chefzadi

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=stor..._ot/the_gates_1 Two quotes from this article Bloomberg: "I can't promise, particularly since this is New York, that everyone will love 'The Gates,' but I guarantee that they will all talk about it," Bloomberg said Friday at a news conference with the artists. "And that's really what innovative, provocative art is supposed to do." Christo: "It's very difficult," explained Christo. "You ask us to talk. This project is not involving talk. It's a real, physical space. It's not necessary to talk. You spend time, you experience the project." The French artist hasn't changed his line in a hundred years!

Quote Lucy "My original question was rather an institutional question, not a question about mastering technique, or about available ingredients, or even about what people are cooking at home. It's about what chefs choose to include as ingredients in the recipes. I want to know whether combinations of this kind seem logical in the French (culinary) mind, and where the ideas of certain of these Asian ingredients come from. It may seem like a silly question to ask in the first place since we have everything we want now shipped by air and sea, from anywhere in the world at our fingertips. I have learned, a long and difficult life lesson, that the French and American mind have different basic routes of association for very fundamental things, different conduits of reference. This becomes fruitful knowledge in the negotiation of the things that basically make our cultures different. It helps me come to a more thorough understanding of what I encounter here, and it enhances my experience." ________________________________________________________________________ Lucy- Just as your question doesn't exist in a vacuum, neither does the answer. Some of the answer may have seemed like detours from your original question, but in order to understand the possible answers it is neccessary to have a cultural and historical idea of how the French assimiliated the post-colonials and how France is culturally speaking is responding to new immigrants. It is very different from the American experience of the "melting pot", "tossed salad" or "tapestry of many color" metaphor. And the collective "mind" of French Chefs or the culinary establishment in France is part of the larger cultural attitudes toward what is not French. You say "But I want to know what are we building on and how much will I be able to rely on these recipes as I build on the groups and develop repertoires from this?" Hence my comments about cooking techniques. Those recipes are "his" they are not basic techniques or recipes to build on, so much as to be inspired by. You ask "What am I learning from this as I work through these amalgams ?" You are learning a set of Ducasse's recipes that he chose to share in a book. The answer for very large questions doesn't lie in a recipe or a collection of recipes by a single chef, French or not. I think ptipois addressed the other points I wanted to touch upon. And I do not have any noteworthy disagreements with Ptopois. Sidenote: I will learn how to do the quote thing correctly. It will take me a little time. I'm sure it's simple. But I'm not computer oriented.

Do you really think that the French winemakers are catering to the taste of the American man or marketing to the tastes of the American man? Two different things. Change the labeling system so that it is more easily understood for instance.

Mklynch- Cooking a meal together is pretty much how all cooking classe go. We're not trying to reinvent the wheel. We're trying to give the wheel to more people. All suggestions of resources are more than welcomed and will be utilized as needed.

Thank you! Or shall I say, "mercy buckups"? I am terribly French challenged. Whenever I'm in a French restaurant I get stage fright when it's time to order. I think to myself, "is that "t" or "s" at the end pronounced?" Drives me nuts. ← I visited that site. He's non-native French speaker, I'm guessing American. This can be an advantage to the American learner though. The sounds he makes are more mimicable (is that a word?) for an American. And certainly at his level he would be easily understood, well at least in Paris.

Off topic I know. Since Jensen brings it up. And it always seems to give people a kick to learn the "naughty" words or phrases in a foreign language. The proper way in France to say "fuck you" is "va te faire enculer". Back to topic. It seems that the French terms are the most onerous for folks on this thread. ;-) Maybe ecgi can do a audio course on this. I would happiliy volunteer. Btw, I speak standard French as it is considered in France.

Thought to be an ancient Quechuan word native to the folks in the high Andes, is pronounced “keen-wa” or “kee-noo-ah.” Also be spelled quinua or quinwa.

