touaregsand

In Korea there a quite a few restaurants that serve freshly killed poultry or game, usually ducks, pheasant or quail. Over there freshly killed literaly means killed to order. The customer chooses the bird and it's taken out back, comes to the table over a grill with a charcoal fire. When I was much younger and Seoul was not as industrialized/modern butchers kept live birds. We also raised chickens, it was sort of like a neighborhood coop. We took turns raising them and then shared the bounty. The flavor is remarkably different from the American supermarket saline injected birds. When I go to France I'm still a little taken aback when I see whole birds in the butcher's case. But Ore is correct, it is a sure sign of freshness.

Haricots blanc is traditional with lamb. It doesn't have a strong flavor.

I volunteer to be one of your test cooks. I write, too, if Touaregsand gets bored. ← I don't get bored. But I find that I'm putting too many of my own projects on the backburner, what I really want to do is direct. The biggest challenge in ghostwriting is translating Farid's Franglish and writing the way he sees and speaks about the world. My own voice is more like Faulknerian drunken rants, interspersed with adaptations of Dylan Thomas poems with a touch of Borges and the attitude of Jeanne Moreau in a Black and White film smoking cigarettes while staring out the window saying, "we are all out of wine. life is sooo difficult." After "The Beautiful Algeria" project is complete we'll begin working on the Lyon/Beaujolais book. We want to include other writers in this one and have been keeping an eye out on egullet. PM either one of us if interested. We have a lot of other projects that are being sketched out. Test cooks and test readers of completed chapters are needed.

A genuine question - not being antagonistic here - I'm fairly young and am still learning about culinary history. But when I was coming up in England, Trotter was one of the few American chefs that I was aware of. If he is only of importance in the context of Chicago (a city I had very little awareness of), how has he reached such a level of fame? Is it purely a PR thing? ← Not a single drop of antagonism taken. I'm 35 going on 36. I grew up in Los Angeles. I have a life long interest in food and dining out. It was a bit of a family joke, "what is she going to with this." It came as no surprise to them when I married a French Chef. I didn't mean to imply that he is only important in the context of Chicago, I meant that if he is a revolutionary figure for the reasons stated in that one paragraph that I quoted from the article it would be in Chicago or to put it another way it wouldn't be in California or New York. And he most certainly wasn't an instigating force in 'lighter' sauces over those with cream or butter. I have no idea why Trotter is so famous. I'm open to being enlightened. ← OK - you were 17 in 1987. I was 40. I remember eating in the US in the 80's. Give me examples of chefs in the US in the 80's who were more "progressive" than Trotter (there were some - but it's not as if he was 20 years behind the times in terms of the US). Robyn ← I don't recall saying that Trotter is not progressive or behind the times. I questioned his position as a seminal force in revolutionizing American cusine according to this paragraph I also recall explicitly stating that I am open to enlightenment. Robyn, enlighten me. How was Trotter's revolutionary according to the above?

I like to keep it simple, soy sauce, sugar, sesame oil, garlic and freshly ground black pepper. Possible traditional additions include: Scallions Sesame seeds Ginger Grated Korean pear Finely grated toasted walnuts Sweet onions (sliced or grated) Honey Nouvelle additions: Jalapeno pepper Sriracha Coca Cola or 7 up Worchestire sauce Coffee There's more, this if off the top of my head.

This is how my parents did it at home when we were still in living in Seoul. They didn't use a hammer, they used the back of a knife instead. And like Marco I snuck pieces of raw meat. When we moved to Los Angeles in 1975 there was only one semi-Korean market on Western Blvd. The thin cut bulgogi wasn't widely available to the consumer untill a few years later. Up untill then it was really a restaurant cut. So Marco Polo's halmuni's methods were still the homestyle way not that long ago.

If that's referring to some of my posts, I made a comment about a paragraph in the article that I believe incorrectly or vaguely attributes "revolutionary" characteristics to Trotter. I felt I should clarify what I had stated based on subsequent posts rather than just dropping off. I don't see how this makes the discussion "sink", I wouldn't argue that it elevates the thread either. It's a part of dialogue.

A genuine question - not being antagonistic here - I'm fairly young and am still learning about culinary history. But when I was coming up in England, Trotter was one of the few American chefs that I was aware of. If he is only of importance in the context of Chicago (a city I had very little awareness of), how has he reached such a level of fame? Is it purely a PR thing? ← Not a single drop of antagonism taken. I'm 35 going on 36. I grew up in Los Angeles. I have a life long interest in food and dining out. It was a bit of a family joke, "what is she going to with this." It came as no surprise to them when I married a French Chef. I didn't mean to imply that he is only important in the context of Chicago, I meant that if he is a revolutionary figure for the reasons stated in that one paragraph that I quoted from the article it would be in Chicago or to put it another way it wouldn't be in California or New York. And he most certainly wasn't an instigating force in 'lighter' sauces over those with cream or butter. I have no idea why Trotter is so famous. I'm open to being enlightened.

