Bux

I have, as I'm sure have others at one time or another in their life, eaten at a restaurant I could barely afford. I went for the food I couldn't have had at home and not for the selection of wines. Still I don't enjoy food without wine as much as I do with wine, even if the wine is not up to the food in quality. Therefore it can be important that one have an affordable selection of wines to compliment the food. While a wine that goes for less than auction prices might be a great bargain there are those who would prefer to able to get a twelve dollar wine for thirty five dollars even if it's a 300% markup (or more from wholesale prices). There are no bargains unless they're affordable in the first place. "Pricey wines" could be interpreted as a lack of "affordable wines."

I tried the WSJ link and serached for "hiramatsu" on the free tour page. In both cases I ran up against a page that notified me that the page was only available to subscribers.

In a parallel post, I asked you to explain what you think Hoffman meant when he used the term "sprinkling." I did not see sprinkled curry powder when eating that dish. Cabrales has affrimed that is not what she experienced. You may be pushing your friend into a hole he didn't mean to dig. I'm still trying figure to if it's a wider one or just deeper. What I think is that Hoffman was offended by any use of curry, and used the word "sprinkling" in a pejorative manner to denigrate what others see as Pacuad's subtle infusion of flavors into the sauce. When I don't have to repeat my question about "sprinkling," I'll get to what I always avoid. when you're at the top, there's only one way you can go. Along with globalization there's decentralization and the French influence is not declining so much as the top chefs in other countries have learned how to cook French food and Catalunya and the Basque country become extensions of France at the level of haute cuisine. If the French influence a smaller percentage of chets in American today, they may still influence a greater number of chefs as there is a greater focus on fine food in the country.

I haven't seen it, but I've been asked to pick up a copy for someone when I'm in France. Is it a bilignual edition, or just an English edition?

Suvir, I share your conclusion, or at least your closing paragraph. I think you also bring an interesting perspective to this. We here in America (myself excluded ) live for novelty and change. I think both India and Europe have more respect for tradtion, continuity and evolution of cuisine.

We are going in circles, if not in knots. I recall quoting Diat and maybe Escoffier in one of the other parallel threads on the subject of curry. The responses that followed noted that Pacaud was using in a new way pretending to be modern, or conversely that it was just more of a sign that French cuisine is mired. We're also told that Hoffman was looking for "classical" French cuisine when he ordered the curry dish. There is a certain unlikelihood of this being settled with research. This falls in with other inconsistencies in your argument. If the center of influence in haute cuisine has moved in any direction outside of France, it has moved towards Spain and towards Catalunya because of the Adrias. When we met Alberto Adria in France, my wife spoke to him in Spanish. He speaks Catalan and Spanish fluently and French with some difficulty. His English is almost nonexistent. The Spanish are far more likely not to speak another language other than Spanish or one of the regional languages such as Catalan or Gallego. French is a more likely second language than English. None of this stops them from being influential. ... Because if they don't have to, Plotnicki's argument is only about food that suits his subjective jaded tastes.We don't have the French Nobu in America because having dominated our haute cuisine the French are in no position to come in and fuse their style on American food with any effect. Perhaps a French chef could go to Tokyo and do that. There is tremendous interest in French food in Tokyo and one wonders if the new creative food from Japanese chefs could have occurred without that interest. You've asked me to stick to haute cuisine before, but as you raise this issue here, I've seen signs of a similar agricultural interest in France where the quality of produce has declined. Within the larger ebbs and flows of influence, there are smaller ones. I'm not sure you're not focusing on smaller aspects and, in terms of fusion cooking influences, sometimes on fads. Time will tell.

I know plenty of people who trim the fat from a seared duck breast on their plate. Depending on how much fat is left I may eat some, or all of it. It's been a while since I've had a braised duck and among the traditional recipes, I much preferred a duck braised with peas or olives than one served à l'orange. Canard à l'orange is a pretty old fashioned dish and probably seen more in cooking schools than in restaurants. I don't recall how much fat was left on a good braised duck. My impression is that most of it should have melted off, but of course the skin itself would be fatty no matter what. I've been told that the fat of water fowl is more like olive oil than butter or pork fat in terms of saturated, unsaturated, etc. fat, but that's not your stumbling block either. It's the taste and consistency. I would certain try duck without the skin next time, if there is a next time.

