX_kLueEkxR1tWzVc1fsi-qJDtCpMGQ89_jSVV9N4dU/s1600/Chapel+Resto+Pic.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="185" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiPQZiqpfKehRwumocEy_YKNYsv6yCmgu9eUJ1ieQPTSsqxBfOIaWzrY_y4mjQ17cx8R-wxnozNzzz-fUR3doiTYdJ3FZk5klZAerX_kLueEkxR1tWzVc1fsi-qJDtCpMGQ89_jSVV9N4dU/s320/Chapel+Resto+Pic.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
Well that's exactly what happened last year, when Restaurant Alain Chapel in Mionnay quietly announced that it would not re-open after the winter break.<br />
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The news was barely reported. It made the diary columns of the French press - <a href="http://francoissimon.typepad.fr/simonsays/2012/02/sad-la-maison-chapel-d%C3%A9pose-son-bilan.html">just</a>. A few old lags in the foodie world <a href="http://tastingbites.blogspot.co.uk/2012/04/mionnay-france-maison-alain-chapel.html">commented</a>. A couple of chefs <a href="http://www.pourcel-chefs-blog.com/blog1/2012/02/03/chapel-a-mionnay-une-page-se-tourne-un-grand-restaurant-qui-ferme-cest-toujours-triste/">mourned</a>.<br />
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After over forty years in the highest echelons of French Gastronomy, the name of Alain Chapel was no more.<br />
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It wasn't always like this.<br />
<br />
In the 1970s Alain Chapel was at the forefront of French gastronomy. If Bocuse was the Ferran Adria of the day (i.e. Chef Most Likely To Be Profiled In The In-Flight Magazine), then Alain Chapel was the Heston of the era. Operating out of his dolled-up <i>auberge</i> on the outskirts of Lyon, he was the mad scientist creating weird dishes with strange ingredients (stuffed pigs ears! braised chicken tripe!). It's no wonder that even today, Heston has a dish the menu named after him<br />
<br />
At the height of his powers, with three Michelin stars and restaurants in France and Japan, Chapel was a man in demand. He flew Concorde to New York to cook for millionnaire customers. The Morocco royal family hired him to run a week-long pop-up in Fez (and you thought pop-ups were something new...). For people in the know, the greatest chef in the world wasn't Paul, it was Alain.<br />
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Then Alain dropped dead in 1990 - heart attack <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/1990/07/11/obituaries/alain-chapel-french-master-chef-and-restaurateur-is-dead-at-53.html">at the age of 53</a>.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjucuTcMjhXjw1T2EJ5d6-FA8GRX5MklT7tzL4fVnZXjiZGM9GyP_Jg_2tcE2HnfAm1gw-QO2kHyoHgvMOhuA97v6o2MTjhgRz1mSZysvunS_NdG-lFpR4JMz0fTguVuOvRZ3a8pN_KLvHx/s1600/Chapel+Obit.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="174" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjucuTcMjhXjw1T2EJ5d6-FA8GRX5MklT7tzL4fVnZXjiZGM9GyP_Jg_2tcE2HnfAm1gw-QO2kHyoHgvMOhuA97v6o2MTjhgRz1mSZysvunS_NdG-lFpR4JMz0fTguVuOvRZ3a8pN_KLvHx/s640/Chapel+Obit.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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<br />
The culinary world mourned, but swiftly moved on. The restaurant endured under his trusted number two Phillip Jousse, losing a one macaroon but keeping a respectable two stars until the end. The master's two sons Romain And David (seven and ten when he died) went away, apprenticed and returned <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/1990/07/11/obituaries/alain-chapel-french-master-chef-and-restaurateur-is-dead-at-53.html">to take up the mantle</a>. But unlike at Troisgros or Bise or Azak, a glorious second act was not to be. In February 2012, as <i>L'Express</i> noted, "Restaurant Alain Chapel <a href="http://www.lexpress.fr/styles/saveurs/restaurant/le-restaurant-d-alain-chapel-ferme-dans-l-indifference_1079387.html">closed in indifference</a>".<br />
<br />
<h4>
<span style="color: #9fc5e8;">
Looking for Alain</span></h4>
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</div>
But even though Alain is gone, you cannot escape his shadow. Leafing through my collection of cookbooks, I find him in all sorts of places<br />
<br />
Alain Ducasse is one. After all, he trained at Mionnay and acknowledges that "Alain Chapel taught me to taste". Flick (okay, crowbar) your way through his <a href="http://morecookbooksthansense.blogspot.co.uk/2012/09/how-200-cookbook-is-actually-incredibly.html"><i>Grand Livre de Cuisine</i></a> and "<i>facon Alain Chapel</i>" is a recurring subtitle - here applied to a roast veal chop, there on a lobster and pigeon salad. And finally on a ragout of cockscombs, crayfish and mushrooms.<br />
<br />
Then of course there's Heston. In the <i>Big Fat Duck Cookbook </i>he talks about how he was awed by Chapel - first by reading his books (problem - they were only in French and Heston only spoke English)<i>,</i> and later by a sublime meal at Mionnay. And it was Chapel's signature pigeon jelly which inspired his Jelly of Quail<i> </i>which sprawls across eight pages in the centre of the book.<br />
<br />
For a more personal angle try Michel Roux Jr. His autobio-with-recipes <i><a href="http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/0297844822/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1634&creative=19450&creativeASIN=0297844822&linkCode=as2&tag=morcoothasen-21">Life in the Kitchen</a> </i>recounts the two years he spent as a youthful apprentice <i>chez </i>Chapel<i>. </i>Amidst the stories of teenage japes and foie gras terrines, his respect for the Master is clear: "He was an extraordinary chef, an inspiration and very formidable."<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgWnN_woZoYVfofuLTJ7QY81qX-bgQSS6p_o-FVyB8goFFD353U6kcJsBzYIlu41HcJLSK_yVzUO-_abJNAvjBepfwoqvnWhMStAX7r7XovxL-l9k34M0NBk80eGTTnKutxEaZH6kjx96TY/s1600/Chapel+Menu+1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><img border="0" height="394" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgWnN_woZoYVfofuLTJ7QY81qX-bgQSS6p_o-FVyB8goFFD353U6kcJsBzYIlu41HcJLSK_yVzUO-_abJNAvjBepfwoqvnWhMStAX7r7XovxL-l9k34M0NBk80eGTTnKutxEaZH6kjx96TY/s640/Chapel+Menu+1.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The menu at Alain Chapel (click <a href="https://docs.google.com/file/d/0B46hxTELCaJZMElROTVNMzVjbnc/edit?usp=sharing">here</a> for a more legible version)</td></tr>
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And of course there's a whole chapter devoted to him in Blake And Crewe's <i>Great Chefs of France. </i>Set amidst a galaxy of star chefs (including Bocuse), it is Chapel's "supreme inventiveness" which makes him stand out:<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<i>There is no other menu like it... there is not a dish on Alain Chapel's menu which does not reveal an inventiveness and imagination which lift him into the rare class of supreme chefs. There is no dish which does not surprise.</i></blockquote>
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And this isn't just rose-tinted-regret. Even before he died he was hailed by chefs and critics alike - just look at the galaxy of stars below who gathered in 1977 for his fortieth birthday:</div>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjELbX-H12jjY75_f4HJUkL5mm78X6YsUo3VTTUpzSuPpulCAllFj8m5SNrJMJzggeoOTGJ4CjUgpQGr3lUdw3gbO4CYH9JwoK8YDMwnd23OT-QsWUUkaRGsoAJuRjLqmdy_kLsr_ntMRg6/s1600/Chapel+Anniversary+1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="430" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjELbX-H12jjY75_f4HJUkL5mm78X6YsUo3VTTUpzSuPpulCAllFj8m5SNrJMJzggeoOTGJ4CjUgpQGr3lUdw3gbO4CYH9JwoK8YDMwnd23OT-QsWUUkaRGsoAJuRjLqmdy_kLsr_ntMRg6/s640/Chapel+Anniversary+1.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">"Everyone with more than two michelin stars say CHEESE"</td></tr>
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Yet the real Alain Chapel remains elusive.<br />
<br />
People still remember him, however dimly. But ask someone exactly what it was that was so great about him and a quizzical look descends. Set against today’s standards his food looks rather dated. Reading the carte today it sounds like a pretty traditional French restaurant. Foie gras with that. Truffles with this. What’s all the fuss?<br />
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You can find out though. You just need to look hard enough.<br />
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<br />
<h2>
<span style="font-size: x-large;">How to make a silk purse out of a calf’s ear</span></h2>
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Let’s start with some of the recipes.<br />
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<h4>
<span style="color: #9fc5e8;">Stuffed calf's ears with fried parsley</span></h4>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhst-jyVSW9_Do6NgwIu5fjgg6Rn7J0lyoWPuTjOWdYzM1XqelaOrgL9iyACRjmmtsMZo-1iy61B_g-TIzw-suTDOMwhFiopZlOfzrNkch9r1r1Pati0p03tg8oXXCVpZ-m1jfLG8cgaTHF/s1600/Calf+Ears.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhst-jyVSW9_Do6NgwIu5fjgg6Rn7J0lyoWPuTjOWdYzM1XqelaOrgL9iyACRjmmtsMZo-1iy61B_g-TIzw-suTDOMwhFiopZlOfzrNkch9r1r1Pati0p03tg8oXXCVpZ-m1jfLG8cgaTHF/s320/Calf+Ears.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Dinner time! :-p</td></tr>
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The recipe is found on page 172 of <i><a href="http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/2221114116/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1634&creative=19450&creativeASIN=2221114116&linkCode=as2&tag=morcoothasen-21">Les Recettes Originales de Alain Chapel</a> </i>(of which more later). Ears from veal calves are blanched an braised for three hours in a casserole with a white wine bouillon. Meanwhile veal sweetbreads, chicken wings and truffle are sauteed with butter and mushrooms and bound into a forcemeat with egg yolks. The ears are stuffed with this mixture, rolled in more egg and breadcrumb and then fried until golden. This dish is then served piping hot, garnished with crispy fried parsley.<br />
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This dish is Chapel's refinement of traditional bourgeois cuisine - in essence taking a humble ingredient and making it stretch further with a bit of stuffing (albeit a truffle and veal sweetbread stuffing). It's not a dish you normally see in a three star restaurant; there are echoes here of <a href="http://morecookbooksthansense.blogspot.co.uk/2012/11/signatures-pigs-trotter-stuffed-with.html">Pierre Koffmann</a> giving the humble pigs trotter a similar treatment. If you do want to try it though I recommend you high-tail it to <a href="http://www.troisgros.fr/lerestaurant.php#">Troisgros</a> in Roanne, which has recently started serving this dish as a tribute to Chapel. Be warned however, they are charging a stonking €110 for the starter of "<i>Oreille et ris de veau a la truffe, inspires de Mionnay</i>".<br />
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<h4>
<span style="color: #9fc5e8;">Pigeon jelly with chicken oysters and young vegetables</span></h4>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEigobb2jFlNQnf5O0MoNobXjuJ2UZPjR6xQ-x3KaVhqvLksqge4ea5bzQIKCO836iGZi6CGH0g08RAuc8IS8AhNGve0Gb5cXcBlzy71WUYC5rohqrlqvuUGcU44wUa5rL34VkInzCdQpk91/s1600/Heston+Jelly.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="201" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEigobb2jFlNQnf5O0MoNobXjuJ2UZPjR6xQ-x3KaVhqvLksqge4ea5bzQIKCO836iGZi6CGH0g08RAuc8IS8AhNGve0Gb5cXcBlzy71WUYC5rohqrlqvuUGcU44wUa5rL34VkInzCdQpk91/s320/Heston+Jelly.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><div style="text-align: center;">
Quail jelly with langoustine cream -</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
Heston's Blumenthal's homage</div>
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In his book (p294), Chapel calls this his favourite dish and one of his true "<i>grands plats</i>" of his <i>maison</i>. I'll leave it to As Heston Blumenthal to describes this one:<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<i>His pigeon dish had a few spoonfuls of delicate jelly surrounded by an artful arrangement of chicken oysters, mullet fillets, crayfish and their eggs - shades of pink and red offset by the glistening green of peas, spinach and lamb's lettuce, chives and chervil - bordered by a pale yellow crescent of creamy fish stock with orange zest and lemon juice. He had taken the elements of classical cooking and put them together in a very modern and innovative way that I found really exciting.</i></blockquote>
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And this is of course the inspiration for Heston's <i>Jelly of quail, langoustine cream, parfait of foie gras, truffle and oak toast, scented moss - Homage to Alain Chapel. </i>It's a very different recipe of course but the clear jelly (quail, as he was already using pigeon in another dish) flavoured with star anise is straight out of Chapel's playbook.<br />
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What's striking to me is how modern this recipe feels (the Chapel version I mean). Its actually a dish which wouldn't feel out of place if it was served up at Noma - a melange of contrasting arranged ingredients on a plate, bound together with a textural contrast (the jelly) and sauced with a very light dressing. This is precisely the sort food being served up by modernist chefs at places like Noma, Viajante or Dabbous (albeit with a little more sous vide and parmesan snow thrown in).<br />
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<h4>
<span style="color: #9fc5e8;">Chicken tripe <i>a notre mode</i></span></h4>
This dish (p390) is Chapel's reinvention of the classic <i>tripes a la mode de Caen</i>, except he started with chicken tripes, an ingredient I've never seen used elsewhere. The tripes are blanched for twenty seconds and then gently cooked, along with some veal tripe, with chicken stock, white wine and half of a calf's foot. They're then finished with mustard and Calvados (a tribute to their Normandy origins) and served in a <i>cocotte</i>.<br />
<br />
Now if modern food is about getting <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/lifeandstyle/2013/apr/21/cook-it-raw-eight-chefs-recall">down and dirty with your ingredients</a>, this dish showed Chapel could mix it with the best of them. As Michel Roux Jr recounts in <i>A Life in the Kitchen </i>the tripes had to delivered warm, <i>minutes </i>after the hens were killed, and blanched within the hour. It was an incredibly difficult and fiddly dish to prepare.<br />
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<br />
<h2>
<span style="font-size: x-large;">The greatness of Alain</span></h2>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiW6obbUYR8qZfOl12kkmdb20LGYRxVvjzuapvC-FoqPZGOLJSSHxMGg43Ks6v9LtpfhBjcheExf91cH2rKTXGVItaZ51yEosDOMuchJOn4nZGrnlkc3Z3ZpvpXRGkmer17mDfSxqlmhqiH/s1600/Chapel+Title+Crop.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiW6obbUYR8qZfOl12kkmdb20LGYRxVvjzuapvC-FoqPZGOLJSSHxMGg43Ks6v9LtpfhBjcheExf91cH2rKTXGVItaZ51yEosDOMuchJOn4nZGrnlkc3Z3ZpvpXRGkmer17mDfSxqlmhqiH/s320/Chapel+Title+Crop.jpg" width="118" /></a></div>
Having looked at a few of Chapel's signature dishes, there is something mildly disconcerting about then. Read about him on the surface and everything looks very as-is. Pigeon. Veal. Chicken. That’s all very traditional French. Very bourgeois.<br />
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But Pigeon <i>jelly</i>? Calf <i>ear</i>? Chicken <i>tripe</i>?<br />
<br />
Something strange is going on.<br />
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Then there are other hints. He had own vegetable garden (I thought that was something that started with Passard). He put Japanese dishes on the menu (long before Robuchon’s <a href="http://morecookbooksthansense.blogspot.co.uk/2013/01/signatures-pommes-puree-robuchon.html">zen master</a> act). Asian spices like star anise and ginger were turning up on the carte (at a time when Jean-George Vongerichten was still making foie gras terrines in Alsace). And this was all in the 1970s.<br />
<br />
<i>The simple fact is that Chapel was doing things that were fundamentally different from all of his contemporaries. I believe he was operating at least ten years ahead of everyone else. And probably more.</i><br />
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So what made Alain so great? I would say three things:<br />
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<h4>
<span style="color: #9fc5e8;">First, he built on tradition</span></h4>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEie5wKwd35X_2iskh25f9RUdZnZnKv_XlU6wlHNeNNqCI-1kdgBgTxtZZ5q2Y2EZjxKMKmN852ZKrrn9LqrobHDmIclROwdqbpxWPcBErPbNw-gwbPJQfJeLSAABE_K_rqSvI8a_qyFopH5/s1600/Chicken+Mousse+Recipe.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="225" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEie5wKwd35X_2iskh25f9RUdZnZnKv_XlU6wlHNeNNqCI-1kdgBgTxtZZ5q2Y2EZjxKMKmN852ZKrrn9LqrobHDmIclROwdqbpxWPcBErPbNw-gwbPJQfJeLSAABE_K_rqSvI8a_qyFopH5/s320/Chicken+Mousse+Recipe.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><div style="text-align: left;">
<i>That</i> chicken liver parfait (from Michel Roux Jr's</div>
<i></i><br />
<div style="text-align: left;">
<i><i>Life in the Kitchen</i>)</i></div>
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One reason he doesn’t seem as revolutionary to us as a Heston or an Adria is his food wasn’t as dramatic a break with the past. That was partly the point – he always claimed his cooking was evolutionary, not revolutionary.<br />
<br />
For example, one of his great signatures was a warm chicken liver parfait (which Craig Claibourne called <i>one of the absolute cooking glories of this generation</i>) – in many ways traditional Lyonnais bistro fare, taken to the <i>n</i>th<i> </i>degree.<br />
<br />
Also, as we have already seen the calf's ear and the chicken tripes also had their roots in bourgeois country cuisine. Of course this was gussied up, truffled up and generally moved on. But Chapel was very much cooking <i>with</i> tradition, not <i>against </i>it.<br />
<div>
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<div>
<br /></div>
<h4>
<span style="color: #9fc5e8;">Second he embraced innovation.</span></h4>
<div>
But make no mistake, no matter what he claimed, Alain wasn’t <i>just </i>an evolutionary chef. He was also doing things that were profoundly revolutionary:</div>
<div>
<ul>
<li><b>Ingredients:</b> He took humble and unusual ingredients like chicken tripe and calves ears, and refashioned strange (but strangely familiar) combinations.</li>
<li><b>Asian techniques and flavours: </b>Chapel's work in Japan opened him up to Japanese cuisine long before it was fashionable, something evidenced in his famed <i>Crepe Japonaise</i>. His made unheard-of use of Asian spicing, spiking his pigeon jelly with anise and deploying ginger in his savoury courses (don’t laugh. In those days that was <i>really </i>wild).</li>
<li><b>Pioneering ingredient-led cuisine: </b>Decades before Alain Passard got religion about his vegetable patch, Chapel has his own garden (<i>le jardin de cure</i>) where he grew baby salad leaves and vegetables for cooking. Rather than touring the market each day so see who had what we good, he would seek out the single finest producer for each item and place all his confidence in them. Nowadays chefs make a great song and dance about being close to their producers (check out the Phaidon <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2010/nov/22/noma-nordic-cuisine-rene-redzepi">Noma book</a> or the <a href="http://cromwellfarms.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/09/Rockpool_Main-Menu.pdf">Rockpool book</a> for examples). Chapel was ahead of the game</li>
<li><b>Innovating with technology: </b>Chapel was keen to incorporate space-age gadgets like ice-cream machines, ovens with different temperatures at the top and bottom (for breads and pastries) or robot-coupes for chopping <i>fine herbes</i>. Again with the passing of time this sounds incredibly hum-drum but in post-war France this was twenty-first century gear.</li>
<li><b>Inventing new techniques:</b> The frothed-up soups that were all the rage in the 1990s started with his <a href="http://www.saveur.com/article/Recipes/Mushroom-Cappuccino-Bouillon-de-Champignons-Comme-un-Cappuccino">mushroom cappuccino</a>. And this wasn't just a fad. Remember that this underlying principle - that foaming up a sauce increases its surface area and flavour, also lies behind El Bulli's <i>espumas </i>and sponges in the 1990s. A more unremarked innovation was his <i>jus perle</i> – instead of a smooth cream- or butter-based sauce he would leave his <i>jus </i>unemulsified with droplets of flavoursome fat floating in the mix. This is something Heston makes a great <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/lifeandstyle/2002/jun/01/foodanddrink.shopping5">song and dance about</a> as “flavour encapsulation” – to Chapel it was just another everyday innovation.</li>
</ul>
<div>
<br /></div>
<h4>
<span style="color: #9fc5e8;">Third he was the perfectionist</span></h4>
<div>
I don't think its a coincidence that Ducasse - who has built an empire on laser-like culinary precision, learned his trade with Alain Chapel. Contemporary accounts all point to an incredible quiet and concentration in his kitchen. As one stagiere <a href="http://www.gourmandise.co/g/commentary/wgArticle.cfm?itemID=179">writes</a>:</div>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<i>I have been in libraries that were noisier than that kitchen, where everyone seemed so concentrated in work that an earthquake might have passed unnoticed. I do not think one single plate escaped M. Chapel's final inspection, and, believe me, he would have detected the slightest flaw.</i></blockquote>
<div>
In <i>Great Chefs of France</i> Crewe and Blake also remark on the incredible calm in the kitchen - different from any of the other three star kitchens they have seen:</div>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<i>So everybody moves, calmly and without haste; yet all is done at amazing speed. Gradually you become aware of the power of this kitchen, It is like one of those beautiful nineteenth-century pumping-engines, moving majestically and silently, seemingly without effort, yet delivering immense power, smooth and everlasting</i>.</blockquote>
There is a picture in the book of Chapel putting the finishing touches to a dish, the tip of his tongue sticking out in concentration. It is this intensity which made Chapel a man apart - and perhaps contributed to his early demise.<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjP7Uh1jYXqJee12go5WwMbingC0dzvzOa-2x1_PNBqXAMbvDmoWRiy998c5SHbCcC9_gvI_PmB08OslnWInBGxKYTGr8OPk24rtWQOD4RCTaI3KtTtSDe1FQFHBXs3hZy-o2oJD3DaHj0P/s1600/Chapel+Tongue+Pic+Crop.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="451" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjP7Uh1jYXqJee12go5WwMbingC0dzvzOa-2x1_PNBqXAMbvDmoWRiy998c5SHbCcC9_gvI_PmB08OslnWInBGxKYTGr8OPk24rtWQOD4RCTaI3KtTtSDe1FQFHBXs3hZy-o2oJD3DaHj0P/s640/Chapel+Tongue+Pic+Crop.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Chapel - a study in concentration</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<h4>
<span style="color: #9fc5e8;">A cuisine that changes your life</span></h4>
The result was a kitchen that <i>blew - your - mind</i>.<br />
<br />
Don’t take my word for it. Ask David Kinch of the great West Coast restaurant <a href="http://foodsnobblog.wordpress.com/2009/04/10/manresa-los-gatos/">Manresa</a>. For him it was Chapel’s pigeon with fresh peas and braised lettuces that <a href="http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9504E6DF143EF93BA35751C0A9609C8B63">changed his life</a>:<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<i>I was 23, and of course I knew everything. But after that dinner I realised that all my training was wrong, that I had completely missed the point of what makes great food. I went back to my room and cried! What this guy could do with a handful of peas and some lettuce, and how the purity of the flavours could be maintained and yet come together, was something I had never learned.</i></blockquote>
<br />
Or ask Michel Roux Jr - I emailed Le Gavroche while I was researching this post and they were kind enough to send me the following:<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<i>Alain Chapel was a great man, had respect for local ingredients and dishes such as Chicken Tripe, Crepes Japanaise, which were very avant-garde. He was using fresh ginger which was unheard of in France in the 70’s. The man was a genius, his dishes tasted heavenly and were shockingly straightforward.</i></blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<i>Michel Roux </i></blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<i>Maître Cuisinier de France & Managing Director </i></blockquote>
<br />
<br />
<h2>
<span style="font-size: x-large;">Alain Chapel in Print</span></h2>
<h3>
<span style="color: #9fc5e8; font-size: small;"><br /></span></h3>
<h4>
<span style="color: #9fc5e8; font-size: small;">Parlez-vous Francais?</span></h4>
<h3>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiqV3yJ5H8h8CeX7_7e2Cb-XPxdTwPJG33WuN1BHehcklifI5mr8Y3j9tixGYGllL456x_0zWEp4BaTUbcz_HgoTBLOeRs5qsuMvKNL7HmeUMCDaTGQmXOi7hFec_SMEQC0_3Zq-hPddB0K/s1600/Chapel+Cover.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiqV3yJ5H8h8CeX7_7e2Cb-XPxdTwPJG33WuN1BHehcklifI5mr8Y3j9tixGYGllL456x_0zWEp4BaTUbcz_HgoTBLOeRs5qsuMvKNL7HmeUMCDaTGQmXOi7hFec_SMEQC0_3Zq-hPddB0K/s320/Chapel+Cover.jpg" width="218" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="font-size: 13px; text-align: center;"><div style="text-align: left;">
Alain Chapel's only cookbook,</div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
now happily back in print</div>
</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
</h3>
Which makes it even more of a tragedy that Alain Chapel put very little in print before he died, and virtually nothing in English.<br />
<br />
The only major book was <i>Les recettes originales de Alain Chapel</i>, originally published in 1980 as part of Robert Laffont's long-running <i><a href="http://www.brigitteathome.com/2011/12/les-recettes-originales-de-robert.html">Les Recettes Originales...</a></i> collection.<br />
<br />
(The <i>Editions Laffont</i> series is a fascinating endeavour in its own right - 23 volumes detailing the recipes of the major chefs of the day (Senderens, Robuchon Girardet and Guialtiero Marchesi all feature), starkly printed in black and white with the barest of illustration. It's the sort of project which would be unthinkable today in a era of celebrity chefs, publishing agents and multi-million dollar book deals.)<br />
<br />
