Silverbrow on Food

Sour kraut

For those who have eaten my home made sausages, don't worry, I don't follow the German airforce recipe.

I like the justification from the airmen: they both "had an interest in cooking".

It reminds me of a story told by a former classmate who went off to study medicine. Medics at a London teaching hospital used to frequent the bars of posh hotels in the West End. They'd ask the barman for a Bloody Mary, but told him to hold the tomato juice. Once the vodka, tabasco, worcestershire sauce etc was sitting in front of them, they'd take out a needle, draw blood, empty it into the glass and promptly down the mixture. I suppose they'd justify it by saying they have an interest in drinking.

Ratatouille

Ratatouille is a great film, I loved it, but I am surprised it has been such a critical and box-office success. This film is about an environment that is not easily accessible or appreciated by a wide swathe of society. Yes, almost everyone loves nice food, but very few eat at the world's greatest restaurants. This is not about super-heroes, fast cars, the toy-box or monsters under the bed. This is about the very hautiest of haute cuisine. This is a film that gets its title from a dish that is widely known and usually pretty dull. But, the in-joke is that although ratatouille is a peasants dish, Remy, the film's protagonist, is following Thomas Keller's recipe for byaldi. In his cookbook The French Laundry, Keller describes byaldi as "a refined interpretation of ratatouille." But, being one of the world's most innovative chefs, Keller's interpretation of ratatouille is a loooong way from the dish's humble origins. As such, it mirrors the underlying message of the film, don't judge something by the way it looks or what it's called - a rat can cook and a few vegetables in tomato sauce can be the greatest dish ever made.

Like all Pixar's output, Ratatouille is visually stunning, repeatedly I would have sworn I wasn't watching an animation. In some of the bumpf I was given about the film, it said that rendering the various liquids, from wine to water to stock, was one of the toughest animation tasks ever undertaken. In my view, the hard work paid off. I loved the visual beauty and culinary detail, I was completely enthralled. Although, not the entire way through. I felt the film sagged a bit towards the end, especially all the stuff about friendship and family - unless the shmaltz is being used as a replacement for duck fat, it has no place in this film - although it will help to add to its family appeal. And from the repeated and very sweet giggles of the youngest viewer, about five I'd say, this is a film that will definitely appeal to all the family.

I didn't have one favourite moment but I did have a favourite theme: the sheer joy one can experience from food. In three separate instances the pleasure of food is beautifully portrayed with a great use of animation, music and humour. The first was when Remy expresses his delight in the simple pleasures of cheese and a strawberry, the second was when Remy's tasteless brother Emile almost sees the light and the third where my namesake and favourite character, Anton Ego, regresses to his paisan childhood.

This isn't the Oscars but I would like to thank Anna at Digital Outlook who helped me sort out the screening tonight. I know my fellow food bloggers and food aficionados enjoyed themselves immensely as well.

The one question this film left me asking is which UK chef has only just finished doing a voice-over for the UK release of the film? We saw the US release tonight, so had the pleasure of Thomas Keller's mellifluous tones as one of the diners in the restaurant. I'm assuming the secret UK chef will play the same role. Safe money would be Gordon, but I'd love to see Marco do it. Then again, I have no idea which diner it was that Keller voiced, he could not have said more than a couple of lines. Whoever it is won't add or subtract to the story line, but no doubt the hope is that it will boost the profile of film in the UK. In some ways that's a shame because the film doesn't need any gimmicks, it is fantastic with or without a celeb chef.

The film goes on general release in the UK from 12 October and will be previewing in some places from 5 October.

Silverbrow - redrawn

One of my oldest friends, who made his millions in the dot-com boom, bought me a couple of fantastic presents for my recent birthday. He was also responsible for the one present that brought the biggest laughs. Thanks Nic.

Now for something completely different

Please excuse this brief interlude, but I defy you not to have at least one goose-bump in the next 4 minutes 9 seconds. For purists, the video has nothing to do with food, other than the fact it oozes cheese and schmaltz and is all the better for it.

Hat-tip: The Debatable Land

Feed me Bubbe

If you have heard of the mythical Jewish grandma but don't get what all the hype is about, watch Feed me Bubbe and all will be clear.

I am not sure whether this is some sort of viral campaign or not (no idea what for) but it is very funny.

