soupnancy

Bits and Bites March 2007

March 16, 2007

Toronto ’s turn next year . On the heels of New York as the spotlight city for the Montreal Highlights Festival, Toronto is announced to be next year’s city vedette from February 21- March 2, 2008 , with Susur Lee as honorary president. Should be interesting. Will it be another channel for the TO-Montreal rivalry to play out? Or just warm and fuzzy fun. Hopefully, it will be a surprising and bridging experience, and good for our culinary Canadian identity. I think it’s about time both chefs and eaters foster more connections Canada wide.

Bacon popcorn . Everything is better with bacon, as I’ve been saying for years.

http://nosheteria.com/2007/02/snacking-thy-name-is-decadence.html

Popcorn with truffle à la Thomas Keller, now popcorn in bacon fat; why not popcorn with truffle AND bacon? Over the top.

'The truth about saturated fats’, speaking of fat. Most of us are screwed up about what is good and bad when it comes to fat. Now trans fat is the enemy and olive oil is holy, margarine is bad and butter coming back. Is it really Ok, and how can it be? What about all the different vegetable oils that surround us? Many don’t know that these can be as dangerous as heart clogging animal fat was supposed to be. Don’t you want to get to the bottom of this? Well.. This is long and detailed, but when you have the time to read, it will give you the lowdown. In the mean time, don’t judge bacon too fast. See misc. article, ‘The truth about saturated fat’..

http://soupnancy.squarespace.com/the-truth-about-saturated-fat/

Truffles in Tenessee , the real deal… Very interesting! See misc. article, Cultivating truffles.. http://soupnancy.squarespace.com/cultivating-truffles/

Epynord . Finally.. The ‘cordonnier mal chaussé’ gets a neat pair of shoes.

Check out some friends’ new company website, Graphic and web design for restaurants.

http://www.epynord.com

Forbes food trends . Forbes cites the 10 most influential chefs in America today, and the trends that follow, nothing new but a good overview..

http://www.forbes.com/wineandfood/2007/03/13/tastemaker-chef-food-forbeslife-cx_mm_0314chef.html

Kitchen Gadgets. I’m not very into gadgets, but I kind of like this work-table scoop, although I could never actually rationalize buying it. It’s just a fancy dust pan, but it’s nice. There are some other cool things on this site too.

http://www.chefsplanet.com/prep_taxi.shtml

Jeffrey Chodorow , a NYC restaurant magnate, took out a full page ad in the NYTimes in response to his zero star review by Frank Bruni.. Good on him for speaking out, not because he is ‘right’ but because he can, and we rarely hear the other side of the story. I don’t know how many stars his restaurant deserves; who can say what he’s really like or what the critic’s experience was. There are always many sides to any one story, and a review is a very subjective thing based on a particular performance. The critic is doing his job by picking things apart based on his knowledge and experience, and the restaurateur is doing his job by trying to make a living by making his clients happy. You’d think this would all come together, but it doesn’t always. What matters to the critic might not make a difference to the devoted diner. What creates fireworks for ‘M.- Mme. Tout le monde’ that don’t get out much, is boring, passé for the critic. Friendly for one is unprofessional to another, and on and on. A restaurant is always many stories, like a movie with parallel plots, their lives converging, diverging, many happy, others annoyed or oblivious. It’s hard to make generalizations, to find the truth. But critics are more schooled in this than most of us. However, critics do seem to take on a disproportionate importance, mainly because we hear their stories more than any others..

I’m all for dialogue. http://gawker.com/assets/resources/2007/02/pete_wells_ad1.php

Chefs work hard for their money in case you didn’t know..

For salary averages in the U.S. , see the A Star chef’s salary survey lists averages in the U.S. , much higher than here: http://www.starchefs.com/features/editors_dish/salary_survey/2006/index.shtml

But before you follow the doctors, don’t forget that cooking school and the cost of living are significantly higher in the States..

