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Buy the Book
Deconstructing the Indigestible
The plague of the food fashionistas is upon us.
Ferran: The Inside Story of El Bulli and the Man Who Reinvented
Food
By Colman Andrews
(Gotham Books, 301 pages, $28)
The plague of the food fashionistas is upon us. Not satisfied with debasing and trivializing writing, painting, sculpture, and the performing arts, our buzz-loving, Tina Brownish pop culture arbiters are now playing with our food. The spectacle is as unedifying as the results are inedible. More and more, objective standards of quality, taste, and simple gastronomic good sense are trampled underfoot in a Gadarene rush after novelty. This mindless pursuit of ever-odder prep, taste, and ingredient combos, coupled with an emphasis on innovative “presentation,” frequently results in trendy restaurant fare that looks like the work of a crazed interior decorator on uppers while tasting like the residue of a high school chemistry experiment gone terribly wrong.
The late Kingsley Amis, who knew a thing or two about good food as well as good writing, saw it coming. Addressing an earlier wave of “edgy” nouvelle cuisiniers he declared: “I want a dish to taste good, rather than to have been seethed in pig’s milk and served wrapped in a rhubarb leaf with grated thistle root.” Amis thought he was being satirical when he created the imaginary entrée but, 15 years after his death, it seems tame stuff compared to what is actually being dished out today. Consider a few of the offerings at what many food fashionistas claim is the world’s finest restaurant, El Bulli, presided over by Catalan master chef Ferran Adrià. One such item, as described by American food writer Colman Andrews in Ferran: The Inside Story of El Bulli and the Man Who Reinvented Food, involves “using a large plastic syringe” to inject “a mixture of coconut milk and xanthan [a gum additive] into a balloon — an ordinary toy-shop one,” which is then rotated in liquid nitrogen. When the balloon is stripped away, the frozen coconut milk “has formed into a round ball, thinner than an eggshell.” Good for it. But so what? This kind of kitchen gimmickry is the culinary equivalent of engraving the Lord’s Prayer on the head of a pin: it requires incredible ingenuity and considerable skill… but, other than that, what’s the point of it?
Borrowing a term from darkest, dimmest academe, Mr. Andrews tells us that “[s]ome of Ferran’s most successful and beguiling creations” are the result of culinary “deconstruction,” breaking down familiar dishes “into their constituent parts, changing the physical identity of at least some of those parts, and then reassembling the pieces in new ways.” Why?” So that the dishes can “take on different forms while retaining sensory connections with their models.” Thus chicken curry — a real meal — is deconstructed into “curry ice cream with chicken sauce, apple gelatin, and coconut soup.” In what, if any, way this costly, time-consuming, and rather bizarre deconstruction is more satisfying or nourishing than a real chicken curry is never explained.
The same goes for “spherified green olives,” described as “intense olive juice enclosed in a skin of olive juice, shaped and cured like real olives” and a “tomato soup with virtual ham” that is “a clear broth tasting vividly of tomatoes, with strips of gelatin somehow imbued with all the flavor of the best jamón ibérico.” Wasting endless effort and ingenuity to make ersatz Spanish olives and virtual Spanish ham when the real items are available in delicious abundance at your doorstep may pass for good performance art but it’s downright silly as cooking. Nevertheless, Mr. Andrews — a former editor in chief of Saveur magazine and a respected cookbook author who ought to know better — gushes on at book length about these and similar kitchen conjurings, suggesting that the hero of his culinary biography is a creative genius on par with fellow Catalans Salvador Dali and Antoni Gaudi.
HERE, AT LEAST, he may be on to something. Gaudi’s over-the-top architecture, while certainly distinctive, was a striking example of artistic eccentricity; it made a splash and still attracts tourists, but it has had no lasting impact on mainstream architecture. Which is even truer of the art of that brilliant self-promoter, Salvador Dali. One suspects that, like his two more illustrious fellow Catalans, in the long run, Ferran Adrià will prove to be an heirless innovator. Perhaps there is something imbedded in the Catalan psyche — so determined to prove both its superiority to, and “otherness” from, the rest of Spain — that explains this drive to be different for its own sake. Besides, as George Orwell and many other foreign visitors recognized long ago, there is something in Catalonian air that breeds anarchy. The Catalans themselves have a word for it, rauxa, which the author defines as “something like wildness, foolishness, or abandon.”
