ChefCarey
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Posts posted by ChefCarey
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Thanks. New song to me!
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I love it! Keep it coming!
Thanks for the love.
I've taken a brief hiatus from my fowl weather friends and am knocking out a little something for Maggie for the Daily Gullet here.
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I'm so glad there is more coming;
this was one of the best things I've read
recently. So funny.
A star is born!
(bawk buk buk buk!)
Milagai
Thanks! Boy, you have that hen sound nailed!
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I recently received a complaint from a reader who was extremely offended at the inclusion of the f-word in a quote from a chef featured in the summer issue of Art Culinaire. In this time of Bourdain and Ramsay, I'm wondering how other food media enthusiasts feel about the topic of profanity in the context of an article about a chef -- should a chef's quote or anecdote be censored to protect the easily-offended? The reader suggested that we append some kind of warning in the front of the magazine, rather than exposing them to an accidental reading of the offending word or phrase. Thoughts?
I'm somewhat amazed at several of the prudish reactions in this adult forum. All words should be available to every writer. I was weaned on those who were outcasts in their day, Henry Miller, James Joyce, DH Lawrence. I loved Lenny Bruce. Hell, I even liked Terry Southern!
Those who would reserve colorful language to children and comedians are creeping or have already crept into ultra-crepidarianism. Stay below the sole.
And, damn, I am so happy to see this fucking thread here!
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According to impeccable sources, I am led to believe that Assemblyman Michael Panter, freshman (and vegetarian) from New Jersey will next week introduce a bill making production and SALE of foie gras in that state a crime. A bill to prohibit production has already been put forward--but what would THIS legislation mean--if passed?
It would mean that D'Artagnan, the premier supplier of foie gras and foie-gras related products for New York tri state area restaurants and retail would be forced to go out of business or move elsewhere. In addition to no more foie that means no more magret duck breasts, duck bones, confit, charcuterie, or myriad other fancy food items from that essential source. Understand that the burgeoning New York restaurant fine dining scene GREW UP around Ariane Daguin's company. That she has--since the company's inception-- been a premier supplier of all things French, European, and hard to get for chefs--and not just foie!. New York menus reflected and continue to a great extent to reflect what she could import or create for her passionately devoted and grateful clientele of virtually every name chef in the North East. As well, she has provided, guidance, support, networking and help of every kind to chefs both French and otherwise--in short: she is a personality as central and integral to the whole landscape of professional gastronomy as Julia Child was to home cooks in her day. As well, the entire Franco/American subculture in New York revolves around her and around D'Artagnan products. To do think of the New York restaurant scene without her--or her company is to contemplate the apocalypse.
It is absolutely unbelievable that opportunistic politicians would attempt to bring shame and ridicule on their state, cripple the dining standards of New York City, remove a crucial primary color from every chef's palate so as to beat up on the easy target of a small, independently owned and operated company, built up over time through the hard work of an extraordinary woman. Meanwhile not DARING to tackle the far more destructive (to human AND animals) battery chicken issue--our country's voracious appetite for crispy fried chicken From Any Source Necessary. Why try picking on the Colonel on principal when there's a small business you can ruin for a few votes?
This is not a question of whether or not the production of foie gras is "cruel" or "crueler" than other processes involving food production. About lurid videos, gag reflexes or lack of. That has been explored elsewhere--and more authoritatively. This is a question of the dining public's right to choose. This is about a vital figure central to all our lives--we who claim to love food and fine dining-- and her ability to stay in business. This is about big goverment and a few lunatic fringe attempting to crush the little guy. With every likelyhood of succeeding. It's the final barricade, the last redoubt. If the invaders breach this line than dining as we know it will surely change beyond recognition.
As a longtime Jersey boy, I am ashamed and embarrassed for my state--particularly as I recently made a show which --over-optimistically perhaps, portrayed it as a place poised to become a serious food destination. This atrocity--if passed--could be the beginning of the end. The Final Victory of the Rubes and Extremists. New Jersey, New York chefs, and the dining public deserve better.
PLEASE write the criminally misguided assemblyman and make your opinions heard. The end could well be near.
Tony, it's a *politician!* His goal is votes. That his *only* goal! The tack here is to figure out who among his constituency has sold him on the notion that this will garner him more votes. Some toady of his who acts as a voter vane has sold him on this. That's where the heart of this will lie. I am sure he doesn't think there are enough vegetarians out there to keep him in office. (Send him some of the data on how many animals PETA kills every year.)
