Steve Klc

Excellent point Dave. Lesley beat me to it. Dave and Lady T--I promise to give you some more generosity and ebullience down the road but reserve the right to rant, seemingly less shrill next time. Your observation provides a nice coda to what someone said was a 900 word piece, and reaches even farther than I was prepared to go within that limit: "how does she flourish in a job that lets her write on almost any subject, with no apparent editorial interference, and with a knack for thematic development that has all the traction of a crack-crazed skateboarder on a greasy half-pipe?" Well, I think the schematic I drew from her last year at the NY Times to freelance to blog doesn't exactly indicate flourish and that's part of the point. It indicates that we eGulleteers were on to something all along--we noticed agenda creep, we noticed hostility toward certain subject matter while at the Times and carryover bitterness in her own words on her website. That roadmap is laid out for anyone who'd like to follow it. But thank you for reading along and following the leads and saying there's even more here than meets the eye at first blush. Would that others see fit to do the same. That's a necessary part of this exercise. Stella--the thing is--this isn't a post. Don't confuse the two. You don't see "arguments" that focus on issues? Seems Dave doesn't have a problem focusing on issues--he thinks I missed an ultimately even greater point but then that's what opinion pieces are wont to do--and why people who care discuss them and see where they lead. Others are held up with tone--that there wouldn't seem to be an appreciable difference. Damn right, but then I wasn't ever the #2 person at the Times food section. You either accept that this position should come with a higher level of responsibility as the nation's paper of record and a higher level of scrutiny or you don't. If you don't, I'm afraid I can't help you. Steve P chimes in with "yes, it is Schrambling's fault. Is that what you are saying? She caused this?" Finally, clarity. Thank you Steve. It's her words, her slant. Follow where I've led you--make up your own minds and see if you start to see a pattern--especially post 9/11 and especially with restaurants/chefs/chef cookbooks--that's where I felt the unnecessarily negative and the creep of hostility toward her subjects comes into play. (And actually, since no one else has done it yet, I found that even more troubling because her work right after 9/11 was some of the most endearing and heartfelt around--see if you can track down "As a City Craves Normalcy, Restaurants Seem to Be a Start" and ""When the path to serenity wends past the stove" from September: "The food is not really the thing. It’s the making of it that gets you through a bad time…cooking lets you cede control…there’s a reason they call it following a recipe. Sometimes it just feels calming to know a cake needs exactly one teaspoon of salt and no less than half a pound of butter …whoever said cooking should be entered into with abandon or not at all had it wrong. Going into it when you have no hope is sometimes just what you need to get to a better place. Long before there were antidepressants, there was stew." That's just good stuff.) (edit--spelling, spacing and capitalized Steve's p)

If you liked that book, as I did as well, you'll really be blown away by the quality and scope of Claudia Roden's The New Book of Middle Eastern Food. More relevant than ever with the rise of mezze. Edit by Jason Perlow: Amazon Link

oh, the bad boy in public. What's important is is the article right? that will help determine whether it's appropriate Steve P. has never heard of her before and g.johnson doesn't recall any of her articles. I look forward to you catching up if you're so motivated. Suzanne--you've gone from "the most mean-spirited, unnecessary piece of vitriol " to "Okay, lots of evidence of how she is "gratuitously bitchy" and other similar descriptions. And references to other negative reactions (here and elsewhere) to her "bitching and moaning." All the research seemed focused on digging up more dirt on her. But never a mention of why this Schrambling-bashing is necessary. Just because she is what she is? Surely she must have done SOMETHING besides be her incompetent, nasty self to deserve such lambasting. And surely there are plenty of other targets out there, with skills as limited and attitudes as bad" So Suzanne--and those of you "as always" with Suzanne, glad to have you move forward as well. We're left with why. Why? For that, you'd have to realize who we're talking about here--a very influential, very powerful, #2 person as deputy editor and feature writer for the most significant, most widely read food section in the most significant food city in the US. That's who. There are certainly food writers--as there are chefs--with widely varying skills and attitudes and these are discussed on a daily basis at eGullet--by everyone posting on this thread. And as I said earlier--there's no one that I know of with that kind of profile, with that kind of obvious self regard, who has just debuted a website of their own with a blog and who also screws up, gets the stories just a little bit wrong or is repeatedly hostile toward their subjects as much as she does. g.johnson still needs more, needs to be convinced of the evidence, after a few posts we get it. What I don't get is if you've followed like Suzanne and made up your own mind on something you might have read. It comes off looking vindictive only if you aren't willing to read and follow like Suzanne and engage on the merits g. Come back with your reading of what's been linked to or discussed and engage on how you feel this has been misread. I look forward to it. See if you see what Suzanne found. Plus, why is it so hard to grasp that one of many ideas for the webzine--and something which distinguishes this media format vs. others--is to generate discussion HERE and to interact? If you want the seriousness of the Nation or the Economist, well, you're going to be disappointed. Still we're left with why bash? Do you have such short memories? Why did Amanda see fit bash Emeril? Why did Amanda and Steingarten bash Bourdain and his book on Slate? Why ask why? Dig into the examples referenced here--and ask if I and all the others who have posted about this on various threads are right in feeling this way about Schrambling? The thing with Schrambling is I think we've traced a pattern of behavior worth commenting upon that's coupled with very high self regard. As I wrote earlier, I'm hard pressed to think of anyone else with this profile that could be questioned like this. That's why.

