PassionateChefsDie

Has anyone ever cooked anything like this? I thought that the egg was frozen (either raw or semi-poached) before being deep-fried. Is this how you do it? Or is there some other trick? ← Cooked this a couple of years ago, believe that the chef I worked with came up with it may be wrong, but obsidian still have it on there menu! But yes its a perfectly poached egg which is then breadcrumbed the normal way. Even had Fergie(Manu) come in intrigued to see how it was done! Would be interested to know who did come up with it originally if any one knows, soz only just read thread thats why I'm replying now! I was cooking it end 2002/03 does anyone know of it earlier?

The word "we" is the important one in this thought, though. For is there a "we"? Has there ever been a "we" in what "we" call "history"? Available money is determined by a vast amount of factors, a chaos of factors. Finally, though, it is defined by the "we" that does not exist. ← And as its our history is it really relavent? From reading that history has no place? I thought it linked quite relavently to the flour example not sure what you did except pick on a word! History is only relavent to us, it has little more place than a story if we're honest whats your point?

I'd imagine theres more truth in this statement than humour, for every decade I would imagine generations have seen the next food revolution! An example when flour become less messed with. If I'm not mistaken hasn't the better flour changed over the centuries several times white flour then brown then back to white then back to brown. Which is what I said earlier its Cultularly and time specific and has no real relavence to history! Fundamentaly we eat to survive and beyond economic reasons or times that dictate production i.e Wars. We cant change the masses what we really are talking about is the history in regards to the Gourmet(Not quite what I meant, but not sure what to use). Hasn't every poor generation eaten badly yet in the 21st century we believe we can change this, surely nothing more than the amount of available money and price of produce really dictates what will survive the test of time. Christ even last night I ate 20 naff chicken nuggets why price dictated, they ended up in my freezer not a gourmet choice! Edited to Add Surely if we are really honest the last real revolutionary change was Mr Birdseye! Nothing since really compares!

Most of the mediocre chefs I've met don't eat out yet wish to throw comment, the ones that do try to recreate! Rarely are many of these chefs particular good businessmen even the top ones some where around here is a thread linking to an article regarding profit margins and michelin stars! Most have to modify there structure after a while some never really truely make money but do it for the love this hasn't changed, certainly not in the last 30 years! I've got around here some where the great chefs of France talking about bad profit margins with good food! To suggest that these people are all good business man throws in the face of the majority of research I've seen regarding quality food establishments none of them are going to beat Macdonalds!

Blumenthal and a few others are self taught in the aspect they ate there way around France we'd all be better cooks if we could do that some of us haven't got the money! ← well you could always make the same claim about culinary school ie who's got the money to pay for it. and for that matter I dont think you learn technique or kitchen management by eating your way trough a country. ← You've got admire to aspire! I wish I had the money as I pointed out particularly over here most of the education is vocational which would cost you about 2 meals for a years education. I can honestly say I've learnt more by eating out than I've ever learnt behind the scenes, I did it to a commis years ago, for 2 years he'd been serving 3 rosette standard food not really understanding what he did! Yes he tasted it but it wasn't until I took him to Gordan Ramseys he actually realised what he did up to that point all he did was cook after that he realised he was a small component off the whole!

Blumenthal and a few others are self taught in the aspect they ate there way around France we'd all be better cooks if we could do that some of us haven't got the money!

I have to say yes but then the majority of them do have Journalistic degrees which is there craft not many of them have actually worked a Kitchen! I'm pretty sure the ladies where country writers and gourmets to call them chefs would be a broad use of the word as would be with Hugh, are they chefs even if they dont cook on a commercial scale? Didn't Delia have some form of home economic degree? To compare them to Raymond Blanc isn't really like for like! Another example from this side of the pond would be Rick Stein who had a journalistic degree but made it as a chef replacing Floyd Edited to Add We have an old trade certificate called City and Guilds 706/1 & 706/2 which took 3 years part time or 2 years full time which has been replaced with a National Vocational Certificate 1&2 do you have an equivalent or is it generally always done through catering degrees?

Its classed as the best college in this country for catering all catering in this country is at this level! But if you look at the competitions this college have won over the years and the placements its full time students get, they are at our better establishments(Also believe Gary Rhodes is also an ex-student)! In this country less chefs take a PHD or such like in catering it is generally done at a vocational level seems there's a difference between countries! If a catering degree is done they rarely end up in the kitchen I could probably mention more chefs with irelavent degrees than I could catering degrees! I'm not sure I could mention a chef with a catering degree, I know Philip Howard at The Square has a molecular biology degree!

Which says he did attend culinary college!

