Silverbrow on Food

Alinea Mosaic goes live today

I mentioned a while ago that I had pre-ordered the Alinea cookbook (now available on Amazon as well). In the same post I referred to the website dedicated to the book. The website is called Alinea Mosaic and has gone live today.

From a quick look around, the website gives members access to recipes, a forum to allow discussion, the ability to purchase Alinea cookware and videos on how they do things - such as their pineapple and bacon dish. My only gripe with the site at this stage is that they need to sort out the colour palette they are using. Grey writing on a black background is not easy to read. Or maybe I need to go to Specsavers?

As both a food lover and a geek, I find it very interesting how they are combining the web and the book and are quite clear that the two complement each other but don't serve the same purpose. They state that the book is intended as a more formal expression of Grant Achatz's cooking at Alinea, whereas the website will be "rougher round the edges" and will be an ongoing work in progress. With any luck, that means interaction between restaurant staff, including Achatz and members of the site.

I mentioned in my original post that it seems we're going to have a face-off between The Big Fat Duck Cookbook and the Alinea Cookbook and that has been confirmed today. According to the email I received from Alinea, the book is due out in October. According to Bloomsbury, the publisher of the Fat Duck book, it is due out in October as well.

Silverbrowlette

At 2.07pm today, our baby daughter was born. She's beautiful and has already brought us immense joy. Days simply can't get any better than today.

But - and here's the rub - her arrival means posting here is going to be very light for the foreseeable future. I'm sure you'll understand.

I'm not going to get the chance to explain why I regard much of Jay Rayner's latest book, The Man Who Ate the World, as a manifesto for eating. In many ways it's the food book I'd love to have written. It's erudite, funny and most of all it's about his sheer unadulterated love affair with good food.

There were some points I'd like to explore further, but I won't have the chance. If you feel so inclined though, maybe you could address why he doesn't eat anywhere in Spain and San Sebastian in particular. I know there are many great restaurant cities, but given the book's title and the global influence of El Bulli, it seems a bit remiss. I was surprised by the frequent references to his Ashkenazic roots - more an observation than a question. And finally, a second observation, I was most disappointed by the London chapter. I was hoping for a bit more insight on dining in the capital - although maybe that was the point of his dinner with his parents at Rules. For him, that's how it started - with the family - and despite all those Ashkenazi references, his palate lies with excellent, reliable, grounded restaurants.

I'm not going to be able to note how useful The Opinionated About Fine Dining Survey 2008 would have been to Jay on his travels. Nor can I riff about how fitting it is that both Jay's book and the OA book came out in the same month, given that Jay is a regular contributor to the OA forums amongst others. If you're the type of person who either travels in order to eat, or checks out the decent restaurants before deciding where to stay, the OA guide is for you. Ignore the others like Michelin, Zagat and Hardens. If you care what people like you think about Europe and the US's best restaurants, get your mitts on this.

I'm also going to be unable to write-up my meals at The Grill at The Dorchester or Hibiscus. Suffice to say Aiden Byrne (can't help but think of Dick) is a fantastic chef and a very nice bloke. The room at the Dorchester is hideous, but the food is generally astounding. We had a tasting menu, chosen by the chef, with wine pairings courtesy of the sommelier. It was a treat. One word of caution though, steer clear of any dessert with mushrooms in the chocolate sauce.

Similarly, I loved Hibiscus. They were accommodating, I found the much maligned room quite cosy and the food is astounding. Claude Bosi might not be comfortable working the dining room at the end of service, but he knows his way around the stove and I look forward to many return visits.

The Grill at The Dorchester, The Dorchester, Park Lane, London, W1K 1QA, UK
Tel: +44 20 7629 8888

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Hibiscus, 29 Maddox Street, London, W1S 2PA, UK

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Marcus Wareing has got a blog - and a new book

He doesn't update it much, but Marcus Wareing has a blog, with a bit of YouTube thrown in for good measure.