Calling on Chefs to do their part to support sustainable fish and seafood , (60% of fish is consumed in restaurants).. http://www.starchefs.com/features/sustainable_food/html/2007_02.shtml

And by the way, here in Montreal, ‘on fait dure’; there is swordfish and tuna, Chilean Seabass and every other endangered species on menus about town, and no one seems alarmed!

Ruth Reichl’s Garlic and Sapphires –the movie . This book should make a great movie.. and I think Julia Roberts would be right. http://www.adweek.com/aw/magazine/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1003553495

I’m a fan of everything she’s a part of, can’t wait.

B&B February 23, 2007

In Montreal :

The Montreal Highlights festival is underway! All kinds of cool things cooking through until next Sunday.. www.montrealenlumiere.com . 

The Gazette's notes from the festival:  www.canada.com/montrealgazette/story.html?id=24f53c61-77b3-4d96-8ac4-806a322e4cee

Bofinger Smokehouse & BBQ is a new casual eatery in NDG ( Sherbrooke W. and Oxford ) that specializes in hot-smoked meats, run by Kyle Kerr and Stephane Nanny. More than just chicken and ribs, you can get pulled pork, wings, smoked turkey and brisket, all with a selection of house sauces and sides, not to mention terrific fries. It is counter service only, but you’re welcome to linger, with beers on tap, wine by the glass and plasma TV screens. The food is finger licking good, cheap, and the décor clean and comfortable. My bet is that this place will do rocking business, especially on game days.

From all over:

Almost Foie gras : Gourmet reports back on a new product, a goose fattened liver that is not force fed. A compromise for the ethical foie gras lover? Not quite the silken decadence that is foie gras, but still apparently quite delicious. There’s hope yet that efforts in ethical eating won’t stamp out all our pleasure. http://www.roastgoose.com/ordering.html#Goose%20Livers

Anne Sophie Pic wins top award, which is a big f-ing deal in the old school macho world of French gastronomy and Michelin stars.. I love her style.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/food/Story/0,,2018534,00.html

Check out the Cheese freak: A queer story of a bloke that lives on Cheddar alone. http://tinyurl.com/yqz7mu

Another reason to love cocoa – the flavenols . (Sorry, no link - I heard this on CBC.)

Scientists are finding more and more to like about chocolate. We already know that it has anti-cancer effects in being high in anti-oxidants, the cocoa bean being a fruit like the super-food blueberry. They’ve already proved that certain chemical components are good for the heart and blood pressure, but now it appears that the flavenols enhance brain function too. At least, a diet rich in flavenols make mice navigate a maze better, and allows them to remember how to for a week as apposed to a day. Another scientist has found that a certain South American tribe who consume crazy amounts of pure cocoa because they flavour their drinking water with it are ultra healthy, free of any of the age related diseases we know, dying only of injury or infection, no strokes, no dementia.

Unfortunately, we can not go out and gorge ourselves on chocolate as we know it to see these benefits. The problem is that our chocolate contains a whole lot of sugar and fat, ie. too many calories, of which we already consume too much. What you want is the unprocessed cocoa powder which is hard to find and quite bitter to our palate.

But still, it’s good to know that quality chocolate is loaded with health boosing chemicals, and potentially good for you beyond the positive physiological effects derived from the pure pleasure of eating it. In theory, you can feel better about indulging in the occasional bitter chocolate, and more importantly, expect to see flavenol boosted foods on the market soon.

Synesthesia and Heston Blumenthal

http://www.starchefs.com/features/heston/html/index.shtml

Beyond classic ‘molecular gastronomy’, Heston is now focusing on psychological factors and contextual triggers to forge the ultimate dining experience..

