chefzadi

I'm still absorbing this lovely book. Again, Paula Wolfert dazzles me with her quest to search out the best home cooks. Such a wonderful slice of life that is documented before it all goes to gas ranges and modern kitchens. It reminds me how my relatives still cook the old way, perhaps they will be the last generation to do so. The book also has gotten me thinking about the different threads of influence in cooking. For instance as I've already mentioned cooking with yoghurt and kibbeh with bulghar wheat are not found in Algeria. Not in the ways they are found in Middle-Eastern/Eastern Med kitchens. My wife is in an Indian cooking mode these days. And some of the similarities are quite striking. The dishes don't taste the same but the sets of ingredients are sometimes identical or at the very least similar. For the most part I've not seen such similarities between ME (except for Afghanistani to name one) and Indian cooking.

Great interview. I just noticed this. The photos of you are lovely. I have to say though I chuckled a bit when I saw the one of "some of the unwilling cooks Wolfert eventually won over." I am quite familiar with this. Even my own maman gives me attitude.

I know this bread. But as far as I can recall it is the same bread available in Iranian markets. Are you familiar with "Tehran Market" (something like that) on Wilshire Blvd in Santa Monica? We used to live a few blocks from there. And the bread was the same as the one's available in the Armenian places in Glendale. I didn't do a side by side comparison though. I have a few Armenian students. One of them has parent's who own a kebab place, I will ask them for a recipe.

Again Fantastic stuff. My wife is using your recipes to make for her parents. I'll be incorporating your flat bread recipe into a class. Of course it will be called "Elie Nassar's recipe."

I recall that the book will be published in English. Are there plans for a French publication as well? We know that quantity is off. But can you imagine someone actually using that amount? Nora- If you are uncertain about a recipe before trying it, just post it here and I'm sure you'll get a lot of help.

Two hours. Okay. I would suggest preparing the spices ahead of time. Toasting, grinding, blending. That will cut your time in the kitchen the day of. Look forward to the menu. My Algerian pantry at home resembles portions of an Indian pantry. I can actually cook a range of Indian dishes based on what I already have. Curries (must I use this word?) and tajines (again, must I use this word?) can actually start off with an identical set of ingredients but the different techniques in both cuisines produce different results.

Sounds like Le Cordon Bleu curriculum. Maybe you know this already, but I teach there and I attended a trade school in France. Depends on the application/cuisine. What you were taught applies to French cooking in general, but not always as in a cassoulet for instance, no. Fantastic! Care to share the menu with us?

I think of Escoffier as being singular. He documented recipes and systematized techniques and commercial kitchen systems. I don't know how long it would have taken someone else to do this or even realize that it is necessary at a certain level. A very long time? Never? This system doesn't seem to exist in other cuisines with such depth, even today. And even today this template is applied to other cuisines (Le Cordon Bleu has campuses around the world). You are correct in your assessment of Fernand Point, but he is a highlight in existing trends or tendencies of his time. As is Bocuse. Yes, yes The Great Chefs of France are writing from Gogol's undercoat.

The dish is called Lahm lhalou (Sweet Meat). But there are many variations on the recipe. The recipe Adam posted Minus the salt Lahm lhalou is a special dish for Ramadan.

I almost always add turmeric to Algerian style lentils. I've never noticed a problem with the lentils not cooking. Which culinary school did you attend? I don't mean to ask a personal question. I'm just curious if it was a school that taught French techniques or Indian teachniques or....

I didn't look through the website. But basically it's a meal ticket. Big companies/corporations get them for their employees. The employees receive them for free (I think) or purchase them at a discounted rate from the face value. There are versions for students as well. I never used them. So I'm just going off of what I remember about them. I can look through the website and translate specific things if you have deeper, burning questions.

I'd have a hard time picking on a woman. She's really perky, but she's harmless.

My family from Setif who were pretty isolated from Europeans or the Mediterranean coast often use vinegar and citrus interchangeably.

As a chef who's been interviewed I can tell you that even journalists with the best of intentions get things wrong. Sometimes the inaccuracies are minor sometimes they are glaring. Sometimes situations are taken out of context to suit the story that the writer wants to tell even when the writer wants to give a glowing review. A writer took information off my website and still made factual errors. I've been around long enough not to believe everything I read to the letter. Your advice is well taken.

The recipe you post is identical to a contemporary Algerian one. I suppose we can ask the question if such dishes are found in the rest of Italy. I'm still trying to digest The Mediterranean Feast it's quite the book.

I just caught this. McDonald's and Burger King do that sort of thing. In London I saw some sort Indian burger. I don't forsee a McCouscous burger though.