I learned about it from a press release to his new book One Perfect Ingredient, Three Ways to Cook It. The book reminds me of Simon Hopkinson's seminal Roast Chicken, in particular the way both books focus on several recipes for a limited number of key ingredients. I quite like it, it seems straightforward and well written. I haven't cooked from it yet, but Silverbrowess has - more of that anon.

Given the infrequency that Marcus has updated the blog, I wonder if it's part of a wider post-Pétrus project? Funny that none of the links on the site are to Pétrus or any Gordo related site - they're only to his books or the BBC. Not really that much of a surprise I suppose.

Seriously though, if Marcus was to blog properly, himself, frequently, that would be pretty cool.

The Big Fat Duck Cookbook

WOOOOHOOOOOOO!!!!!!

Sorry, I'll calm down.

I've been waiting for this for sometime. It's coming people, the book we've all been waiting for, or at least I have. (Sorry Jay, not referring to you this time, but here's a plug anyway.)

Amazon now have Heston Blumenthal's The Big Fat Duck Cookbook listed for sale from 6 October 2008. List price is £100 and you can pre-order now. No doubt there'll be some discounting, but sod it, there goes some of Siverbrowlet(te)'s inheritance.

From reading the blurb on Amazon's website I'm hopeful this will be a chefs book, rather than simply a cookbook. I want it to be Essence or The French Laundry Cookbook writ fat. Going on Heston's past form, I'm guessing the book will be very detailed, fairly complex, but written in an engaging way.

I've no doubt that for most people who receive it, it will be added to the pantheon of must-haves-to-read-but-unlikely-to-ever-be-cooked-from cookbooks. I'll try not to fall into that category, but don't fancy my chances.

There's nothing yet about it on The Fat Duck website, but I'm guessing there will be soon.

Makes me think that I'm due a return visit. I cannot wait.

[Strokes chin. Exit, pursued by a rumbling tummy and a light wallet.]

UPDATE: Further information on his publisher's website.

Knife Skills

It's a cliche and I know good writing abhors cliches, but one really shouldn't judge a book by its cover.

The cover says of Knife Skills has a silhouette of a santoku style knife, the sub-title is "How to carve, chop, slice. fillet". The authors are Marcus Wareing, Shaun Hill, Charlie Trotter and Lyn Hall.

If ever there was a book-cover to draw me in, this was it. I have a thing about kitchen technique at the moment and since buying my rather expensive Japanese knife last year, I've been trying to hone my knife skills. Additionally compelling was the fact that the authors were such luminaries who, with the exception of Lyn Hall, had collaborated on my favourite technique book The Cook's Book.

What I love about The Cook's Book is how comprehensive it is. It doesn't treat the reader like a moron. It assumes a basic level of knowledge and even if you don't have that, it'll hold your hand until you get it. It was also interesting to have different sections of the book written by some of the world's leading chefs. Who better to learn about desserts from than Pierre Hermé or Ferran Adrià instruct you on foams?

But, the one area it always lacked for me was specifics on knife skills. Sure, throughout the book they show you what mirepoix should look like, or how to take the wishbone out of a chicken, but there was never anything specifically dedicated to knives. So Knife Skills, created by the same people that wrote my all time fave, well it had to be winner.

And it is. To a point.

It is, if you want a book that explains different styles of knives (the section I found most interesting) or how to perform specific tasks like bone a leg of lamb or fillet fish. The problem is, much of it is swiped directly from The Cook's Book. Removing that wishbone? Filleting a round fish? Filleting a flat fish? Preparing an artichoke? Check, check, check and check. And there are many more besides.

Of the three chefs whose names are on the front covers of both Knife Skills and The Cook's Book, Marcus Wareing wrote the foreward and the section on meat. Shaun Hill wrote the sections on stocks & soups, poultry & game birds, fruit & nuts. Charlie Trotter's sections were fish & shellfish and vegetables. Much of them are repeated verbatim plus a few extra photos in the new book. I felt a bit conned, even though mine was a review copy that I thankfully didn't have to pay for.

