touaregsand
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Posts posted by touaregsand
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The LA Weekly recently published a list of local Vietnames eateries.
Lucky for me there is a place close enough to where I live to be convenient.
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LA Weekly review of Bastide.
I always read the restaurant reviews in the LA Weekly. The paper is free and it's available allover LA. Strange thing is I normally have a strong ability to retain most of what I read, but I never seem to remember anything Jonathon Gold writes. Seriously, I cannot remember a single thing the man has ever said about food.
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Thanks, Lucy.
Could you please also go a little into French home dining habits, when you get a chance? I'm curious if the difference between home dining and restaurant dining varies widely (i.e., number and order of courses). I notice you shop frequently at the market. Do you do this day to day or every few days?
A pity that such a thing isn't widely practiced here in the U.S.
Soba
Maybe I shouldn't answer this. I hope this isn't stepping on Lucy's toes. I'm certain she will have more thoughtful words on this, accompanied by her wonderful photographs.
Anyway we always do courses at home. Usually salad, sometimes soup, then the main course, cheese course, dessert, coffee. Bread and wine on the table almost at all times. I've noticed with the French that eating in courses is almost habitual, even when they eat other cuisines.
When we have friends over the same thing. But as Lucy mentioned there will be things to nibble on and aperitifs before sitting down at the table.
Shopping almost daily for a few things is very common. Frigos are very small in France and it is also very convenient to purchase certain items daily.
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Depends on what part of the Middle East or North Africa you are talking about it. As soon as I wrote that my guess is that the yoghurts are very similar. At home we make Algerian style Aryan. We can't get the same Kefir we did in France where North African food stuffs are readily available. In Los Angeles we've found Lifeway brand Kefir to be a good substitute for making yoghurt drinks.
I noticed that you are in Germany. Isn't there a Turkish population there?
Basically to my non-native palette Kefir tastes like very good, tangy whole milk yoghurt that has been thinned down. To make aryan thin it down a little more.
Does this make sense to the experts here?
I've thinned downed regular yoghurt with milk when we couldn't find kefir for my husband to have with his couscous. And he is...um...very particular about this sort of thing. I should explain how I thinned it down though, basically I started off making my own yoghurt and stopped letting it thicken when it was the consistency of kefir.
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We went to a local Lebanese place the other night to get dinner for the family. For $18.00 (quite a bargain, everything is made from scratch) I had a falafel sandwich, my husband had the schewerma plate and the kids shared a half roast chicken. Everybody was happy. Our toddler boy ate about half the rice on his papa's plate.
I grew up eating falafels in LA. More often than not the places around here seem to prepare the sandwiches by cutting off a small piece off the top and then stuffing falafel balls inside with a choice of various sauces/condiment. Sort of like the falafel bar that Jason mentioned.
The place we went to last night wraps it in big, fluffy pita bread with tomatoes, parsley and tahini sauce with a side of pickles.
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As far as Lyon is concerned I can see a beautiful collaboration between Chef Zadi and Lucy. Native son/chef and passionate homecook.
EDIT: Lucy probably already has an album full of postcard photos.
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Yes...Lightly fried in oil and sugar, and served with finely sliced fresh red chillies and onions and a generous squeeze of (asian) lime. YummmThe malays also have something similar to go with their Nasi Lemak. They call them ikan bilis (the dried anchovies not the dish). That with peanuts, salt and sugar, coconut milk rice and good sambal.... excellent breakfast!
The Koreans do a spicy version as well with red pepper flakes or fresh chilis. We can eat just this with rice of course.
Peanuts and coconut milk? Recipe please?
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The malays also have something similar to go with their Nasi Lemak. They call them ikan bilis (the dried anchovies not the dish). That with peanuts, salt and sugar, coconut milk rice and good sambal.... excellent breakfast!
I have to try this one!
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I wouldn't recommend driving by yourself. One thing I've learned is that driving in a foreign country while on vacation unless absolutely necessary is usually not worth it.
I've driven in France, it makes sense if you live there or if you will be a regular visitor or if you are with someone who knows the roads or if you have more time otherwise I see it as a recipe for frustration.
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Am I crazy? Is it possible to not have a car and still have a nice, food-oriented trip? Does anyone have a favorite day out they would recommend?
