Bux

As Shaw does, I also want the maximum extraction from the chicken bones and meat. I think it's because I am basically cheap, I mean thrifty. I also find that the longer I simmer the stock with the bones, the less likely I am to get a good clear golden broth or stock. It may just be due to the fact that the longer it cooks, the greater the chances are that it will boil at some point, but I think the longer extraction has something to do with it. I seem to recall reading that after a certain period, you're not geting anything valuable out of the carcasses and that's probably when the liquid starts getting rather grey. Nevertheless, I find I can get back that clear golden color by clarifying the stock with egg whites. I've never used the shells, but will try that someday. I am not so careful about getting a beautiful clear consomme most of the time, but I want the more appetizing color. I learned how to clarify stock from Julia Child's first book. She just uses egg whites and parsley and maybe some ground lean meat (to match the stock). I also seem to recall her advice that the liquid must be completely free of fat in order to clarify it properly.

We've learned that Hacienda Benazuza prepares meals using the recipes from el Bulli on Tuesday through Saturday, but only in the evening, and never at lunchtime. At lunch they offer traditional and modern dishes with the influence of El Bulli and local Andalusian products. Rafael Morales, the ex-jefe de cocina of Feran Adria in el Bulli for 7 years, is the chef in residence at Hacienda Benazuza.

The Michelin three star ratings are highly coveted by French chefs and worn proudly by those northern Spanish chefs who have earned them. From what I see, the chefs themselves seem to place as much importance on them as any group of diners, I've met. I won't speak for Italy, nor would I let my opinion of the Italian guide influence my opinion of the Spanish guide. I am an American and I've noticed that some Brits seem to find a chip on the shoulder every time an American makes a comment. I wonder if anyone else has commented on the use of Michelin in Spain. I have very limited experience with it as a restaurant guide, but in four or five trips in the north, when I've run out of leads and had to depend on the Michelin, they delivered a more than acceptable meal. That's actually more than I can say for the French Guide Rouge. As I've mentioned, a Spanish restaurant critic didn't find it odd that I used the Michelin although he suggested the Campsa guide, which I haven't run into here in NY, but then I haven't looked hard for it. Of course Michelin sells tires in the states and Campsa doesn't sell gas here, so maybe the don't push the guide here. The idea that a three star restaurant is far inferior to a "genuine" restaurant just smacks of reverse snobbism.

We've been thinking about spending a few days in the Loire in the latter part of October and looking at Domaine des Hauts de Loire in Onzain, Grand Hotel du Lion d'Or in Romorantin-Lathenay and Bernard Robin in Bracieux. The last has no rooms. All three have two Michelin stars. Robin is rated 16 by GaultMillau. The other two get a 17. The better the food, the happier I am. I don't need, although I enjoy, cutting edge food, but I'd like a place with at least the chef's stamp and some originality along with expert classic skills in the kitchen. I'd love some game--feathered or furred--and some nice Loire reds, along with some fish and dessert and nice Loire whites with those as well. Almost as important as getting great food, is not paying an arm and a leg for my accomodations. Both of the places that have rooms, seem to have some that are reasonably priced. Le Choiseul runs a bit more. Gavin--how do you rate an excellent one star vs. a good two star. Can I assume you don't disagree with the overall classifications of Le Choiseul and Hauts de Loire? Danielle--we haven't been in the Loire for probably more like fifteen years. I have no personal recommendations. Just sharing my own research and joining your thread asking for more information. Actually it's not entirely true that we've not been in the Loire for so long. There is my favorite restaurant that I've not eaten in on the little island of Behuard near Angers--if you're getting that far west. I'd saved a clipping about Les Tonnelles and as luck would have it, we were crossing the Loire at Angers just before lunch. Unfortunately we hadn't thought to reserve for a Sunday lunch and by the time we found the place, it was full of locals. No stars, GM 14, but I'm sure it merits a visit. We don't expect to get that far ourselves. Apparently it is, or was, known for it's selection of dessert wines from the Coteaux du Layon and the surrounding area just south of the Loire at that point.