Looks great Elie. Is raw onion a really popular addition in Lebanese dining?

Looks fantastic Hazard!

I think what you're doing is great - it's all about getting your name out there. I did it completely backwards - no agent - got the book published - then started doing food demos, tv, radio and newspaper stuff. I'm now trying to get more recipes in papers outside of my hometown - and it's slowly working. If you continue doing what you're doing, people will not only be interested in your book, they'll be eagerly awaiting it. ← I keep thinking that it would be easier to promote something if I actually had something to promote. As is I'm going all on my credentials/experience and personality. Maybe I'm not explaining it well. It's just that when the agent told me get more public appearances I was thinking "with what?" But I did it. I suppose it does build momentum. I'm hoping that it results in a higher quality book especially in terms of illustrations.

Thank you for the advice. I'll describe how I'm building my platform. It might be of use to other aspiring food writers. 1. First teaching. I teach at Le Cordon Bleu and they also publish cookbooks under their brand name. These books have sold millions and millions of copies. My book won't be under their brand name, but as a chef instructor for them without getting into too many details here they would certainly be proud that I wrote a cookbook. A little stamp on the book from a worldwide recognized name... Aside from teaching at Le Cordon Bleu... 2. I also teach at Sur La Table and at a few other national retailers. The Moroccan cooking classes I teach sell out with a waitlist. So I know the interest is strong in North African cooking and also the company likes to have writers teach classes with the understanding that books will be sold. Recipe demonstrations are another option. 3. I'm also a chef in the classroom for the LAUSD. As a result I will be on the local NBC news. 4. Lectures or seminars. I've lectured on French ingredients, wines and cheeses. Pam for instance can do something on cooking kosher. 5. Which brings me to niche markets. These can be based on your own ethnic group or some group you are associated with for whatever reason. I entered a Korean cooking contest, which I did not win (it was rigged ). But as a result I was the only contestant featured in two Korean newspapers, Korean tv news and a national Korean-American magazine. This is a potential audience of 200,000-300,000. For about a month after wherever I went in LA with a few Koreans around I was recognized. Would Koreans buy an Algerian or French cookbook? I think so. They get a kick out of the fact that my wife is Korean, I lived and worked in Korea and I can speak some Korean. And in that culture the overall perception is that French chefs are the most upscale and they respect teachers a great deal. 6. T.V. I got a call from a friend that a new talk show was looking for a chef to do a segment. I don't know if it ever aired. It's called The Yesterday Show and it has a 70's theme. I was on with Dick Cavett and Charo teaching the host how to make a frozen dinner. That was the joke, a French chef teaches how to make a frozen dinner. It was a lot of fun and the audience members kept asking me if I was a real chef and if my accent was real. 7. Other niche markets for me include Francophones, Middle Easterners and Africans. So my very beginner's advice is to build a platform based on your background, areas of expertise and look for niche markets which can actually be huge. There are lots of options besides FTV. But people have to know about you in order to buy your books. Radio and internet have already been mentioned in another post.

Um...excuse me. North Africa. You could even post in the Middle East Africa forum for lots of 'expert' advice. Tell all your friends that you've been hobnobbing with foremost experts.

Doesn't Ming Tsai have a kitchenware line in Wal Mart or Kmart? He has his customer/audience base. I somehow don't think that this customer base would want Tsai to recommend something that wasn't readily available to them. The average mass market consumer would probably say, "Keep the money Ming." And many probably like it when a "fancy" chef tells them what they make with what they have is okay. Look at how popular Rachel Ray is she makes alot of people feel good for reasons that mostly escape me. But I suspect that it has to do with her accessibility. I've seen like one show of hers and she says things like "I didn't go to chef school and look what I can do. Yummo!" And maybe the viewer at home responds, "If she can do it I can too! Yummo!" Which leads me to... I don't have a problem with this. I know certain kinds of ingredients or levels of quality are not accessible to the home cook. I've read some painful posts here of homecooks trying to replicate something a chef with 30-60 staff members does and shopping for hard to find ingredients...

The concept is correct. I met her at Sur La Table when she was teaching some recipes from her book. I tend to recommend books that actually try to teach cooking and I think her book does that.

A woman with henna on her hands is lovely. I'm a handman. Best blog just for the henna alone.

I take back what I said earlier, if Grey Poupon or French's Mustard approached me for a paid endorsement I would do it, then donate all the money to charity and send my tax return to Menton as proof. It's the American way for corporations to insert product placements almost everywhere. Yes the horse is dead on both sides of the argument, but one side seems to be in the clear minority. Just don't buy the stuff.