Toady these volumes are hard to find. <i>Books for Cooks</i> in Notting Hill used to stock them but haven't had then for years. Thankfully though a few of the volumes (by Chapel, Troigros and Michel Guerard) were recently reprinted in paperback, which means that for the first time in many years Alain Chapel is now only an <a href="http://www.amazon.fr/cuisine-cest-beaucoup-plus-recettes/dp/2221114116/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1366546671&sr=8-1&keywords=alain+chapel">Amazon.fr click</a> (and a French dictionary) away.<br />
<br />
<h4>
<span style="color: #9fc5e8;">The Recipes of Tradition...</span></h4>
The book starts with a lengthy introduction, where Chapel expounds on a variety of topics - tasting menus, the evolution of cuisine, flavour and place... (I have to admit my French falls down a bit here - if anyone fancies chipping in with an English translation I'm all ears). A lot of it is summed up though in the subtitle of the book: <i>La cuisine, c'est beaucoup plus que des recettes. </i>"Cuisine is more than recipes".<br />
<br />
After a brief section on basic recipes (stocks, sauces, pastries etc) we then pile into the heart of the piece. One of the great things about this book is that its actually two pretty much self-contained cookbooks in one. The first part <i>Les Recettes de la Tradition</i> is his book on traditional French cusine. He kicks off with an eight-page account <i>La saint-cochon</i>, which details what to do when you slaughter a whole pig. Starting with what do with with the blood, he then ploughs into recipes for faggots made with the pork rind, liver & kidney, a head-cheese incorporating the ears and feet, <i>rillettes</i>, <i>saucissons</i>, <i>boudin blanc</i>, pork scratchings and the belly, salted with thyme. It all feels <a href="http://morecookbooksthansense.blogspot.co.uk/2012/09/the-secret-of-st-john-henderson.html">very St John</a>.<br />
<br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhrAblQNUtLsDvFIHLDXrvbKw6ZcIv5B5ig9cmYlvlkibAuD5jX_LMLU2xMx0alUspQVFLLMmGGDPwD6GAv3zuwdI3FEhT5hnK2lgp7Kw_4MR6sL_x4obaUy4Elnn5CS8DH_Mawi898KTpg/s1600/Ducasse+Stew.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="196" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhrAblQNUtLsDvFIHLDXrvbKw6ZcIv5B5ig9cmYlvlkibAuD5jX_LMLU2xMx0alUspQVFLLMmGGDPwD6GAv3zuwdI3FEhT5hnK2lgp7Kw_4MR6sL_x4obaUy4Elnn5CS8DH_Mawi898KTpg/s200/Ducasse+Stew.jpg" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Chicken kidney, cockscomb and<br />
crayfish ragout - the Ducasse version</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
He than details numerous traditional recipes, split into the usual categories - starters, soups, fish, poultry, desserts etc. Many of his signature dishes feature here, including the famous chicken liver mousse (p136) served with a crayfish sauce, and the stuffed calf's ears I've already mentioned.<br />
<br />
Bear in mind traditional does not mean boring! He also features the exuberant ragout of chicken kidneys, cockscombs, crayfish, morels and chervil - a dish repeated (and name-checked) in Alain Ducasse's <i><a href="http://morecookbooksthansense.blogspot.co.uk/2012/09/how-200-cookbook-is-actually-incredibly.html">Grand Livre de Cuisine</a>. </i>There's also a rather extravagant beef bouillon (p144) which incorporates a pound of caviar (and another quarter-pound of <a href="http://www.foodandwine.com/articles/pressed-caviar-the-last-undiscovered-indulgence">pressed caviar</a>) and recipe for a roast Bresse capon flanked by ten larks and ten snipes (not recommended if your guests are members of the RSPB!). And finally I have to mention the <i>Oeufs poeles a l'assassin</i> on page 150 - actually quite a pedestrian dish of friend eggs deglazed with wine vinegar - but you gotta love that name.<br />
<br />
<h4>
<span style="color: #9fc5e8;">... and the Recipes of the Imagination</span></h4>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEht0Lwlpco85zdPvdbDzyr7-vce6W5bnY3mx4BZu0-3Mmm5deCEgbU36EHwDiThwyiElgASPS1U3sxqjXsstO1muqYkMKJ_4pxNDew7wHe-tunZ84nQiBxvKJTUPYmHsJs5zex-tH7sDi0i/s1600/Chapel+Dishes.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEht0Lwlpco85zdPvdbDzyr7-vce6W5bnY3mx4BZu0-3Mmm5deCEgbU36EHwDiThwyiElgASPS1U3sxqjXsstO1muqYkMKJ_4pxNDew7wHe-tunZ84nQiBxvKJTUPYmHsJs5zex-tH7sDi0i/s320/Chapel+Dishes.jpg" width="260" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><div style="text-align: left;">
More example's of Chapel's food - click to zoom</div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
(from <i>Great Chefs of France</i>)</div>
</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
However that's only half the book. Because then you get to the second section, entitles <i>Les Recettes de l'Imagination. </i>Again its pretty much a standalone work, with sections on starters, meat, dessert etc. Except this time these are Chapel's dishes, rather than rehashed French classics.<br />
<br />
So you have the iconic pigeon jelly and the chicken tripe. Or a featherlight dish of <i>Langouste</i> steamed with verbana, girolles and chicory leaves (p340). Or his famous <i>Crepe Japonaises</i> (p454). Actually this is basically an <i><a href="http://okonomiyakiworld.com/">okonomiyaki</a> </i>pancake (street food! how on-trend! :-p), scented with ginger and served with beef, pork, <i>gambas </i>and squid.<br />
<br />
The section on desserts contains the recipe for a praline tart, much praised by Heston Blumenthal and (just to show that no-one's perfect!) a slight dubious concoction of yogurt, cucumber and tarragon supposedly inspired by Balkan cuisine.<br />
<br />
<h4>
<span style="color: #9fc5e8;">Touched by genius</span></h4>
I'm left in two minds on this book. Set against the modern arsenal of chefbooks, its always going to feel dated. There are no pictures. The dishes clearly come from another era. And being in French doesn't help. If you pluck this off the shelf and read it cold you're going to be left wondering what the fuss is all about.<br />
<br />
But having put in the time to try and understand Chapel and his cuisine, you start to see that there's so much more. The book is stuffed with iconic recipes like the pigeon jelly, the chicken tripes and <i>that </i>chicken liver parfait. These are historic recipes which no chef should be without.<br />
<br />
And when you put Chapel into the context of what everyone else was doing at the time the achievement is even more staggering. He was as far ahead of the chasing pack as El Bulli was in the nineties. His only point of reference was himself.<br />
<br />
My only regret is we don't have a good version of this book in English. The best we can do is the chapter in <i><a href="http://morecookbooksthansense.blogspot.co.uk/2013/03/noma-celler-can-roca-bocuse-co-culinary.html">Great Chefs of France</a></i>, but that hardly tells the whole story. Remember, this is a guy who David Rosengarten rates as the <a href="http://www.forbes.com/sites/drosengarten/2012/10/29/top-ten-most-important-chefs-of-my-lifetime/">second greatest chef of his lifetime</a> - the fact there is virtually nothing by him in English is the whole food world's loss.<br />
<br />
<br />
<h2>
Afterword - Another Chapel in London</h2>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhFVLUca6HV0QcVizCi2ch2ioABTTH6Q7Hx_8L27M1ZH_2WUpU_0YwQyiI9EVRnKTGCaTe1a7A_7lQAPScuyuIevLHhbMNIh0BWGr0BTawEV9WTrQmY7K3tpHVU6ojeV9gNWDtHRKW0CRsW/s1600/Romain+Chapel.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhFVLUca6HV0QcVizCi2ch2ioABTTH6Q7Hx_8L27M1ZH_2WUpU_0YwQyiI9EVRnKTGCaTe1a7A_7lQAPScuyuIevLHhbMNIh0BWGr0BTawEV9WTrQmY7K3tpHVU6ojeV9gNWDtHRKW0CRsW/s200/Romain+Chapel.jpg" width="149" /></a></div>
One little postscript - as I mentioned Chapel's two kids had it worst of all. Not only a famous father, but the pressure of tryng to take on the mantle of one of the greatest chefs of his era (I call this trick "<a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/lifeandstyle/2012/aug/19/elena-arzak-basque-chef">doing an Arzak</a>"). In that context the decision to close the restaurant must have been absolutely traumatic.<br />
<br />
But on this side of the Channel there is some sort of silver lining, as the youngest son Romain has recently resurfaced in London - cooking as <i><a href="http://www.linkedin.com/pub/romain-chapel/26/763/76b">chef de cuisine</a></i> as Pierre Gagnaire's two-star outpost Sketch.<br />
<br />
So if you want a hint of the old Chapel magic do rock along and try it out (the weekday set lunch in particular is an absolute steal). The good thing is that the boy's still young, so I hope it isn't the last we've heard of the Chapel name in the kitchen.</div>
Jon Tsenghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01916149961326205602noreply@blogger.com17tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6732049007302130204.post-7450608369380975212013-03-06T06:44:00.000+00:002013-03-22T22:52:30.117+00:00Noma, Celler Can Roca, Bocuse & Co: Culinary Unicorns<h2>
<span style="font-size: x-large;">Let's go unicorn-hunting</span></h2>
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There are rare cookbooks and there are influential cookbooks. But there are very few rare <i>and </i>influential cookbooks.<br />
<br />
The reasons are quite straightforward. Normally the more influential cookbook has, the more widely it is read. This follows a straightforward commercial logic. 1) Chef becomes famous/important. 2) Said chef writes book. 3) Said book becomes famous/important. 4) Said book is subject to numerous reprints cos at the end of the day said chef wants to make a living.<br />
<br />
For rare cookbooks the opposite logic applies. 1) Cookbook is published. 2) No one wants to read it. 3) Cookbook falls out of print. End of story. If it ain't good enough to attract a reprint, its unlikely to be particularly significant.<br />
<br />
Of course (and there is an "of course" otherwise there wouldn't be much point to this blog post!) there is also a delicious category of exceptions. a small cadre of books do exist <i>which are both mind-bogglingly influential and incredibly rare.</i><br />
<br />
They have mostly been written in the last thirty years, many by chefs who are household names. For various reasons - cost, obsolescence or simply ignorance - their authors or publishers have let them fall by the wayside, such that they are almost unobtainable today.<br />
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These are the culinary unicorns.<br />
<br />
<i>Let me show you what I mean:</i><br />
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<br />
<h2>
<span style="font-size: x-large;">Joan Roca's revolutionary manifesto</span></h2>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjbi515rdEiuuGZhiurrD3cVKbX2mLSngB9Py4Okxl_zx7Hd14B3GeZAxw8odt79dPBoAVIpM7RJk07XP99kYLwW8I6k6y_vxpjbIxe1H24HQGmopd9O0XYX8JGwOK0OlFZpd97iEDS1lCS/s1600/SV+Cover+1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; display: inline !important; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjbi515rdEiuuGZhiurrD3cVKbX2mLSngB9Py4Okxl_zx7Hd14B3GeZAxw8odt79dPBoAVIpM7RJk07XP99kYLwW8I6k6y_vxpjbIxe1H24HQGmopd9O0XYX8JGwOK0OlFZpd97iEDS1lCS/s320/SV+Cover+1.jpg" width="290" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: left;"><i><b>Sous-Vide Cuisine</b> (Joan Roca & Salvador Brugues)</i></td></tr>
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Today the Catalonian restaurant <a href="http://cheesenbiscuits.blogspot.co.uk/2012/10/el-cellar-de-can-roca-girona.html">El Celler de Can Roca</a> is part of the culinary establishment. Situated in sprawling new premises in Girona it wears its three stars with pride: A leading light of Spanish gastronomy, a pioneer of sous vide cuisine and a purveyor of an exceptionally good value wine list.<br />
<br />
It wasn't always like this. When I first went it was in a slight ramshackle out of town site by a service station (the restaurant originally started off in the basement of the Roca family's Catalan diner, hence the name). The food was good, the wine was a snip and as I was leaving I spotted <i>Sous-Vide Cuisine</i> on sale in reception.<br />
<br />
Even back then it wasn't cheap. The book itself cost a hundred Euros (about the same price as the tasting menu!), and at under 200 pages you weren't getting much content for your money. But the information it contained was priceless.<br />
<br />
<div style="text-align: left;">
</div>
First published in 2003, this was the first cookbook to properly document the techniques of sous-vide cuisine in the high-end kitchen. Although today it is thoroughly ubiquitous, at the time it was the wild west of culinary technique. At the time there were so many unanswered questions about using sous vide in a gastronomic (as opposed to industrial catering) setting - how long to cook different cuts for? What temperatures were safe? How quickly do you need to cool merchandise to avoid giving your customers a <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/lifeandstyle/2011/dec/05/fat-duck-restaurant-noroviris-outbreak">nasty case of gastroenteritis</a>? This was the first book to systematically explore and answer these questions.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Part cookbook, part physics manual.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
Starting from first principles, the book explains the sous vide method in tremendous detail, from what gas to use to package the food to what equipment to use in the sealing process. This section, while essential, if quite dry. However it kicks into gear from chapter 3 onwards as Roca talks about the application of sous-vide in his own kitchen. His revolutionary insight was using sous-vide not only as a way to prepare food for storing (e.g. tough cuts products above 65c for an extended period to make them tender and fridge-sterilised), but also what he calls "Indirect Cooking" - using sous-vide to cook more delicate foods at a lower temperature, to create entirely new forms of taste and texture. This allowed him to create iconic dishes, such as his <i>Warm Cod with Spinich, Idiazabal Cream, Pine Nuts and PX Reduction</i>, where the cod is cooked sous-vide to a 38-40c internal temp to a melting, gelatinous texture. Or foie gras taken to a 60c internal temperature which not only yields a silky, consistent result but also minimises the dreaded foie-gras fat leakage:<br />
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The benefits of sous-vide are lavishly illustrated with before/after images and scary-looking temperature charts. The book also deals with some natural extensions to the sous-vide technique such as using it vacuum sealing to compress ingredients to give a firmer texture, and also its applications for desserts (e.g. using it to infuse green tea into chocolate). The book finishes with twenty-five resturant-class dishes - not many for a standalone cookbook, but more than enough to illustrate the principles at work:<br />
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Looking back at this book nearly than a decade after publication (and when mainstream food science has moved on immeasurably) I'm struck but how fresh and comprehensive it still seems. Every single book about sous vide since them - from Thomas Keller's <i>Under Pressure</i> to <i>Modernist Cuisine</i> owes a debt to this volume. (Side-note: One disappointment about <i>Under Pressure</i> is that it complete airbrushes the Roca brothers out of its history of sous-vide, while copiously name-dropping Keller's French equipment manufacturer instead).<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgeQbXl7hFud3MC57Mxp6zx_qFE3iWuQznhAy3IFJaWdO78y3NMIPYJzuWwCexH1ZVElvybMAx2pETe8bCIl6kbPdZ-coGQ38nixY09QVmVbKcLkMRdgeQljJdUQsBLWiwCoxpvWLlE500Z/s1600/Salmon1_0001.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="260" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgeQbXl7hFud3MC57Mxp6zx_qFE3iWuQznhAy3IFJaWdO78y3NMIPYJzuWwCexH1ZVElvybMAx2pETe8bCIl6kbPdZ-coGQ38nixY09QVmVbKcLkMRdgeQljJdUQsBLWiwCoxpvWLlE500Z/s640/Salmon1_0001.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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However the book itself remains frustratingly hard to find. Partly also its because of the obscenely high sticker price and limited distribution. Partly also I think is the nature of the work. The way the text is arranged and presented reminds me of some of the horribly obtuse chocolate-making books (e.g. anything by <a href="http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/9020990209/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1634&creative=19450&creativeASIN=9020990209&linkCode=as2&tag=morcoothasen-21">Jean-Pierre Wybauw</a>). There are a bunch of fantabulous cheffy recipes a the back but you have to wade through an awful lot of flow charts and exposition before you get to them. I suspect this tends to banish it to the top-shelf marked "professional cookery" rather than the section marked "really interesting cheffy books" in any bookstore.<br />
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Anyhow I don't think I've ever seen it in a bookshop, ever. In the US second-hand copies are <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Sous-Vide-Cuisine-Joan-Roca/dp/8472121127/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1362349834&sr=8-1&keywords=sous+vide+cuisine">fetching $180 on Amazon</a> (although strangely the UK site seems to have new copies - <a href="http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/8472121127/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1634&creative=19450&creativeASIN=8472121127&linkCode=as2&tag=morcoothasen-21">a snip at £85</a>). Given the growing interest in sous-vide techniques I think this book deserves - and demands - a wider audience. But until the Roca brothers pull their finger out and arrange a more accessible edition, it will remain the quintessential culinary unicorn.<br />
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<h2>
<span style="font-size: x-large;">Bocuse and his friends</span></h2>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgkvZ2wM2n3uSVHe_w6uKtMRsYsOmyLFFYQj8I9SNCzYxPDWD5l5tLxdh_I_QlSOket9OX5ZfAFcSLCEsH2WGIEgBw3RHcPxH42Z23l4s6N05xFVWDVFrI08vxLsOsoGSzCnD9Chtn7Qq-e/s1600/Great+Chefs+Cover.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgkvZ2wM2n3uSVHe_w6uKtMRsYsOmyLFFYQj8I9SNCzYxPDWD5l5tLxdh_I_QlSOket9OX5ZfAFcSLCEsH2WGIEgBw3RHcPxH42Z23l4s6N05xFVWDVFrI08vxLsOsoGSzCnD9Chtn7Qq-e/s320/Great+Chefs+Cover.jpg" width="248" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><div style="text-align: left;">
<i><b>Great Chefs of France (Anthony Blake &</b></i></div>
<i></i><br />
<div style="text-align: left;">
<i><i><b>Quentin Crewe)</b></i></i></div>
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In the age of the 24/7 Food Blog you forget how hard it used to be to find out about three star cuisine. For English speaking foodies, the cuisine and culture of France's three star temples used to be an undiscovered country. Set against that backdrop, Quentin Crewe and Anthony Blake's <i>Great Chefs of France </i>is a monumental work. Published back in 1978, he minutely profiles every French three star outside Paris, describing each chef, their cuisine, their their day-to-day life routines. At the back of the book is also a copy of the carte for each men, which makes fascinating reading thirty years on.<br />
<br />
This was the first book to people's eyes in the Anglophone world to what food could really be. Unsurprisingly many of the today's leading chefs cite this as a definite influence. Heston Blumenthal writes:<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<i>More than any other volume, I read Quentin Crewe and Anthony Blake's </i>Great Chefs of France, <i>which presented, in words and pictures, portraits of a dozen of France's most influential chefs... I read these words over and over until I knew them virtually by heart.</i></blockquote>
The genius of this book is its timing. Crewe and Blake were lucky to be writing as a the revolution was taking place. You see time you see Emeril or Gordon or Wolfgang on TV its all down to Paul. In the 1970s <a href="http://www.alifewortheating.com/france/paul-bocuse">Paul Bocuse</a> singlehanded defined the role of the celebrity chef, with sheer force of will accompanied by tureens of <a href="http://blog.whereandwhatintheworld.com/2011/02/truffle-soup-v-g-e-from-paul-bocuse.html">black truffle soup</a>. This book captures him and his nouvelle cuisine cohorts - the Troisgros brothers, Michel Guerard, Georges Blanc in the pomp (it is notable that Crewe decided to focus on the non-Parisian three stars - as this was the age when France's regional restaurants really came to the fore).<br />
<br />
As well a profiling the <i>nouvelle cuisine </i>muskateers, It also provides a nod to the generation of postwar chefs (many forgotten today) who laid the groundwork of the revolution Pic, Point, Thuiller, Bise. There is no other book in the English language which captures what was taking place. Just as Bob Carlos Clarke's <i>White Heat </i>captured Marco as he defined the rock star chef, Crewe was simply at the right place at the right time.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjtBa8PTfUGMTGp0xqk5E_VvIK4wc5aQUjYg_0eZ9CpDxiLf686tfjZeAtSDHgqXNMz6gVZ4oSU_afWA8Ml_EIFCCq_KrDF1SHZdPLy084MpAQntZmsITZu9B5j1h5hdViQ1lrU6pHdN_fD/s1600/Guerard+Dishes+1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjtBa8PTfUGMTGp0xqk5E_VvIK4wc5aQUjYg_0eZ9CpDxiLf686tfjZeAtSDHgqXNMz6gVZ4oSU_afWA8Ml_EIFCCq_KrDF1SHZdPLy084MpAQntZmsITZu9B5j1h5hdViQ1lrU6pHdN_fD/s400/Guerard+Dishes+1.jpg" width="280" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgkChia95NgRO2TbqvESkQ5Wa-N8BlMaHqbpXaO_RPp-iacOAl9sXFhYipbOVRgXC8XUW5CyHSNNzDyyf7PyNp1P_nhrBZihudsjJkDb6acl9f36sVAx4HbRn3gowFoNAGIIIPju3RvjyI3/s1600/Guerard+Dishes+2B.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgkChia95NgRO2TbqvESkQ5Wa-N8BlMaHqbpXaO_RPp-iacOAl9sXFhYipbOVRgXC8XUW5CyHSNNzDyyf7PyNp1P_nhrBZihudsjJkDb6acl9f36sVAx4HbRn3gowFoNAGIIIPju3RvjyI3/s400/Guerard+Dishes+2B.jpg" width="293" /></a></div>
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And there is one last reason why this book should not be missed. It contains one of the few accounts of the great Lyonnais chef Alain Chapel available in English. For those who know of Chapel's stellar reputation (and he counts Ducasse, Keller and Heston among his fans), that's worth the price of admission alone.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgYl33dD11sZt30sE8haZhLolbLLtkFegrwTq-Wo9_qVzCAjHTkuYG3910lTPlHUtvstzl1wpDLnXFGWJDRpKH3o0OpnrthEQ-RGxIOeCe6wvDgCCmf9V0cnEeaAbZYVuWhl2qvfST19Cxt/s1600/Guerard+Flaresb.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="214" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgYl33dD11sZt30sE8haZhLolbLLtkFegrwTq-Wo9_qVzCAjHTkuYG3910lTPlHUtvstzl1wpDLnXFGWJDRpKH3o0OpnrthEQ-RGxIOeCe6wvDgCCmf9V0cnEeaAbZYVuWhl2qvfST19Cxt/s320/Guerard+Flaresb.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Michel Guerard: Culinary revolutionary and fashion terrorist.</td></tr>
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But the book itself is frighteningly elusive. I found my copy in a Charing Cross Road basement after a hot online tip (I'd previously made do with a copy I'd spent an evening painstakingly copying on the work photocopier). I guess given the look and the content of the book so clearly rooted in the seventies (check out Michel Guerards flares to the right!), there's little money in a reprint. But if you do ever come across a used copy, seize it with both hands.<br />
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<h2>
<span style="font-size: x-large;">Northern Lights</span></h2>
<h4>
<b><span style="color: #9fc5e8;"><i><br /></i></span></b></h4>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgYEcSKNxeuWMvt8Y6_GBm9ASs3nOsuYEzX1UFFQf1a5R2ElHUI-3b0ffmOWa2OtIUCcgInfZg7C1Hctn2VEVayKned2RReUt_jmeLn6ZMOKNPz8sZLyf5gCEDbN5c3XPs8iTl4Fqosl8EV/s1600/Noma+Cover.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgYEcSKNxeuWMvt8Y6_GBm9ASs3nOsuYEzX1UFFQf1a5R2ElHUI-3b0ffmOWa2OtIUCcgInfZg7C1Hctn2VEVayKned2RReUt_jmeLn6ZMOKNPz8sZLyf5gCEDbN5c3XPs8iTl4Fqosl8EV/s320/Noma+Cover.jpg" width="227" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption"><b><i>Noma Nordic Cuisine</i> (Rene Redzepi &</b><br />
<b>Claus Meyer)</b>; <i>Source: TasteFood</i></td></tr>
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</h4>
But of course there is one culinary unicorn which outstrips all of these. A book so mythical that Japanese gourmets have been known to fly thousands of miles just to catch a glimpse of it. A book who's very pages are said to contain the secrets of the unlimited foie gras and pickled herring.<br />
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I refer, of course, to the legendary Noma Cookbook.<br />
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Note that I am not referring too the Phaidon-published travesty that is <i>Noma: Time and Space in Nordic Cuisine</i>. The less said about that (or anything else by Phaidon), the better. Long before that was even a footnote on a marketing manager's schedule, Redzepi had published his original book <i>Noma: Nordic Cuisine</i>, wayback in 2006.<br />
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It's this English edition, of which only a thousand were printed, which is the ultimate culinary unicorn. I don't have a copy, and have never had a sniff of one. I know it only by reputation. If you search hard you can find traces on the web. The introduction (and manifesto for Noma's cuisine) is <a href="http://www.clausmeyer.dk/en/restaurants/noma_.html">on the website</a> of collaborator Claus Meyer, here. <a href="http://endlessbanquet.blogspot.co.uk/2008/02/noma-1-definitely-not-your-average.html">This blog post</a> (part 2 <a href="http://endlessbanquet.blogspot.co.uk/2008/03/noma-2-manic-cuisine.html">here</a>) has some pictures and a few recipes (even these authors admit they were only using a borrowed copy). It could be of course that the book is a complete let-down and consists largely of recipes for pickled herring, but somehow I doubt it (the egg yolk cream recipe looks both unusual and promising).<br />
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<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjWh-j438vjehTlnABOHCswUKheGC-WixThegE_aNb3sPpF82XHarRLE9AiEYbYCgG6EMFlmQPFHTheM_xI-JuxE-BBX3SrzGQe5jBiVKClwuqR6aHVtLVH4Z3wtmjBBH2B2Jg-HSgkkxOD/s1600/Noma+TasteFood.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="230" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjWh-j438vjehTlnABOHCswUKheGC-WixThegE_aNb3sPpF82XHarRLE9AiEYbYCgG6EMFlmQPFHTheM_xI-JuxE-BBX3SrzGQe5jBiVKClwuqR6aHVtLVH4Z3wtmjBBH2B2Jg-HSgkkxOD/s320/Noma+TasteFood.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: left;"><i>Source: TasteFood</i></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
Just like the Crewe book, this book precisely captures the moment - Noma just as it (and Nordic cuisine) was emerging from El Bulli's shadow. Looking back this is a work which should feature front and centre in every bookshop in the land. But it does not.<br />