The question yet to be answered is who is the star of the show?  Bubbe or her schmendrick grandson who introduces each video.

Hat-tip: Haverchuk

Cinnabon

If you like Cinnabon, you may not appreciate Gridskipper's take on this fine dining establishment. The money quotes are:

The Cinnabon itself is something of a modern marvel of mankind. Hardly anything that came out of the Earth finds itself present.

Oh, and

One thing the Cinnabon is is delicious. Who can resist the warm semenlike sauce, running down the chins of patrons like a confectioner's bukkake party?

Nice.

Gefilte fish alert

I always knew there must be a reason that traditional Jewish recipes require fish to be cooked within an inch of its life.  I now know what that reason is.

And there was I thinking that "Jewish housewives' disease" was an entirely different kettle of fish.

A chilly view

I often have a yearning to take a peek inside other people's fridges but they don't always react well to my snooping.

Thanks to Panorama Frigo, I have the opportunity to do it from the comfort of my desk without anyone taking offence.

Oy

Probably the funniest take-away menu in the world.  Make sure your volume is turned up high.

Ratatouille

Films about food are an unusual but rich niche.  Very few have had enormous commercial success, although there are some exceptions such as Babette's Feast or Chocolat.  Supposedly, Big Night is a fantastic example of food-porn although I've yet to see it and if we want to get down and dirty, there is always La Grande Bouffe.

It now looks like food is getting the Pixar treatment with Ratatouille, the story of an American rat living in Paris, with a yearning for top nosh.  I wonder if the inspiration might have been Orson Welles' Down and Out in Paris and London?

We have got at least a year to wait until we see any more than the trailer, but that at least is promising.

Hat-tip: Il Forno

Iced tea and rings of fire

There appears to be a shift in received opinion.  Chefs, diners and reviewers are remembering that food is closely connected to happiness, joy and humour.

It is heart-warming to see that this concept has reached the Arkansas school system.  It's disappointing that not everyone is so advanced in their culinary thinking as Mark "Cowboy" Turner.

The Smoking Gun goes into the whole sorry story:

A quartet of Arkansas high school students is facing criminal charges for allegedly placing a laxative in an iced tea dispenser in their school's faculty lounge. After purchasing the laxative at Wal-Mart, Mark "Cowboy" Turner, 18, snuck into the lounge at Lakeside High School and placed it into the dispenser, which was then shaken by another prankster, 18-year-old Harry Keck. A couple of teachers who drank the tea following the May 3 senior class prank later complained of cramps, according to Hot Springs police. Two other students, Bradley Parham, 18, and Jeffery Canterbury, 19, were also hit with a misdemeanor abuse of teacher rap. Investigators learned of the laxative assault after a Lakeside student found out about the spiking and told a school resource officer, said Corporal Chris Chapmond, a police spokesman. The four students are scheduled for a May 16 District Court hearing.

Educational plates

At last a product that fills that yawning marketing gap: a plate which teaches you everything you need to know about the animal you are scoffing.

Although the blurb on the website says they're made by the same company that makes plates for the US military, they are clearly appealing to the massive Chinese market by providing the anatomy of dogs, as well as that of sheep, pigs and cows.  Genius.

Hat tip: Gizmodo

When Do We Eat?

As questions go, few are more central to the thought process of any self respecting Jew. Given the title alone, one can tell the directors of this new film understand something of what makes us tick. I haven't seen it, but from what I understand When Do We Eat? is a fairly close approximation to the seder nights so many of us experience. The trailer is promising.

Alex at Dans Le Noir

Alex dines at Dans Le Noir.

© The Daily Telegraph 15 March 2006

Alex isn't the only one to be slightly ambivalent about the place: it has received mixed reviews in The Daily Telegraph and The Guardian.

Dans Le Noir, 30-31 Clerkenwell Green, London, EC1R 0DU, UK
Tel: +44 (0) 20 7253 1100

Google Maps

Oh do grow-up

Ok this is immature, it's not big, it's not clever.  But it did make me snigger.  I rarely descend into school-boy humour, despite my natural tendencies, so bear with me.

It would seem that the latest way to waste your money is by purchasing a protector for your banana.  My favourite, from several on the market, is the ribbed variety from Banana Bunker - if only because of its unnecessarily smutty connotations.

Check-out Slashfood for a slightly more mature review of the product.