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We were all over each other this weekend, though we didn't know it. I went to see Snooks for a bit (but he never sees me) and was in the Quarter for part of the time that you were, as well.
I'm glad that you had a good visit. Those beets at Lillette have become one of my favorite apps in New Orleans-certainly my favorite root veg treatment in town-and if I had known that you were going I would have told you to go for the pork belly with cucumbers and grape tomatoes. It's a great dish.
And you are completely right when you postulate that you just can't get it unless you see it. There is no way to comprehend just how totally this place was wrecked. The Gulf Coast is in many ways as bad or worse. You didn't miss much, just imagine bad or worse or just plain gone.
Your observations about Magazine St might not be far off of the mark right now, as so many things on Canal have not yet reopened. Even then, there are still many kinds of businesses that have not reopened there and I am sure that will slowly change-but slowly is the key word.
I have not been to Alberta yet, though coincidentally I was invited there by two different folks this weekend. I will need to check it out soon, I think.
I'm glad that you had a good visit and thanks for the report.
Lilette is one of the restaurants I featured in my New Orleans book and John was kind enough to share the beets recipe with me for the book.
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I also need a lot of Django Reinhardt/Stefane Grapelli,
That's so weird. I just spent the morning making puff pastry to Django then segueing seamlessly into Hot Club of Cowtown for the assembly of crab pasties. (For our American friends, this is a small, semi-circular pie, not something a crustacean pole-dancer glues on to her nipples).
Last night I came over all nerdy and started compiling a playlist of all the songs on my pod that mentioned food and cooking. So far it looks like this...
A Chicken Ain't Nothin' But a Bird. Cab Calloway
All That Meat & No Potatoes. Fats Waller
Banana Split for My Baby. Louis Prima
Beans & Cornbread. Louis Jordan
Boogie Woogie Blue Plate. Louis Jordan
Cake. B-52s
Chicken. The Cramps
Chop Suey, Chow Mein. Louis Prima & Keely Smith
Do Fries Go With That Shake? George Clinton
Downstairs at Danny's All Star Joint. Rickie Lee Jones
Everybody Eats when they come to My House. Cab Calloway
Feed Me. Lambert, Hendricks and Ross
Frim Fram Sauce. Ella Fitzgerald and Louis Armstrong
Gimme a Pigfoot. Bessie Smith
Green Onions. Booker T & the Mgs
Hot Tamale Baby. Clifton Chenier
I Need A Little Sugar in My Bowl. Bessie Smith
Java Jive. The Ink Spots
Mashed Potato, USA. James Brown
Matzoh Balls. Slim Gaillard
Memphis Soul Stew. King Curtis
Quiche Lorraine. The B-52's
Red Beans and Rice. Booker T & the Mgs
Saturday Night Fish Fry. Louis Jordan
Seafood Mama. The Andrews Sisters
That Chick's Too Young to Fry. Louis Jordan
Watermelon Man. Lambert, Hendricks and Bavan
Can you suggest anything I should add to my collection?
Really spiffy list. And it brought back memories for me. I am in Memphis, home of Booker T and the MG's. Saw them in action a couple of years ago and have a picture of me - in my cups - chatting with Steve Cropper (the guitar player.) Also, I am from New Orleans and my dad was a bud of Louis Prima. He used to take me to a place called Prima's Fountain Lounge, owned by Louis' brother. There was a trio that played regularly there, part of a larger group and the piano player, Roy Zimmerman, was one of my dad's best buds. You might check this link out...oh, yeah, Roy was the piano player for the Basin Street Six...
http://louisianamusicfactory.com/showonepr...?ProductID=5091
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ChefCarey, I'm so glad that you posted this. I've found a new food writer to read! I look forward to finding your other works and having a completely new soul to read and experience. Thank you, I enjoy your positive and humorous writing style.
Many thanks, Rebecca. Read your bio here and saw the difficulties you are having. Hang in there. I went through cancer with my son.
(I am a lapsed Mensan myself, btw.)
Glad I could bring a little light into your life.
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As someone who raised chickens as a child in rural Malaysia, I recognized your descriptions. That probably made them even funnier to me!
Glad my girls brought back some memories for you.
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More, please!
