The Old Foodie

This is really scary-horrible. They call it a "natural savory flavor enhancer". Isn't that what a real tomato is? The word "natural" has go to be one of the most mis-used and abused words on the planet.

← So what, exactly will happen to the flesh of the animals that will be "culled" or "put down"? assuming that they will still be "slaughtered", not pensioned off to live in green pastures lovingly tended by volunteer carers until they fade away in happy old age? Will they be buried in pet cemeteries? or is it OK for them to be made into dog-food, but not human food? I dont understand what this issue is actually about. ← How about animals (dogs, cats, etc.) euthanized in animals shelters simply because there is no room for them -- should that meat be eaten too? ← Good question. Is that idea more or less repugnant than <a href="http://www.slashfood.com/2006/09/07/baloney-is-people/">Baloney is People </a> ??

Definitely, it is tomato paste - I dont ever remember seeing an Aussie recipe for "concentrate"!

← So what, exactly will happen to the flesh of the animals that will be "culled" or "put down"? assuming that they will still be "slaughtered", not pensioned off to live in green pastures lovingly tended by volunteer carers until they fade away in happy old age? Will they be buried in pet cemeteries? or is it OK for them to be made into dog-food, but not human food? I dont understand what this issue is actually about.

What is it that makes some people unwilling to try something they have never had before, when it is put in front of them in a situation like this? It is not the same as taking a risk ordering something unfamiliar in a restaurant (although a lot of us do do that as a matter of principle) and "wasting" money on a dish they then dont like. I could sort of understand that. My sister-in-law does this regularly, and I would love to understand it better. One example of many: I once served quail, and she didn't even taste it because she had never eaten it before. No other reason. I dont take it personally (I figure it is her loss, and someone else always eats her share of whatever it is), but it puzzles me all the same.

Bravo Grub! You've just said what I would like to have said, only I couldn't get my head around just what it was.

I absolutely agree with russ on this. Alexander Pope said that the way to impart knowledge is "Men must be taught as if you taught them not And things unknown proposed as things forgot." Which good writing does.

Ah! But Fat Guy, did being on the receiving end, and taking it on the chin as you no doubt did, help make you the internet food personality you now are? If we are all going to do penance, lets at least be clear about what is our part of the sin. On re-reading the thread, the better to understand how I misunderstood before, I find, as usual, more questions raised than answered. First, if I can clarify: there are two different stories that triggered our rapid fire responses, and caused some confusion (my hand up). One - a Ms Hale (who may be a reporter or a food writer) reviewed a local restaurant, had some elementary French language skills, but misunderstood something about the pate on the menu, and a few other things that happen in restaurants at the fine-dining French restaurant end of things. Two - a local newspaper spokesperson who spoke to bdkollker about his culinary creations, but did not know what buttered lobster, star anise, and a number of other things were. Some of my questions are: In case 1, do we think that the restaurant review was acceptable at any level? No-one seems to think it was a good review (well written, authoritative, entertaining …). How should we have responded to it? Should we just ignore it? Does it make any difference to our response if we know the qualifications (or title) of the person doing the writing? Particularly in case two I think it does make a difference if the newspaper person who spoke to bdkollker was the editor, a generalist reporter, or a food writer. This stirs up a whole lot of questions about what constitutes a good restaurant review(er) – but perhaps that is a different thread.

Oh dear! I offer apologies all round if I have mis-applied my criticisms - serve me right for trying to keep up with this debate while I should be working. Which is an explanation but not an excuse of course. Interesting how this has inflamed everyone (my hand is up) - perhaps because irrespective of how the responsibility was allocated, this was an example of bad reporting/editing, and most of us here care about food and food writing and reviewing etc, and hate to see it badly done. Janet.

Point partially taken. However, I would argue that any "reporter" (whose stock-in-trade is still words) would have looked up a few things - such as "star anise"- for her own as well as her readers edification, if she was forced to write outside her own field. Someone who proposes to be a writer could have made that exercise of "having-to-write-outside-of-ones-own-field" itself into the review. I would think that the worst thing for a writer would be to appear ignorant, whereas to appear interested, adventurous, and enquiring would be a good thing. Ms Hale still gets to wear a lot of the responsibility. If your name's gonna be on it, you better be sure your readers get the impression you want them to get. Second point: are there not any e-Gulleters in Indiana who would volunteer their services to the editor of this paper, to write future reviews? Janet

You just beat me to it Grub. BSCB's are the carnivore's tofu.

There is a big difference between this dish, which is clearly a new creation of the chef concerned, and a classic such as pate de foie gras. Most of us, would, I think, ask about the details of the new dish, out of interest and curiosity not necessarily ignorance, and many of us would have asked about the second at some point in our lives - we have all been novices and asking questions is how we learn. However, it is not unreasonable to assume that a food writer is beyond the novice stage. Granted. But a food writer, in this context, is not “people”, a food writer is supposed to be an expert. Absolutely agree. Curiosity is surely a requirement for a food writer? And I dont believe it matters where the food writer is located, or what sort of paper they write for, surely part of a job such as food writing is to inform and educate? Same point as above. A food writer should, absolutely, know about the latest ingredients and techniques ( ... but star anise is hardly one of the “latest” ingredients, is it?). Simply knowing what tastes good does not qualify someone to be a food writer. Essentially agree, except that “jargon” is the stock-in-trade of a specialist writer, surely? This issue is not about nomenclature, it is about ignorance of nomenclature in someone supposedly an expert in the field (we do expect food writers to be experts in the field, do we not?) It is, in my mind, quite acceptable to expect that a food writer would know what pate de fois gras is, with or without any elementary French language skills. The dish is usually written in French, is it not? I would hazard a guess that many “unsophisticated” diners with no French at all would still know what it is. As for not knowing what star anise is! This it totally unbelievable for a food writer. This is not about snobbery, or pretentiousness, or nomenclature, it is about someone who makes a living from writing about a subject they dont seem to know much about, or worse - something they dont even have much curiosity or enthusiasm for. [edited to fix typo]

A food WRITER who doesn't know what star anise is! I am rendered speechless, which is an extremely rare event.

