hathor
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Posts posted by hathor
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Ciao. To be honest, my mind glazes over with all talk of technical camera geek-speak and I spend a lot of time taking pictures and by now its more intuition than technology.
But, getting back to Holly's original question: what to do about wide brimmed plates, I think the issue of photo composition is missing from this discussion.
As much as wide brimmed plates are Holly's bugaboo, my issues are with gloopy looking sauces and soups. How to make them look appealing is a complete challenge for me and I think it is a challenge in this photo as well. Too much glare and the sauce looks like a sticky, oily mess. Too close and macro and the dish looks just plain revolting.
So, I think this is where composition can play a role in representing a dish.
I used a screen shot, so it's much more blurry, but I think the crop and off center placement add an interesting visual component, while still keeping some of the drama of the large white plate.
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Ciao! I am the lucky benefactor of Weinoo's generosity. It's a gorgeous book, inspirational in terms of food presentation, color, texture, balance, etc.
The conversation between the brothers is fun, if a little 'artificial'.
The recipes are tough.. I haven't tried any of them. No Pacojet in the Christmas stocking this year....
But, still good flavor elements to try.
As matter of fact, I think I'll get it back out this afternoon and let inspiration strike.
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Nice looking bread, Mitch. My mother died... neglect.... I didn't call, I didn't write, I didn't feed her, you know how mothers can be... so no sour dough for me for right now.
But, I have a question: yours looks very 'holey'....doesn't that mean something...not enough hydration or something? God, I'm rusty....need to go back to baking bread!!
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Whilst I had my back turned, Richard Gere opened a restaurant in Bedford, NY. I think it's supposed to be a casual bistro, an upscale restaurant and an 8 room inn, but there's a scarcity of info. Buzz when it opened and now much of anything. Anyone been there?
Richard hired my good friend Chef Brian Lewis to run both the of the concepts. Brian is a serious talent and you can read my report on him while he was at the Vu in Scottsdale. Also, Martha, yes that Martha, is a big fan of what Brian is doing up there. I very much look forward to getting up that way to see what Brian is doing with all the great purveyors that he has sourced for the project. He also brought in Sous-Chef Jeremy McMillan to work with him from Redd in Napa and previously Zinc Bistro in Phoenix. He also got a little love from the NY Times.
Thanks for the NY Times link. I've been having trouble finding any current mention of the restaurant. We're planning on going in the near future, so I'll report back. Thanks again!
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Whilst I had my back turned, Richard Gere opened a restaurant in Bedford, NY. I think it's supposed to be a casual bistro, an upscale restaurant and an 8 room inn, but there's a scarcity of info. Buzz when it opened and now much of anything. Anyone been there?
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Thank you Dave for all the great info and for your generosity in sharing it.
Your eggs sound lovely and I'm sure your Thanksgiving dinner was delicious! Eggs and truffles are a match made in heaven.
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hathor, thanks for putting Friuli on the map for me, here and on your blog. It looks beautiful and is now very much on my list as a possible travel destination for 2009!
I'll meet you in Trieste...anytime!
That sounds so romantic...I think we should dress like 1940 film stars...all in black and white. We can sip Prosecco in the Piazza Liberta and wait for Humphrey Bogart to walk by...or we can have our spouses dress like Humphrey Bogart.... -
Alessandro is still grumbling about the truffles, so I guess production isn't up to standards. I will keep asking, maybe he needs a new dog.
Of course he's grumbling..he's Italian...in his DNA!
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The Oregon whites are like a poor cousin to the whites of the Piedmont (or Croatia or Toscana). They have a similar flavor profile with a bunch more of a petrol aroma and a much weaker pervasiveness. There is no comparison. I say this as a person who has sold hundreds of pounds of domestic (Oregon / CA) truffles for over 15 years and has also travelled to Europe to dine on truffles for those same 15 years. However not everyone wants to or can afford to pay the Kings ransom it takes for fine European Whites. At 1/10th the price or less Oregon Whites have a market. They can be fabulous when ripe and used properly. When Green and poorly used they are no better than a potato. I try to convince folks to wait for ripe truffles (usually January and beyond) and avoid the unripe (Green) ones. I have many, many satisfied customers, including those who have dined on wonderful Piedmontese whites. The Oregon ones can be used quite liberally and that helps. They are also FAT SOLUBLE which means they do best in eggs or mixed into softened butter and then put on pasta whereas the Italian version has tons of flavor (when ripe, in a good year) it can stand alone.
