chefzadi

I just noticed this part. Do tell via PM if you have to.

Auvergnese housewives are much prettier than Escoffier. An animal that contains ttripe sniffs out truffles. French sauces are really tasty. Duck confit tastes so much better than camel confit made from the hump, French cuisine was born of both feast and famine, as well as secret orders of monks.

There is a professor on egullet, his name is Clifford Wright and he discusses scarcity, food prepartioan and preservation, in his book The Mediterranean Feast I hear there is a resident French chef instructor here as well. ← I heard there is a culinary arts instructor, as well, but I am uncertain whether such a position implies expertise in execution or in history (or both). For example, I myself once audited a course with an instructor in, comment dit-un, the art of love. While her technique was excellent, her knowledge of the history of her art was minimal (save certain oral traditions that had been passed down to her). ← no it doesn't and I didn't mean to imply that. And I've repeatedly stated that I am not a historian or scholar. OTOH I also attended culinary school in France that was much longer than the standard 1 1/2- 2 year programs and we were required to take culinary history classes as well. So I do know more about it than the average bear or the average food journalist. Since I am born, raised and educated French it also means that I don't misread things like sometimes happens when an outsider practicing cultural anthropology, not that it's impossible for an outsider to understand a culture. I'm reading an excellent book at the moment French regional cooking There's a forward by Michel Genin the president and founder of Academie Internationale de la Gastronomie. The idea of the book is to preserve French regional cuilnary traditions. Overall an excellent book. BUT their recipe for gratinee lyonnaise has 1 small fresh red pepper in it. As you may know that's where I was born and started my career including working in classic bouchons. Still I consider it an excellent book.

There is a professor on egullet, his name is Clifford Wright and he discusses scarcity, food prepartioan and preservation, in his book The Mediterranean Feast I hear there is a resident French chef instructor here as well.

Yes, Hilaire is a spokeswoman for *us* The Maghreb was one big ole country a coupla thousand years ago. I read that article. I'm impressed that an American woman living in France knows the term "Maghreb" in relation to food/culture. She must keep up on things Maghrebi or read these forums. It's a subculture term in France. ← Hmmmn... the way I first became familiar with the term "Maghreb" was through a cookbook I picked up last time I was in France, La Cuisine du Maghreb, subtitled, Spécialités du Maroc, de la Tunisie et de l'Algérie by Hilaire Walden. Interestingly, the book was published by a German publisher and translated into French from an original title called North African Cooking! ←

I read that article. I'm impressed that an American woman living in France knows the term "Maghreb" in relation to food/culture. She must keep up on things Maghrebi or read these forums. It's a subculture term in France.

I know what you mean about confidence. My wife's grandmother who is 88 recently had a fall. She acted like she was immortal before that and now she takes uncertain steps with a cane. The tray sounds really helpful and maybe a vegetable chopper. I know those manual choppers don't produce the prettiest cuts but they seem easy to use and clean.

Maybe he can genly push it in the direction he wants it to go in and then pull it towards him with one hand?

My MIL has a cart with wheels. She's very healthy but oftentimes does high volume cooking for family and friends. I mean high volume like 100 pounds of kalbi for a family get together.

I would substitute creme fraiche for the sour cream and use homemade mayonaisse and use cream instead of the buttermilk. I would omit the worchestire sauce and tabasco too. But that's just me and I would be making a French roquefort dressing.

I hear they don't want French accents on FTV and somehow I don't think RR's audience base would relate to Pepin as one of "them" in the same way.

I'm not surprised. I'm also not surprised that her cookbooks were NYT Best-Sellers. I'm also not surprised she's from Wisconsin. Here in the upper Midwest, where cans of cream of mushroom soup are pantry staples, there's a whole bunch o' folk who would cook like SL and call it 100% gourmet. I'm related to many of them. ← I'm glad you said and not me. I was thinking that more people than not can relate to the semi-homemade stuff or RR's 30 minutes or less. I've only seen one episode where she made this semi-homemade cake and gave it some nonsense French name I think. The thing was a foot high. I'm a busy working parent as well and realiscally I don't always have the time to spend 5-6 hours making a fancy version of chicken with olives and preserved lemons. Most weekdays dinner is prepared in an hour or less, sometimes 30 minutes. But there LOTS of dishes that can be made in less than an hour. 30 minutes or less is where it gets challenging to add variety without taking shortcuts or packaged ingredients. I think RR makes people who aren't as confident about cooking feel validated, feel good against the serious gastronomes who might make an elitist sneer. And her recipes usually use affordable ingredients. Not everyone can afford Niman Ranch beef, Hudson Valley foie gras, etc...

