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Wilfrid

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Everything posted by Wilfrid

  1. Last time I looked, the Euro was worth less than a dollar and still falling. I must get over again soon.That was an intriguing report, Michael. Personally, I have given pigs' ears many chances to impress me, but have finally concluded that they are just not good eating.
  2. Black pepper ice cream. Yes indeed. If you want to get the idea, simply grind a little black peper over a scoop of vanilla. Along the same lines, black pepper over strawberries. I promise I am not joking. I was gobsmacked the first time I saw someone grind pepper over their strawberries, but they were a serious feeder so I treated the idea with respect. It works. Tommy, I sometimes walk around with a pepper mill in my pocket. It's a talking point, and also handy for random seasoning. :)
  3. Okay, Sandra. What's a microplane? :(
  4. Wilfrid

    Drought

    Don't tell me they're putting Evian cubes in the tap water, Ron. This whole H2O business is wacko. I'm sticking with the hard stuff.
  5. Wilfrid

    Drought

    Enough shilly-shallying, I have just e-mailed BR Guest to ask them what the blazes they are playing at, thusly: "It has been reported that BR Guest is refusing to serve tap water in its restaurants as a response to the threatened drought: http://www.dailycandy.com/candy/article.js...Id=18145&city=1 Could you confirm this is accurate. If so, how would you respond to the following: Are you still making ice cubes from tap water? Any restrictions on these? Are you monitoring use of tap water in the kitchens, for cooking, cleaning and washing up purposes? Have you considered the amount of water used when a customer uses the bathroom, and compared this with how many glasses of tap water you might serve in a typical evening? Given the above, how would you respond to the suggestion that the policy will do no more than boost your bottled water sales, even at the reduced price? Please let me know if any replies are off the record. Thanks." Let's see what they say!
  6. Wilfrid

    Drought

    I would also like to know where they are getting all their ice cubes, goddammit!
  7. Wilfrid

    Drought

    I tell you right now, if any restaurant refuses to serve me tap water, I am walking out. That raises it from the harmlessly nutty to the obnoxiously intrusive.
  8. Wilfrid

    Liqueurs

    I confess I have no idea what defines a liqueur, or indeed a cordial. Or an aperitif come to that. Anyone have the distinctions at their fingertips? But I am glad someone shares my taste for Canton. I was a bit embarrassed about that one.
  9. Oh, let's not all get the hump with each other, let alone the right hump. I cannot carp at Macrosan and Michael Lewis (i am with you now Michael, I read "hyponyms" as "under words", and was puzzled), because the various threads on water drive me crazy, but I still can't resist posting disruptively on them. Steve, I want to take a look at the Gordon Ramsey menu when I get some time. Why not just copy and paste any of my stuff you want to respond to onto the other thread, and I'll post there next time. I think these categories are fairly ubiquitous (Time Out and Zagat both use them) and they are worth looking at.
  10. I thought this might be interesting. I forgot towels. I tuck the corner of a towel in my belt, so it's always ready just for wiping hands and stuff. Sandra: What's a rasp? Stellabella: Yeah, the little nutmeg grater, that's crucial too. Now, what's all this fuss about a little pepper. Just to be clear, I think Steven is complaining about me using crushed pepper from a jar rather than grinding it as needed. I didn't think he was condemning black pepper in general as sawdust. So, Steven, convince me. I obviously don't use it if I am making something where I don't want a visible trace of pepper; nor am I using it in everything. Is your contention that there will be a significant taste advantage if the corns are freshly ground?
  11. Wilfrid

    Drought

    I once read that as soon as you feel thirsty, you are already dehydrated. I conclude that I was born dehydrated. My burden has always been that, not liking water, I have had to find other ways to quench my thirst. I feel headachy and sluggish all day, but find that I perk up as soon as I adjust my blood alcohol level early in the evening. Hey, what time is it? I'm out of here :) .
  12. Potentially interesting, although one of the drawbacks with Jackson is that, if he likes the beer, he'll give a thumbs up to an otherwise utterly grim and unlikeable bar. He doesn't care about atmosphere if he's got his nose in a good pint.
  13. Wilfrid