Here's a nice little piece by Marion Burros from years ago, which quotes Tugrul Savkay. Savkay contributed the chapter called "The Cultural and Historic Context of Turkish Cuisine" in the book I mentioned previously: http://www.antiquetheatrehotel.com/chefs.htm An excerpt: "Many of these dishes mays sound familiar to Americans because they have had them in Greek restaurants here, but Turks say that most of them originated in Turkey. Who can lay claim to what, however, is just part of the continuing hard feelings between the two countries. The foundation of Turkish cooking is grain - wheat and rice. Borek is made with the translucent sheets of pastry called yufka in Turkey and phyllo in Greece (and in America) that are layered and folded into various shapes after being filled, usually with meat or cheese. Another form of thin dough is called su borek, which is boiled like pasta and stuffed. Manti, tiny meat-filled dumplings, are part of the culinary tradition that had its origins in China."

Maybe that's another one of my problems. I don't wear a toque. Let's see, Suzanne trots out the vendetta card. Our now Retired Chef wonders if I would "have been so quick to comment on Ms. Schrambling’s article had one of your restaurants not been mentioned." Well, a quick search reveals I've expressed dislike about Schrambling's articles all along--and I'm by no means the only one. Her Philly piece in March. In April I wondered "if anyone has heard any buzz that Regina will take over editorship of the Dining section? If so, I fear we're in for more first person diaries, poor editorial judgment, and questionably-talented writers contributing major pieces on subjects they know little about. Maybe a hatchet-job piece on Arthur Schwartz is in the works?" About the Market menus in July, where I posted something critical of Schrambling and also where several other users began to define "her M.O." and Aurora weighed in with this: "there are obviously several bugs in Ms. Schrambling's bonnet....It truly is a mish-mash of emotions that Ms. Schrambing has about the issue. Given all the different angles she is coming from, it all empties out into a chef-bashing basin....The publicist comment was cheap, but worse still is the insulting, staged photograph of the FedEx delivery. It suggests that chefs are working on the cheat--the cuisine served is not the work of skilled, dedicated chefs in partnership with skilled, dedicated purveyors, but a mail-order convenience where chefs click buttons and let FedEx do all their busywork for them....A slant piece at best." I'm reminded that, ironically, at that time we had to look to David Karp in the LA Times for really good coverage of the Greenmarket in Union Square. The Arthur Ave thread and commentary took place in October. Then and only then did Zaytinya open. Hardly vendetta material. We've been following her all along. In fact, I wonder if anyone from the Times was lurking on eGullet back then... But back to the thick skin--it's not the same thing as turning a blind eye, is it? Saying the desserts you had somewhere are not very good does not mean the pastry chef who made them is a bad person, does it? You'd rather I skirt around the issue Retired? Is that what chefs are supposed to do in your eyes, resort to obfuscation like Schrambling and hint around known figures instead, like her diss of Sirio Maccioni? That's a hurdle you might want to get over. (That stuff is also Off-topic here though: If you want to make the case someone's desserts are good and unjustly maligned by me, I suggest you make it on the DC board and on the threads in question. I've eaten enough at Morrison Clark and Majestic Cafe to stand by the accuracy and fairness of what I've said. Also, realize I will be the first person to post on eGullet after my next meal at Majestic Cafe if I really enjoyed a dessert there. And if Valerie ever cared about my opinion or asked for my help in picking her desserts up a notch, I'd be over there in a second. It's really nothing personal. It's about the food. I've changed my desserts, remedied problems or inconsistencies based on the comments of others--even diners I don't know--if what they said made sense. It's no big deal.) Whatever perspective or authority I've earned around here comes from the fact that I've posted a few thousand times and in my own name. I'm not a tough-talking newbie under the cloak of anonymity--though anonymous tough-talking newbies are most welcome! There are no hidden agendas because I do talk about my friends, their restaurants, disclose relationships--as well as honestly reveal my picks and pans. All my errors of judgment are out there for all to see. In fact Retired, you're very eloquent and passionate when you write "I'm sorry to see that this is what this site is about. I'm sorry to see humility absent in the modern culinary world today. Yes, I suppose my generation was different. In my day it was just unadulterated dedication to the craft." Believe me when I say this--this site about alot more than me and this piece. Would you consider working something up along those lines--retired chef surveys the scene and doesn't like what he sees--for the Webzine? If so, PM me or Shaw. This fact also remains: neither Shaw nor I nor anyone on this site could even have considered writing a tough piece like this about anyone else who contributed at the Times. They don't make the same mistakes. What does that say? We all have our soft spots--mine is the angelic Marion Burros, but Grimes (who has reviewed me, gave my restaurant at the time two stars but panned my signature dessert) Asimov, Fabricant, Bittman, Melissa Clark, Dorie Greenspan, etc. None of them could be tarred with any hint of this. Not even Amanda Hesser, the lightning rod of Times food writing, think the Spanish arc stuff as opposed to her Diaries. In fact, when Grimes was on leave I mourned his absence and missed his voice. Keep killing the messenger if you like, more than a few seem to have gotten the message.

