chefzadi

Beef consomme.

I don't have an opinion of her one way or another. I suppose that's because I just don't watch TV much at all and I buy my cookbooks online. So I don't feel over exposed to her. Her 30 minute show reminds me of a recent meal. We made couscous (steamed 3 times) and a very technique intensive version of chicken with preserved lemons and olives. We also added homemade tomato jam to the chicken. All in all it took 5-6 hours to make these two dishes. One of the guests asked me for simplified versions of the recipes, something he could make on a weekday, basically a sort of 30 minutes or less Rachel Ray version. I told him it can't be done. I think if I sent RR the recipes she could figure out a way though.

France possibly has more so called ethnic restaurants than it's neighbors. There are others here who are more qualified to answer about their respective countries. I do know that in Italy (esp Sicily) there are North African restaurants. And there is the Sicilian tradition of cuscus introduced way back when by the Saracens from Algeria and Tunisia when they colonized the island. There is even an International Cous Cous Fest (Btw, the legend of King Soloman and the Queen of Sheba is wrong, couscous is a Berber invention). In Spain as I understand it from Vserna there are chefs who are doing contemporary couscous dishes. Apparently there are a few North African restaurants as well. Anyway, I agree with you I don't think France's neighbors have a history of embracing ethnic food more than the French do.

Well, DC is The Nation's capital and even though it's small, it's made up of a very global set of visitors. None of the French people here are arguing that America doesn't have the most variety of cuisines from around the world. What we are arguing is that the reason France doesn't have as much or greater variety of restaurants serving different cuisines has to do with some sort of French closed mindedness and snootiness as opposed to whatever characteristics of those from well ya know citizens of that other country who know so much about 'ethnic' cuisines and cultures and understand all the nuances of say Korean cuisine and Korean culture based on their corner dry cleaner or Mexican for that matter.

What is wrong with our Vietnamese and Laotian restaurants, the best outside of Southeast Asia, and our North African restaurants? Not to mention Lebanese food? Do they count for nothing? What other ethnic restaurants should we have in order to be labeled "acceptable" in the field of non-French restaurants? Well, things have changed a bit, in France, since the Middle Ages (I'm saying "the Middle Ages" because we have written proof that we already knew about couscous in the 16th century). ← I was just remarking on the reason this topic was started, not making an accusation...I do apologize profusely if you belive that I was insulting the French! In terms of the latter part of the quote, I was refering to observations made in a book called "Sixty Million Frenchmen Can't Be Wrong" written in 2002 by 2 serious journalists about France TODAY. ← The thread was started because Busboy started a thread called "small town dining in America, why France is so much better" (or something like that). This thread begat the "Mexican food in France thread" and I was inspired to start the "North African food in America thread" Busboy should be proud to have instigated all this commotion. Read the other threads. Because this one has comments from those outside of the source culture that make the French look like closed minded dinosaurs and by comparison Americans are sophisticated diners of 'ethnic' cuisines. We're not happy about being analyzed like zoo animals. (not that you did that Jena, I'm responding to your question about why this thread was started). We includes alot of French readers of this thread who have not commented.

Must be cooking on candle light. and I would'nt trust what Ziyad told your ex anyway. ← I don't have an ex (not exwife anyway) and my wife didn't date Ziyad.