Mr. Andrews, on the other hand, is temperamentally more La Manchan than Catalan, a sincere but slightly addled knight errant who renders himself more than a little absurd while vainly seeking the sublime. Although clever and obviously talented in the kitchen, the object of his adoration, Ferran Adrià, perhaps deliberately, reveals little of his inner self to his biographer, always assuming that there is much of an inner self to be revealed. In his introduction, Mr. Andrews quotes from a conversation with his hero. In it, Ferran declares: “This will be the last book about me. No, really. The last one that I will collaborate with.”
An admirable decision, that. What a pity it came one book too late.
About the Author
Aram Bakshian, Jr. served as an aide to Presidents Nixon, Ford, and Reagan and writes frequently on politics, history, gastronomy, and the arts.
Letter to the Editor View all comments (47) | Leave a comment
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Melvin| 12.30.10 @ 7:32AM
No matter how ornate or simple the preparedness of our food...It all ends up at the same place anyway.
What do we remember in our lives, a particular dish that our mother's made (for those mother's that still cook from scratch), that ingrained itself into our senses and memories or that Coconut and xanthan concoction?
Tomas| 12.30.10 @ 4:47PM
The Food Police have been with us for a very long time. Talking about their current emergence is coming to the party quite late.
I've always been a fussy eater, and because of this I have felt the abuse of food snobs for decades.
There are many, many stories I could tell, but my favorite comes from a all-day bluegrass event. They served food for the price of admission. The corn on the cob was buttered using a branch with leaves
After buttering my corn from the communal twig, I asked the hippy behind the table if there was any salt. He proceeded to berate me, in a loud voice, on my lack of proper nutritional food hygiene, why salt is the devil's seasoning, and how I could be healthier if I took his advice.
I left the building halfway through his tirade, got in my car, and headed to the nearest Pizza Hut, turning the Doobie Brothers up full blast....
-
joe| 1.4.11 @ 12:49AM
I recommend the new Cooks Illustrated book, good recipes, real food.
JP| 12.30.10 @ 8:08AM
Nothing will replace the great cooking of my later German grandmother. And he food was very un-PC (bacon lard, pork knuckles, blood sausages, hand made noodles and dumplings, and rich sauces). Between her cooking and my grandfather's home brewed lager, life was very good every Sunday after Mass.
Alert1201| 12.30.10 @ 8:47AM
Since taking up cooking a number of years ago I have learned that our PC cooking has ruined our food. One of the things missing is animal fat like lard or beef suet. Try making pie dough with lard (or even butter) instead of Crisco, or fry your favorite food in lard or beef suit instead of vegetable oil. My wife and I keep a large tub of lard under our counter and use when we are baking or frying something special. It makes all the difference in the world and do not even get me started on heavy whipping cream and butter!
I also read that Julia Child cooked with lard and butter and seldom used substitutes.
I know its not very healthy, but man is it good!
w
Ralph| 12.30.10 @ 9:45AM
I know a chemistry teacher that cooks with lard also.
I think fat is more satiating than low fat, and have a theory that the food fanatics (low fat foods) helped create the overeating culture we live in.
I know people that think they can have a lot of a low fat food but it is still the calories that matter.
NavyBrat | 12.30.10 @ 9:47AM
Fear not! If you have a decent Latino grocery store near you, they will have lard. I believe its called "manateca," or something like that. And if there's a good mom & pop butcher near you, you can order call fat, suet, & all kinds of offal from them.
Hope that helps!
Alert1201| 12.30.10 @ 9:52AM
Yes, we get our lard in the latino section of Wal-Mart. On one side it says "Manateca" and the other side, "Lard". Our Wal-Marts here in Dallas sell 5 gallon buckets of the stuff!
Margie| 12.30.10 @ 2:35PM
OK all you fat lovers out there, have you heard of this author and her excellent book?
Go here. I grabbed this particular site for the pure joy of not only the book review but the comments section.. enjoy!
http://www.seriouseats.com/2008/10/cook-the-book-fat.html
"Jennifer McLagan, chef and award-winning cookbook author, believes that the food industry has "demonized" fat; wrongly labeling it a "greasy killer," when in fact it has been an integral part of our diet for centuries. To combat this notion, she has written the ultimate book on the subject: Fat: An Appreciation of a Misunderstood Ingredient, with Recipes. With chapters devoted to butter, pork, poultry, beef and lamb fats, and more than 100 recipes for dishes such as duck fat french fries and bacon baklava, Jennifer sets out to cure us of our fat phobia."