So my best advice is this: If you already own the Cook's Book, go into a book shop and take a look at the first part of Knife Skills, the bit about different types of knives. You may decide it's worth buying for that section alone. You may not. You should however ensure you go and buy yourself a decent blade and then stick to The Cook's Book.

If you don't own The Cook's Book my suggestion would be, go and buy it and then see my suggestion for those who own it.

Rick Stein's Seafood

Thanks for everyone's advice on which fish book I should buy.

As you may have gathered from the title of this post, I went with Rick Stein's Seafood. Rather, I should say Silverbrowess went with your advice and bought it for me - one of the many reasons I love her.

As I said in the original post, I was after a book that would teach me from first principles and this is just what Seafood does. The Cook's Book is good on fish technique, but almost inevitably, it is nowhere nearly as detailed as this. Hugh is still very much on my wish list, but only once I've channelled Rick.

Advice please on books about fish

I think I'm a pretty good cook. I know my way around the kitchen and am handy with a knife.

But, I have issues cooking fish. Chuck me a bit of meat and I'll be happy grilling, braising, roasting, slicing and dicing it. Give me some fish and I know I should know what to do with it, but I'm often stuck.

So resorting to what I do best, I've decided I need a new cookbook, but this one about fish. I want to learn from reading, because I don't have the time to learn from doing.

So I'm after your advice on which books you rate. I'm very tempted buy Hugh F-W's latest offering, but for years I've been eyeing up Mitchell Tonks' Fresh and pretty much all that Rick Stein has to offer. Now is crunch time and money needs to change hands.

If I could have your thoughts in the comments below or on twitter please I'd be most appreciative. Thanks.

Secret Ingredients - The New Yorker on food

I was supposed to be buying Chanukah presents for my family, when I came across Secret Ingredients, a compendium of The New Yorker's food writing.

I've long admired The New York: every week it seems to be full fascinating articles and fiction written by some of the best English language writers. I was therefore delighted to discover this book and once I realised what a goldmine it is, I was surprised not to have heard about it before. It seems not to have received the fanfare it deserves.

I started reading it on holiday and love it. Articles such as Liebling on the last of the French gourmands or Joseph Wechsberg on his lunch at La Pyramide, courtesy of Fernand-Point, give an insight into a life most of us can only dream about.

I haven't finished the book and I look forward to what follows, especially articles such as Anthony Lane's (the New Yorker's uber critic) take on the most important cook books. Other contributors include Bill Buford, Malcolm Gladwell, Don DeLillo, Julian Barnes and MFK Fisher.

Given the time of year, it would be remiss of me not to suggest this as a stocking-filler for those in your life who love nothing better than reading about food. Like me, you might find you are the one that falls into that category.

A few more books for the collection

I have added to the collection yet again.  I seem to be erring towards cookbooks that teach me new techniques or interesting flavour combinations and food writing that can transport me, rather than simply new recipes.

The latest batch included Nigel Slater's latest Eating for England: The Delights and Eccentricities of the British at Table. I'm not the only one who thinks he is a great writer.

A kosher home is not going to get very far with Trotter Gear, but that doesn't put all of St John's delectables out of my reach. The bread and baked goods from St John are fantastic and unfortunately overshadowed by the meat.  I was delighted to see that the focus of Beyond Nose to Tail was focused on the bakery and made its purchase a no-brainer.

Finally, Pierre Gagnaire is an all time great.  I very much bought Reinventing French Cuisine because of its cover, or rather because of the name of the chef on its cover.  It's unlikely ever to be used in anger, but its structure - recipes given by year, from 1966 through to 2006 - shows the fascinating progression of what influences a great chef over the course of his career.  This is proof that great chefs keep evolving and never stop learning about ingredients.

Alinea cookbook

Alinea is widely regarded as one of America's best restaurants and its chef patron Grant Achatz is at the forefront of developing modern culinary techniques. Some of those techniques may owe more to the lab than our mother's kitchen, but they should not be knocked because of that.