Priscilla and wgallois--havuc koftesi? Havuc is Turkish for carrot I believe. I've only had one version of it--fritters of carrot, apricot, pine nut served on a bed of coarse pistachio sauce. Incredibly addictive. Was your's a dip or spread? For others interested, allow me to recommend a book I used "Timeless Tastes--Turkish Culinary Culture," about 67 Euros, beautifully illustrated and researched.

And word yet about the status of the Woodbridge, NJ Wegmans on outer Green Street, I believe it was?

Irish--Schrambling can write very well, I guess a larger point is she's misdirected and often sabotages herself with bias, attitude and preconceived notions. I want to thank you and Anna N but please, you don't have to defend me on this thread. I knew what I was writing and how it might be perceived. I'd discourage anyone else from weighing in like this, turning this thread into a larger referendum on what I've given to the site. What I write elsewhere--or how often--shouldn't be used to defend or excuse this piece or the attitude I've taken toward this particular food writer. Both have to stand on their own merits. Retired chef is new, clearly hasn't read much of the site, and should be forgiven all cheap shots in my direction. I have a thick skin. He'll eventually discover all the good work of others which I've praised. The only reason I'm so willing to talk about my own restaurants is they have been exhaustively praised by local and national media. I'm not breaking any new or disingenuous ground on that score. Chefs are as much public figures as writers and as such, exposed. Retired: perhaps a chef expressing himself in public is something your generation wasn't comfortable doing nor might you be comfortable with career changers--you know, chefs like me who went to college first before choosing to enter the profession--nor chefs' writing articles or books themselves. I respect that point of view if it were indeed accurate. You're also entitled to your opinion of what this site should be about. You'll learn quickly enough that eGullet twists and turns in very interesting fashion and many eGulleteers are vested in how it turns out. Welcome to the mix. Stick to this piece, though, and to Regina Schrambling's portfolio--and I hope I've prompted you to go back and re-read some of the threads on eGullet which involved her writing. Peruse her website and her archive at the NY Times website and make up your own mind. Suzanne and maggiethecat raise valid points--I'd respond by saying most of the cooking--and food writing--that I like IS personal. Very personal. Why should there be a double standard? Chefs and writers are public figures and along with knowledgeable eGulleteers, we all serve as checks and balances on each other. Dishes, like articles, are either good or they aren't, they're either accurate and interesting or they aren't. To bring this back to Schrambling--go back to her blog. Two of the leading female chefs in the world--perhaps the two most pre-eminent--Elena Arzak and Helene Darroze-- were recently in "Regina's town" to cook for a dinner and attend a party afterward. Pretty significant event I'd say. Here's the New York Observer's take: "Chalk it up to the transformative power of white Armagnac, but there was little evidence of the political chill between America and France at D’Artagnan on Feb. 8. An international cast of cuisiniers and gourmands—including Sopranos creator David Chase—gathered until the wee hours of the morning at Ariane Daguin’s restaurant to dine on cassoulet and Bordeaux and celebrate the arrival of Ms. Daguin’s fellow Nouvelle Meres Cuisineres : Elena Arzak Espina from Restaurante Arzak in San Sebastian, Spain; Christine Ferber, from Boulangerie-Patisserie in Niedermorschwihr, France; and Helene Darroze, from La Maison d’Helene in Paris. Ms. Darroze seemed a bit dazed —not from the lethal Armagnac, but from learning hours earlier that she’d just gotten her second hallowed Michelin star. The following night, the four women cooked with Le Bernardin chef Eric Ripert at a City Harvest Benefit Dinner in honor of the late Jean-Louis Palladin. "Call me the rooster," Mr. Ripert said of his role as the sole male chef. But Mr. Ripert wasn’t the only cock of the walk at D’Artagnan. Daniel Boulud was on hand, as were chefs Bill Telepan, Christian Delouvrier and Francois Payard. And around midnight, a group of stout-hearted and extremely high-spirited men from a Burgundy wine association called La Poulee parked themselves at D’Artagnan’s downstairs bar and sang, for at least a good half hour, a Burgundian rhythm called " Le Ban Bourgignon "—one of those ancient songs where the rhythm and the tune stay the same, but the spontaneous lyrics reflect the singers’ progressive state of inebriation. Every so often, one of the men would link arms with Ms. Daguin and dance around in a circle with her. Upstairs in the restaurant, a group of younger French dandies, including Jean-Charles Cazes, whose family owns the Lynch Bages vineyards in Pauillac, were singing a similar song that involved repeated use of the phrase " lechez-moi ," which translates to "lick me." And you thought we couldn’t all get along." Very nice stuff. Now read Schrambling. Instead of mentioning something about the dinner, instead of even mentioning their names, what was "the most amazing sight" and the main focus of her blog entry? I'm-so-superior tripe like this: "Rather than have the grace to look embarrassed, I noticed, they all took the Rumsfeld approach: mock the French for eating fat on fat."

