Embracing Culinary Clichés

[cakes]

Cliche: Sea salt! Give me a break, talk about a great job of marketing. It's almost as much of a cliche as bottled water!

Cakes

[Pan]

So, Lisa, how would you explain the difference between a cliche, a fad, and a classic?

Oh, and BTW, all of the above assumes that the question is being raised purely in the gastronomic context, yes?

Yes.

I don't remember what a monte cristo is, but I haven't read the whole thread and someone might have already addressed that.

[Pan]

OK, now you got me worried. Pan, too. Where exactly do you draw the line between Cliche and Classic?

And I was worried because he says he rarely cooks these days...

Well, it's true. But what were you worried about?

[GG Mora]

Just another hilarious typo: at the gym this morning, I noticed that the sign on the Ab machine says "Works the abs, lats, and obloquies."

[TJHarris]

For all of you that are over garlic mashed potatoes (but they are SOOO good), try saffron mashed potatoes. Or horseradish mashed potatoes (but only with freshly grated). Weee-o, baby.

How about smoked gouda mashed potatoes?

[dccd]

Good one!

I have no comment on the pig digression, so I would like to post my disdained cliches as opposed to the "embracing" side...

What about ...

Roasted Red Peppers,

Raspberry Coulis,

Raspberry Walnut Vinaigrette,

Garlic Mashed Potatoes (mentioned before, I think)

Jalapeno Cornbread,

Mint Jelly with Lamb,

Balsamic Vinaigrette,

Chicken Strips with Honey Mustard Sauce,

Honey Mustard Dressing,

Pecan, Potato, Almond, Pistachio or whatever-Crusted Anything

Cajun anything,

Blackened anything,

Red Pepper Coulis,

AND...

Sidenote:

I am beginning to realize that there are many many more, but I should stop.

Don't get me wrong - all of these things, I have eaten, cooked, probably enjoyed and even may have put on a menu at one time or another, but when you begin to see them in a TGI Friday's or some such chain... That is when I have to draw the CLICHE line...

AND... My absolute denigrated-can't stand to see on a menu anymore-would never offer to anyone paying money-will probably never eat again, except when our four year old will eat nothing else and doesn't finish his plate-CLICHE ---- COCONUT SHRIMP!

ARGH!!!

Thank you for your time...and thanks to all those great chain's that keep the ICH (ick) in CLICHE

D

P.S. - Here is my abbreviated list of "soon-to-be" CLICHES...

Cod with miso (I heard it was on a Cheesecake Factory menu, but with salmon),

Cedar planking anything,

Herb oils (I still love to use them though),

Powders (Never got into this one),

Any dish at a Bobby Flay restaurant,

Tequila Lime Chicken (maybe should be in list above)

And last but not least -

Foams (Maybe passe will be a more appropriate word)

Edited May 14, 2004 by dccd (log)

[britcook]

Difference between a classic and a cliche? Not much in the dish, everything in the cooking. To stay strictly on topic, mango salsa when properly made and served with something appropriate (like salmon) it's a classic. When poorly made and served with something stooopid its a cliche. If enough places do a classic badly enough then everybody gets bored or annoyed with it, stops buying it and then its a fad which has passed. Sometimes a cliche gets revived, maybe with a new twist, and we get to enjoy again what made it so popular in the first place.

[Stigand]

good cliches:

tuna sashimi, seared tuna, tuna carpaccio.

I kind of half agree with this.

I love raw tuna. Sashimi, tartare and tatami - all great.

What I don't like is the way they seem to have made restaurants think that all tuna has to be cooked bleu.

A thin steak of fatty tuna, cooked quickly in olive oil with salt and a little garlic, until it's no longer red (but not desiccated either - we all agree that shoe-leather is bad) is a thing of joy. The fat - or so it seems - melts, and the tuna takes on a meaty flavour that I don't get from most sashimi, delightful though it is.

I find it really hard to get non-bleu tuna now unless I cook it myself: I'll either be served a thick piece of what is basically tatami, seared on the outside and cold inside, or it'll be assumed that I'm a total barbarian and I'll get the aforementioned shoe-leather.

[eskimoted]

I'll either be served a thick piece of what is basically tatami

Following the subject of wonderful typos being discussed earlier, Stigand, I guess you meant to type "Tataki".

Tatami is the straw matting floor covering used in Japanese buildings.

[Stigand]

I'll either be served a thick piece of what is basically tatami

Following the subject of wonderful typos being discussed earlier, Stigand, I guess you meant to type "Tataki".

Tatami is the straw matting floor covering used in Japanese buildings.

D'oh

I suppose tatami would be seriously overcooked tuna...

[GG Mora]

I'll either be served a thick piece of what is basically tatami

Following the subject of wonderful typos being discussed earlier, Stigand, I guess you meant to type "Tataki".

Tatami is the straw matting floor covering used in Japanese buildings.

D'oh

I suppose tatami would be seriously overcooked tuna...

And who wants a floor mat that stinks of fish...