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In fact the opposite is true. A mere seven years after publication the book is virtually unobtainable. One copy is <a href="http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/8756783337/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1634&creative=19450&creativeASIN=8756783337&linkCode=as2&tag=morcoothasen-21">listed on Amazon</a> for a mere £1800 (although be careful - judging by the cover it might be the Danish version). Otherwise I think it's pretty much impossible to find a copy.<br />
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The problem is that in 2010 Phaidon published <i>Noma: Time and Place in Nordic Cuisine</i>. Rather than a sequel to the earlier book, it covers much the same ground in a more overblown fashion, outlining Redzepi's culinary philosophy with the help of a few recipes and lot of soft-focus photography. Alas this seems to have been the death-knell for the earlier volume, as there seems little reason for a reprint while the newer book covers the same ground (and is selling so well). To me that is a shame - I rarely have anything good to say about Phaidon cookbooks and this one is no exception. The separation of the photos of the dishes from the recipes they describe smacks of an editor who fetishes how the book looks but doesn't want to understand the food itself. I hope that at some point they see sense and reprint the earlier volume. Until then I think the food world remains much the poorer.<br />
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<h2>
<span style="font-size: x-large;">Postscript: Other unicorns</span></h2>
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While writing this piece a bunch of former and nearly -unicorns crossed my mind. I thought they were worth mentioning:<br />
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<h4>
<span style="color: #9fc5e8;">La Tante Claire by Pierre Koffmann</span></h4>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgdYoMVyz16ccl3kPd48mB3WpBVGHjTGxl46d1NnOlCQ8doTcbTYhoKRWkszudZ1rtrAmnExVixC3_WBq6AIrrwaxXztYq7GFkBzDj63wmDfv2fIK63_T0UMi3mdm2GtK8LefKTKfxC2gL5/s1600/Tante+Claire.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgdYoMVyz16ccl3kPd48mB3WpBVGHjTGxl46d1NnOlCQ8doTcbTYhoKRWkszudZ1rtrAmnExVixC3_WBq6AIrrwaxXztYq7GFkBzDj63wmDfv2fIK63_T0UMi3mdm2GtK8LefKTKfxC2gL5/s200/Tante+Claire.jpg" width="151" /></a></div>
Until its <a href="http://morecookbooksthansense.blogspot.co.uk/2012/09/two-bookcooks-to-watch-out-for-koffmann.html">recent reprint</a>, Pierre Koffmann's <i>Memories of Gascony</i> would have been first on my list of culinary unicorns, not only as the heartwork of one of London's defining culinary figures (and for that pigs trotter recipe), but also because it is an excellent exemplar of the memoir-with-recipes. I do note however that its sister-volume<i> La Tante Claire</i> (co-authored with Anthony Blake, who worked on <i>Great Chefs of France</i>) remains out of print. This is a shame as it continues the story of Koffmann's journey to Le Gavroche in London, out to Bray to create the Waterside Inn and back to Chelsea to La Tante Claire, where he later won his three michelin stars. The pigs trotter recipe also features, if you missed it the first time round.<br />
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<h4>
<span style="color: #9fc5e8;">White Heat by Marco Pierre White</span></h4>
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Like some of the other unicorns, another exercise in Zeitgeist-capture, this time from Marco Pierre White in his sizzling eighties heyday. I've <a href="http://morecookbooksthansense.blogspot.co.uk/2012/09/before-they-were-famous-mpw-ramsay.html">already written</a> about this one before, but just to note that before its 2009 softcover reprint there was a period of 4-5 years where this book out of print and heart-breakingly hard to find. A good example of the publishers seeing sense and doing everyone a service.<br />
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<h4>
<span style="color: #9fc5e8;"><br /></span></h4>
<h4>
<span style="color: #9fc5e8;"><br /></span></h4>
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<span style="color: #9fc5e8;"><br /></span></h4>
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<span style="color: #9fc5e8;"><br /></span></div>
<h4>
<span style="color: #9fc5e8;">Le Grande Livre de Cuisine de Joel Robuchon</span></h4>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhPq_WDXlFFWz8sxVlGjweBOztig2zH7Otzx2aUxMpFNB0ORzwpK3AmrQdhrrvpEEX2Sq8qYcNGCTQ49z8oeOeYJtgnqsFdAdf2kAH2auF72jxlZqbviEmg1YuAH5kBqKVPp7Bq67xODKj4/s1600/Grand+Livre+2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhPq_WDXlFFWz8sxVlGjweBOztig2zH7Otzx2aUxMpFNB0ORzwpK3AmrQdhrrvpEEX2Sq8qYcNGCTQ49z8oeOeYJtgnqsFdAdf2kAH2auF72jxlZqbviEmg1YuAH5kBqKVPp7Bq67xODKj4/s200/Grand+Livre+2.jpg" width="146" /></a></div>
As I <a href="http://morecookbooksthansense.blogspot.co.uk/2013/01/signatures-pommes-puree-robuchon.html">noted before</a>, the definitive record of Robuchon, at least in his Paris haute cuisine days. Unlike Ducasse's similar books however this one hasn't been translated into English which means it remains much more of a niche item. It can be had on Amazon for around $400, but I suspect as time wears on it will be rarer and rarer.<br />
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<span style="color: #9fc5e8;"><br /></span></h4>
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<span style="color: #9fc5e8;"><br /></span></h4>
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<span style="color: #9fc5e8;"><br /></span></h4>
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<span style="color: #9fc5e8;"><br /></span></div>
<h4>
<span style="color: #9fc5e8;">Pei Mei's Chinese Cookbook</span></h4>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgarqpwVfwougEHXqjv1W9nilvk51Sg07q3Q3BgdxNAeK6l6F1hxALyJNR_Z1v0sHEf26tDE4isUF7umbRoZXKzMABA9BdxA2bgSslVgzo5PbdbQm-pnIF2rF5llyQiNpsMwE0P2RG1_kZx/s1600/Pei+Mei+Cover.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgarqpwVfwougEHXqjv1W9nilvk51Sg07q3Q3BgdxNAeK6l6F1hxALyJNR_Z1v0sHEf26tDE4isUF7umbRoZXKzMABA9BdxA2bgSslVgzo5PbdbQm-pnIF2rF5llyQiNpsMwE0P2RG1_kZx/s200/Pei+Mei+Cover.jpg" width="182" /></a></div>
The subject of one of <a href="http://morecookbooksthansense.blogspot.co.uk/2012/09/the-best-chinese-cookbook-youve-never.html">my earlier blog posts</a>, this book used to be readily available second-hand on Amazon, but I note it has become harder to find over the last few years. Partly a historical relic partly a culinary landmark,the user unfriendliness and 1970s styling of the book probably precludes a reprint (unless someone is willing to embark on a fresh translation). It can be had on Kindle but the full fat print version is becoming rapidly hard to find.<br />
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<span style="color: #9fc5e8;">Future culinary unicorns</span></h4>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhH325zfT9fKDhj1RTsVcyr-pUV2mO01lQFWJaONTEj1TGCj6crrMlqPgTwUFKCssuiHOuVSGG3bX6i0HpHjiQldu2ACYwW9SNnXvT-VE1mn93EEAy3c7dLXHFp0xydTG0iuswH4oC8RQlk/s1600/Beyond+Essence.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhH325zfT9fKDhj1RTsVcyr-pUV2mO01lQFWJaONTEj1TGCj6crrMlqPgTwUFKCssuiHOuVSGG3bX6i0HpHjiQldu2ACYwW9SNnXvT-VE1mn93EEAy3c7dLXHFp0xydTG0iuswH4oC8RQlk/s200/Beyond+Essence.jpg" width="199" /></a></div>
What books readily available now will become future culinary unicorns? Speaking facetiously all of them, if e-books cannibalise print as I think they will. More seriously I think <i>Modernist Cuisine</i> will probably get there - if only because its size and expense limits the scope for reprints; when all copies are gone there'll be gone.<br />
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In the UK I suspect if <a href="http://cumbriafoodie.wordpress.com/2011/03/01/le-champignon-sauvage-12-course-2-star-michelin/">David Everitt-Matthias</a> ever got annointed with a third michelin star, his existing cookbooks (<i><a href="http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/1904573525/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1634&creative=19450&creativeASIN=1904573525&linkCode=as2&tag=morcoothasen-21">Essence</a> </i>and <a href="http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/1906650039/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1634&creative=19450&creativeASIN=1906650039&linkCode=as2&tag=morcoothasen-21"><i>Dessert</i></a>) will instantly become collector's items (viz the Noma book when Rene get made Best Chef in the World Ever). Ditto Sat Bains, helped by the fact that <a href="http://www.elizabethonfood.com/content/1349/2/%22Too_Many_Chiefs_Only_One_Indian%22_by_Sat_Bains.html">his cookbook</a> is pretty much unobtainable already - as far as I can tell its available only direct from the restaurant or the publisher with little or no retail availability (I think its a Face Publishing thing). Also NB DEM has his <a href="http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/1906650780/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1634&creative=19450&creativeASIN=1906650780&linkCode=as2&tag=morcoothasen-2">third cookbook</a> out imminently. Worth looking out for, three stars or no.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhhqFu4tcR5z6lwKp-teEA8UvOeWBHlvn8_OkfaQDQ_jETalegk4RQn0XO95tdi5XzHdcYm1SvozRyNgNPNRcKDXozKmKGG9Ql3lLwieoQE9hcycxiETldJOqbEBognY52-DWmemi0IQqPU/s1600/e5a7_canned_unicorn_meat.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhhqFu4tcR5z6lwKp-teEA8UvOeWBHlvn8_OkfaQDQ_jETalegk4RQn0XO95tdi5XzHdcYm1SvozRyNgNPNRcKDXozKmKGG9Ql3lLwieoQE9hcycxiETldJOqbEBognY52-DWmemi0IQqPU/s400/e5a7_canned_unicorn_meat.jpg" width="341" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">And to finish with, entirely different kind of <a href="http://www.thinkgeek.com/product/e5a7/">Culinary Unicorn</a>.</td></tr>
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Jon Tsenghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01916149961326205602noreply@blogger.com11tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6732049007302130204.post-36913016105553171972013-01-27T17:11:00.001+00:002014-01-22T13:46:09.355+00:00Signatures: Pommes Puree (Robuchon)<h2>
<i style="font-size: medium; font-weight: normal;">Another post in my <a href="http://morecookbooksthansense.blogspot.co.uk/2012/11/signatures-black-cod-with-miso-nobu.html">occassional series</a> on famous chefs and their signature dishes. Enjoy.</i></h2>
<h2>
<span style="font-size: x-large;">The Two Lives of Joel</span></h2>
<h4>
Robuchon the chef</h4>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Robuchon in his 1990's pomp</td></tr>
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Joel Robuchon is the chef with two lives. The first as a trad haute Parisian chef (you know the sort... Lalique China, Riedel glasses and more truffles than sense). The second as the zen master of the global McRobuchon brand - Davos Man's caterer of choice.<br />
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Let's deal with his first incarnation; Robuchon the chef. From 1981 through to the mid-1990s Robuchon was acclaimed as the finest chef in Paris, ergo in France and ergo the world (remember this was an era when El Bulli was <a href="http://www.elbulli.com/historia/index.php?lang=en&seccion=1&subseccion=7">still serving</a> duck magret and fish pot-au-feu). Robuchon was the first culinary superstar of the post-nouvelle cuisine era. His cuisine married the technical innovation and lightness of Bocuse et al, with a return to more traditional bourgeois combinations - a reaction to the excesses of nouvelle cuisine (you know... raspberry vinegar... kiwi fruit with everything).<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhbtYr44e2Kurr3GnXHnc_46Z4v1U_EF0GQi2Zv6wtvWRsVJJsc8Wc8jnMjYekky_DU-c803EhGmgwMTMp7qGGVm3QV44sIYQ1MRbzsUBccYIwtyKHINkBCWX7PFiMyGVLhhkcHK2xcvgYY/s1600/Lobster+Veg.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhbtYr44e2Kurr3GnXHnc_46Z4v1U_EF0GQi2Zv6wtvWRsVJJsc8Wc8jnMjYekky_DU-c803EhGmgwMTMp7qGGVm3QV44sIYQ1MRbzsUBccYIwtyKHINkBCWX7PFiMyGVLhhkcHK2xcvgYY/s320/Lobster+Veg.jpg" height="320" width="242" /></a></div>
So rather than pairing his lobster with vanilla it went with spring vegetables and a lobster-coral sauce (pic at left). Truffles were layered on a bosky galette of smoked bacon and onion. Foie gras came with a smooth cream sauce made with humble lentils. These were combinations you might find in a provincial auberge, but taken to the<i> nth</i> degree by Robuchon's notorious perfectionism. and obsession with detail.<br />
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This approach was exemplified in his most famous dish - not some elaborate concoction of caviar (although there was the famous <a href="http://www.lexpress.fr/styles/saveurs/recette/gelee-de-caviar-a-la-creme-de-chou-fleur-par-joel-robuchon_1200601.html">Gelée de caviar a la crème de Chou-fleur</a> too), but simple <i>pommes puree</i>. Or mashed potatoes to you and me. You can hardly call it a signature dish, perhaps a signature side? But it was Robuchon's philosophy on a plate - taking the humblest dishes and applying the finest craft, ingredients and several dozen sticks of butter, resulting in something completely extraordinary.<br />
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Of course the food was followed by the plaudits. Robuchon won three stars at Jamin, his first solo venture which later transferred to an elegant mansion at <a href="https://maps.google.com/maps?q=55+Avenue+Raymond+Poincar%C3%A9,+75116+Paris,+%C3%8Ele-de-France,+France&layer=c&z=17&iwloc=A&sll=48.867257,2.285934&cbp=13,337.0,0,0,0&cbll=48.867209,2.285964&hl=en&ved=0CAoQ2wU&sa=X&ei=ue_yUL6xB-ayigaM24HQCw">55 Av Raymond Poincare</a>. For nearly fifteen years he ran the toughest kitchen in town - who's starred alumni included Eric Ripert, Benoit Guichard and a youthful Gordon Ramsay (who famously had a plate of langoustine ravioli thrown at him when he messed up the dish). But then at the height of his powers he gave it all up.<br />
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Having seen so many of his peers kill themselves slaving away at the stoves (the great Alain Chapel, who <a href="http://morecookbooksthansense.blogspot.co.uk/2013/04/les-recettes-originales-de-alain-chapel.html">dropped dead at 53</a>, springs to mind), Robuchon always vowed that he wouldn't end that way. So in 1995 he sold up Av Raymond Poincare to Alain Ducasse, and retired to oversee the refit of <a href="http://morecookbooksthansense.blogspot.co.uk/2012/12/grand-tour-larousse.html"><i>Larousse Gastronomique</i></a>, prepare <a href="http://www.fleurymichon.fr/joel-robuchon.html">cook-chill meals with Fleury-Michon</a> (sic) and generally enjoy the good life.<br />
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<h4>
Robuchon the brand</h4>
Of course it was never going to end that way. After six years away Robuchon was back. Not behind the stoves mind you - but in that elusive role of chef/consultant/general big cheese. A sort of <i>Brand Fromage</i>, if you excuse the pun.<br />
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The comeback kicked off in 2001 with <a href="http://www.andyhayler.com/show_restaurant.asp?id=580">Robuchon A La Galera</a>, a haute cuisine joint in a casino in Macau. But it really began to gather pace with opening of <a href="http://travel.nytimes.com/2005/04/17/travel/17table.html?_r=0">Atelier de Joel Robuchon</a> in Paris two years later. Atelier was a mashup of haute cuisine and a sushi bar, heavily influenced by Robuchon's itinerant wanderings in Japan (he had franchised Toyko's ludicrously OTT <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/m_power/73785407/">Taillevant-Robuchon</a> wayback in 1989). Kitted out in a slightly absurd black-dojo-pyjama outfit, Robuchon presented himself as a sort of zen master of haute cuisine.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiebKAwbEuWoPm8zV4TxMWcZJXrLhArdys-XyCM0O2f8g-j0IkhTm5ehaJCyOym0KaD59Ds4JSsqpgvzT45XOis9YGfsLX8dvhHBufqUGKHx5gZb7KPIvTybn-KuFbyCtgQCKrgj72jIkQR/s1600/Atelier+Pic.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiebKAwbEuWoPm8zV4TxMWcZJXrLhArdys-XyCM0O2f8g-j0IkhTm5ehaJCyOym0KaD59Ds4JSsqpgvzT45XOis9YGfsLX8dvhHBufqUGKHx5gZb7KPIvTybn-KuFbyCtgQCKrgj72jIkQR/s640/Atelier+Pic.jpg" height="432" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Robuchon, Atelier, Spiffy Website, Silly Pyjamas.</td></tr>
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A cynic would say that he (along with Alain Ducasse) had finally figured out how to apply the franchising model to foie gras. Certainly Ducasse and Robuchon were the first people to realise that if your people and processes are good enough you don't have to be in the kitchen to win Michelin stars (Bocuse had led the the way when he pointed "who cooks at the restaurant when I'm not in the kitchen? The same people who cook when I'm there!"). Although arguably they were only following in the footsteps of Dumas and Rembrandt in getting educated wage slaves to craft the gear and then slapping their name on it to sell it.<br />
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Robuchon was also helped massive growth in appetite for haute cuisine - both in terms of the blogosphere creating a wider audience and Michelin's international expansion slapping a macaron-shaped seal of approval on his ventures. Galera received three michelin stars in the first HK guide; the various Ateliers (by now Paris, London, Vegas, HK, Singapore, Taipei, Tokyo) a star or two each. The shamelessly gaudy <a href="http://ulteriorepicure.com/2009/08/03/review-multi-nippled/">Robuchon At The Mansion</a> in Vegas another three.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjrmbkTu5bK7a7GTqgLXJjNiarcDHgrcixe79QNbhtVX2h3fiF2Elk4Sic4OfMEblf-gllVAX_eNJrug95MdKafCw2Df1oaG8DJUE0Tmjp6HpR4hUeXPm2BlKzr4OYjaoKkDJ1jGTwqjWQN/s1600/Atelier+Sliders.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjrmbkTu5bK7a7GTqgLXJjNiarcDHgrcixe79QNbhtVX2h3fiF2Elk4Sic4OfMEblf-gllVAX_eNJrug95MdKafCw2Df1oaG8DJUE0Tmjp6HpR4hUeXPm2BlKzr4OYjaoKkDJ1jGTwqjWQN/s320/Atelier+Sliders.JPG" height="240" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Beef & foie gras sliders at Atelier McRobuchon</td></tr>
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The food had evolved some too. For sure it was still assuredly French deluxe, but the plates were smaller and the dishes even more finely wrought. A langoustine (just the one) came<a href="http://www.tripadvisor.com/LocationPhotoDirectLink-g186338-d732922-i52219645-L_Atelier_de_Joel_Robuchon-London_England.html"> tempura-ed with a dab of <i>pistou</i></a>. Lightly cooked egg was <a href="http://tomostyle.files.wordpress.com/2009/07/img_5292_2.jpg">delicately layered in a martini glass with a morel cream</a>. But classics like the truffled bacon tart and the caviar with cauliflower cream had fallen by the wayside (though I think they still do a version in Vegas). The one constant, however, was the <i>pommes puree</i>.<br />
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I had it a couple of times in London. Its delicious, though ever so slightly rich (note: that's English irony at work). In fact I'd describe it as being more a butter puree, enriched with potato than vice versa. Its strange - start munching a stick of butter neat and you'll soon start to feel slight ill. But dish up a bowl of JRs super-mash and you could frankly eat it all day. It's that good.<br />
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<h2>
<span style="font-size: x-large;">The Recipe</span></h2>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEggo-6dRHQ-Ukf3h4yZ5UJaULG9gHO0F_kCk_GVgK6Y7rDXY9ocscEzbL3p3flJC99T9Hiu-9XAMRoyNljzSi6PWu4icQPHw1bN5qiUcvMZATPVsHWY9fHL5iCbGXs7UKTg0jDJAYSyQrva/s1600/Pommes+Puree+Recipe+1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEggo-6dRHQ-Ukf3h4yZ5UJaULG9gHO0F_kCk_GVgK6Y7rDXY9ocscEzbL3p3flJC99T9Hiu-9XAMRoyNljzSi6PWu4icQPHw1bN5qiUcvMZATPVsHWY9fHL5iCbGXs7UKTg0jDJAYSyQrva/s640/Pommes+Puree+Recipe+1.jpg" height="410" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The Pomme Puree recipe from <i>Cuisine Actuelle</i> (click on image for more detail)</td></tr>
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<h4>
Not as easy as it sounds!</h4>
There are several versions of the recipe scattered around my library. The most obvious place to start it Patricia Well's <i>Cuisine Actuelle</i> (later reprinted as <i>Simply French</i>), which was the first book to bring Robuchon to an English speaking audience. The set up is very simple. Boil spuds, mash with butter, add hot milk. Hmmm maybe the "chef of the century thing" isnt that hard after all...<br />
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<h4>
The devil is in the detail</h4>
Of course as with everything Robuchon the devil is in the detail. Remember Robuchon was the ultimate perfectionist - every tiny detail counts.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhsyCPyWEGhlS82j2cjMPXhpihWFq8PSzFm25dHm6W9YbWRotLTetdM5ZI2aDG686FT4wl_VVNin1pKNwzmLKTydZKWdAZArgTZocGCWjr1zugMRPqb6whceoQnYEQmiWmaCgMcl6K13o4v/s1600/La_Ratte.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhsyCPyWEGhlS82j2cjMPXhpihWFq8PSzFm25dHm6W9YbWRotLTetdM5ZI2aDG686FT4wl_VVNin1pKNwzmLKTydZKWdAZArgTZocGCWjr1zugMRPqb6whceoQnYEQmiWmaCgMcl6K13o4v/s320/La_Ratte.jpg" height="216" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">La Ratte- Joel's secret weapon</td></tr>
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<i>To start with the variety of potato.</i> Ratte was Robuchon's weapon of choice - its a small thin-skinned tuber which is remarkably high in starch, which makes for a fluffier mash. The science behind this is slightly tiresome, but I found a good explanation in <i>Cook's Illustrated</i> compilation of culinary awesomeness, <i>The Best Recipe</i>:<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<i>Although you can mash any type of potato, the variety you choose does make a significant difference in the ultimate quality of the dish. Potatoes are composed mostly of starch and water. The starch is in the form of granules, which in turn are contained in starch cells. The higher the starch content of the potato, the fuller the cells. In high-starch potatoes, the cells are completely full-they look like plump little beach balls. In medium- or low-start potatoes, the cells are more like underinflated beach balls. The space between these less-full cells is mostly taken up by water.</i></blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<i>The full starch cells of high-starch potatoes are most likely to maintain their integrity and stay separate when mashed, giving the potatoes a delightfully fluffy, full texture. In addition, the low water content of these potatoes allows them to absorb milk, cream, and/or butter without becoming wet or gummy. Starch cells in lower-starch potatoes, on the other hand, tend to clump when cooked and break more easily, allowing the starch to dissolve into whatever liquid is present. The broken cells and dissolved starch tend to make sticky, gummy mashed potatoes.</i></blockquote>
<i>Then the boiling. </i>Boil then in their skins - apparently to keep the moisture in (hmmm is that really the case?). Then peel warm. Then (gently) stir the drained spuds on the heat for 4-5 minutes to drive off excess moisture.<br />
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<i>Then the mashing</i> - by hand mind you (potatos do not take kindly to mechanical agitation). It bursts the starch cells and makes them gluey. A hand cranked vegetable mill (mouli-legumes) is the preferred method. And then rub through a tamis, a flat-bottomed drum sieve.<br />
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<i>And in comes the butter</i> - lots of it. The finest unsalted of course. Cut into small chunks. Stirred in, not beaten.<br />
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<i>And finally the milk</i> - This comes last for all, just before service. The milk should be piping hot and this time whipped in. Vigorously. To get some air into the mix.<br />
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For a full overview of this technique check out <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qTTvZ2PW96k">this video</a> of JR getting his minion to do all the hard work for him. It's in French but you should get the general idea.<br />
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What you're left with is not so much a puree, but a potato butter emulsion. More mousseline than mash. Its paler in colour than your used to. And ever so slightly buttery:<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj_m3TaxVVCtQwrqdzQF11YSxzQW3GEwTp6nt-itrbIpARMWBOsKMhOIWeJJkJDbcubgZuyOblp9AdVVj-HYVeOlPvRjHgX_tEp305T7rjWx4W3QFr65gbFFtgUxUApG05iX-ACyUTHfcTN/s1600/Pommes+Puree+PicB.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj_m3TaxVVCtQwrqdzQF11YSxzQW3GEwTp6nt-itrbIpARMWBOsKMhOIWeJJkJDbcubgZuyOblp9AdVVj-HYVeOlPvRjHgX_tEp305T7rjWx4W3QFr65gbFFtgUxUApG05iX-ACyUTHfcTN/s640/Pommes+Puree+PicB.jpg" height="640" width="568" /></a></div>
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<h4>
The full-fat Robuchon</h4>
One word of warning. If you want the full-fat Robuchon, then Patricia Wells may be an unreliable witness. For all her good points (of which more below), her book dates from an era when full resto recipes were deemed unsuitable for the eyes of domestic readers. She readily admits her recipes were "adapted" for the home kitchen, to capture the essence of Robuchon (hmmm Essence of Robuchon? How about a truffled-scented perfume line for foodies? :-p).<br />
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An example would be the proportion of cow fat. Well's puree is 20% butter, but that sounds too low. Anecdotal sources claim the puree was 50% or even 70% butter (Wells herself cheerfully adds that you can double the portion of butter "for exceptionally rich potatoes"). If you want to be cautious, more is more.<br />
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There are other versions of the recipe. In his food column in the <i>Le Journal Du Dimanche</i> (compiled and republished as <i>La Cuisine de Joel Robuchon</i>) he outlines much the same method, although does not give quantities. Ditto the 2009 <i>Complete Robuchon</i>. I suspect a more complete version is the one in his <i>Grand Livre de Cuisine</i>, a 2001 magnum opus roughly the size of a truffled turkey and costing much the same. Its been on my Amazon wish list for a while but alas I do not own a copy.<br />
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Actually the best version of the recipe I have isn't written by Robuchon or Wells at all, but by British chef <a href="http://www.tomaikens.co.uk/">Tom Aikens</a>, who worked with Robuchon just before his first retirement. His cunningly titled <i>Tom Aikens Cooking</i> has the following account.<br />