Lissome--thank you for your report and for this line: "that lunch at La Broche in Madrid was delicious, texture-obsessed and dumb gorgeous as the sunset." It's one of the most disarming food writing turns of phrase I've read on this site in a while. La Broche has two Michelin stars and from what I've read the chef has been influenced by Ferran Adria. Did you detect this supposed influence--as in it caused you to disengage from the meal itself--or were you so focused on enjoying the good food in front of you that this "analysis" remained in the back of your mind? I wonder if you'd be willing to comment a bit about how your lunch there fit into the context of the Michelin star ranking based on other places you've dined, how expensive it was and whether it seemed appropriately priced? Perhaps you'd be willing to explain this a bit more "the tomatoes themselves poufed! with a shrimp/crab creme?" Were several espumas involved? How was this presented to you? Did you eat it with a spoon? In other threads on eGullet--a very interesting hypothesis has been raised--distilled to its essence it is that an increasing number of Spanish chefs and their higher end cooking in Spain are morphing Adria-like into unexpected directions--away from the supposed connection to place and local traditions, dishes, ingredients--in order to meet the desires of trendy tourist gourmets now coming to Spain in search of this new "style." Not simply based on an innate desire to do good, creative, interesting work. I don't know the answer to this but sense an opportunity to get your feedback on this. Did you get the sense that the cooking at La Broche was gussied up for tourists because tourists in some sense expected this?

Martin writes: "I am still uneasy about the principle of "deliberately holding back..." which I don't think you have answered. You talk to the point about accidentally having extra ingredients or dishes, and there is no issue there. You address the point about making dishes specially in advance for known special customers, and again there is no issue there. You also discuss your willingness, on the spur of the moment, to be creative when requested by a diner, and yet again we have common ground on that. Can you directly answer the question as to whether you think it is acceptable for a restaurant, as a matter of pre-meditated policy, to have dishes not on the menu available on request only to VIP customers (however defined)." Well, let's go through this. I don't accidentally have extra ingredients--I intentionally have set up a kitchen with all sorts of spices, mixes, products, etc. for the cuisine that I am not using at that moment. I have three restaurants, three different cuisines, price points, styles, kitchens, equipment and staff which I create and supervise desserts for--so if I'm in Zaytinya--to continue the example I used earlier--I have different rose and rosewater compounds (and lots of other Greek/Turkish/Lebanese stuff on the shelf) even though they aren't used on the menu. This is part of embracing a cuisine, reveling in the ingredients and acting on inspiration as these sights, smells, recipes, pictures whatever move you. Spur of the moment creativity we are on common ground--as another example of this I could take the yogurt sorbet off one dessert, sprinkle it with sumac--pulse some fresh pomegranate seeds with some simple syrup, spoon it around the quenelle of sorbet, sprinkle with pistachio powder and we have an instant VIP pre-dessert. That won't ever be on the menu but it could be plated every day at every service. Is that the same thing as deliberately holding back? (Don't think so.) I'm (personally) not necessarily willing to be creative when requested by just any diner. We're not charging what a Citronelle charges. The existing desserts on menu are special and creative enough at their price point and frankly, I try not to be in any of the restaurants in prime time too often. I'm at home writing or reading eGullet. But take Steve P's wheat allergy thing--I find it perfectly reasonable that Steve could request a special, unique dessert from his waiter, who in turn would speak to the manager or chef at the pass--and I'd expect that chef to be aware of which of my components have wheat flour in them and which do not--and then be able to combine say the olive oil ice cream from one dessert with the Greek honey gelee from another with the dried fruit salad infused with orangeflower water from another into something unique just for him. I'd be pissed if I heard he had made just such a request and was told the restaurant or chef was too busy to accomodate his request. That would be entirely unacceptable to me. But is not offering this combination the same as deliberately holding back? (Don't think so.) I also do think it is acceptable for a chef and restaurant to have dishes not on the menu available on request only to VIP customers--but then I don't encounter this too much as "premeditated policy." I do see it as kind of a standard operating procedure which just happens to be in flux from day to day and week to week--either re-arranging or slightly altering components as we've discussed or small amounts of ingredients get dropped off at the back door, too small to be included on the menu, the small amounts of fish as Shaw mentioned, the glorious fruit we all read so much about delivered to the French Laundry at the peak of ripeness, or weird little white squiggly eels the chef recognizes from his home but never sees regularly in markets over here. I see these as special exceptions--and I also view a chef knowingly procuring small amounts of ingredients brought in for a certain meal and/or certain customers known in advance as perfectly acceptable. I think you're on strongest ground if you are aware of restaurants which regularly bring in say a certain cut of meat--prepare this certain amazing dish all the time--but then never put it on the menu and only sell it to VIPs who are let in on the secret existence of it. I would be pissed by this but haven't come across this how and where I dine. But yes, I would be pissed if that's what you mean.