Exactly. Pronounce (as it's written) bouillabaisse. Now pronounce (as it's written) bouillabaise. The former is, as chefzadi notes, the correct spelling. But it's fairly common for non-French speakers to pronounce the former with a "z" ("zed" in Jensen's world) sound at the end. As for the ambiguity of the term, context is certainly important. In the case of the 19 year old Frenchman who turns to his 17 year old date and asks "Alors, on baise ou quoi?" there's very little ambiguity involved. Or maybe I just misunderstood. ← Since you bring up context. If a 19 year Frenchman turns to his Frenchwoman date and says that, he has almost 100% chance of getting slapped in the face and zero chance of getting what he proposed. Not trying to split hairs here. I'm just trying to help non-Frenchman who might want to get cozy with a French woman to NOT use that word. Maybe in Quebec it's different.

a (long a) oh lee EDIT: I'm not good at this English phonetic spelling, btw

Parker needs to keep writing about wine. So if he used the same metaphors or tropes all the time his readership would get bored. For instance if said ripe fruit, his readers might ask which fruit? Also what tastes like peach to me, might taste like nectarine or plum to someone else. It depends on the quality of the fruit that one is accustomed than the "poetry" comes in pinning it down with a comparison. And yes, the aromas of wood, tobacco, leather, pear, peach, honey, minerals... exist in wine. Look, smell and taste.

rocky sounds like another way to describe mineral flavors

Actuellement, the French verb "baiser" must be used with the qualifying verb and preposition "donner un baiser a quelqu'un" (literally, to give someone a kiss) as noted in Ben's explanation above. Otherwise, without the qualifier, its usage changes to a colloquialism for "to fuck". ← baiser= to fuck= gutter French. Baiser "must" be used with the qualifying verb and preposition in sentences. On it's own baiser simple translated means "to kiss". As in English words need to be added, who to kiss, give me a kiss, etc... (even in the slang sense, who or what or where or how or when to fuck) There is no native speaker of French who tell you that baiser on it's own means "to fuck" as the proper definition. They might tell you that it means to "to kiss", but it can also be slang for "to fuck". To get back on topic. I simply do not see baiser in bouilliabaisse. And if I did I would think of kissing first. In the South of France they speak in a sing song sort of way, over there "e" would be pronounce. Sort of like a hiccup.

My glib remark was not intended to question, well, anyone's "intentions" or the project itself. I did a quick read of the article. The concept for a restaurant with Alice Water's name on it in Paris would almost necessarily target a non-local customer base. The concept is quite nice. But I would be hard pressed to say that the general French public or the French press would be open to learning about (to quote Chef Waters) " the relationship of food to agriculture, and food to art and culture" from an American, an American celebrity chef nonetheless. That's not to say that I don't think the French don't have anything to learn from other cultures. My comments are more about the overall chauvinism in France regarding food. Alot of the pride is quite justifiable. Alot of is stifling. I'll take it a step further. If Chef Water's opened a restaurant in Paris or anywhere else in France outside of a tourist attraction her reputation in America would not carry her over there. Again that's not to say that her reputation is not well deserved. It's a different playing field over there. You can't open up a Chez Panisse in Paris like Ducasse can do something New York.

Lucy- I only see one Japanese ingredient, wasabi. Algues has been used in French cooking for a long time. As long as man has roamed the earth he has eaten basically whatever he could find that was edible. Algue is found outside of Asian waters. I don't know if the algues that Ducasse specifies is a Japanese version. My point is the use of algues was already known to the French, the Japanese simply introduced a different version. In regards to Ducasse's cookbook. I haven't seen a copy of it. But I'm probably safe in saying that it is a collection of his recipes and not meant to be a "class" on cooking techniques. I see recipes as a collection of ingredients. They are most interesting to me when they are written with a list of indigenous ingredients. Photos are nice so that I can see the ingredients in their final state. I do not follow them At this point in my culinary life I know what a braised piece of meat in any culinary culture should look like. You know how to cook when you stop following recipes. You are creative when you understand flavors. The wasabi in Ducasse's recipe doesn't even have to be there. He has enough flavors going on to make it compelling without. Why is it there? The distinguishing characteristic of wasabi for me is the unique heat it creates, not on the tongue but in the nose, almost in the brain. Is this a desirable thing for a relish/chutney? What does he suggest serving it with? EDIT: Master your cooking techniques and the world of recipes is your oyster so to speak.