Bob Grant| 12.31.10 @ 9:07AM
Of course everyone overreacts when yet another article is written about animal fats being unhealthy...
From my understanding back in the day, before my time, people used animal fat of some form in EVERY meal, plus desserts! Therein lies the problem.
In 75% of what I eat, olive, canola oils, smart balance, or no oil is used.
The other 25%, It's lard and butter baby!!
I'm quite sure using animal fats led to all sorts of problems including premature deaths, but like everything else, proper balance and common sense go out the window.
Dr. G.C.D. Young| 12.30.10 @ 9:56AM
Actually, the PC Medical World is as bad as the PC Cooking World, and they feed into eachother's propoganda.
This is true: A 25 year run government study (Mfit) in the 1980's enlisted over 12,000 Americans which was published by then politically quashed, revealed that in the 50's Americans were healthier on a diet of 50% saturated fats and 50% unsaturated than we are today. The 1950's diet consistently led to LESS congenital disease onset of all the major diseases we see today with those consistently on diets of 20% saturated (or less) to 80% unsaturated fats.
In other words, we are much better off if throughout our lives we maintain the 50%-50% consumption of saturated to unsaturated fats in our diet. Saturated (animal) fats are essential for good health, allowing needed and essential support throughout our neurochemistry.
Without sufficent saturated fats, we just can't replenish the needed hormones our body needs to live and function correctly, erroding our mental activies to compromising our immune system is compromised. Under the constraints of such a diet, is it any wonder that so many, having been restricted so long, are now experiencing Alzyheimers and other dementias? Too little saturated fats in our diet lead to early onset of all congenital diseases, including cancer, heart disease, diabetes, Dementias (including Alzyheimers) MS, etc, as the Mfit study confirmed over 20 years ago.
The bottom line is that: Going so "lean" only means early death with primature early-onset health problems. Its PC propoganda that is literally killing us.
The best advise: Enjoy your food in moderation and balance. Too LITTLE or too MUCH of anything is not GOOD.
Therefore, the best burgers are 30% beef/pork fat, and always use butter for everything, especially for your health! Never use "Canola oil".... which comes from a genetically altered plant from Canada, and should never been allowed within the USA. (You can thank the FDA for that one as well....) Canola Oil is not healthy for man, and really shouldn't be used in our diet at all. It had to be genetically altered because its real name is "RAPE SEED OIL" which is good only as machine oil, and without the genetic alteration, cannot be digested by man, but will kill him! So, take your chances...
I recommend butter, animal fats, Olive Oil, and other vegetable oils such as peanut oil... But beware, as Canola Oil finds its way into many vegetable oil blends. Read your ingredients list... always.
The bottom line is maintaining a 50-50 split of saturated and unsaturated fats in your system, you will live longer and with less disease... and you will enjoy your food much more!
Dr. G.C.D. Young, Neuroscientist & Physicist
Alert1201| 12.30.10 @ 10:20AM
Thank Dr Young! Very informative! My wife uses Canola oil so I guess we will scratch that.
Its funny how the PC eaters always go back to the past and comment on how healthy our forefathers health was but when you look at old cookbooks (a practice I enjoy) we see they consumed tons of butter, animal fat, dairy, meats and salt. All of these items, including the volumes our ancestors consumed would be anathema to the current crop of PC eaters. Yet they constantly harp back to them as examples of how we should eat.
David W| 12.30.10 @ 11:48AM
Our forefathers also ate a little differently. Sometimes having meat was for special occasions. When I was younger (60s and 70s) there was only one fast food restaurant nearby, maybe 3 or so in the next town). I always ate breakfast (eggs, bacon, toast), lunch, and dinner (salad, meat, starch, dessert) at home. We only went out for special occasions or if my Mom decided she wasn't going to cook (which wasn't very often). There was no such thing as a buffet. It wasn't until I went to college and lived in the dorm that my weight ballooned - and I've struggled ever since thanks to the 14 fastfood and restaurants that are within not too long walking distance of my house).
I like to cook, and have watched a variety of cooking shows. But as I do I can't help but wonder the following:
1) what does that weird looking/sounding thing actually taste like?
2) does adding height by sticking in waffle-cut sweet potato chips cooked in safron enfused canola oil really add to the taste?
3) how on earth do you eat that thing without poking your eye out?
