Foie Gras triggers call to food police

Chicago chef gets the food police called in as he tries to save food cost by serving foie gras – the tasty fattened goose liver now banned by a new city ordnance.

What angers me is the censorship of the food.  I can understand censoring black Cod as it is a protected species but foie gras is not protected – it should be.  It should be saved as a gastronomic triumph – not killed.

Another wing nut activist has ruined life for the rest of us – they should be ashamed.

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Copyright 2006. Unlawful dissemination of this or any other work will be prosecuted to the full extent of the law.

Bordeaux 2005 futures looking up

The business of speculation wine buying has been part of the success of the French industry for as long as wines have been classified. Any investment, which wine speculation is, is a tightrope act meant only for those whose pockets can afford the wait and the storage. This piece is on how after just 2 months,the 2005 Bordeaux futures market has begun to take off like a rocket. This exponential growth is unprecedented in the industry and has a lot of wine buyers frothing at the mouth for high returns for what the insiders consider to be the best Bordeaux growth since 1982.

Is this rational? Is spending $1000 a bottle for wine that you won’t even have in your hand until 2008 worth it? Even still, that speculators see the 2005 vintage peaking somewhere around 2050. Is the hype worth the wait?

If I had a couple grand to expend – then sure as a wine connoisseur I would love to have a couple of show stoppers in my collection – but only to drink.

My advice – save now to buy the bottle you choose in 50 years time. Save for that special occasion and splurge. Waiting to see if this is truly great is a crap shoot – I might be wrong, but if it turns out bad than all you are left with is sour grapes.

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Copyright 2006. Unlawful dissemination of this or any other work will be prosecuted to the full extent of the law.

Dinner at El Bulli

I really enjoy reading about other peoples’s experiences eating at what I would call serious restaurants. Clothilde the tireless author of Chocolate and Zucchini – one of the first and most popular food writing blogs, has just posted a terrific article on her marathon dining session. But this post is better than others – she has included pictures of each of her 35 courses from the tasting menu.

El Bulli like Heston Blumenthal’s Fat Duck in England, is part of the fringe movement in cookery – molecular gastronomy. The idea is to bend your perception of food through science.

Essences, foams, cotton candies – and simple deconstructionism are the tools used. As Clotilde asks “is it the best restaurant in the world?” Only you can decide.

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Copyright 2006 Unlawful dissemination of this or any other work will be prosecuted to the full extent of the law.

A Perfect Cup Of Coffee

Here is a guy who is all freaked out over coffee. I like coffee, just like the next person, but I think that this guy has been OD’ing on the stuff so long he has become a bit intense. However I would argue that 1 level tablespoon of coffee per cup is not enough, in my house it is one mounded 1/8 of a cup of fresh ground beans (Fair Trade Organic if I can) to the two cup level in a coffee pot – making sure to use filtered water. I also never make more than 10 cups at a time – takes too long. 6 cups for two people seems to be the best – one full cup and one half refill.

This ratio seems to get the punch of the coffee in the morning and not be overbearing. How do you like your coffee. I m partial to any form – espresso, french press, with or without milk, Turkish (med.sweet) and any other variant you can choose. What is the first cup in your day?

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Copyright 2006. Unlawful dissemination of this or any other work will be prosecuted to the full extent of the law.

Bartender Myths

Bar myths, sure we’ve all heard them – but here are ten good tips when going out to a bar. I know these to be true – hell, I’m like a cousin to these guys. The Chef/Bartender relationship whether it is part of the same restaurant or at some-other bar – we know the rules. We work the same hours – and we go tho these places for drinks. And if we are lucky, they help us in the door when the place is rocking or we’ve got a hot date.

We don’t take their kindness for granted – and if per chance that one of those guys gets off a shift and enters our establishment – we’d be sure to reciprocate the favor.

I feed you a terrific meal – and you get a teensy bit liberal with the pouring spout and we’re all having a good time.

Read it – it will make you cooler when out with friends – guys in the know are cool.

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Copyright 2006. Unlawful dissemination of this or any other work will be prosecuted to the full extent of the law.

Chicago Tribune article

So this is another piece on foie gras and Chicago – Restaurants are planning a “Farewell to Foie” tribute dinner at $100 pp. A steal if you ask me.

The sad thing is that it was a municipal decision to do this – not a national directive. Charlie Trotter, once the toast of the Chicago town has not had Foie on his menus for years thanks to pressure.

Now everyone has to suffer the same fate.

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Unlawful dissemination of this or any other work will be prosecuted to the full extent of the law.

ed note: It was pointed out by a reader that the post was ambiguous as I said that Trotter “didn’t serve foie for years thanks to pressure”.  Which is true.  However, Trotter took foie off his menu because he thinks it is wrong to have it there, not because he was pressured to do so, as this Chicago Tribune article states.  I apologise for the confusion and the misrepresentation.