I'm just reading this thread for the first time and just wanted to comment on this--(even though it is not the main topic). The Northeast and area around Chicago were the destination of the huge number of immigrants that came over in two broad waves, mid 1800's and then turn of the century and continuing up to WWII. In places like Mass, CT, RI, NY, NJ and Chicago, Detroit there were milllions of immigrants of Portuguese, German/Austrian, Irish, Polish, Hungarian, Italian, Polish, Jewish, Greek background. Although for some of these groups there are less restaurants, delis, bakeries, markets, butchers now, that was not the case even 20-30 years ago. And while to newer immigrants from Asia and points South they may all seem like "Europeans" , at the time (and still, in some places) they were definately considered very "ethnic" to the previous Yankees/North Easterners living there. As a Northeasterner who has lived in CA for over 10 years, I've heard comments from many Californians and CA immigrants that aren't as aware of the immense ethnic and immigrant influences back in the Northeast from earlier immigration waves. (I mean, I'm sure they've heard of it, but if they haven't visited or lived there they may not realize the extent of it or think of it as less distinct b/c it was other Europeans rather than Asians or Hispanics. Many parts of the US did not have this ethnic influence at the time, but a huge portion (population-wise) of the US did. Interesting thread guys. Tricky discussion b/c there are lots of subtleties, but there are good points being brought up by many. ← I do realize that. That's why I mentioned earlier to Michael that some of the 'ethnic' groups he mentioned were European and no longer considered 'ethnic' (possibly because the central point of view is no longer primarily Anglo, we could argue that one too I suppose). As for your second point about the Northeast it's probably better for someone who is a Calfornian of Asian descent who has been to the Northeast 20 or so times to respond to that one. I know a really obsevant one by the way.Maybe she'll post. But your point goes back to some of my earlier points which is that it's not possible to have a deep understanding of a culture or people by a surface glances at the restaurant scene or by studying what and how French people eat at said restaurants.. Map of France. Looks like it's surrounded by European countries. France has a long history of immigration/invasion from other European countries. (I know you know that Ludja). Btw, The Moors made it to France during their stint in Spain.

If it took several days than it's not Misbahāt al-Darwīsh unless Ziyad's mother is a really, really, really slow cook. Now if we can only find Ziyad or his mother. I did learn alot about how askara wa harramiyya (the game) is played in different regions though.

Yes and lunch is really the best time to come.

It could be okay without salmon and green mussels. Certainly no salmon or green mussels in a bouilliabaise in Marseille. The dish also implies certain methods that are not found in other fish soups. In the clafoutis thread there's no disagreement about what constitutes traditional clafoutis amongst the French posters. There was a lot of discussion about other recipes though. And I don't think the other recipes claimed authenticity either.

If anyone who is reading this has a North African restuarant and they know that the food and menu needs improvement, I offer to teach you how to cook North African dishes for and redesign your menu at no charge. Tell me who your customer base is, size of kitchen, etc...

Have lunch at The Calfornia School of Culinary Arts. There is a cafe with student cooks and the prices are very reasonable. Let me know if you're coming and I'll come by to say hello (if you want).

Where did you come across the name? Which location? ← I am scratching my brains to try to remember where I came across the "cops/robbers" name and I think it was in the blurb about the dish before they went on to give the recipe. Now whether this was a cooking book or on the web, I am not able to remember except that I made a mental note about the fact that the name was changed to either be more attractive to someone kids or because the name sounded so cheesy and unconvincing? It is a fact that new names are cropping up and sometimes these names are a substitute for ignorance of the original name of the dish or the name of a new created dish on a very local level and which makes it diffcult to acknowledge unless you know who came out with it. Why do you need to know as to where I came across the name of the dish? ← Just curious. Do you remember which country the cookbook or website was referring to?

If I were on that trip you would A to Z. What are these eccentricities? I wonder if Omar and Elie have them as well. My wife has made similar observations about me after visiting France. Of course Omar is French too. An Algerian eccentricity I have is the way I laugh, really hard, from my soul, laughing to the point of tears.

If it's just one meal, my home. But if you're in Korea town, you should try more than one place. Seriously though it's hard to name THE place. I will say that there is a greater range and depth of Korean places in LA. It's like little Seoul over here. It also has a vibrant nightlife that attracts non-Koreans as well. As a side note you'll see parts of LA's K-town in alot of movies. At the night the town lights ip with electric signs. I think it might be the flourescent sign capital of LA.

