FaustianBargain

With all due respect, Randi, you did mention in the NJ thread that you are taking back your crab cake recommendation. Your words:

Question, Swiss One..why reduce port? why not add at towards the end? iirc, fortified wines dont need to be reduced? did i remember right?

I feel that I am being misconstrued re the consistency issue. As far as I am concerned, I was crystal clear about the limits of inconsistency that are clearly reasonable/acceptable. I cannot translate and expand upon every word I utter everytime I am being beckoned in a post. I refuse to engage in any further discussion that is parked on the road to nowhere because of obvious misunderstanding. Darcie B, I quoted you because yours was the last post I saw re my views on acceptable levels of consistency. My message is meant for everyone who commented before you about reasonable levels of consistency.

Swiss fleur de sel is hard as rock? They must be sourcing theirs from the Alps.

Make it a Us vs Them case: Them: How was the food? Us: Sucks. Them: Why? Us: reason #1, reason #2. Doesnt taste the same as it did three weeks ago. Them: Ok (They go back to the kitchen and convey reasons #1 and #2) They return with the chef. We are mortified. Them(Chef): I heard about your reason #1 and reason #2. reason #1 is wrong. reason #2 happened because my supplier screwed up and I had to 'fix' the dish. Us: Gosh!! Arent these chef defensive! Us: I am not coming back again. The food is SOOO not consistent! Us: Just because I gave reasons #1 and #2 because THEY asked for it doesnt mean that I need a comeback! It is not like I NEED to be part of a to and fro conversation. Afterall, *I* PAY the bill! It is not consistent because I say so and I dont need no bleeping justification. This is how I read it. Dead on the spot. I agree 100 %. If it sucks, rock their world! ←

"consistently as possible", being the key...

Haha! Gotcha!

Isnt Bolito Misto the Italian version of pot-au-feu? broth+meat?

Hmm...expecting consistency is reasonable? Consistency of quality is reasonable. Consistency in the freshness of ingredients used is reasonable. Expecting edible food is completely reasonable. The kind of rigid consistency from visit to visit is what makes restaurant food boring. This severely limits the range of tastes/flavours/recipes that a chef can create in his kitchen. I think the dining customers must respect the chef in the kitchen. Anyone can cook if they are talented and have the right training. Running a professional kitchen is a wholly different deal. Imagine, if you can, you have NO idea who is going to order what, but you have to keep everything ready. You have to send food out to five..seven..ten people at the same time. The food has to be hot. The food has to be cooked to the right degree. The plates have to be neatly presented. Arent we all into 'pretty'? The customer is not paying for consistency. He/she is paying for quality ingredients, edible food of the highest quality, service and ambience. Demanding the exact seasoning memory recalls is completely and utterly unreasonable. The ultimate dining experience, imo, is to 'let go'. Let the chef guide you. Apathy, frustration etc from certain chefs in the industry stems from attitudes like this. There are limits to what you can expect from a man/woman/brigade that works 12-14 hours a day. Non stop. It is hot. Take Randi's case for example. I am going to imagine a little here. (Randi, i hope you dont mind). Her issue was the 'more filler'. She meant the filler to be the breading. Maybe there was more demand for crab cakes that day. Maybe the supplier failed to deliver the requisite amount of crab meat. Maybe the commis fucked up. Maybe the crab meat went bad. Why would the crab cakes taste different? Maybe the chef DID use more breading and less of the meat. He COULD have added some other kind of meat/fish to bring the crab ratio: breading to its usual numbers. That would have compromised the dish. The crab cakes on any given day may taste different for any number of reasons. Good food is what keeps restaurants running. At least, that is how it should be....There is another word for consistency. Monotony. But, Pan and IrishGirl, you are both right. McDonald is consistent. Maybe that is why they are doing so well while restaurants die all the time. A pity. But hey!! Customer is King, no?

The complaint in this case was basically your crabcakes aren't consistent. That's a management issue. If the owner had brought out the recipe, along with records showing the quantity of each ingredient consumed per day for the last few weeks, that would show that at least they understood that they had two people making the crab cakes in two different ways. Huh? Bringing out the recipe with records showing quantity of each ingredient? Arent we taking ourselves a widdle too seriously?

