FaustianBargain

if you are into offal, morels stuffed with sweetbreads is nice. edit: if your morels arent big enough, you can stuff sweetbreads with morels too!!

If I add rosemary or somesuch herb to the salt crust dough, will the flavour be imparted to the meat?

I recall a Careme connection with the toque. Maybe it was the chef's whites that was his creation? Anyways, here

Has anyone tried this? I have baked a squab in a salt crust(flour:rocksalt, 50:50). Maybe a poussin instead of a chicken if size is an issue? Why salt crust? Does the salt actually *draw* out the moisture? I am sifting my memory cells and cannot quite recall the idea behind the salt crust.

I didnt. You did with your assumption. However, I would tend towards Dirk Wheelan's post. Having said that, I should also hasten to add that the laughs and giggles about the London dining scene(by Londoners and by the English themselves, it seems. Something to jot down here to ponder upon later) isnt entirely justified. Have you seen where and how Britain is placed on the globe? Next, observe the position of France, Italy and Spain. NYC*, Paris, Rome and Barcelona are great, but it is also an accident of their geography. Let it not be forgotten that Britain is in the same lattitude as Canada. That should give you some perspective. If I may use harsh parallels, Britain is the crippled child that ran the marathon and finished it. And quite ahead, imo. Is it not uncharitable to complain about what is perfectly acceptable as mediaindustry-appropriate 'exaggeration'? The person who takes the magazine's emphasis on 'best' literally is exactly on the same perception level as the person who disagrees with the magazine's insistence to give the London coverage story its ..well..angle to sell copies. France, Spain and Italy have one other ingredient to culinary greatness that is lacking in Britain. I leave it to those who disagree with the basic premise behind the Gourmet issue to figure it out for themselves. SamanthaF, I went to Le Cordon Bleu, London and have worked in several city restaruant kitchens. I stayed back for two months after the completing my diplome. I ate around. A lot. For six weeks, I lived with a family that own and run a restaurant in the city. I have spoken to farmers, butchers, suppliers and chefs. These people work very hard and have completely transformed the culinary scene from what it was a few decades ago. What the magazine gave London, if you remove all the gratuitous hyperbole is recognition. And credit. Long overdue and well deserved. I find myself unable to answer your question to my full satisfaction. Maybe I can answer if you can expand upon 'boring or pedestrian'? What is boring about St.Johns and Fat Duck? Pedestrian about Le Gavroche and Momo? Of course, there is Sketch. Italian, Middle Eastern, Tapas, Indian, French, British, Thai, Sushi, Chinese > which one of these are boring? Help me give you an answer. Do elaborate? *you simply CANNOT compare the quality of produce and ingredients in NYC and London. possibly rest of Europe. The quality of its dairy alone is highly commendable and superior to anything you may find in NYC. Can I assume then that you think that London is the dining capital of the world? ← ← How do you come up with this opinion? I'm really interested in this. ←

Sure, you can assume. Can I assume then that you think that London is the dining capital of the world? ←

Curious. Where is the 'best place in the world to eat' according to your mate?

I can only assume that all of you must have read that Gourmet issue in question to disagree so emphatically.

Celery!

It's about time.

Why not? If it tastes good, why not?

goats are not as fatty as lamb/sheep, iirc.

No way!!!

Excellent reply, Moby. Thank you.

We have done a Rabbit terrine which is probably not suitable as it takes a few days from prep to tasting. I have a recipe for Roasted saddle of rabbit with a Mustard-Tarragon sauce. PM me if interested. I am in India now and a few hours ago, I drove past a sign selling 'Rabbit kebab'. I am shivering with anticipation. A google here revealed a "Blueberry & leek rabbit kebab recipe is marinated rabbit cubes and leeks chunks in a fruity blueberry sauce. For a great evening meal try with rice, chutney and a salad." Surely, that beats boring rabbit saddle with mustard anyday!

What everyone said...cartouche leads to less evaporation, moisture retention, reduces 'head space' etc. Also, its easier to monitor the contents than solid lids. One more good reason to use a cartouche when cooking liquids, there wont be any 'skin' formation.