How was this revolutionary in 1 9 8 7? ← He was one of the first to start replacing much of the butter and creme in dishes with concentrated stocks, reductions, etc ← The replacement of butter, cream, roux based sauces with reductions, lighter sauces in general turned the French culinary scene around almost two decades earlier. It was called Nouvelle Cuisine. Back to America this 'trend' was entrenched in the Left Coast well before 1987. I don't disagree with Trotter's influence on certain American chefs. I don't agree that he was a seminal force in the revolution described above, he transported it to Chicago. Of course he put his own spin on it and developed a "style" or 'approach' that's been embraced by his fans.

How was this revolutionary in 1 9 8 7? ← maybe in Chicago? (need locals to weigh in whether this was really new at a high profile restaurant at that time and place) ← I figured that but the next sentence takes the sphere of influence outside of Chicago into American chefs in general. Alice Waters is the seminal figure in American cuisine if one talks about "fresh domestic ingredients." As for bold flavor combinations there are a few LA chefs who are as famous as Trotter doing that in the early 80's. I also get a bit tired of hearing about "traditional heavier, saucier French preparations" that the French themselves began moving away from decades ago. But that's just me, not so much of a criticism of the overall article which I thought did a good job of reporting on the event.

excellent! that other one was terribly fake. ← I found the Korean food terribly distracting in your blog. I trust there will be no kimchi or banchan in the REAL Indian foodblog. I wonder what Korean or Indian Jews eat during passover?

How was this revolutionary in 1 9 8 7?

I see what you're saying. You put a weight on the fish instead. Nice plating btw.

Why not?

Thanks for the link.

Hello Swiss Chef- I look forward to hearing and seeing more of your adventures in The Jura!

Now I'm curious. What do you mean by beef tartare? Initially I assumed raw beef dishes in general. Now I'm not sure. ← ← The thread started off with "beef tartare" not steak tartare. Nonetheless given how culinary terms are chopped up or ground up in the Anglo-American world of menu writing I was uncertain as to what the initial poster meant.

They do it like this in all the places in Seoul that I ate at last time, where I had it. But they do it here too. Yeah, it's still frozen fish, I think tuna. ← Not trying to argue with a Seoul sistuh. But I've never been served it that way in Seoul or in LA. Very,very cold, yes. But still frozen never. We must have gone to all the different places.

Yooksoo is seasoned white beef stock. Beef soup bones are available in Korean markets for around $1.00 a pound or at Chinese markets for sometimes as low as 50 cents a pound. Boil the bones two-three times, drain and rinse each time to get rid of all the scum. Add a whole mu, whole onion and a piece of dried dashima to the bones, bring to a boil and simmer for 3-4 hours. You can make 1 or 2 more batches of stock from the same bones. This can be used as a basic stock for soups and stews. It does not have much flavor, the smell is very plain beef bone smelling. But it adds alot of body to soups and stews. I even use it for ramen. As for yooksoo, the trick to the restaurant flavor is scallions, garlic and powdered anchovy dashima (contains MSG). Strain before service. Making the stock depends on how much Korean homecooking you do and the trouble you want to go to. It freezes well and it really makes a difference. EDIT' Yooksoo also refers to plain, unseasoned white beef broth. But the yooksoo that is served with nengmyun is seasoned. I hope I didn't confuse anyone with this.

Don't ya love it though when 'common' Asian stuff gets into a FDR folks go all ga ga and ooh la la over it? ← yeah but at the same time there so many yummy stuff from back home that they would run a mile from ← We'll both have some gae jang and blow into egullet. Back on topic, my favorite at home is salmon or snapper. Here's a crispy skinned snapper with oyster sauce..

Don't ya love it though when 'common' Asian stuff gets into a FDR folks go all ga ga and ooh la la over it?

I think they came about when new worlds of food were opening up to the general public in America. I remember in LA during the early 80's was when French restaurants were beginning to be shunned as fattening and dated. Higher end Italian places seemed to be popping allover the place around here. Puck and his Cal-French. This was when the first wave of LA chef driven places were opening up if I recall correctly.

Crispy fish skin is pretty common in Korean cuisine. The 'truc' is patting the moisture out of the fish as much as possible, a really hot pan (smoking) and a little oil rubbed into the fish itself or drizzled into the pan. Too much oil and you will get that "fried" texture and flavor. You can dust a little bit of cornstarch onto the skin if you want. Use tongs. You'll have to stand still for a few minutes though.

There's another soon dubu place on Western (and San Marino?) across the street from the Korea town mall (or is it called plaza?). I haven't been there in a few years but I remember being very good. It's hard to miss.

I agree it's a great blog and I'm learning alot about Kashrut. Your story reminds me of the Korean preschool my daughter attended. The kept insisting to us that ham was not a pork product.