Culinary Duplicity

[GordonCooks]

Made a ton of Chicken Breast Sammies on the grill for all folks last night. One of the girlfriends spotted my Mega Dean and Deluca rack and window box herb garden - asked the recipe for the Rub ? Rattled off Ancho chile powder, fresh ginger, cumin. blah, blah, blah.......I was lazy - It was left over McCormick Montreal Steak seasoning and Dinosaur BarBQ cajun rub.

A little drop of duck fat here, a little truffle butter there..........what's your dirty little secret - home or professional ?

[rich]

Sara Lee Puff Pastry - used to make my own PP, but found out that six hours didn't make a difference in mine vs. her's. So now Ms. Lee gets my business, and I spend the six hours drinking wine while cooking the rest of the meal.

[Wilfrid]

Truffle oil, certainly, if that's cheating. Frozen pastry if I can get it. One I've admitted before - I prepare veal stocks using concentrated demi-glace. And sometimes ready-mixed spices, spice rubs and so on.

I have lots of virtues, I should add - no bottled salad dressings, all freshly cooked veg, no pre-wrapped cheese, and so on...

[GordonCooks]

I have lots of virtues, I should add  - no bottled salad dressings, all freshly cooked veg, no pre-wrapped cheese, and so on...

The virture lies in the fact you can pass professional cuisine as you own.

For me, it took a lot of sweat equity to get there.

[Wilfrid]

And if it was my day job, I'd happily pay the sweat fee too. As it is, I expend the sweat on other stuff. No choice.

[Stone]

Butter and cream -- add one or the other to almost anything.

Sesame oil -- drizzle it on almost any "Asian" cuisine and most people are impressed.

[LaNiña]

Progresso canned caponata. In an emergency, I put it in a nice bowl and serve it with triscuits and good breadsticks.

[Brad S]

Butter and cream -- add one or the other to almost anything.

Sesame oil -- drizzle it on almost any "Asian" cuisine and most people are impressed.

???

[APPS411]

posted on Aug 1 2002, 01:42 PM

Butter and cream -- add one or the other to almost anything.

I'de like to address the use of butter and cream in restaurants. They are cheats that are too heavily exploited. Chef's use them and then act like there some kind of geniuses. Big deal! If I add a stick of butter to risotto of course it's going to be silky creamy. Show me how you can make something taste exceptional with some creativity. Yes, butter does enhance the flavor of many dishes, especially certain vegetables, but it can also cover up the nature fresh flavor if not used in moderation.

I had dinner at Bayona in New Orleans this past weekend with a few of my friends. Each of our main dishes were served with a few sides. Rice, mashed potatos, cous cous, corn, green beans. My friend tasted his rice and said "I've never tasted rice this good before" I tasted it. It tasted as if the rice was actually cooked in pure butter opposed to water or a flavorful stock. My mashed potato's had so much heavy cream added to them it was like eating runny pudding. There was probably 3 sticks of butter and a cup or two of cream within those 4 meals alone. Susan Spicer lost some points in my book. Don't think I'll go back anytime soon.

I guess all I'm trying to say is to BE CREATIVE. The over use of butter and cream is in no way impressive. Most people can see right through it.

Sorry, I gut of the subject, just needed to let that out. It really pisses me off.

[Wilfrid]

I hear you, but I sometimes think butter and cream have become so unfashionable that a lot of people are easily taken in. I confess to using them if I want to spark up a dish which is a little flat.

[Brad S]

First I would like to say a drizzle of seasame oil and some butter and cream in a dish does not make a meal,nor do I ever under estimate the education of the modern palate.

I have worked to many years to see the use of "tricks" as a way to prepare wonderful,tasteful and wholesome foods for pur clientele.

I think the over use of butter and or cream in modern dishes is probably being done because of a particular chef not being exposed to the many alternitives availible to use and the enormous resourses as well.

I find some chefs that stick to beurre blanc and hollandaise as there base sauce components are just caught in the old cycle of cooking.

Maybe a bit intimidated to venture out and learn and develope thier cuisine.

Butter and cream (and other fats) have their place in the kitchen,but at the same time to be succesful we must listen very carefully to our clientale,absorb what works and make sense then work hard to offer our guest what they are looking for.(without comprimizing ones own integrity)

App,perhapes you have some helpful insights to share

[Fat Guy]

In my experience, home cooks use too little butter and cream (and other fats, and salt), whereas restaurants use too much. Might be better discussed on a new thread.

Frozen peas. Are those a cheat?

[Wilfrid]

Frozen peas. Are those a cheat?

Yep.

[Fat Guy]

Okay, I use them a lot.

[Stone]

Guilty of all of the above. I add butter and/or cream to risotto, soups, sauces, etc. Hey, I like the compliments, and I don't know a better way to cook. Perhaps someday I'll learn. Until then, I'll give my guests coronaries. And I think Shaw has a point about home chefs not using enough butter/oil etc. But most of my friends cook more for "health" than "flavor". They don't realize that the major sacrifice in taste is not much of a health benefit.

The sesame sauce drizzle is worse -- more because too many people think that that flavor is somehow special. But again, I take compliments where I can get them.