Is it expensive? Not the book, but the ingredient cost of the recipes you tried at home. cost/yield?

bones:mirepoix:water > 5:1:5 >approx. mirepoix: onion: carrot: celery > 2:1:1 I'd reduce the celery even more as even a little is very strong. The colour depends on how long you roasted your bones. More reduction=darker the colour. Hmm. Difference in colour defintely means a difference in flavour. Did you taste it? When you reduce it, its going to be the same. Once again, you'll know when to stop reducing if you keep tasting it. However, remember that if you dilute your reduced stock, the dilution wont 'bring back' the flavours that existed before reduced. Taste it. There is no other way to check.

Quick fix: Just add cold water and keep simmering. The fat will rise to the top. Skim. Reduce. Question: I havent even flipped through the book or anything, but is it meant for cooks in the home kitchen?

Ahh..yes..I think we call this 'Bonda' down south. Sans burger bun, of couse.

I am from South India which quite different from North India. The former consists of only four states and the latter has over 20 states. The significant difference between the South and the rest of India(with the possible exception of the farthest states of East India) is that it is possible to navigate through most regions of India with the knowledge of Hindi but the four Southern states have stubbornly hung on to their own languages. Everything about the four languages is different. The script, speech, grammar etc. I believe that language greatly defines us. While Hindi evolved after the Moghal invasion of India, it served to unite the people, both invaders and the natives, as they mingled and assimilated. Note that this is distinctly different from the latter colonisation of India by the British. The British were 'visitors' and even though they were enarmoured by India, they failed to integrate and always stood apart. Compare this with other 'colonisers'. France and Vietnam/North Africa/Carribean(?). Back to food, the 'bastardisation' of local lingo is evident on the kitchen tables. Indian 'curry' was easy to export because it lent itself to endless amount of manipulation as the rules are relaxed in order to accomodate everyone. Chicken Tikka Masala came to India from the UK, actually. A lot of Indian ingredients as we know it and Indian dishes you see in Indian restaurants came from outside. The Portuguese, English, Arabs, Persians came and whatever they brought with them was 'Indianised'. This seeming cohesivness extends to culture, architecture, culture and even fashion. The South, on the other hand, not only resisted Moghal invasion, it also successfully managed to keep at bay alien influences when it came to food. My grandfather, for example, shunned peas, carrots and cauliflower because they were 'english' vegetables and not native to his region. Silly man. It is very difficult to make South Indian food appealling to all. Either you like it or you dont. The rigidity comes from strict rules and this itself arises from resistance to other languages. Well, that is my theory anyways. When you are surrounded by people who think in the same language as you do, there is very little motivation to 'please' or co-operate with the 'others'. France, unlike South India which resisted other influences and kept its dining culture 'pure', drew in other influences and welcomed them as their own. The French language assisted them in this respect and sucked in foreign influences into the greater French consciousness. I too feel that there is a very Oriental element to the French way of thought. I attribute this to the grammar structure and codes of their respective languages. I may have to read up on this, but I think Sanskrit, one of India's oldest language(itself a member of the indo-aryan family of languages and from which are derived many south east asian languages), is very similar French in its linguistic structural integrity. Panini, a mathematician, came up with over 4000 rules for the highly systemised Sanskrit grammar. Inside my head, I visualise every thought that is 'spoken' in a language goes into compartments and 'converted' through a complex series of assignation, processing, translation and recognition before it can make sense. The more complex the grammar/structure/script of a language, the more processes are involved. I dont know the language, but I think Chinese Mandarin too is highly complex and requires the memorisation of tedious grammar. Japanese too. And we havent even touched upon the different scripts. Sanskrit is notoriously slippery that a change of a single written word or inflection when spoken will change the entire meaning. Mandarin requires correct stressing and the right pitch at the right places if the intended meaning is to be conveyed. You see where I am going now? A blind theory, but I think there might be something to do this. Do we 'think' in the same language as we speak? Does thought even need a language? I think it does. I think the more complex the grammar, greater the urgency for elegant logic to process thoughts. This elegance of thought processing will trickle down to everything else we do. It can also be reflected in our cuisine. I think I have digressed too much. I find that there is a lot common(not ingredients and probably not even techniques, but in terms of how both resolve the question of flavour marriage and texture combination...not to mention the strictures that does not lend itself to manipulation. i dont think of this as 'rigidity'. i see it as controls to a process oriented activity) between French cuisine and South Indian cooking(the food I grew up with). Northern Indian food is entirely alien to me(kinda. i am rather fond of some of the northern preparations. i am especially partial to all things dairy) and this is a concept I struggle to explain even to Indians. Thank you for this discussion even though I strayed far from food more than once. I do believe that food cannot be divorced from language or how we think, but such discussions do have the tendency to quickly go off-topic.

