chefzadi

A question for David Lebovitz and Chefzadi - why Auchan at Porte de Bagnolet specifically?... ← Auchan is a big box store like Carrefour. Porte de Bagnolet, working class area, suburban (I don't if I'm choosing the right words)

This is a North African Arab influence in Turkish cuisine. Remember the Saracens were North African Arabs who introduced semolina pasta to Sicily before the Turks were ever in Algeria. And the Sicilians and Algerians have sweet dishes made from pasta like the one you describe. This spirit is found throughout the Med. I think the origins are Greek, someone will correct me if I am wrong.

You're not conjecturing too much. Of course neither you nor I are economists. But if you look at Montmerle where I grew up it's in the Beaujolais where the Rhone and Burgundy converge. Throw a stone in it and look at the expanding circle, the ripples will expand to cover some of the best terroir in France. The neighboring villages are also pretty bourgeois, I say that to mean that consumers have some money to spend on food. Thanks to George du Boeuf and Beaujolais Nouveau (you can say what you want about the quality, hey we drink it in fresh in carafes like it's supposed to be) the local vineyards are not suffering from surplus production like other regions of France. It fuels the local economy and helps us maintain other culinary traditions. So the artisanal farmers have a pretty good size market who have the money and sense of tradition to spend. My parents bought from their parents, I buy from them. About 3000 built in customers in a single village, surrounded by more villages. It's a good place to be an artisanal maker and gentleman farmer. As much as I love my beautiful Algeria, this is the landscape of my childhood. Okay, I wouldn't swim in the Saone like I did when I was a boy. It's not as clean as it used to be. Some things do change.

I know of the venerable John Talbott. Who is Patricia Wells, is she related to Julia Childs?

I can make suggestions. But I won't do your homework for you. What is your culinary heritage? What did you grow up eating? What flavors do you like? (I sort of know, STRONG). Be specific. Describe dishes that hit you viscerally. Things you want to inhale and consume. The flavors, the things that go on in your mouth, the texures you like...

If you truly conveyed all this you would have been hounded with Korean food for the rest of your life. There is a 97 year grandma (my wife's) still following me around after a I told her 8 years ago that I liked her kimchi. Did you put ketchup on the food? Or maybe they were from some backwards province.

I don't think the scandal will hurt the prestige of the awards in the eye of the general public. I also don't think that Journalists will harp on this when writing about the winners. What are they going to say? This person didn't deserve to win because of the scandal? Maybe some backhanded mentions of the scandal? Bourdain no doubt will do a full frontal assault on the scandal (my wife hope's he looks better than Harvey Keitel when he does this, maybe a pair of heels will help. Dangling cigarette is a must). Obviously I am not a Journalist or even much of a writer nor am I part of the "general" culinary public. As for the professionals I am totally out of loop in this circle, but isn't it a bit of a well worn groove? Maybe I'm not phrasing it correctly, but I am thinking of imagery from Dubliners. I don't always understand my tropes correctly either. Nonetheless it means what it means and I congratulate the nominees sincerely.

I take a very inclusive view of regional cooking. I consider myself American, I have lived in many places across the United States. It almost seems that if I were to do only Southwestern or Southern style cooking, I would be a food historian. I choose to cook with all of my experiences and use all of my tools that I have gained from living in many different regions. One negative aspect of cooking regionally or exclusively, is that it almost becomes a signature. You come and go in the public's eye. You are unable to evolve and chnage in what is current in food trends. So, I choose to pull from all of my experiences and have those influence my menus. ← What do you think is American? I've actually never asked an American chef this question.

The following method can be used for preparing most soups and stews. I don't think that it's necessary to repeat the same techniques in recipes, rather it's more important to understand the fundementals of cooking. 1. Heat a non stick skillet to smoking point (you might need a little bit of oil, depending on the pan your using and the amount of marbeling on the lamb). Brown the lamb that has been seasoned with salt and pepper in small batches, do not crowd the pan. Crowding the pan will reduce the temperature of the skillet too much and the meat will start to "steam" and releasing juices. Flavor comes from the browning. Don't shake or disturb the pan too much. Set aside the browned meat. I do not deglaze the brown bits from the pan. I find that it clouds the color of the broth. But if you like you can do this. 2. Add enough oil to a stock pot to coat the bottom, turn heat to medium-high. 3 . When the oil is hot, not smoking, add the onions and sautee untill translucent (I add salt a little at a time throughout the cooking process). Add the tomato paste and saute for a few minutes. 4. Add the browned lamb, tomato concasse and chick peas if you are using dried that have been soaked (if you are using canned add them 40 minutes later) to the stock pot, cover with water, bring to a boil, reduce heat and let simmer for about 35-40 minutes. 5. Begin adding the vegetables. Carrots first cook for about 10 minutes. Next add the zucchin and fennel. Turn up the heat each time you add a new ingredient, than reduce the heat again as it begins to simmer. You might have to add a little more water as you go to ensure that all the ingredients are submerged. Next add the peppers, I prefer to saute them first for a few minuts. It brings the sweetness and adds an another layer of flavor. You can omit this step and just add them raw. Cook for an additional 10-15 minutes or untill the lamb is tender. The vermicelli is added about 5 minutes before cooking is complete. Remember to add the spices a little at a time throughout the cooking process, as well salt. Taste your food as you cook. This soup isn't haute cuisine, but adding the ingredients in steps builds the complexity of flavors.

I asked my friend Rachid from CNRS for a copy and he will give to me this week. He's heard of Paula Wolfert of course. His daughter and mine attend the same school, I see him all the time and Paula tells me about this!