I'm usually sorry to hear about a disappointing meal, if only because dinner is anticipated as the highlight of my day--or at least my public one. I realize this was a fine meal and perhaps a very fine one at that, but nonetheless disappointing for good reason. With a limited budget and limited time in Paris, Taillevent has never risen to the top of my short list for Paris. It's a bit less likely to appear on that list now. I really don't enjoy elegant restaurants unless I find the food exciting enough to warrant the expense and fuss. That said, I'm sure there are many who will still enjoy Taillevent. Still, I'm curious to know if you felt the meal was much worse, or more tired, than the last time you were there, or was it a matter of the restaurant not improving with the times, or of your changing expectations. You describe your self as having traditional tastes but enjoy a certain level of creativity, or at least a bit of curiosity about the avant garde. I suppose I'm wondering when even a traditional restaurant has to inject a bit of life into a menu just to stay conservative rather than become reactionary or just tired. I'm actually more curious about other things which we can't really deduce just from knowing that Americans were there in greater numbers than you noticed before. First, I thought American tourism was down quite a bit in France, but yours is not the first report I've heard about Paris being overrun with Americans at the moment. Taillevent has long been popular with Americans, but I wonder which ones are dining there now. I'm far from convinced that most diners in any restaurant appreciate the food, but I often wonder what drives Americans to choose the restaurants they do in France. By that I mean the ones who don't post in eGullet and the one's I've never met. I suspect there are many who have the money and not the palate and if a fine restaurant attracts that crowd, it can lose the edge of having to please discriminating diners. Still, both Michelin and GaultMillau award their highest rating to Taillevent. One might wonder if the restaurant is faltering and if it will improve with a new chef. Of course the trick in life is to eat at a two star restaurant the year before it appears as a three star and not to eat in the three star the year it loses a star, but of course one should always have bet on the horse that came in first.

I meant to say as a noun.

I would point a finger at the polictical incorrectness of such gender bashing here, but I have to ask if the singluar form of that word existed before you used it.

It's an American creation. So is the archtypical "spaghetti joint." On the other hand, Dunkin Donuts and Starbucks have made inroads into Italy. Who knows what's popular these days? --Slice it? You mean pizza. The single food restaurant is not so uncommon here and the risotteria is not exactly a fancy white tablecolth restaurant. I suspect it's a cut above going out for burgers, maybe a cut above pizza and less of a deal than sushi. No "drenched in sauce" risottos, but pasta drenched in sauce is also a pretty American thing rather than something imported from Italy. However the range of flavors must compare with pasta.

I would say "Don't put tomato sauce in cast iron." Note the absence of eek and caps. If it's not the best tool for cooking an acidic liquid, why use it at all. If you have two pots, one of them should be non reactive. That is the big selling point for Cruset, which otherwise, I'm not particularly fond of.

Beginning September 10th, Alain Ducasse at the Essex House is no longer open for lunch. Starting Monday, September 16th, the restaurant opens for dinner from Monday to Saturday.

I appreciate that answer. For one thing, I'm going to stop telling wine stewards in Italian restaurants that I know a little about wines from France and California. I think part of the problem consumers have, unless they're very serious about wine is due to what you describe as the number of "relatively new wine estates," and "radically transformed wine zones" which is something that's occurring worldwide, not just in Italy. It's hard for even more sohpisticated diners to keep up with things in any one country let alone world wide. A little knowledge used to last a long time. Now it's outdated quickly. At the same time, it's my perception that the less knowledgeable a diner is, the less likely he is to feel comfortable talking to a sommelier. Do you sense that job is changing and hopefully becoming more challenging?

Ya hear Fat Guy! Now don't go looking for trouble by trying to remake what's already been formed. I like this observation though. Do you suppose Italians outnumber Aisans and latinos together? My guess is that most Europeans ate their wheat in the form of bread and their starch as potatoes whether they came from Ireland, England, Germany or Scandinavia. I think most Americans understand they can serve pasta if they can boil water and open a jar. Those rice dishes require cooking.

Really. It boggles the imagination. I'll just have to take your word for it. A wife who doesn't eat her foie gras--a match made in heaven. My wife won't even share her dessert, not even when she's on a diet. In fact, her idea of a diet is eating half of my dessert rather than ordering her own.