This isnt from any reliably traceable or quotable source, but I was told that one of the Pourcel twins studied under Ducasse? The other comment was that since both of them have farflung interests(I disagreed at this point. I dont think the Pourcel twins' consulting gigs compare with Ducasse's empire) and especially in Asia, they share a similar attitude towards 'interesting' ingredients. It was directed towards bleudanvergne. I enjoyed reading your reply, but I was curious about bleudauvergne's impressions as she is a foreigner residing in France.(American in France? I think..I apologise if I got that wrong) I agree. I was exploring the past to understand the causes that led France to be..well..French. It will be interesting to return back to France in 3000.A.D. I agree here too. I find the French people fascinating because they remind me of Indians in many ways. India has over a hundred languages unlike France that is unified by one language. We have multiple faiths and among them, sub divisions. Shamefully, we also have the caste system and intriguingly a class system that exists along with democracy. We are divided in our culture, food and outlook. Poverty exists underneth the palaces walls. Contradictions and diversity. I dont know what makes India tick, but tick, it does. A billion times over. France's solution was its language. I dont think India has one. I am not sure at this point that she needs one. My opinion may change in the near or distant future. Rationality is most definitely acquired. France before and during Descartes was not the greatest place to live in...the Jews were expelled, Protestant Church was all but crushed.In fact, Descartes had to flee to Netherlands to escape the clutches of the Chruch in order to write. Also, he wrote Discourse on Method in FRENCH! Not Latin, not Greek, but in French that conveyed to one and all..to the lay French person...the importance of reason and rationality. By this very conscious choice, brilliantly, he contributed to France the blueprint for the workings of the mind and a provisional moral code. Ok, so it was thrust on provincial France as she kicked and screamed. Like I said earlier, being French is like standing on the pinnacle underneth which many languages and dialects were crushed. Anyways, the transformation didnt really begin before Method simply because the great works of times past were not accessible to the general public. My 2c. Oh! I cannot disagree with you. Yes. It is quite terrible. Great swaths of my childhood were wasted because of my silly determination to obtain a passing grade in French. I file it under childhood trauma. I passed. Barely. Another point and I will stick to food. With cuisine as an example for our purposes, take the terroir and climate of France. Within her borders, France enjoys every possible kind of soil and weather conditions making the diversity work. Except maybe the tropical, I suppose. It is easy to integrate different ingredients into the French scheme of cooking, but the reverence for technique shouldnt be tampered with...If diversity of terroir and climate is an advantage, this previlage must be accorded the respect it deserves and chefs cooking French food using French codes for cooking must not forget the relevance of technique to ingredients and the compatability of flavours. Chefs like Ducasse, Adria and even Cantu are performance chefs. Their food can be showcased, but it cannot 'live'. It is a completely different category of food. Fecundity is key to the perpetual survival of any idea. Only food that is understood by all and easily reproduced can become 'classics'. How many home cooks can reproduce recipes from the Spoon book?