He cites the sound of bacon sizzling as making bacon taste better, and a bottle of a certain wine tasting better on holiday than on some mundane day at home as examples in how sensory input can overlap and synergize. Inevitably, this opens doors and gives an experimental artist like him an extended canvas. Targeting all senses, and paying more attention to the setting is only natural in trying to please your customers. And Restaurateurs have been doing this for centuries with nice décor, attractive smiling waiters. However, taking it to the extreme seems overly manipulative, beyond just being a good host and cook. Like superstores shooting aromatics in the air to influence the shopper. By blatantly taking advantage of your lower brain influence, you can more easily be led down whatever path they’ve set out for you, that is, to be enchanted by whatever they’ve decided they will make you want, all so that you happily spend a lot of money.

We all know that more is at play than your taste buds when appreciating a meal. Now scientists are trying to measure this. In fact, the Journal of Neuroscience did an article in December that showed anxiety can lower your sense of sweet by 30 percent and increase your sense of bitterness and acidity by 50-something percent. As stress diminishes taste and a good time, good company and a gorgeous setting enhances both.

But when you try to fiddle too much with all these elements, bring an iPod to my table, order me to sniff things, and explain how to eat a certain dish off a new-fangled utensil and so on, somehow, I can’t help but think of sensory overload, and how I might be distracted from the actual morsel of food.

If you’re going for theatre, then fine, it’s all a part of the composition. If I was going to the Fat Duck, I would probably be in that frame of mind and welcome it. But don’t ask me to say a prayer, do a somersault, and eat the wrapper before I put the candy in my mouth on any other day. Food is just food. The restaurant experience is more than that and magical, but overworking it seems counterproductive. Especially for most of us North Americans who are not fussy people, too much of this would not fly. Then again, m aybe I’m wrong, maybe I’m just getting old.

Heston Blumenthal is an original thinker and groundbreaking chef no doubt, but he seems to have his feet still planted on the ground at least some of the time. I like what he has to say about food and kids here; I found this quote in Bill Buford’s book, Heat:

‘It is important that children make their own decisions about what they will and won’t eat, whether this is on moral or taste grounds. It should be our as responsibility as parents to make sure they have all the information they need. We must not pass on any of our own eating hang-ups. I have always made our children aware that when they are eating beef, for example, they are actually eating a cow. There is nothing wrong with this as long as the animal has led a good, healthy life and has been killed humanely. The quality of the meat is directly influenced by the quality of life of the animal itself. After all, evolution has designed us to be carnivorous both in the way we eat and the way we process our food.

Unfortunately, supermarket price wars have resulted in all food prices coming down, including those of meat. If we would only stop to think: how is this possible? Land and property values and wages have been increasing. Inflation still exists. How then can meat and poultry prices fall?’ Heston Blumenthal, Family Food

More fiddling with food. Cool innovation or tiresome gimmick?

A new thing in Texas , David Gilbert plays with food. http://www.starchefs.com/features/luqa/html/index.shtml

B&B January 24, 2007

 Who said January was drab?

Not this year. Maybe it’s just me who is particularly busy, without enough time for all the interesting bits and bites crossing my path. However, it does seem like there is an awful lot going on for January. Maybe we never went into hibernation because it wasn’t cold. Funny how everyone bitches about winter until it doesn’t show up, at which point, we realize how much it means to us. Thankfully, it is finally here, and it feels good. Maybe too, some people got some rest over the holidays and so are now all revved up with sober new years resolutions and new ideas. For whatever reason, there is much activity, both in print and on the street. Some restaurants did close for a bit in January, but all are busier than usual for this time of year, chefs are moving around, restaurants are opening and closing. Not all the news is good; for example, Leslie’s scoop about Les Chèvres made me very sad.. http://www.canada.com/montrealgazette/news/weekendlife/story.html?id=fceb8042-e7aa-4c29-be7b-26a3dde9a6e2

Bill is back. Forget about the Porto and cheese combo.