← Farid & Adam, not that I need any more distractions right now, but do you have a URL for the translation? This is gold for nerds like me. (Tried to google it, only got bits and pieces.) ← I posted a link to an Andalusian cookbook translated by Charles Perry on "Ya Rayi" on the left side in the "online cookbooks" category. Not the same book I know, but Algeria is a country that forgets nothing. You'd be surprised how many these dishes or variations of are still being prepared.

A little bit off topic, but since Adam brought up Charles Perry, I want to mention this article about him. A Medieval Feast for Albright.

Which variety of grape?

Reminds me of my 200 omelettes per shift days, way back when in London. No teflon pans either. ← I like the French steel (?) omlette pans because they're cheap, indestructable and perfectly sized and shaped. I cheat and use Pam, though. Even with the "new and improved" teflon, if you're a fork-stirrer, don't you risk getting shards of possibly carcinogen-esque and, worse, nasty-tasting non-stick chemicals in your eggs? ← What I meant was that at that restaurant I didn't use teflon pans. I don't see anything wrong with using them at home. Don't use a fork though. I don't really get hung up about kitchenware. Obviously there are products that are superior and helpful, but if you can't cook no gadget will help with that. I don't mean YOU you, I suspect you're a talented home cook.

...It is most definitely "bun"... Maybe I'm missing something here. Are you saying that "bonnes" is pronounced "bun"? ← just saying that the "o" sound in bonnes (Fr) is closer to the "u" in bun (Eng) than it is to the "o" in bone (Eng). Obviously this is not directed to francophones (whatever their origin) but is intended to explain the sound to an anglophone who is unfamiliar with the pronunciation. That said, without actually hearing how the person pronounces "bun" ... ... Here is an audio file of bonne nuit (couldn't find bonnes bouche) that gives a fair idea of how the bonne would sound in bonnes bouches bonne nuit ← gotcha. i had images of people saying bun like hotdog bun.

It is most definitely "bun" Oops... lost the reference: pronunciatiation of "bonnes" in "bonnes bouches" ← Maybe I'm missing something here. Are you saying that "bonnes" is pronounced "bun"?

For neng myun, I'd go to Chung Gi Wa on Olympic. You can get the special with Kalbi for about $10-$13. Their yook soo tastes like it has some ginseng in it, it's really good. The neng myun seasoning isn't too sweet like at so many other places. The portion is about double of a typical portion in Korea. And they put ALOT of garnishes on it. For soon dae there's a place on Western and 8th. I've never tried it (I don't eat pork), but my in laws swear by the place and they have a loyal following, they make everything from scratch and they serve the range of soon dae dishes. For jaja myun (spelling?) made with hand pulled noodles there is a place on Western. I'll find the addresses if you are interested in any of these places. There's night life scene as well, but I'm too old for it unless I want to hang out with the Middle aged minivan or huge Mercedes crowd.

Okay, you’ve convinced me, we are going to try Le Bambou. I'll just have to make a second trip for Sông Huong, which I found accidentally, while Googling. I came across it in a Vietnamese forum but seeing that I don’t know a word of Vietnamese I had no idea what they we're saying about it. Many thanks for the suggestions! ← I'm sure there are some French language forums for Vietnamese French. I know there is one for French of Asian descent.

Reminds me of my 200 omelettes per shift days, way back when in London. No teflon pans either.

It's a mini Seoul here, sort of. There are lots of restaurants that specialize in certain dishes, for instance neng myun or soon do dubo or bimbimbap. Even for bbq, you have places that cater to a younger 'trendy' crowd or no-frills Middle aged Korean men. What are you looking for? There's a huge range here. Can you read Korean?

You're vaguely North African meal looks pretty good to me. I always enjoy your photographs Adam. They are like slice of life portraits.

Beef consomme. ← Yes, that's the received wisdom, but Pepin showed me that chicken stock works just as well or better: I would defy anyone to tell the difference. ← Chicken stock tastes like chicken, beef consomme doesn't taste like chicken. EDIT: read my suggestions further upthread regarding making it at home. I've discussed French onion soup in other threads. Beef consomme makes for a more delicate finished product. Veal stock more robust. At home chicken stock is more economical.