chefzadi

Why do French chefs leave France? The pay sucks in France. I made 6-7 times in Seoul what I made in France. I make more money as an instructor in Los Angeles teaching one shift than I would slaving away for 60 hours a week in France with my own place assuming that it would be successful. Of course this is even assuming I could even get the investors to open my own place in France. In Los Angeles, I can go cook for a wealthy family just on weekends and make more money than I would as a chef de cuisine in a pretty nice place in France. The whole system is still very old guard, old boys network. The pay scale is very different. Of course not all or even most American chefs make what I make either. There is a guest instructor from the Ottawa Le Cordon Bleu at my school. He's from a village in the Beaujolais that is 10 minutes from where I'm from. We know many of the same people in the area. He worked with some of the greats in France. He's extremely talented. Guess why he left France? Most of the discussion here is like comparing apples to oranges. Doesn't make sense to me to talk about the products like this. This vs that or what's better. That's subjective. Some of the comparisons too are like taking the best examples of one then comparing them to the worst examples of another.

Japanese Crepes Look in the Japan forum for more.

Kimchi recipe and a few others You won't find another source online or in English who knows as much about Korean culture and cuisine

Ahem. ← You become a cook/chef to eat for free. Work for food. ← Y'know, "Will Work for Food" would make a great title for a chef's autobiography. ← Y'know the title would be fitting in my case. Anyway, the food world is not all about chefs. I'm working on a project for a documentary series with maybe a companion book about the foods of the African continent and the diaspora. It's a group effort and the contributors include chefs and scholars of African descent. We come in many colors and speak many languages, but none of us has a flat ass. From the birth of mankind, great civilizations, the Moors, the slave trade, etc. Watchout, the Africans are coming...

Ahem. ← You become a cook/chef to eat for free. Work for food.

How about passion and love for your topic?

What ptipois said and research, research, research... Food doesn't exist in a vacuum. It is related to history, politics, economics, art, literature... Not exactly related. But I really wish people would stop writing the same crap in English about North African and French food again and again. Don't bother recycling the same bits of information. There are lots of people who can help you research.

There is too much general food writing already. Everybody and his brother or sister wants to travel, explore and write about it. This aspect of the field is getting even more competitive because of blogs. There are bloggers who are writing in much more detail than an occassional traveler because the bloggers are living, breathing and eating a particular culture/cuisine in detail. A 10 day trip to Libya that concludes with "everywhere there is Libyan soup" barely skims the surface. I'm thinking of a recent NYT article. It is more interesting to add some historical details. Like Libya is where the Magrheb and the Middle East meet in North Africa. The briks they make are different from Algerian and Tunisian briks. And maybe this is because of stronger Italian influences in Libya. There could have been much more added to the article with just a little more research. The internet is here, you can find a highly intelligent native informant just about anywhere. Food studies is an emerging as an academic discipline. This is a HUGE field that is growing rapidly and I do not believe there are enough interested or qualified writers YET. The field involves understanding multiple disciplines. It is exciting and it is taking food writing to the next level. If you choose the academic route to food writing you can still always write recreational pieces, but you will have an edge. Stay in school. If I didn't come from a poor working class family I would have gone to University and Culinary school. Yes, I did complete culinary school in Paris. I am currently a chef instructor. Hope I didn't piss anybody off with this post.

I lived in Islington for awhile. London is one of my favorite cities. John, merci again for sharing. I feel like I am back in London. I feel as if I was actually with you for yor birthday. Your friends have it good!

Okay, now you are killing me with the vegan cassoulet.

Corinna, sorry I saw this so late. With the food mill, you have to keep adding liquid during the process so that the peas that have been mashed pass through more easily, otherwise everything just sits there and clogs up. When using a food mill, I add the liquid ingredients (tahini, lemon juice & water mixture as well as olive oil) bit by bit into the food mill along with the chickpeas. It is a pain in the ass though, still. The bowl of water method works pretty well for me with some vigurous rubbing especially since, unless I'm feeling very kitchen fundamentalist, I just try to take a bunch of skins off even if I don't get every last one of them. In that case I just dump everything into the blender afterwards, so at least that part is easier. It's just a question of which type of work you find more tedious. ← The skins provide lots of extra fiber, good for long desert trips and for sailing around the world. If you mash the peas the old fashioned way (pound the suckers) the skins float to the top. I can't imagine anyone in Palestine throwing it out though. Filling stuff.

Try yook hwe bibimbap first. I lived in Korea too for a few years, but I don't remember where you can just get yook hwe. I have to ask my wife. Hmmm, do Japanese computers resist things Korean?

