indiagirl
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Posts posted by indiagirl
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i would agree with your friends assessment, although i think the gujarati influence is quite mild. i see gujarati food as being predominantly vegetarian and paris food is not at all, is it?
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could be the colonial influence that has slowly seeped into my genes over the centuries.
or
it could be the country club a five minute drive from my house in hyderabad where i spent many lovely evenings.
:)
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Can't I be an aesthetic engineer?
Instead, I'll just be silent, so that the playas can vote instead of having more opinions to contend with.
When decisions have been made, I shall humbly sit back and sip and taste cheese and record my opinions.
Besides, my husband, the wine guy in our house, is otherwise occupied.
He did add a comment though that drinking a type of wine and cheese (as opposed to specific instances) may enable us to draw generic conclusions - everyone likes a chablis with goat cheese. Although I find it unlikely that that will happen with an eGullet group, it's a good thought!
This is exciting. I can't wait to go cheese shopping. I live a block away from the best delis in the country.
www.zingermans.com
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Some odors seem to have the property of increasing the perceived sweetness of a sucrose solution even though they possess no taste themselves. It is unlikely that this type of taste-odor interactions occur at the receptor level. Since odor and taste are subserved by two separate neuroanatomical systems it is more probable that odor-taste interactions occur at the central processing level.Sensory Expertise: Are experts and novices really different?
* Expertise level and odour perception : What can we learn from burgundy red wines? (S. Chollet and D. Valentin, poster presented at ESOC 99 - LYON) )
We compare the olfactive dimensions used by two groups of subjects with a different expertise level to describe and categorise a series of 13 red burgundy wines. A verbal and a non verbal approaches have been used in parallel. The verbal approach included a communication task and a description task. Pairs of assessors were asked to match a series of samples based only on verbal exchanges. All the terms generated were recorded and the terms most frequently used served as a basis for the description task. The non verbal approach included a similarity judgement task. Multivariate analyses have been used to analyse the data. Results show that 1) both groups of subjects were able to perform the communication task reasonably well and to generate a coherent set of descriptors, 2) the two groups of subjects use an equivalent number of dimensions to describe and categorise the wines, and 3) the two groups of subjects use the same dimensions for the non verbal task, but different dimensions for the verbal task. This dissociation between verbal and non verbal tasks suggests that the perceptual representation of wine is similar for the two groups of subjects but that the verbalisation of this representation varies with the expertise level. Subjects with a higher level of expertise tend to use analytical terms whereas subjects with a lower level tend to use holistic terms.
* What's in a wine name? When and why are wine experts ``better" than novices? (D. Valentin, M. Pichon, V. deBoishebert, H. Abdi, poster presented at the Psychonomic Society Meeting 2000 - Los Angeles) ) We compare the ability of expert and novice wine tasters to discriminate, sort, describe and recognize a series of 28 red wines coming from 7 French wine areas. Results show that, whereas both groups of subjects were able to discriminate between the wines, only the experts were able to generate wine descriptions allowing other experts to recognize the wines. This superiority of experts over novices might be due in part to the fact that experts use a more analytical vocabulary to describe the wines but also to the fact that experts have developed a perceptual representation of the olfactory properties of red French wines. Indeed the similarity data (derived from the sorting task) showed that experts, unlike novices, tended to sort the wines by grapes types (e.g., gamay, merlot). These results, contrary to some previous results (Chollet & Valentin, 2000), suggest that the difference between experts and novices is not limited to verbal abilities.
More interesting research. To add to the jelly bean study quoted above which I also read. And to address the FG research on people being stupid.
It seems to me that there are zillions of studies on going about the effect of sensory perceptions and the ability, or lack thereof, within our neural networks to distinguish between various sensory inputs.
A quick google search lost me an hour and gained me a fascinating insight into why presentation can affect taste, as can odor (garlic becomes 60% or something like that less recognizable to people who cannot smell it), and so on. And it informed me that this question is fueling much research that is often contradictory in conclusions. Possibly because the answers are not black and white?
I think extremes - really crappy looking food which tastes really good are easier to be cut and dry about than the point I made in my earlier post - good food that tastes better because of presentation.
I've got lots more to say and I've got two tickets to John Scofield. The tickets are winning.
Later ......
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i was making flour dumplings (indian style) that cook in a gravy. bit of four, pinch of baking soda, spices, etc.
when i was done, i figured my dumpling to gravy ratio was not what i wanted so i decided to make more dumplings, running slightly late, bit of a hurry, baking soda and flour in similar mason jars, made another batch with baking soda and a pinch of flour.
did not realise this until i served dinner - one dish meal too. rice and gravy with dumplings.
we spent the entire dinner figuring out how to idenitfy bombs from the good dumplings without actually biting into them. it was entertaining. :|
my baking soda sits in a very very different looking jar now.