Ermm..has anyone tasted Chef Ducasse's food here? Does anyone else feel that Chef Ducasse crowds way too many flavours in one recipe? I felt the same way when I watched one of the Pourcel twins cook. I found out later that there was a Ducasse-Pourcel connection and the latter were influenced by the former. bleudauvergne, actually, in that recipe the only ingredient that makes sense to me is the badiane or staranise. It marries well with the fumet de poisson just as anything from the anise family(aniseed, fennel, staranise etc) will..the rest dont make sense to me. at all. I see no method. If it werent attributed to Chef Ducasse, I'd say that the creator of the recipe is using his pan as a trashbin for the ingredients. I am still tempted to say it, but then again one must respect experience over instinct and/or doubt. It is a sad day when ingredients become more important than technique. If ingredients deserve respect, techniques ought to be worshipped. The strength of a dish resides in its ability to combine flavours and textures through sound techniques, not in the novelty value of its ingredients or the hidden agenda to achieve world peace by allowing foreign ingredients to mingle and marry. Curious. Why do you think Spoon is 'French to the core'? What defines 'Frenchness' for you? I never understood French cuisine until I gave it the Rene Descartes' Wax Argument treatment. When the defining characteristics of a piece of wax(as recognised by our senses..texture, size, colour, smell etc) disappear when it is brought near a flame, it is only our perception that causes us not to recognise it as wax even though we can recognise it(rightly and logically so) as wax. Similarly, ingredients in any form regardless of the country of its origin, is composed of certain properties. It is because of these properties of the ingredient, it is defined as such and such. The foreign sounding name or its origins or packaing doesnt matter. French cuisine makes use of an ingredient' fundamental nature and not the perception of an ingredient's characteristics. By this explanation, I submit that the Spoon recipe is less 'French' than most of Chef Adria(a Catalan Chef)'s recipes. Why is this necessarily attributed to 'French cuisine'? Well..imo, all of France was transformed after the publication of Descartes' works and the widespread acceptance of his ideas. Everything from its cerebral, linguistic(French, despite its strange insistence that vagina(le vagin) be attributed the masculine gender, is arguably the most logical of all languages. French people are bound by their language. The character of a Frenchperson lies in his linguistic loyalty. It is like this they recognise each other and like chefzadi and others said, not by how they look or where they come from..culturally or geographically or religiously. It is, like everything else, a double edged sword. And to this end, France has paid a price through its reputation for conformity that has caused it to be the laughing stock of the world, but it is a small price to pay. The slightly unjustifiable price the country paid was the ruthless and brutal suppression and finally the eradication of many of France's local languages/dialects from as early as the 16th century ) landscape to how food was to be cooked and how ingredients have to be treated was dictated and guided by his Method. Hence the 'inflexible' codes and rules of French cusine. Nobody celebrated and embraced Descartes into their lives as much as the French did and they gained by this, the world's most logical language(supposedly) along with its stunningly efficient and brilliantly structured culinary codes.

I have added a pinch of saffron along with vanilla for sable(normany 'biscuit/cookie). It gave the sable a very 'warm' flavour. other combinations: saffron and orange seem to go well together too. I have heard of a saffron-orange aioli for various fish preparations. I have never tried it tho'.. we once used saffron to colour pasta. (sun dried tomato paste for red, cholorphyll for green..squid ink for black..beets for pink....and saffron for yellow pasta)

Every part of the banana tree can be used. The leaves, the flowers, fruits(even the unripe banana) and yes..the 'stick'..which is nothing but banana stem. It is basically the 'trunk' of the tree and you have to keep peeling the layers to get the clean creamy white centre.. I recall only one recipe. Julienne the stem after you remove them as layers. Drop them in acidulated water so they wont discolour. Cook them well. We use a pressure cooker. Simply steam them or cook them in the water. In the meanwhile, grind coconut, cumin, green chillies and some coriander seeds(dhania in hindi) together into a paste like consistency. Oil+mustard+urad dhal. Mix cooked julienned banana stem and the coconut paste. Add a splash of sour buttermilk(or cream with a squeeze of lemon) Simmer. Curry leaves towards the end. There are basically several variations to this recipe where other vegetables are substituted for the banana stem. I think the same treatment can be meted out to the banana flowers. They can be retrieved after peeling the purple 'petals' and removing the stamen like 'fingers'. Drop them in acidulated water. Dice them or slice them lengthwise before cooking through. They will be discoloured otherwise.