Louisa Chu

Bux, I wasn't saying Himalyan truffles were a good thing in your meal. Turnip-y tasting truffles is one thing - but truffle-y tasting turnips is another. If the Chinese truffles are described by the French guy as being kind of bitter and rubbery - but still mildly truffle-tasting - I'm thinking that they could benefit from some cooking - first thing that comes to mind is a root vegetable puree - cook, butter, cream - NOT eaten raw.

Pan, not surprisingly, PX stew's a holdover from the Korean War days - Spam, hot dogs, bacon, etc. - done up in a kimchi stew. Grace has made it for me here with French saucisse - er, hot dogs. You'll find PX stew cafes around Korea. Silkworms - Grace promises to take me to her favourite silkworm street vendors in Seoul - where they serve mounds of fresh, hot, crispy, meaty silkworms in a big paper cone - like frites! - but not - really, really not. Here in Paris we get them in a can - from Hana Market in the 15th arrondissement - imported from Korea, poptop can, stick 'em in the microwave - voila! - quick and easy hot silkworm snack - miam miam!

Here's what bugs me about this article - that a lone Frenchman spotted some Chinese farmer feeding these Chinese truffles to his pigs? The implication being that the Chinese weren't eating these themselves - and just feeding them to the pigs? I just find that so hard to believe - given the Chinese inclination - especially in the rural southwest - the rural Chinese anywhere - to eat anything and everything in sight. I just have to say that a mildly truffle tasting potato or turnip does not sound bad at all. I saw them at the market last year - will look for them again. I've had the 1200 euro/kg wholesale black truffles this year and I'm not that impressed - not enough truffle mojo. And almost everyone uses black tuffle juice unless it's freshly sliced. So I'm thinking 25 euros/kg is not a bad gamble.

Les Couleurs is right around the corner - out the door - turn right - to the corner - turn right - at the address listed above. Don't know about Where online - you can pick it up at some hotels - and it was just a blurb - not a article on Les Couleurs.

Pan, Grace is an amazingly fun roommate. Miran and I were talking about how Grace used to go on these Korean food marathon binges - where she'd have to have topoki every day for a week for example - and then couldn't stand to see the stuff for months. Because I want to see and try everything, she's varied her daily requirement of Korean food so that I've had everything from silkworms to squid to PX stew. What she plans to do in the culinary world? She says she can't really say yet. I still think the world needs her as a Korean-American Nigella.

The Korean food world according to Grace - the fish cake side dish is called odangmuchim - odang being the Korean word for fish cake and muchim meaning marinated. It's a popular side dish with kids. The marinade is usually soy sauce, green onions, sesame oil, sesame seeds, sugar or honey. Grace likes to add garlic - she likes to add garlic to just about everything - but warns that kids don't like the garlic. The fish marinated fish cakes are then pan fried to caramelise. But if the fish cakes are served with a broth, then it's no longer a side dish, but a soup or a stew instead - and then it's called odangkuk - soup - or odangjigae - stew. Grace says that while her family favours the impeccable, high quality fish cakes at home, her favourite odang is served off the backs of trucks in the streets of Seoul in winter. A guy will set up shop on a corner, cook up odang - and topoki - all day - with maybe extra menu items of fried dumplings, fried squid legs, whole boiled eggs, and sometimes greasy breakfast sandwiches of heavily buttered toast, eggs, ketchup, and mayo. If you take an odang - on a stick - you'll get a paper cup of odang broth on the side. But a word of warning - don't suck the stick - they reuse the sticks. goya, Grace says Koreans only use bonito broth when they make Japanese food - or fusion food. And she prefers Hana market in the 15th way more than Ace over by Opera - much nicer - but both give 10 percent discounts on the weekends.

So much for my predictions - for this year anyway. But I did think Le Meurice already had two - trying to justify my oversight. What didn't you like at Le Cinq? I've heard consistently good things about them - just the other day from Pascal Barbot - chef at L'Astrance - he thought it was one of the places I should check out.

Most assuredly it was tohpohki - chewy little flat, oval rice cakes; thinly sliced fish cakes; lamyan; spicy red sauce - with thick sliced yellow vinegar marinated radish on the side. Are you sure you're not a Chinese-American girl living in Paris?

A l'ancienne is how you'll see a lot of kettle-type potato chips described. I think I know which kind of chips you're talking about - in almost all the groceries.

mongo, props to your wife then - sounds like she's got a whole Martha thing going on too. But I think this might involve some kind of Iron Chef/Nigella cook-off/eat-off - I'm sure that will bring in some pretty hot ratings on FoodTV. And Grace is making her infamous tohpohki for me as we speak.

Et voila - very well put. But the sad thing is that rumour-mongers will perpetuate that image to people only too willing to believe it. And for anyone who just happens to read this thread's title - that's all they'll come away with. Pan - funny coincidence - I'm telling my friend Miran who's over for dinner about this thread - she's Korean, a flutist, studying here in Paris. We - Grace, Miran, and I - were just discussing they even have Sizzler, Bennigan's, and even TGI Friday's in Seoul. For better or worse, South Koreans have all the big name Western/American restaurant chains in town, they know what it is - and for the last time - they're not willy-nilly popping gumballs in nachos or whipped cream on subs.

mongo - man, I'm trying. Grace is an encyclopedia of Korean food - plus she cooks like an ajuma, but looks like she could be the Korean-American Nigella. And I should clarify - cho-gochujang is the name for any vinegar/hot red pepper paste sauce - cho being the Korean word for vinegar, as it is in Chinese. Grace just prefers to do cider over the vinegar.