You don't need a car.The public transportation system is expansive, well maintained and very safe.
As for Paris specifically, just walk it. Which neighborhood is your sister's place in? I hope it's not in Goussainville.
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The old cliche about Coq au Vin is that you need two bottles of Gevrey-Chambertin- one for the bird and one for the table. Once at Daniel's in New York, we had a disch of turbot braised in a red wine reduction. We had the same wine by the glass for the course, and I remember it was a pretty expensive one. I commented to the waiter that it was generous for Daniel to be using it for the sauce, and he said Daniel wouldn't have it any other way!
When cooking at home, I tend to use whatever bottle we're drinking with the meal. Usually, it's not a prized bottle but sometimes it is... I just use less for the latter.
Just out of curiosity, how much did that wine cost and how much was the turbot dish?
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One point I"m very curious about is the wine restaurants use for cooking? I'll bet they aren't using high end wine, even at the top restaurants. Perhaps a little higher quality but not real top shelf wine.
Most are not. This I know. If they do it's for show and there is no justification for it on the plate, the customer pays for it with a higher bill. There is no reason to use it for cooking. If a chef wants to argue that there is, I'm up for it.
I think around $10.00 retail is about as high as necessary. At this price point you can find plenty of pleasant, drinkable wines.
By the way, my husband and I made boeuf bourguigon with wine in a box for a French crowd, they loved it and said "it reminds me of my grandmother." The ultimate home cooking complement, at least for the French.
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btw can I make the ballotine the night before?
How are you planning on constructing it, would be miy first question?
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2 tbsp. coarse salt
1 1/2 c. white vinegar
1/3 c. sugar
That's a basic vinegar based pickling solution.
To that you can add spices. There's a standard mix called "pickling spices" in America, I've never tried it, don't care too. Or you can a range of other things such as garlic, dried hot peppers, bay leaves, whole spices.
Is this too vague for you or is it enough for you to fly with?
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Well, tartiflette doesn't really exist IMO, which is why I'm giving you the recipe for pela (which, incidentally, doesn't contain any pork).This recipe was only recently introduced by the makers of Reblochon who needed to boost sales in the winter months. Although its origins were not exactly traditional, the result is fabulous, and has proven an instant hit in the Alps.
From this webiste.
Scroll down to the recipe.
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Has anyone else's focus shifted from French cuisine in general to exploring the regions, how, and when? Stories?
I remembering watching a few episodes of Julia Child's on PBS when I was a kid (I'm 35). She looked positively ancient and did not have the immediate, visceral importance to me that have been expressed by other Americans on the boards. She was too far away from me, as with most other things French. As young as the age of 5 (when I moved to the States) I remember rich relatives of mine talking about dining out in French restaurants, in States and in France. Oh, it was so fancy, the contraptions they use eat, the rigid service protocals! I grew up eating pretty fancy, aristocratic Korean food at home. But we used two sticks and a spoon to eat with. They were silver with ornate inlaid decorative work on the stems. The whole snail thing seemed really funny to me. Holding it with tongs and a special fork just for this?
When I was in junior high my aunt took me to a French restaurant, my friends at school thought it was quite the thing, but none of us knew exactly why. It just seemed such a fancy, grown up thing to do. I don't even remember what I had. They kept taking my utensils away with each course. Clearing plates, new plates. I thought, "I wonder why they torture the dishwasher like this." Flash forward a few more years, I borrow a copy of Ms Julia's book. Alas there are very few French restaurants left in Los Angeles, the ones that are around are too formal and old fashioned for a young LA girl and her surfer boyfriend to try, I have no interest in trying any of them. MAFC still looks too foreign and distant.All this time though, my whole life I am obsessed with food. I always liked foods that other kids didn't seem to like. I had a secret passion for liver (all kinds, even monkfish liver). My family was very food orientated and my parents thought nothing of giving me money to buy expensive ingredients for all of my cooking experiments.
But I was still lost with my cooking on certain levels. I didn't have a firm grasp of cooking techniques and priniciples.