http://thecaveman.blogspot.com/

Ten surprising restaurants in the world.. Thanks to Rob for this link to restaurants across the globe who are doing something different. Besides the technical acrobatics of guys like Achatz and Adria with their liquid nitrogen, melting mango, and edible menus, there are others that are doing the extraordinary with weird props (ninja magic), weird ingredients (roadkill) and in weird places (dinner in the dark, dinner in the sky or dinner in an igloo).

http://www.forbes.com/wineandfood/2006/12/18/most-unusual-restaurants-forbeslife-cx_ls_1219mostunsusualrestaurants_slide.html

Fuel from Chicken fat!? Controversial but at least people are getting creative with respect to the environment. http://www.treehugger.com/files/2007/01/schmaltzmobiles.php

Spice it up! Not only because it is cold outside, and that a bit of chile makes just about any dish sing, but pump up the heat for the anti-cancer effects.. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/6244715.stm

Watch out for cloned food coming to a store near you. The FDA claims that it’s safe enough.. Perhaps our thickening border is not such a bad thing after all.

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/12/29/business/29fda.html?emc=eta1

Le Marché de Solidarité Régionale en Estrie, a great example of a community project whose time has come: Last week, L’Épicerie reported on a coalition of producers and customers in the Townships that have set up a year round market idea to promote local, sustainable food buying, and they make it easy for consumers. The participants pre-order by internet, then go pick up their goods at the market on Thursdays (bringing their own bags) where they also get to meet the producers and artisans. The farmer is able to charge a lower price due to saving on shipping crates, packaging and transport, and the customer profits from quality local food at a good price. Not only is this set-up better taste-wise, it is also better for the environment (food miles, packaging), as well as for fostering community, bringing you in contact with the country and the people who grow or make your food. This project offers a new and more feasible approach to making a difference in the way we food source. They set a good example; hopefully we will see them expand, as well as copycats in other regions.

http://www.radio-canada.ca/actualite/v2/lepicerie/index.shtml

With Valentine’s Day around the corner, maybe you want to know the truth about aphrodisiacs.. It turns out that there actually IS a scientific basis for the arousing effects of oysters, and not much more than anecdotal evidence for many of the other supposedly sexy foods. Sometimes it is only because the food resembles something we associate with sex be it in appearance, taste or texture. I think we all know a big part of lighting fires is all in the head, relying as much on imagery and suggestion, as direct stimulation of the senses. A carrot might turn you on because of its phallic shape, or an avocado might get you in the mood because of its name (meaning testicle). Perhaps you find the perfume of ginger or the heat of chilli titillating, and are aroused by all of the above because you are told they are aphrodisiacs.. Whatever works for you, I say.. http://lifeandhealth.guardian.co.uk/food/story/0,,1986808,00.html

Our Valentine’s menu at la Table des Jardins Sauvages:   http://soupnancy.squarespace.com/recipes-and-menus/

Daniel Boulud, a top New York chef (who is also this year’s guest star chef at Montreal’s food festival this February) is in hot water over charges of discrimination in the running of his restaurant. Anyone who works in the restaurant business in a big city can relate to this delicate situation, as there are many talented, efficient, dedicated immigrants at work behind the scenes in many urban restaurants. Often they are overlooked when it comes to promotions or pay equity, due to poor language skills or a lack of education (in the food arts), or possibly discrimination. I’ve seen both, it depends on the individual and the context; who knows what the facts are at Boulud. It all comes down to fairness and respect being tantamount, then clarity and consistency in operational systems, while fostering an inclusive team spirit and good communication. Not always an easy matter in the chaotic restaurant business, but it is about time the debate of what is acceptable and what is not enters the kitchen, making it an issue as it is in the rest of civilized society. http://www.nytimes.com/2007/01/17/dining/17prom.html?ex=1326690000&en=36d91502886aefdf&ei=5090&partner=rssuserland&emc=rss

Chocolat: A Longueil cooking school tries to recreate the magic of the Johnny Depp and Juliette Binoche film with an all chocolate gastronomic dinner, it is a fund-raiser for students going off on stages. The six course 'souper-chocolat' takes place Feb. 20 at CFP Jacques-Rousseau, 444, de Gentilly Est, à Longueuil.  For reservations, call (450) 651-6800, poste 2775.