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I tasted peanut butter for the first time when I moved to the US. And loved it.
I tasted a PB&J for the first time a few years after that. And loved it.
Two nights ago, I loosely followed instructions for burre blanc using balsamic vinegar instead of wine and smooth peanut butter instead of butter and finally threw in some coconut milk for good measure. The texture of the sauce was wonderful. I served it over rice noodles and flash fried spring onions and red chillies. Garnished with cilantro. I will certainly be making that again with variation experiments.
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torakris, GC,
they are about 3-4 inches in diameter and appear shallow fried and have a texture that is smoother than one would expect from using whole beans, so flour may be the answer.
they are savory
the next time i stop in there, i will be sure to ask!
also, upon consideration, i have realized that only our "fancy" korean restaurant has them on the menu. not the two cafeteria style ones on campus.
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indiagirl - G&T = Gin and [indian] Tonic [water]. Ever heard of it? It is a really good drink
.Gin and Tonic? Hmmmm. that sounds vaguely familiar ........ have I ever had that before? It sounds like something I could spend many an evening drinking - sitting outside on the shady verandah in an easy chair. ......
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I would be happy to do the egullet cheese abd wine thing. How about I make a selection for my friday shing-ding and you chaps/chapettes can compare?
The engineer in me screams for specific details ..... arrrgghhh.
Are we going to all drink the same wine and vintage?
Are we all going to eat the same brand of a type of cheese?
Is there a review form?
OK, I *may* be kidding on the last one.
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May I add a question to emahn's? Possibly one that he may have followed up with (if I may be so bold!)
I agree with you, Cabrales and FG, that presentation cannot make a dish. But here is my question, can it break a dish My personal opinion? Bad presentation can make mediocre food taste worse and good presentation can make good food taste better. But we're not talking about me, we're talking about how typical restaurant clientele react, correct?
So how would you finish these on behalf of the majority of restaurant going people (your opinion , ofcourse):
Bad Food+Bad Presentation = Bad
Bad Food+Mediocre Presentation = ?
Bad Food+Good Presentation = ?
Mediocre Food+Good Presentation = ?
Mediocre Food+Mediocre Presentation = Mediocre
Mediocre Food+Good Presentation = ?
Good Food+Bad Presentation = ?
Good Food+Mediocre Presentation = ?
Good Food+Good Presentation = Good
I only filled out the obvious ones!
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KimWB, yes, you can indeed freeze it. It is the thawing that you should give some consideration to. If you freeze it with the yoghurt, which should not be the problem, I would consider thawing it in a thick bottomed pot on low flame with some additional liquid in it (like a wee bit of milk perhaps since you have a yoghurt base). It'll take longer than a microwave but I think in the case of yoghurt it's prolly the better way to do it.
Glad you're cooking Indian food.
Here is a link to a thread were I posted another chicken recipe with yoghurt in it. If the link does not work, I believe it is in Indian Menu Planning.
http://forums.egullet.org/index.php?act=ST...T&f=40&t=17792&
And there is a whole thread on Youghurt in the Indian section to, although you've probably looked in that.
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Steve Klc raised some excellent points. And I happen to agree with a fair number of them. I clearly distinguished in my post between chains and RC's. Chains I do not support, RC's are a source of much debate - for many reasons including the idea of stability that Steve Klc mentioned.
Let me enumerate. And clarify. And perhaps explain why, IMO, this is not a case of "indifference, pretension or attitude."
I refuse to contribute to the profit base of restaurant chains - and I mean places like Mongolian BBQ and Don Carlos. My reasons are :
- they do not feed their profits back into the community hence they are limited to their constributions towards a sustainable economy
- time and again chain restaurants have upped and left without any concern for the local community economics
- because of a national profit base they are able to undercut "local" business owners
- on a personal level, I also do not appreciate what they do to the character of our downtown, but that is a different matter.
- on a personal level, I think the food and service are also below par at chain resturants
On a slight tangent, Target is a noteworthy example of a chain store that I do frequent. They funnel a portion of their profits into our local schools. Starbucks is also noteworthy because they make an effort to maintain a local character and serve consistent quality.
About the RC's - they are a source of constant debate because they draw a fair amount of out of town business to Ann Arbor and they certainly have a greater ability to weather difficult conditions. And these are good things.
