John M

A few disconnected thoughts on the interesting Venice/Italian food thread... I have been to Venice twice, and ate at places suggested to me. Corte Sconta was one, which I thought was spectacularly good: the eel there was one of the best pieces of fish I've ever eaten, and everything else was pretty wonderful. Very simple: just very fresh, very nicely cooked fish. No menu, it's true, but in a good way, I think. There was another place there called Agli Alboretti, which I thought was terrific as well (near the Academia), and their cuttlefish-ink risotto which I had on two separate trips was sublime on both occasions, the kind of dish that haunts you every time you try (and fail) to reproduce it in your own kitchen. (this was recommended to me by an egullet contributor friend who might now want to weigh in with his own thoughts on Agli?) I ate some good pizza in Venice too, again at suggested places. Though I also had a pizza more or less at random. That was OK, but I'd rather go to Pizza Express... I also found a bakery near the Rialto which made wonderful, memorable olive bread. However this brings me on to some more negative thoughts. Why is bread in Italian restaurants in Italy so awful, when Italian bread-making can be so wonderful? Restaurants serving good, carefully prepared food seem to be happy to let their customers grind away at stale, dry bread that would shame a greasy-spoon cafe. I also agree that the very poor standard of most Italian restaurant food is a result of assuming customers' ignorance. However, I saw many signs that lots of Italians are prepared to eat crap, contrary to the myth that all Italians demand and get terrific food. One example was seeing lots of Italians in a village in Umbria eating microwaved pasta in a sealed plastic container for lunch. Also the standard of food in tapas-style bars where Italians eat seemed to be way lower than in Spain, where you seem to be able to get a delicious piece of cheese and meat almost anywhere. Although I suppose there are lies, damned lies, and then ancedotes... There can't be anywhere where the complacency and condescension to customers tastes is worse, though, than in English Italian restaurants, some of which are scandalously bad. But things are changing, I think, and people are starting to realise how bad the bad places are, and how easy it would be to make your own food better than this. Places are closing down as a result of this. The only problem now is that complacent Italian cookery is being replaced to some extent by ultra-complacent Thai/Pan-Asian cookery. I propose a poll on which is worse, but my vote goes to the latter. Thank God for the ever-wonderful English curry-house.... Cheers, John M

Hello Heston, I've been reading the question and answer session with great interest, and have hugely enjoyed (and learnt from) your answers, so thank you very much! I even went so far as immediately to try your roast potato method (sorry to pre-empt the great egullet cook-off), and this leads me to a question about molecular gastronomy, and its different applications to different foods. The method for roast potatoes was excellent in the most important ways, and produced a lovely crispy outside with a soft inside, and the late addition of herbs is a great idea, because they retain some colour and much more flavour. My only problem was that the potato itself (inside its deliciously crispy, thyme and rosemary flecked coating) tasted a little bland. Of course, this could be because I didn't use good enough potatoes, although I did take care to buy the best I could find. I was just wondering if this could be anything to do with NOT salting the water much earlier in the cooking process. The salt added at the end did not seem to 'get to' the inside of the potato properly, did not lift its flavour in the same way as salt added earlier. Could it be that the sound science behind NOT adding salt to green vegetables could be less successful when applied to potatoes (and, perhaps pasta, though I haven't tried this...). Could it be that adding salt to potatoes early in the cooking process achieves something (perhaps relating to the make-up of potatoes) that adding salt later cannot? I think Stenigarten talks about something like this more generally in his essay on salt, suggesting that early and late salt tastes different. I'd be very interested to hear any thoughts you had on this issue... Best wishes, John M

That's interesting about the French, I didn't know that. On the taste thing, I admit I haven't ever done a direct comparison, but it's my impression that if you just eat a bit of each in its unadultered state, then flat might taste stronger. But I think if you finely chop curly, then it releases its flavour, which is (I speculate) somewhat hindered by its texture when eaten whole. But now you've said that, I'm going to go away and try and do some comparitive tests. (By the way, who is 'us' in this context, as this is kind of a national matter). Cheers, John

In the Jamie Oliver discussion, someone described curly parsley as useless, or some such. This is a commonly expressed opinion, so I'm not picking a quarrel with that individual person, but am I alone in being a bit sceptical about the notion that flat-lear parsley is so clearly superior? Curly parsley is robust and great tasting, and looks better when chopped up finely (though I admit that flat parsley looks better when the leaves are whole) because it retains a kind of pleasing, fresh-looking springiness. The stalks are also very good to add earlier in the cooking of soups or whatever, seeming to be more hardy than their flat counterparts. It is not, contrary to popular opinion, particularly difficult to wash effectively. Also, often I think it's easier to get much fresher curly parsley, for some reason; perhaps its easier to grow in England? Jamie Oliver struggled to explain what was better about flat-leaf parsley when asked during his own TV show. I just wonder whether the conventional wisdom that flat is better comes from the idea that all things Mediterranean MUST be superior to the English equivalent (I have know idea how this debate would apply to other countries, but very interested to find out). Often this might be true, of course, particularly in the area of fresh vegetables and fruit, but is it really true in this case? Very interested to hear what anyone thinks about this... John M