touaregsand
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Posts posted by touaregsand
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I'm familiar with most of that. Vietnamese sandwiches are my favorite and I'm usually not a sandwich eater.
So really the influences are more of French techniques? Rather than say French flavors or French dishes?
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What are the French influences on Vietnamese cookery?
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Come to think of I do both. As I said I always take a little bit of the best first. When there is no more of the best left, I stop eating. Hence the chronic one or two bites I leave at the end.
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Depends on what I'm eating.
Typically though, I eat some of the best first, this opens up my appetite for more. I go back and forth, always saving a little bit of the best but not for the last few bites. The last one or two bites left are composed of bits of food that I have rejected. It is pathological for me too leave at least one or two bites of food. Birth order you ask? I'm the youngest, most of my cousins are older as well. My parents and other older relatives spoiled me rotten by usually giving me the best bites first when the other kids weren't looking. My mom also felt that I should eat only "pretty foods" so that I would be a pretty girl.
Further spoiled by my husband who willingly consumes my leftovers. He tells me to just eat what I want and he'll finish whatever is left. Wow this was therapeutic. I've discovered where my pathology comes from.
I don't even eat a burger without a strategy. How much meat and tomato is in my mouth now, should there be more lettuce for the next bite... And yes, even with a burger, I will always leave one or two bites.
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grosssss or gros. I glosssss over stuff like this on a conversational board like egullet as I do in real life. Typos occur and not everyone is a native speaker of French or English for that matter here or in real life.
I think my "s" key is stuck. Anyway, back on topic.
Andie-
Paper toques came into use in the 50's if I recall correctly. I do know that prior to the stiff paper toques, some chefs created the stiff height, by...um...stuffing something into a cloth toque.
I'll look up the passages later. -
Are they worn to show a difference in region or of training? Or is it a matter of personal preference.
Back in the day when we still wore caps, the nursing cap showed what school you went to. Each school had its own cap.
Not a difference in region or training. The rigid, white paper toque is pretty much standard. The cloth bonnet type is almost extinct. The Chef (Chief in the kitchen) is the only one who wears a toque and black pants (maybe a message about "who wears the pants in the kitchen?"). Even the Sous Chef traditionally wears the check pants.
I'll have to ask my husband how much it's required in France these days. In the States don't recall seeing it much at all, except for Chef Instructors at professional cooking schools.
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A place to stay. ..
Sometimes housing is provided during a stage, but it's rare. I'm not sure in which direction your assumptions about that were leaning. If the restaurant doesn't provide housing, is staging still in your budget? I'm pretty sure you could find a place to crash even in Paris for cheap if your not picky about the neighborhood and don't mind sharing space.
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Never ever plain steamed white rice, that has to be the most flavorless and pointless substance on earth.
Plain steamed rice isn't meant to be eaten by itself. The plainness of steamed rice is meant to counterbalance the strong flavor of the meat or vegetable dish. It's also the principal source of carbohydrates in a (Southern) Chinese meal.
I eat steamed rice with savory dishes for the reasons Laksa mentioned, noodle dishes such as lo mein are eaten as a simple meal seperately from other dishes, fried rice MAYBE topped with one thing (not including the ingredients that are tossed into the rice) with a simple soup/broth but not with other dishes.
But Nullo is clearly a more is more diner.
I mean that in the nicest possible way. 
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What was your family food culture when you were growing up?
Korean. Specifically Yangban Jeollo-Do style
Was meal time important?
Extremely important. Food was considered a blessing and a joy. The table had to be set a certain way according to tradtion. It wasn't formal in the sense that it was rigid with rules, my parents simply wanted to preserve the old ways of the gentry at least at the table. (And a few other things, that aren't food related
). I think preserving mealtime traditions was a bit of an oasis for them when we first moved to the States and they had to work alot of jobs that their "birthrights" hadn't prepared them for. My parents would cut back everything else before they would even consider reducing the grocery allowance.Was cooking important?
Yes, my parents cooked together alot. My father is one of the few Korean men his age or any age that can really cook. The kids helped out trimming vegetables (lots of vegetable trimming in Korean cookery). It was also a family affair to make mandoo (dumplings). My first memory of this was when I was five. My brothers are older. We were each given a "station" on the table and we would make what seemed like hundreds of them on special occassions. Making kimbap (cooked vegetables and rice wrapped in seaweed) the morning of picnics or day trips was also a family affair. Cooking together was a huge part of the family time together. Everything was made from scratch. Even dwenjang, kochujang and kanjang. We had alot of jars full of fermenting stuff in our backyard.
What were the penalties for putting elbows on the table?
Never.
Who cooked in the family?
Both parents did. My mother a bit more.
Were restaurant meals common, or for special occassions?
