baphie

We (with large party) has an excellent meal at Charlie Palmer's Steakhouse in the Four Seasons. The steaks were quite good and the service was superlative. The sommeliers also recommended some excellent wines from smaller producers. It was an all-around great experience and actually better than (Thanksgiving) dinner at Aureole the next night. A.

I have had wine from magnums numerous times and wine from double magnums on a couple of occasions, but nothing larger. Has anyone here actually had wine from a balthazar, jeroboam or nebuchadnezzar? Is there a noticable difference (ie if one tasted the same vintage in a 750 vs the mega-bottle)? What are the logistics of pouring this- is it like a team or pallbearer or or a siphon? A.

First off, thanks for taking time from your very busy schedule to answer our questions and brighten our days. I am also quite glad to see your book is about food, family and children, a topic both of abstract and personal interest. I have heard that your restaurant is quite welcoming to children and greatly look forward to dining there with our 3.5 yr old when we visit the UK in the spring. My main question is about how you interact with wine (and other alcoholic beverages) both in the practical world of service at your restaurant and when you conceptualize dishes and flavours. Is it difficult to create wine suggestions for diners due to the specific interactions of disparate flavors in your dishes as wine (or alcohol) might ruin the relationship? Is wine perhaps not the best beverage for many of the dishes? On the more theoretical level, do the complex flavours (created by so few ingredients) of wines ever inspire you? Do you ever take a wine, particularly a difficult or complex one, and use it as the inspiration for creating the flavours of a dish? Have you worked with the flavour chemistry of other beverages like scotch or beer? Thanks, A.

I made the chive chips a while ago and they definitely did brown, although not as much as in the picture. I recall it took longer than the 20-25 minutes in the recipe. I can't say for certain what the difference between our two experiences might be. It is possible that the browning is not entirely due to carmelization/Maillard, but to normal process of browning w/ exposure to air accelerated at the higher temperature. I don't think convection/conventional oven will make a difference except in time. 275 degrees is still 275 degrees even if the air is circulating. I do agree w/ Andy- up the heat some and monitor it closely. Or maybe try increasing the time. On the agnolotti: This is one I haven't tried from the FL cookbook. Looking at it, it does seems like 3 cups of cream is overkill for the amount of starches in the sauce. Maybe he is draining and extracting the water from the potato and celery root more throughly and needs the extra liquid. My bet is that this is a typo left over from scaling down the recipe for home-size. My complaint is often with the tester who, like any experienced chef, work from experience and instinct and don't turn this off when testing a cookbook. Out of curiosity, what else are y'all making for this fete? Everything I have made from the FL cookbook has been outstanding. The torchon of foie gras with the picked cherries was a big hit at our anniversary party this summer and it was one of the best foie preps I have ever had. A.

There is one element of "haute cusine," like most artistic practices, that is being overlooked: the inherent and intentional inefficiency of the practice. Assuming the ultimate goal is to provide nourishment, haute cuisine can be characterized by the deliberate inefficiency of means. Complex recipes, extreme selectivity within a particular ingredient, intensive labor and other criteria mentioned before are all part of this broader category which is directly opposed to traditional, home or even bistro cuisine. There are some other points that also need to be confronted if a definition of "haute cuisine" is to be obtained: - Luxury of ingredients is relative. White truffles, if not commonplace, are highlight of rustic regional Italian cuisine during the season. Foie gras is almost a staple of Gascon cooking. Caviar has been eaten by the pound in areas of Russia. This makes our luxurious ingredients problematic as a defintion of haute cuisine. -There has to be an allowance for a timeline. To my mind, something like the Troisgros' salmon with sorrel sauce is no longer haute cuisine. It has become a cliche or staple of cooking in numerous locations. In addition to inclusion, we must look at the process of removal from the canon of haute cuisine. -I think the actual praxis ought to be a component of any definition. The attainment or even pursuit of "arete" is too often lacking in the world of cuisine. I recall all too vividly a hideous dinner at the Grill Room in the Windsor Court in New Orlean (a ***** Mobil) where a lobster ravioli absolutely drowned in truffle oil was nearly inedible. Calling this haute cuisine is a travesty. -What can be made of someone like Adria? I think any definition of haute cuisine must include him, but nearly all of the posted criteria fail. The food is so challenging, both in theory and praxis, that any definition of haute cuisine is going to be challenged. -Finally I am somewhat troubled, but maybe accepting by the fact that we are assuming restaurant cuisine. Does this mean when I cook from a Bras or Trotter cookbook that I am not practicing haute cuisine? Or if I create orginal dishes in that style? Is haute cuisine defined by the context in which it is eaten? A.

