Bux

Fat Guy, go talk to Louis at DiPalo's. I'll bet he can give you some useful information. My guess, only because I'm so outclassed when it comes to Italian cheese, is that he knows more about Italian cheese than anyone in NYC. I understand he was hired once to fact check Steingarten's work. Louis jokes about it, not because he might not know more about cheese than Jeffrey, but because, as he says, no one checks his own work like Steingarten.

This is a totally unscientific study, but the one cab driver who drove us in from JFK Monday night said he was having trouble trying to distinguish those people trying to hail a cab in front of bars from those just out for a smoke. I didn't pursue this with any attempt to query him on his opinion of the long term effects on his income or safety cruising under these conditions. We shared the cab with a friend who asked to be dropped off on the corner. The cabbie explained that it would cost no more to take him to his door step. We assured the driver that in spite of the rain our friend wanted to be dropped off on the corner so he could have a smoke before being greeted by his wife at home. It was a long flight and the poor guy had only a chance for a short smoke while waiting for the cab at JFK.

I've been away and return to find this thread, like may others, has long since seemed to cease to serve any purpose to reasonable men and women such as myself, but I'm surprised that not a soul has informed Wilfrid that the original subject just appears happy to see him.

I assumed everyone knew I usually take the easy route, but only when it's the correct one. (Why is there not a wink smiley that looks like a wink?)

This is from "An Integrated Approach to Improving Quality Retention and Extending Shelf-Life of a Cabbage-Carrot Coleslaw with Dressing" apparently part of a coleslaw project by a Ph.D. candidate and from guajolote's second link. I just wanted to make sure you didn't miss the salient parts. I remain a little confused about how we get "cool cabbage" from two words meaning "cabbage" and "salad," but it seems this site was not the final Ph.D. work.The coleslaw wrestling is less academic. Yes, it's much like jello or mud wrestling, but tastier. This year's competition at Sopotnick's Cabbage Patch just occurred a month ago and you'll have to wait for next year, if you're interested. It too has it's salient points as does any good old biker's convention entertainment. Guajolote deserves some sort of merit award for presenting links to the ridiculous and the sublime in the same post. We only need a committee to determine which site is sublime. Shaved brussel sprouts and julienned radishes sounds really elegant.

As much of the commercial coleslaw is also soggy, I suspect the advice and instructions may be on to something.

As far as I know, the etymology is simply "cabbage salad." I was never a fan of coleslaw as a kid and my early love for French food led me to dismiss coleslaw, but I've come to appreciate it more and more of late. Nevertheless, I have no good indepth knowledge, except to agree that the worst are made with sweet commercial "salad dressing" that passes as imitation mayo. It certainly doesn't pass as real mayonnaise, not would I even glorify it as real imitation mayo.

I'm alway inclined to dismiss generalities. Okay, many of us tend to speak in general terms, but we need to be aware that there are usually going to be brilliant exceptions. It's been my feeling that because generations of French chefs have been so well trained in the classics, they are less able to work in "fusion" modes, but that when they do, they do it better than Americans who are less restricted in their thinking and all too eager to create. In either case, the few who can successfully create are small and the ones who fail tend to fail according to their national character, but it doesn't really matter whether the food is too loose or too tight if just doesn't work -- unless you have a plate that tends to forgive easier in one direction or the other.

Because people like me are willing to pay for it to be done correctly. And on occassion it is done correctly. But since you aren't, why do you comment about it? It would seem to me that the first poster spoke about forcing a use. If it's done correctly, it seems to me that is not forced. Nevertheless, Finch's comment seems reasonble and on topic. Why do you challenge his right to post his comments?

That would account for my preference for the provinces.

Is there a cuisine that's not about properly balancing ingredients, at least in terms of the adherents of that cuisine?