    Drought

    I am going to suggest a separate board for Water, so everyone can discuss how to pour it, whether it should be served from the right side or the left, what the best year is, how much it should cost, whether we're going to run out, the status of restaurant water policies, etc, and then I can avoid getting lured into reading the threads. I hate water.
  14. Wilfrid

    Liqueurs

    I am scheming to come to DC some time this summer to see 'Sunday In the Park with George'. I think a matinee would combine nicely with a DC eGullet dinner and a spot of your liqueur, and I shall watch the DC board with renewed interest! :)
  15. I am not sure that these are hyponyms, as far as I can construe that term, but one might regard "Modern British", at least, as an unnecessary supplementary term which adds little to one's understanding of a restaurant's cuisine. As far as what possible use such terms can have, I guess that's the question. Because they are used all the time, sprinkled freely throughout restaurant guides and reviews. And I do wonder how much they tell us. What I will readily concede is the empirical result that - so far at least - only Old Plotters and I seem to find them interesting.
  16. I was enjoying the mise-en-place thread, so wanted to try to broaden it, as I am genuinely nosy about what eGulleteers get up to in their kitchens. Some of us mentioned other things we like to have within reach, along with all our little dishes of prepped stuff. So, in addition to the coarse salt in the ramekin, what else do I always line up? I do have a small peppermill, but unless I need the pepper finely ground, I find it easier to shake ground black pepper from a jar. Olive oil, yes. I have a general purpose chef knife and a vegetable-chopping knife at hand, but I still haven't grown out of cheap but strong, thin-bladed, serrated edge knives for lots of fiddly little chores. I have a wooden spoon handed down by my mother, which is probably a hygienist's nightmare, but which is great for stirring, and you don't have to worry about scratching anything. Tongs, of course, which changed my life and reduced my reliance on spatulas to a minimum. Straining: for all sorts of precision straining purposes, like straining sauces, I use a small, stainless steel tea-strainer. Has a lot of advantages of the fancy conical strainers, but only cost a couple of bucks (no, I do not use it to strain spaghetti). And lots of paper towels for mopping up as I go. That's the stuff I tend to pull out every time I cook something (shad roe wrapped in either bacon or Italian ham tonight). What else? I bet some of you have some interesting equipment quirks.
  17. Wilfrid

