chefzadi

This is the Buffet Menu for The Mediterranean Feast (Alot of these recipes are fantastic for Summer and easy to make) Gazpacho- Andalusia Salata Mishwiya-Maghreb Salat al-Khudra- Syria Tarte au Roquefort- Languedoc Batatis Mirhya-Algeria Couscous-Magrheb Safranli Pilavi- Turkey Moros y Cristianos- Valencia Harisa-Tunisia Acili Esme- Turkey Brik bi’l Tunn- Tunisia Alboronia- Andalusia Lu Spaghetti ou Pistou- Provence Melanzane all Finitese- Calabria Zagrebacke Glive s Makaronem- Croatia Poumo d’Amour a l’Antiboise- Provence Lamb Marqa (tajine)- Maghreb Shakhsukha al-Bisakra- Algeria Shish Tawuq- Arab Levant Arros a Banda- Valencia Albondigas a la Andalusia Roast Chicken with Preserved Lemons and Olives- Algerian style Doner Kebab-Turkey

Typing French accents, another option and more. You'll notice I rarely type in the accents. A menu for a Bastille Day picnic would be pretty simple. Wine, bread, cheeses, charcuterie, maybe some savory tarts, pastries, etc... Most of it store bought. For dinner if you want to do a bistro meal with a Bastille day theme, I'll post some menu suggestions later.

It's turning into more like Bastille week. I'm missing out on a grill this Saturday with friends in the aftertoon because I have to teach. In the evening though we have another get together, everyone wants couscous, roast chicken with preserved lemons and olives and few side dishes. I already mentioned that the actual day and evening of I'll be teaching so I can't attend some of the special dinners at the local French restaurants, alot of the menus seem more Provence inspired for some reason. Next weekend there's more a picnic with roast chicken, salad, cheeses, olives, bread, a fruit tart or chocolate cake, etc... (no pan bagnat) I'll try to post some pics. (To everyone who responded in this thread and via PM, thank you for you concerns about my mother. She should get through it, but she has chronic health problems.)

Yes, Nadia. Is there more? Or is this all we get? I think knowing a language is sort of like riding a bicycle, you never really forget. If you haven't ridden in a while you think you'll crash, untill you actually get on, funble for awhile, soon you're coasting. Did you get to eat out alot? It's not always easy when you have to visit lots of relatives, they keep stuffing you in succession.

This is the same way ramen and soba is delivered in Japan. Of course, if you really care about your noodles, you don't want noodles that have been sitting in soup for 5-10 minutes. However, for densely populated areas, this kind of noodle delivery is a great convenience for the lazy and those who don't cook, as well as the elderly. One thing I find interesting about street food in SE Asia is the extensive use of plastic bags (rather than cups/bowls/containers) for serving food. ← Yes 5-10 minutes can be too long. But in most areas of Seoul there is a noodle shop 1-3 mintues away. In the high rise buildings there are usually lots of restaurants in the building and just outside. The population density isn't always so great, for instance lots of traffic. But it offers alot of ocnvenient services. Cool thread. It's turning into "how food is delivered in Asia"

Yes, I know about Algerian pastries and dziriates. It's pretty easy to make at home.

I'll be working. It's not a national holiday in America, obviously. The week is pretty packed for me, I also have special classes and a workshop lined up in celebration of Bastille day. I'm getting a little homesick, especially since my mother is ill. On Bastille everybody in Montmerle would gather for a picnic by the Saone, then go to the center of the village to dance and drink, and drink some more. Mick Micheyl is a resident of Montmerle, she was a well known artist especially in the 60's in Paris. She was (possibly still is) associated with Les Dryades. She gave me one of my first jobs there. She would pick me up in her helicopter to take to work sometimes. I also had a room in the hotel. The chef was an old pro, in the finest sense. He worked in top tier places, including Michelin starred places. He would buy 35 different types of yogurt and we would spend a couple of hours doing a yogurt tasting. I was talking about this someone the other day, and he said, "What, a yogurt tasting? 35 different kinds?!??!" I'm homesick and rambling a bit. So what will you be doing for France's national holiday?

Not 'culture' it's like the 'hood'. For instance "Bistro Barbes" is sort of like "Casa East LA" EDIT: There is a sense of humor and irony in a North African restaurant outside of Barbes calling itself Barbes. I like the name. I also want to clarify that East LA has a rich cultural history for Mexicans in LA and there are lots of grass roots arts projects there. If anyone is interested in learning a bit more about Barbes google "Barbes North Africans" It's more than North African of course, it's a strong reflection of "ethnic" France.

