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Louisa Chu's Stage at ADPA


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Louisa, FatGuy -

How come there isn't a regular front page Egullet update ("LOUFOOD GRINDS THE BRUSH TO THE BONE! - Turtle, that is..")?

If Lousia had the time ("40 DAYS WITH 40 POUNDS OF HAUTE BUTTER!"), or inclination ("DUCASSE CAUGHT EATING FRIED EGG SANDWICH - LOUSIA SAYS: ALAN, LET THE WILD DUCKS GO!"), I'm pretty sure the rest of us would, as usual, vicariously hang on every word.

No?

FREE THE LOUFOOD 1! No more back-alley journalism! Front Page or Bust!

Edited by MobyP (log)

"Gimme a pig's foot, and a bottle of beer..." Bessie Smith

Flickr Food

"111,111,111 x 111,111,111 = 12,345,678,987,654,321" Bruce Frigard 'Winesonoma' - RIP

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Pan, I'm shocked too that they actually let me do stuff that will find its way to clients' plates - and palates. I really thought I'd be stemming strawberries and leafing parsley all day - that and the cleaning. Very happily surprised. And as for my sister and the amorous Frenchmen - no third party kiss and tell!

hollywood, now I will have to try to find that song and hear what it sounds like!

Moby - hey, hey, hey! I'm trying to keep a low profile here!

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Pan, I'm shocked too that they actually let me do stuff that will find its way to clients' plates - and palates. I really thought I'd be stemming strawberries and leafing parsley all day - that and the cleaning. Very happily surprised. And as for my sister and the amorous Frenchmen - no third party kiss and tell!

Very well. I just hope she's enjoying herself. We don't need to know the details. And I'm glad you're enjoying your work.

Michael aka "Pan"

 

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Proof positive that there is just too much to read here on eGullet these days... I can't believe I missed this! I did notice lou's ADPA reference on another thread, but had no idea she landed the gig for four months...

You've mentioned Ducasse's off and on presence, what about Frederic Robert? Is he around and hands on? Is there a separate lab some place where he develops things, and is everything 'his', or is the pastry chef there given control over his desserts?

I'm jealous.

Michael Laiskonis

Pastry Chef

New York

www.michael-laiskonis.com

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Pan, thanks. And maybe my sister will do her own La Sexe et La Cite!

Moby, patisserie - I'm doing pastry right now! No fat livers! Yet. But our walk-in is right next to the gastro cuisine merchandise reception - so I never quite know what I'll see when I come around the corner in the morning. Some days it's the Brittany lobsters, others it's spindly-clawed langoustines. And then there are those rows and rows of little softly feather-headed Bresse chickies. So I guess it's only a matter of time before I'll see the foie gras. This week was hard. A lot more people back from vacation - staff and clients - so you really feel the pressure stepped up. But really good. I'm finding I'm really drawn to boulangerie - maybe not so surprising since I loved it so much at CB. Waiting for the pastry chef backlash! Last week was my first week hands-on in boulangerie and it seemed quite hopeless. The gastro boulanger - Jerome, the one guy dedicated to ADPA bread - is so cool - young, 26, wiry, funny, fellow rockclimber - who makes the most incredible perfect bread - little dynamic works of art in dough. We do these small loaves - you might remember them, the ones with the the ends that curl up like tendrils - and he let me try 2 dozen the first day - really getting a good-natured kick out of the hapless results. This week - about 2 dozen more attempts later - I got those tendrils! I couldn't believe it!

Michael, no Frederic Robert! I thought he was there too! I have not gotten the full story on that one yet. The ADPA pastry chef is Nicolas Berger - who helped open ADNY with FR. He was chef at Laduree - Jerome worked with him there. We underlings speak about Chef Nicolas in hushed, reverent tones. He reminds me of the best martial arts masters - quiet and unassuming with lightning fast reflexes. I saw him pick a sliver of apple off the outside of a Tarte Tatin pan yesterday - while it was bubbling on the fire. He seems to have 360 peripheral vision - correcting my piping technique with the apple beignets for example - a little too thin - with compassionate, precise direction - lift the bag and let the batter fall more fully. He does have freedom to develop his own desserts - but does them on one counter in our tiny little kitchen - they were working with fresh lychee, julienned rose petals, and Soho lychee liqueur the other day. Michael, you're jealous?! I'm embarassed.

K, I do love the shaking elbows - or sometimes wrists - thing too. It's such a primal thing to touch - reinforces our tribe. No graham crackers! And thanks so much for your kind words - I'm trying.

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Moby, patisserie - I'm doing pastry right now! No fat livers! Yet.

I like the "Yet." :biggrin: Our own Steve Klc does a nice thing with foie gras and ice wine or sauternes gelée in cocolate cups. He did them at the salon du chocolate in Paris a couple of years back. I thought they'd be the rage all over Paris by now.

Robert Buxbaum

WorldTable

Recent WorldTable posts include: comments about reporting on Michelin stars in The NY Times, the NJ proposal to ban foie gras, Michael Ruhlman's comments in blogs about the NJ proposal and Bill Buford's New Yorker article on the Food Network.

My mailbox is full. You may contact me via worldtable.com.

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Louisa -

if you get any time at all - take notes! I'm sure it feel like too much to give a full weekly run-down after all your responsibilities, but for yourself as a writer, you have to figure out a way to store this stuff away.

I really want to know what those lines of Bresse chickens looked like. Were they half plucked - except for the head - or unplucked? What color the plumage? The feet? In the hierarchy of Bresse, are they special? And the langoustines - do they come in daily? A cavalcade of colors, textures, sounds - I want to read it all...

but I'll wait until the book/magazine article (I don't think there's enough room given on egullet for what you should do), so long as you promise you're taking notes.