Next year, the restaurant's first cookbook will be published and it is now available to pre-order, wherever you live. Annoyingly, this is currently an option only open to those with a US billing and delivery address. If you pre-order you get lots of additional goodies, like a signed edition and additional recipes on a dedicated website.

The book isn't available until this time next year and that throws up an interesting prospect: that it will come out at roughly the time the first Fat Duck cookbook is due. I've heard a lot of gossip about Heston's inevitable tome but no-one seems to know too much. Nonetheless, the latest I heard was to expect it towards the end of next year.

We face the fantastic prospect therefore of two of the world's greatest chefs publishing the recipes of the dishes they make in their kitchens. If they live up to their hype, they will be seminal works that define their era and represent a culinary timestamp. They will be direct heirs to White Heat. They should also help to move some of the modern techniques used in the best restaurant kitchens into the mainstream and provide some education to those who still insist on sniggering.

Hat-tip: Ideas in Food

Scoop's Day of Chocolate (Sat, 29 Sept)

Regular readers may have noticed I quite like Scoop, this gives the game away, as does this.

I am trying to be careful what I'm eating at the moment, so I have to be just as careful that I don't walk down Shorts Gardens and thus I can avoid the siren call of a couple of scoops of Amarena (sour cherry) or creamy cornetti.

I was slightly concerned Matteo, gelato king and owner of Scoop, might be upset by my abstinence because earlier in the summer I was such a frequent visitor, I must have been underwriting his profits.  My concerns dissipated when I received a phone call from him telling me of their day of chocolate.

Rather cunningly, Matteo has figured out that it is hard to go wrong when you combine chocolate with ice-cream or pastries.  So, if you like your chocolate I would recommend a trip to Covent Garden on Saturday 29 September, with festivities starting at 2pm and going on until early evening.  I understand from Matteo that they will be showcasing a whole host of different types of chocolate gelato, using various types of chocolate and numerous flavours.  Expect to indulge in Gianduia del Piemonte, Cioccolato Puro, Cioccolato al Latte and Riso Cioccolato among other gelato flavours, plus a whole host of sticky pastries.  I also understand that they'll be selling Amadei's hot-chocolate.  I've never tried it myself, but it's reputation precedes it and I fear it is yet another reason to visit the shop and sod the diet.

By the way, if you are concerned that I have given in to PR fluff, think again.  I never promote anyone or anything on this site solely because they have asked me to or offered me inducements.  I only write about products, people and topics that interest me - for better or worse.  Scoop deserves all the praise it can get (except for the coffee, but let's move on) because it is a food producer obsessed with using the best ingredients and the best people to ensure a fantastic product.   I find it quite disheartening that there are so few producers and shops that get me as excited as an ice-cream shop on a Covent Garden side street.

White Heat

White Heat dropped on my desk today. Go buy it now.

I doubt you will ever cook anything out of it, but you'll get more inspiration from it than any other book on your shelves.

The New Yorker & White Heat

A word to the wise: go out and get hold of this week's issue of the New Yorker and whilst you're in the literary mood, pre-order White Heat.

Every year the New Yorker publishes its food issue and the September 3 issue, is that issue this year. Some of the editorial is available online for free, such as the gripping story about wine forgeries and one man's tenacious pursuit of justice. Unfortunately, you will have to buy the mag if you want to read the equally excellent interview of Claudia Roden. I have to say, I am secretly flattered that my podcast with her - which you can listen to here - covered much of the same ground as the article. Despite that, try and read the article, especially if you are as interested with cookbooks as I am. It gives a fascinating insight into their gestation and purpose, which is not simply telling you how to cook a given dish.

Speaking of cookbooks go and buy yourself White Heat. This all time classic is about to be reprinted.

Stupidly I missed out on the opportunity to buy it the first time round, assuming the luxurious writing and sexy recipes would ensure the book would always be in print. I have to be very thankful that Marco has decided to sell his soul and do some TV work, thus ensuring a reprint to coincide with Hell's Kitchen, his new TV series.

If you are into photos more than food, it is worth buying the book just for Bob Carlos Clarke's beautiful shots. You can even see a young and not so shouty Gordon Ramsay, in the early days, before he fell out with MPW, getting a good shooing from the broody one.

