Suzi Edwards

So I failed. Hope no-one minds me recussitating this thread, but it's the end of the year and I love a retrospective. I got to the Fat Duck (with Moby, natch, but we're still planning the Waterside Inn) but otherwise failed. I was on the waitlist at Per Se, but that was as close as I got to a salmon cornet. I didn't even get to Spain this year, but I blame Chicago for that. Tell us how you did on your 2004 wishlist and share your 2005 plans here.

It's a simple fact but the thing I feel proudest of eating on all the lists is Varmint's pig. That creature has entered folklore. I mean the pig, not Varmint :-)

Yep, you're right, but given that I doubt that 73.4% of the people who voted in the BBC poll have never had a great baguette with perfect butter I think we can go with the one list for now. But feel free to have both things you have never eaten and things you think everyone else should eat on the list. I was tempted to put Fugu on my list, but then I thought "what happens when I try it if I don't like it? What if it doesn't live up to my expectations? The only thing on my list that I haven't had is chicken with truffles. But I put it on as I know what both of the things are like and I have high expectations. Of course, one can always edit one's post or change one's view at a later date. I'm not sure that Ainsley Harriot is going to be mugging to the camera over our selections.

I love to slow roast tomatoes with lots and lots of cracked black pepper. They always take people by surprise, the same way they shocked me with the heat the first time I ever had them.

Aaargh. No room for a glass of the most expensive vintage champagne you can't really afford. Might have to rejig the list.

What a fantastic list! I'm going to have to have some restaurant dishes in mine, but here's my list in no order 1. Shanghai soup buns 2. Chicken with truffles 3. Lobster with white truffles (from ADNY, natch) 4. The perfect french baguette with salted French butter 5. Chicken noodle soup 6. A whole ripe Flower Marie cheese 7. Crottin De Chavignol with a glass of your favourite gutsy red wine 8. Varmint's barbeque 9. Shrimp tempura with cranberry and Meyer lemon (from Trio) 10. Chocolate. My home made truffles made with organic cream and whatever my chocolate du jour is most likely

I was thinking about trying to write something considered about the show, but given that it was about as stimulating as a marshmallow is filling I'm left feeling a bit perplexed. What was the actual point of the programme? Other than to fly Ainsley Harriot around the world and act as some advertorial for The Cheesecake Factory? I knew it wasn't going to be the TV equivalent of Gatronomica but I was expecting something more substantial. It wasn't really a list of 50 things to eat before you die. It seemed to be a list of 50 things that you can eat that was primarily voted for by a group of Australians (hence the inclusion of Kangaroo, Moreton Bay Bugs, Barramundi, Australian meat pies and barbecue (from the footage not the American version). I was getting to the stage where I was half expecting Vegemite to be number one. There were some strange inconsitencies that I'm guessing came from the show's producers having to corrolate a lot of similar foods into one category. Or at least, I'm hoping that this is why "tapas" came in at number 46, "curry" at number nine and "Chinese food" at number five while "San Francisco Clam Chowder" was at number 12. I just can't bring myself to believe that a good enough proportion of the UK food interested public (because I'm guessing this is who voted, otherwise this land is just filled with people who'll vote for anything*) are so badly eaten that they would seriously add "sandwiches" to a list of things you have to eat before you die. So here's my challenge What are the 10 things you have to eat before you die? I've moved this thread to the"Food, Media and News" forum because it's nice to get away from the UK forum once in a while and I hope that as a group we might be able to come up with a more inspiring list. *Actually, that's clearly the case. Witness the victory of Steve in the X Factor.

Wow Graham. What a cool post! Thanks! Have you thought about posting some of your pepper recipes to RecipeGullet?

This thread is fascinating, especially as I am lucky enough to have been invited to join Moby on the hunt for haute cuisine. So I have a vested interest in the results. I've been exploring the avant-garde side of food for the past 18 months or so (molecular gastronomy/culinary constructivism/load of old rubbish depending on your viewpoint) but am now starting to realise that innovation is naught if you don't understand the classics. A single mouthful of the lobster with white truffle dish I had at ADNY was filled with more meaning for me than the whole tasting menu at WD-50 the following night. That's the sweetspot of haute cuisine for me, the fact that it's just the diner and the dish caught in a moment. No twists, little whimsy, no knowing nods to fashion. Just perfect ingredients perfectly cooked. The conversation on here about the death of haute cuisine saddens me, it actually saddens me more than the complaints of people who say that innovation in food is just a fad. To me there is no way that Adria and Achatz could exist without la cuisine gastronomique. There is no point to 21st century food if it has to exist without what has gone before. So, come Moby's birthday, I want to revel in the classic, the luxe, that which has been perfected over years. If I'm served an air I'm walking out. If I don't get a stool for my handbag I'm out of there. So please, keep discussing the death of haute cuisine, but please also take a second to describe and revel in those temples to the old style.