    Drought

    What are "lawns"?
  18. Wilfrid

    Liqueurs

    Thank you. Now I know what my partner is drinking!
  19. Difficult and interesting, this one, and I have been doing some inconclusive research over lunch. I am sure there is not a single right answer to the question, but there is certainly scope for some rational investigation, since we do use and understand these terms. I have been looking only at the Modern British/French distinction (I hope someone else will post about American/French). One view I am inclining towards is that it isn't a question of technique. Many of the chefs at Modern British restaurants have at least been trained (at some point) either by a French chef, or a French-trained chef, even if they haven't worked in France. I don't know much about catering colleges in the UK, but if they don't teach basic French techniques, I would be astonished. I thought it would be interesting to post links to some Modern British menus and analyse them, but I am having no luck with my surfing. I did happen upon a brief description of Richard Corrigan (Irish not British, but very much associated with the modern treatment of food of "the Isles") - and what three typical dishes do I find listed as representative of his cuisine? Monkfish choucroute, ginger parfait, spiced madeleines. I also read some recent reviews of Gary Rhodes' work. I see he's now putting pigeon in his faggots, rather than squab; a technique one can readily imagine being used in a Parisian restaurant to smarten up caillettes or crepinettes (one is reminded, of course, of Daniel Boulud's famous burger). So, I think one is going to find French themes in the cooking and menus of just about any restaurant described (or self-described) as Modern British. One contemporary chef who perhaps uses few classic French techniques is Fergus Henderson. But then, the more I think about it, the more I am inclined to consider his food "Traditional" rather than Modern British. Not that it isn't trendy and, er, funky, but I would say he's presenting a kind of punk version of Wilton's or Rule's - traditional British for the under-fifties. Roasts, game, savouries, potted shrimp, and so on. So I looked elsewhere for a plausible "squiggly line". The best I can come up with so far is that a restaurant is Modern British to the extent that at least some of its dishes are both recognizably from the British tradition, and also in some way updated, elaborated or modernized (as opposed to stripped down a la Henderson). I found real life examples in the Rhodes review (source http://www.dine-online.co.uk/rhodesq.htm): Ham and pea soup has become "ham consommé with pea pancakes". Faggots, as I mentioned, are now "rich pigeon faggot on a potato cake with mustard cabbage". Two classic British dishes inform the "fillet of smoked haddock glazed with welsh rarebit on a tomato and chive salad." But there's nothing exclusively British about Rhodes approach: he also mucks about with Lobster Thermidor, turning into a "Lobster Thermidor omlette." Contrast the haddock/welsh rarebit dish with what I take to be Fergus Henderson's approach. Henderson would served the smoked haddock with a simple poached egg or mashed potato accompaniment. You can order the welsh rabbit separately, as a savoury. No messing about. Henderson appears radical because his traditionalism is so stark. Well, that's the best I can do. Now, if only I could find a Gordon Ramsey menu for purposes of comparison.
  20. I look forward to your review. I have just finished reading the sections of Peter Ackroyd's London - A Biography which deal with historic eating habits in the city. Very interesting. And I have just picked up Rebecca Spang's book on the creation of restaurants and restaurant culture in eighteenth century France. The downside is, I am also fantastically busy at work, so analysis will have to wait. But let me shoot off a couple of questions. I recall reading that Jeremiah Towers was heavily influenced by Escoffier and the like when creating his early menus at Chez Panisse. Did Chez Panisse start as a French restaurant and change or slowly evolve into something more American? Secondly, and just to orient the discussion - other than An American Place, what would be examples of contemporary American restaurants. Gramercy Tavern, I assume. Craft?
  21. Anyone know what Corrigan's up to? Is he not usually in the kitchen? The remarks about the Lindsay House sadden me, because I had him marked as a very talented young chef.
  22. I ate there last September - lunch after visiting the extraordinary Clyfford Still show at the Hirschhorn. Wild mushroom strudel with Smithfield ham, followed by a light, crunchy version of fritto misto. Nice. Very nice. But the food and the style/decor did leave me puzzled as to why - as Steve KLC points out - Kinkead seems to be rated as one of the major destination restaurants in the nation's capital. I would equally happily go back or not go back. Nothing stunning about it at all.
  23. Funnily enough, I adopted that practice as a firm policy on my only visit to Turkey. One of the delights of local cuisine there are the little dishes of mezzes - hors d'oeuvres which you can order by the dozen. They also have great fresh fish straight out of the Bosphorus. My experience was that, if I ordered my whole meal at once, the fish would be presented about five minutes after the mezzes arrived. I started refusing to order an entree until I'd done with the mezzes, which sent waiters into paroxyms of anxiety that I wouldn't spend enough money. But I persevered. In New York, frankly, I find the pacing problem to be the opposite. I am getting tired of the hour's lapse between arriving at a restauarnt and putting the first forkful into my mouth. Do you have to slow 'em down in New Jersey?
  24. It's a disgrace, tommy. I send appetizers back if they get to the table before the wine is served. I have even had appetizers arrive before I have ordered wine. I don't know why it should be, but it can be hard to get a wine list and to get your ordered placed even in pretty good restaurants.
  25. Wilfrid

    Drought

    Yes, I feel strongly about this too. I think "gestures", even when well-intentioned, can be most harmful if misconceived. I don't have the figures to hand, but it's quite clear that even a quick shower accounts for more water use than a heck of a lot of drinking by very thirsty people. Hundreds of glasses of water, I should think. The proposal by the restaurants misleads people into thinking they are doing something helpful by ordering bottled water, when in fact it is so insignificant as to be irrelevant. I think this is a minor example of a much wider social problem, where people are encouraged to think that small and well-intentioned gestures signficiantly address a social problem, thus relieving them of the responsibility to take more burdensome action. As for the city's apparent complicity in this - seems moronic to me.
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