I'm wondering what your innermost thoughts on Bourdain are. Nevermind somethings are too much even for egullet.

Spring Lunch But your menu reads more like fall dinner. Spring is rebirth, fresh and bright flavors after an earthy, hearty winter. Fried zuchinni blossoms. stuffed with huitlacoche, havarti cheese and anchovy. Plated with a horseradish cream sauce. Starting off with a fried course for a Spring lunch is too heavy. Too many aggressive flavors that compete with eachother. You have fried, earthy and somewhat smoky, a mild tangy cheese (depending on the age), fishy pungency and a tongue lashing ingredient. Grilled squab (or quail??) marinated in a citrus marinade. With parmesan risotto, arugula and a parsley brown butter emulsion. You have too many layers of fat. Rich meat, cheese and butter. It's too heavy. Roast rack of lamb. Coated in a hybiscus/panko/garlic/parsley crust (persillade with hybiscus powder) over mashed roast cauliflower with red pepper flakes rhubarb / aged balsamic reduction on the plate Cauliflower season is October to April. Mashed vegetables speak of fall/winter. Roast lamb with a crust is too heavy for spring. Think of young, tender spring lamb. petit fours for dessert. (the almond cake- fondant kind) Fruit. Spring fruit. I don't mean to sound abrupt, but I have to get to work now.

I'm familiar with hard explanations. Ok it's not available to the homecook. Yes it is. Treat the meal or potato starch as flour, but differently. So sorry! I can give a recipe tomorrow. But I need to get to bed now. Is that bad for me put out?

Apologies, I didn't mean to come off as making it personal. I didn't take it personally either. I gave professional examples of actual experiences. Of course cultural biases exist. There are biases in the culture of egullet. I don't think today/s kitchen has the extent of sexism that have been conjectured about in this thread or even much at all for that matter. Maybe in diners. I'm not responding to YOU here, I'm responding to some of the comments in this thread overall. The kitchen is a meritocracy. But I'm getting off topic.

I'm wondering if a pate brisee that has rested for just a few minutes rather the 30 or more recommended could still work? Less than 4 minutes to incorporate the butter into the flour, 1 to incorporate the tablespoon or so of water, let rest for 9 minutes, roll out (takes less than 3 minutes), slap onto the caramelized apples, run to the oven...

It was not my intent to use this vile thing called logic.

Pate brisee takes about 5 minutes to mix, but ideally it should rest for at least 30 minutes. Is that where the rub lies?

Doesn't matzo meal contain flour? It's unleavened? The rule is, no leavened flour products, not neccesarily no flour products? If that's the case pate brisee fits the requirements.

While I usually boil them, I have had them roasted and they were good that way too. ← Roasted ?!??!??!?!?!? What do you mean (*)(*#(&$(#^*&^*&%^*%!!! My sort of Korean wife likes them dipped in seasoned soy/vinegar.

I've never tasted snot or sperm. Marrow bones are boiled, not roasted. If you smelled roasted fat it was from another source. Soaking in water? How does that change the consistency? I have no idea what you are talking about. They are boiled, the scum is skimmed off. If you don't know how to skim you can soak and wash, but again that won't change the consistency. I edited this post three times before hitting the submit button. The previous versions were really funny.

Not mentioned by who? People who don't know about Les Meres, which doesn't represent French chefs of Lyon. Where's the bias? You have to know about her in order to speak about her. She's well known in France, not in the English speaking world where such discussions seem to be more common. Maybe she should hire a publicist. There is nothing inherently more exclusionary in commercial kitchens than there is in society at large at any given time in history. Some of the opinions expressed upthread seem to be looking at the commercial kitchen in a vacuum. There are lots of female writers (or men like me who care about food and food history without concern for gender or color or creed) who can do some research before writing. Write about Les Meres and Chef Brazier, rather than focusing on what is not there. Okay, write about what is not there, but do more in depth research and write about what was there. Maybe you might get some ideas into the "chauvinistic" males and encourage more females to enter the profession.

Remember Charles de Gaulle's comment about governing a country with so many cheeses? I doubt the EU will be sending food police into France unless International incidents want to be cultivated. French officials aren't gonna go looking for law breaking cheese makers. I can see some "pressure" being applied to major retailers to not carry certain products. Hey, more power to farmer's markets and small businesses. Laws will be amended.

That is how it is done at St. John. The marrow bones are hot and come with toast, so you scoop out the marrow and spread it on the toast and then sprinkle gray sea salt on it. The parsley salad, which was dressed with capers, is kind of on the side. My 8 year old thought it was the bomb. He ate so much of mine that I had to order a second one. ← It's served like that in France, sometimes with mustard. I was thinking of presenting the dish differently for the original poster's customers.

I went to the library yesterday to check out Paula Wolfert's "The Cooking of the Mediterranean" I thought it might be an interesting exercise for me (I hope others join in) to engage in a comparative discoure of cusines in the countries of this forum and the surrounding countries. I've only taken a quick look at the dishes, but there are many that I can recgonize as having an Algerian variation. (Yes, I know that Turkey wants to be part of the EU. But Turkish cusine and culture overlaps much more with the Middle East than it does with European. I can start this topic in the elsewhere in Europe forum and it will probably go nowhere).

The PETA folks have a different argument for this one than the foie gras one. The foie gras argument is all about how the ducks are raised. The horse argument since the horsese are free range is about painting a portrait of them as pets. Americans are uncomfortable with the idea of eating pets, although most Americans do not own horses. I recall that Native Americans who had horses consumed horse meat. I know someone here will correct me if I'm wrong. This article from science world. note animal welfare vs animal rights.