Fresh fish was number one.

Welcome to the eGullet forums Dirk and thanks for a thought provoking post. Have to say I agree with a lot of the sentiment in your post. To me, The Fat Duck is one of a group of restaurants that is pioneering in the world of culinary arts. People might like to check out the whole forum documenting the birth of Grant Achatz's new Chicago restaurant Alinea and this thread about Moto restaurant in Chicago especially the last page about levitating food.

I don't understand the root (or to be honest) the meaning of your term. Please explain. Why did you pick this word?

There is so much literature on eating and dining in Paris and so much of it is written and published in English that there's no excuse for even a first time visitor to approach the subject uninformed unless it's really not a serious concern. ← Can someone direct me to any of these books that you mention? Does anyone have a reading list for the budding gourmet? Confession: I had the tasting menu at Gagnaire. I know I can't really show my face on this board...but can anyone make any recommendations? The book that's quoted above, is it available in English? Or do I need to brush up my French?

I just came across this link on another thread and thought that people might be interested in; an article on molecular gastronomy from the Independant But I'm not sure we can call it molecular gastronomy now. The next culinary arts movement; Culinary Constructivism

Thanks for the quick response Nicola. *calls removal men*

From now on, I'm going to post the restaurant reviews and Fi will post the recipes. Enjoy! VPL has some oat cuisine at the Quince and Medlar in Cumbria Have any of our Northern locals been here? Jay Rayner questions in the economics in play at The Brindisa Tapas Bar Terry Durack makes me determined to move to Marylebone with his review of Fishworks But is the Ginger Pig really open on a Sunday morning? Richard Johnson enjoys Osteria Dell'Arancio but I have to question £12 for a "tallegio fondue with a thick layer of white truffle" How can they sell it so cheaply? *grabs coat, runs to SW10* Giles Coren has had a busman's holiday and is going to be reporting from our Northern counties for a bit. This week he reports on a good pub lunch at Oddfellows in the Boat in Litchfield and a nice dinner at the Lakeview Restaurant in Cumbria Next week: L'Enclume I reckon. Damn him. Shock, Horror, AA Gill in wholly interesting review of Amaya For once you don't have to just read the last paragraph. Jan Moir slays W'Sens on Waterloo Place

I think I remember reading that you experimented with tomatoes and bicycle pumps to create "tomato air" and I was struck by how innovative it seemed to me to put the two together. Can you tell us a little bit about things that you experimented with that you thought would work but didn't? Or maybe about some of the by-products you've discovered while experimenting?

Yep, it's baked on the premises in a wood burning oven (as I had to explain to a friend who wanted to know what "the grey stuff" on it was) It's a sourdough bread made, their first books says, using a starter that's older than the restaurant. There's a recipe in the first book.

Moro in Exmouth Market. With delicious olive oil to dip in. Mmmmm.

I was wondering, do you have a favorite dish that you've ever created? I understand that the menu changes frequently, but is there anything that it really pained you to take off? Why was that?

Did you really mean cat? Which part? From ears to tail or a cross section? I'm just interested, but Hector, one of my cats who often surfs the eGullet forums with me, is looking a little scared.

It isn't? Nope. The only thing worth bankrupting yourself for are shoes.

Now that takes the cake! ← Just noticed that we'd say "takes the biscuit" in the UK, not cake. But I guess you guys have cookies not biscuits.

GTM! GTM! GTM! Sorry, hardly constructive but the sun is shining for what feels like the first time in about 2 months and I'm feeling playful. The GTM with full wine tasting is expensive. I have a feeling it might have been the most expensive meal I had ever eaten earlier this year. It was more expensive than Trio, but we did kick off with some good champagne so that might have pushed us over the edge. It is well worth having the paired wines, they really do add another level to the meal. The first time I had the GTM here I just drank champagne, which was great but my second GTM with wine was amazing. That said, there's no point bankrupting yourself for one meal so GTM without wine would win over 10 course with wine for me. But that's because I'm more about the food than the wine. I'm not sure if the levitating food is on the menu yet but if it is can you post about it? I was chatting with Wylie Dufresne of WD-50 about it and he was just desparate to know what the deal was.

they don't say must have riedels, silver, linen cloths, sommelier etc but most assume that's the sort of direction youmust be heading in to get your star and beyond. ← Surely that's the crux of the matter for many smaller establishments - what we ex-biologists would call convergent evolution rather than divergent; many different places feeling they have to conform in order to get a star, certainly to get two. Shouldn't it be about time that individuality is more highly valued? ← I think that's why people (not all people, natch) were pleased when The Fat Duck got a third star and why Anthony's will probably be lauded. I think, in Michelin terms, you need one restaurant within a certain oevre to be recognised and then it gets easier for the others. Of course, I may be talking complete rubbish, I am half watching a Charlie Sheen movie while writing this.