Yes, Adria's use of agar agar in "warm gelatins" and pastas have been photographed and featured in magazines all over Europe for a few years now, especially in the serious Italian-language-only culinary media. I think I first started hearing about it in 1998. It's just another of his innumerable little twists and turns each season which take time to spread to other chefs and then for those other chefs to apply their own filter, their own sensibility to the technique or the concept. I haven't paid close attention to these dishes (mostly savory) but I am sure they are well-represented in the El Bulli 1998-2002. I'd guess 1 g or so of the Spanish powdered agar agar he uses to 200 ml of consomme as a starting point.

Could be both amount and methodology--especially if the person doesn't understand how gelatin works--that gelatin needs to cool down slowly after initial heating in its mixture to bond properly. If cooled too rapidly--fewer bonds form and less strength is achieved--so the resulting mixture loosens up too quickly when pulled out of the fridge. To compensate for this next time even more gelatin is added to hold the "set." As a result too much gelatin can end up in the final product needlessly. Less gelatin, allowed to cool slowly, would have achieved the same binding effect. Good other question Adam--no, as a general observation even leading edge pastry chefs are not using it that much, let alone the average working baker somewhere. We have started to discuss agar agar a bit over on the pastry board especially since word has spread about Ferran Adria's use of agar agar to make pasta--tagliatelle of a consomme "set" with agar agar to hold it's shape even while slightly heated--and then usually served to a diner with the waiter pouring some really warm liquid over it to melt it a bit more. I did a caramel gelee with agar agar and used it as nori for a sushi style presentation once and Michael Laiskonis talked a little bit about how he is experimenting with mixtures of agar agar and gelatin in things--but it is very new, seen as very cutting edge at the moment. Bill Yosses used agar agar in some special japanese desserts he created for the sushi bar downstairs at Citarella restaurant in NYC. Creative chefs are using agar agar more these days as well. Agar agar presents its own challenges with stiff texture and if you've ever had any of those Japanese desserts and petit fours which contain agar agar you know what I mean. Also, re-reading my post I forgot to chime in with a few others here and say I'd never eat a jam made with gelatin. Like Philippe I have had a few very high fruit percentage jams that did not have added pectin on the label and they were delicious--just more like fruit spreads rather than "jams" per se.

Could be both amount and methodology--especially if the person doesn't understand how gelatin works--that gelatin needs to cool down slowly after initial heating in its mixture to bond properly. If cooled too rapidly--fewer bonds form and less strength is achieved--so the resulting mixture loosens up too quickly when pulled out of the fridge. To compensate for this next time even more gelatin is added to hold the "set." As a result too much gelatin can end up in the final product needlessly. Less gelatin, allowed to cool slowly, would have achieved the same binding effect. Good other question Adam--no, as a general observation even leading edge pastry chefs are not using it that much, let alone the average working baker somewhere. We have started to discuss agar agar a bit over on the pastry board especially since word has spread about Ferran Adria's use of agar agar to make pasta--tagliatelle of a consomme "set" with agar agar to hold it's shape even while slightly heated--and then usually served to a diner with the waiter pouring some really warm liquid over it to melt it a bit more. I did a caramel gelee with agar agar and used it as nori for a sushi style presentation once and Michael Laiskonis talked a little bit about how he is experimenting with mixtures of agar agar and gelatin in things--but it is very new, seen as very cutting edge at the moment. Creative chefs are using agar agar more these days as well. Agar agar presents its own challenges with stiff texture and if you've ever had any of those Japanese desserts and petit fours which contain agar agar you know what I mean. Also, re-reading my post I forgot to chime in with a few others here and say I'd never eat a jam made with gelatin. Like Philippe I have had a few very high fruit percentage jams that did not have added pectin on the label and they were delicious--just more like fruit spreads rather than "jams" per se.