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<i>Robuchon in Paris was famous for its </i>puree de pommes de terre <i>or mashed potato. When I was working there, I was fortunate enough not to have to prepare it, as it was one of the hardest jobs in that kitchen, taking about 2 hours from start to finish. We used Ratte potatoes - a good waxy potato. They would first be scrubbed and slowly cooked, still in the skins to protect them from the water. After about 30-35 minutes they would be drained and kept over simmering water, so they remained warm while being peeled. They were then put into a mouli with a lot of butter, then placed in another pan with even more butter, and then it was all brought together with hot milk. It was then passed through a very fine sieve (so fine you couldn't actually see through the mesh). This would take another 30 minutes, and it was so hard the chefs would be exhausted by the end. When the time came to use the potato, it was placed in a copper pan and warmed, then more butter was whisked in to make it light and fluffy. This would take another 45-60 minutes! There was more butter than potato, and it was so rich you could only eat a small amount.</i></blockquote>
It's mash cap'n, but not as we know it.<br />
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<h2>
<span style="font-size: x-large;">The Books</span></h2>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhvAIHt7Kcq3hc-PbF_o6tTKOCnys3xJaKtJ0sJMzca5zlyj6cIWl5qfn3P9oUMY_jOTTt9x2N4yrE2qJ4kyc3Fn-7etcb1wkvd4iSO-10ee7u1xbwdaJ8b-jU1eAIuK9AE-lRNaTF4W6Gm/s1600/Cusine+Actuelle+Cover.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhvAIHt7Kcq3hc-PbF_o6tTKOCnys3xJaKtJ0sJMzca5zlyj6cIWl5qfn3P9oUMY_jOTTt9x2N4yrE2qJ4kyc3Fn-7etcb1wkvd4iSO-10ee7u1xbwdaJ8b-jU1eAIuK9AE-lRNaTF4W6Gm/s200/Cusine+Actuelle+Cover.jpg" height="200" width="153" /></a></div>
<i><b><a href="http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/0333575954/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1634&creative=19450&creativeASIN=0333575954&linkCode=as2&tag=morcoothasen-21">Cusine Actuelle</a> (also publised as <a href="http://www.amazon.co.uk/Simply-French-Patricia-Presents-Robuchon/dp/0688066429/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1359304265&sr=1-1">Simply French</a>):</b> </i>For all her simplifications, Patricia Well's work is still the best book on Robuchon available. It captures his cuisine at its pomp, in the glory years of <i>Jamin</i>. The great classics are all there, including more truffles than you can shake a stick at (check out the Radicchio and Black Truffle salad on p36 - its basically a pile of truffles with a few lettuce leaves shoved in the bottom). Her introductory comments and interview with JR are well worth a close reading. They contain some of the wisest word on translating three star cooking for the home kitchen that I know of.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiv-1F0elJApBqI8E3gqW80TU_lzhv_Ql7j0917PTa3TxmQvrUbHRdeyIc_66hOzn5QCpmKBvlyPRiDEI49jezPQ5Fo2gJfLi6lVXbGeSQHZR1OdxKbHEZ6Aiq7RGmTmA4_gkBnp2-e4n8H/s1600/La+Cuisine+de+Joel+Robuchon+Cover.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiv-1F0elJApBqI8E3gqW80TU_lzhv_Ql7j0917PTa3TxmQvrUbHRdeyIc_66hOzn5QCpmKBvlyPRiDEI49jezPQ5Fo2gJfLi6lVXbGeSQHZR1OdxKbHEZ6Aiq7RGmTmA4_gkBnp2-e4n8H/s200/La+Cuisine+de+Joel+Robuchon+Cover.jpg" height="200" width="151" /></a></div>
<b><i><a href="http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/1841881341/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1634&creative=19450&creativeASIN=1841881341&linkCode=as2&tag=morcoothasen-21">La Cuisine de Joel Robuchon - A Seasonal Cookbook</a> (also publised as <a href="http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/1857934385/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1634&creative=19450&creativeASIN=1857934385&linkCode=as2&tag=morcoothasen-21">Cuisine Des Quatre Saisons</a>)</i>:</b> This is a compilation of the weekly column Robuchon used to write in France's <i>Journal Dimanches</i>. It was first published (in French) in 1993, so again covers only his Parisian incarnation. The book contains fifty two columns, each a musing on a particular ingredient followed by a recipe. There's some overlap between the Wells book, but unlike <a href="http://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-2268190/Jamie-Oliver-Italian-recipes-The-chef-tinkered-recipes-Jamies-Italian-chain-cook-home.html">UK cookery columns</a> he at least treats the reader like an adults. I guess standards are higher on their side of <i>Le Manche</i>.<br />
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<b><i><a href="http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/2841232972/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1634&creative=19450&creativeASIN=2841232972&linkCode=as2&tag=morcoothasen-21">Grande Livre de Cuisine</a>:</i></b> Taking after Alain Ducasse's <i><a href="http://morecookbooksthansense.blogspot.co.uk/2012/09/how-200-cookbook-is-actually-incredibly.html">Grand Livre de Cuisine</a></i>, this is a meaty volume with a price tag to match. Again covering Robuchon's Paris years its probably the closest you'll get to the actual restaurant recipes, packed with step by step photos which show how he (or his food stylist) did it. Note I don't think this was ever translated so you're have to slum it with the original French (fine by me - I speak fluent a la carte French and dim sum Cantonese!).<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhX5wdeo1f7PN6aRwInPy3ToyzEBerrbzXfMEDljCBQmLQmcU_84U9WJ7QpdBTfICOJVXKJHaD5wbrG_deHPYXqHtfN5aV8Hl4DxYGyAnJdNkKFlSGM_6uE1aiH666DSVH6l2eF7O524jdn/s1600/Complete+Rob+Cover.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhX5wdeo1f7PN6aRwInPy3ToyzEBerrbzXfMEDljCBQmLQmcU_84U9WJ7QpdBTfICOJVXKJHaD5wbrG_deHPYXqHtfN5aV8Hl4DxYGyAnJdNkKFlSGM_6uE1aiH666DSVH6l2eF7O524jdn/s200/Complete+Rob+Cover.jpg" height="200" width="152" /></a></div>
<b><i><a href="http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/1906502226/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1634&creative=19450&creativeASIN=1906502226&linkCode=as2&tag=morcoothasen-21">The Complete Robuchon</a>:</i></b> This is an English translation of the French kitchen manual<i> Tout Robuchon</i>. A word of warning - despite the title this isn't the complete Robuchon at all. Few of his signature dishes feature (although the mash is there, described pretty much as above). Instead there's a pretty exhaustive list of classic French dishes, from <i>Lievre a la Royale</i> to <i>Chou Farci </i>All very useful but not what it promised me on the Amazon pre-order page! On the positive side the layout (by UK cookbook specialists Grub Street) is simple and accessible and the recipes thorough. Think of it as a useful appendix to <i>Larousse</i>, or as a version of Phaidon's <i>I Know How to Cook</i> without the pretentious marketing bullsh*t. Just don't buy it expecting the complete Robuchon - it isn't.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgzYbFntIETmEtSmU3w_lveVrktcwcn4ZmWGUR92s6CVGxbiOhNJPiemlmfQ3J6JwPTMAcDZdy1pVD4PhwPbxr1zKfqvX3OAQarSMpgThCwSLFSxp3_CRz0kh9rQtsZC8jI49-gzJjltRVV/s1600/Tom+Aikens+Cover.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgzYbFntIETmEtSmU3w_lveVrktcwcn4ZmWGUR92s6CVGxbiOhNJPiemlmfQ3J6JwPTMAcDZdy1pVD4PhwPbxr1zKfqvX3OAQarSMpgThCwSLFSxp3_CRz0kh9rQtsZC8jI49-gzJjltRVV/s200/Tom+Aikens+Cover.jpg" height="200" width="156" /></a></div>
<b><i><a href="http://www.blogger.com/%22http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/0091910013/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1634&creative=19450&creativeASIN=0091910013&linkCode=as2&tag=morcoothasen-21">Tom Aikens Cooking</a>: </i></b>Tom Aikens is a divisive chap. In his mid-2000s pomp he was one of the few chefs in London cooking genuinely distinctive food, but there has also been no shortage of controversy (<a href="http://www.rjsj.demon.co.uk/articles/fooddrink/heat.htm">branding staff</a>, <a href="http://www.caterersearch.com/Articles/09/05/2005/55953/Restaurateurs-defend-Aikens-over-missing-spoon-incident.htm">phantom kleptomatics</a> and <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/lifeandstyle/wordofmouth/2009/jan/29/tom-aikens-administration-suppliers-creditors">pre-pack administration</a> for a start). Most recently he's reinvented himself as a purveyor of <a href="http://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/food-and-drink/reviews/tom-aikens-43-elystan-street-london-sw3-7707213.html">ersatz new-Nordic cuisine</a> - a shame because I these he's more original than that.<br />
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Unfortunately this book is another disappointment. The recipes tend towards the identikit, showing little of Aiken's distinctive style. There also a weird, slightly Dorling Kindersley tone to the text as well - sort of like what you'd expect from a <a href="http://www.parentdish.co.uk/2012/03/01/pupils-hilarious-exam-answers-funnyexam-com/#photo-4">five year old's Comprehension Test</a>. e.g."Cod used to be widely available, but now, because of overfishing, it is one of the most expensive fish to buy. I just hope that we never run out of it for fish and chips", "Tuna is a fabulous fish, which should always be eaten rare. If cooked to well done, it can get rather dry" or "I get my crabs from Dorset, my lobsters from Scotland, and my prawns from Magagascar" (hey Tom, I get mine from the local supermarket!). It feels like it was thoughtlessly dictated to a ghostwriter between shifts (although I note none is listed in the credits). A frustrating debut from a frustrating chef.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhfxmVbYCS4M6WRfF4DmwQ2ZdU2fFV1URax9meqsvLnXsBZ-je9q9xezcmJOP8zjTfMOVYLMZrARNYAut9HFh5dNrY-0VNixYdlziBMRXWwYR3ryKQWRtXH9S5T7yH_OI50VDUkHdY3tkBN/s1600/Best+Recipe+Cover.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhfxmVbYCS4M6WRfF4DmwQ2ZdU2fFV1URax9meqsvLnXsBZ-je9q9xezcmJOP8zjTfMOVYLMZrARNYAut9HFh5dNrY-0VNixYdlziBMRXWwYR3ryKQWRtXH9S5T7yH_OI50VDUkHdY3tkBN/s200/Best+Recipe+Cover.jpg" height="200" width="150" /></a></div>
<b><i><a href="http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/0936184744/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1634&creative=19450&creativeASIN=0936184744&linkCode=as2&tag=morcoothasen-21">The Best Recipe</a>:</i> </b>America's <i><a href="http://www.cooksillustrated.com/">Cooks Illustrated</a></i> magazine was doing food geekery decades food geekery was cool. The set-up, for those who aren't familiar, is they select a recipe (e.g. "grilled pork chops"), test of multiple variations on it in their kitchen and come up the ultimate version (a formula copied in a more kitchen-sink manner by Felicity Cloake's <i>How to Cook the Perfect</i> <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/lifeandstyle/series/how-to-cook-the-perfect">series</a> and <a href="http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/1905490836/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1634&creative=19450&creativeASIN=1905490836&linkCode=as2&tag=morcoothasen-21">book</a>). This volume is a deluxe-sized compilation of magazine articles, covering pretty much every US home-cooking standard, from Pumpkin Pie to Popovers. It's a great-resource for two reasons: Firstly because you know you have a bunch of fail-proof recipes for any conceivable domestic culinary situation. Secondly because each recipe is accompanied by a great deal of explanation (often backed up with a lot of solid food science) not only about <i>how</i> each recipe works, but <i>why</i> it works. And for a cookbook, I can think of no higher praise.Jon Tsenghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01916149961326205602noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6732049007302130204.post-24566471763725235312012-12-20T19:39:00.000+00:002012-12-20T22:03:35.543+00:00Larousse Gastronomique by Prosper Montagne et al: Grand Tour Larousse<i>Okay to round up before Christmas, a few words on </i>Larousse Gastronomique<i>. This isn't quite a book review, more an appreciation-cum-users guide. My main point is that </i>Larousse <i>tends to be ignored or dismissed nowadays, which is a shame. Sure its no longer the Bible of cuisine nowadays (that is, I believe, now called T'Internet). But it's still a wonderful trove of deliciousness to be enjoyed in its own right. I do.</i><br />
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<h2>
<span style="font-size: x-large;">Knock, knock..</span></h2>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh2jGS9_8cVP-6TOQzu_d3ZcowKAROrgNbvCPIIRb3E7Xo064ARmius9xlPsKMremmgskNywFBDUT1zb_7PUe6KdePbKeNCZfyHOPC700uxKqr3WhXD4Q8x0DYjaM1-HCPFxyPE-ZlW8oAR/s1600/Larousse+Cover.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="217" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh2jGS9_8cVP-6TOQzu_d3ZcowKAROrgNbvCPIIRb3E7Xo064ARmius9xlPsKMremmgskNywFBDUT1zb_7PUe6KdePbKeNCZfyHOPC700uxKqr3WhXD4Q8x0DYjaM1-HCPFxyPE-ZlW8oAR/s320/Larousse+Cover.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
Nowadays it is very fashionable to knock <a href="http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/0600620425/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&tag=morcoothasen-21&linkCode=as2&camp=1634&creative=19450&creativeASIN=0600620425"><i>Larousse Gastronomique</i></a>, the famously frumpy French culinary encyclopaedia.<br />
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It's outdated people say (true). The recipes don't work they say (also true). Its ridiculously French they say (Good point. The entry on Great Britain rather pointedly claims "British cookery is basically medieval...").<br />
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Even after recent attempts to drag it into the 21st century, its <a href="http://www.octopusbooks.co.uk/books/general/9780600620426/new-larousse-gastronomique/">publisher's claim</a> to be "authoritative and comprehensive" looks risible. This is a book which has no entry for "sous vide" (even though it's a French term!), but it does provide a potted biography of <a href="http://www.foodreference.com/html/wmariebotherel.html">Marie, Vicomte de Botherel</a> who's only claim to fame is an unsuccessful attempt to install kitchens on buses (it goes without saying that he gets included because he's French).<br />
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To be fair, it does have an entry for Nigella, although it actually refers to a <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nigella_sativa">Asian spice</a> rather than a buxon English TV personality.<br />
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Nonetheless if I had to be locked in a cell for a month with only one of my cookbooks for company, I think I'd take Larousse.<br />
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<span style="font-size: x-large;">Introducing <i>Larousse Gastronomique</i></span></h2>
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<h4>
<span style="color: #9fc5e8;">The story of<i> Larousse</i></span></h4>
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Prosper Montagne: This is what sleb chefs looked like</div>
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before they started using stylists...</div>
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<i>Larousse Gastronomique</i> begins with Prosper Montagne, best described as the Thomas Keller of his day. Along with his (slightly older) contemporary Auguste Escoffier, he was one of the superstars of <i>fin de siecle</i> gastronomy. While not quite as revolutionary as the Big E (think of Escoffier as the Ferran Adria of the age), Montagne was no slouch, cooking his way around some of the biggest kitchens in France, notably the venerable Pavillon Ledoyen (currently Christian Le Squer's <a href="http://www.andyhayler.com/show_restaurant.asp?id=52">three star lair</a>).<br />
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Anyhow to cut a long story short, after many decades behind the range Montagne decided to kick back a little and starting writing books.<i> </i>This culminated in the 1938 publication of <i>Larousse Gastronomique</i>, co-authored with a Dr Gottschalk and published by Larousse, leading purveyors of encyclopedias and other doorstops.<br />
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What Escoffier did for French cookery in practice, Montagne did for French cookery in print. <i>Larousse </i>was a staggering confection of history, dishes and recipes. The heart of the book is its coverage of French cuisine - from humble to haute. Montagne systematically went through every French region, dish, and garnish in the classic repertoire. He also provides pen-pictures of famous chefs and personalities, and added articles on history and on many notable ingredients (guess what, foie gras and truffles have some of the longest entries).<br />
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<h4>
<span style="color: #9fc5e8;">Lost in <i>Larousse</i></span></h4>
On paper it sounds quite prosaic but in person the effect is quite staggering. If you are remotely interested in food this is a book you can get lost in.<br />
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<tr><td><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjumyAb-8cPtld2kI012H1wHs_Osz2hcVP3Cv2QlvUV3eoakzek0QoF00vu380zgrRBWa76RQO7Qm2kLsFD3CNbWEUtaixljae2ZCEvnMD7P_OYtuwV_TLYv3_4nAVOeoHu7wAD2bglPXsc/s1600/Duckb.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="146" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjumyAb-8cPtld2kI012H1wHs_Osz2hcVP3Cv2QlvUV3eoakzek0QoF00vu380zgrRBWa76RQO7Qm2kLsFD3CNbWEUtaixljae2ZCEvnMD7P_OYtuwV_TLYv3_4nAVOeoHu7wAD2bglPXsc/s640/Duckb.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="font-size: 13px;">Consider the duck...</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
</div>
<br />
Take your favourite ingredient - let's say Duck. Flip to the entry and you will learn about the breeds of duck (Aylesbury, Barbary, Gressingham, Long Island, Nante, Norfolk, Peking and Rouen). Then you'll hear about notable preparations of duck, which may take you on to an article on <i>Aiguilettes</i> (long-thin fillets of meat - also used for strips of beef). Or to an article on the <i>Tour d'Argent</i> restaurant, a Parisian old-timer famous for serving pressed, numbered ducks (#253,652 went to Charlie Chaplain). There's an anecdote here (and a painting) about the chef <i>Frederic</i> carving his famous <i>canard au sang:</i><br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhKOHQE5LotHEdfv9SMQ-pl63cG4eRl4NHNqSvTWoIhllOGqLmeKQVtRw2Fd93bjUkLQN5u3I-aMIiOtlsH7Gn_XN1-bA51FSWAQ9y4iNhp6ct7Kl9RueCl9VQa-Hejps_nvTXrM6YHQvg1/s1600/Fredericb.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="248" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhKOHQE5LotHEdfv9SMQ-pl63cG4eRl4NHNqSvTWoIhllOGqLmeKQVtRw2Fd93bjUkLQN5u3I-aMIiOtlsH7Gn_XN1-bA51FSWAQ9y4iNhp6ct7Kl9RueCl9VQa-Hejps_nvTXrM6YHQvg1/s320/Fredericb.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Frederic carving his famous <i>canard au sang</i></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<i>You ought to have seen Frederic with his monocle, his greying whiskers, his calm demeanour, carving his plump quack-quack, trussed and already flamed, throwing it into the pan, preparing the sauce, salting and peppering like Claude Monet's paintings, with the seriousness of a judge and the precision of a mathematician, and opening up, with a sure hand, in advance, every perspective of taste</i>.</blockquote>
<br />
For there you might follow an entry to the famous chef <i>Paillard </i>who cooked at the Tour D'Argent in the 1800s, or <i>Claude Terrail</i> who ran the restaurant with an iron fist until his death in 2006. Meanwhile back to the original article on duck it concludes with twenty two different recipes, including a honeyed <i>duck Apicius-style </i>popularised by <i>Alain Senderens</i>, and <i>Rene </i><i>Lasserre</i>'s <i>duck a l'orange</i>.<br />
<br />
You don't get that with Nigella.<br />
<br />
<br />
<h2>
<span style="font-size: x-large;">The many lives of <i>Larousse</i></span></h2>
<br />
<h4>
<span style="color: #9fc5e8;">Lost in translation...</span></h4>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh0Fecj2BU-jIhK9rFLkOUkIKjssaUzud78KtGjkDwvoNYNs8kpWrgb6S4ZI8e6wkr3twD31m1txTuO00bWX3uz6fzNamQtrd03lVSk7UIW-Fl0h8YzqlkDDoU3nUytbug_jH6Snxanjq_r/s1600/Family.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="285" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh0Fecj2BU-jIhK9rFLkOUkIKjssaUzud78KtGjkDwvoNYNs8kpWrgb6S4ZI8e6wkr3twD31m1txTuO00bWX3uz6fzNamQtrd03lVSk7UIW-Fl0h8YzqlkDDoU3nUytbug_jH6Snxanjq_r/s320/Family.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Family portrait: 2009 edition (rear), 1988 hardback (right),<br />
much-thumbed 1990 paperback (left)</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
There have been a number of editions of Larousse over the years (for a more detailed treatment see <a href="http://www.thegastronomersbookshelf.com/3664_the-evolution-of-larousse-gastronomique">this article</a>). After the original in 1938 the most important revision was the 1984 edition. This gave the text a thorough overhaul, masterminded by Robert Courtine of <i>Le Monde</i>, adding colour pictures and updating it with the latest trends in <i>nouvelle cuisine</i>. The last major update was in 1996 when a culinary committee of the great and the good (headed by Joel Robuchon) overhauled some of the entries, although the changes were nowhere near as significant as those twelve years earlier. There was a further update in 2007.<br />
<br />
These changes are reflected in the English editions. The first English edition was in 1961, adapted from Montagne's original. Similarly in 1988 the Courtine version was translated into English (also released as a natty paperback two years later). The Robuchon version made it into <i>anglais</i> in 2001, with an update in 2009. These two are the versions you're most likely to come across today.<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEib28ZK5EYElaHo8hJELcGbzHv-zyKchz-sN-tVyLeXCEyL4gFy-XNXZrN6WVV1sH_xM-0n_IC2GKyQ0XbcARdL2N-YCsEQvH9Q67oWVoD_74yrwWYJ4FM8wtKgC8rbd1Ygn59eo83knLEj/s1600/Table.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="117" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEib28ZK5EYElaHo8hJELcGbzHv-zyKchz-sN-tVyLeXCEyL4gFy-XNXZrN6WVV1sH_xM-0n_IC2GKyQ0XbcARdL2N-YCsEQvH9Q67oWVoD_74yrwWYJ4FM8wtKgC8rbd1Ygn59eo83knLEj/s400/Table.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Larousse - key editions you are likely to find</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<br />
<h4>
<span style="color: #9fc5e8;">Party like its 1988...</span></h4>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjeap66s0i-ySsuZi_RU09iZIsNiLdyEqADKueKhjauA6eKxT7ADNoxcESetdDk18UTKpb2hRhK0ENjs5xsw4AMBJCMFXJ1Bj6pbTUDRkYJIOLcNYZD4tkEn0EGCDLU_QmEVUfjOCI6_8VF/s1600/patisserieb.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjeap66s0i-ySsuZi_RU09iZIsNiLdyEqADKueKhjauA6eKxT7ADNoxcESetdDk18UTKpb2hRhK0ENjs5xsw4AMBJCMFXJ1Bj6pbTUDRkYJIOLcNYZD4tkEn0EGCDLU_QmEVUfjOCI6_8VF/s320/patisserieb.jpg" width="218" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">La Belle Patissiere</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
I actually own three copies - a reprint of the 1988 hardback, a dog-eared copy of the paperback version (quite excellent for taking on long backpacking trips), and the 2009 edition which I found <a href="http://www.thebookpeople.co.uk/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/qs_product_tbp?storeId=10001&catalogId=10051&langId=100&productId=35535&searchTerm=larousse">going cheap</a> online.<br />
<br />
I actually prefer the 1988 version over the more recent versions. For one thing the entries they added to bring it "up to date" are pretty superficial (as I said - articles on Adria, Heston but nothing on sous-vide or spherification; they do seem quite proud to have an article on tonka beans though). For another the pictures in the newer version tend to be pointless Dorling-Kindersley fluff.<br />
<br />
In contrast the 1988 is stuffed with fascinating paintings and drawings which where chopped wholesale in the later version. For example the painting of <i>Frederic </i>and his quack-quack above is gone, as is <a href="http://www.rehs.com/Joseph_Bail_Bio.html">Joseph Bail's</a> ravishing <i>La Belle Patissiere</i> accompanying the <i>Patisserie </i>article (yes I look like that when I make pasta too :-p ).<br />
<br />
<br />
<span style="color: #9fc5e8;">Non-French food (according to French people)</span><br />
Also the 1988 still has outbreaks of hilarious French sniffiness which have been shamefully bowdlerised in more modern versions. So you have the article on <i>Great Britain</i> where they point out that out food is <i>basically medieval</i> and the best thing to happen to British cuisine was actually when Careme and Escoffier turned up in London to teach us how to cook.<br />
<br />
In the piece of <i>Australia and New Zealand</i> the author goes to great lengths to talk about Aboriginal traditions which <i>include the cooking of such animals as cockchafer grubs, bats and lizards. Kangaroo-tail soup is considered to be a delicacy</i> whilst adding that <i>Fish and shellfish, often giant-sized, are very popular but are not cooked with any gastronomic refinement</i>.<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
Rather pointedly the page on North American food (actually more like 3/4 of a page - roughly the same space the book devotes to the town of Lyon) begins <i>It would be wrong to dismiss American cuisine as being confined to the fast food and the snack-bar, and to believe that its contributions to gastronomy are limited to cocktails, ice cream, corned beef, and hot dogs</i>. Yeah right...<br />
<br />
Now a lot of this has been amended in later versions (the USA gets its own article for a start) but actually I find these sections some of the funniest bits of the book. Its a shame they've been cut in favour of banalities like <i>Far too vast and varied to be comprehensively described in a few paragraphs, the food of the United States is as rich as diverse as its people</i>.<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh3Lo5GsQ_4uDFOcnvxrHGcSinVcPnFlmXdRQyU91ewS_8pYczyYiX1rQgidiBatPE3iPe3uEBKgtLMv0bkB67a5yeo5SNf_ey-M2Avc-O2s9QV-Es8vprIKMHjJ-nO91dmNrpkxFkorXMl/s1600/USA.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><img border="0" height="262" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh3Lo5GsQ_4uDFOcnvxrHGcSinVcPnFlmXdRQyU91ewS_8pYczyYiX1rQgidiBatPE3iPe3uEBKgtLMv0bkB67a5yeo5SNf_ey-M2Avc-O2s9QV-Es8vprIKMHjJ-nO91dmNrpkxFkorXMl/s640/USA.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Changing attitudes to American food!</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<h4>
<span style="color: #9fc5e8;">Real men eat salad</span></h4>