To a great extent this is absolutely true. I might also assume that if a French chef mastered Indian spices, they'd no longer seem Indian -- or his food might no longer seem French. I assume the question is not have any French chefs learned to be masters of Indian cooking. The chef who immediately comes to mind is Olivier Roellinger who cooks in his restaurants in Cancale in Brittany. His interest in spices is very great and claims to be inspired by Cancale's past history as a port of entry into France for the spices of the east. All of the rooms at his inn are named after spices as well. There was nothing particularly Indian or even Asian about his food when I ate there with the possible exception of a small tidbit that reminded me of a satay, but his food was infused with many spices. My impression of our meal was that he had mastered the ingredients to the extent that nothing seemed fused, it all seemed natural as if he came from a place where this was the traditional way to cook. His gastronomic restaurant was, and is, a two star restaurant, but it seemed to offer three star food to me. I'm not sure why you ask, but you may find much more information at his web site linked above. I suspect his work is well documented in his own cookbooks and literature at the inn described his fascination and use of spices In New York, Andrew Carmellini, who is the chef at Cafe Boulud comes to mind. Interestingly enough, I was just thinking of a meal he cooked for us some months back. This was a meal that may not have reflected what was on the menu, but may have been the best meal I've had at Cafe Boulud. There were herbs and spices of the east throught the meal and I remembered that someone had told me he's a fan of Indian cooking. I don't know how much of this has found its way onto the regular menu, but I can say that of course the spices he used mattered to him.

Don't get me wrong. There are times when I enjoy getting dressed for dinner as well and often, although not as often as my wife, deplore the current state of dress seen in NY's best restaurants. My comment (with smiley) was only in regard to the post about needing a hand tailored custom made suit. Still, as you note, when the super rich and the trendy rich arrive in jeans, one often wonders about the point of dressing up at all. Sometimes I feel I wear a coat and tie more to express some respect for the chef and his restaurant than for my own emjoyment, but I also find that a valid reason. Once on a scorchingly hot and humid day in NYC, I thought it was ludicrous to wear a tie and jacket. I called the restaurant to ask about the dress code and was told in such a pleasant manner that jackets and ties were preferred, but that in light of the weather they were understanding about dress. I was so impressed with their manner that I showed up wearing jacket and tie. Most of our travel in Europe involves a lot of country driving as well as a few days in a major city and I find I make compromises. I need versatile clothing and packable clothing. A business suit is going to be limited to use in a multistarred restaurant in Paris, while a blazer, or even a sport coat will serve a broader spectrum of uses depending on the shirt and pants with which it is paired. Even among three star restaurants, there are degrees of appropriate formality. Rarely however will I feel underdressed in a navy blazer and wool slacks.

That would account for my preference for the provinces.

I'm inclined to agree, at least in Paris. On the other hand, I've been surprised at how casually the French dress in the provinces even at three star restaurants. I doubt if more than half the men at Michel Bras were wearing jackets, let alone ties, last spring. The most surprisingly sloppy attire we saw was in Petrossian, admittedly only a one star when we were there, but still seemingly an upscale room.

I didn't see this before, but as I'm reviewing the thread after returning from Madrid and Andalucia, I noticed your post. I'm told that tempura and/or tonkatsu are dishes the Japanese learned from the Portuguese

My fear is that those spots are becoming fewer and farther between.... No thanks due. I'm almost guilty that we didn't go out of our way to do any checking out. My style wasn't cramped at all -- or at least not on your behalf. I would have liked to have spent more time in food shops and in markets, although honestly I did not find anything as interesting in the way of markets as we had in the north. Barcelona may have the best food markets, or at least the best I know. We did make it a point to shop in two markets in Sevilla, our last stop. Regrettably neither was very impressive and one seemed to be on its last legs. Not sure why and can only guess that supermarkets may be having an effect or that the center of the city is not where people shop these days. That Chloe found artisanal membrillo at a Corte Ingles may be telling. I've often found the food shopping in European department stores to be very good. Let me start a new thread on the non membrillo stuff.