When I was younger it was for special occassions, mostly Chinese-Korean, sometimes Japanese. As I got older and my parents became more financially established splurging on eating out was a common thing. Buying expensive ingredients to cook with at home was also farily routine.
Did children have a "kiddy table" when guests were over?
Yes they did. I say they, because I was the pampered baby. I got to sit next to my father or uncles and was generously given the best morsels from the special dishes.
When did you get that first sip of wine?
5 years old.
Was there a pre-meal prayer?
Sometimes. Not as a rule. Depended on what sort of spiritual phase my parents were
going through.
Was there a rotating menu (e.g., meatloaf every Thursday)?
No rotating menu. My parents shopped seasonally and for specials. They still shop and cook seasonally.
How much of your family culture is being replicated in your present-day family life?
A great deal of it. But it's even richer because I married a French chef of North African descent. We eat food from all the cultures. And no, not much in the way of "fusion" dishes. If it's Korean it's Korean with sometimes other Asian influences (usually Japanese or Chinese). Sometimes the North African and French come together, but that's not our invention. It's been going on for some time.
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According to the site I already mentioned upthread http://www.younggourmet.com/a/32.html
One story says the toque originated from the ancient Assyrians (Assyria is or was located in north Mesopotamia and spans four countries: In Syria it extends west to the Euphrates river; in Turkey it extends north to Harran, Edessa, Diyarbakir, and Lake Van; in Iran it extends east to Lake Urmi, and in Iraq it extends to about 100 miles south of Kirkuk.) During 1170 – 612 BC it was common to assassinate leaders using poison, so chefs were chosen carefully and treated well. A chef sometimes held quite a high rank in the King’s Court, which entitled him to wear a "crown" of sorts, in the same shape as the king's, though made out of cloth and without all the jewels. The crown-shaped ribs of the royal headdress became the pleats of the toque, originally sewn, and later stiffened with starch."A crown of sorts" implies a certain amount of height.
The earliest mention of a Greek influence is
During the decline of the Byzantine Empire at the end of the sixth century and during the seventh century AD, intellectuals and artists sought sanctuary in monasteries from the invading Northern barbarians. They hid by wearing the orthodox black hat and robes. Many of them were considered “learned” about health and food so they began to work in the church kitchens. Eventually they started wearing white hats instead of the black hats worn by Greek Orthodox priests, and the toque was born.Even greater height is implied. But it's a LONG time away from Hellenic Greece.
Those two versions of the toque and it's origins are the most consistent ones I'm finding through various sources. I'll keep looking, because now I really want to know if there is a Hellenic link.
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"They're usually off autoroutes for crying out loud."
Actually I think they are ONLY found off autoroutes. Double-yak!
Which is where they belong!
And alot of them seem to be next to really inexpensive motel type lodgings. If you only knew what's next to equivilant type places in America.
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You can also generally get a great Charolais steak around there.
The real point of this thread was that many of us, including me, enjoy the French pan-fried steak preparation. Don't any other Egulleters also enjoy the pan-fried steak to be found everywhere in France?
I'm not a big meat eater, mostly vegetarian. I never order steak in America, I can't even remember the last time I went to a steak house here, maybe 15 years ago as a group outing. Anyway, I prefer the French pan-fried steaks. Mostly for lunch. I find it quite filling so I don't usually order it for dinner, because I prefer more courses for that.
A plat du jour with a steak at a brasserie is tasty, filling, convenient, inexpensive and certainly not a compromise.
Charolais beef is great, but sometimes instead of foie gras I want chicken liver. -
Red Umai looks like Korean Hoeng Hwe. Hoeng Hwe is made with skate though. Thanks for the inspiration!
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This chef http://www.chefgui.com/ seems to be wearing a stiffer version of the big bonnet. He's from Provence. I wonder if it's a long ago regional variation?
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Wow! Sounds interesting. I've heard of Chinese food being popular in India. But I've never seen Indian/Chinese fusion first hand. The closest my mind can get to it is along the lines of what might be found in Singapore.
Which regional style of Indian cookery is "fusing" with which region of China? Or is it a very broad fusion?
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More about toques
http://www.younggourmet.com/a/32.html
French cooks of the eighteenth century generally wore the "casque a meche" or stocking cap, the colors of which varied according to rank. Mr. Boucher, chef to the French statesman Talleyrand (l754-l838), is credited with introducing white as the standard color when he insisted for sanitary reasons that his cooks wear white caps. During this period, Spanish cooks wore berets of white wool or ticking; Germans wore pointed Napoleonic hats with a decorative tassel; the British wore starched Scotch caps and black skull caps sometimes referred to as librarians' caps. In addition to stocking caps, French cooks, especially pastry cooks, wore a bank of linen or ticking with a central mound of the same fabric pleated on the edge. By the end of the eighteenth century, it was full, heavily starched and held in the middle with a circular whalebone, producing the effect of a halo. Under Napoleon III (1808-1833), the Greek bonnet ornamented with a tassel was in vogue. Bald cooks purportedly wore caps in velour or heavy cloth wile persons with hair wore them in linen or netting.The famous chef M. Antonin Careme, whose career spanned the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries (l784-l833) is known to have worn the flattened, starched toque with a piece of round cardboard tucked inside. His book La Maitre d'Hotel (1822) has a frontis-piece illustration showing a chef in "costume anciene" wearing a stocking cap while a chef in "costume moderne" sports what may be either a whalebone or cardboard-braced toque.