Larousse is basically a book about French people saying how great their food is and being rude about everyone else's cooking. Let's enjoy it for what it is! I love Larousse precisely because its a quirky, opinionated snapshot of classic Frenchness. In particular I was very annoyed to see Lucien Tendret's glorious recipe for a mixed salad left out of the latest edition. In the name of culinary artistry I've reproduced it in full:<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<i>Put into a salad bowl some olive oil of the best quality, some white wine vinegar, 4 tablespoons roast turkey juice, 1/2 teaspoon tarragon mustard, the inside of a lobster, salt, and pepper. Stir until the mixture is perfectly smooth. Then add slices of lobster flesh, slices from the breast of a braised chicken and the breast of a roast turkey without the skin, the breast of three young partridges (keep the best slices for decoration), some thinly sliced truffles cooked in an excellent dry white wine, some mushrooms prepared in the same way, and a number of shelled crayfish. Cover with a layer of blanched endive (chicory) leaves. Add a second layer of the mixture, then a further layer of endive. Then on top tastefully arrange the reserved slices of meat, a few strips of ham from which the fat has been removed, a few large slices of truffle and mushroom, a border of shelled crayfish, a tablespoon of capers washed in white wine, and a cupful of stoned (pitted) green olives. Put a mound of thick mayonnaise in the centre with the largest truffle on top. Serve with the finest dry champagne, very cold but not iced.</i></blockquote>
That's <i>my</i> kind of salad (apparently Jeremiah Tower once served it at Chez Panisse). Mr Ritz and Mr Waldorf eat your heart out...<br />
<br />
<br />
<h2>
<span style="font-size: x-large;">Living with Larousse</span></h2>
<br />
So to close a few more things I've learnt after twenty years of living with Larousse:<br />
<br />
<h4>
<span style="color: #9fc5e8;">Larousse can be really </span><i style="color: #9fc5e8;">really </i><span style="color: #9fc5e8;">random</span></h4>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjvNoXiDDMoSUs1480Ij-E00iM_pJO37LnBs0D_21xGpEPXAXjsEER9DOK2QljrHfQU1NH3zNIb5EMfslu_GImNfDKHua5vufq2tORd9rGNCWlUN8YOeGnSIyglOkFFd0nxC0Io_iqgYD7m/s1600/Elephant_trunk_(1).jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="199" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjvNoXiDDMoSUs1480Ij-E00iM_pJO37LnBs0D_21xGpEPXAXjsEER9DOK2QljrHfQU1NH3zNIb5EMfslu_GImNfDKHua5vufq2tORd9rGNCWlUN8YOeGnSIyglOkFFd0nxC0Io_iqgYD7m/s200/Elephant_trunk_(1).jpg" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="font-size: 13px; text-align: center;">Quite good for picnics, apparently...</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
Part of the fun of Larousse is that its like rummaging through an elderly uncles very <i>very</i> random attic. The text is sprinkled with little gems, from a culinary appreciation of the Elephant (<i>The feet and trunk are of the greatest culinary interest: their flesh, which is muscular and gelatinous, resembles ox (beef) tongue</i>) to the Street Cries of Paris (<i>Crapois y'a</i> for salted whale meat, apparently) to Queen of Sheba, a chocolate gateau made especially light by the use of potato flour and ground almonds. For all its failings <i>Larousse </i>has a magpie-like mind that should please anyone who confuses significance with obscurity.<br />
<br />
<h4>
<b><span style="color: #9fc5e8;">Never cook any recipe from Larousse</span></b></h4>
To be fair the recipes in Larousse <i>are</i> notoriously unreliable. I remember trying to cook French food from Larousse during my gap year in China (I took two books: Larousse and the Complete Works of Shakespeare. Shakey never stood a chance). Complete nightmare. Scrambled egg custard for the <i>ile flottante </i>(OK that maybe I shouldn't have tried to thicken the <i>liaison</i> in a makeshift wok). Disintegrating liver dumplings. Never again. Everything they've told you about how unreliable <i>Larousse's</i> recipes are is true.<br />
<br />
There are multiple reasons for this. Montagne wasn't writing for home cooks for a start - the recipes are rudimentary at best (very similar to the brief one-para ones in Escoffier actually). I don't think the translations have helped either - sometimes recipes are newly translated for the 2009 edition, sometimes they are recycled wholesale from the 1988 translation (or earlier). With so many authors across so many editions I doubt there's any consistency as to what kind of recipes got in (and whether they were ever tested). If you want a cookbook, read Nigella.<br />
<br />
<h4>
<span style="color: #9fc5e8;">You can read it online. Now</span></h4>
Hit Amazon.com and look up the <a href="http://www.amazon.com/reader/0609609718?_encoding=UTF8&aToken=4%7C2VFeUwkJ8eS6kvaU0lOOWwoVmU90LQQUii3Ox%2BLOKsGngbv6Sz0pHeHoe20wqrL2mg4jEVv6m5Fj5MdUrq%2FFmHK42t4DnGg72pD9a3Qsc0Vd52JOOIGZQwZ4ASmOMmc%2BzPQPDBcQIqyCE%2FQPF4%2FLsbpHXm%2B5cOrsdyA14f4j5d3ju2wzlQr8aqPy1tGwV2dkxsdIiHNUyQahgytRNrV231j49CJBn5Eg&openid.assoc_handle=usamazon&openid.claimed_id=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.amazon.com%2Fap%2Fid%2Famzn1.account.AFRTSX66N4XXN6FU4PETDTEEHJVA&openid.identity=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.amazon.com%2Fap%2Fid%2Famzn1.account.AFRTSX66N4XXN6FU4PETDTEEHJVA&openid.mode=id_res&openid.ns=http%3A%2F%2Fspecs.openid.net%2Fauth%2F2.0&openid.ns.pape=http%3A%2F%2Fspecs.openid.net%2Fextensions%2Fpape%2F1.0&openid.op_endpoint=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.amazon.com%2Fap%2Fsignin&openid.pape.auth_policies=http%3A%2F%2Fschemas.openid.net%2Fpape%2Fpolicies%2F2007%2F06%2Fnone&openid.pape.auth_time=2012-12-20T17%3A21%3A36Z&openid.response_nonce=2012-12-20T17%3A21%3A36Z-2147737176439302476&openid.return_to=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.amazon.com%2Fgp%2Fsearch-inside%2Fsign-in%3Fie%3DUTF8%26asin%3D0609609718%26page%3D78&openid.sig=NR4Kz1vsseP1DycEIm1fEHHUaQ3XoJL1K%2Fwk2XyIPxk%3D&openid.signed=assoc_handle%2CaToken%2Cclaimed_id%2Cidentity%2Cmode%2Cns%2Cop_endpoint%2Cresponse_nonce%2Creturn_to%2Cpape.auth_policies%2Cpape.auth_time%2Cns.pape%2Csigned&page=78">2001 English edition</a>. They hit "Click to Look Inside". Normally Amazon offers you a page or two and the author puff. But lo and behold pretty much the whole damn thing is available to browse. Okay there's a page or two they've held back but I figure 90% of the book is there to browse through. Go have a look if you don't believe me.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgRqAclHwpq_rw0PlX06RNZLG1HTDByh4N9BJtOlYYqIM46NA4T_e4hrVoqZtY7Ei2Qv6qQMwTVd0bSNNNvACGeIvyQAz-WtU-wleXGLeMJfCuwRfCxuJVfOI4LkPtdv77fsjnNTHgwwvXF/s1600/amazon.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="296" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgRqAclHwpq_rw0PlX06RNZLG1HTDByh4N9BJtOlYYqIM46NA4T_e4hrVoqZtY7Ei2Qv6qQMwTVd0bSNNNvACGeIvyQAz-WtU-wleXGLeMJfCuwRfCxuJVfOI4LkPtdv77fsjnNTHgwwvXF/s640/amazon.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
<br />
<br />
<h4>
<b><span style="color: #9fc5e8;">Get lost in Larousse</span></b></h4>
Look you can keep Larousse on your shelf and haul it down as an occasional reference when you need to figure out what a <i>Pate de Pezenas</i> is, but that's a waste. Larousse deserves more than that (incidentally, a <a href="http://suite101.com/article/pezenas-pies-tasty-and-interesting-a280585"><i>Pate de Pezenas</i></a> is a sweetened pie of mined mutton, shaped like a cotton bobbin which is sometimes served as a dessert).<br />
<br />
What you should is brew yourself a nice cup of tea and sit down on the sofa with your Larousse and a plate of cooked pork products (preferably crispy ones). You may want to prop up Larousse on a separate table to avoid knackering your knees.<br />
<br />
Then pick your favourite ingredient or region and start reading. Every time you find a funny French term or cross-reference to another article flip look it up and continue reading. When the trail of articles runs dry, back up and carry on reading the original article (you may want to deploy Post-Its to keep your place). Continue for an hour. Or two. I guarantee you will come away hungrier than when you started.<br />
<br />
As I said at the start, this is the book I'd most like to have if I were locked away for a month. You can use it to embark on numerous culinary voyages, and never have the same trip twice.<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiCqgkG4qv1-JEVgKBfMNOPqQybHOoJIBXLNc_0bGHW4IFdnZhK8qF8A6TbRwQ5mNJZtIesz_KkzoRe69crGiBQF87W9S_j1xT_iqqCNvhhWvTVR_ah4QbVNiaIOt4UBeClNLHNuwEyRuXK/s1600/pezenas.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="265" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiCqgkG4qv1-JEVgKBfMNOPqQybHOoJIBXLNc_0bGHW4IFdnZhK8qF8A6TbRwQ5mNJZtIesz_KkzoRe69crGiBQF87W9S_j1xT_iqqCNvhhWvTVR_ah4QbVNiaIOt4UBeClNLHNuwEyRuXK/s400/pezenas.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">And to finish some nice <i>Pate de Pezenas </i>and a glass of wine...</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
Jon Tsenghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01916149961326205602noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6732049007302130204.post-17463432346883033452012-11-30T21:33:00.002+00:002012-12-01T11:29:03.867+00:00Signatures: Black Cod with Miso (Nobu)<i>After a couple of weeks of book reviews, a return to my <a href="http://morecookbooksthansense.blogspot.co.uk/2012/11/signatures-pigs-trotter-stuffed-with.html">ongoing series</a> on cheffy signature dishes, and the cookbooks where you can find them...</i><br />
<br />
<h2>
<span style="font-size: x-large;">The Dish</span></h2>
<br />
The problem with Nobu's Black Cod with Miso is that its too damn successful.<br />
<br />
Black cod is actually a very interesting ingredient - probably the only seafood with less than eight legs which can't be overcooked. And its fatty and delicious to boot. But if you look up recipes for black cod you will find only one.<br />
<br />
This one.<br />
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It's because it really is that good.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEidfcbPzuc6nAvTQBj_EjhzmGw30KeYq0sWmC6IqwiTxHvYru6iqdsvAcIetsmA5darrclOBXYZcUOyLWigXkRks85eHyBc-EjAXm5FeLUrZS822VHJJMRzbndvBEN-gZEUH2EkDVlMRCso/s1600/Black+Cod+Nobu+Nowb.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="268" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEidfcbPzuc6nAvTQBj_EjhzmGw30KeYq0sWmC6IqwiTxHvYru6iqdsvAcIetsmA5darrclOBXYZcUOyLWigXkRks85eHyBc-EjAXm5FeLUrZS822VHJJMRzbndvBEN-gZEUH2EkDVlMRCso/s320/Black+Cod+Nobu+Nowb.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
The dish looks very simple. A golden-grilled fillet of fish plain on a plate. If you get it in the restaurant there's a shard of pickled ginger on the side. But once you put your fork to it (look this is Nobu. Doubt you'll be using chopsticks here) <i>oh-my-oh-my</i>. It flakes away into scalloped flakes, not disintegrating like a normal cod. Taste it and each one is a beguiling mix of salt-sweet miso glaze and then the melting-fatty fish. Even if you're have it dozens of times, it still remains a wow dish.<br />
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There's a couple of things that make it so great.<br />
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The first is the miso glaze. Now contrary to popular belief Nobu didn't invent this. Marinating fish in a mixture of miso, alcohol and sugar is an age-old technique in Japan. It was originally used as a preservative - sea-fish would be pickled in miso or in the lees from sake-brewing to preserve them for the long journey to the capital. Nowadays of course the miso is there more for taste than preservation, but its definitely nothing new.<br />
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Nobu didn't invent the idea of grilling it either. Once the preserved fish had got to its destination, grilling (<i>Yakimono</i>) was a quick and easy way of preparing it. After all <a href="http://missmochi.blogspot.co.uk/2012/08/hapa-farm-girl-nasu-dengaku.html"><i>Nasu Dengaku</i></a> (miso-topped aubergine), an izakaya stand-by, is pretty much the same thing done to an eggplant.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjE48ckLYSx0UDQGtdQollhB6w783n6QvQL6OiRpLc7BLAvfh3Ma32AZhT0Gqu0yTYTOlgLHJIQDYbcfguPYMlZp0ee3mobF5T2PGo2tOEaVu0VKYhjt1LdsHYeV0X36_Zzao9pPbyBIcTY/s1600/Sablefish+2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjE48ckLYSx0UDQGtdQollhB6w783n6QvQL6OiRpLc7BLAvfh3Ma32AZhT0Gqu0yTYTOlgLHJIQDYbcfguPYMlZp0ee3mobF5T2PGo2tOEaVu0VKYhjt1LdsHYeV0X36_Zzao9pPbyBIcTY/s1600/Sablefish+2.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Oi! Keep that pot of Miso away from me I tell you!!</td></tr>
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What Nobu did do however is stumble on the idea of pairing this with Black Cod, an unusual fish he came across in Alaska. Black Cod - or sablefish - is a very unusual fish. Unlike most fish we eat, it lives in very deep water, between 1000 and 9000 feet down. This gives it a very special physiology - to adapt to the extreme pressures the flesh is saturated with a great deal of fat, which acts as a sort of natural antifreeze.<br />
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Why is this important? It's because it gives it particular lip-smacking texture which is the source of its other name - butterfish. Apart from the Chilean Seabass (which has a similar stygian habitat) this is almost unique amongst the fish we eat. Perhaps a nice piece of grilled salmon belly can match it, but that's much oilier. What so special about the Black Cod is that the fat does leach out, it just remains soaked into the beautiful, moist flesh.<br />
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It is the fattiness which makes Black Cod so well suited for this dish. Much as you pair savoury-fatty foie gras with a sweet fruit chutney, the savoury-sweet miso glaze is a perfect foil for the buttery Black Cod. It's one of the great food marriages. And Nobu was the bloke who discovered it.<br />
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Respect is due.<br />
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<h2>
<span style="font-size: x-large;">The Recipe</span></h2>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEixUUIHhVnkYchmEXdAw0XqQMmClubBFy3s0_pEEXKOTnAwaqVzyG-gkPZ3FhyHA9I9wB-3ogHosA2ZNgY2Ym-Nr4_J37abFN9cs7Qw4V4Lh7hURuRjAZqI88CqBHhAa8vIPA1f7jeInd74/s1600/Black+Cod+1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="384" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEixUUIHhVnkYchmEXdAw0XqQMmClubBFy3s0_pEEXKOTnAwaqVzyG-gkPZ3FhyHA9I9wB-3ogHosA2ZNgY2Ym-Nr4_J37abFN9cs7Qw4V4Lh7hURuRjAZqI88CqBHhAa8vIPA1f7jeInd74/s640/Black+Cod+1.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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The only problem with this dish is it costs you a whacking great <a href="http://www.noburestaurants.com/london/menus-2/dinner-2/hot-dishes-2/">£42 a plate</a> at Nobu's London outpost, only its only <a href="http://www.noburestaurants.com/new-york/menus/dinner/hot-dishes-2/">$32 in New York</a> (hmmm, I wonder if its worth doing a Economist-style <a href="http://www.economist.com/blogs/graphicdetail/2012/01/daily-chart-3">Big Mac Index</a> to figure out currency overvaluations for the jet-set?). But the good news? Provided you can get your hands on the fish this one's a snip to do at home.<br />
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As far as I know the recipe features in two of Nobu's books, and an interminable number of random recipe sites (Google "<a href="https://www.google.co.uk/search?q=black+cod+miso+recipe&oq=black+cod+miso+recipe&sugexp=chrome,mod=8&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8">black cod miso recipe</a>" and you'll know what I mean). It was originally published on p124 the 2001 <a href="http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/1903845203/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1634&creative=19450&creativeASIN=1903845203&linkCode=as2&tag=morcoothasen-21"><i>Nobu Cookbook</i></a> pioneer of the Haute Asian Fusion (HAF) genre (viz Tetsuya Wakuda, Susur Lee, Alan Wong and Momofuku). It's pretty much foolproof.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Hmmm. How much Sake again?</td></tr>
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The first step is to make the Saikyo Miso marinade (recipe on p172). Basically boil together a tub of white miso, some sake, mirin, sugar and then let it cool. One warning - the recipe in the original book omits the quantity of sake; other sources say it should be the same quantity as the mirin (150ml), which is what I always use.<br />
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This gives you a great big pot of golden-yellow miso sauce. More than you need for the recipe. Stick it in a bottle and keep it in the fridge - given the amount of salt and sugar in it the stuff is pretty much indestructible. Whip it out whenever you have any grilled meat you want to gussy up (it's great on grilled lamb chops).<br />
<br />
Then take a cup or so of the miso sauce and brush it onto the fish. At this point the book marinades the fish for 2-3 days (perhaps a hat-tip to the old days of preserving the fish), but its just as good if you cook it immediately. Grill the fish skin-side up til its browned and then whack it into a 200c over for 10-15 minutes (alternately I grill the fish til browned on both sides and skip the oven bit).<br />
<br />
Now normally when you grill fish it goes dry pretty damn quick. But the great thing about the black cod though, is that with its extreme fattiness it remains moist no matter how much damage you deal to it. This piece of protein is pretty much idiot proof, and will brown long before you can ever overcook it (especially given the amount of sugar in the glaze).<br />
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After that you're done. Plop it on a bowl of nicely steamed short-grain rice and your in salty-sweety-buttery black cod heaven!<br />
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<h2>
<span style="font-size: x-large;">The Book</span></h2>
<span style="font-size: x-large;"><br /></span>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiWotWN0mr8mtk8KaOkWHRVi6oi6b77PKyt-1P4w-IKO0s3hf9ccdu3RRYWSlLUjC6JteBiYsTR2qOQax1kzsq-XS4OZhRF_-zDkqZqBXsBAWDTc_-eWLZf_kuX8CZa035EEaqVpNkmpp6_/s1600/Nobe+Cover+2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="394" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiWotWN0mr8mtk8KaOkWHRVi6oi6b77PKyt-1P4w-IKO0s3hf9ccdu3RRYWSlLUjC6JteBiYsTR2qOQax1kzsq-XS4OZhRF_-zDkqZqBXsBAWDTc_-eWLZf_kuX8CZa035EEaqVpNkmpp6_/s640/Nobe+Cover+2.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: left;">Book cover front and back: Note hilariously cheesy quotes from random 90's slebs (click on the pic to zoom in). My pick: <i>Everything tastes so clean, PURE and unique. There is so much choice from marinated tofu to tangy mushroom salad, and of course the gold leaf sake is a must.</i> --- Jude Law and Sadie Frost.</td></tr>
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<br />
A few thoughts on the book itself (I'm focusing on the original <a href="http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/1903845203/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1634&creative=19450&creativeASIN=1903845203&linkCode=as2&tag=morcoothasen-21"><i>Nobu Cookbook</i></a> here; the recipe also features in 2004's <a href="http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/1844001148/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1634&creative=19450&creativeASIN=1844001148&linkCode=as2&tag=morcoothasen-21"><i>Nobu Now</i></a>, but I've always found that volume much less exciting).<br />
<br />
Returning to it over a decade later this volume has aged very well. Okay Nobu's Persil-white Nike trainers and relentless name-dropping is a bit 1990's (Princess Di: <i>I was struck by the firmness of her handshake when we first met, and her mentioning that she had read about me</i>; Kenny G: <i>I could tell form his performance, from the way he mingled with the audience, that he really loved his work and enjoyed entertaining fans</i>).<br />
<br />
However the tightly-packed text and stately layout are surprisingly fresh, even when books like <i><a href="http://ruhlman.com/2008/09/alinea-the-cook/">Alinea</a></i> and publishers like <a href="http://uk.phaidon.com/store/food-cook/">Phaidon</a> (a curse on all their houses) have since raised the bar.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjcKR8ZrC9fnz_LM5WdNG5qH56FjOz9VzqYGirYzEu-CNXyvnsNvRIrf7P9Dqo0H3MJIEfaZGQoVKqznxzKDyvoef0YRpqrFLZYPkBoV_63v36Fv_rPSPrZ3b330qppI-jZjghur9JHkd7E/s1600/burn+down.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjcKR8ZrC9fnz_LM5WdNG5qH56FjOz9VzqYGirYzEu-CNXyvnsNvRIrf7P9Dqo0H3MJIEfaZGQoVKqznxzKDyvoef0YRpqrFLZYPkBoV_63v36Fv_rPSPrZ3b330qppI-jZjghur9JHkd7E/s320/burn+down.jpg" width="252" /></a></div>
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjcKR8ZrC9fnz_LM5WdNG5qH56FjOz9VzqYGirYzEu-CNXyvnsNvRIrf7P9Dqo0H3MJIEfaZGQoVKqznxzKDyvoef0YRpqrFLZYPkBoV_63v36Fv_rPSPrZ3b330qppI-jZjghur9JHkd7E/s1600/burn+down.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em; text-align: center;"><br /></a>But the book works above all because its a moving and personal story. Today we're familiar with Nobu the culinary magnate, Nobu the HAF chain-restaurant operator (back in 2001 he only had the 13 restaurants...). But the opening pages of the book take us back to a different Nobu. Nobu the indebted young restaurant owner, standing in the snow one Anchorage night and watching his only restaurant burn down:<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<i style="font-weight: bold;">An unforgettable night</i></blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<i>There is one night that for me is unforgettable, one scene that I can't get out of my mind. It is branded onto my eyes. To remember what happened that night is to remember despair. Even now, the memory is as vivid as the events of yesterday. It was the hardest night I ever lived through. But perhaps because of it, I learned to be thankful and to find the courage to take a sure step forward.</i></blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<i>Anchorage, in a whirl of light snow. In that increasingly snowbound town, silver with the settling flakes, flames shot up in an orange blaze. I stood rooted under the falling snow, silently waching the building burn down. Having rushed to the scene from a party at a friend's house, I was only wearing a T-shirt, yet I didn't feel the cold, nor anything else. The cinders from the burning building flew up into the sky, and some landed on my cheeks. They must have been hot, but I wasn't conscious of it at the time.</i></blockquote>
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<i>It was my restaurant that was burning; it had only been fifty days since it opened.</i></blockquote>
In many ways this reminds me about about Thomas Keller's vignette on the <a href="http://wanner.tumblr.com/post/348825275/the-importance-of-rabbits-by-thomas-keller">importance of rabbits</a> contained in the original <a href="http://carolcookskeller.blogspot.co.uk/">French Laundry Cookbook</a>. In brief: Keller wants to find out how to kill, skin a rabbit. Supplier turns up with twelve bunnies, does one and leaves the rest for chef to take care of. Having to kill eleven screaming rabbits in time for dinner service teaches Keller a deeply personal lesson about the cost of his ingredients:<br />
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<i>... but that first screaming rabbit not only gave me a lesson in butchering, it also taught me about waste. Because killing those rabbits had been such an awful experience, I would not squander them. I would use all my powers as a chef to ensure that those rabbits were beautiful.</i></blockquote>
Nobu's Alaskan nightmare is that sort of story, which tells you more about the chef than eating his food ever will.<br />
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But back to the book. The other great thing about the book is that its packed with iconic recipes. A decade on we forget how revolutionary a lot of this stuff was. New-style sashimi (drizzled with smoking hot oil at service) and bracing seafood ceviches seem to passe now (in London we've now got a <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/lifeandstyle/2012/may/04/ceviche-london-w1-restaurant-review">whole restaurant</a> named after the damn stuff!). But in those days it could have been food from the moon.<br />
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This is fusion food done right - foreign influences are assimilated but always with Nobu's own zesty style.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgah_X005IiRUxfo6B_nZuwUgpGKzmhn-_XvN3wIrbuJ-feGb4d7l1M3CzmYhuRzrEHWN6btGkwoQm533t9jvebwbjk-avAIisDiYVLsMGLi6pfCLRsRfrlZVNOytiO2xhaMez8s0Rlkd0R/s1600/Sea+Urchin+2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="230" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgah_X005IiRUxfo6B_nZuwUgpGKzmhn-_XvN3wIrbuJ-feGb4d7l1M3CzmYhuRzrEHWN6btGkwoQm533t9jvebwbjk-avAIisDiYVLsMGLi6pfCLRsRfrlZVNOytiO2xhaMez8s0Rlkd0R/s320/Sea+Urchin+2.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
Part of this is the words (or, alternately the dodgy translation - note this is an English version of a volume originally published in Japanese in 1998). A mayo with a dash of chilli oil becomes "Creamy-Spicy Sauce" topping grilled scallops (p37). What looks like an uncooked soy hollandaise (no I don't know how that works either) is rebranded as Egg Sauce, and looks absolutely immaculate napping spinach-wrapped sea urchin (p42).<br />
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Part of this is also playfulness - trompe l'oeil dishes of abalone or squid cut to resemble soba (p24) and conchiglie pasta (p82). A slightly gothic deep-fried bone-ring garnishing a sole (p123). And a torchon, not of foie gras but of monkish liver (having once cooked through a kilo of the stuff I can say yes it does have the look and taste of foie gras, but a kind of weird fishiness).<br />
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This is a book with personality. And a book that's fun. Even so many years on I still rate it - along with David Chang's Momofuku book - as my pick of the HAF genre.<br />
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Enjoy the weekend.<br />
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<br />
<i>Afterword - Getting hold of Black Cod: As I said the only problem with this recipe is getting hold of the Black Cod; most of the other ingredients you should be able to track down in any Asian grocery (although for Miso you might have to go to a specifically Japanese store). </i><i>In London at least <a href="http://style.selfridges.com/store/london/">Selfridges</a> and the <a href="http://www.atariya.co.uk/">Atariya</a> empire sell Black Cod (Atariya even sell it ready-miso-marinated). It's not cheap but costs less than in a restaurant, and the richness of the meat means a little goes a long way. </i><br />