On the flip side, several of them have been accused of immigrant worker exploitation (as nerissa pointed out, I think this is an issue independent of the type of restaurant) and they also seem to dominate our limited liquor licenses. I understand that these are both issues specific to Ann Arbor.
The employees being local in either case is unfortunately, not necessarily relevant to a student town. I think they all employ students extensively which does not do wonders for the quality of service anywhere. I could count the number of career waitstaff in this town on my fingers.
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Man, never heard of them. Are you sure they are not biological mutants?
:P
What's G&T?
added question
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oh no. even on that website they maintain the mung bean cakes silence.
are mung bean cakes fake korean? am i being subjected to a city wide hoax? sigh, i like 'em so.
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Hmm, maybe we should think about a eGullet (am I allowed to say that?) virtual tasting. Those of us interested could agree two or three cheeses, a couple of reds, and report on the flavors of wine and cheese before and after being tried together. I am not thinking of a general wine and cheese pairing experiment, just something more modest to explore the red wine question further. And I am thinking mainstream wines and cheeses. Anyone interested?
I'm in. As is my husband, and I'll try to invite a bunch of friends.
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and now there is a TJ's in good ole michigan. yaay. went there for the first time this weekend and was quite pleased. not to many exotic/new things but the prices are quite amazing. mmy tab was only a fourth of yours though awbirg. also. the mi edition appears less stocked than the one's some of you are frequenting.
i bought some of their aged balsamic. it's quite decent. not that i could tell it apart from a 50 buck one since i've never tasted a 50 buck one.
love the bubbly water prices.
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french toast with raisin bread
chocolate covered raisins
raisins in pilaf
raisins in navratna (nine jewel) korma
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I like it because it's such a brilliant example of clever press-release writing and timing -- that's why I put it on the media board.
Why timing, FG? Do you mean the cadence of the writing or that this restaurant is somehow relevant in the times we live in. Please explain.
Also, are they experimenting with different kinds of rice?
I think I need to move to NYC :\
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indeed one of the worlds greatest cuisine. the potato and pea curry (i'm in a hurry, monday is the day i do all of things that i should have done on the weekend) simmering on my stove just aint gonna do it now
:(
doesn't anyone like the mung bean cakes - i like those
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aah, i see. i thought foie gras was short hand for pate de foie gras and i had assumed that it was always a paste of marinated goose liver, truffles and things of that nature.
thanks much
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i've never eaten foie gras, being vegetarian most of my life, but i am in the process of changing that. fwiw, even to me, the latest version of the dish sounds appetizing
so, some education, please?
isin't foie gras a paste? how does one sear that? doesn't it burn immediately?
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I guess there are really two parts to this debate:
What are restaurant corporations (henceforth termed as RC's) doing to local restaurant businesses?
What are RC's doing to the quality of food being served?
The former, I believe, is a discussion of social responsibility. There are a couple of chain restaurants on the Main St. of my smallish town. I refuse to contribute to their profit base. Also, three, perhaps four, of the restaurants on that same street are owned by the same "restaurant management" company and while not a chain, they are, I suspect, quite similar to LEY. Whether to eat at these places or not is a frequent point of discussion in my life - I have no idea how much conversation they would stimulate on eGullet.
The latter, now, I think would be much food for thought on eGullet! Do RC's affect the quality and creativity of the fine dining experience. And how?
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I'd like to see a controlled experiment where we found some educated gourmets who were stranded in the Outback since 2000 so they never heard of ADNY. Then we'd take them to ADNY and not show them the prices or tell them anything about the place. I'd like to know how they'd react.
Would someone who has lived in the Midwest since 1992 and only barely just heard about ADNY and definitely completely missed the controversy serve as a satisfactory guinea pig?
Aw, c'mon FG.
3 Most Important Elements of a Plate...
in Food Traditions & Culture
Posted
For those who asked the jelly bean study, if I remember correctly, included super tasters, regular tasters and bad tasters - whatever the scientific names for those are.
How can appearance affect taste? The fact that the molecular property of the food does not change is not being debated. It is a given. But can appearance change the molecular property of food in the mouth. Yes.
Appearance and odor have both been proven to stimulate saliva. The presence, absence, quantity and chemical compostion of saliva have been proven to hugely affect the human capacity to taste.
There have been many scientific studies done on illnesses which impede saliva generation thus limiting the capacity to taste . The cultural aspects of saliva generating stimuli have similarly been studied. In fact, this difference in saliva generation stimuli and ability to taste has been thought to lead to malnutrition, because it can lead to unbalanced diets.
Can we talk about food again now? I was raised to think that spit and discussions of it were rude.
:)