4) how much does that little bitty piece of meat with 3 green beans and two slices of carrot with some weird sauce spread around the edge of the plate cost?
I think this is related to an article I read somewhere about the sissification of men. Do real men actually like this type of crap (either to eat or to cook)? Thanks to peer pressure and "The View" perhaps...
Who Knows?| 12.30.10 @ 12:39PM
Alert1201---
You are going to change your diet because of what you read on an ANONYMOUS blog?
And, my claim is that I am Albert Einstein.
Alert1201| 12.30.10 @ 12:43PM
Not just by what I've read on an anonymous blog. I read other things about Canola oil, so it was not only this blog.
And by the way. Mind your own business.
Alert1201| 12.30.10 @ 12:55PM
As far as your claim to being Einstein? It is clear you are not. He would have had contributed something far more significant to this blog.
Who Knows?| 12.30.10 @ 1:06PM
Alert1201---are you dense?
I was MOCKING you.
You might as well believe what I claim, as well as the good "Dr". you fawned over.
I am "Who Knows?"
bon appetit!
By the way, I've been eating canola oil for probably over thirty years, and am as fit as a 68 year old could hope to be.
Andrew B| 12.30.10 @ 8:32AM
I will never forget my first experience of the modern world's idea of "fine dining." I decided to impress my girlfriend on Valentine's Day, and so booked a table at a local high-end restaurant.
The place was absolutely beautiful, romantic and European. The food was presented with grand flourish and tasted wonderful. It cost a fortune, but I was sure my date was impressed. We were also, at the end of the meal, absolutely starving.
On the drive back to her house we had to stop at White Castle for a bag of sliders, just to stave off the hunger pangs caused by our memorable, never-repeated, experiment in gourmet dining.
Alert1201| 12.30.10 @ 8:36AM
My family and I have been enjoying Andrew Zimmern's Bizarre Foods on Netflix over the last few weeks. It is a great show but every once in a while he goes to some new modern restaurant where they do "molecular” cooking. This type of cooling strips the flavor out of foods and puts it in some other form. They may take White Asparagus and turn it into froth and put a dollop of it on slice of poached wild boar liver pate. Really strange! Would not eat it for all the money in the word and you know it has to cost hundreds of dollars a meal. The work and waste that goes into such cooking is amazing.
Sailor Sandwich| 12.30.10 @ 8:37AM
I suspect that most folks that go to those overpriced noveu cuissiene restaurants stop by McDonalds on the way home.
Stan Redmond| 12.30.10 @ 9:25AM
Any food fashionista must watch Andrew Zimmern's "Bizaar Foods" show on travel channel (via Netflix online). He knows how to find fine exotic food.
dcd| 12.30.10 @ 11:10AM
Adria's "cuisine" and Zimmer's show for the most part is food based on "I dare you to eat this crap." Unless you are awash in money and have nothing better to do (Adria) or are in a serious survival situation (Zimmer and his insect fetishes), normal people won't pay for and won't eat the kind of stuff cooked/shown on these shows. Bourdain is sort of a middle ground between the weird crap and the real food on Man v Food or Diners, Drive-ins, etc (the latter being what most people consider food, and why most people enjoy food). At least Bourdain is honest, if vulgar at times, and you might conceive of actually eating at the places he eats. And he is grateful and appreciative of what he's eating, to his credit.
I have a similar tale to Andrew's above, validating Sailor's comment: a few years back at a business dinner we were taken to a fancy Chicago restaurant with some puffed, prissy, expensive, famous chef, and were dragooned into a "tasting menu," which consisted of multiple courses of barely identifiable food in tiny portions. The only positive was that I got to choose the wine and kept everyone drinking ridiculous amounts of very good stuff while this theater was in progress. Afterwards a colleage and I repaired immediately to a bar & grill down the street from this place, where I had a full ribeye steak sandwich, fries and 3 beers. Thank God, otherwise I would have been starving after the 3+ hour production at Mr. Famous' candyass "restaurant."
My father put it well once: start with quality ingredients and don't do anything stupid to them. I follow that advice slavishly and it has served me and my family well.