You are absolutely right Tess. I hear things in Korean that make my wife look at me like "WHERE did you get THAT?"

Well then, happy to have clarified that one for you. ← I've never heard of this or thought of this. Maybe as a native speaker I'm missing the humour here. F word? I know what the F word is, but I don't see it bouilliabaisse. I see the verb abaisse as it is containted whole in bouilliabaisse. Read Ben's explanation of baiser. It's to kiss not to fuck. bouilli = boiled *[adjective-adverb] bouilli = boiled *[verb] abaisse = crust *[noun-feminine] abaisse = reduces *[verb] bouillia is not a word baisse = lowers *[verb]

Alice Waters at the Louvre? Her contribution would be highlighted in literature aimed at tourists no doubt.

Why does Ducasse call it a chutney? I think this website provides some clues. http://www.algues-de-bretagne.com/mes_c_ty...icherche_3.html

the pestle is the thing you mash or grind with and the mortar is the vessel you commit such actions in. I've seen some chicken shawerma tacos on the menu at some of the Armenian places. Basically it's a shawerma sandwich on a small flour tortilla. Go figure, perhaps trying to a target a new customer base.

Thank you! Or shall I say, "mercy buckups"? I am terribly French challenged. Whenever I'm in a French restaurant I get stage fright when it's time to order. I think to myself, "is that "t" or "s" at the end pronounced?" Drives me nuts. ← Merci beaucoup, The korean version myulchi bokkum It's a running joke with my in laws. P.S. The French can be just as anxious as you are when ordering from "foreign" menus. Just picture the French chef in is his underwear. You can also just point to the items you want.

hm, i've never heard anyone pronounce it bouillabuck... ← In case anybody here doesn't know this, the verb "baiser" (pronounced beh-zay), means, well, let's just say that it's nothing to do with cooking. ← bouillabaisse is THE fisherman's stew par excellance. It's a cooking and eating event. The origin of the word bouillabaisse is a combination of bouillon abaissé "to reduce by evaporation"

I have always pronounced this meel foy (although I have heard meel fway as well) ← For the non-francophone, the easiest (and closest) is: mee fuh-yuh Don't worry about the L's in mille at all, because it's also a "yuh" sound and when the words are said together they'll disappear to most anglophone ears. ← As a French student many years ago and again now, I can assure you that the world "fueille" is one of the most brutally unpronouncable word in the language -- especially if you've never heard a French person say it. That is why Americans like to pronounce the word: "Napoleon." Personally, I'd combine the two suggestions above to get a "mee fwuay," as it hints at breaking down into two syllables more than it actually does so. Kind of like an old Georgia girl I knew who could get an extra syllable (or more) out of the common vulgarity by pronouncing it Sheeeeit. Wine names can be fun: Puligny-Montrachet; Chayeauneuf-du-Pap; Torckenbeerenauslesen.... ← My wife struggles with this one as well. mille feuille. It's THE word she's always has to ask "how do you pronounce that again?" It's not she can't pronounce it, she always forgets. She pronounces words such as bruschetta and tagliatelle the Italian way, whereas I say them with French pronunciation. I just can't help it. I was familiar with them in France before I went to Italy or came to the States. It's just a habit I can't break, not that I try.

As a side note. My American born daughter always ask for fish Korean style, in her words "you know with the head on, not the rectangle or square fish" She also encourages her friends (non-Asian included) to try myul chi (anchovies) she tells them, "the heads are so small you don't even feel them, try it! It's really good." She's 6 by the way. And yes, Europeans don't freak out at the sight of a whole fish on a plate. It's um...er... the Americans that tend to. (Not all of course, but we are speaking broadly here.

I agree with you for the most part. But whole small fish are very commonly consumed in Mediteranean countries (probably in the Middle East as well). Whole grilled sardines, salt a little lemon juice. But it is is safer to serve a filet or steak to a non-Asian crowd.

Here's a recipe of Turkish doner kebob that uses a combination of ground and sliced lamb, like the chef melkor mentioned. http://www.netcooks.com/recipes/Sandwiches/Doner.Kebab.html