chefzadi

Gam Shan? Is that "gold mountain"?

My wife has a question. Bibimbap is one of her favorite dishes. She has been to Korea dozens of times (over 100) several of these trips included culinary tours of South Korea (a treat from her parents). Bibimbap has always been considered a "proper" dish in her mother's kitchen as well, not just hodgepodge of leftovers. She has never, ever seen bibimbap served with kimchi and tofu as part of the mix (in the bowl, to be bimbim) or whatever other leftovers. Not to say these versions can't be tasty enough. So the question is, Are there (if so where) restaurants serving bimbimbap with tofu, kimchi or what not that's "leftover"?

Kris- What you have there is a combination of hwedupbap and bimbimbap.

Actually this clears up the what bing ting or wong tong is for my wife. She knows what to search for now. As for Po po. I know exactly what you mean, Ben. I fell in love the instant I saw her. Where would I be without my maman as a chef? I'm sure she and Dejah's Po Po are about the same size too!

That wrapper's edible? Reminds me of when I lived in korea with my parents, and my mom used to eat the plastic-wrapper the hot-dogs came in, until she was told she was not told to... My favorites of the momment (just bought a big bag in SF chinatown) are the sleightly fizzy soda-flavored candies (specially the cola ones, though the lemon-lime are nice). And the candied kumquats, though these come in a variety of qualities. ← This reminds me of the story my wife told about bonbel cheese the miniature ones wrapped in wax. When her family first move to the states over 30 years ago, they ate the whole cheese wax and all. They recall wondering "what is this, these strange Americans call food?"

So it spread from China Eastward and Westward? It's found throughout the Middle East, there's an Italian version as well... The Chinese origins don't surprise me. Just curious.

My wife thanks you for the link to the sesame seed balls. So THAT'S how they're made. Those are her favorite treat. Bing Ting is brown candy. Is it available at a Korean market (there's one right down the street from us, if so do you know what the Korean name might be?) or do we have to get it at a Chinsese market?

My wife for obvious reasons is on the look out for Asian restaurants and grocery stores whenever she's in France. Her travels there cover Paris to Lyon. She's been there a dozen or so times. Alot of the Chinese places she noticed in Paris were traiteurs, selling prepared foods. And yes, there were some restaurants serving more than one type of Asian cuisine as well. My wife has confirmed with some of her Chinese friends in the States who have been France that they don't know what to make of what they saw there. My wife also saw one Vietnamese-French fusion eatery in a mall in Paris. It was a sort of fast food place that served Vietnamese sandwiches and Roast chicken with lemongrass. The food didn't look really Vietnamese, but it didn't look French either. It was pretty busy, mostly filled with a broad French customer base. The owner was Asian, not sure if he was Vietnamese though. Also, in the 11th arrondissement (if I recall correctly) in Paris there is a little area that has many (compared to the rest of Paris) "ethnic" restaurants that are trying to target a broader clientele. This is where we found the Korean restaurant. The neighborhood is what could be called trendy. It felt like most of the mix-raced couples in Paris hang out there. Some more thoughts on fusion. Greek-American, Polish-American, Mexican-American, etc. These hypenated titles were invented in America. In France I am not Algerian-French, I am simply French. Vietnamese-French is simply French. It's considered impolite to ask someone their ethnic heritage. "forget about it" if you know what I mean. In America perhaps, the linguistic practice of hyphenated cultural identities led to cuisine with hyphenated cultural references. So maybe this is America's great culinary achievement. Americas gift to chefs allover the world who are more and more encouraged to "sign" their dishes with a bit of personal culinary heritage and experiences. Of course if one's culinary heritage is shallow, travels have been limited, mastery of technique is absent... I'm sure we've seen a few of these creations.

do you add anything else to the marinade or just wine? ← You can add shallots or onions, garlic, some people add celery which I never do, some herbs can nice such as bay leaves, thyme, parsley.