NavyBrat | 12.30.10 @ 11:42AM
There are some fine dinning places that are worth the dough. Since I live in Pittsburgh & my wife's family lives in Philly, we go there a bunch. I've eaten at two restaurants owned & run by two Iron Chefs, Morimoto & Garces. Morimoto was about $170 for the two of us, with drinks, tip included. It was worth EVERY PENNY! And Garces' place, Amada, is a Spanish tapas restaurant. The Ole Lady & I had 7 different tapas, dessert, and I think I had about 4 Allhambra beers & the wife had 3 sangrias. All that, tip included, was about $140. And while I like Japanese food & would go to Morimoto again, Amada was SOOOO much better. And with 7 rounds of tapas, we left feeling pretty full. Amaada is, without question, the BEST restaurant I've eaten in. EVER.
Here's the site. Check out the menu, its pretty awesome:
http://www.amadarestaurant.com/
NavyBrat | 12.30.10 @ 9:29AM
Ferran Adria IS one of the biggest geniuses in the biz today. I cooked for 8 years in fine dinning kitchens & know of his reputation & his style of cooking. Anthony Bourdain is a HUGE devotee of the Brothers Adria as well. His style is what's called "molecular gastronomy." Wylie Dufresne of New York's WD50 restaurant is also a guru of this style.
While I think that this stuff is pretty cool, its not food I'd go out of my way to eat. There are some techniques that I like to have used on my food, like "the sous vide" method where meat (or sometimes veggies) is placed in a cryovac bag with herbs, compound (flavored) butter, & sometimes garlic. Its then placed in a water bath where the water temp is kept at an even keel by what's called an immersion circulator & cooked in the cryovac bag. It makes meat taste DELICIOUS if its done correctly. But THAT'S IT! That's as far as I go with the "molecular gastronomy" bit.
I learned to cook with the utmost respect for my ingredients. They should speak for themselves with their own flavors. While I'm sure that the brothers Adria & Dufresne have not, in any way, sacrificed the flavor profiles of their food, I agree with Bakshian's question of "why?" G*d & nature's don't need improvement. Let me offer an example:
When you go to a Spanish restaurant & order steamed clams with chorizo, that's what you get. You get the white wine that the clams are steamed in, you get the broth that the clams release while they're steaming, maybe some garlic & thyme, & the fattiness & spice of the chorizo. You can TASTE ALL these things both separately & together, at the same time. The only other thing you need is crusty bread to soak up the hot broth. There is no chemistry experiment in the world that will subsitute for that experience, in my view. People like stuff like that, fine. I'll stick to the real deal.
MikeBee| 12.30.10 @ 9:37AM
This principle goes for almost everything in life: just because you can, doesn't mean you should.
People can sing offkey; but why does modern culture treasure this?
There are people who, when they cook, make awful concoctions (we all know at least one person like this); why do master chefs seek to imitate them?
It is possible to make a car which will drive on its own; why would anyone want to mass produce these for society?
Food should ALWAYS taste good. If a restaurant cannot create food which tastes good, it receives not a penny of my money.
Appleby| 12.30.10 @ 10:04AM
This kind of "cooking" is akin to the mud pies children used to make before parents began sterilizing their world -- filled with leaves, grass, stagnant water and dirt. Only back then you only had to pretend to taste it and say it was delicious!
Mary Mac's in Atlanta is still my idea of really good cooking, although almost everything on her menu is forbidden by my "heart healthy" nutritionist whose job is to make sure I never again eat anything that tastes like food.
NavyBrat | 12.30.10 @ 11:02AM
Tell your nutritionist this next time:
"...your body is not a temple, it's an amusement park. Enjoy the ride."
— Anthony Bourdain (Kitchen Confidential: Adventures in the Culinary Underbelly)
skedaddle| 12.31.10 @ 8:37AM
Hey, my mud pies were made with the finest western Kansas black dirt, sifted, mixed with clean water, then garnished with hollyhocks which were the only flowers my grandma would let me pick. There was probably more nutrition in that dirt than in some junk food today. Don't know about the hollyhocks, I was never dumb enough to try them.
KyMouse| 12.30.10 @ 10:06AM
TV shows such as "Man vs. Food" and "Diners, Drive-ins and Dives," although I don't watch them often, restore my faith in humanity.
The people in them are enjoying each other's company over the kinds of foods that drive the food fashionistas mad. The people are savoring the moment and not treating food as medicine that must be measured and portioned out. God bless big appetites!
NavyBrat | 12.30.10 @ 10:09AM
If you dig those two shows, then you'd like Bourdain's show, "No Reservations." One of the best shows on TV. And Bourdain is just awesome.