I am not sure the dining customers really understand the chaos, tensions and the pressures of the kitchen. The only true reward a chef gets is recognition for his/her food. Trust me, it isnt the money. First, the consistency. I dont know where the person who got the frozen foie gras ate in London.(dare I ask for the name of the establishment..even if it is by PM?) That is totally unacceptable, but generally, consistency of cooking is not always easy to establish. No matter, what the MG proponents suggest, cooking is NOT a science. To quibble about the taste of a particular dish compared to a previous visit is unreasonable. IMO. Mistakes happen. Ratios slip. Often it cannot be fixed. Consistency is ALWAYS a challenge. The chef doesnt cook every dish from scratch. There are many people involved in the execution of a dish. The person who set up the mise-en-place may not be the person who cooks it or assembles it. The suppliers may not always deliver produce of the same quality. Shit happens, folks. Sometimes, back-to-back-to-back. Unless it is McDonalds, of course. They deserve an award for consistency(truly commendable. very scientific). My 2c.

a 'stupid' chef trying to 'intimidate' a customer with answers and a dessert comp. yea right. they wont stay in business for too long.

Ahh..yes..that can be tricky.

I am picking apart this thread as a case study. a study of commuication..sorta..:) re #1, the issue *was* about the food..not service or the drinks. maybe thats why the chef came out? no comments re #2. think of the alternative. you cannot be beckoned into the kitchen. surely, you'd have been miffed if the chef took you to a corner and explained the crabcakes to you in whispers. what I am trying to understand here is quite simple. what would have made you(or any customer with complaints, rather) feel comfortable? an apology by the owner(with or without a comp) and the chef still remaining in the background?

so what is the appropriate response? take the complaints and smile away? isnt feedback normal when a complaint is made?

question: why were you embarassed? you werent embarassed when you mentioned how different it tasted. maybe what you think of as embarassment is really your defensiveness about being confronted by the chef i think that it is unfair on your part to call the chef 'defensive'. the owner obviously valued you as a patron and went out of her way to make you feel better. basically, you were dissing the chef's crab cakes. not that anything is wrong with it!! afterall, you are paying for a meal and you have expectations. btw, just plain talk. no offence intended.

see..thats the thing. no spices. i am allergic to the cacophony of spices that seems to be the norm for indian food outside india. served piping hot, of course! i also like it with a dash of buttermilk or yogurt. it gets tangy/slightly sour. but thats just a personal preference. of course, you cannot boil it too much. gosh..now, i am embarassed..but i think those are pulses...whats the difference between pulses and lentils anyways?

Cooking techniques are the elementary propositions that make up the complex proposition that is MG. These cooking techniques rightly reflect the reality of cooking and so proves Wittgenstein's 'The limits of my language mean the limits of my world'. So how can MG be highly personal or relative to their experiences? That is one way to look at it.

let us dissect the issue. why and how did it come to this sad state of affairs? first, has there ever been a vibrant local market that has fallen to the pits or has it simply not developed?

danke. revolution happens in instalments. true.

sorry to barge into a middle eastern thread with an indian recipe, but I took these pictures recently. I dont think the dish has a name(it was one of those 'lets throw it all into the pot and mash it together' kinda dish..actually, it was a pressure cooker, iirc), but it has spinach, moong dhal, onions, garlic, tomatoes and green chillies. No stock, only water. It is more of a stew than a soup. I suppose, it can be thinned out to be like a soup. Forgive the wrong order, but you get the idea. Also ignore the string of jasmine.. I sent this slideshow to someone and simply had to include the jasmine flowers. It has nothing to do with the dish.

OTOH, my favourite weekend haunt.. Borough Market and more Borough here too.

thank you, all.

I think they use Poilane bread at the sandwich stall near Neal's Yard Dairy cheese shop. No.Cal? Sourdough. Definitely.

mmm..stuffers...