I am being a turkey right now, but I will get back to Chicken!
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I loved this! Keep writing! Keep writing!
Thanks, I will, I will! Maggie and I are discussing some stuff right now.
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I'll mention it. Chef on Fire: The Five Techniques of Using Heat Like a Pro by Joseph Carey looks interesting! Might be a good one for me too since I have a bad habit of starting everything with my heat too low. Will this help me overcome my fear of cranking the heat up? Heat can be your friend, right? Baking I can do. Things on top of the stove, I'm a little more shy with.
Thanks for the mention.
Yes, I was asked by a reporter last week what the hardest thing to teach home cooks is (I teach both professional and more casual evening classes) and I told her learning to both love high heat and not be afraid of it.The flavor of the caramelization obtained with high heat cannot be duplicated. It's one of the main differences between quality restaurant cookery and home cooking.
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Last year we had a good thread going with peoples comments and notifications of new cookbooks to look out for. Cookbooks published in 2005
I thought it would be a good idea to start the thread earlier this year to catch more of the new cookbooks published in the first half of the year.
A cookbook coming out in June that I'll check out is Emily Luchetti's new dessert cookbook, "Passion for Ice Cream". ($ for egullet if you order through this egullet-Amazon link)
Passion for Ice Cream (Hardcover)
by Emily Luchetti, Sheri Giblin
“There's chocolate, strawberry, and butter pecan; there's orange-cardamom, root beer granita, and pomegranate sorbet. There's popsicles, floats, and parfaits. And then there's Coffee Meringues with Coconut Ice Cream; Blackberry Sorbet Filled Peaches; and Chocolate Crepes with Peppermint Ice Cream. But wait...There's Shortcake and Rum Raisin Ice Cream Sandwiches; Sauternes Ice Cream and Apricot Sherbet Cake; and Chocolate Cupcakes Stuffed with Pistachio Ice Cream.”Any cookbooks from this year that you've already bought or ones that you are looking forward to checking out?
edited to add: Here's a link with instructions on how to construct an eGullet-Amazon link. . Click
I...er...how may I put this delicately, am not allowed to mention a book that came out in 2006 by a person who is near and dear to me, the person with whom I have been most intimate in my life. Hint - look down.
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The show will focus on just great places to eat regardless of what they are....we filmed the pilot in Vegas and did everything off the strip from chicken fried lobster at Binions to amazing pasta at Nora's on flamingo....its based on my "cops eye" of how to find great places....dives, hole in the walls, street food....stuff like that....we will still hit "normal places" but will feature things like where the chefs eat....where working people like cops, street workers, bloggers and the likes go.....if you watch the new Alton Brown feasting on ashpalt show you will get a taste of it as there is a day spent with me in a police car eating amazing "dive food"....
I think the cities will be the major US place...Chicago, Boston etc...Nashville is a place I really want to go as I spent 4 yrs at Ft Campbell and cruised Nashville every weekend.....I am counting you the folks here to help steer us in the right direction...my only regret is I can no longer be a judge on Iron Chef America....man that is a major bummer as it was really fun!
Oh yea, you can tell I am a cop by my avatar....its me in my police helicopter over L.A....just ask Holly Moore what its like....I got to fly him around L.A. for a night!
If you've not completed shooting yet, I could give a grand tour of some great
joints in Memphis (on your way to Nashville?) barbecue and otherwise.
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really, really funny. Can't wait until the complete book is out there !!
Thanks, I needed that!
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Thank you. All positive feedback is relished (and sometimes I put a little mustard on it, too.)
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Dear CC:
I am Editorial Director of The Daily Gullet and I'm reading this feeling that somehow I've failed at my job. It's wonderful, and if I were an agent or a publisher I'd be panting for Chapter Two.
This is exactly the kind of writing I'm looking for. I wish you'd submitted it -- you'd have received a nice clip and a huge readership if you had. Do you have anything else lying about?
Thanks, Maggie! (Do you have a husband with a masonry name?) I sent you a private message.
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really, really funny. Can't wait until the complete book is out there !!
Thanks!
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OK, I've recovered from my fit of laughing, and really want to know:
What happened to the first rooster?
PS, out of vile curiousity, I'd certainly be interested in hearing about some of your escapades with dates, but realize that this is a serious food board and that that would not be appropriate here.
Laurie
Thanks!