<i><br /></i>
<i>N</i><i>o idea about availability on the other side of the pond but I assume its easier to source in North America. It looks like those enterprising Canucks are moving into <a href="http://www.dfo-mpo.gc.ca/aquaculture/finfish-poissons/sablefish-morue-eng.htm">Black Cod aquaculture</a> - hopefully that will bring prices down further.</i>Jon Tsenghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01916149961326205602noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6732049007302130204.post-76658531910674264272012-11-24T12:41:00.000+00:002013-04-26T19:21:43.872+01:00Fat by Jennifer McLagan: The Fat of the Land<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjLOUf4NKwFXFWjuEetEWE8RPxc39Bh4xHDR-pEguqr7tRfL8tLSJuVAANLR4VyFkZ3NumDI4cHnQaQtquaNm_enUxyeZ3VQN03vTdSIYWrekU0osHN0oG0xcaJx0VIDMwlHF-LXyecAoyg/s1600/Cover.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjLOUf4NKwFXFWjuEetEWE8RPxc39Bh4xHDR-pEguqr7tRfL8tLSJuVAANLR4VyFkZ3NumDI4cHnQaQtquaNm_enUxyeZ3VQN03vTdSIYWrekU0osHN0oG0xcaJx0VIDMwlHF-LXyecAoyg/s640/Cover.jpg" width="504" /></a></div>
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<br />
<i><a href="http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/1906417466/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1634&creative=19450&creativeASIN=1906417466&linkCode=as2&tag=morcoothasen-21">Fat: An Apprecation of a Misunderstood Ingredient with Recipes</a></i>, by Jennifer McLagan is a love letter to lard, a ballad to butter and a tribute to tallow. McLagan, originally an Aussie but now based in Toronto is a woman on a mission. And that mission is to make you eat fat.<br />
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By fat she means animal fat - as opposed to vegetable oils. Butter, schmaltz, foie gras, suet. It's all good.<br />
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Published in 2008 by 10 Speed Press, the guys who also brought you the <a href="http://alineaathome.typepad.com/">Alinea Cookbook</a> and Charlie Trotters multi-volume <a href="http://www.randomhouse.com/author/104736/charlie-trotter">gastro-porn odyssey</a> (hmmm, is this a Chicago thing?), this is really three books in one.<br />
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<h2>
<span style="font-size: x-large;">Sacred Cow Abattoir</span></h2>
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The first book is a manifesto in favour of fat. Animal fats, she argued, have been wrongly demonised over the last fifty years. Now is the time to reclaim their deliciousness.<br />
<br />
Let's be clear this isn't a joyless preachy book - if you want that read anything by <a href="http://www.dailymail.co.uk/debate/article-1203343/JOANNA-BLYTHMAN-A-cancerous-conspiracy-poison-faith-organic-food.html">Joanna Blythman</a> (the worst kind of food writer - someone who cares more about being right than about things being delicious). McLagan makes her point - both in the introduction and throughout the text. But she doesn't harp on about it.<br />
<br />
The point she makes is a good one. Fat has simply had a very bad press since the 1950s. As people have lived increasingly sedentary lives their waistlines have expanded. As their waistlines have expanded they've looked for somebody to blame. And that crock of lard on the buttery shelf has been a convenient target.<br />
<br />
She argues that doctors have been too quick to draw a straight line between heart disease, cholesterol and animal fat. This lead to them exile of lard and butter from the kitchen in favour of cheap, vegetal trans-fats (margarine is a dirty word for this woman) which do more to harm than heal. As Roberta Pollack Seid puts it: <i>We have essentially transferred our fear of the diseases we believe fat will cause into the fat itself.</i><br />
<br />
At the same time fat has been assailed by the rise of the modern idol that thin is beautiful (<i>You can never be too rich or too thin</i>, the Duchess of Windsor opined) has made the consumption of a nice slab of lardo as socially acceptable as chucking a dog on a barbecue (for more on that check out Schwabe's <i><a href="http://morecookbooksthansense.blogspot.co.uk/2012/10/the-joy-of-insects-schwabe.html">Unspeakable Cuisine</a></i>).<br />
<br />
The reality is that really fats are good for you, French people who gorge themselves on foie gras live longer and putting bacon fat in your mayonnaise is the best thing that could happen to you.<br />
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<br />
She also includes an excellent demolition of the anti-foie gras lobby (in a nutshell, ducks aren't people, gorging isn't unnatural and foie gras isn't diseased. Pass the Sauternes dear...).<br />
<br />
Right I'm sold. What next?<br />
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<br />
<h2>
<span style="font-size: x-large;">The Fat's in the Fire</span></h2>
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If the first book is a manifesto, the second book is a volume of recipes which practices what she preaches. The main body is broken out into four chapters - Butter, Pork fat, Poultry Fat (duck and chicken mainly) and Beef & lamp; lamb. In each she gives a short intro detailing the lipid in question, before presenting a clutch of related recipes.<br />
<br />
Now let's be clear, those of your expecting<i> Nitro-Infused Lard Gel, with Cryo-Shattered Duck Scratchings and Suet Foam</i> will be disappointed. The recipes on the whole feature well prepared classics, rather than cutting-edge gastronomy (maybe an opportunity missed here? I'm sure there's room for a short skit of maltodextrin and how it can turn oils into soils...). Yes there are occasional off-the-wall concoctions (the bacon baklava on p119 jumps out). But on the whole the recipes aren't going to be anything new. So we have <i>cassoulet</i>, duck confit (mais non!), butter <i>palmiers </i>and shortbread. Steak and kidney puddings with a suet-laced pastry. Even a recipe for spaghetti carbonara.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Crackling Brittle. Quantities: "Makes more than enough"</td></tr>
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But don't get me wrong. This isn't a boring book. Lots have neat twists without being revolutionary. She whips up a mayonnaise using bacon fat rather than oil (p101); perfect for streaking through the ultimate BLT. Cornish pasties are encased in pastry made with beef dripping (p201). A praline is made with spiced pork crackling rather than almonds (p121); I don't know if its salt, sweet or snack but I know this is what I want when the big game is on! And best of all her Chicken Kiev is not only stuffed with sweet herby butter, but fried golden brown in an inch of lard.<br />
<br />
Anyone who fries a Chicken Kiev in an inch of lard is right in my book. (Any vegetarians feel free to leave the room now...)<br />
<br />
She also devotes a notable amount of space to the neglected art of making desserts and sweets with animal fat; not only butter but also lard, suet and even bone marrow. In my mind its lard that makes the flakiest of pastries (pop down to Chinatown and snaffle an <a href="http://foodmanna.blogspot.co.uk/2012/02/egg-tarts-wibbly-wobbly-perfection.html">egg tart</a> if you disagree). And good hard suet is essential for the honour and glory of the English table - its steamed puddings. Indeed, Suet puddings get full-spectrum treatment here, and I was pleased to see a recipe for the fabulous <i><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polvor%C3%B3n">polvorones</a></i> of Spain, a lard-based cookie so flaky it powderises on the lips (p114). There is also a fascinating confection of rice pudding made infused with vanilla and rum, and enriched with a slick of bone marrow. And of course that bacon baklava.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Impeccable <strike>sauces</strike> sources</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
McLagan is also unafraid to steal from the best. As I said little of what she presents is original cooking, and she frequently credits impeccable sources for her recipes. Her method to Hollandaise sauce (add all ingredients together rather than scrambling the egg first) is taken from Harold McGee's <i><a href="http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/0020098014/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1634&creative=19450&creativeASIN=0020098014&linkCode=as2&tag=morcoothasen-21">The Curious Cook</a><img alt="" border="0" height="1" src="http://www.assoc-amazon.co.uk/e/ir?t=morcoothasen-21&l=as2&o=2&a=0020098014" style="border: none !important; margin: 0px !important;" width="1" /></i>. Her potato puree (or should I say butter puree with potato) uses a recipe from <a href="http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/0688066429/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1634&creative=19450&creativeASIN=0688066429&linkCode=as2&tag=morcoothasen-21">Joel Robuchon</a><img alt="" border="0" height="1" src="http://www.assoc-amazon.co.uk/e/ir?t=morcoothasen-21&l=as2&o=2&a=0688066429" style="border: none !important; margin: 0px !important;" width="1" />. Her <i>rillettes </i>(both duck and pork) are adapted from the <a href="http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/009188084X/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1634&creative=19450&creativeASIN=009188084X&linkCode=as2&tag=morcoothasen-21"><i>The Moro Cookbook</i></a><img alt="" border="0" height="1" src="http://www.assoc-amazon.co.uk/e/ir?t=morcoothasen-21&l=as2&o=2&a=009188084X" style="border: none !important; margin: 0px !important;" width="1" /> (interestingly she adds the juices back to the shredded meat, but not the rendered fat). One slightly random point - she draws on UK and French sources much more than American ones (unusual for a Toronto-based Australian, although to be fair she has spent a lot of time in France).<br />
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<h2>
<span style="font-size: x-large;">Chewing the Fat</span></h2>
<br />
So this is both a manifesto and a recipe book. But thirdly it is also a book of Fat Lore. As well as recipes the chapters are larded (pun intended) with boxed-up capsules which provide a kaleidoscope of little fat-related anecdotes.<br />
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So on page 35 we hear about <a href="http://www.irishcentral.com/news/Bog-butter-from-3000-BC--found-in-ancient-underground-store-120950094.html">bog butter</a>, long-forgotten caches of butter or tallow buried to preserve them in acidic bogs and unearthed hundreds of years later ("<i>sometimes edible, it not particularly palatable</i>"). On page 103 there is the story of German artist Joseph Beuys who created sculptures such as <a href="http://www.allvoices.com/people/Joseph_Beuys/image/85610007-hamburger-bahnhof-joseph-beuys-unschlitt-tallow---skulptur-die-nicht-kalt-werden-will-1977"><i>Unschlitt/Tallow</i></a> (1977) which required 20 tons of mutton fat. There is an explosive capsule on nicro-glycerin (p165) which is prepared - you guessed it - from animal fat (2.2kg of fat per 450g of dynamite apparently).<br />
<br />
Other interesting ones are a digression <i><a href="http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/3713028.stm">Salo</a></i>, an alleged Ukrainian "delicacy" (I've tried it. It isn't), a paean to <i>schmaltz </i>(the rendered chicken product, not the style of music) and the story of the author's hopeless pursuit of the <a href="http://jennifermclagan.blogspot.co.uk/2012/03/fat-tailed-lamb.html">fat-tailed sheep</a>.<br />
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Just occasionally these anecdotes verge towards irrelevance (digressions into the Fat Man atom bomb and Fats Waller have little to do with food apart from the word "fat" in their name), but in the main these provide fascinating little snippets into the wide world of fat.<br />
<br />
She also throws amusing fat-related quotes into the margin. e.g.<br />
<ul>
<li><i>My idea of heaven is eating pate de foie gras to the sound of trumpets - Sydney Smith</i> (hear, hear!). </li>
<li><i>A Russian is still a Russian even if you fry him in butter (Finnish)</i> (you need to understand about a century of Russo-Finnish warfare to get this one). </li>
<li><i>If you are afraid of butter, as many people are nowadays, just put in cream</i> - Julia Child (Julia - my kind of gal!)</li>
</ul>
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<br />
<h2>
<span style="font-size: x-large;">Bringing Home the Bacon</span></h2>
<br />
As the French diplomat and gastronome <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_Maurice_de_Talleyrand-P%C3%A9rigord">Talleyrand</a> put it:<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<i>Can you inform me of any other pleasure that can be enjoyed three times a day, and equally in old age as youth?</i></blockquote>
Let's be clear. This isn't a book which will change your life. McLagan hasn't discovered a revolutionary new philosophy of food or a stack of new cooking techniques. But what she has produced is an excellent volume that exposes society's fallacies about fat, teaches us how to enjoy it and keeps us amused as it does does so. In the words of the old BBC motto it <i>educates, informs and entertains</i>.<br />
<br />
More than enough for me! Pass the rillettes...<br />
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<i>PS Also note that she's just got a new book out on </i><a href="http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/190641761X/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1634&creative=19450&creativeASIN=190641761X&linkCode=as2&tag=morcoothasen-21"><i>offal</i></a> <i>, which I spotted in my recent <a href="http://morecookbooksthansense.blogspot.co.uk/2012/10/the-best-place-in-london-for-cookbooks.html">Foyles bookshop-run</a>. Worth checking out. Before Fat she wrote another book called </i><a href="http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/0060585374/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1634&creative=19450&creativeASIN=0060585374&linkCode=as2&tag=morcoothasen-21">Bones</a><i> pretty self explanatory). If I recall not quite as gripping as this one (I think I passed on it at the time anyhow), but again if that's your thing...</i></div>
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Jon Tsenghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01916149961326205602noreply@blogger.com9tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6732049007302130204.post-85127029735003103662012-11-16T12:40:00.001+00:002012-11-20T11:48:24.629+00:00Cooking for Geeks by Jeff Potter: The Hacker Way<h2>
One thing to Like about Facebook</h2>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Down to his last 11 bil...</td></tr>
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For those of you who follow the stock markets, Facebook's recent IPO hasn't been its finest moment. Since debuting at a heady valuation $104bn, the company is now worth 42% less than it was in May. I understand poor Mark Zuckerberg is now down to <a href="http://blogs.wsj.com/deals/2012/05/18/what-zuckerbergs-stake-worth/">his last $11bn</a>. Lawsuits are <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/facebook-morgan-stanley-sued">already flying</a>.<br />
<br />
But if one good thing did come out of the whole mess it was Zuckerberg's <a href="http://www.wired.com/business/2012/02/zuck-letter/">Founder's Letter</a>, which was included in the initial IPO filing. In it he laid out his vision for Facebook and the culture which brings it about. Just as Google used its 2004 <a href="http://investor.google.com/corporate/2004/ipo-founders-letter.html">Founder's Letter</a> to set out the mantra "Don't be Evil", Zuckerberg believes in "The Hacker Way".<br />
<br />
Setting aside your view on whether Zuck is a privacy-snatching scumbag (I tend to sit in the "yes" camp), there's much to admire here. As he says:<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<i>The word “hacker” has an unfairly negative connotation from being portrayed in the media as people who break into computers. In reality, hacking just means building something quickly or testing the boundaries of what can be done. Like most things, it can be used for good or bad, but the vast majority of hackers I’ve met tend to be idealistic people who want to have a positive impact on the world.</i> </blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<i>The Hacker Way is an approach to building that involves continuous improvement and iteration. Hackers believe that something can always be better, and that nothing is ever complete. They just have to go fix it — often in the face of people who say it’s impossible or are content with the status quo.</i></blockquote>
There's more, but in a nutshell the Hacker way is questioning, meritocratic and "can-do" attitude which is always trying to push the boundaries. Which believes "Done is better than perfect", and that "something can always be better, and that nothing is ever complete".<br />
<br />
So what's this got to do with cookbooks?<br />
<br />
Well the answer is Jeff Potter's slug of culinary hacksomeness: <a href="http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/0596805888/ref=as_li_tf_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1634&creative=6738&creativeASIN=0596805888&linkCode=as2&tag=morcoothasen-21"><i>Cooking for Geeks: Real Science, Great Hacks, and Good Food</i></a><img alt="" border="0" height="1" src="http://www.assoc-amazon.co.uk/e/ir?t=morcoothasen-21&l=as2&o=2&a=0596805888" style="border: none !important; margin: 0px !important;" width="1" />.<br />
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<h2>
Don't ask <i>what</i>. Ask <i>how </i>and <i>why</i></h2>
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This isn't your usual celebrity cookbook. <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ePvdqn9GdPs">Jeff Potter</a> doesn't have a posh restaurant or a michelin-starred diffusion chain (although he did <a href="http://www.cookingforgeeks.com/blog/posts/making-a-five-foot-donut/">get a TV gig</a> on the back of this book). He's a old-fashioned IT geek and food nerd who decided one day to write a book.<br />
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And he didn't go through your usual publisher either. Rather take his cook to a culinary powerhouse like Artisan, Quadrille or [a curse on all their houses] Phaidon, Potter went to O'Reilly Media. This is a specialist tech publisher best known for publishing haute-geekologie texts like <i><a href="http://shop.oreilly.com/product/9780596001315.do">The Cathedral and the Bazaar</a></i> (the canonical gospel of the open-source movement) or gripping blockbusters like <i><a href="http://shop.oreilly.com/product/0636920023487.do">Learning PHP, MySQL, JavaScript, and CSS, 2nd Edition</a> </i>(and yeah I'm sure if I read it this blog would look a lot better!).<br />
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And finally he doesn't think like your usual cookbook writer either. As he says:<br />
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<i>At our core, though, all of us geeks still share that same inner curiosity about the </i><b>hows</b><i><b> </b>and </i><b>whys</b><i><b> </b>with the pocket-protractor crowd of yesteryear. This is where so many cookbooks fail us. Traditional cookbooks are all about the </i><b>what</b><i>, giving steps and quantities but offering little in the way of engineering-style guidance or ways of helping us think.</i></blockquote>
What you get is a book which doesn't just follow the recipe, but wants to understand where the recipe came from, why it works and how it can be improved. That is that Hacker Way.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Thinking not only about <i>what</i> works together, but <i>why</i><br />
it works together (click image for full table)</td></tr>
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How does he do it? The book is laid out in three main sections. The first section deals with the stuff you should know <i>before</i> you turn on the oven: What sort of cook are you? What is your basic kitchen setup? How does physiology (and psychology) of taste work and why do flavour combinations come together? This is probably the weakest section of the book, but a necessary evil.<br />
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The second section is where he really gets going, analysing the key Variables which affect cooking - time, temperature and air (many chefbooks are full of hot air, but this is the first one which devotes a whole chapter to it...).<br />
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But its in the final two chapters where Potter really kills it, as he addresses the more, er, "creative" things you can do in the kitchen. He splits this into two chapters - one on chemicals ("software", as he calls it), and one on equipment and gadgets ("hardware"). This contains the stuff most recognisable from the Heston/El Bulli/Noma world of molecular gastronomy. With a vengeance.<br />
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But that's not all. Potter also gives dozens of recipes to demonstrate the principles. Note this isn't primarily a cookbook - the recipes standalone are distinctly uncheffy (although I am quite taken with the Calamari Crackling on p202). But what they do is practice what he preaches, by introducing startling new angles on old favourites. A chocolate cake is microwaved in 30 seconds flat. Duck confit is made without any duck fat. A Tiramisu recipe is repurposed as an engineering time/activity chart (via <a href="http://www.cookingforengineers.com/">Cooking for Engineers</a>)...<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">A new way to Tiramisu...</td></tr>
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But that's not all. The text is also broken up by over twenty interviews giving expert insight on a variety of topics. Food science demi-god Harold McGee opines on Solving Food Mysteries. <i>Le Bernardin</i> patissier Michael Laiskonis chips in on Pastry Chefs. And don't miss Jeff Varasano's eye-popping digression on Pizza (if you haven't heard of him before, this is a man who's iconic <a href="http://[window%20title]%20windows%20update%20%20[main%20instruction]%20restart%20your%20computer%20to%20finish%20installing%20important%20updates%20%20[restart%20now]%20[postpone]/">pizza recipe</a> runs to over <i>fifteen thousand words</i>). So as well as Mr Potter's wisdom you basically get a culinary boot camp thrown in for free.<br />
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Great hacks</h2>
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But it's the hacker mentality that's at the heart of this. And this is a book full of great hacks.<br />
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Hacking is a mindset more than anything else. As Zuckerberg said, its the result of combining constant questioning with continuous iterative improvement. Potter also throws in the idea of "functional fixedness" - mentally restructuring your world so you use your tools in ways their designer never dreamed of.<br />
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This can be something as simple as slapping a few rubber bands on the each end of a rolling pin to allow you to roll a pizza dough out to a uniform thickness, or roasting peppers in a toaster. Or it can be as wild as clipping the lock off your oven and short-circuiting the electronics so you can use its 800c cleaning cycle to bake pizza (it worked, but Potter had to upgrade the oven door to missile-grade PyroCeram glass to keep the heat in).<br />
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This book is full of great hacks. If you don't feel like overclocking your oven, he explains how to make a <a href="http://www.danallan.com/projects/2010/lego-ice-cream-maker/">Lego Ice Cream Maker</a>. Or if a $450 <a href="http://www.sousvidesupreme.com/Shop_Online/SousVide_Supreme_Demi/Sous_Vide_Supreme_water_oven/Product.aspx?ProductID=21&DeptID=3&">Sous Vide Supreme</a> is out of your price range he gives step-by-step instructions about how to lobotomise a slow-cooker with a thermocouple to create your own home-made sous-vide rig.<br />
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Julia Child eat your heart out.<br />
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But what's also refreshing is the hacks aren't just there for shock value. There are also simple things. For example Potter shows you how to calibrate your oven with a bowl of sugar (sugar melts are 177c, giving a precise reference point for oven temp). He outlines how to mill your own flour. And he sagely points out that the most overlooked but useful thermometer in the kitchen... is nothing more complicated than your hand.<br />
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<h2>
Real science</h2>
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The hacks go hand in hand with exposition. Everything Potter does is underpinned by hardcore food science (I'd expect nothing less from an engineer and a nerd). And this is a great book on food science.<br />
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The middle section, on Variables, gives one of the clearest explanations I've seen about how temperature affects food. And more important it isn't only how hot the food gets, but how long it stays hot. The idea of a time-temperature curve, and how it affects different cooking methods, is beautifully laid out in Chapter 4:<br />
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And he doesn't shy away from the nasty stuff. There's a whole section on foodborne illness for example, helpfully split out into sections on "Bacteria" and "Parasites". He gives great advice on how to avoid <i>Bacillus Cereus</i> and tapeworm, although unfortunately to nail both of them you need to both freeze your food and heat it above 60c. Tricky.<br />
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(And while not <i>quite</i> food science, but he also throws in a brilliant game-theory inspired cake cutting algorithm to make sure no-one complains about getting short changed.)<br />
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The highlight of the book though is the last two chapters. As I mentioned already, Chapter 6 deals with "software" (chemicals and additives) and Chapter 7 with "hardware" (food gadgets FTW).<br />
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The section of food chemistry goes through all the usual suspects you've seen popping up on A Heston Blumenthal TV show, with a clear explanation and practical examples. Potter is careful to put everything into a clear context.<br />