By the way, from reading Penelope Casas one gets a sense that in spite of a lack of great restaurants, there is food worth anticipating in Sevilla. In her opinion, it's best taken in tapas bars rather than dining rooms. As Eric Malson suggests, she stays in the most expensive hotel in town, but she recommends crossing the river (canal?) to the Triana neighborhood, which she describes as the old fishermen's quarters, to explore the tapas bars.

My best recommendations in Spain have come from individuals. Where I've found Michelin useful is in the stars and when I don't have a personal recommendation. The two and three star restaurants are definitely world class and part of international haute cuisine these days. They are more the food of their chefs perhaps than the food of their country to a great degree and it can be a shame not to find the local food as well. It's my impression that the local food in Spain these days is more regional than the local food in France. By that I mean that it varies more from place to place and places greater emphasis on local materials and is more traditional. France has become rather homogenized and I suspect that is starting to happen to Spain. I don't have enough experience eating all over Spain to really tell. Generally when driving in an unfamilar area, I've used the Michelin guide and been pleased with the unstarred restaurants the guide has led me to. I've never been able to ascertain if the recommendation is the best possible one, only that it was useful to me. In Barcelona, I've used it to find a local restaurant near my hotel and considering the price and current high expectations for food in Barcelona, I was pleased with a no star recommendation there as well. In response to some positive comments I made to a Spanish food critic about a restaurant in Jaca that I found thorough its listing in Michelin, I received the following reply. "Re La Cocina Aragonesa: the Spanish Gastronomy Academy, which advises the Campsa Restaurant Guide, met last week, and it was one of the places promoted up to one "sun" (our version of Michelin stars). So we seem to be a bit ahead of Michelin on that one." La Cocina Aragonesa still doesn't have a Michelin star. I gather the Campsa guide is also of some use, although I've yet to use it. If and when I get to Spain next, I will certainly look to make my acquaintance with the Guía Azul as well.

Mayonnaise is a classic emulsion. I wouldn't interchange "foam" and "emulsion." Mayo is not foamy and whipped cream is not really an emulsion, unless you consider the air as being emulsified into the cream. Does that count? "Hand held mixer" conjures up an imagine of a hand held electric double rotary beater. When you speak of the "classic emulsion look" were the ingredients emulsified, that is to say no long appearing as separate ingredients. A good vinaigrette is an emulsion, but it won't be frothy.

Probably not. My wife has been lobbying for a trip to Andalucia this fall. There are few Michelin stars in the area and they are all one stars, remote from each other. With the understanding that a one star in Catalunya where great restaurants abound, is quite different from one that is far distant from another, let alone from a multistarred restaurant, I'm not hopeful of finding great meals, although from what I can reasearch, Tragabuches in Ronda and, perhaps, Cafe de Paris in Malaga, should be interesting in terms of new cooking inspired by the respective chefs' stages in the great restaurants in Catalunya and the Basque area. Ferran Adria seems to have taken over the Hacienda Benazuza (see thread) in San Lucar la Mayor about 25 k outside of Sevilla. From their web site: "Los actuales propietarios desde 1998, están asociados desde hace dos años para su explotación técnica-gastronómica con elBulli. Ahora la Hacienda Benazuza forma parte del reción creado concepto: 'elBulliHotel & Resorts'" "En Hacienda Benazuza hay dos restaurantes que ofrecen diferentes alternativas gastronómicas: 'La alquería', con cocina internacional, 'La Alberca' restaurante al aire libre para tapas snacks. Su bar 'El Gaudarnés' le proporciona una amplia gama de cocktelería." Rooms at the Hacienda, which seems to be a luxury resort incorporating a tenth century farmhouse and 13th century church within the property, run about the same price as at the Alfonso XIII in Sevilla. I don't know if meals--lunch in particular--are served to those not staying at the inn. I'm also not all that clear about the level of the food. I'm a bit surprised it's stayed off the Michelin radar if Adria has been invovled for two years. Penelope Casas, an authority on Spain and Spanish food has this to say about Seville, "Forget about restaurants (with a few exceptions) while you are in Sevilla, and live on tapas." Fortunately, she's quite excited by the tapas in Sevilla. She also notes that the fine restaurants also have tapas bars. I may not have the latest edition of Casas' guide book Discovering Spain, so I'm reluctant to cite her recommendations lest they not be up to date. I've found the Michelin Guia Roja, fairly dependable in Spain.