To further explore the question- I don't have access to Ducasse's spoon cookbook. But the use of Southeast Asian fruits in French style desserts has been around long enough now that it's isn't considered new. He could have read about, seen or tasted desserts using for instance mango fruit anywhere. He could have found Southeast Asian fruits at a grocery store in France. And thought "hey this could make a good sorbet flavor." As for subtler Asian influences that one might miss, well that indicate to me that they are just not there in the first place. Asian cuisines are so different from French cuisine that the influences would be rather obvious. I've seen some well known French chefs in France using things like lemongrass or what not, but then the source of the ingredient is obvious. Make no mistake about the ingredient will be used within the context of French technique and French food. Much has been made about the Japanese influence on Bocuse (mostly from the Japanese side). But the movement towards lighter dishes and simpler presentation had already begun before Bocuse and it would have continued without him. No single chef changes the culinary tide of a entire culture. Yes Escoffier comes to mind, but his significance lies more in sytemizing, codifying, structuring and documenting mostly what already existed. I can't imagine that Asian food will take off in France in the same way it's popular in America or Australia. At least not in my lifetime. The French chef is trained to create dishes that will be accompanied by wine. There isn't a single French technique that my wife that my wife can identify as being remotely Japanese or Asian. The French palate has been imprinted with dishes that were created with wine in mind. That means dishes that are not too sweet, sour, aciditic, pungent or spicey. These flavors are found in abundance in Asian cuisines. The gleaming light of French-Asian fusion from my point of view comes from Asian chefs and I think this will only continue to grow as Le Cordon Bleu schools make there way into more and more Asian countries (one campus in Korea and I think two in Japan already).

Apparently at Spam corporate headquaters there is a big banner sign that reads "Thank you Hawaii". So can we expect to see Spam Musabi rolls in trendy Japanese eateries soon? Trivia on Spam: Same thing in Korea, sort of a gourmet product. Maybe not gourmet so much as something special in that it's not widely available. They slice it and sautee, sometimes dipping the slices in egg first. Rice, spam and kimchi. It's not considered a gourmet meal though. I don't eat pork or pork products. But I have tried sauteed beef sausage with rice and kimchi. Tasty combination.

I found this: "Changchun is one of the few cities in China that boasts a sizeable minority population including Manchurians, Muslims, Mongolians, Xibao and Zhuang. Located in the very center of the Dongbei Plain, Chanchun began its life in 1800 as a major granary in the north due to its unparalleled fertile soil. Within a quarter of a century, it quickly gained its fame as the rice and soy producing city of Asia." on this website: http://www.muztagh.com/changchun/ It was also the capital of the Japanese Manchukuo state. This goes along way in explaining the menu of a Manchurian restaurant I saw. They had Mongolian beef and Japanese sushi. The pickling makes sense considering the cold weather. I do have some questions though, which I'll ask later. EDIT: I just read that there is also a sizable Korean minority in the Changchun.

I did some sleuthing. My wife's parents both come from old yangban families, they have relatives who were politicians and diplomats. (Just to give a context to the following). So I asked my FIL about eating rice with chopsticks. He says it's not a rule, so much as a habit. It's not considered rude to eat bap with chopsticks. However it is common to teach children to eat bap with a spoon because it's considered more ergonomic. So it's more like "this is the way you eat bap" NOT "this is the way you HAVE to eat bap or you are being rude or lacking in table manners."

Hashi. Stuck in rice. Fork. Stuck in potato. If we do this, it doesn't much matter where we are, we're a doof and take that with us until we learn to look up and see what's around us. ← Universals in regards to manners? Maybe I'm missing something in your statement. I've said several times a genius in one cuisine is an ape in another. We're all doofs in one context or another. ← Yes, indeed. Especially as to the finer points. But there are behaivours that are found generally egregious and are not subtle at all. ← Fork stuck in potato will generally topple over; the potato will roll. Hashi stuck in rice will generally remain upright. The similarity between the two actions is not immediately intuitive. Well, they both seem kind of childish, but there's more inherent logic to the rice move. To me, at least. ← How about hashi stuck in potato?(rhetorical question). Not a baked potato, but a whole potato about the size of a baby red. I've seen Koreans eat sauteed whole potatoes this way. It's not considered terribly refined, but it is common.

