chefzadi

I don't really know if the chefs felt like they were making huge admissions. Not that is what you are saying. People (even writers who are conducting interviews) usually don't ask chefs these questions directly. Maybe they conjecture about them on the boards. I am curious to see how many of the stories are recent and not remembrances of things long ago. "We had a big VIP party of critics and celebrities and the third course was being plated, someone dropped X on the floor. All of it. It was an essential component, no subsitution possible. It was dusted off and served"

No.

Lucy, thank you for taking the photos just for me.

I think rosewater and orange flower water work better in marqas that have elements of fruit, nuts or honey and sweeter spices such as cinnamon or nutmeg, ginger is nice too. Especially with rose water I think fruit such as dried apricots offset what can be a heavy floral note. I have a few recipes if anyone is interested.

Dude, I don't know what you people call it in English. ←

The first one. ← *cough* Depends on the derja. Seriously though the first one is fine. ← Is that true? I thought classical Arabic was pronounced the same everywhere, regardless of dialect. How would you pronounce it? Anyway, regardless of dialect, the ' represents the letter 'ayn, so it certainly wouldn't be pronounced the second way. ← I would pronounce it the way you do with a slightly differenct accent. The thing is classical Arabic is not spoken much outside of academia, formal business and govt in Algeria. Have you not read ALL of my posts in the AfricaMiddle East forum regarding this? Also when we speak of Algerian derja, it's more accurate to say derjas. Depending the linguistic abilities of the speaker they are not mutually unintelligable. For instance the derja that I speak based on a village in Setif might be described as having a heavy Amazigh accent with alot of Amazigh loan words. It's very distinct. But growing up in France and living in the States I've been exposed to more derjas including Moroccan and Tunisian, so my ear has developed some. Not to get too off topic, but some background information might be in order. During colonial times Algeria was cut off from written Arabic (French ban) and dialetical Arabic with the rest of the Arabic speaking world. Isolation from other parts of the country for the 'natives' also compounded the differences. We are still struggling with the idea of what a common derja should be. Possibly TV will de facto provide the answer which I hope includes Amazigh as well.

I think we can engage in such discussions without it degenerating into an Internal food fight with flames thrown all over the place. I don't see any gasoline or goring in anything that you and Mr Brown have said. Perhaps touching on the historical aspects regarding the restaurant scenes of various countries are needed to understand what is going on now. It's too simplistic to say that the French chef is bored. Why is he bored or boring? (I can be exceedingly boring at times, but I don't agree that French cuisine is boring) How can he move out of this so called boring International Style? Why is he there in the first place?

The first one. ← *cough* Depends on the derja. Seriously though the first one is fine.

A toast to Mr Brown and Mr Talbott. Very nicely put, glad you said it and I didn't. Possibly because France is an old hat for fine dining to some and Italy's fine dining scene is in the discovery sense for travelers I mean. I don't know much about Italian dining on any level. I've only been to the country once. I've never had simply fantastic Italian food outside of Italy that even comes close. So the old toque in order to continue being written about for those who care about reading about such things has to continue to pull new tricks out of the toque. I'm being a bit playful here with words. I don't mean to imply that they are all 'simply' tricks or that new things are bad. But I have said in the past that I do not believe in pursuing innovation for it's own sake. I am thinking of Lyon when I read this. The traditional mold is a bit too tight for some. I believe that a sense of tradition is necessary before a chef can fly (not to close to the sun). Lyon barely changes, generations go to the same places. I don't see this in America where the audience gets tired after 5 years if it can last that long.

I am certainly not here to pick a fight, but you response was utterly and completely close minded. You ve never met at French vegetarian, well then, i guess you ve met every french person on earth then, havent you. Please, its that exact attitude that partially prevents vegetarian restaurants from opening, To all the other responses,. I will be sure to check out Primtemps, i was thrilled to hear about it! I am proud to be a vegetarian and I m not going to stop because one city doesnt have as many options as say New York. je dois finir a faire mes valises!! Merci encore lauren ← I have no idea why you are taking what I said out of proportion. I meant it in no insulting way to you or vegetarians. Be proud, be strong. I'm not up for arguing that Vegetarianism is not that common in France. And oh know it has nothing to do with value judgements. Jeesh.

I don't think I have ever met a French vegetarian in my life. A French vegan would be almost impossible. I'm sure they exist. Paris is not a good eating city for vegetarians.

The peanut flour sounds vile. chickpea flour is also available at Middle Eastern or North African markets depending one where you are. In LA we usually go to the Indian market for alot of Algerian pantry items. fried chickpea or chickpea fritters are found in some form throughout the Mediterranean.

I had grilled beef sausage at a place in LA. They refer to themselves as "Black southern bbq" Interestingly the sausage reminded me of merguez. They do a nice bbq beef sandwich which I like without the sauce. heh heh.

As others have pointed out, everybody drinks beer with BBQ. But the main thing I want to tell you is that you are incorrect in your generalization that "BBQ sauce is cloyingly sweet....." Only in certain parts of the US is BBQ sauce that sweet. Throughout the country, the preferred sauces vary from the really sweet (which I agree with you is cloying to the point of being unpleasant), to a thin, watery vinegar-based, hot chile preparation, much like Tabasco, with no sugar added whatsoever. And many varieties in between these two extremes. However, one drinks beer with it all. Or lemonade. Or iced tea. ← I don't really like beer either. I've only recently begun drinking some on hot days at someone else's house. There MUST be some great bbq sauce out there. Although the Tabasco type sounds even less appealing.