Cabrales, in NYC restaurants are not allowed by law, to serve or re-present any food that is removed from a table, unless it is recooked, or heated to a certain temperature. Yes butter removed from a table can be used for cooking. Bread and mignardises should not reappear once removed from a table. I've found that the very top level of restaurant can be absolutely nuts about following the strictest city regulations. I suspect it's partially because they have the most to lose from a bad inspection or a sick diner, but I think it's also in line with the rigorous discipline of the kitchen. At any rate, I don't mind that, although I also eat in some places whose kitchens I know I'd not want to see.

Squid on a stick, on a mountain road in Japan. At the time it never occurred to me to worry about eating seafood so far from the coast along a winding road in the middle of nowhere. Tasty stuff and the mountain air may have contributed to my appetite. I think my fellow travelers were just happy I stopped because of the way I drive in the mountains although all were thankful I avoided running over the guy who passed me on a curve riding a motorcycle only to spin out as he pulled back in front of me. More recently, we got hepatitis shots before going to Hong Kong although my doctor questioned my need. I suspect he just couldn't imagine anyone would eat anyplace but in a hotel restaurant. Nevertheless, we didn't eat much food on the street if only because we always seemed to have just come out of a restaurant when we saw some. There were some seafood meals, especially on a small island that might have justified the precaution anyway. I'm still looking for those wonderful steamed and than griddled pork and cabbage buns that used to be sold on Canal Street. Did one guy supply all the vendors and go out of business? Street food in NY deteriorated by at leat 50% when those buns disappeared. Some culltures don't have street food. People will cite all sorts of things like crepes in Paris, but France doesn't have much of a street food tradition, not counting my ability to scarf down some pretty fancy pastry on the run. Ice cream cones really don't count, I think.

And presumably it's also why I loved the book. It's also possibly why I put up with your posts (and maybe vice versa). But even towards the end, he doesn't always get what the French are about. Even as he forms friendships and alliances, he can be slow to understand. I think the Balzar staff revolt is a wonderful episode and display of this. That Gopnik can write about his miscues as well as he does makes the book enjoyable and worth reading. In some ways it's more universal than just about Paris in relation to NY or to its decline or even the decline of French culture as a world influence.

As I noted before, one can often tell more about the reviewer than the subject. Although I didn't agree with Plotnicki's analysis I found enough evidence to support his right to his view. I might say the same for your opinion of the book. I found it well written. I have friends who hold a higher opinion of Gopnik's work and those who hold a lower opinion than I do. I believe that somewhere along the way in another thread, Steve Klc suggested that it might be a good book for an "eGullet bookclub" thread. The book is a series of magazine articles and the author's observations of life and things worth writing about while he lived in Paris. It's full of personal stuff that hardly make for a great and universal critique of France and its place in the world at the end of the twentieth century, but I didn't think it was fluff or smug even when it wasn't deep. Even when superficial, I still found it intellectually entertaining, which may say more about the level of my intellectual capacity or attention span than the book. In general I enjoyed his style, but when he discussed food, I found his approach lacking. That may be telling of more than I care to admit. One of the more charming chapters, for me, was when he spent scandalous sums buying hot chocolate for two five year old girls, so his son who was smitten by one could socialize with them. That he was with his son and the two American classmates of his son were with nannies and that therefore the burden of paying for the chocolate fell to the parent who couldn't afford a nanny is one of the economic ironies of life. That they were all Americans swimming in the pool of a luxury hotel in Paris, told me little about society in France contrary to what Plotnicki was able to deduce. These rounds of chocolate were similar in price to a meal at a local bistro. I believe it was noted that it made a dent in the family budget and that his wife indicated a preference for a night out, but the book is not in front of me and I may have read the latter into it.

Thank you all. I'm adding these words to my thesaurus so I will have a larger vocabularly with which to post.