In closing I will say there is no more a fair comparison between good white truffles of Italy (Croatia, etc) and Oregon as comparing an Opel Astra to a Murcielago. It is a different product entirely.
Very interesting. Is that petrol aroma specific to a truffle species? I ask because we wound up with some very petrol smelling white truffles last year. A truffle guy brought them around to the restaurant swearing they were local, but I thought he may not have been completely honest....
What do you mean when you say fat soluble? Aren't all truffles fat soluble?
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Well it took me a long time to organize my Friuli notes...besides having a lot of notes, regular life just kept interfering....know what I mean?!
If you want a blow by blog, with names, addresses and photos, check out my blog. This is just to whet your appetite. If anyone wants some specific info, PM me. We also found some great hotels, and some you can avoid.
Here are some photo highlights. With me egullet print out in hand, we really did try to get to Tricesmo, but the smell of grilling meat lured us into Trattoria Friuli instead and we shared a fine steak and a literal mountain of fresh sauteed funghi. The foragers were literally staggering out of the hills carrying huge baskets of mushrooms.
Our favorite vineyard is Cencig and he doesn't export.
Just a real small place where we bought killer cab franc for 90 cents a liter. We came back from Friuli with a much bigger appreciation of fine glassware. No matter how humble the place, your wine came in exquisite crystal. Saturday night in Udine there are literally thousands of people on the streets, all holding fine stemware. We came back, bought some nice crystal and have proceeded to break most of them already. Oh well, I still want my wine in a nice glass.
Friuli is more or less off the tourist radar and I truly don't understand why. It's gorgeous, it has mountains, coastline, an incredible food and wine culture and the magical city of Trieste.
Fantastic cocktail bar in Udine...best DJ ever...damn good Manhattans
Wonderful enoteca in Cividale del Friuli. Guy knows his stuff and loves to share his knowledge.
Right in the main piazza.
Cividale del Friuli, heart of wine country. I told you it was pretty.
Boreto restaurant in the seaside town of Grado. Boreto is local dialect for brodetto which means a kind of fish stew that is made all over the Adriatic coast. Each town boasts a slightly different and of course, superior version.
Depending on where you are the food can tend toward Austrian/Slovenia influences, with great cheeses, San Daniele prosciutto which should be eaten at every meal, fresh grated horseradish shows up in unexpected places or else you have very simple fresh fish presentations.
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Well what do you think of this article? Oregon truffles taste better than Italian truffles
Here's my take... if you transported the Oregon truffles to Italy and did a side by side, the Italian truffles would taste better. I don't care what people say, truffles don't travel well. A day or two out of the ground and they are a ghost of their former self. It also doesn't say what species of Italian white truffles they used.
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After three years in Piemonte and countless evenings in pizzarias, I hold the following to be true:
1. If you are standing at a bar, you can eat pizza with your hands.
2. If you are sitting, use a knife and fork.
3. If you do order wine with pizza it is usually by the carafe and not the bottle, unless you want to show off.
4. Beer is perfectly acceptable and somewhat vogue at the moment (but I resist this because there are more winemakers in Italy than beer brewers and I think we should support the winemakers because their market is shrinking)
5. Bottled water is ALWAYS on the table.
6. For pizza I never tip more than 1 euro for the whole table.
OH....you Piedmontese are like soooo uptown!
Here in Umbria:
1) You can't get pizza at a bar.
At some places you can get pizza for lunch, but that's a recent thing and only for tourists. It just feels wrong. Pizza by the slice is an affront to nature and only for those people who have a fear of commitment. 2) Knives and forks are good, they are particularly useful to ward off the hand of your neighbor who is trying to steal a bit.