Maille mustard please.

As usual you are thoughtful and deeply knowledgeble. Parisian homecooking is an outsider's question as we have already established, but an insider can answer it in a nuanced way. It certainly isn't being "Barefoot in Paris" or cutesy tartines. Dare I say Lyonnaise cooking is perhaps the most codified? Of course we had our own experiments with nouvelle cuisine and such. When I was working at a very traditional Bouchon long, long ago in my memories it feels as if we went from serving generous, hearty food to two peas on an ovesized plate in a single day. There was no food on the plate. But in the end the haute cuisine of Lyon tends to shy away from the International Style. It stays rooted in the terroir. Yes a Lyonnais could chat and write for ages about it. Which surprsingly has not been done much at all, as far as I know. I think that it is possible to write hundreds of pages about Parisian home cooking without ever identifying it. Which would be so very French to do. Someone asked upthread about mixed raced couples in Paris. There is very little if no fusion even in the homes. The ingredients for say Senagalese and French cooking are in the pantry, but at the table for meals it is one or the other. The closest I've seen to fusion is in the homes of North Africans and Pied noirs. I wouldn't call it fusion though since it began in the early 1800's. Even if I were to call it justaposition it bears little resemblence to American style tossed salad and it most definately is not a melting pot.

here tajine cooking with Paula Wolfert

I've seen those kids. They are tourists from Belgium and Canada.

Ask for a real cup and go sit down and drink it. Or stand if you're drinking an espresso and you're in a hurry. I hate drinking out of paper or foam (and find those plastic sippy cup things downright disgusting), so I don't do it. Beer. Do you drink wine with merguez? And there's lot of different sorts of BBQ sauce, many of them not particularly sweet. ← Yes I do. Usually a red, depends on how much it is seasoned. In Marseilles where there is a large North African (mostly Algerian) population as well as pied noirs, Rose seems a more choice.

In much of the Mediterranean and Middle East, indeed, not to mention India. When I got to know Greek cooking, I discovered that a little cinnamon in a tomato and meat sauce works wonders. And indeed the best "Italian" ragu I know of is made in the Ionian islands, where cinnamon also enters a few meat stews. Actually the cinnamon-tomato association is a delight. The Syrian recipe mnazzalet banadora (a tomato-based appetizer) has cinnamon too. Etc. I have to mention that the French are much more astonished at the use of cinnamon in savoury dishes than at its use in sweet dishes. I have never heard any French person complain about cinnamon in pastries but this is only my experience. There is cinnamon in Alsatian pastries, and in some regional pastries, including the famous tarte normande. The use of cinnamon in sweet dishes is not so widespread in France as it is in England and America, but it is not unknown. ← It's copiously used in the States by our standards. We don't complain about in France because it suits our standards.

I always drink that cheap, sugar-fortified piquette from Beaujolais. ←

Ok, I can understand the reasons for #2 (it's "fake" butter), #4 (especially this one) (same as item 9, you want to be able to taste what you're eating, etc.), #5 (ditto), #7 (it's not "proper" food), #9 and #10 (wine, not soda) but the rest I don't get. Cinnamon in pastries?!? Explain please. What's wrong with that? Soba ← It took me 10 years to get used to those big cups of coffee. It's like 100 times the size of a typical French coffee. I have picked up an American habit, coffee to go. I drink from them now because that is they are served that way in the States, almost impossible to avoid. Bbq sauce is cloyingly sweet, sour and spicey what sort of wine does one drink with that? Half and half, what is the point of this?

Many French think Cinnamon tastes like medicine. ← Yes. The smell and flavor are too strong. It is also associated with savory dishes not sweet dishes in Moroccan or Western Algerian cuisine.

Mostly no it doesn't have to with racism or xenophobia. I didn't mean to imply that, certainly not about you. I respect your thoughts on French food and certainly you know deeply about it. I've said elsewhere that there are wonderful elements about France's model of pluralism, but it isn't perfect (what is?). I have fond memories of being mentored by chefs and getting special treatment. Like the time a chef who had trained under Robuchon like his right hand man telling his kitchen staff to teach me everything because I deserved to learn everything. And Jacques Cagna's brother who was part of the staff at the Culinary school I attended highly recommending me for stages and giving me important tasks and telling me it was because he knew I would perform above par... I have many more examples I won't bore the members here with. I could have stayed longer at any number of places and been nurtured, but I was footloose and wanted to see the world. Yes it is and I wouldn't even be thinking about it if not for this thread. What French person would? It's an outsider's question. But in this thread we have two examples of how French food writers might tackle the question. As I've mentioned before I am from Lyon and I am also writing a cookbook about the region. I can't find a place for ethnic France in it. Even though it is glaringly obvious that I am 'ethnic' and from it. Lyon is in the center, some say it is the gastronomic center. It is provincial in stark contrast to Paris, even though it is the second largest city. Paris on the other hand is a whole other story, with stories that have not been told.

I think it's very accurate to say this. It's deeply ingrained. I have French friends who have been living in the States longer than I have and they simply cannot adjust to certain differences and they will not. I'm probably more flexible about certain things because my wife is not a Francophile and has no desire to be more French than the French. But still there are some things that still annoy me especially when Americans serve coffee.