In Belgium, curry is but one of many flavored cold sauces you can get on your frites. I would be surprised if any Indian found a familiar flavor in that sauce. On the subject of street food in Brussels, I also noticed a curry flavored sausage commonly sold in street stands. "Curry" seems to be a popular flavor in Brussels.

Of course food hot from the stove on the buffet may be closer to a platter passed around at the table than to a buffet in a restaurant. I understand the views from other cultures quite well. The trick is developing a plalate that will allow you to appreciate both foods, or perhaps the foods of an even wider variety of cuisines.

Unfairly perhaps, I was underwhelmed my first time at USC and although I've always meant to go back, I've never made it. I've been back to several times to 11 Madison Park in it's shorter life. Several of my visits have been with people who know people there, but my first visit was without any introduction and the food was as good as at any subsequent visit. Better tables, as at most restaurant may well depend on some subjective interest. I've sat all over the place and when I've seen the chef come out and greet a diner, I didn't think that table was a special place though clearly those people would have been seated at the best table. I think the layout is democratic. Just about everything I've had has been enjoyable, but nothing so special that I craved it again the next time. I've often thought the appetizers were specially great buys and have considered putting together my own tasting menu by having three appetizers rather than an appetizer and a main course. The food is very updated and in its way, very NYC contemporary, French classic. For me, it's comfort food with a little edge. The wines seem to be good buys in general. I will never get over finding a Jurancon Sec that cost just over $20 at the restaurant in a wine shop for a price in the high teens. It hardly seemed worth the trouble of pulling the cork and recycling the bottle for the difference. Not all the wines are that well priced, but keep an eye out for the Jurancon Sec if it might complement your appetizers. I don't know if it's still on the list.

Cabrales, I would say my disappointment level at three star restaurants has been much higher than at two star. This could, and probably should be a separate thread. There are many reasons for this including my own riased expectations. Plotnicki, I would agree that French food is not what it once was and it's place in western haute cuisine is diminished in at least certain aspects. The mere fact that it's not what it once was is an indication that it's changing. One of the aspects of the picture you paint of the French is that the past twenty years have brought nothing but decline. I think there's been an upswing in that time and certainly an upswing in the area of food in France. Part of my problem with your train of thought in all this is "relevance." What you declare relevant is a strange brew of popular, trendy, elitist, etc. A purist attitude towards the use of spices commonly used in India, but a view of the French as hidebound is but one of what I see as contradictory standards. Much of it all seems to rest on a personal perspective of whether you find it interesting in spite of the way you try to state the standard. I suspect that's why you reach out for analogies. You won't make the point unless you can avoid the use of analogies and particuarly of operatic analogies.

Not much in my freezer. Frozen Chinese dumplings for sure. most of the butcher shops in Chinatown make their own dumplings and wontons. We shop at Grand Sausage (Grand Street beteen Mott and Mulberry) regularly and try to keep a couple of packages of dumplings on hand to boil up for a snack. Usually some butter, as well as frozen stocks and concentrated meat glaces, tomato sauce, and home made ingredients. A portion of stews or soups will often go into the freezer for a night we don't want to cook, but now we're not talking ingredients anymore. Bread. we'll put left over bread in the freezer. It stays much fresher.

al dente is grinning chap with a tommy complex. Blame for the rash of smilies goes to Fat Guy and his Want to be a smiley freak post.

You 've misinterpreted or misunderstood my remarks about Gopnik's book, but that's not so important as I've not particularly argued about your interpretation or the book itself and was able to read around Hoffman's section. I've never said that, or anything like that. Hoffman may know all there is to know about preparing spices and sauces in India for all I know. What I've said is that he's not credible as an expert on French food and blinded in his judgement of it by his involvement in Indian curry theory. Undoubtedly, he should not have ordered the dish with the curry sauce as he could not judge it on it's merits for the audience it was designed to please and that's an audience that keeps l'Ambroisie full, while other diners march to different drummers. I don't share your views that some current fads will have the staying power to influence coming generations. We will have to wait for that proof anyway. Again I am not a fan of Pacaud's and well aware of more creative food, but Hoffman's statement as quoted by Gopnik doesn't show the way to the faults in France today.