My impression is that good balsmicos are produced at about six or eight years, or maybe it's five. These are not the tradizionale, but they're far from the mass produced supermarket products. There was a good thead a while back. In fact I think there were a few. I think this was the best of them.

You're the author of an acclaimed book on Italian wines and the director of the wine program at a rather sophisticated Italiam restaurant in New York City. I'm not sure if this puts you in touch with lots of consumers who know very little about Italian wines or those whose knowledge is excellent, thus your answer to my question may be skewed but I'm not sure in which direction. Nevertheless, your writing career in wine and spirits predates your current work, so how sophisiticated is the NY diner in terms of Italian wines overall and in comparison with French, American and perhaps Spanish and southern hemisphere wines? Are you seeing a change in the appreciation of Italian wines? Do you see your own relatively recent focus as part of a trend, and your book as a response to existing interest or inspiring new interests in consumers?

After roasting peppers, I've never tried keeping them more than about a week or so. I usually chop some garlic and infuse olive oil with the flavor over low heat and then toss the skinned roasted peppers with the oil. I'd guess the peppers might keep better submerged in oil, but I wouldn't they'd have a very long shelf or refrgerator life unless you used canning methods.

I couldn't take sides in the question of quartering or slicing, although often they are irregular and too in need of trimming to make slicing an option. Otherwise just proceed as for tomato salad, but lighter on the dressing to enjoy the flavor of the tomatoes. A little olive oil, evoo for preference, basil or parsley, fleur de sel and a splash of vinegar, sherry vinegar for preference. The more often I have them during the season, the more likely I am to add shallots, or combine them with some fresh mozzarella or finely sliced ricotta salata. I find a lot of the locally grown (NY, NJ, etc.) tomatoes have a thick skin and peeling them can often increase the enjoyment of eating them. A quick blanching makes them easy to peel.

Suzanne F is quite correct and I wonder if this is isn't going to get out of hand quickly. Before it does, let me ask about the last time you saw credible art in a restaurant? Perhaps I should rephrase that as when was the last time you say art that wasn't offensive in a restaurant?

I suspect the answer is that change is our only constant. Dishes come and go and chefs are determined to offer us something new until the old is resurrected as new again. Your thoughts on potage foam are logical and it may or may not happen. Sorry I don't subscribe to the inevitable. Whatever happens will seem inevitable in hindsight and be easily explained by those who can deconstruct the past. No surprises there. The last revolution was correct, the next is perverse unless you are part of it. Satisfaction is the fulfillment of learned desires. Old guys will be satisfied by what they've learned to like and young guys will be the explorers. Of course there's the oddball old guy whose learned to like discovery instead of mashed potatoes, but that really just means he finds new ideas "delicious." It's all so predictable, yet some of us argue as if there's a cause here.

Clever anyway, at least as a tactic, to reduce the discussion about the two chefs (which in itself is s reduction of the original topic) to Robuchon's potato puree, which may well sum up Robuchon's greatness and influence, and Adria's potato foam as the latter is but a minor example of a subset of Adria's ongoing talents and influences. Clever as well to return to jazz or anyother distraction away from food if the purpose is to win idle arguments and show off knowledge in a field whose lore is arcane to that of gastronomy. Once again we've drifted from a search for insight and I don't see the benefit of proving most of the points being raised, assuming they are points that should, or can, be proven.

This focus on the potato and it's essence makes me ask about potage. What ever happened to potage? Do I just eat in the wrong restaurants? I never see it on bistro menus any more and when I order it in a cafe, it tastes as if came from a dry soup mix. If there's a single dish that seduced me as a lover of French cuisine, it was not Robuchon's puree, but the wonderful satisfaction of a good honest homemade potage in a cheap Parisian bistro on a cold fall evening. Compared with the dead end of Robuchon's effete puree, the vegetable potage with a potato base was the heart and soul of French cooking, but if I'm wrong and it's not a dead end, potato foam might well be the logical next step.