You say you can trust Michelin I only followed a thread the other day that implied they like to take them away even less than they like to give them! I've maintained for a long time that if the industry didn't give these guides the credit there worth it might open it up! For example will we ever see a 3 star Indian/Chinese are we saying that there is no top end scale or that it doesn't compare to a french style service? My believe that its being compared to a french service well your never going to get that. As for the general standard I'd say your in the minority, I've cooked in C&B's the standard sucks yet everyday they fill up, food comes out fast, for under a tenner you can eat 3 courses this is the majority of the customers opinion can I eat for under a tenner can I have it in 15mins even though every table is full! The staff are normally paid little above the minimum, the 2/3 chefs doing a saturday night service are normally paid little more, profit margins are being eaten up by making service supposedly easier(Taking the cooking out of it). I dont believe that Joe bloggs really even knows what the AA rosette system is as for michelin that will be tyres! How many people know that at 1-2 rosette standard you to a certain extent can use frozen produce, I know of one up here with 1 rosette that uses frozen bread. From another point of view I've spent 14 years in the trade have love for the craft, 5 years have spent at 3 rosette yet due to dead men shoes (or 2 man teams) never dying I never got promoted beyond CDP, so now they want to offer me CDP because the head chef worked at some local restaurant for 6 months got promoted but on paper he's got the experience, so I could B******T but choose not to where does this get me, unemployed p****d of with the industry for the same reasons you niggle. I have to work under these guys running these kitchens not caring what they send out looking at profit margins rather than customer satisfaction!

Pretty sure Ainsley Harriet did our equivalent of Westminster College same as Jamie Oliver maybe wrong! All Missed though no longer cooking Nico Ladenis!

I've known about the Slow Food movement for about 10 years I'd expected it to of grown a lot bigger in the 10 years that I've known about it. I hope that they can gain more ground in the US, over here I'd say there's few people that know of the movement and most or the majority are in the trade not the consumer. If I wanted to find there magazine I can honestly say I wouldn't even know where to look. Which would suggest they need a publicity campaign. Regarding canning made me think of sous-vide In Britian, the roux brothers tried to corner the market in the 80's and it's still yet to really take off on this side of the Atlantic, as to why I wouldn't even like to speculate. Yet in other countries its a growing industry, from a finiacial point of view it makes sense yet it's made little head way over here. As for culinary history if you look back over time these are associated with the lay man and very little to do with chefs more food history is regarding the lack off food, the tampering of food, food poisoning, for canning isn't really different from confit, all was done was change the method and technique using new found materials! The principles where already established i.e the removal of air and cooked produce!

It is(First edition as well, just missing the price corner, I was only 5 when it was printed)! I get lost in there when I'm sick of the trade reminds me why I wanted to be a Chef! I really wanted to use the nickname Vatel after reading it! The story still tickles me every time I read it, if the fish had only turned up earlier! As for other book think the one you could be talking about if it wasn't a Careme book could of been A. Viard Le Cuisinier Imperial, Urtbain-Dubois La Cuisine Classique or Livre de Cuisine byJules Gouffe but never seen any so really cant comment(Didn't Bocuse even rework a Book?)!

The interesting thing here is that Escoffier didn't want them to become rules/codes I believe in Le Guide Culinaire he wrote "It would be absurd to pretend to fix the destiny of an art which is enhanced by so many aspects of Fashion and is equally as inconstant" Yet as has been mentioned thats exactly what they became. Regarding Dumaine I was under the impression he wasn't a great teacher without disciples spreading the word you will struggle to survive through history! Have to say had an interesting evening I've ended up surrrounded by Great Chefs of France, Le Repertoire de la Cuisine and The Cuisine of Paul Bocuse.

I said something very similar in a MG thread i.e cooks have been using copper bowls for egg whites for yeas without knowing the science. But back to the ? what dictates trends, I'll never be able to get people to appreciate what Point did! But my argument was Publicity is what makes a chef or history to a certain extent. With out it it cant live it will die as local news, and only be a local trend not the next international one! Not so long ago we saw the Pacific Fusion where's it gone as someone said to me food is time and cultaraly specific which means it doesn't really care for trends, but peoples tastes!

So how come Fernand Point didn't get the publicity, he was one of the few? Seen a thread recently looking for his book and a several people mentioned you'd have to be ancient to know who he is! Yet we all know who Escoffier so whats the difference? Point was batting in the world class Level!

Surely this comes down media even Escoffier's word was spread by the media, if you open a grand hotel filling it with grand things(This could be a fantastic kitchen) you'll be talked about! How much relavence to Curnosky for Escoffiers reputation should we give? Prior to the pair of them Soyer recognised this to Quote him "Publicity is like the air we breathe, if we have it not, we die," Surely trends are dictated by the publicity that the chef gains, now this would imply that journalist probably dictate trends more than chefs do! Which could turn me back to Bocuse-Point one is the movement the other the Publicity machine of the 20th century and for that Bocuse has to be recognized! He was one of the first chefs to realise that he could sell more than food, though I suppose the other greats also did this particularly Soyer! Which is continued by Chefs now, endorsing products!