Edited by MobyP (log)

"Gimme a pig's foot, and a bottle of beer..." Bessie Smith

Flickr Food

"111,111,111 x 111,111,111 = 12,345,678,987,654,321" Bruce Frigard 'Winesonoma' - RIP

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It's probably best that she remain as discreet as possible....

Anti-alcoholics are unfortunates in the grip of water, that terrible poison, so corrosive that out of all substances it has been chosen for washing and scouring, and a drop of water added to a clear liquid like Absinthe, muddles it." ALFRED JARRY

blog

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Luckily you have a photographic memory!

Anti-alcoholics are unfortunates in the grip of water, that terrible poison, so corrosive that out of all substances it has been chosen for washing and scouring, and a drop of water added to a clear liquid like Absinthe, muddles it." ALFRED JARRY

blog

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Bux, Steve's creation does sound amazing! Wish I could have seen them. But foie gras in chocolate cups the rage in Paris? Where do you think this is? Spain?  :wink:

Yes of course I'm teasing the French, but you know it's really not so far off the mark. At that same salon du chocolat, where we saw Klc, Philippe Conticini and Albert Adria do their demo, we also had a taste of a marvelous rillets de lièvre au chcoolat (or was it cacao?) and ate sandwiches of foie gras (mousse or pate) onion marmelade and chocoate, on a baguette. Last year we had an incredible braised hare at the Lion d'Or in Romorantin that has captured a spot in my memory like few other dishes. I distinctly remember the shards of dark bitter chocolate sticking up out of the dark sauce (probably thickened with blood) when the dish arrived. The amount of chocolate in evidence was scary. It was mentioned on the menu, but I assumed it would be a delicate nuance and it appeared as if Didier Clément had gone off the deep end. I wanted to eat quickly before the chocolate melted and overpowered the sauce, but I found it all sublime and when that plate was removed from the table, it could have been confused with a clean plate. Bitter chocolate has a long history in savory dishes in Mexico. I don't know if Clément's recipe has a French precident, but oddly enough, there was nothing shocking about it. It arrived with the conviction of the most traditional dish in all of France and was as deeply satisfying as any comfort food. I am very excited by what is hapening in Spain and my interest in next month's visit to Paris and Donostia is largely focused on Spain because of the newsness for me, but I'm not ready to count out the French genius which may survive well after our palates tire of new things everyday.

Robert Buxbaum

WorldTable

Recent WorldTable posts include: comments about reporting on Michelin stars in The NY Times, the NJ proposal to ban foie gras, Michael Ruhlman's comments in blogs about the NJ proposal and Bill Buford's New Yorker article on the Food Network.

My mailbox is full. You may contact me via worldtable.com.

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Bux - La Sologne! I was down three years ago this November - game season. Started seeing whole wild boar and fully-feathered pheasants in the markets. Then a Saveurs cover story hit - and I think the same week an article by William Grimes. God, when you talk about chocolate in a lievre dish it strikes the same chords as blood - so enticing, so primal. It reminds me of when Albert Adria talks olives and chocolate - seems so revolutionary, but fundamentally of the region. Maybe that's it - that we need to delve back into the interiors - to dark and murky roots - to things that can still stir us - and disturb us - in France.

Edited by loufood (log)
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Chantal Coady's book about Chocolate (here - she runs a chocolate shop in london) has one of the best selection of savoury recipes with chocolate I've seen. They ran a tasting menu in association with it at Mju in London last year. Some interesting dishes, notably a tapanade made with chocolate, and a crispy roast duck (terribly overcooked meat, but fantastic skin). Also there was a hare dish with chocolate and various other goodies

cheerio

J

More Cookbooks than Sense - my new Cookbook blog!
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Looks like Louisa is on KCRW on Saturday.

Saturday

***Good Food at 11AM***

Host Evan Kleiman gets the low down on America's secret passion from

our Junk Food

Correspondent. And, the tale of an American cooking student toughing it

out in the

kitchens of Paris.

I'm hollywood and I approve this message.

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hollywood, thanks! I goofed - I thought it was last week! You can listen online to the live simulcast on Saturday or archived starting Monday. Good Food/KCRW/LA

tana, thank you! :wub: And thanks too for the news on Evan. In Carp?! Home of my favourite burritos - Beach Liquor - the chorizo and egg with tomatillo salsa - no good Mexican/Mexican-American food in Paris!

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no good Mexican/Mexican-American food in Paris!

Does that give you any ideas, Louisa? :wink:

This raises the question: how cross cultural can a place like Ducasse go? Mains? Apps? Desserts only? Some flan? Some deep fried ice cream? Duck confit chalupas? Escargo burritos? Ceviche tartare?

I'm hollywood and I approve this message.

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no good Mexican/Mexican-American food in Paris!

Does that give you any ideas, Louisa? :wink:

Pan, ideas? Like I should get myself back to LA ASAP - or go visit my friends in Mexico? :wink: Cordon Bleu did an event with the Mexican embassy last year - and while I heard Mexican friends who worked it that the food was good, even there it was more French than Mexican.

hollywood, a langoustine ceviche? Chilaqueles aux truffes? Foie gras tacos? But how cross cultural? Not very - not for lack of knowledge or desire - most of the chefs have done stints in the States and Japan - but that's just not what the client wants there. And even when we do use non-French ingredients, we fully assimilate them into French form and tastes.

Moby, you heard it?! My own family doesn't bother listening! Thanks.

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