In Seoul a large percentage of restaurants deliver, seemed like most of them. I don't recall seeing pho noodle shops, but we did order things like 'kalguksu" and the like. Sometimes the food came from a restaurant that was 2-3 minutes, no more than 5-10 minutes. Seoul is so densely populated. The deliviery people usually ride mopeds and they had steel boxes with shelves. If the place was really close, everything was just presented as for service but tightly wrapped, surprsingly nothing ever dripped. The containers were re-usable plastic bowls, plates, etc and after we were done eating we would place the dishes outside our front door for pick up. For take out it was as the previous poster described.

There are fruit flavors in wines. Red wines tend to have darker fruit flavors or very ripe fruit or 'cooked fruit flavors or berry flavors. White wines tend to have pear, peach (or nectarine), mineral flavors, etc... I'm speaking VERY broadly here. But thinking along those lines with your beginning pairings should help.

Is this thread going all over the place with comparisons? It's more than apples and oranges. More like sesame seeds with roastbeef. Flunch, Quick, Tex Mex in France? Sure, they are there. But in the places those types of places exists, walk for 5-10 minutes, you can find much better. Of course French people like avacados, closest thing to butter that grows on a tree.

The name Barbes itself suggest shtick. My North African and French friends joke about it all the time, as in if I named a restaurant I should call it "Bistro Barbes" or "Cafe Barbes" or "l'Arabe qui fume" (like the chain Le Chien qui fume) and so on. Barbes is the North African "hood" (pronounced 'ood' in French) An Algerian with a Moroccna party-planning business (or the other way around) goes back to my earlier point Rice? What is this rice, compared to the versatility of couscous? : I don't really understand Bruni's writing in this one. What does he mean "dubbed", doesn't dub mean " to honor with a new title or description"?

I don't even know how to operate a camera. I'm not much of a writer either. Cooking and eating is where it's at for me anyway. Great report.

I realise I'm not the average American since I live and work in Paris, but - I'm sorry - are you kidding? Being a hard working professional chef in a competetive Michelin-starred Paris kitchen today still means, yes, shoving and pushing - and the occasional on the floor fist-fights. BTW - good picnic spot - Champ de Mars - on the Ecole Militaire side. The sun doesn't set until about 10 at night in the summer - plus the lights twinkle on the hour - it's pretty magical. What to bring - all easy walking/carrying distance - some of the small fruit and nut breads from Poujauran, seasonal cheese from Marie-Anne Cantin, a chilled wine from from Les Grandes Caves on rue St. Dominique - ask them to open the bottle so you don't need to carry a corkscrew. ← I'm not kidding. EDIT: I'll refrain from commenting on the non-French chefs I've met during the past 10 years or since I've left France.

(A French voice :) With so many conditions to fulfill, how could we be up to the standards that are set for us and remain human? Being lyrical when we talk and laugh. Being "culturally sensitive". Hey, we're people, not museum items — and as people we have our share of stupids, plus a good portion of ill-mannered jerks, and we're entitled to a few obnoxious mimes as everybody else. Sometimes the romantical image that is set upon us gets on my nerves. This is the Internet, and this forum is also read by French people. (French cooling down. Sorry for this, it had to come out.) Bravo! To return to the Pont des Arts, I think it's a nice place to eat a panini standing up there waiting for your pals to show up, but not to spread a tablecloth and sacrifice camemberts. However, if one avoids rush hours, why not? But at night — no way. At nights, in warm weather, it is the meeting point of all the drunks in the area (Notre-Dame drains another crowd of them). ← You've said some things like this before. And I'll finally come out to flat out agree. I don't mean to suggest that anyone here does it. But I experience it in real life all the time. It doesn't bother me personally so much. But really, if the sames things were said about a perceived minority group it would be considered socially incorrect if not volatile. Especially the stereotypes of French chefs. I mean really how many French chefs has the average person in the States met? I live here and am in French circles all the time, even I haven't met that many outside of some meetings for associations. Almost all the French chefs I've known and worked with have been hard working professionals. All this romanticization and macho chest thumping about the old guard in France is a joke. Does anyone really think that the "French temper" and culture would tolerate shoving and pushing plates in a professional kitchen? French machismo exists but it's different from American machismo.

I think it's the non-French in this thread who made the animal fodder or food for just animals comments. I did point out that it used for making into flour, as well as food for animals. That's NOT the same as saying it's animal fodder. Ptiopois pointed out all the varieties of ground corn products regions of France have been using for a long time. As well as the popularity canned corn and corn in buffets salads or something. It's not just a "French thing" As for cultural boundarys and influences, it was touched on that France doesn't have an indigenous population of Native Americans and Mexicans, France has North Africans instead. I also mentioned that in North Africa it's ground for flour, made into couscous, porridge and breads. But not eaten on the cob. EDIT: to add 'NOT"

Mr Rogov, We await your report.