I've tried to discuss this before and as Bocuse and several of these Nouvelle Cuisine chefs started with Fernand Point surely we can go earlier! I understand that a lot of relavence is given to when the term was first used, yet before Point as you mentioned it was very much careme etc. But what Point did was highlight the ingredient and bring it to the plate as the main star, most of these chefs seem to be only following Points philosophys even Bocuse has acknowledged Point. Yet when I've tried to discuss this people seem to get wrapped up with the coining of the phrase in the 70's rather than the movement from Carame/Escoffier to a cleaner less messy style where ingredients are highlighted and no longer extravagent ingredients embellishing every dish but begin to highlight and bring to the fore ground the main article. Surely it comes down to more than whether its plated in the kitchen or at the table? This is a style of service not a movement away from cookery style. This is is all from the 30's onwards nearly forty years before the phrase is coined. I've tried to expand the subject but have found very little input from others on a Fernand Point thread! I am bias and do believe that this chef was probably the chef that changed cuisine yet will perhaps die in history for ever forgotten except by a few food historians! And Point certainly didn't have any one write his menus! Just my opinion Stef

All references I can find seem to imply that it's a fairly recent addition to cantonese cookery made with Oyster extract! As for how the extract is made, have you tried a straight puree of raw oysters this would certainly end up a greyish liquid! Yet with out the salt of soya sauce I wouldn't expect it to keep for more than a day if that! Though as it seems a recently new addition I'd expect soya sauce in it. Why dont you play with straight pureed oysters until you find what you like, though from what you're saying it won't be oyster sauce but your own special! May I ask why you think the original is a greyish liquid, have you seen this? The books I've got seem to imply its got soya and as soya sauce production has been going on for years your saying its older!

Over here in the UK the traditional cooking apple is a Bramley is this a variety you can't get in the US? With a bramley as it isn't an eating apple but a cooker it tends to cook down to a puree. Takes more sugar than the other varietys as it's a lot more sour but never found the need to add a thickner!

The best way I ever had figs was like a traditional fruit tart but with Pastis(Not Pernod!) creme pat topped with the figs! The aniseed and fig worked so well I've never forgotten got to add not particular keen on fresh figs unless with air dried ham but this converted me completly! Hope this helps Stef

I've always found Valrhona to be one of the easiest to temper.... ← It might be it was just damn hard because thats what I learnt with! I just found I couldn't get rid of the rainbow shine for months then it came and I never looked back. Maybe its all the same just practice, but learning this took me months and I had a Pastry chef for a Head Chef!

Fondant Potatoes as originally stated in the Rep de la Cuisine, says butter and white stock shaped like Chateau Potatoes(As does Larousse) or Mashed baked shaped as an oval ball and browned with butter! My prefrence is to hash the top start in butter and add a dark (not white) beef stock when they start softening add a little stock when its gone all sticky add a little more stock if the potatoes aren't cooked turning half way through finishing on the hashed side so they keep there shape and have a larger area for the buttery beef coating thats been left on them. Oxo works brill for these though careful of salt content! Where has this just cooking in butter come from, why not saute! Given a choice I'd have my version or saute just IMO!

I never wrote this! But I've seen it done with a pressure cooker not sure how we didn't poison our selves, but started with a naff bottle of sherry, it definetly gained alchol content!

Hi all I've tempered by hand a few times I've used the microwave on defrost, and the Bain Marie, I've no longer use a seed and consistently produced chocolates with a crack and shine. First yes I believe it is true that tempered chocolate can be melted back to it's original temper but to achieve this would need an excact holding temperature a lot lower than for tempering. First if you understand what your doing this is easier. The aim here is to melt all the chocolate fats with the solids suspended and then to reincorparate them into a blended mass. With all the fats melting and setting at different temperatures our aim is to get all the fats evenly distributed and set so they wont leak out, I've learnt to use my eyes to temper and no longer use a thermometer as you can see what I call the oil slick dissapear in the right light, you see a rainbow effect where the stirrer went, when this has gone its tempered. All chocolates behave differently the hardest chocolate to temper is Valrhona(IMO) yet with a little cocoa barry added it becomes completly different and far easier to temper for months I struggled with Valrhona, I reckon if you can temper Valrhona by hand any come easy after this. By seeding your dropping the temperature down to the lowest setting point of tempering yet stirring can and does temper just a little slower. Hope this helps someone! Stef