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Take colloids for example. While they may sound like a species of alien parasite, in fact they are simply a mixture of any two substances - gas, liquid, or solid - uniformly dispersed in each other but not dissolved together. Basically a suspension of A in B, or as he helpfully summarises:<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Attack of the Killer Colloids...</td></tr>
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There. Now you know. Chocolate is a Colloid.<br />
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If you don't know your Methylcellulose from your Maltodextrin then this is the place to come (Methylcellulose melts as it cools. Maltodextrin melts in the mouth). But what's also great is that Potter doesn't get carried away with his rocket science. He makes the very helpful point that using chemicals in food is nothing new, and backs it up by showing how salt, sugar, acids and alcohol are equally important in food science (Bacon-Infused Bourbon anyone?).<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">What a shockingly good recipe!</td></tr>
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The last chapter on Hardware is the one with the really fun hacks - the overclocked pizza oven and DIY sous-vide machine all feature here. But there is also a comprehensive twenty-page teach-in on the techniques behind sous-vide cooking ranging from "standards" like 48-hour low-temp beef brisket to cute applications I haven't seen elsewhere, like using sous-vide to temper chocolate (one of the trickiest jobs in the pastry kitchen). Plus there's a bit of stuff on rotary evaporators, foam guns and anti-griddles, but I guess that's pretty much par for the course.<br />
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<h2>
Better than <i>Modernist Cuisine</i>?</h2>
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Of course when you have any book which deals with food science the elephant is the room is Nathan Myhrvold's five-volume, 24 kilogram opus, <a href="http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/0982761007/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1634&creative=19450&creativeASIN=0982761007&linkCode=as2&tag=morcoothasen-21"><i>Modernist Cuisine</i></a><img alt="" border="0" height="1" src="http://www.assoc-amazon.co.uk/e/ir?t=morcoothasen-21&l=as2&o=2&a=0982761007" style="border: none !important; margin: 0px !important;" width="1" />
(the only item in my <a href="http://www.librarything.com/catalog/jontseng&tag=cookery">collection</a> that works better as a bedside table than a cookbook). While <i>Cooking for Geeks</i> covers much of the same ground, at 412 pages versus 2,438 for MC it's hopelessly outgunned in terms of depth.<br />
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But the funny thing is I think that <i>Cooking for Geeks </i>is actually the better book on food science.<br />
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You see its the Hacker Way in action. <i>Modernist Cuisine</i> represents Myhrvold's set-piece assault on the subject, where he brute-forces the problem with sheer weight of resources. To write his book he set up a <a href="http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/content/10_47/b4204089237326.htm">fully staffed lab</a>, including a hundred-ton hydraulic press, a rotary evaporator and an ultrasonic welder.<br />
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In contrast Jeff Potter had two feet of counter space plus a 2" x 4" board hanging across the sink. So rather than throwing money at the problem he falls back on his wits and his hacks. It reminds me of the (<a href="http://www.snopes.com/business/genius/spacepen.asp">apocryphal, alas</a>) story about NASA spending millions of dollars designing the absolute perfect <a href="http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B000HLD7ZC/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1634&creative=19450&creativeASIN=B000HLD7ZC&linkCode=as2&tag=morcoothasen-21">Space Pen</a><img alt="" border="0" height="1" src="http://www.assoc-amazon.co.uk/e/ir?t=morcoothasen-21&l=as2&o=2&a=B000HLD7ZC" style="border: none !important; margin: 0px !important;" width="1" />, and the Russians just using a pencil.<br />
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Reading them both, I actually find <a href="http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/0596805888/ref=as_li_tf_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1634&creative=6738&creativeASIN=0596805888&linkCode=as2&tag=morcoothasen-21" style="font-style: italic;">Cooking for Geeks</a> gives a simpler, clearer and above all more fun explanation of what makes cooking tick. Our Nathan may have billions of dollars, dozens of experts and an autoclave, but Jeff has "<a href="http://www.cookingforgeeks.com/">Real Science, Great Hacks and Good Food</a>".<br />
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I know which one I'd rather have...Jon Tsenghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01916149961326205602noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6732049007302130204.post-55022528302396818602012-11-08T18:00:00.003+00:002012-11-16T23:04:57.677+00:00Signatures: Pig's Trotter Stuffed with Morels and Sweetbreads (Koffmann, MPW, Novelli, Ramsay)<i>Another entry in my series on signature dishes, and their reincarnation in various cookbooks. For previous entries of this type check out my posts of Tetsuya's <a href="http://morecookbooksthansense.blogspot.co.uk/2012/10/signatures-confit-of-petuna-ocean-trout.html">confit trout</a> and Eric Ripert's <a href="http://morecookbooksthansense.blogspot.co.uk/2012/10/signatures-pounded-tuna-with-foie-gras.html">tuna with foie gras</a>.</i><br />
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<h2>
Memories of Gascony</h2>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Pierre, and former piggy friend</td></tr>
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Braised pigs trotter stuffed with sweetbreads and morels is the signature creation of Pierre Koffmann, the Gascon chef who won three stars at La Tante Claire in London.<br />
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Although Koffmann closed La Tante Claire in 2004, he's now happily back fronting <a href="http://www.the-berkeley.co.uk/knightsbridge-restaurants/koffmanns/">Koffmanns</a>, which serves well prepared bistro deluxe food and offers an excellent value table d'hote. (I thoroughly recommend it next time you have a family do - we managed to squeeze 18 for Sunday lunch and they were happy to do the cut-price set menu with no silly charges for room hire. For what was effectively a function in a five star Park Lane hotel that was bargainous)<br />
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Most importantly though, is that <a href="http://www.the-berkeley.co.uk/uploadedFiles/The_Berkeley/Restaurants_and_bars/Koffmanns/Koffmann's%20A%20LA%20CARTE%20MENU%2004.09.pdf">the menu</a> still offers his utterly iconic pigs trotter.<br />
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I've had this dish a couple of times. First at La Tante Claire, where I remember it a lip-smackingly rich and meaty plate; wonderfully substantial for a posh restaurant. I had it again at Marco Pierre White's Oak Room - much they same apart from it was enlivened with a shower of finely diced truffles (which, to be honest, didn't add much). I may have also had a variation at Jean-Claude Novelli's Maison Novelli in Clerkenwell (I certainly remember a slab of his <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/rexness/5272210558/">Cassoulet Terrine</a>, which was winsome but slightly stodgy).<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg6m_5E6LgD0FCpj4Rw13_CcMmcJCAT2ThFJKDmW_g3emxlmh-TmOmC68k4qYkWrDYJy1V_a6sEpIJ9y5hpxHrXLGr4LoXFc47gda9YWOIWxn1v3jzRdfvX5BJ8m9-MAzbLKSghDujkJxRi/s1600/menu.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><img border="0" height="424" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg6m_5E6LgD0FCpj4Rw13_CcMmcJCAT2ThFJKDmW_g3emxlmh-TmOmC68k4qYkWrDYJy1V_a6sEpIJ9y5hpxHrXLGr4LoXFc47gda9YWOIWxn1v3jzRdfvX5BJ8m9-MAzbLKSghDujkJxRi/s640/menu.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The <i>carte</i> from Koffmann's glory days at La Tante Claire. Interesting it cost £28 at the *** Tante Claire back in the day, and costs exactly the same today at his Knightsbridge bistro deluxe.</td></tr>
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<h2>
The dish</h2>
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The dish itself is a fascinating mashup of rustic bourgeois cuisine and old-school haute. As far as I can tell it was invented by Koffmann himself (you'd be surprised by how many "signature dishes" were subtly swiped from elsewhere), combining the Gascon home cooking of his roots with the technical skills he learned under the Roux Brothers at Le Gavroche and the Waterside Inn.<br />
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The recipe itself is readily available. Koffmann has it up on his website <a href="http://www.pierrekoffmann.co.uk/recipes/">here</a> (scroll down the page). It was also published in a number of books including <i>Memories of Gascony, </i>and Richard Bramble's <i>Star Chefs Cookbook</i>. The best version I have is from an in-depth masterclass in trade rag <i>Caterer and Hotelkeeper</i>, which I've reproduced here (click on image for larger version):<br />
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The trotter skin itself is a peasant preparation - an old-school exercise in using every part of the beast. It is braised for three hours in a mix of stock and various forms of booze (an haute cuisine touch - I doubt many Gascon <i>mamans </i>have veal stock, brandy, port and madeira lying around) until it reaches a melting softness. This gelatinous texture is one of the unusual features - you sometimes find it in country cooking (a nice warm <i><a href="http://www.jancisrobinson.com/articles/20070614_2.html">Tete de veau</a></i> springs to mind), but is very unusual in high end kitchens (where generally the rule is "if in doubt puree and add more butter").<br />
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The trotter is then stuffed - not unprecedented (there's nothing I love more than a good sticky <a href="http://pepperandsherry.com/2011/07/04/zampone-stuffed-pigs-trotter/">Zampone</a>) - but certainly unorthodox. The stuffing however is straight out of Escoffier - a mousseline made with chicken breast enriched with cream, then studded with morels and chunks of veal sweetbread. It's the sort of thing you expect to find served in vol-au-vent cases, garnished with cocks combs and named after a aristocratic French dissolute.<br />
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After that it's quite simple. Wrap the stuffed trotter in foil, steam for fifteen minutes to reheat and serve with a nice bit of demi-glace and some spuds (pureed of course, with plenty of butter - this is a haute cuisine dish after all!).<br />
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While time consuming (as this <a href="http://trottersandtales.blogspot.co.uk/2009/05/pigs-trotters-pierre-koffmann.html">meticulously-documented attempt shows</a>), it isn't actually a massively technical dish (apart from <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DzG2RQRiVVU">boning the trotters</a>). It's definitely something which could be attempted at home, and nowadays most of the ingredients are readily available (pigs trotters and sweetbreads are the only ones you will need to order ahead). If you want more tips Michel Roux gives a thorough demonstration <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-DnX0jNeWR0&feature=related">in this video</a>.<br />
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<h2>
The many lives of the pigs trotter</h2>
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As I implied at the start, this is a much-imitated dish. Not surprisingly, the recipe comes up in a number of places in addition to Koffmann's own books. Marco Pierre White's <i>White Heat</i> has an early version, and he pays due homage to its creator. In terms of overall method he sticks very closely to the original, apart from braisng his trotters in a much hotter oven (220c rather than 160c). He also he amps up the demi-glace with chicken legs, and adds lemon juice to balance the acidity. In the book he garnishes with morels and onions although as I said, he's not afraid to chuck in the odd truffle or two.<br />
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<tr><td><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhOtUvNeiu9HDIJT_kE0wy81nRJAtrRpHB3mNO_T3nyMv483oFu9oas11Gi0aM-MizC_ScKDEjXoQJ1JW2LOatzDk6sd3QoZv-U7jA1Bf8njza9dd4nSZoF4ZZa0cr6UnGAaClI8_6TwgdM/s1600/MPW.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="434" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhOtUvNeiu9HDIJT_kE0wy81nRJAtrRpHB3mNO_T3nyMv483oFu9oas11Gi0aM-MizC_ScKDEjXoQJ1JW2LOatzDk6sd3QoZv-U7jA1Bf8njza9dd4nSZoF4ZZa0cr6UnGAaClI8_6TwgdM/s640/MPW.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="font-size: 13.333333969116211px;">Marco Pierre White's Braised Pig's Trotter 'Pierre Koffmann' <i>(click for bigger version)</i></td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">J-C Novelli. Brylcream<br />
is optional.</td></tr>
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The recipe also surfaces in Jean-Christophe Novelli's kitschly-titled <i>Your Place or Mine: Cooking at Home With Restaurant Style</i> (does that mean you need to have a Brycreamed Frenchman in the kitchen too I wonder?). Novelli freely admits he learned the recipe from MPW, although he makes a few tweaks of his own. The trotters are braised for longer at a lower heat (150c for six hours rather than 160c for three) and the filling goes slightly off-piste, substituting beef daube & black pudding for the sweetbreads & morels. In fact he presents the dish more as a template than a definitive version, noting that he adds all sorts of different fillings depending on the day of the week:<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<i>Sometimes I also put in Toulouse sausage which has been poached, skinned, diced and then fried. I might even add some suateed wild mushrooms and foie gras or some confit ox tongue or Morteaux sausage. On another day I might add some pork from a </i>pot au feu<i>.</i></blockquote>
I have no arguments with any of that!<br />
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<tr><td><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjJnRuaLWsAIFsOIQZt15f6WGJVanGGzhGTlmxHUYzMaTSITmxe6fDpxaIGOIl1IaMYyEUG7X376K24pmzHi987DcoIWF6io-Y-J6da0O7cExFpg2EoA36SLg716qCvgabRSUD5PWWrqAxe/s1600/novelli.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="420" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjJnRuaLWsAIFsOIQZt15f6WGJVanGGzhGTlmxHUYzMaTSITmxe6fDpxaIGOIl1IaMYyEUG7X376K24pmzHi987DcoIWF6io-Y-J6da0O7cExFpg2EoA36SLg716qCvgabRSUD5PWWrqAxe/s640/novelli.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="font-size: 13.333333969116211px;">Novelli's Pigs Trotters 'Suivre Mon Humeur' <i>(click for bigger version)</i></td></tr>
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Finally there is one other variation, which is probably less known.<br />
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In 1998 when <i>La Tante Claire </i>relocated from Chelsea to the Berkeley Hotel, Gordon Ramsay moved into its old site (where he holds three Michelin stars to this day). When he relaunched, Ramsay included a little hommage to Koffmann on his menu, with a starter of crispy pigs trotter and served with quails eggs and shaved truffle.<br />
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Happily the recipe is included in his 2000 volume <i>A Chef For All Seasons</i>. Although he doesn't credit him, the dish is recognisably Koffmann's. The trotters are braised, trimmed and stuffed with chicken mousseline, shredded gammon and sweetbreads. However rather than presented whole they are then chilled and sliced into medallions which are pan-fried at service.<br />
<br />
It's a more obviously cheffy presentation - not only because of the truffle but also by opting to crisp up the trotter rather than having a more challenging gelatinous texture. However I can say from first-hand experience it is still absolutely delicious - as he says in the book, its basically a very posh bacon and eggs.<br />
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What's not to like?<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhRvaW2G_oU8kN-YP4hwY56LhWYWjNmdK3sFA9767J_BCSasUGSu5hEeJ1pYnSy-KeH6xQlnRklOjvawKUSrbzHHjzR_t0bfvVAqghAyEHnWgeFmcGO3PgljSo47R-5mXxlwnVrFmI_aybx/s1600/ramsay.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><img border="0" height="279" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhRvaW2G_oU8kN-YP4hwY56LhWYWjNmdK3sFA9767J_BCSasUGSu5hEeJ1pYnSy-KeH6xQlnRklOjvawKUSrbzHHjzR_t0bfvVAqghAyEHnWgeFmcGO3PgljSo47R-5mXxlwnVrFmI_aybx/s640/ramsay.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Gordon Ramsay's tarted-up pigs trotter dish <i>(click for... oh well you know the drill)</i></td></tr>
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<i>Afterword - a few comments on the books mentioned</i><br />
<i><br /></i>
<i><b><a href="http://www.amazon.co.uk/Memories-Gascony-Pierre-Koffmann/dp/1845337093/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1352397165&sr=8-1">Memories of Gascony by Pierre Koffmann:</a> </b>I've <a href="http://morecookbooksthansense.blogspot.co.uk/2012/09/two-bookcooks-to-watch-out-for-koffmann.html">blogged about this one</a> before so I'll keep it brief. Childhood memories and French country cooking, with knobs on.</i><br />
<i><br /></i>
<i><b><a href="http://www.amazon.co.uk/Chefs-Cookbook-Marco-Pierre-White/dp/1857825403/ref=sr_1_2?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1352397179&sr=1-2">The Star Chefs Cookbook by Richard Bramble:</a></b> A series of pen-pictures of leading UK starred chefs (circa 1998) including Koffmann, Nico, MPW and their protegees. I don't normally recommend compilation books but the portraits are useful and include a lot of insightful information. Also most chefs feature their signature dishes so its a good way of getting hold of a bunch of signature dishes in one hit. Finally a number of chefs appear who hadn't written much elsewhere, e.g. Martin Blunos of Lettonie (who's signature scrambled duck egg with caviar is included), Aaron Patterson of Hambleton Hall and Philip Howard of The Square (until he published his recent cookbook this was the only place I knew which had his lamb and shallot puree recipe).</i><br />
<i><br /></i>
<i><b><a href="http://www.amazon.co.uk/WHITE-HEAT-Paperback-Author-Published/dp/B0068H8ZAQ/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1352397209&sr=1-1">White Heat by Marco Pierre White:</a></b> Another one <a href="http://morecookbooksthansense.blogspot.co.uk/2012/09/before-they-were-famous-mpw-ramsay.html">I've written about before</a>. In a nutshell, seminal, gripping but oh so very 1980s.</i><br />
<i><br /></i>
<i><b><a href="http://www.amazon.co.uk/Your-Place-Cooking-Restaurant-Style/dp/1899988181/ref=sr_1_2?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1352397223&sr=1-2">Your Place or Mine by Jean-Christophe Novelli:</a></b> Chefbook from a restauranteur who briefly made it big in the 1990s before the recession did it in for his over-leveraged restaurant empire. Opening the book to research this post I'm actually surprised how well it has aged. It remains an accessible place for tarted-up French food; his most common schtick is to reimagine a traditional dish in a new form (e.g. his <a href="http://www.caterersearch.com/Articles/27/06/2007/200724/Jean-christophe-Novelli39s-cassoulet-terrine.htm">Cassoulet Terrine</a>). Another interesting artifice is to take one basic ingredient (e.g. braised lamb shank, piperade, confit duck) and give two or three different recipes of varying levels of cheffiness and difficulty.</i><br />
<i><br /></i>
<i><b><a href="http://www.amazon.co.uk/Chef-All-Seasons-Gordon-Ramsay/dp/1903845920/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1352397243&sr=1-1">A Chef for All Seasons by Gordon Ramsay:</a> </b>One of Ramsay's better books, from when he was still working with amanuensis Roz Denny and before he started writing crappy TV tie-ins. In essence it documents the food at Restaurant Gordon Ramsay while he was gunning for his third star; a number of the recipes (e.g. the pigs trotter dish, the sauteed foie gras with peach chutney, the tarte tatin) I happily remember from that time. The best bit though isn't actually the recipes, its the introductory essays which detail what the restaurant gets up to in each season. Another book which has aged well.</i>Jon Tsenghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01916149961326205602noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6732049007302130204.post-10986785630502216232012-10-27T09:12:00.000+01:002012-10-27T17:13:40.722+01:00The best place for cookbooks in London (and its not in Notting Hill)<h2>
The death of the bookshop</h2>
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It doesn't take a genius to realise that physical bookshops are in a rum state. The inexorable rise of the e-book has gouged huge holes in a business model manifestly unsuited to a digital world.<br />
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The implosion of Borders (a chain so big it went bust not <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2009/nov/26/borders-goes-into-administration">one</a>, <a href="http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702303661904576454353768550280.html">two</a> but <a href="http://www.smh.com.au/business/borders-angus--robertson-go-bust-20110217-1axt9.html">three</a> times!) has been the highest profile example. Waterstone's decision to <a href="http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/technology/micwright/100007649/amazon-is-inviting-waterstones-to-top-itself/">stock the Kindle</a> is, depending on how you see it, the latest example of corporate hara-kiri, or an admission of the inevitable.<br />
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The cookbook-lover in me is profoundly depressed by these developments. A good cookbook is a trove to be treasured, not just content to be licenced. However the <a href="http://www.uneasyempires.blogspot.com/">Wall St technology analyst</a> in me tells me that you can't fight the future. Much as a love a good bookshop I suspect that in the long run the majority of them are toast.<br />
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So I say, enjoy it while it lasts.<br />
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<h2>
London's best cookbook shop (and its not the one in Notting Hill)</h2>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhGwPbiqiHqss27a3ssMwkylaMNJuUhjRCrLE2SNvuAQhFABpNCGWpMKtl6YLgwCScIdUKer0P1KikwUciw-bTaX8WsvSZ4QYG4yJ4xWEmR0WaPfZNpT8M8mtgWzwAmzPXA1WNIEO_4yLhD/s1600/12100071.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhGwPbiqiHqss27a3ssMwkylaMNJuUhjRCrLE2SNvuAQhFABpNCGWpMKtl6YLgwCScIdUKer0P1KikwUciw-bTaX8WsvSZ4QYG4yJ4xWEmR0WaPfZNpT8M8mtgWzwAmzPXA1WNIEO_4yLhD/s320/12100071.jpg" width="178" /></a>London's Foyle's bookshop is just such a treasure. Sprawling across a large block on the Charing Cross Road, it was long renowned for its boozy literary lunches and idiosyncratic management practices. Fiction books were bizarrely arranged by publisher which made it impossible to find anything (if Kafka did libraries...). Then there was the Stalinist teller system where you took your book to the counter, were given a ticket to take to a separate booth to render payment, and then had to return to the counter to collect your goods (ironically it didn't help, given large <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2000/may/27/books.booksnews">financial discrepancies</a> were later discovered the accounts). For many years the store's refusal to move with the times seemed to condemn it to a slow death in the face of faster-moving rivals like Dillons and Borders.</div>
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Happily in the last ten years the grand dame has enjoyed something of a renaissance. While the Borders opposite has long self-combusted, a revamped Foyle's sales serenely on. The lifts may be a bit ratty and the floor plan slightly confusing, but plans to <a href="http://www.thebookseller.com/news/new-foyles-bookshop-become-biggest-london.html">move up the road</a> to an expansive new site bode well for the future.<br />
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Best of all, their cookery department is by far the best in London. That didn't always used to be the case. Back in the day Borders could out-muscle them if you were in search of imported US editions, and Notting Hill specialist <a href="http://www.booksforcooks.com/">Books for Cooks</a> was the go-to place for obscure French volumes. However Borders is now gone and I last time I was at BfC the selection seemed oh so tame.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Sooo many cookbooks... My head is already getting giddy...</td></tr>
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In contrast the selection at Foyles is expansive and exciting. So I last week I thought I'd take a trip armed with my camera and a notebook and gut-and-fillet their current inventory. It's a good time of year as publishers roll out their new lists, peacock-like, for the Christmas rush. In no apparent order, here's what I came across:<br />
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<i>Note - this is just a subjective flick through the books on show. Its not a definitive review of anything. I'm probably wrong on most of them. Not all of them are new (especially the ones from the second hand section!). It's just a look at the books that caught my eye. Nothing more.</i><br />
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<i>Salumi: The Craft of Italian Dry Curing</i> (Michael Ruhlman & Brian Polcyn). Now I'm a sucker for dead pig. Particularly cured, salted or smoked. This is the follow-up to Ruhlman's previous book on <i>Charcuterie</i>, a much neglected topic, but from the point of view of an Italian-American deli. Pass the meatballs.<br />
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<i>Modernist Cuisine at Home</i> (Nathan Myhrvold & Maxime Bilet). Only one volume as opposed to the five volumes of the original MC (so I won't be able to use it as a bedside table this time...). Also makes more use of a pressure cooker this time round - a much neglected kitchen gadget IMHO.<br />
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<i>Monica's Kitchen </i>(Monica Galetti). TV sous-Dragon (and Le Gavroche sous-chef) Monica makes a surprisingly domesticated published debut, entirely at odds with her fearsome reputation. Will probably help her sell more books (basically the "you too can cook like Monica" line). Good to see that Le Gavroche <i>head</i> chef Rachel Humphrey's (probably the most underrated female cook in London, certainly the most underrated not to get on telly) gets a shout-out in the acknowledgements. Remember its Rachel who keeps the restaurant running while Michel and Monica are in the studio!<br />