3) The carafe wine at our preferred pizza place is so bad that Jeff actually poured it down my leg to get rid of it. It was summer, he didn't mean it, I dried quickly. We've recently learned that Franco keeps a stash of Shhhrahh behind the counter. That's phonetic for Syrah. If you don't put the SHHHH in Syrah, Franco doesn't give you his better wine.
4) Beer is for the guys in matching track suits. Very in vogue in our neck of the woods.
5) Bottled water is always on the table. Oh, thanks god we agree on something.
6) If the waitress is pretty, our friend Bruce makes a point of handing it to her personally.
Clearly I need to get out more often.
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I like olives because it's a great excuse to go out and climb a tree.
We're at the height of olive picking season and it's a banner year. People are practically begging you to pick for them. Excellent!
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If you ever get the situation under control, mint is said to be an effective repellent. When we leave our house in NY I leave dry mint in all over the place. Seems to work as we've had less mice issues when we return.
Death by cat is not quick or painless, I've often thought that would be about the worst way to go. But they are effective!
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Let common sense prevail. Some pizzas are too messy to pick up and eat, like a pizza covered in rucola, so a fork and knife make it easier.
Some pizzas taste better folded and eaten out of hand, like a gorgonzola and salami picante.
Sometimes I start with a fork and knife and then use my hands. Sometimes a hand is quicker if you are snitching a piece from your partner.
There are no hard and fast "rules" for pizza eating, other than to eat and enjoy.
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We're in the midst of our truffle festival in Citta di Castello. Small potatoes compared to Piemonte, but I'm happy nontheless.
The truffles we bought are destined to be wedded tonight to some freshly laid eggs, lightly scrambled with a bit of fresh celery. A match made in heaven.
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That's crazy. I wonder if it's a mis-print.
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I'm looking forward to the restoration of waiter service, generosity and second helpings rather than the persistently nauseating, self-regarding and parsimonious pictures on a plate that are the rule these days.
Now that I think of it, I can't wait for more restaurant to serve food family style in the center of the table.
That's an interesting observation. I'm a fan of family style because I think it encourages interaction at the table, it makes dining companions connect.
But, that is a style and you still need tempting plating no matter how it's served.
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id be tempted to say that chefs getting sponsored by knife, pots, pans, stoves, cheeseburger etc companies are more in the danger of "selling out"...
Philosophically, why do you think Mario Batali does what does?
My guess, he wants to make money, he's digging the fame and he knows that he is damn lucky that he's able to do it with something that he genuinely loves. I bet he thanks whoever he believes in that he can work in a field that he loves, that is his passion.
What does 'selling out' mean? If he takes a day or two or three to shoot a photo ad campaign, pockets the money and opens another excellent restaurant, where is the sell out?
Making money by cooking is damn hard. Anyone want to argue that point?
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I haven't eaten at Anna's, but I have had Portonovo moscioli at da Gino, across from the Ancona train station. They are truly amazing, allegedly wild -- sumptuous and flavorful. Everytime I remark how good they are, the owner produces a flyer from the cooperative, which I can't seem to locate online. I found instead Petrini's report for Slow Food.Anna's mussels are to die for
Here you go....Musciolo Men at the beach.
We watched them go out, with fins and a mesh bag, then they would come back and roll them back and forth over the rocks breaking off all the extra bits and pieces. It made the most lovely sound. I'm totally with you on musciolo...they are more flavorful than any mussel I've ever tasted.
That Petrini article was from '05, I wonder if it's still an active Presidum. I'm glad someone is looking out for those little guys.
Edit because I can barely type and I really cannot proofread.
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If the Incredible Hulk can shill chips and a gadget, anything is possible.
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Same here. Fog. No rain. No local truffles...everyone's talking about them, but no one is finding them.....
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All I really care about is, what's a Tello egg?
Hey, if someone wants to pay Batali money to shill watches....go for it. Fame's fleeting, take the money and run. If I was in the market to buy a watch, would Batali be the person I'd turn to for advice on time pieces? Probably not.
Encyclopedia of Pasta
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Brava Maureen!!! Complementi!