The poor guy remained at the bottom of the pecking order. The girls rarely allowed him out into the sun. It was tragic. And, of course, the new guy kicked his ass, too. Gave him away when I gave the flock away, so I never learned his ultimate fate.
You sent a shiver up my spine just mentioning the blind dates.
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A few typos, but nothing a copywriter won't catch ... I like the style, the informality/humor ... but how are you going to transition to recipes, and advice on cooking your "girls"? Will you also have egg recipes?
Yes, I am working on the segue to recipes right now. The segue manily contains the reasons you should cook chicken yourself and not eat it at fast food restaurants.
We are mulling over the idea of including egg recipes.
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That was very enjoyable, esp. the allusions to my favorite WB toon - Foghorn Leghorn. LOL
Thanks!
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Working on a proposal for a new book and thought I'd float an excerpt by the culinary literati here...
Tastes Like Chicken: Because It Is
From Soup to Rooster Fries
Introduction
When I moved into my house just outside Concord in the San Francisco Bay Area, I was intent on being a gentleman, quasi-hippie, organic farmer. I immediately rented a tiller and started a quarter acre organic garden. The folks who lived there before me had apparently at one time raised chickens. There were “wild” chickens roaming about the property and roosting in trees at night. They laid eggs under bushes in out of the way places. None of them ever survived. Various varmints would get to the eggs and devour them. I decided I wanted to raise chickens in a more controlled environment where I would have access to the eggs.
For me, anyway, the question as to which came first the chicken or the egg is a moot or, more precisely, a cluck point. It was chicks for me, baby chicks, that is. Ain’t nothing cuter. I ordered a couple of dozen through the mail. Rhode Island Reds and Barred Plymouth Rocks – all hens, of course. Both breeds lay brown eggs. And their eggs are larger than the white Leghorn eggs. The girls are nearly twice as large as Leghorns – six or seven pounds.
This was when I was young and energetic and as idealistic as I have ever been. It was the 70’s and I was in the Bay Area. I owned and operated a restaurant in Oakland, California at the time. And, later opened Mudd’s for Virginia Mudd, as executive chef.
I bought a couple of books on organic chicken raising and studied them. While they were small I kept the chicks in the house in a plastic wading pool. Had feeders, waterers heat lamps etc., changed their litter. Lots of contented peeping going on.
Meanwhile I was building a chicken house and yard in my back yard. This involved lots of 2x4’s, scrap lumber, plywood, tar paper and lots of chicken wire and cursing. I ciphered the square footage so as to have happy hens. I attached it to my Quonset hut. (Yes, I had a Quonset hut.) . Chickens will never roam vary far from their house. The only reason I had a fenced in yard was to protect the chickens from predators – mostly neighborhood dogs. Oh, and don’t even ask me about my Lop-eared rabbit fiasco!
Let me move ahead a little here…
The girls’ principal diet consisted of a 55-gallon can liner full of restaurant-rejected vegetative organics (garbage to you) I brought from the restaurant a couple of times per week. Had a separate can for this stuff. I supplemented this with feed, grain and egg shells for calcium. They thrived and became fat and sassy. Don’t be too disturbed by the egg shells, they are a good source of calcium. If chickens are forced to live together under really crowded conditions – mine weren’t – they will not only peck, but also consume each other. Yes, those cute little peepers can grow up to be cannibals. Fade to black.
When my girls got a little older - they had begun to lay eggs – I decided it was time to introduce them to a gentleman chicken (little did I know there was no such thing.) I’ve never been one who knows when to leave well enough alone. My readings indicated that fertilized eggs were lower in cholesterol. My neighbor had a small flock of Araucanas. This breed was introduced to the USA from Chile in the 1920’s. There was a claim that Araucana eggs had lower cholesterol, too. This turned out to be wrong. The hens lay a light bluish or greenish egg. Now, these varmints are a smaller breed than my girls, but my neighbor assured me that would be no problem. So, one bright morning when my girls were promenading around their yard, clucking, soaking up some rays, preening, my neighbor brought over a burlap sack containing a young Araucana cock.