Alert1201| 12.30.10 @ 10:29AM
We started watching "Man vs. Food" three days ago (again love Netflix streaming). What a blast that show is - no guilt trips, no nutrition lectures just consuming large amounts of good old american food. Adam Richman is a riot and the man can pack down some food and bear the heat of some of the hottest dishes.
Dr G.C.D. Young| 12.30.10 @ 10:07AM
Corrections:
Actually, the PC Medical World is as bad as the PC Cooking World, and they feed into eachother's propoganda.
This is true: A 25 year run government study (Mfit) in the 1980's enlisted over 12,000 Americans (which was published but then politically quashed), revealed that in the 50's Americans were far healthier on a diet of 50% saturated fats and 50% unsaturated than we are today. The 1950's diet consistently led to LESS congenital disease onset of all the major diseases we see today with those consistently on diets of 20% saturated (or less) to 80% unsaturated fats.
In other words, we are much better off if throughout our lives we maintain the 50%-50% consumption of saturated to unsaturated fats in our diet. Saturated (animal) fats are essential for good health, allowing needed and essential support throughout our neurochemistry.
Without sufficent saturated fats, we just can't replenish the needed hormones our body needs to live and function correctly, erroding our mental activies and even compromising our immune system. Under the constraints of such a diet, is it any wonder that so many, having been restricted so long, are now experiencing Alzyheimers and other dementias? Too little saturated fats in our diet lead to early onset of all congenital diseases, including cancer, heart disease, diabetes, Dementias (including Alzyheimers) MS, etc, as the Mfit study confirmed over 20 years ago.
The bottom line is that: Going so "lean" only means early death with premature early-onset health problems. Its PC propoganda that is literally killing us.
The best advise: Enjoy your food in moderation and balance. Too LITTLE or too MUCH of anything is not GOOD.
Therefore, the best burgers are 30% beef/pork fat, and always use butter for everything (never, ever use butter substitutes), especially for your health!
Also, never use "Canola oil".... which comes from a genetically altered plant from Canada, and should never been allowed within the USA. (You can thank the FDA for that one as well....) Canola Oil is not healthy for man, and really shouldn't be used in our diet at all. It had to be genetically altered because its real name is "RAPE SEED OIL" which is good only as machine oil, and without the genetic alteration, cannot be digested by man, but will kill him! So, take your chances...
I recommend butter, animal fats, Olive Oil, and other vegetable oils such as peanut oil... But beware, as Canola Oil finds its way into many vegetable-oil blends. Read your ingredients list... always.
The bottom line is by maintaining a 50-50 split of saturated and unsaturated fats in your diet, you will live likely live longer and experience less disease... Moreover, you will enjoy your food much more!
Dr. G.C.D. Young, Neuroscientist & Physicist
Steve A| 12.30.10 @ 11:25AM
Thanks for the info Doc. Had no idea on the Canola oil. I fry a turkey every year for T giving & Christmas & I think I have been using it.
Chef Schnauzer| 12.30.10 @ 11:53AM
I used to tell my students simply because it was possible to manufacture pickled ginger ice cream, why? Your pricing would make any ROI impossible. As with other areas of interest there is a tendency amongst mush-heads, liberals and idiots to think Western BAD, non-Western GOOD. NONE of my students were allowed to touch a wok prior to establishing basic competence with the saute pan. PERIOD. NONE of my students were allowed to touch a wok without reading several selected articles describing its manufacture, the reasons for is shape and so on.
I believe the sort of abbra-kadabra Chef Show is basically good for the industry. Is Charlie Trotter a genius or self indulgent. The same question might be asked of every great Chef / entrepreneur (artist / entrepreneur).
What is wonderful is that culinary artists do not shake down taxpayers for loot and insincere acclaim - and one would never see elephant dung flung at portrait of Paul Bocuse and call it anything let alone 'art'.
Matt Morehouse| 12.30.10 @ 2:42PM
Here is a real cookbook for real people who enjoy real food and enjoy real cooking:
Cast Iron Cuisine, From Breakfast to Dessert By: Matt & Linda Morehouse.
Buy it on Amazon or
Bob Grant| 12.31.10 @ 9:35AM
Me loves my cast iron skillet set. I've just gotten them seasoned to perfection!! Took me many sessions of frying chicken, tortillas, and catfish but the result is I can now fry an egg without ANY oil at all, plus the cleanup requires using only hot water.