Chefs speak out for sustainable food sourcing. Chef Barton Seaver (Café Saint-Ex and Bar Pilar in Washington DC) calls on chefs to be leaders on this front. http://www.starchefs.com/features/sustainable_food/html/2007_01.shtml

And Dan Barber (Blue Hill, NY) writes an effective, moving piece in the NYTimes in hopes of stirring up some change in agricultural policy as congress sets out to rework its food and farm bill. See below, Amber fields of Bland..  http://soupnancy.squarespace.com/miscellaneaous-food-articles/

Chow’s Molecular Gastronomy Cheat sheet in case you’re still not sure what this trend in cooking is all about, and not sick of hearing about it either..

http://www.chow.com/stories/10411

The best food reading of the month came via the 20^th Anniversary double issue of Edward Behr’s the Art of Eating. For those of you who don’t know this publication, there are no ads or 10 minute recipes here, just in depth, well researched, fascinating articles on a variety of food topics. www.artofeating.com For the serious foodie.

There was an interesting, thought provoking article on the future of wine that discussed how new technology is changing wine, for the better or for the worse. The question of what constitutes the essence of wine comes up in the battle between the traditional ‘let the terroir speak’ approach and the new manipulative approach. Which is more important, natural or good tasting? Paralell to the backlash to molecular gastronomy in food circles, winos are grappling with the mingling of tradition and new science. Of course technology brings useful new tools, but maybe we should beware of the dangers. This article introduces you to some of these modern techniques and the issues at hand.

James McGuire contributed a captivating article about the baguette, its colourful history, and the details behind the making of a proper baguette. I learnt so much! Not only do I better understand dough, but now the ‘no knead, let the fermentation do the work’ thinking behind that puzzling Bittman recipe last year makes more sense. And who would have known there was always so much squabbling among bakers over the course of the evolution of the baguette?!

Probiotics – the next health craze? See NYTimes article below, In Live Bacteria, Food makers see a Bonanza.  http://soupnancy.squarespace.com/miscellaneaous-food-articles/

The National Restaurant Association (US) is upset with Kevin Federline and an insurance company over a SuperBowl ad they find denigrates restaurant workers.. http://adage.com/article?article_id=114465 Since when are restaurant workers so sensitive?

I’ve been wading through my e-mails and tagged articles to read, finally taking it all in and responding. Here, I point you to some of the interesting tidbits I gathered in December.

Carol Off’s book on Chocolate: This book seems like a compelling read about the history of chocolate, and how our favorite sweet is produced today. I was touched by her quote about the underage plantation workers, “I feel the profound irony before me: the children who struggle to produce the small pleasure of life in the world I come from have never known such pleasures. They don’t know what chocolate is.” And as the reviewer in the Gazette pointed out, it’s this confection – produced by uneducated, orphaned, starving, abused children – that we in North America use to say, ‘I love you’.

Bitter Chocolate: Investigating the Dark Side of the World’s Most Seductive Sweet,

By Carol Off, Random House Canada, $34.95

Trends of 2006: Starchefs sums it up well..

http://www.starchefs.com/features/editors_dish/trends_survey/index.shtml

What to expect in 2007: Frank Bruni and Zagat interview chefs and draw up lists of new food trends and things to look forward to in 2007. The results:

http://dinersjournal.blogs.nytimes.com/?p=166

http://www.zagat.com/news/newsCUR.aspx?Art=Art_december_2006_2

Food Politics: A positive trend that is here to stay.. This is a brief overview of the progress we have made in our connection to our food supply thanks to the food scares, activism, books and movies that are eliciting a response on the part of consumers and big business. There is hope yet.