AbeBooks for Cooks

Browsing on AbeBooks is as close as you are going to get online, to browsing in a second hand book store on a cold autumnal afternoon. It's like having Foyles or Daunt Books at your fingertips. Unfortunately, neither of those fine bookshops have particularly good websites.

Whilst mooching on Abe the other day, I discovered that they now have a dedicated Books for Cooks mini-site. From what I have read so far, it looks like it will be a really useful resource for those of us who like our cook books: there's a newsletter detailing forthcoming books and reviews, interviews with authors, a readers forum, they even have 'humourous' (read: not very) e-cards.

There are UK and US versions of the website, with minor differences between the two. I was both horrified and amused to see what, at the time of writing, is number five on the US cookbook chart.

Those with a keen eye will notice that following Victor Kiam's lead, I like AbeBooks so much, I have started carrying their advertising.

Giorgio Locatelli's Made in Italy, Food and Stories

There are quite a few new cook books out at the moment, I reckon it must be the pre-Christmas rush.  Tom Aikens has brought out his first work, David Everitt-Matthias from Le Champignon Sauvage has brought out his first book, Mark Hix has brought out his seventh, as has Jamie Oliver.

But it is Giorgio's second book, Made in Italy, Food and Stories that I want to talk about.  It is essentially his magnum opus, it seems to be the book where he spills his guts on food and cooking.  There are fascinating biographical essays through which we see him mature as a chef, working his way up from his family restaurant, through the best kitchens of London and Paris and finally walking through the door of his own establishment.  Along the way we learn the influence of his grandmother, how competitive chefs can be in cycle races and his version of what happened when he left Zafferano.

There are also essays on particular favourite ingredients, such as truffles or vinegar, as well as lengthy essays at the beginning of each recipe section.  The recipes in the book are divided into sections mirroring a traditional Italian menu - antipasti, soup, pasta, risotto, fish, meat, dessert.

So far I've only made one dish, the caponata.  Previously, I have made this dish using a different recipe and what resulted was little more than a ratatouille.  What I made from Locatelli's book was a beautiful, light, deeply flavoured vegetable dish.  It's a bit like a stew, the longer you leave it, the better it tastes.  The deep fried aubergines, left to steep for a couple of hours in salt to draw out the moisture, are a revelation.  I served the caponata with some chunks of seared tuna, as Giorgio recommends, and it was a great starter.

Silverbrowess was talking about making a minestrone before the Yom Kippur fast and I suggested she use Giorgio's recipe.  For once she listened to me and here is her take on it:

Giorgio's book looks very intimidating and I was slightly concerned Silverbrow was trying to catch me out when he suggested I use it.  That would have been particularly cruel given the imminence of the pre-fast meal.

It took me a long time to chop all the vegetables up (Silverbrow attributes this to the chopping board I was using) but the volume and quantity of ingredients paid off. The minestrone was delicious. I didn't follow the recipe to a T - I put some of the ingredients in the wrong order (slightly concerned Silverbrow would know) and I added in fennel. I also added water (cardinal sin) instead of stock (no time for that).  I didn't what cavalo nero was - maybe there was a glossary but I didn't have time to use it - however, Silverbrow suggested I use cabbage instead.

I was initially put off blanching the tomatoes - when do I spend time blanching tomatoes? A bit of skin never did anyone (or Silverbrow) any harm. However, it was very easy to do (although I had to jump to another page for instructions) and I even found myself deseeding the things - felt very proud of myself and will certainly blanch again!

I will definitely use the book again - the instructions were generally clear and easy to follow.  Incidentally, I didn't see any information regarding how many each recipe serves. (Ed: All recipes serve 4 unless otherwise stated, or so it says in the intro at the front.)  The book is so beautiful, you almost don't want to use it - I was a bit worried about the soup splashes on the pages....