Dr. Dre| 12.30.10 @ 7:48PM
My 91-yr old mother-in-law, never a pound overweight and a wonderful athletic woman, exists in a nursing home in a dementia twilight these past five years. She forbade butter, used "oleo", no whole milk or cream or real coffee, the past 20 yrs taking care of her older husband who was prone to overweight and high blood pressure; strong tea ok, then some quack nutritionist got to her in Florida and told her to only drink hot water. Now we find that caffeine keeps Alzheimer's at bay; too late for Nana.
I also think we are so fat now because we no longer smoke. Look at women's clothes from the 40s and 50s: lots of fitted jackets and belted silhouettes. High heels and hosiery, too. One went out with a friend for a cup of coffee and maybe a cigarette after finishing a lovely piece of French pastry or an eclair, eaten with a knife and fork! One pitied the occasional fat person waddling by, thought to have some sort of "glandular" imbalance. One cleaned one's garage wearing things like sweatpants, which people now wear to work, for God's sake!
handbags | 12.30.10 @ 10:02PM
thanks your share!
Ken Roberts| 12.31.10 @ 7:50AM
no matter the preparation it all winds up looking the same; hopefully it will be round and slender and brown and floats . Seems such a waste of time and effort .
Brian Mc| 12.31.10 @ 8:50AM
Historians have stated if it weren't for the lowly squirrel, the push across the Appalachians would have been slowed considerably. From there, to the Mississippi, was all cleared and farmed on the backs of the squirrels.
If you put the squirrel stew on a scale, being "1" and modern cuisine at "10" I find my tastes fall just outside 1.2! Cream for my coffee; salt for my taters fried in lard; greasy sausage gravy over buscuits slathered with real butter aside three over-easy. Then, sit back, light up a smoke and consider the fact that no one gets out alive. And, here, I thought I was compensating by using canola oil, now and again...silly me.
Bob Grant| 12.31.10 @ 9:25AM
I'd agree with your comments about "...modern cuisine..." but explain the exponential rise in heart disease and diabetes in this country? Is it not attributable to diet, especially among certain ethnic groups?
The 180 degree stance against the food police is also not helpful.
Richard Baker| 12.31.10 @ 10:34AM
To hell with all this "food." Sounds like these folks are bored with cooking. I would love to have my late Romanian Grandmother make me her stuffed cabbage. Drool.
Fist of the Fleet| 12.31.10 @ 10:35AM
Enjoyed Buffalo wings at my favorite corner establishment last night, washed down with an adult beverage. As usual, they were perfect. Don't tell my cardiologist.
Richard Baker| 12.31.10 @ 11:28AM
What's lost in all this food hysteria is the reality that Life is Terminal, no one gets out alive. I also believe it was Aristotle who advocated moderation in all things. Not bad advice, that.
Petronious| 12.31.10 @ 11:29AM
I'm obliged to dine at these yuppitoriums when one of my siblings commands her birthday celebration be at same. The last features wonderful continental cooking priced to match and served au remove. They also allow customers to bring their own wines. But when I go out to eat, I expect to eat; not nibble. I don't attend the symphony to hear Beethoven played pianissimo. Is it de classe' to desire satisfaction? A main course requiring an half dozen passes with my fork leads to question why. These establishments are not about proper fine dining. They are more like massage parlors with exotic flavoured canape's. The clientele is metrosexual. The real object of the exercise for them is to be waited upon and fussed over so that they can brag about it to their friends. It's semi starvation and snob appeal. They can't hold a tea light, much less a candle to a 5 Star Restaurant like Tony's. The Bommarito family enjoys a global reputation these upstarts can't comprehend.
Prosit!
Richard Baker| 12.31.10 @ 1:32PM
Petronius:
When I was stationed at Ft. Devens, Mass. years ago, I went into Boston to eat at John Polcari's(Hi. I'm John Polcari, let me be your host) place and the food was Italian and to die for. I've also eaten at these other types of establishments and they make me long for Polcari's.
Colman Andrews| 1.1.11 @ 4:35PM
There's never any percentage in defending oneself against a negative review, but I do have to note that when this particular critic takes me to task for "suggesting that the hero of [my] culinary biography is a creative genius on par with fellow Catalans Salvador Dali and Antoni Gaudi"—and then bases a paragraph of his review on that contention—he is being either sloppy or dishonest. I do no such thing.