bragard.com

Sounds like Baharat ... which has perhaps as many recipes as people making it. Recipes often include black pepper, clover, coriander, cumin, cardamom, paprika, ground dried lemon/lim, rose petals, etc. Any number of cookbooks have recipes. I also found a number of variations here. Version #3, "Syrian Style Baharat," sounds like what you're describing. It's also like Clifford Wright's version. rien ← Baharat sounds like Ras el Hanout. As many versions as "heads of the shop" making it.

My family enforces this, especially when Po-Po is over for supper. I also enforce the "no elbows" and "no knees" on the table rule. Another rule I learned as a child was: Don't lift the index finger or any finger of the hand holding the chopsticks. My "pointer" got wacked by Gung Gung's chopsticks! ← Po Po and Gung Gung? So this rule applies to other Asian cultures as well. As I mentioned it's not enforced so much by Koreans any more. It's an old rule that had limited relevance to begin with. For certain classes and all that.

Oh Jeeeeeeezuz! I know there's been a lot of tongue-in-cheek going on here, but seriously. Are we that arrogant that we have to insult people who like things that are "beneath" us? Say "No thanks" to the host and leave it at that. A. ← Well that's why I didn't say what I think of brownies in the first place. JOKE ALERT!

Boris- I thought you were joking, but then it occured to me that you might not be so I didn't want to insult you by laughing at something that might have been sincere. But then I thought if are serious, it would be a really silly thing to say. Anyway. my first instinct was right. Outside of the monolith of so called Haute Cuisine, French cooking is regional as well. Bordered by Andorra 56.6 km, Belgium 620 km, Germany 451 km, Italy 488 km, Luxembourg 73 km, Monaco 4.4 km, Spain 623 km, Switzerland 573 km. Even Algeria was considered by the French government and some private citizens as another "region" of France like the Rhone or the Burgundy and not a colony (huh?). Alsace is an obvious example that French cusine doesn't suddenly become French without being informed by bordering countries. I could go along the list, but I think most are pretty familiar with the regional differences. Or am I being too assumptive?

I think most of us have first hand experience with older relatives who simply don't get it. I don't know that I would pre-tip. I'd just take the wait person aside and explain the situation. I think a professional will understand and not hold your FIL behaviour against you or the rest of the diners at the table. It could even turn into a funny "inside" joke as your FIL being the butt. There are all kinds in this world and part and parcel of any customer service job is to DEAL. Edit: Deal to a certain extent. Where's my cigarette and sabatier again?

'Cuz it would make for really short threads. A. ← My favorite threads here are when people "don't get along" and argue their points to build a case for their beliefs. It can be informative and entertaining. What's wrong with a little heat? As long as it doesn't devolve into personal attack, I'm all for it. My all-time favorite eGullet thread is Does Italy lack culinary relevance? ← I love a good argument that furthers the dialogue. It's the personal attacks however veiled they maybe that is a pet peeve of mine. I'm adjusting though. Just to add another country into the mix, after French bleu Stilton comes very close for me. Also when I was in the Lombard region of Italy years ago, I couldn't get enough of the pizzas and pastas, and of course they had Italian cheese. The Italian places in Paris don't even come close.

