soundbrigade,
the secret of 'real' French cooking are the sauces. The Masterchef programmes are a joke - an obsession with how the dish looks. Sure presentation is important but they take so long and the plate is cold, so is the food.
Real French restaurants serve excellent food - Michelin starred restaurants are for fools with more money than sense and like to boast how much they got humped for.
One dish I would advise foreigners not to try even though the name sounds nice - andouillettes, made with intestines and the smell is evil. Saw a programme once in the UK and the presenter was teaching the wives of French diplomats and business men who had relocated to London what to serve and what NOT to serve and she advised these women never to serve this dish. A long time ago my wife ordered this dish without asking exactly what it was and she was going to 'stomach' it. I stepped in and quoted what I had once read "just because you have ordered a meal does'nt mean you have to finish it".
I'm just about to pull this year's first garlic, a Rose Tarn one . Always 3 things at my prep. place in the kitchen - olive oil, olive oil with garlic pieces and garlic. Even if I've just had a good meal and I'm out and about then pass a kitchen where someone is cooking with garlic - I'm hungry all over again.
BTW no need to make money for big pharma by buying an anti-septic just cut a garlic clove open and smear on a cut or abrasion.
the secret of 'real' French cooking are the sauces. The Masterchef programmes are a joke - an obsession with how the dish looks. Sure presentation is important but they take so long and the plate is cold, so is the food.
Real French restaurants serve excellent food - Michelin starred restaurants are for fools with more money than sense and like to boast how much they got humped for.
One dish I would advise foreigners not to try even though the name sounds nice - andouillettes, made with intestines and the smell is evil. Saw a programme once in the UK and the presenter was teaching the wives of French diplomats and business men who had relocated to London what to serve and what NOT to serve and she advised these women never to serve this dish. A long time ago my wife ordered this dish without asking exactly what it was and she was going to 'stomach' it. I stepped in and quoted what I had once read "just because you have ordered a meal does'nt mean you have to finish it".
I'm just about to pull this year's first garlic, a Rose Tarn one . Always 3 things at my prep. place in the kitchen - olive oil, olive oil with garlic pieces and garlic. Even if I've just had a good meal and I'm out and about then pass a kitchen where someone is cooking with garlic - I'm hungry all over again.
BTW no need to make money for big pharma by buying an anti-septic just cut a garlic clove open and smear on a cut or abrasion.
Must have said it before - Little on the plate, much on the bill.
I planned to make "pannbiff" ("beefs" from minced meat, like Swedish meatballs but bigger/flatter) a few days ago but it all turned out too slushy, but I managed to make something that looked right. Today I will have the last pieces and serve it with stewed potatoes.
We have a food thread on our Swedish (electronics) forum and there are two boring individuals who JUST have to point out, over and over again how they loathe garlic, olive oil, hot pepper ... spices whatsoever.
I don't like lliver but do I complain every time someone has prepared a dish from liver?! But these two nagging old farts just have to .... "Garlic is a sanitary nuisance!!!"
Only the kitchen. The rest of the place looks like a six year old lives here.
Me, I often resort to Gilles Pudlowski's blog. Le blog de Gilles Pudlowski - Les Pieds dans le Plat So many of the places in his books have disappeared. (I still have my copy of Pudlo 2008-2009 which I traded for a set of Lateral Mosfets to one of your countrymen!)
Cal,
As you would find out, the radiant heat from that would also toast you. Getting above 3,600 degrees is actually not easy. (Steel melts around 2,500 F!)
Now if you want to try 700 degrees for half an hour, you will get a result similar to an old friend's cooking.
What I think you have learned from elsewhere is that half the temperature for twice the time gets interesting.
But do have your survivors report on what happened if you ever try it!
Mr Ed,
While I was not expecting a response I did note you made one interesting comment, and that is about the intended time at a lower heat. Many do not know that if it says, you must reach an internal temp of x, that you achieve the same at a lower temp if it is held there for longer. Pork is something that comes to mind.
While I was not expecting a response I did note you made one interesting comment, and that is about the intended time at a lower heat. Many do not know that if it says, you must reach an internal temp of x, that you achieve the same at a lower temp if it is held there for longer. Pork is something that comes to mind.
Long ago I gave up using anything other than olive oil, I don't know anywhere in the world that does'nt use garlic. Spices are an integral part of my cooking but Sod's Law kicks in because my wife cannot handle anything spicy, chillies are a complete no-no, so I have to make 2 sauces. Here's a thing I am a salad junkie, I can't help making enormous ones. I almost always garnish my salads with finely sliced pieces of chillies, does anyone else do this?
For anyone interested in Japanese cuisine, check out NHK World, it's one of my go-to TV stations and it comes in 17 different languages and it's free. Japanese 'bentos' (lunch boxes) are something else. I always wanted to visit Japan as a young man but the airfare was around £500 and that was an awful lot of money then. I'm so impressed by how they present everything. Design is a key part of Japanese life. There are at least 3 food programmes and their food must be good since they tend to live and I do mean live very long lives. All you foodies should check it out, you will not be disappointed.