Bill Yosses' vanilla cakes again! Jonathan Reynolds loves them too - from NYT Magazine - they are the finale to The Best Meal in Town.

My Korean-American friend/roomie/fellow Cordon Bleu Grace says this sounds tubujim - a fried or steamed tofu side dish. To make it you'd start with firm tofu, slice, marinate - soy sauce, red pepper powder, garlic, green onions, hot green pepper, other aromatic vegetables optional - then pan fry to colour, serving the marinade on top as a sauce. Others may cook the marinade and tofu together - but Grace prefers to pan fry the tofu separately. But Grace says it sounds very strange that it was served with a broth. Where did you have it?

My Korean-American friend/roomie/fellow Cordon Bleu Grace says that yes, it is the ojingo-bokum - squid stir fried in red pepper paste - the gochujang - and lots of garlic - and almost always with some kind of secret ajuma ingredients. Ajuma is the familiar term for an older married woman - a more polite form of address would be ajumarni. Ajumas know how to throw down the good home cooking. Grace also says that if you like the squid, you should really try the octopus sometime - nakji-bokum - a much more refined and tender dish. It's usually served with a cold or warm bean sprout broth - bean sprouts served as a side dish separately, with unseasoned dried laver, vinegar marinated yellow radish, and white cabbage kimchi - and of course rice. And what's even better is the live baby octopus. About the size of one's thumb, you dip or not dip - in a vinegar/red pepper paste sauce - pop it in your mouth, then - and this is crucial - chew fast - otherwise the live baby octopus will sticker to the inside of your throat. Grace likes to dip in her own custom mix of gochujang and cider - which is then called cho-gochujang.

I am going to try to hide this from Grace. I do take issue with the sophisticated diner comment too though - though I believe it was well-intentioned. New and exciting is so subjective - there are a lot of very traditional Korean dishes that I've tried that blow my mind.

Ellen - what were you thinking, girl? You know first-hand then how hot-blooded Koreans can be! Yeah, Grace is fully bi-cultural - she lives half the time in the LA area, the other half in Seoul. The Seoul of which she speaks is nothing at all like the one I imagined - or probably what most people know - and absolutely different than 10 years ago.

chappie, I'm asking my Korean-American/friend/roomie/fellow Cordon Bleu Grace - who's seething right beside me - and she wants to know where in South Korea your friend was - I'm toning down her language and her outrage - national pride, you know. She's guessing if he was in Seoul - her hometown - it was Itaewon. Ellen, Grace also says - rants - that it's not a cole slaw you had but a salad - with an interpretation of Thousand Island salad dressing - and that it's not surprising to get a non-American "cole slaw" anywhere outside of the States. And she assures me - adamantly assures me - that they not only have good cream cheese - Philly and Korean brands - in an excellent and wide variety - but also bagels - many, many fine bagels - and that there are American specialty grocers in just about every neighborhood. They even have bagels at the Coffee Bean & Tea Leafs - yes, they have Coffee Beans - but not usually bagels at the Starbucks - yes, they have Starbucks. As for pizza, Italians eat pizza with a knife and fork in Italy.

Pan, je vous en prie. And here's a direct link to the menu at Hotel Meurice. Interesting to note that the Michelin annoucement was front page news on the free Metro newspaper - of interest to the common homme/femme in Paris.

Le Guide MICHELIN France 2004: mouvements des etoiles

I once made the mistake of ordering a case of Jalapeno Krunchers - big mistake. Here in Paris I sometimes indulge in two flavours - mustard or herbes de Provence. Good, but no Jalapeno Krunchers.

No way clean - I don't even want to think about my last encounter.

tighe, on the pots de creme - no, no secret - not even special ingredients - nothing you couldn't find at a regular grocery store here in Paris. That's what's so infuriating about this place sometimes - the simplicity of the ingredients, the simplicity of the technique - the difference is experience. And thanks by the way. Moby, who said anything about money? MM, thanks so much.

So how was class? I would love to stop by but I can't - have to work - plus I was sick yesterday - and sometimes I suspect I'm not their favourite person. Les Couleurs - normally closed by the time your class ends - written up in Where magazine this month so try to get to it before they're overrun by the gastro-tourists.

The buzz is that the 2 stars gunning seriously for 3 are Le Bristol - chef Eric Frechon - do check out the site and see how long it takes you to get to the menu - and Les Elysees - chef Eric Briffard. One stars to 2 - maybe Hiramatsu? But the one to really watch - over the next couple of years - is Les Ambassadeurs at the Crillon. My chef at ADPA - Jean-Francois Piege - is officially taking over there on Valentine's Day. They're currently a 1 star but he is not the kind of man who would settle for anything less than 3.