I've really enjoyed how this thread has unfolded and thank all who have pushed and pulled this by sharing their thoughts. That said, I most agree with the perspectives of Bux, Lizziee, Steve Plotnicki and Steve Shaw on the various issues raised. The WSJ article was so poorly designed and executed I'd be embarrassed if I were the publisher or on the masthead. (By the way--is Raymond Sokolov still associated with the WSJ?) I can't add to the scathingly correct criticism already levelled at it. I share the sensibility of Bux in that ordering off-menu or accepting a chef's offer to cook for you is a personal sensitive decision. A gift to be cherished and appreciated if accepted. But Lizziee and Plotnicki have nailed this issue for me--it never hurts to ask, it never hurts to call ahead and ask if the chef would be willing to cook for you with or without restrictions and you only have yourself to blame if you do not make your expectations known. The restaurant can then respond. It is a hospitality business and you are doing nothing more than offerring to accept that hospitality on slightly different terms and usually willing to pay a premium for such an offer. Seems pretty simple and straightforward. I'll share some perspective on this by Martin "Finally, I want to home in your phrase "held in reserve". If you're saying that a restaurant deliberately keeps special ingredients, and special cooking resources, in reserve so that they can be delivered to favored guests or to a walk-in who demands them, then I have the following view. I have no reason to believe this is so nor evidence to suggest it is not. But if I did find it to be so, then I simply would cease to frequent that restaurant, because such a procedure represents a view by the restaurant of me as a general diner that I find unacceptable. It is the antithesis of hospitality." and this by Basildog "I have never experienced kitchens" holding something back" for "VIPs.As some one mentioned before, off menu items are more than likell left overs from the previous service, or intended for the next one." With all respect, neither of these perspectives reflects my reality as diner or chef. As chef, I'm not defined by my written menu or by any of my restaurant's style, service, price point or cuisine--I'm above those limitations, those attempts to label or categorize. I always have ingredients at my disposal that aren't in use on the current menu--surprises up my sleeve--that certainly aren't leftovers or staff meals--ideas in my head--recipes and dishes in various stages of being worked out--that could be offerred to guests if I choose to do so, VIP or otherwise, and especially if given advance notice. With no problem I could re-arrange components of my desserts to offer something unexpected, more daring, more value added to diners--especially if I am made aware that diners are regulars and have had all the regular desserts time and time again or if a group of diners were coming in that wanted to pay a premium for service or food or attention above the level at which the restaurant currently operates at. A specific example--shortly after Zaytinya opened, which has 5 desserts on the menu which essentially wouldn't change for the Winter season--I heard that the owners of the Lebanese Taverna restaurant group in DC were coming for dinner, all the brothers and sisters and their family including their parents and aunts and uncles. A huge group of very special friends of our restaurant and an opportunity for me to have my Greek/Turkish/Lebanese-inspired (but decidely non-authentic, non-traditional) desserts evaluated by authoritative palates. I had an hour before the desserts were going out and I wanted them to have a little something extra. I didn't have rosewater on my menu. So I whipped up a modern version of some ancient milk pudding--made a very light rosewater infused milk espuma (foam), cooked down a milk jam a la Bras and chilled it quickly, and made a quick pistachio sugar syrup. Served it to them as a pre-dessert layered in a shot glass with a demi tasse spoon, risked the chagrin of my chef who hadn't tasted this in advance, and hoped for the best. It was very, very well received and every drop licked clean. A little taste of home one of the sisters said. Well, the take home message is that I had enough to do another 30 shot glasses that night or the next night if any "off menu" or VIP requests came in. And that's only if a chef is not notified in advance! Many restaurants at the high end have combinations of ingredients or little portions in shot glasses or whatever prepared to go for the VIP/off-menu treatment. Foams, creams, sprinkles that could be combined in more interesting ways--more challenging ways--than the current menu and price point of the restaurant might allow. It's a choice some restaurants make and some chefs make. It should not be expected and it should not be forced or coerced. Now, as diner, I'm often treated to dishes, meals etc. which are off-menu but prepared just for me as VIP--some which allow a chef to stretch beyond what he normally does in the restaurant for his normal clientele, sometimes when I've asked for a special dinner for a special occasion. There's nothing sinister about this--most diners wouldn't necessarily want this treatment because they're happy with the regular menu offerrings and the regular menu's price point. I've had chefs bring in foie gras or sweetbreads or special shellfish or caviar or truffles... just because they knew a fellow chef was coming in and they wanted to do something special. As Lizziee explained this can be requested as well by regular savvy diners. It happens all the time--and willingly so. It really doesn't matter what the ingredients are sometimes off menu is simply a new combination or normal ingredients juxtoposed in ways that might be too progressive for the currect clientele. A salad of belgian endive, almonds, a Spanish cheese and orange sections on the menu becomes the same salad but with raw oysters tossed in as well for the VIP or appreciative or more daring diner. If the oysters were on the menu it wouldn't sell as much. Again, nothing sinister. This ordering off-menu/VIP discussion is really little different than asking a restaurant and chef to do a tasting menu for you of all small portions rather than the normal on-menu appetizer and large entree. You make a request of the restaurant and get their reply. It's a hospitality business and this is a legitimate request. It's better if you make this request in advance but even that night it still seems a valid request and a harmless one at that. Steve P. is all over this by saying this should be accepted as the common currency most restaurants and chefs trade in.