I wouldn’t exactly call this truck stop food. 😊 A lot actually looks like it’s straight out of Escoffier. I will confess to being a little weary of roux based sauces or things teeming with butter. Julia being brought to tears by her first encounter with sole swimming in butter notwithstanding.
For the record 20+ yr. ago we had plenty of great dinners at 2 and 3 star Michelin restaurants at reasonable prices (especially the wine). More recently the modernist and molecular cooking has taken hold as well as a huge inflation of prices of everything. My last experience was a rather indifferent meal at a two star in Bordeaux (a charity auction purchase) where my favorite thing was the cart of artisanal breads, butters, and cheese from the local area.
All IMO as usual.
Starred restaurants are an easy prey for ridicule and some might deserve it. Otoh, they also can bring a dedication to their craft which is nothing short of amazing. Brasseries and routiers have their place but they will not exactly surprise you. My best experiences in restaurants were in places with young chefs fighting for their first star.
Nezbleu and others - have you access to chillies from the French Antilles. 3 years ago I bought some from my favourite fruit and veg stall at the Friday marche in Carmaux and luckily they were'nt F1 so the next year I grew from seed and they became my favourite. Not masochistic like Scotch Bonnets, though the occasional one is and sweet. I don't like the normal type available, Thai, too bitter for my taste. Start the plants early in a green house or indoors using standard LED lighting and one plant will yield 300-400g. Towaqrds the end of the season you have to pinch out a lot of the flowers.
Another interesting bunch of chillies are from the South American rain forests - very attractive small Christmas tree type of growth that looks very attractive as the fruits change colour green-to white-to orange- to red. The fruits are small, they do make very attractive house plants. Grow them on a window ledge, they can take all the heat, no worries. Great for those that don't like excessive heat.
Kaffiman - there are so many different types of olive oil depending on country and region. I used to live behind the Snowy mountains in Andaluz and when we left Spain for France we brought with us 30L in 5L containers. All 5 were made using different olives and my favourite was from a small village outside Granada, very green with a wonderful taste. Spanish, Greek, Cretan, Italian all very different.
On my way to a supermarket I happened to see a couple of olive trees where the owners can't be bothered to harvest the olives, so next year I'm going to ask if I can harvest them and when I've cured them (for the first time) I shall make gift of some IF they turn out all right.
00940 - all very true but I like value for money and I enjoy cooking to a high amateur level. When we lived in northern Galicia, we just happened to live above an extended family where the grandmother was known as la cocinera de la Magdalena and some said the la cocinera de Ortigueria. Manolita taught me all the classic recipes of northern Galicia, especially Caldo Gallegeo and how to cook white fish especially Merluza/Hake. Her son was a cook on the deep sea trawlers and always brought back trays of freshly caught Hake. I also had a friend a long time ago who used to go fishing not far from Dover and the taste of fresh Cod, cleaned, gutted and filled with fresh herbs wrapped in foil and baked in the oven by his wife - wonderful, the key word as always is freshness.
Another interesting bunch of chillies are from the South American rain forests - very attractive small Christmas tree type of growth that looks very attractive as the fruits change colour green-to white-to orange- to red. The fruits are small, they do make very attractive house plants. Grow them on a window ledge, they can take all the heat, no worries. Great for those that don't like excessive heat.
Kaffiman - there are so many different types of olive oil depending on country and region. I used to live behind the Snowy mountains in Andaluz and when we left Spain for France we brought with us 30L in 5L containers. All 5 were made using different olives and my favourite was from a small village outside Granada, very green with a wonderful taste. Spanish, Greek, Cretan, Italian all very different.
On my way to a supermarket I happened to see a couple of olive trees where the owners can't be bothered to harvest the olives, so next year I'm going to ask if I can harvest them and when I've cured them (for the first time) I shall make gift of some IF they turn out all right.
00940 - all very true but I like value for money and I enjoy cooking to a high amateur level. When we lived in northern Galicia, we just happened to live above an extended family where the grandmother was known as la cocinera de la Magdalena and some said the la cocinera de Ortigueria. Manolita taught me all the classic recipes of northern Galicia, especially Caldo Gallegeo and how to cook white fish especially Merluza/Hake. Her son was a cook on the deep sea trawlers and always brought back trays of freshly caught Hake. I also had a friend a long time ago who used to go fishing not far from Dover and the taste of fresh Cod, cleaned, gutted and filled with fresh herbs wrapped in foil and baked in the oven by his wife - wonderful, the key word as always is freshness.
A personal favorite is "Black Pearl". Looks like a berry bush with dark purple leaves and black berries, when they are ripe the berries turn red. Very pretty and good tasting IMO.
Indeed, but it's the same for things like rapeseed oil. There are some oils that provide a more "nutty" flavor that can help to round off a good dish. Different flavor profile.
Growth conditions and extraction process can affect other things than just olive trees & oil, you see the same in just about any kind of food product, it's all different.