The particular combination of date-walnut-ginger at the Buderim Ginger Factory was to feature the ginger (Queensland has a large ginger industry), so was intended to be specifically local, but the tradition of dried fruit "Jams" is probably English. I will check out some of the seventeenth and eighteenth century cookbooks on preserving and see what I can find. I think we are also looking at the definition of "Jam" here too. From memory, the Buderim product was called "spread", and it was a soft spreading paste rather than a jelly/jam consistency - a bit closer to quince paste that you have with cheese. Which makes me think of a fig and pine-nut "paste" - very thick and sliceable - that I made a couple of times to have with cheese. Now if I substituted dates and walnuts for the figs and pine-nuts, added some ginger, made it softer - perhaps I'd have the lovely date-walnut-ginger "jam". I will definitely try the Plum Melange too. Thanks for the inspiration!

I've just remembered a great date-ginger-walnut jam that used to be sold at the Qld ginger-growers co-operative in Buderim. I loved it, but they dont seem to make it anymore.

I'll agree on the dried apricot jam - it is especially good if you add some blanched whole almonds at the end. I dont see why it wouldn't work with dried peaches or pears either. And dried fig jam is definitely good.

Also - there is this recipe from Cassell's Dictionary of Cookery (circa 1870's) which might go well over boiled potatoes: Anchovy Butter. Take six pickled anchovies, cut off their heads, wash and bone them; then pound them with sufficient butter to make a paste, and add a little scalded and chopped parsley. If a pestle and mortar should not be at hand, the anchovies may be made into a paste and mixed with the butter with a broad knife on a piece of board. This butter is very useful to flavour many sauces, especially those that are to be used for beef steaks. Average cost for a half -pint jar, 1.s 8d. Time, half an hour. I guess we could miss the first step nowadays. The cost, regrettably, will have increased, but if we use a blender I guess the Time taken will be less than half and hour. There's an Anchovy ketchup recipe too - if you wanted to have it with your fries! Janet.

I have a book with a recipe for a potato "pizza" supposedly from Puglia. It is a sort of layered mashed potato dish with a filling of tomatoes, garlic, anchovies and capers, baked in a shallow pan (potato - filling - potato). It is a relatively new book, so I cant post the recipe here but will send it to you if you PM me - but you can probably get the idea.

This is my take on the standard "boil two oranges" recipe; has chocolate in it of course. CHOCOLATE ORANGE CAKE. INGREDIENTS 2 oranges 6 eggs, separated 300 gm ground almonds ¼ cup good quality cocoa (Callebaut choc powder is very good) 1 cup castor sugar 150 gm dark chocolate, melted and cooled (70% cocoa is good) 1 and 1/4 teas baking powder METHOD Boil the oranges about 1 hour, cool, de-seed (easier to use Navel oranges!) and chop in the blender (not too smooth!) Mix with egg yolks and other ingredients. Fold in the stiffly beaten egg whites. Greased and lined springform tin (mine is 26 cm), moderate oven 1 ¼ hours.

Not as much alcohol as we sometimes think - see <a href = "http://homecooking.about.com/od/alcohol/a/alcoholsub_2.htm">THIS ARTICLE</a>

305 for me, after a serious culling - plus a large number of pdf files and print-outs of historic cookbooks from the 14th C onwards, which I refer to probably more often than actual books, but which I guess dont count here. So just the 305 please. Janet

Three of us had a great meal at "Tonic" in Bulimba the other night. It is right at the ferry/City Cat terminal so overlooks the river. Mains about $28-30 so not cheap, but white tablecloths etc. The food was good and beautifully plated. We didn't try the desserts, but the menu looked good.

Hard boiled eggs can be pickled in vinegar (old British bar staple) - and the pickle certainly penetrates the egg, so presumably there is some permeability which is presumably two-way (where are the food scientists out there?). Anyway - the raw egg/salmonella thing may be a false assumption too - perhaps the alcohol destroys the bugs (food scientists please de-lurk and commit yourselves) - I've never heard from anyone coming to any harm from an egg nog. That might be the way to do it - make the baconcello into a baconeggnog. Janet. (P.S. I'm applying for that research grant straight away, meanwhile will prowl the ancient texts for inspiration).

What were the Goths going to do with that ransom of 3000 pounds of pepper that they demanded when they sacked Rome then? They were "Germanic people" were they not? "Wieners" are "Germanic" are they not? Perhaps Alaric and his men dipped the rims of their tankards (?) in pepper before drinking their wiener-schapps? Will we ever know the truth?

Very ack. But any recipe that sweetens acrimonious blood is worthy of keeping in one's repertoire.