Thanks Samantha for the info. I am planning to call/fax, but wanted to find out if bringing our son was even in the realm of possibility. We would prefer to not take him and may in fact have my mother-in-law fly in from Cyprus to meet us in London. The trip is still six months away and we need to evaluate all the possibilities. Attitudes as well as policies were what I soliciting. I am not going to say my child is perfect, but we have on several occasions got compliments on his behaviour in sitting through at 3.5-4 hr meal. I don't think (at least in this arena) he is 'one in a million.' We know other parents who have the same experience. What is find interesting is the expectation that child ==> trouble. Sure, all the hypotheticals _could_ happen. But is a Lego tossed really any different than knocked over wine from another table which splashed on my dish? (Not a hypothetical.) Or a nappy change in the toilet really so different than an unflushed, clogged toilet or someone throwing up (the latter being me actually after food poisoning earlier in the day)? Is the presence of a child really worse than a pair of drunk Americans with their whores? (Again, not a hypothetical.) I do understand the desire to have the realm of the gourmand experience as a time to be away from the world of children and we do enjoy that. What I don't understand is the absolute seperation on which some insist. A.

We went to CT in early September and have to report that while the food was phenomenal, the bloom was off the rose literally and figuratively. His 'nibs could do well to re-read certain sections of his hagiography. The attention to the details one expects in a restaurant of that caliber were lacking. To wit: -The gold leaf was rather obviously flaked off the monogram plates -One of the roses on our table was browned and tattered. (We kept turning toward each other when the other person wasn't looking.) -The sommelier incorrectly informed us as to the components of a propietary blend -I corrected our server as to the identity of the cheeses on our plate -The menu was almost identical to my sister-in-law's the week before Are these fatal flaws that would make us never want to go to CT's again? Absolutely not. Does this show the hand on the rudder is less firm? Yes. And CT sets himself up for this type of criticism with all the braggadocio present in this Excellence books. More seriously, these type of things can be the first sign (after the pride) before the fall. A.

The nasty answer is that if he is not bothering anyone else, what difference does it make why we bring him? The practical answer is that we are going to be visiting London and driving around the UK. Part of our travel experience is visiting restaurants like GR as well as 'childish' things. A random sitter in London is not an option we like. The more philsophical answer is that we believe in doing things as a family. If I thought that visiting GR would be an outrageously painful experience for him, I wouldn't do it. Given the 'you-must-dine-in-two-hours' seating policies I have heard about, it will be a cakewalk compared to some previous outings. Maybe he doesn't 'appreciate' the experience on the same level at you or I might, but he does enjoy it a lot. He loves new spaces. He loves to see kitchens and food. And, at only 1.5 years old, the way his eyes lit up and he said 'sotto!' when his risotto arrived, I often wonder who loves the food more. A.

We have never had that much of a problem. I don't know if it is conditioning- I was being literal when I said we started at 3wks old- or just luck. He actually behaves worse at lesser restaurants. Our main trick is to have a bag of toys and treats. We bring crayons and colouring books, but there is almost always a new toy that he hasn't seen before. Lately we have let him pick out the toy knowing he won't get to play with it until we go to the restaurant. Our secret weapon is Legos, particularly the mini-Lego kits like dinosaurs or Harry Potter. It takes a few minutes to assemble and he will spend a good amount of time playing with it and taking it apart. At 1.5-2, I think his favorite things at the table were new books that had lots of flaps or pulls or other things he could discover. Also he doesn't get candy on a regular basis, so those make nice treats especially a candy that involves some play like character-shaped "fruit" jellies. A.

We are going to London in May 2003 and were wondering about the policies and practices for London restaurants like Gordon Ramsay's. Our son will be 4 and has been dining in top restaurants in the US and Europe since he was three weeks old. Do some of the restaurants in London have a straightfoward no kids < XX years policy? Thanks for any help you can provide, A.