I don't check in much. Someone told me you were blogging. Happy Birthday John and may you have 75 more! Refreshing to see your take on authenticity.

Pine nuts are. I forgot to add it. The "classic" version includes both pine nuts and pear.

Come to think of it beef tartare is possibly the only dish Koreans and French have in common, so to speak. Basic preparation Soy a little sugar a little sesame oil garlic Korean pear and egg yolk garnish

I'm not sure if you are directing this at my request. If so I have to send it via email. A bientot Farid

Please do not attribute the actions or views of others to the people who you are addressing with that statement. If you have a problem with one of -my- stated opinions, fine, but please do not use this forum as a means of conveying your own or your spouse's obvious disingenuous agendas and ascribing my views and opinions to others, Chefzadi. ← You've edited your post without an edited notation. Cross reference with the one I quoted. Now my spouse has an agenda? Pray tell, what is that when she can't post here anymore? She cares not too, btw. She's Korean and knows about Korean foods and customs more than you do? Is that her "agenda"? Google, fast and furious and quote your one friend. Korean etiquette is not a matter of your opinion, neither is French,

This is what I love about eg... Beating a dead horse. Okay, my kids are exceptionally beautiful causing French people to act like Italians and Greeks.

And the parents become very pale and grab the child away in horror from that perfectly insane person. Only someone not quite in their right mind would dare hug and kiss a child of unknown parents in the street; this is just not done and pretty close to aggression if it happened. Lovely or not, Paris or not, you don't touch other people's children in the streets. ← Yes that is exactly how it happens. Totally random. No conversation at a park or at a bistro...

Please do not attribute the actions or views of others to the people who you are addressing with that statement. If you have a problem with one of -my- stated opinions, fine, but please do not use this forum as a means of conveying your own obvious agendas of disingenousness and ascribing my views and opinions to others, Chefzadi. ← I have an agenda? That's a new one. Borders on personal insult. My point is that it's the same sort of thing. The question wasn't about dining in Kansas. If it were I would have kept out of it because you know what? I don't about Kansas!

I am not French, I *do* get out and walk wherever I am, but walking is free and I can escape if I'm next to an ill-behaved child (or a child of ill-behaved parents, as I said). Yes, anyone with a 5- and 9-year-old would definitely be better off away from my bad vibes, so my moving to another table would be a win/win situation. I'm not going to tell you about my friends (French or otherwise) who agree with me, nor those who think I'm awful. I don't need back-up to reinforce my opinion, which is based on my own considerable (and, unfortunately, bad) experience. ← That's part of my whole point and the other is that you are not in Paris either. If you like I'm sure browniebaker will tell you privately when she will be there with her kids just in case you are planning on being there. Another part of my point which I made VERY clear is that it would be highly unlikely for a French person to respond the way you are saying you would. And even if it did happen the French thing to do would be to shrug it off with that facial expression we make maybe with a pffffffffff. And your "opinion" is just that and it wasn't formed with a French sensibility. Next thing you know you'll be talking about how Koreans should eat rice.

I come late to this fascinating discussion. It's been discussed here before specifically in the French forum. Are you French? If you are I would be surprised. This is not something a Parisian would do. Paris is also a very pedestrian city. People there walk and come into direct, physical contact all the time. Look at the way French stand in line, look at us on subways. The sensibility is different. And if you are really worried about something that will happen in a restaurant in a city that you don't even live in and a culture you obviously don't understand you really need to go out for a walk. Sorry to be blunt. But I mean really. I think it's a good thing for Browniebaker's family that you move to a table further away. Certainly it would make the meal more enjoyable for them since they would have to deal with your "bad vibes". Even in a big city like Paris when a total stranger sees a lovely child they will sometimes come up and to praise the child and give hugs and kisses. EDIT: I would not be surprised if there was a whole slew of posts, anectodal stuff about the one French person who didn't like kids. "My French friends tell me this..."

Bagel and simit answer from Charles Perry. They are NOT related.

Korean Mother Sauces and Stocks

Ms Reichl As you know I'm from France, hence my lack of familiarity with you. I have to say in reading your responses in these threads I am floored! You're awareness, insight and honesty are refreshing. I am egalitarian too. I am interested in hierarchies and debunking them. Funny, I posted in this very forum about my French 1/2 roast chicken costing $16.95- $18.95 versus a Mexican chicken costing $5-$6 both made with "common chickens". The responses were "of course if it's French it should cost more".