Yup. Don't be intimidated by all the stuff here, we're basically just poseurs, strutting our peacock plumage. Read this Forum, trust in your hunches, buy Zurban, Figaroscope + Time Out when you land and don't sweat the small stuff. I just had 3 fabulous meals in 10 days, that equal any others for years; more or less falling into them. OK, so the rest weren't Mt. Everest. Hope, trust, glory! ← Glad someone finally admitted that John. Just a note to Culinary Bear though. The French breakfast is decidedly lighter than a traditional English one. So if your used to a hearty breakfast it won't be easy to find. And when you do find it, it can be more expensive than lunch with considerably less food on the plate. Another thing about Paris is that unless you are familiar with the names of chain bistros/brasseries it can be difficult for a new comer to tell them apart from a sole proprietorship (hoping for a chef/owner) that might make everything from scratch (increasingly harder to find). It took my wife a few trips to be able to discern them. She's not much into guide books. She has traveled alot and knows her food, no slouch here. So if you're opposed to eating at franchises you might want to look up names to avoid. But given the value for quality of food that many of them can offer, I see no reason to go out of one's way to avoid them. I think that your overall culinary experience in Paris will be enjoyable. Everything won't be fantastic, but it will be hard to find bad food as it is known in the UK or America (should I duck at this point? ) . One last thing, the English like a proper, straight que. The French congregate like a herd even in Metro lines. They touch strangers too, second meeting with a new friend often involves kissing cheeks...

I just thought an occasion when the Korean style metal chopsticks come in handy. Crab. You can get into all sorts of nooks and crannies without smashing it with a mallot. You can also use them to split open the leg by sticking a pair in and pulling the chopsticks apart. You get a very clean, split and the meat is left pretty much intact.

It is not only rude to hold a bowl in your hand, but you are not supposed to use chopsticks to eat rice either. They give you a long spoon for that. I always have to stop myself from using chopsticks with the rice when eating out Korean locally. Most places use metal rice bowls as well, which are used to keep the rice hot. Not being brought up to eat in this manner, I find the no chopsticks in the rice personally very awkward, because the Banchan type stuff IS eaten with chopsticks, and you can deposit it on your rice with chopsticks, but once it is ON the rice, its spoon territory. Its the transition between the two that is hard to get used to. Korean eating etiquette is totally different from any other Eastern culture. What's right in Chinese and Japanese and Thailand/Vietnam/Cambodia/Malaysia is totally wrong to do in Korean. And as mentioned earlier, Korean chopsticks are also very difficult to eat with, because many restaurants use metal ones, which are very slippery and narrow. To make matters even more complicated, if you are eating Korean Chinese food, do you eat Korean style, or Chinese style? Is it ok to pick up the bowl or eat rice with chopsticks? I dunno. ← If you want to get even deeper into the finer points of Korean table manners... The rules can be quite complicated, down to who's food is placed on the table first and which order the banchan is placed, especially in front of the eldest. It covers who gets the "bigger" piece, the "prime" piece, who eats the last morsel of banchan... As for the Korean-Chinese restaurants, even the ones in America are usually operated by Hakkyuh (Chinese who immigrated to Korea or Korean born of Chinese descent) so who decides here? The host or the guest? When I was in Korea it seemed the diners were following the rules of Korean table manners. Here in Los Angeles, even in K-town now, the customer mix is so diverse I've seen it all. But the Koreans still think of Korean-Chinese food as Chinese food, so I don't think too many Koreans would tell a Chinese diner to eat it their way. As for the Chinese, Korean-Chinese food is a style that caters to Koreans (initially anyway) so it doesn't make sense to try to dictate to customers how to eat.

how much can a student(full time/part time) make as a waiter in france? approx? ← I don't know how much. I've never worked as a waiter in France. Housing in Paris can be quite expensive, especially the closer you are to the center. My wife and I have done the math on the cost of education for our kids in the States and in France. Given that both our children can qualify for scholarships (even if they don't the tuition costs are negligable) it makes more sense for us to send them to University over there even in Paris. As you know tips are included in the bill automatically in France. Over there it would be nearly impossible for the owners to pocket any of the tip money if it is indeed tip money and not a "service charge". The French government is quite strict about auditing paperwork for purposes of collecting taxes. Is there a French waiter in France in the egullet house who could help with this one? In Korea I'm sure that my FOH didn't report all the tip money I gave them on their tax returns. Because over there the gov't doesn't expect this type of wage.