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Now waaaaiiiit a minute!! I dressed up as the Pillsbury Doughboy for Purim once and was quite the white-faced stud. See for yourself:
Anybody remember the McDonald's pitchman dressed up as a squealing train conductor? Now THERE'S a shady character.
The photo doesn't clear up any confusion for me. Hermaphrodite? Boy?
[Ducks and runs]
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I assume that raw seafood preparations are commonly found outside of Japan. My travels in Asia have unfortunately been limited. I love raw seafood, prefer it to the cooked stuff. In Korea raw seafood is called hwe and if it's served on top of vinaigered rice it's called cho-bap, literally meaning vinaigered rice. Over the past 30 years or so Japanese style (some aim to be more authentically Japanese others are more Californian Korean versions of Japanese sushi) has overtaken traditional Korean hwe and cho-bap restaurants, at least in Seoul. In the port town of Pusan, I recall that there were more Korean style restaurants with live fish tanks. There were also some "shacks" on the beaches serving "the days catch."
Korean style hwe is served with vinaigered kochujang. Sometimes it is wrapped with rice in lettuce leaves with the requisite condiments. We also eat sea squirt, sea cucumber and a bunch other non-fish things raw (I just can't recall the names right now).
Anyway, I love raw seafood and I want to expand my ways of consuming it.
How is it prepared/served in Thailand, Malaysia, Vietname, Burma, Cambodia, Singapore, etc? (if at all
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There is a harissa thread in this forum, you will find some recipes there along with "a back story".
Harissa and Sambal Olek are not the same.
Harissa is very thick and pasty compared to Sambal Olek. As I understand it Sambal Olek is of Southeast Asian origin. The Sambal Olek we have in our fridge is made from just chilies and soupy in consistency, no spices or garlic. There is a sambal olek type of sauce that I've seen called chili garlic sauce, no reference to sambal olek, so I'm guessing that once garlic is added to the chilis it's called something else. I've seen Chinese version of the chili garlic sauce as well.
They taste is very different to me. Harissa has a more complex flavor and if you add roasted red peppers and sundried tomatoes it mellows out the heat at least on the palate anyway. I've found that it can taste deceptively mild compared to some of the pure chili sauces found in Asia or Mexico, but if your fooled into overindulgence... you'll know what I mean the next day.
http://www.huyfong.com/no_frames/product.htm
Here's the brand that I buy I think that we've had the same jar for two years.
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In Los Angeles we can get Tilapia sometimes for 99 cents a pound, fresh not live. The flash frozen fillets go for about $2.00-$3.00 a pound, these can be eaten raw as well. The live stuff, I haven't seen too often. Always a premium price for anything live around here.
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Ooh Tilapia! Is it the best most inexpensive fish? I eat it raw too!
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Yes, I'm Korean.
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My interest level is HIGH, EXTREME. Pho is a family favorite. My Korean parents worship the broth. They would be most pleased if I added something new to their appreciation of Vietnamese food. So far they adore not only pho but the sandwiches I bring them, spring rolls, summer rolls, charcuterie, etc... MORE, please more!
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What are the other Asian cuisines that are popular in India? Or with Indians outside of India? What other Asian foods do you eat the most often? Do you cook with ingredients from other Asian cuisines? If so how do you incorporate these ingredients into Indian cookery?
Steak in Restaurants in France
in France: Dining
Posted
Yes the "English language website" threw me a little at first too. English as lingua franca obviously, but not just a native or primary English speakers point of view. Two different things. Anyway that's been cleared up. International group hug.
Back on topic. Steaks, yes French chefs love to eat it as much as they say do. As for eating what they actually serve. It's hard to do. When I first met my husband I was wide eyed and was like, "You get to eat all of this stuff?!" And his response was a cringe, followed by, "yes, but I don't." I've worked with him on and off in commercial kitchens, every position on the kitchen line, including sous chef and pastry. Yes, there comes a point at which there is too much of even the good things. When my husband was out for a day or just busy doing Exec chef stuff, I would have to taste everything that the BOH staff made. There's nothing that fatigues the palate more than this. And in order to refresh the palate, best to keep most meals simple during work days anyway. Steak, GOOD.