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/12/27/dining/27food.html?ei=5090&en=ab1ba1be34b60106&ex=1324875600&partner=rssuserland&emc=rss&pagewanted=print

Illy takes on Starbucks: Coffee is now big business globally, and the big players are jostling for position.

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/12/26/business/worldbusiness/26eurocoffee.html?ex=5090..

Food science is on every yearly trend list, and the talk probably won’t stop for a while, as molecular gastronomy becomes ultra popular in mainstream haute cuisine. Harold McGee’s article “When Science Sniffs Around the Kitchen”

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/12/06/dining/06curi.html?ex=1167541200&en=d45588e3135c2096&ei=5070

gives you an idea of what is going on, the trickle down effects of ancient cuisine catching up with modern science... He marvels at it all, but he certainly had something to do with this, by getting people excited about it in his On Food and Cooking 15 years ago (this was the book that accompanied me in my transition from the world of science to that of food).

To see food science applications taken to the extreme, explore Grant Achatz’ crazy inventive menus.... http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/14.05/achatz_pr.html

I find all this stimulating (as a mental exercise to understand food), but personally, I have no desire to cook like that. Granted, a chemical is a chemical, whether it occurs in nature or is produced in a lab, but when you break down food and taste so elementally, it seems to me that you take the sensual magic out of it, like simplifying love to pheromones. I’m all for incorporating new knowledge into our methods, but while staying true to the traditional approach. What self-respecting cook wants to mimic big industry by using the same chemicals and machinery that they use in processed food anyway? Unless I was packing a picnic for a space shuttle trip, I would rather use a fresh egg and lemon, than lecithin and citric acid, not that there is anything inherently wrong with that.

With pure chemicals, you can select the desired effect by only using a specific proetin for example, without all the other stuff (other proteins, water, fat, sugars) when that’s all you want. But then, this is an entirely different approach to cooking as we know it. In effect, you’re also neglecting the natural complexity of natural foodstuffs, rather than truly knowing them and honoring them. This all too pervasive syndrome of wanting to control nature as opposed to working with it, is the source of many of our environmental problems today. Anyway.

I have no doubt that all this knowledge and these modern chefs’ experiments will ultimately change the way we cook to some extent, and great. This new field of science is a beautiful thing, we do need to evolve. But I think we have to keep our feet on the ground, and our taste buds alert.

There is also no doubt that I would have remained in science if I had known that I could have been studying cheese in the lab for a living back then. However, I would not want to be one of THEM (academics). Reading Harold McGee’s account of the conference, I was reminded of one I attended at McGill, where I sat there wondering if these academics were from Planet Mars where all they ate was KD. Only academics will sit through a 3hr presentation supporting the claim that a third smell sensation can result from two distinct smells! We all know that instinctively, think apple pie or poutine. When food chemistry meets brain chemistry, 1 + 1 does not equal 2, more like 10 or infinity. We can’t even think in terms of 1 and 2 given that your typical identifiable aroma consists of dozens of chemical compounds... Poor scientists, it is so complicated when you dissect it so, but someone has to do it, I suppose. On a visceral level, it is simple. That’s why I’m much better off as a trades person.

No fuss French bread: In the on line food world, there was much buzz in articles and blogs in early December about this apparently ground breaking, simplified bread recipe ever since it appeared in Mark Bittman’s NYTimes article…I haven’t tried it yet, but, if you’re feeling experimental... http://www.nytimes.com/2006/12/06/dining/06curi.html?ref=

Sedna IV:  This is not about food, but provides food for thought. It is the official website for the unique Antarctica mission to study and document the effect of climate change on the south pole, of which the Québecois scientist, Jean Lemire, was the leader , returning in early December after 9 monthes. The site shows details about the crew, their journals, and the information they gathered. Go visit this website for the stunning pictures if nothing else.  http://sedna.tv/spip/sommaire.php3?lang=fr