Gelatin can negatively impact texture Adam, but gelatin does have flavor and can be detected especially if over-used in desserts. Soften and melt some sheets and smell it. That's why every good pastry chef talks about using it with a light hand or using as little of it as necessary. That's also in part why those old Lenotre-style French desserts which utilized alot of gelatin in layers--those foamy whipped light bavarian style mousse cakes--have fallen out of favor among the leading edge pastry people. And as far as powdered apple pectin is concerned, which has also been mentioned on this thread--it's very widely available to pastry chefs in the US. We use it alot--I use small amounts of pectin to thicken some sauces and infusions slightly so they sit up on the plate more and also in pate de fruit.

Earlier in the thread Steve Shaw asked if there was any real media coverage of this midnight conversion. No links were provided. Now you appear to be skating around this issue Brig. Is this whole thing a canard?

Bri--I'm with Michael and Patrice mostly so far--I applaud the thought process and think you have conceived of a very, very complicated dessert. Too complicated for an off-site event. I've just now seen this thread and I have a question for you--how many of these several hundred people grand tasting type events have you done before? And what types of desserts or samples have you pulled off for those? This is not to challenge you or your ability--but real world advice--these things are not so easy, they go by very quickly and every little step you add a la minute is magnified. Do you want to do an action 500 times--like add a garnish? another 500 times for a sauce--and this stuff adds up, adds staff, adds pressure. Working in a strange kitchen, fighting for fridge and freezer space, having electrical and equipment at your booth or table--all can be major hassles. Where you planning on toasting these off? So before I get too involved--let's talk logistics--have you done this event? How is it set up--a seated dinner all served at once or walk around tasting stations spread out over a few hours? Will your dessert be the only one or will several pastry chefs be involved? Oh, and I just thought of an idea for you to explore--a piped meringue with a star tip but made with caramel powder instead of sugar. It would taste just like a burnt marshmallow. I do a caramel meringue espuma that way--ground caramel powder dissolved in egg whites warmed like a Swiss meringue, then chilled and loaded into the iSi. Very nice.

For a non-professional substituting corn syrup or glucose is fine at the stage you are at Robert. Don't get too far beyond your ability too quickly. You haven't even molded a chocolate yet in a real polycarbonate mold but you will soon. I'd get used to tempering and molding with at least 2 pounds, not 5 ounces, and I'd suggest you use a dark chocolate couverture to mold with, at least as you begin experimenting with molds. There is alot that can go wrong and so much that isn't straightforward. Don't try to run before you can crawl. There is so much you have to digest, to absorb about "making chocolate" and there's just no shortcut. It's nice to have confidence, as you seem to, but there's alot more to this than recipes. A few general thoughts--all invert sugar is not necessarily Trimolene. There are two different kinds of inverted sugar--a thick whitish sticky paste and a more liquidy, yellowish sticky syrupy paste. The Dairyland product is the latter. I've used it and it will work in sorbet recipes and in ganaches but not exactly as Trimolene would in a professional recipe which was based on Trimolene. This is what I mean about getting too far ahead--I don't even know yet if you can make a smooth ganache technique-wise without breaking or if you understand why it might break. The chocolate you use matters--each chocolate has a different fat/sugar ratio which affects the proportions of the other ingredients--so a Passionfruit ganache with Manjari and one with E. Guittard will (probably) need all different ratios of ingredients. Usually chocolatiers tailor their ganaches to specifc chocolates--they figure out just the right % of butter, invert sugar, etc. to the cocoa percentage of specific chocolates. That passionfruit ganache chefette gave you I believe was designed for a 45% milk chocolate from Cluizel and Ravifruit passionfruit puree. Each one of the issues you raise indirectly cannot be answered quickly or definitively with a recipe or the right ingredient--each is an in-depth subject and could really be an individual thread--like making fruit ganaches, tempering techniques, dipping and molding, etc. Make the same recipe with Boiron passionfruit and it will come out differently than if you used Ravifruit or Perfectpuree or the Latin market concentrate. (I like the flash-frozen French ones best.) The key is knowing why they turn out differently and learning how to make adjustments. You have to do ALOT of this to learn. They all have different consistencies, sugar content and water content. Also realize a ganache--which necessarily has a high percentage of chocolate--will usually not have such an intense fruit flavor. It's still chocolate and something else. And chocolates made in the French style prize subtlety of flavor, not intensity. This is why chocolatiers spend their whole lives specializing in chocolateit is that vast, that specialized and yes, that difficult. You have to have the right personality for it. On cooking down fruit flavors, that (usually) destroys flavor and reduces the sparkle or brightness whereas reducing other things concentrates and improves flavor. You'll have to experiment to see which makes the most sense for what you're trying to do. There are some very good "professional" chocolate filling recipes and an explanation of making ganaches and chocolate candies (which is only somewhat over-complicated) in the Frederic Bau book. If you're interested in pursuing this, that book would be a really good starting point.