England is not France, but in spite of wars, or because of them, they've shared rulers and the English language is full of words derived from the French. We can assume quite a bit of cross fertilization. Let me quote a short extract from a web site Suvir mentioned in another thread because it relates to my previous post. "In the time of Richard I ... cooks were regularly using ginger, cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves, galingale, cubebs, coriander, cumin, cardamom and aniseed, resulting in highly spiced cooking very similar to India."

Elsewhere on eGullet I gave the US dictionary definition for curry. It is defined as a powder made from a blend of spices and also as a sauce made from this powder. Thus when one uses the word in America, no matter what one feels is correct, one has to understand that if your reader goes to the dictionary, this is the meaning he will find. I did not check more than one dictionary and that was a vey abridged soft cover edition. It would be interesting to read entries in other dictionaries.

Spices of many sorts have been long prized in Europe. Most of what we call spice came to Europe from Asia, although not always as far away as the Indian subcontient. Columbus was on a search for a short route to the source of spices. That's why the West Indies are known as any sort of Indies as well as why Native Americans have been referred to as Indians. I'm sure cumin is well used in India. I think of it more as a middle eastern and north African spice. I ate in Arpège about eight years ago. I remember the vegetables that accompanied my lamb chops. They were matchsticks of carrots, zucchini and perhaps another squash. The principle seasoning was harissa and cumin. It was far more Moroccan in nature than Indian and the harissa was used with a delicate hand. I also remember the distinctly un-French, at the time, use of cumin in a tomato sauce in Aix-en-Provence or maybe Arles. The dish itself was an interesting inside out variation of a traditional provencal dish of stuffed tripe. In this case it was meat balls with tripe in the center, but it was the cumin that was most distinct. Cumin is also prevalent in Mexican cooking, if I'm not mistaken. I'm sure Escoffier mentions "curry powder." I believe someone else noted that in another thread here, or in the France board. The thing that is probably more important is that medieval recipes use lots of spices, maybe more than we would use in contemporary European dishes. I suspect many of these recipes are from court dinners as the average peasant could hardly afford such spices. Nevertheless there is a historical precedent for using spices in France even if they have fallen out of favor. Roellinger, who is in Cancale on the coast of Brittany, uses a wide variety of spices in his cooking. He may be one of the most atypical of French chefs in this regard, but he claims to be carrying on an old local tradition citing the fact that the French East India trading company ships arrived in nearby St. Malo with their valuable spices. Fat Guy has good reason to think of French food dominated by herbs rather than spices, but some spices have always been there. Dijon is well known for spice cake. French charcuterie uses a staple seasoning blend of quatre-épices--cinnamon, nutmeg, clove and white pepper.

Please, egg-heads are above both financial considerations (although you could pay me to be concerned) and buffets. If nothing else, I can offer an impartial view of Indian food. I know next to nothing about it. Most of what I've had has not been very good, but it's been exotic and not without its temptations. A lot of the Indian food I've had has been (intentionally) over cooked by western standards. The same can be said for middle eastern food and if the truth were told, when you move away from haute cuisine, the French tend to over cook vegetables. All that aside, much of the food I've had would not suffer at a hot buffet. Chinese stir fries, on the other hand, should be a disaster. One sees Italian pasta buffets all the time, or the equivalent fast food service. Clearly if one had to have a buffet, Indian food has to be a thought. I wish I knew the range of the cuisine to know how sad it is that Americans associate Indian food with all you can eat buffets. I suspect it's sad, but that may be my prejudice against buffets. I feel the same dispair (well alright, that's much too strong a word) about how Chinese food is thought of as take out.

I don't visit McDonald's when I travel for the same reasons I don't patronize it here. Thus I can't speak about it in general, but I know people who seem to enjoy eating at McDonald's wherever they go and they seem to enjoy spotting the differences. Perhaps ultimately globalization has it's own builtin localizations.