But there are also American diners staffed by Americans that put out horrible food, right? Authentic bad food in those cases, no? ← Yes, but bad Indian food (or any food from relatively unknown cuisines) give the cuisine a bad name when the only one or two restaurants serve bad food it becomes representative of the cuisine to certain people. All the worse when people think it's authentic because it's staffed by people from the source culture. There are bad French restaurants staffed and owned by French people. There are bad Italian restaurants staffed and owned by Italians. But these cuisines are more strongly represented in America, so they don't have the burden of being representative. Of course people from the source culture can prepare 'authentic' food horribly. Bad cooks exist everywhere. You know that Michael. But people will say things like "there was one Moroccan place in town and the food was mediocre. The cuisine has an image problem over here"

The question of authenticity seems to come up much more in cuisines that have been codified. Mostly such discussions give me a big headache. BUT, I'll be the first to point out in-authentic French recipes. French dishes have specific names, often even if one element is change it becomes a 'different' dish in that there is another name for it. Note, in the French forum there a couple of French folks who will quickly point this out, this is possibly why there aren't that many cooking questions in that forum, rather these questions get posted in the cooking forum with recipes for French onion soup that are no longer French onion soup, but should be called onion soup. (If anyone wants to argue with me about authentic French recipes, post it in the French forum please or better yet post it on a French forum and see where the discussion takes you). Contrast this with Algerian cuisine in which alot of the names of the dishes and techniques have not been codified formally. There is little argument over 'authenticity' within the culture. BUT, there are sets of ingredients, cooking techniques and presentations that are part of Magrhebi cuisine. This is just my 2 cents. I find discussions of authenticy more interesting when placed within a specific cultural context and spoken about as a continuum (I'm not sure if that's the correct word to use here), rather than in very broad strokes. But that's just me.

No part of Egypt for cultural/culinary purposes is part of the Maghreb. I want to post more about this, but this is food site. The explaination goes way back into history. The present day group of people who identify themselves as Maghrebis are simply put Moroccans, Algerians and Tunisians. (Sometimes Mauritania and Libya. But again, that goes into other non-food related topics)

Sorry, no picture of the sandwich. the place was packed and I got camera shy. Plus my (blondish) German husband got a "parlez-vous francais?" from a couple of people in line so we were already feeling like dorky tourists. The sandwich is massive, spicy, delicious, and very very drippy. ← He's the dorky tourist, you're going back home. Do you have a recipe for that sandwich?

Hence an old name "alcuzcuz" rather than the French spelling couscous. It seems the housewives did at least some historical reading. Btw, cuzcuz is found in Brazil. I've been told that there are Portuguese, Levant Arab and Black African preparations among others. I've only seen photos and read a few recipes. Some of the preparations are really elaborate, the ingredients are layered in a decorative bowl and then unmolded.

Thank you so much for the compliment Paula. I just started it last week. It's a multi-author blog. I'm slowly inviting writers from all over the world to post about topics where they are knowledgeable about. The topics include food (of course), travel, art, literature, architecture, etc. The basic criteria is that the writer's be passionate and informed.

Are these entrepreneurs calling North African food 'maghrebi'? If so, they most likely come from the Middle East, perhaps even Lebanon. Doesn't Maghrebi mean the land to the west? ← Maghrebi means west, but it is a common term used by North Africans. If you go to a French search engine and type in keyword "Maghreb" or more specifically "Cuisine du Maghreb" you will get a lot of hits.

Yes. Short answer. The long answer about Arabic speaking peoples would take up volumes and it has.

North Africa includes Morocco, Algeria and Tunisia, sometimes Libya. Libya is also considered a Middle Eastern country even though geographically it is in Northern Africa. Restaurants, perhaps. The cuisine, I'm not sure. Are there any Ethiopian cooking threads here?

I see the problem very clearly now. It's mediocre Moroccan food prepared by Lebanese. (That's a joke between me and Behemoth) Word on the street is that some entrepreneurs are planning a new sort of coopereative franchise concept with lots of hands on training and quality control for casual Magrhebi cuisine. Just wait a couple of years.