There you have it.  It's a great book.  I can see it will become invaluable in our household.  Silverbrowess loves his cooking and he writes clearly, I reckon the back cover broody picture of him (by Dan Lepard, natch) helps somewhat as do the other stunning photos.  I'm fascinated by learning how to combine French best practice with the more relaxed cooking of Italy, that I prefer to cook and love to eat.  I'd suggest this is one of those books no kitchen should be without, I would also urge you to go and buy it if you were solely let down by the promise of The Silver Spoon.  I haven't heard of any glaring errors in Made in Italy, the paper is nice and thick and there are photos that not only look fantastic but are great illustrations to the food.  It is well worth making space on your shelf for this 512 page behemoth.

Locatelli G, 2006, Made in Italy, Food and Stories, Harper Collins (ISBN: 1841157015)

New book by Giorgio Locatelli

I am a big fan of Giorgio Locatelli, I am also a big fan of Dan Lepard.  I was therefore delighted to find out that Giorgio is soon bringing out Made in Italy, a cookbook/biography.  Dan is the man behind the camera.

I heard about Dan's involvement in the book following a post he made on the food forum Opinionated About (registration required).  He gave us a sneak peek at a few of the 600 plus pages and he's very kindly allowed me to repost the link here.   I understand from Dan's post on OA, that there will be articles on ingredients, photo essays, a biography of Giorgio and obviously recipes.

The book should be available some time in September.  Amazon are already touting it.

Ageing cookbooks

Today's post landed with a thud on my desk and I was very excited.  The two main culprits were books I have been eyeing up for some time: Escoffier's The Complete Guide to the Art of Modern Cooking and Hervé This' Molecular Gastronomy: Exploring the Science of Flavour.

It is pretty well known that some wines get better with age.  Some men (and women) argue that women improve with age as well.  It would seem the same might be true of cookbooks.  Escoffier's tome was first printed 103 years ago and remains the lodestone of French cooking.

Although as with some wines, some books are best left unopened.  Nonetheless, I am confident that the likes of This and McGee are authors whose works will enter into the pantheon of books that mature gracefully.

Egg cream

I've never had an egg cream (although I have had a few creme eggs), but having read this story about the war of Uncle Hymie's egg cream, I wish I had.

Similarly, I wish I had been at that meal at Barney Greengrass with Smilesburger and Philip Roth (or his alter-ego).  An encounter that the Amateur Gourmet kindly retells for us.

I do not think the stereotypes of New York Jewish life could be summed up any better than in these two articles.

Mushk steak anyone?

The Perfectionist

I've just finished reading The Perfectionist: Life and Death in Haute Cuisine, Rudolph Chelminski's biography of Bernard Loiseau, the former chef and proprietor at La Côte D'Or.  I found the book fascinating.  Chelminski clearly knew his subject relatively well.  During the book he refers to a number of interviews and meals he had with Loiseau throughout both of their careers and Chelminski clearly held the chef in great esteem and affection.  It does not mean the book is a mushy hagiography, rather it is insightful as to what made this great chef tick.

The majority of the book is taken up with Loiseau's obsession with reaching his goal of three stars.  As part of that Chelminski spends some time putting into context the power of Michelin in France, the role of chefs in French society and the gossip filled-vortex within which the chefs exist.  I found it thoroughly enjoyable.  Loiseau it would seem was a perfectionist in the kitchen and this translated into this style of pure food, relying heavily on a few ingredients of the highest quality cooked in the way that would enhance their flavour to its apotheosis.  He was a leading light in the much-maligned nouvelle cuisine movement and Chelminski goes to great effort to demonstrate that there is much more to this cuisine than large plates, small portions and vile combinations.  As the title of the book suggests, it was to be his search for perfection and obsession with keeping the three stars once he had them, that might well have led to him committing suicide.