I have mixed feelings about wine pairings by the glass versus enjoying a bottle as it develops over a meal. Both have their merits. In general I enjoy having more than one one with a meal and that has to shorten the time experience with any one wine anyway. Two half bottles will allow less time with each wine as will dining with dining and sharing a bottle with others. It's all relative. Obviously a glass of wine precludes certain experiences. I find Claude's remark quite telling in a few ways. It may seem obvious that a connoisseur might want to select his own wine and not want the limitation imposed by the house selection by the glass, even when these are specially paired with the meal. Nevertheless, I suspect many with an honest but perhaps limited appreciation of wine, would consider the chance to have paired wines the maximum experience, while others with greater enthusiasm might not.Back to the main issue, when I take a suprise menu, I pretty much have to lay myself in someone else's hands, but as much as I enjoy (and hope I appreciate) wine, Claude is correct in that I tend to consider the wine subordinate to the food.

We're just back from Spain. We flew via Air France and changed planes in Paris. On a personal level we experienced nothing out of the ordinary and were well treated wherever we were.

I've seen Frenchmen look more elegant in jeans than Americans in dark suits.

For clarification, I didn't mean to imply that there was anything upscale about these pastes, only that one might be likely to find a higher quality, perhaps artisianal, version at an upscale shop in a the capital city. The opposite is also true -- that one is likley to find excellent artisianal quality food products in a rural area where homogenized industrial products have not taken hold of people's tastes. When I got back to Lhardy, or rather the opportunity to pass by, but not the time to stop, they had changed the window display and were featuring dulce de membrillo rather then naranja. I noted that the rounded corners of the molded dulce and the embedded diagonal ribs indicated a commercial mold or perhaps even a large tin. Of course it could be a house made product in a cheap commercial plastic mold, but I suspected it was purchased by the store in a large tin. For the record, during the next two weeks of our trip, all of the dulces I ran across were commercial and I did not see any that appeared to be artisanal. On the other hand, I also didn't haunt the types of shops that might make these by hand, if there is any tradition for that. Obviously they are made commerically and there are recipes for home preparation. I have no idea if the other range of hand made commercial product exists. Canned goods, as a general rule, are much more hightly regarded in Spain than I think they are in the US, or in France. I recall an article by Amanda Hesser in the NY Times about a tapas bar in Barcelona that specialized in tapas of canned goods. Before leaving Sevilla for out flights to NY, we bought some tins of hake roe, codfish roe and piquillo peppers to take home.

I have seen "sabayon" used by many chefs and on menus to note a sauce that's basically egg yolk with a liquid beaten into it rather than a sweet wine. The liquid, can be a dry wine, champagne or any savory liquid. I remember reading about a sabayon served with fish and seaweed noodles served at le Divellec some fifteen or more years ago. I'm not sure if that's the first time I ran across the use of the word in a savory context. I suspect that the ability to peel a soft boiled egg or oeuf mollet is just a knack that most can learn in time. It's my wife's favorite way to prepare an egg. She can peel them with a flawless exterior far more rapidly and with fewer imperfections than I can. More often than not, there's more likely to be some undone white inside than there is yolk that's partially set.

In October we attended the Salon Fermière at the Espace Camperret. This was a similar event for producers of food -- cheese, pates, sausages, preserves, etc. We also noted that many of the attendees arrived with either free of discount passes. They also arrived with shopping carts and stocked up on the non perishable items.

Alas, Europeans, the French included, are also heavily into fast food.

It's going on two years since we've eaten at l'Astrance, so my memory of certain details may be fuzzy. I vividly recall being grilled on many of the dishes. That it to say we were asked to identify components of some dishes as well as to identify the wines which were poured with the labels covered. Thus I suppose we knew little about the actual dishes on the menu other than that it contained many of the same dishes as on the other menu, but was slightly longer and came paired with wines. I think the meal was had shortly before eGullet came online, so I couldn't have read about it here. My point nonetheless was less about l'Astrance, than a general one. I've had enough experiences with surprise menus to understand that they may contain dishes I would not have ordered and that often enough, these dishes have been eye openers. It's hard to offer this as any sort of a hard and fast rule. Often enough there's a dish that's not on the tasting menu that grabs my attention because it's a food I love, or a dish that's made the chef's reputation. One of the things I remember was a very limited wine list of very inexpensive wines. They were, as I recall, all in the low 100 franc range and mostly from the Languedoc, southwest and perhaps, the Loire.