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<i>You're All Invited: Margot's Recipes for Entertaining</i> (Margot Henderson). A similarly low-key debut from Margot Henderson, the lesser-known spouse of foodie deity Fergus Henderson of St John. Very much Simon Hopkinson/Nigel Slater comfort food. No obvious pigs trotters, but I may have missed them.<br />
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<i>The Complete Nose to Tail: A Kind of British Cooking</i> (Fergus Henderson). While I'm on that topic here's the hubby's book. Unfortunately its just a deluxe mashup of <a href="http://morecookbooksthansense.blogspot.co.uk/2012/09/the-secret-of-st-john-henderson.html">his previous two books</a> rather than a new volume (I've a feeling this is a reprint of the expanded US version). So a bit of a cash-in from old Ferg, but worthwhile if you don't have the originals.<br />
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<i>Memories of Gascony </i>(Pierre Koffmann). I've <a href="http://morecookbooksthansense.blogspot.co.uk/2012/09/two-bookcooks-to-watch-out-for-koffmann.html">blogged about this one before</a> - the reprint has now happily arrived. It's got the recipe for the pigs trotter and the <a href="http://morecookbooksthansense.blogspot.co.uk/2012/10/signatures-confit-of-petuna-ocean-trout.html">salmon confit</a>. 'Nuff said.<br />
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<i>Ard Bia Cook Book</i> (Aoibheann Mac Namara & Aoife Carrigy). A bizarrely minimalist volume which could easily be mistaken for an IKEA catalogue. On closer inspection it appears to be a semi-sleb cookbook from an Irish restaurant I've never heard of.<br />
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<i>Faviken</i> (Magnus Nilsson). The good news - cult Arctic-Circle new-Nordic restaurant has a new cookbook out. The bad news - its been published by Phaidon the form-over-content-mongers who are a blight on the cookbook world. Unsurprisingly it embraced high production values and a surfeit of recipes. Actually some of the content is so pretentious its virtually beyond parody - such as the recipe for <i>Vinegar Matured In The Burnt-Out Truck Of A Spruce Tree</i>. I kid ye not.<br />
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<i>If I Were Your Wife or how to make every day taste like Saturday</i> (Lotta Lungren). Another one I include purely for entertainment rather than culinary value. This appears to be a badly-translated Swedish housewife's take on Mediterranean Cooking. So this is what<i> </i>Italians must think when they see <i><a href="http://www.amazon.co.uk/Nigellissima-Instant-Inspiration-Nigella-Lawson/dp/0701187336/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1351287378&sr=8-1">Nigelissima</a></i>!!<br />
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<i>Ruhlman's Twenty</i> (Michael Ruhlman). On top of the salumi, Mr Ruhlman has a second book out! Like his earlier <i>Ratio</i>, it's a brave but slightly flawed attempt to codify an attempt to cooking - this case taking twenty basic principles (ranging from <i>acidity</i> to <i>butter</i> to <i>onions</i>) and showing how they should be applied with recipes. It almost works.<br />
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<i>The Pressure Cooker Cookbook</i> (Catherine Phipps). As I mentioned, the pressure cooker is my current <i>gadget du jour</i>. A sensible selection of recipes - quite brave to include a pressure-cooked fish <i>en papilotte</i> recipe I have to say (generally, pressure cooker + fish = mush). She does make the very good point though that a pressure cooker can pulverise octopus to tenderness in twelve minutes (as well as making <a href="http://www.blueapocalypse.com/2010/05/comfort-food-2-rice-congee-and-pressure.html">yummy congee</a> in thirty!)<br />
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<i>Burma: Rivers of Flavour</i> (Naomi Daguid). <a href="http://morecookbooksthansense.blogspot.co.uk/2012/10/a-tale-of-two-chinas-alford-daguid.html">As blogged about before</a>, Naomi's first solo effort since the end of her partnership with Jeffrey Alford. Versus their previous books I think its more recipe driven. Tellingly in the acknowledgements she thanks their children but nary a mention for poor Jeffrey, so I guess (sadly) we're unlikely to see them writing together again.<br />
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<i>New Beijing Cuisine</i> (Jereme Leung). I've had this and his <i>New Shanghai Cuisine</i> on my to-by list for a while. They are very interesting books on haute-Chinese cuisine written by a <a href="http://www.sino-impression.com/Culture200926104616.html">Shanghai-based</a> chef. Most Haute-Asian Fusion (HAF) books are basically French cuisine with soy-sauce. Jereme stays truer to his Chinese roots, while still adding the obligatory dash of truffle and foie gras. Well work seeking out.<br />
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<i>Japanese Farm Food</i> (Nancy Singleton Hachisu). Annoyingly I forgot to take a picture of this one for some reason - so I've nicked one off the web instead. But don't hold that against it this is a great book. Basically Cali girl goes to Japan for an exchange. Marries a local farmer/cowboy. Likes on the farm in Japan, teaches Japanese food and writes about it. Sounds like a recipe for disaster but its not - this is a brilliant, vibrant book which gives you all the Japanese home cooking basics with a fun twist. Interesting also she got famed American cookbook author (and Robuchon groupie) Patricia Wells to supply the foreword - a mark of quality in this case.<br />
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<i>Memories of Gascony</i> (Pierre Koffmann). So good I mentioned it twice! Actually no, Foyle's also has an interesting second-hand selection which has of number of notable volumes, including this one by Pierre. Also in-store was Raymond Blanc's <i><a href="http://www.amazon.co.uk/Blanc-Mange-Mysteries-Kitchen-Revealed/dp/0563370165/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1351288571&sr=1-1">Blanc-Mange</a></i> (the original food-science-molecular-inspired-chefbook - written years before Heston came on the scene), a French version of Fernand Point's landmark <i><a href="http://www.amazon.co.uk/Ma-Gastronomie-Fernand-Point/dp/071563836X/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1351288589&sr=1-1">Ma Gastronomie</a></i>, and a copy of Patricia Well's brilliant Robuchon-for-the-masses book <i><a href="http://www.caterersearch.com/Articles/28/08/2003/49886/Cuisine-Actuelle.htm">Cuisine Actuelle</a></i>. The catch is that unlike most second-hand places, Foyle's prices are extremely keen. <i>Memories </i>for example is sixty five quid which is hard to swallow when the reprint is available on the next shelf for less than half that.<br />
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<i>A Book for Cooks: 101 Classic Cookbooks</i> (Leslie Geddes-Brown). A book after my own heart! A glossy run-down of 101 landmark cookbooks ranging from Eliza Acton's <i>Modern Cookery</i> to Terry Durack's <i>Noodle</i>. Though some of the volumes she cites are slightly obscure, I think she show's good judgement and I agree with many of her books. Hmmm a blog about cookbooks writing about a cookbook shop which stocks a book about cookbooks. Now that's meta! lol<br />
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<i>Neurogastronomy - How the brain creates flavour and why it matters</i> (Gordon Shepherd). Written by a US academic this could have been a valuable contribution to the molecular gastronomy/flavour perception debate. Unfortunately it looks a bit too plodding and academic. Too much neutrology, not enough gastronomy.<br />
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<i>My Bread - The Revolutionary No-Work, No-Knead Method </i>(Jim Lahey), <i>Kneadlessly Simple </i>(Nancy Baggett), <i>No Need to Knead - Handmade Artisan Breads in 90 Minutes</i> (Suzanne Dunaway). Jim Lahey's <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2006/11/08/dining/08mini.html?_r=1">innovative method for no-knead bread</a> not only kicked off a baking revolution, it seems to have kicked off a mini-genre too. TBH Dunaway's promise of no-knead artisan bread in 90 minutes sounds too good to be true - I'd probably stick to Lahey's original work.<br />
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<i>Whole Beast Butchery: The Complete Visual Guide to Beef, Lamb and Pork </i>(Ryan Farr, Brigit Binns & Ed Anderson). Pretty self-explanatory really. A sumptuously-photographed step-by-step guide to how to break down the beast of your choice. Really interesting for anyone who wants to understand why their tri-tip is different from their tricep. Not recommend for vegetarians though.<br />
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<i>Testicles: Balls and Cooking in Culture</i> (Blandine Vie, translated by Giles MacDonogh). Probably a book which only a French person could write with a straight face, though interesting they got MacDonogh (notable FT food writer) to handle the translation. To be honest, looks like a load of old bollocks to me...<br />
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<i>Odd Bits: How to Cook the Rest of the Animal</i> (Jennifer McLagan and Leigh Beisch). Another entry in the <i>offal is really cool</i> genre (cf anything by Fergus Henderson, <i><a href="http://www.amazon.com/Offal-Fifth-Quarter-Anissa-Helou/dp/1906650551/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1351289300&sr=1-1&keywords=Offal+fifth+quarter">Offal: The Fifth Quarter</a></i> etc.). Written by the team who produced the wonderful iconoclastic <i><a href="http://www.amazon.com/Fat-Appreciation-Misunderstood-Ingredient-Recipes/dp/1580089356/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1351289267&sr=8-2&keywords=Fat">Fat: An Appreciation of a Misunderstood Ingredient, with Recipes</a></i> a few years back, so worth a look.<br />
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<i>The Square Cookbook, Volume 1: Savoury</i> (Philip Howard). Another one I've <a href="http://morecookbooksthansense.blogspot.co.uk/2012/09/two-bookcooks-to-watch-out-for-koffmann.html">previously blogged about</a>. Good to see it's landed and at over 400 pages its a whopper. And yes it does include the recipe for crab lasagne. Phew!<br />
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<i>Secrets of the Sommeliers</i> (Rajat Parr & Jordon Mackay). Another cracking book giving the view of the wine world form the perspective of a top US sommelier. A really interesting insider perspective on everything from buying tasting, matching and serving wine. A reminder of how US food books are often streets ahead of their UK rivals, especially with "prosumer" titles.<br />
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Also don't forget that Foyle's also has a wide range of food-related periodics, including Momofuku's bleeding-edge <i><a href="http://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2011/06/2011s-best-new-food-magazine-david-changs-lucky-peach/240804/">Lucky Peach</a></i> (and before you ask they don't have issue 1 in stock, only 2, 3 and 4), the UK's <i><a href="http://shop.fireandknives.com/">Fire and Knives</a></i>, <i><a href="http://www.gastronomica.org/">Gastronomica</a></i>, a new one called <i><a href="http://thegourmand.co.uk/">The Gourmand</a></i>, the Proceedings from the last couple of <i><a href="http://oxfordsymposium.org.uk/">Oxford Symposiums on Food and Cookery</a> </i>and the house journal of every self-respecting wine snob, <i><a href="http://www.finewinemag.com/">World of Fine Wine</a></i>.<br />
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In summary a great selection. The one's that stood out for me were the Japanese Farm Kitchen book and the Sommelier volume - both books I had no idea about before I stumbled into Foyles. I'm sad that when the physical bookshop does go the way of the dodo I shall miss these sort of opportunities (or at least have fewer places to seek them out). But let's just enjoy it while it lasts!<br />
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Jon Tsenghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01916149961326205602noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6732049007302130204.post-40094810903170335672012-10-24T08:31:00.000+01:002012-10-24T17:56:59.353+01:00Signatures: Pounded Tuna with Foie Gras (Ripert)<div class="tr_bq">
<i>Another instalment in my series on signature dishes, following on from <a href="http://morecookbooksthansense.blogspot.co.uk/2012/10/signatures-confit-of-petuna-ocean-trout.html">last week's piece</a> on Testuya's Confit Trout. Sticking with the aquatic theme, we have the foie-gras and tuna carpaccio from Le Bernardin in New York.</i></div>
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<h2>
The dish</h2>
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Le Bernardin's tuna carpaccio (more precisely <i>Thinly Pounded Yellowfin Tuna, Foie Gras and Toasted Baguette, Shaved Chives and Extra Virgin Olive Oil</i>) is easy to describe. A razor-thin shard of baguette is spread with foie gras terrine and laid on the place. A layer of pounded tuna is placed on top. The dish is then seasoned with salt and pepper, brushed with olive oil and sprinkled with shallot and chives.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Eric Ripert: Not big on Casual Fridays.</td></tr>
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Originally it started off as a plain seafood carpaccio, created by Le Bernardin's original chef and co-owner <a href="http://www.people.com/people/archive/article/0,,20094222,00.html">Gilbert Le Coze</a>. Long before Nobu and Vong spearheaded the Jap-Asian fusion trend he was served barely or nonly-cooked fish in pristine simplicity. At the time this was a revolutionary as it got.<br />
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After Le Coze's <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/1994/07/30/nyregion/gilbert-le-coze-dies-at-49-inspired-a-generation-of-chefs.html">untimely passing</a>, Eric Ripert took over the stoves. The Tuna Carpaccio was by now a signature, but after coming across a foie gras & venison version in Sweden Sweden, he made the crucial tweak of adding the fatted liver.<br />
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This dish stands out for two reasons. Simplicity and balance.<br />
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<h2>
Simplicity</h2>
It's a common misconception that dishes at better restaurants are more complicated.<br />
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Often when you try some country-house hotel straining for its first (or even second) star you are deluged with "Textures of Cauliflower" or "Assiette of Suckling Pig" where there are a dozen things on a plate. This is something I also common New Nordic cuisine where the formula is roughly<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<i>(Sous-Vide Protein + Granite/Ice + Random Crunchy Snow/Soil/Crumb + Unusual Foraged Green + Foam/Emulsion) x 12 = Tasting Menu and Blogosphere Raves</i></blockquote>
Now occasionally this works. <a href="http://www.timeout.com/london/restaurants/venue/2%3A26888/viajante">Viajante</a> and <a href="http://londoneater.com/2010/06/28/texture-deliciously-unfamiliar/">Texture</a> in London, for example. But these are the exceptions. The math is that more complexity spreads a chef's effort more thinly over multiple preparations.<br />
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In reality dishes at better restaurants are often simpler.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Escolar, simply sauced.</td></tr>
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I've already <a href="http://morecookbooksthansense.blogspot.co.uk/2012/09/the-secret-of-st-john-henderson.html">written about St John</a> as an example of this ethos. <a href="http://www.dininginfrance.com/l'ambroisie_Gastroville_reviews.htm">L'Ambroisie</a> in Paris is another shining example - order the <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/qliweb/6860340492/">chocolate tart</a> and its just a slice of tart, but one amped up to an unbelievable ethereal lightness.<i> </i>The notorious <i><a href="http://www.dininginfrance.com/PB161882.htm">Tourte de Canard</a></i> is simply a slice of duck pie on a plate. But it's about one of the most technically demanding dishes you can make.<br />
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The point is that simplicity is not easy - it's actually much harder.<br />
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Le Bernardin are the exponents of this philosophy <i>par excellence</i>. What that blew me away when I ate there was the purity of the cooking, never more than three or four components on a plate. Striped bass was paired with a simple duck consomee. Escolar was almost nude apart from a red-wine sauce. That's bravery - because when there is so little on the plate, there is nowhere for the chef to hide.<br />
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<h2>
Balance</h2>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><div style="text-align: left;">
Maguy, doing that French woman-always-</div>
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looking-incredibly-chic thing</div>
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The second genius of this dish is its balance. Le Bernardin's owner Maguy Le Coze lays out her philosophy better than I can:<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<i>"To really succeed in fish, you need contrast: acidity, spice, texture." That's why every fish dish on the menu will have a balance between crisp and unctuous; exotic spices tempered with a dash of acidity, best seen in dishes like the lobster in grapefruit juice, or even the surf-and-turf, which pairs rich Kobe beef and Escolar with lemon brown butter sauce and spicy kimchi. </i>(p74)</blockquote>
The Tuna Carpaccio is the perfection of this philosophy. Normally you'd think the double fattiness of foie gras with tuna would be too much, but because its so thinly pounded and delicately portioned, the zing of the lemon and shallot stands up to it. The slice of baguette provides that essential crunch and the chives provide a delicate spice.<br />
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Figuring out that balance to work is the mark of genius.<br />
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<h2>
The Recipe</h2>
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The dish is thoroughly documented in Eric Ripert's 2008 book <i><a href="http://www.amazon.com/Line-Eric-Muhlke-Christine-Ripert/dp/1579653693">On The Line</a></i>. First he prepares a <a href="http://ruhlman.com/2011/05/how-to-make-torchon-recipe/">foie gras <i>torchon</i></a>. A whole liver (presumably duck, given the size) is cured for 24 hours with seasoning, wrapped in parchment paper and cheesecloth (a torchon) and then barely poached in chicken stock.<br />
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Note that this is <i>barely</i> poached - two minutes and an internal temperature of 90f / 32c is not going to cook the liver (when I make terrine in the oven I generally take it to 58c). The raw liver is just melted together, nothing more (after all its mostly fat). The method here is very similar to the <i>Torchon</i> recipe in the <a href="http://carolcookskeller.blogspot.co.uk/2007/07/poached-moulard-duck-foie-gras-au.html">original French Laundry book</a>, which poaches the liver for only 90 seconds. What this method does is gives a richer, butterier result and a higher yield than a standard terrine. In fact its when shaved onto the baguette its pretty much a foie gras carpaccio.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjV4uXYlZRrPfDyslCDdOizvlVRjM40am5DGzlueAlQi5NK5vff42uG9W3lKBAp_1iTUHC7pa7VTST8qBI_TgU2fDFai-DWnyVpX7g1aGYocHP_ypYwFaeWUXPob9hua0WOGqtj18kzRrmT/s1600/torchon.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="166" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjV4uXYlZRrPfDyslCDdOizvlVRjM40am5DGzlueAlQi5NK5vff42uG9W3lKBAp_1iTUHC7pa7VTST8qBI_TgU2fDFai-DWnyVpX7g1aGYocHP_ypYwFaeWUXPob9hua0WOGqtj18kzRrmT/s320/torchon.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Preparing foie gras <i>Torchon</i>, French Laundry Style</td></tr>
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(Also bear in mind a whole foie gras in the recipe will give you <i>much much</i> more than you need for a four-person portion. Make sure you have some extra brioche and fruit chutney to hand!)<br />
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The tuna is then pounded thinly between plastic wrap and cut to match the plate. Baguette slices are layered between baking sheets and toasted, and then you're pretty much off to the races!<br />
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This recipe should be quite straightforward for the home cook. The only potentially fiddly bit is the torchon - but at least the brief poaching time means you won't have the usual small lake of foie gras fat to deal with. And of course - as with all such recipes - don't even think about this unless you can get the very best possible quality fish.<br />
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<h2>
The Book</h2>
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To finish, a few notes about the book itself. As the tagline <i>Inside The World of Le Bernardin</i> suggests, this is one of those fly-on-the-wall books which purport to give a snapshot in the life of a great restaurant (for a similar but vastly inferior example see Phaidon's <i>A Day at El Bulli</i>).<br />
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Normally I don't like this sort of book because the pages tend to be filled with cheap reportage, at the expense of recipes and detail (just ask Phaidon). I have to say though that they do a damn good job with this one. I think the reason why is provided in the introduction:<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<i>Here's a secret: The lease on Le Bernardin runs out in 2011. I hope we can successfully renegotiate, but the one thing Gilbert didn't leave us is a crystal ball, so we have to prepare. That's why wanted to publish this book, as a stribute to the incredible people who make this one of the best restaurants in New York every meal, every day. </i>(p11)</blockquote>
This urgency is what makes this book feel much more like a labour of love than a PR-puff piece (though happily <a href="http://ny.eater.com/archives/2011/05/le_bernardin_signs_15_year_lease_plans_monthlong_reno.php">the lease was renewed</a>).<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Now you can even lay out your kitchen out like Eric!</td></tr>
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The first half of the book is a fascinating behind-the-scenes look at how the restaurant works. It's not so much a narrative as a series of magazine features which touch on everything, from how the kitchen is laid out to how the reservation system works.<br />
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Although the presentation is inevitably glossy, you don't feel anything is being hidden away. For example it is very honest about how chef de cuisine Chris Muller (not Ripert) is the driving force behind the kitchen. And not only Muller but also the sous-chef and sauce-chef also get full profiles. Co-author Christine Muhlke is making a point here - Le Bernardin is more than just Maguy and Eric.<br />
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The recipes which make up the back half of the book are thorough and detailed - they feel like full-fat restaurant versions. In addition to the carpaccio, its generously larded with Ripert's signatures, from the olive-oil poached escolar to the progression of fluke ceviches. Pastry chef Michael Laiskonis also chips in with a number of modern desserts (including a chocolate, caramel and maple egg which has definite echoes of the <i><a href="http://lizziee.wordpress.com/2011/11/06/cracking-eggs-scrambledthe-arpege-egg/">Arpege Egg</a></i>).<br />
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The best part however isn't the restaurant guff. It's the pen-picture of Justo Thomas, Le Bernardin's fish butcher on pages 58-59. Justo's <a href="http://eatocracy.cnn.com/2011/02/25/the-fish-butcher/">incredible skill and attention to detail</a> epitomise why <i>Le Bernardin</i> is a special place.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="font-size: 13px; text-align: center;">Justo, with victim.</td></tr>
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If you want to understand more about Justo (and his restaurant), just read the chapter Anthony Bourdain devotes to him in his 2010 book <i><a href="http://www.amazon.com/Medium-Raw-Bloody-Valentine-People/dp/0061718955">Medium Raw</a></i>. It's some of the best writing Bourdain has done since <i>Kitchen Confidential</i>, and I'll leave you in his capable hands:<br />
<blockquote>
<i>There are two kinds of salmon to deal with now. One large wild salmon and either thirteen- to fifteen-pound organically farm-raised salmon... With the chef's knife, he cuts from collar down and lifts off the filets... The skins are removed with a few rocking sweeps of the knife.</i> </blockquote>
<blockquote>
<i>But most remarkable is what he does with the pin bones. These are the tiny, tricky, nearly invisible little rib bones left in the meat when you take the filets off the fish. They have to be removed individually by yanking the little fuckers out with tweezers or needle-nose pliers, a process that takes most cooks a while. Ordinary mortals have to feel for each slim bone lurking just beneath the surface, carefully not to gouge the delicate flesh.</i></blockquote>
<blockquote>
<i>Justo moves his hand up the filet in a literal flurry of movement; with each bone that comes out, he taps the pliers on the cutting board to release it, then, never stopping, in one continuous motion, repeats repeats repeats. It sounds like a quick, double-time snare drum beat, a staccato </i>tap tap tap tap tap tap<i>, and then... done. A pause of a few seconds as he begins another side of fish. I can barely see his hand move.</i> </blockquote>
<blockquote>
<i>I have never seen anything like it in nearly three decades in the restaurant business.</i></blockquote>
PS If you want to see the man in action check out the video <a href="http://www.gq.com/video/videos/how-to-filet-a-fish-justo-thomas-la-bernadin-tutorial-video">here</a>. Pin bones at 1:01.Jon Tsenghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01916149961326205602noreply@blogger.com3