The answer? I marry a French Chef. (My family was not surprised at all). I very quickly learn that it isn't so complicated, distant or foreign to me. Alot of it was under my nose for a long time. My first introduction to French food was very broad in a certain sense. It began by helping out my husband in the kitchen at home and in restaurants. Eventually I became "good" enough to fill in for most positions and I have enough pratical and management experience to supervise and train staff which I did. In between all this we went to France over a dozen times. Mostly Lyon and Paris. My first trip over there was to Lyon and the Beaujolais. OMG! The whole meaning of "artisanal" changed for me on that first trip.
Note: The heavy use of "fancy" is intentional.
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Add some ham or bacon or sausauge (some local cured pork thing) to the pela ptipois described and you have a tartiflette.
The really cutting edge home cooks add savoy cabbage, creme fraiche and then call it a
cabbage and potato clafoutis.
Actually savoy is an interesting area of France, a passageway. I suspect ptipois can speak about this eloquently and of course quite vividly.
I think that tartifle means potato in Savoy. And tartiflettes are even more apparent in in the Aravis' area.
I can tell you about the pela des AravisI suspect she is telling us how to make a "tartiflette". Which is the way I would make it. I don't eat pork.
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Can someone provide me with a bonofide (with ingredient quantities etc) recipe for this, please?
What type of leeks do you get where you are?
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Koreans pickle scallion tops in sweetened vinegar, the result is very crispy/crunchy. We also pickle young scallions in the much the same as napa cabbage, I don't see why you couldn't pickle leeks using either of the methods I mentioned above.
The sort of leeks I find in American supermarkets are huge, with quite a bit of dirt inside. So the have to thoroughly washed in between. But at the Korean market there are leeks that are somewhere between the size of a scallion and an "American" leek. The flavor is milder than the "Ameican" ones. These also have very long green parts. I am almost sure that they are available at Japanese markets. I would recommend this type.
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Roly poly fish heads are never seen
Drinking cappuccino in Italian restaurants
with Oriental women
This thread reminds me of the this song.. MTV video too...
I like my fish head soup with daikon, herbs and lots of red pepper flakes....
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Nobody here is begging for food or begging for customers. Happy medium somewhere?
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Now that I think about it, there are Korean nut/seed milk drinks. My mom gave me a batch a few months ago. The list of ingredients sometimes exceeds 23 (why that number, I don't know). But I do recall all the talk of the special grinding process and that some of the nuts/seeds were soaked. I mentioned in another thread about my parents warning me about eating too many ginko nuts and the story of the little girl who died from overconsumption. I suppose it's in line with a Taoism, a little poison for a cure too much and well we die.
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Most of us who've tried seared tuna and didn't like it probably didn't keep reordering it at restaurants hoping it wouldn't be seared the next time, or cooked medium or well done.
I actually tried it at work as part of a staff tasting a long, long time ago. My rather small, but continuing gripe with it was the arrogance some chefs (especially here in LA LA LA land) declaring that it was "really the best and only way to eat a certain type of tuna." I've read a few posts here on egullet pretty echoing that attitude. That rubbed me the wrong the way. But it's not a big deal. I just mentioned it because we're chit chatting here, not chastising (I hope ). I also wouldn't criticise a place for serving it. We did a special pharmaceutical dinner once. Typically we are given carte blanch on these types of parties. But you know what? For one of them my hubby was asked if the chef could please do a seared tuna course. He obliged of course. And Food Tutor I don't think anything you said is "haughty". But I do think you're really funny.
an animal died for this dish (or at least part of one)How does part of an animal die?
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I had my first sip when I was five. I knew at that moment I was born to be a boozer, others aren't. Starting off with friendly wines, i.e., cheap dates, but satisfying is a good way to start as mentioned upthread.
Ayran
in Middle East & Africa: Cooking & Baking
Posted · Edited by touaregsand (log)
I see what you mean. Although some versions of Aryan have lemon juice squeezed into it like my husband's formula. I think Foodman said he wouldn't add lemon juice to his. I wonder if it's a regional difference? Of course within each region personal tastes vary greatly.
Maybe French style yoghurt could be thinned down to make a less tangy Aryan? We've done this to serve with couscous as well when we couldn't get our hands on Kefir.
I'm drinking Kefir at this moment. I need some good bacteria in my stomach. Seems I over did it on the Lebanese food last night.
EDIT: Good bacteria to aid digestion. I just ate too much, because it was so good. Thought I should qualify.