There is a word for the texture of the skin of chickpeas and fava beans that escapes me at the moment. Sometimes the texture that the skins provide is considered desirable. EDIT: poor spelling, which I don't usually check for.

There is a happy medium on this one. There is the matter of too much raw garlic being indigestible, but to me it is more a matter of balance. Heads of garlic vary in flavour and pungency and for that reason it makes sense to taste as you go and not become completely constricted by a recipe. I'm not sure what you mean about the food mill. I have not seen a hummus recipe that suggests leaving the 'skins' on. But I do agree that it is certainly not an option to leave the garlic out. Definitely not! I always serve it with triangles of toasted pitta bread. ← I don't recall seeing too many hummus recipes that specify whether or not to leave the skins on. Of course none suggest leaving the skins on, but neither do most say to take them off. A food mill makes it so it very easy to make hummus as Ms Wolfert suggests. I don't have the patience like my maman and aunts to peel each chick pea. As for too much raw garlic being indigestible ask Behemoth about her little brother. Tastes vary and to each her/his own with the garlic in hummus, but if you can't taste the garlic it ain't hummus.

I had the oppurtunity to change the buffet menu for Intro II. I chose a range of recipes from Mr Wright's book so that my students could get a sense of culinary history as well. I will post the menu and more photos later this week. I didn't have a chance to take too many photos. The food was attacked very quickly by the visitors. I'm off to enjoy the weekend.

Some preparations are similar if not identical to Portuguese cornbread. Others include a mixture of semolina instead of regular flour. There is also a cornmeal porridge made from white hominy grits. It's cooked for hours.

I'll probably go to Morocco next year. But from what my Moroccan friends tell me the restaurant scene is not well developed. This is probably true in the rest of North Africa. Street food can be excellent. There are a few restaurants here and there that serve excellent food of course. I'll be getting specific reccomendations soon, but I suspect I'll be eating more home cooking from friends. Chefs with European training are also going back to North Africa to open restaurants. There are a few professional culinary schools in North Africa now. The Moroccan food in Paris and North African in general is for the most part better then what I've had in the States. Simply because there are more Maghrebis in France. As for the less expensive couscous joints, I've heard many of them incorrectly described as serving Algerian style couscous. BS!!!! Some of the places serve very good, simple food but it's not representive of Algerian cuisine. Alot of times even I can't tell if the cook/chef is Algerian, Tunisian or Moroccan. Also in France and in America you'll find an Algerian cook/chef preparing Moroccan or a Tunisian doing Algerian or a Moroccan doing Tunisian. Sometimes restaurants transfer hands and the new owner doesn't bother to change the sign. Also it's not like a trained Tunisian chef can't prepare Moroccan, the spicing varies regionally, but more variations occur from cook to cook. And the cooking techniques and ingredients are the same. Anyway, if the place is owned by a North African whether it's in France or in the States the food will most likely be authentic if not representative. (No bellydancers please)

I think the perception of 'resistance' to change' is culturally based. I've never thought much of these things until I moved to the States. Ptipois is correct when she says This is true of all cultures. Guess what Magrhebis do with corn? Make it into couscous of course! And Khobz bread. Back to my original statement about perceptions. American cuisine, because the country is 'young' is still forming and absorbs changes, new ingredients almost instantly. I chuckle a bit sometimes when Americans dismiss pied noir cooking as nouvelle fusion. It started in the 1800's for crying out loud. It's important enough to pied noirs to still publish cookbooks about it and have their own food forums. Also in America there are Native Americans and Mexicans (and other Latin Americans) who the European explorers/colonizers got all these 'New World' ingredients from to take back to Europe, Asia and Africa. The best corn on the cob I've ever had was the slow roasted Mexican style. I recall that it wasn't the typical sweet kind with the smaller kernals. This corn had bigger kernals, maybe it was an older variety of corn cooked to bring out it's goodness. For some strange reason we don't have alot of Mexican corn vendors in France.

Yes, we have heard of this Cristophe Collomb. I'm still doing some research on how corn entered North Africa. Probably the Spanish, but I don't know enough to make a statement about that yet. In Algeria we make it into flour. It's not eaten off the cob. I think it might have to do with the variety of corn. The corn there is tougher and starchier. Hasn't the corn in America been bred to be sweeter and more tender?

Where are you currently located?