Chicago kills foie gras for foodies

CNN is now reporting that the ban is on. As I wrote a couple of weeks ago, about the nannying of the food industry, Chicago has legislated that foie gras will be a banned substance.
Now, being a Canadian our law makers watch carefully the legal procedings in the US and use them as a guide for what happens here. My dearest fear is that we have more tree hugging wing-nuts than the US does , and that could mean the death of Canadian foie. Quebec has a thriving foie gras industry. They have been the advocates and have banded together with the Hudson Valley producers in upstate New York to help lobby to keep foie thriving. I am sure they are looking at this with great interest as well as their artisan cheese makers who work with unpasteurized milk for their stiltons and for other fantastically desirable cheeses.
Now I fear that other fine foods will go this way – veal production in the UK and Europe almost stopped as animal activists say that raising young calfs (under 22 months old) for slaughter is unethical.
However I argue that chicken raising is unethical – no one cares is hundreds of thousands are kept and caged and most will never see the light of day and hundreds of millions of them are killed each year so that we may eat.
This is the thin edge of the wedge for food censorship, however no one will tackle the sacred cow of the beef industry, as long as it is protected with oil. There is too much money at stake.
As far as I am concerned, even if there is a ban – foie gras will always be protected in my house – damn the government’s meddling and irrational knee-jerking – save your right to have and enjoy foie gras.
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Copyright 2006. Unlawful dissemination of this or any other writing will be prosecuted to the full extent of the law.

I (de)cant decide

To decant or not to decant, that is the question. Whether it is nobler to let the bottle mature and have at it with corkscrew in hand than it is to let it mellow in a glass vessel that is the question.

Decanting wine has always been a big debate. Hard core onephiles swear that only the most deserving wines need the laborious, but ritualistic method of proper decanting. However, young wine lovers, counter that any wine, old or new could benefit from decanting. So the question still remains – do we decant or don’t we?

For some people, the presence of sediment will either make them drool or make them angry. For the pretentious snobs in the wine world, sediment is the hallmark of a wine that has “laid down” for a while. However the presence of sediment could easily be attributed to the fact that the wine was improperly filtered. Sediment to most other people is the hallmark of a chance to get out a decanter.

For those of you wondering if you need a special container for the wine, consider this – most decanting is done just prior to service, so what it is in has little bearing on an older wine. Although, some sommeliers believe that very young wines also deserve the decanting treatment. The argument is that the decanting will help “aerate” the wine and round out some of the harsher notes generally associated with newer wines.

I sit on the fence on this one. For me the decanter is reserved for two camps – the first is that bottle of wine that has had a good life in a cellar and deserves to be let out and tasted. This requires the task of using a decanter – as to give it a good send off (and if the decanter is crystal – all the better). This is the drink equivalent of a wake for a good friend. It has been good having you around – but now it is time to party.

My second use is a little bit of wine trickery. By knowing how wines work and the way in which they change characteristics in the presence of oxygen, the cheapest wines can taste like First Growth Bordeaux if properly handled. By allowing a younger wine to sit decanted for up to two hours prior to service can really make a difference to the flavour palate.

Although the main reason for decanting is to remove the sediment from the wine you require three tools – a corkscrew, a candle and a vessel to pour the wine into. To decant a wine properly cut the entire foil off the wine bottle – this is to allow you to see when the sediment starts reaching the neck of the bottle. If the wine has been sitting in a cellar for a long time and the sediment has really started to build up, it is a good idea to stand the bottle up about 24 hours before serving to allow the sediment to settle to the bottom of the bottle. Once the entire foil has been removed start pouring the wine slowly into the vessel chosen. Pour with the neck of the bottle over the flame of the candle, and watch to see when the sediment starts to pour through the neck. The moment the sediment starts to move through the neck, stop decanting. In any given bottle the sediment will be mixed with about a cup of wine. This is not suitable for drinking (due to the solids in the wine) but would sure make a good base for a sauce if you are serving the wine with food.

Although any vessel you choose will be good for the purpose, it is nice to have a decent decanter. I have a wide bottomed one made of crystal and it is an elegant piece to accompany our crystal stemware. So whether it is for a First Growth Grand Cru or for that bottle of Premier Plonk, decanting is a choice – like it or not.

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Copyright 2006. Unlawful dissemination of this or any other work will be punished to the full extent of the law.

Hell in a handbasket – Bourdain style

Sometimes food and life get horribly intermingled. In this piece, on Salon.com, Anthony Bourdain writes from Beirut.

Here is a cook, and writer trying to write about the food culture which was in the beginning of a renaissance now he has to wait it out as the city gets bombed.

Beirut is a long way away from his kitchen in New York – I just hope that he’s fine.

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Copyright 2006. Unlawful dissemination of this or any other work will be prosecuted to the full extent of the law.

powerfeeds and food podcasts

Podcasts are bigger than anything and here is an example. If demos are for you, then i suggest you check some of these out. I particularly thought the one by Food Network’s Ming Tsai on the technique to sharpening a knife, very informative.