I opened the door to the yard and let him out of the bag. Hmmm. He was half their size. The girls stopped their contented clucking and there was dead silence. They surrounded him. One let out a squawk. There was another squawk. Then lots of squawks. No demur sotto voce here. It was like a slumber party run amok. One where all the girls were armed to the teeth and taking speed. Screeching – I didn’t know chickens could screech. Then lots of dust and violence. Accompanied by much barbaric yawping. They jumped the poor little clueless adolescent bastard. The hysterical cackling was deafening. They pecked him mercilessly. These broads were large and in charge. He fled for his life – into the chicken house. The total disaster resulting from my matchmaking attempt put me in mind of a couple of blind dates I had experienced.
I had built a roost of 2X4’s in the house. There was a kind of trough underneath where I could rake out the chicken droppings from the outside by means of a small door I had inserted on the side of the house. That was I could clean without going in. Poor little bastard got in there and I could not retrieve him. He was immediately placed at the bottom of the pecking order. Yes, Virginia there is a pecking order.
There will always be a top chicken. This chicken gets the best of everything in ChickenLand. It eats first. It gets the best spot on the roost. It gets to peck all the other chickens at will. And peck they do. All the chickens get to peck anybody below them in the pecking order. And, in turn, get pecked by anybody above. The sine qua non of corporate structure. How they establish the order is somewhat opaque to us. Where there is no – mature - rooster present the Alpha Hen is in charge. Some species have more clearly defined signposts. I read about a study where these guys tried to figure out orangutan hierarchy. They finally decided the guy with the bluest ass was at the top of the heap. So they took the guy with the palest ass and painted it bright blue. (Hey, I’m just the messenger here!) Sure enough, he shot right to the top rung of the corporate orangutan ladder. CEO’s take note.
At any rate it ain’t so clear with chickens. But, what was crystal clear was my poor little guy was at the bottom. My neighbor said not to worry, we had just introduced him when he was too young to handle the girls. A kind of chicken version of an acne-ridden, squeaky voiced gawky tweener. He said he’d wait about a month and bring me a mature rooster. I said okay - somewhat skeptically, though.
A month later…
Another bright, crisp day and my neighbor shows up with another burlap sack. I am dubious. For one thing I’ve recently read that one rooster can only comfortably handle 7 or 8 hens. Clearly the little guy already in there can’t handle anything. He is a terminal nervous wreck, an avian Don Knotts. I’m thinking even a big super stud like Foghorn Leghorn or Rhode Island Red might well be over matched here. And I’m going to get another 4-pound weakling – my girls will just kick sand in his face. I am having thoughts of one of my favorite Foghorn Leghorn cartoons. The Dog (“I say, Dog…) has just tricked him into going through a hay baler. He comes out the other end buck naked, completely plucked, carrying a large, neat bale of all his feathers. With as much aplomb as a naked chicken can muster, in typical, optimistic Foghorn fashion he turns to the camera and says, "“Fortunately, ah keep mah feathers numbahed for just such an emergency.” The boy I had introduced earlier to do a man’s job had no such organizational skills and was looking pretty plucked. I really feared for the new guy in town.
With much trepidation I once again entered the yard with the sack. The girls stopped what they were doing - you know, chicken stuff - and looked at me with those cocked heads and sideways glances with jerky head bobbing. I let him out and backed out of the yard fearing the worst. They gathered round him and sized him up. He was nearly twice as big as his predecessor, but still much smaller than the girls. The squawk! The horror! They jumped! There was a huge pile of dust and the scuffle was on. It was truly Wagnerian.
When the dust had lifted I saw what had occurred. Casey was swinging for the fences, only connecting with this at bat. Home run! Much to my amazement, they had fled, almost as one – well, all but one – to the fenced sides of the chicken yard. They cowered – or chickened - there with much cackling, squawking and flapping of wings. He was on top of the one doing what roosters do, and I don’t mean crowing. The cackling was subsiding. He proceeded to go around the yard kicking ass, taking names and boinking them one by one. That day everybody moved down one in the pecking order. There was a new sheriff in town.
My girls were content. During the season they each laid an egg a day, more than I could eat or use at the restaurant. I had dozens in my refrigerator in the Quonset hut. All was as peaceful as it ever gets in ChickenLand.
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Been using the KA's in restaurants since 1978 and in my cooking classes since 1984. (Started with a couple of K5A's.) See absolutely no reason to change. Comment enough?
Baton Rouge Restaurants: Reviews & Recs
in Louisiana: Dining
Posted
Man, that brings back memories. Not many about food, though. I remember when Jimmy Clanton's brother Ike used to play there.