I strongly recommend this book for anyone interested in what makes a chef tick.  It will convince 99% of amateur readers that they don't have what it takes to be a chef, let alone a three-star chef.  For the other 1%, I'd bet a large proportion are delusional.  Although this could in no way be described as a cookery book, you might find you pick up the odd very useful tip: such as thickening sauces with boiled and moulied vegetables as a replacement for butter as a thickening agent. I haven't tried it as yet myself, but frankly if it was good enough for Loiseau and the Michelin inspectors, it's almost certainly going to work for me.  A further advantage of this 528 page behemoth is that it is now out in paperback, so you no longer need to worry about lugging around the hardback.

Chelminski, R, 2006, The Perfectionist: Life and Death in Haute Cuisine, Penguin Books (ISBN: 0141021934)

Delving into the archives

I was just having a look through some of my old posts, when I came across this.  I was surprised to note that I had suggested I might be interested to read Food and Judaism. Surprised, because only a couple of days ago that same book landed on my doorstep.

One of the things I love about the internet, all these food blogs and forums and food sections from papers around the globe, is that I am introduced to new ideas and new books.  It got to be that I couldn't keep track of all the book that took my fancy, so I started to compile a list on Amazon.  Every so often, normally when Silverbrowess is away so she doesn't notice, I'll buy a few books off the list.  The list works well - the only problem is I forget where the recommendation came from.  It would seem that Food and Judaism is just such a book.  At least now I remember where it came from.  I now can see the value in re-reading my older posts more frequently.

I've only flicked through this book, but it looks promising with essays titled "Smoked Salmon Sushi and Sturgeon Stomachs: The Russian Jewish Foodscapes of New York" or "Holy Kugel: The Sanctification of Ashkenazic Ethnic Foods in Hassidism."  No-one ever said it would be an easy read, or unpretentious, but I'm hopeful it might help me out as further source material for my growing interest in the history of Jewish food.

I will try to remember that I have posted this and come back with some views on the essays when I have had a chance to read them.

Greenspoon LJ, Simkins R, Shapiro G (eds) 2005, Food and Judaism, University of Nebraska Press (ISBN: 1881871460)

Tastingmenu - read, weep

I do my best to make the content on this site as interesting and relevant as possible.  I also try to make it look good.  I've even been mulling a bit of a redesign of the site. 

However, I might as well give up.  Tastingmenu has always looked astounding and recently got even better.  They have developed a cookbook - Autumn Omakase - that is stunning and free. 

On the site they describe it as

One tasting menu. Nine recipes. One hundred-twenty four pages of obsessive detail. 399 gorgeous photos of every step, not just of the final dish.

Do yourself a favour - go and download it, now.  Even if you can't read, still download it - the pictures are mindblowing.  The fact you can get this for free does raise the question of why we buy expensive cookbooks with crap photos and recipes.

We're Jewish, therefore we eat

It doesn't take a genius to realise that food and judaism are inextricably linked.  As the Jerusalem Post notes "they tried to kill us - we survived - let's eat."  (Thankfully though the Holocaust has not been subject to a fress-up, yet).  I'm already excited at the prospect of Rosh Hashanah (not for another two months) because of the culinary delights it brings with it.  Not least, my annual opportunity to unleash my full cooking powers on my entire family and in-laws.

Anyway, Food and Judaism looks a pretty interesting book.  I haven't read it yet (nor have I bought it for that matter) but it seems worth a read.  If the JPost article is correct and there is no reference to Sephardi food then it is a shame, but there is a ton of material out there on Sephardi food.  Claudia Roden, doyen of such matters, devotes the majority of her The Book of Jewish Food: An Odyssey from Samarkind and Vilna to the Present Day to Sephardi food with lots of detailed culinary history.

Greenspoon LJ,  Simkins R, Shapiro G (eds) 2005, Food and Judaism, University of Nebraska Press (ISBN: 1881871460)
Roden C, 1999, The Book of Jewish Food: An Odyssey from Samarkind and Vilna to the Present Day, Penguin Books (ISBN: 0140466096)

The Soul of a Chef

I've just finished reading Michael Ruhlman's The Soul of a Chef and I was struck by the mindset that seems to be required of Thomas Keller, Brian Polcyn and Michael Symon, the chefs in the book.  It goes without saying they're all perfectionists in their own way and each of them regards the smallest element of the cooking process, let alone the ingredients, are crucial to the final plated dish, with Keller taking this to its extremes. 