And I also keep a bag of frozen peas in the freezer and toss them in just about everything.

[rozrapp]

How about frozen corn kernels? They -- and frozen peas -- are the only frozen vegetables I ever use. But never during NJ corn season when I can get freshly-picked-daily corn from my favorite farmer just down the road from my house. Truly heaven on a cob!

[Fat Guy]

I'm wondering why these things are considered "cheats." I mean, purchasing a high-quality commercial puff pastry strikes me not as cheating but as a simple decision that the time is better spent doing something else. Lots of high-quality restaurants make similar decisions all the time. Depending on how far you want to back up in tracing the origin of a finished dish, pretty much nobody makes anything from scratch.

[Stone]

Good point. If purchasing puff pastry is cheating, what about purchasing pasta?

[Fat Guy]

Or flour, or wheat, or steak, etc.

[Brad S]

For me it's about priorities and being practical with my time.

Purchasing a high quality puff pastry and of course pasta is the norn in the restaurant buisness,it takes a great deal of time and dedicating a paid employee to prepare such items.

I agree %100 with the use of butter in risottos,to me it is just to important to leave out,to not mont with butter in a risotto will leave an incomplete dish. I have also had succes with olive oil as well if i'm doing a more southren rendition.

Like I said,cream and butter have a place in our kitchens.

For vegetables the seasons dictate what I use, sweet spring peas,and baby corn,tender baby spinach I think benifit from using them fresh and trying to highlight them in a dish. If you are preparing 300 orders of fettucini carbanara maybe you don't want to use baby spring pea's as there to labor intesive and expensive,hence the frozen sweet peas are perfect.

But a pan seared halibut with baby spring pea's,ramps and morels as an example would be a great vehicale to highlight the fresh stuff.

Ok sorry,i've gone way off topic here

[Fat Guy]

Still, Cape, it's important for you to say these things. People are living with a lot of illusions about what constitutes culinary integrity, illusions foisted upon them by a food media with romantic notions of little old lady chefs making everything from scratch using only the best local and seasonal blah blah blah . . . I'm as guilty as the next writer of perpetuating this bullshit myth. So I like to hear from chefs with real integrity, because it's a nice reality check.

[SobaAddict70]

Chicken broth (the same chicken broth that constitutes wonton soup and egg drop soup) from your local neighborhood Cantonese takeout joint. Perfect for when I don't have the time or inclination to use the real thing, and 95% passable except for the hints of garlic and ginger, but then you'd need a palate like that of Fat Guy's to detect the switch.

[polly]

Using butter and cream isn't really a convenience trick , they're just important things to add to food that needs them.

Of course, there are bad cooks who will over use any ingredient. That's bad cooking technique, not bad butter.

It is possible to add many things to mashed potato (for example) to make it taste good, but if you have decided to make a creamy mash then it is imperative to use cream.

To finish off a risotto it is imperative to use butter or olive oil. It is not a dishonest trick that one does to achieve creaminess, it's just part of the process in achieving creaminess.

Bad cooking aside, I think people have a worrying tendency to view fats as evil.

[Steve Klc]

Well, here's one illusion in this thread--that butter and/or cream in modern dishes are overdone by inexperienced or younger chefs. that may be true, but sorry,not exclusive--to my palate, eating around, a heavy reliance on butter (and fat) is modern cooking's open secret and many of the best and best known chefs still use it freely, especially at the high end. where do you think all these young sous chefs are learning it? top chefs use it by choice--not because they're unaware of alternatives.

Now with outsourcing frozen puff--if it is a high quality, consistent product then to me, it's no different than bringing in any other ingredient--especially if as a chef you have the skill to use it properly and the detectable difference between what you make yourself and what you buy is negligible. Jacques Torres used great frozen puff at Le Cirque 2000--if he can, any pastry chef can. It's an illusion to try to claim higher moral ground by making puff yourself. Especially if you can't tell the difference on the plate in the finished product. Not to mention the fact that the frozen puff could be of an even higher quality than the dishwasher could make who you've just promoted to "pastry chef" and asked to make the puff by hand.

Now if you can tell the difference--the choice is alot more dependent on your margin and price point and what you stand to gain--which are all variable for each person and situation.

You wouldn't make your own chocolate or your own marzipan--and if you tried you couldn't do it as well as the manufacturers with their specialized expensive equipment. With many things it just doesn't matter whether you've made all the components by hand--it matters that what you produce is the best it can be for the price you charge.

We've discussed this on lots of other threads and in other contexts--which is better or more preferable: that Heston Blumenthal and his inexperienced pastry chef try to make their own average, basic chocolate candies to serve as petit fours or outsource his chocolates, made with his guidance and recipes, to an accomplished, skilled local artisinal chocolatier and have them come out superb--as a diner which would you prefer? I don't see choosing the latter as a cheat or duplicitous. I see it the same way as outsourcing bread to the best local artisinal breadmaker--a valid and worthy choice. (If only espresso could be outsourced.)

Sometimes I wonder if it is easier to focus in on whether you made it from scratch, with organic local ingredients, by hand, when you don't trust your own palate and don't have the taste, experience or awareness to tell the difference.

[Fat Guy]

Somebody start the butter-and-cream thread, already.