Cab's all over this. Stone--sometimes things are phrased, priced and structured a certain way to subtly encourage and discourage you from ordering something. If there is one thing coming through in this thread is that what's written on a menu--in this case dessert--isn't so cut and dried. There are ramifications having your name on the menu, you're more likely to get mentioned in any reviews and have to accept the blame more personally. The order, description and how things are priced communicates more than just cost--some might interpret that $6 surcharge at Danko "says" this is really special, something worth paying extra for because you can't find it anywhere else--instead of appearing cheap. Or, as Cab said, a disincentive because it would be a major major hassle to do alot of these out in the dining room. There's ill-advised nickel and diming, which is what Bri's micromanaging owner is doing--and then there's legitimate upselling and disincentivizing. Bri, your point about value is well-taken; as far as I'm concerned, you've made all the case re: food costs that you need to.

Bri--follow Suzanne's really good advice, get a digital camera, plate your desserts your way--photograph them. Then give your notice. If he seeks to retain you, tell him exactly what it will take to keep you. In this whole thread you never once talked about your salary. Tell him you're not leaving because you want more money but you feel you've earned the right to expect more respect, more support and less micro-managing. That as long as your food costs are in line with mutually agreed expectations, you should be able to do whatever you want as long as you and he both think it 1) tastes good, 2) fits the savory food and 3) sells. Then tell him your goals for expected dessert sales per cover. See what he says. If he's a jerk about it--as he might be--as you're walking out tell him you have this idea to open a small business making and selling desserts to restaurants in town and that he should feel free to reach out to you down the road. Then go out and make it happen until you find another restaurant with an at least mildly supportive chef and owner.

Hop--I have not looked for it on the newstand. I actually don't hang out in offline bookstores too much and rarely browse the racks. We got it in the mail as a Living subscriber.

Philippe--are they available online?

While I'm waiting for you to take the signature dish bait, Steve, I'll reframe it as a question to Grant--say something like the pushed foie gras becomes so lauded, so repeated in the media it begins to take on mythic proportions--it comes to be seen as defining your whole approach to cuisine. You know it is just one dish among many and that you could hardly be defined by one dish, any dish. Would you take it off the menu at the end of this season? Are you already thinking about how to re-work or re-conceptualize it? Unlike the past masters--who wouldn't think of removing their signature dish--or even, it seems, Thomas Keller, who seems to keep signatures on his menu for years--how do you feel about that? Are you closer in spirit to Adria who won't repeat dishes from season to season and in fact, seems beyond the whole "concept" of a signature dish? All his dishes are signature dishes and reflect his process--and that accepting the mere notion of a signature dish would be too limiting. That said--signatures are something the media can latch on to--like a sound byte--are they a necessary evil? Keep up the good work here and elsewhere.

Steve--now that you have played the regionalism card on Grant, don't you think it's time to play the lack of a signature dish card? It's a key distinction you've made elsewhere on the site when discussing these same themes--that today's "modern/inventive" chefs aren't as significant as the masters of yore unless they come to be identified and defined by some transcendent signature dish. Si o no?

Here's the link to one of the Japanese ones: http://press.elbulli.com/scripts/fitxa.php...id_article=1651 And what Adria cookbook are you waiting for that isn't already here, Ryne? Mike--I'm not so sure about the pictures or who wrote or translated that Great Chefs thing about the quail egg. Ferran did do caramelized quail eggs, and it's usually encased in very thin, very hard caramel--what Ferran calls caramelos--so it simulates eating the egg in its own shell. I thought he did those quail eggs the same season he did polenta helada, which was a 1999 tapa, but now I'm not sure. I can't find the recipe. In the "El Bulli 1998-2002" there is a nice recipe for Huevo de oro--it's number 741 on the CD-ROM and pictured on page 362 of the book. It's a different picture and without a spoon. He cooks it to 160--I read through it quickly and I think he uses gold dust (or powder) not leaf. It's like 1 g to 100 g of the caramelo. The caramelo base is also glucose+fondant+isomalt.