However, I wonder to what extent the home cook can learn from this: is there a Soul of a Cook?  I don't mean the type of person who nukes a ready meal for two minutes and calls that cooking.  I mean the type of person who loves cooking, loves ingredients and loves seeing others getting great pleasure from their food, but who confine themselves to home - do these people need to know what it feels like to kill a rabbit, in order to get the most out of it?  I'm not sure that a home cook could ever quite reach these sorts of levels because if they did, I assume they'd quickly move out of the home and into the restaurant.  However, I was thinking recently that people are far too squeamish about what they eat and with the demise of butchers and other suppliers rarely see any more of a dead animal or fish than what is wrapped in a polystyrene tray.  It seems a bit unfair on the animals we eat that we don't understand more about them and the process by which they're slaughtered.  The only problem is that too learn more we'd need to go and have a look at the abattoirs and I wonder how many would be happy to have Joe Shmo, or Silverbrow, wandering around asking questions?

Ruhlman M, 2001, The Soul of a Chef: The Journey Toward Perfection, Penguin (ISBN: 0141001895)

Shopped

I've recently read Joanna Blythman's book, Shopped: The Shocking Power of British Supermarkets and fundamentally I agree that supermarkets are limiting our options and in part adding to the ongoing ignorance of the British food buying market.

However, I feel that in much of the book Blythman shoots herself in the foot. There are many examples of her contradicting herself and her argument is very one sided.

The most blatant contradiction is her sweeping statement that food purchasing on continental Europe is totally different to that we experience in the UK. She conjours up street markets in little Normandy villages, or Provencal hillsides. However, she then goes on to refer to the likes of Carrefour, Casino and Ahold in the same breath as Tesco, Sainsbury's et al.  As such, she seems so intent on proving her point that the supermarket phenomena is unique to the UK that she blanks out all other information that points to the contrary. The significance of this is that if in France or wherever they're able to have a combination of the street markets and the supermarkets then there is hope for us. I realise in the UK we don't have the ingrained history of daily/weekly markets but nonetheless those markets that do exist are growing and entering general consciousness. I also think that with things like Jamie Oliver's Feed Me Better campaign which appeal to a mass audience, there is a growing awareness (not just amongst the chattering classes) of the importance of knowing about the food we eat.

As for the one-sided argument, she constantly casts the supplier as the poor innocent dupe and the consumer squeezed between this end-of-the-world struggle between supermarket and supplier. She goes to great length quoting anonymous suppliers noting what supermarkets had done to them and across the board it comes across as heinous. But all I keep thinking is, they would say that wouldn't they. It is obviously a good thing that Blythman has given the suppliers the opportunity to have a voice but I can't help but feel that if they were a bit more organised - formed some sort of collective - they would have far more power with supermarkets. Blythman might respond that this gives the supermarkets the excuse to increase their own brand products that she intimates is their end goal but I disagree with this. I fail to see how consumers will be weened off their branded goods on to own brand items, whether we're talking food or non-food items. Clearly there is a market for own brand, but I think the problems that M&S have faced is a clear example where once the own-brand gets even slightly tainted, perception of the entire brand takes a nose-dive.

Finally, she makes no reference to the importance supermarkets play in keeping the prices down on non-food items. Interestingly it is non-food items that they are increasingly moving viz Tesco and Asda. You might argue this proves her point, that they are squeezing food down to the minimum, serving the lowest quality at the highest price. The flip side to that coin is their acceptance that they can't offer us the quality we're now demanding, we're widening our food shopping horizons and therefore they are branching out in to new profit centres.

As I said at the beginning, the book is well intentioned with many good points. But, I feel it is overly simplistic in its analysis and as such might be unconvincing to many, which is a shame because fundamentally she has point.

(This was first posted on egullet)

Blythman J, 2005, Shopped: The Shocking Power of British Supermarkets, Perennial (ISBN: 0007158041)