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Thursday, August 5. 2010

The decline of haute cuisine

In the London Review of Books.


I must say that I enjoy French haute cuisine enormously, but that might be because I indulge in it so infrequently. There are two or three restaurants in the vicinity who do it up grand. Pricey. $50. entrees, etc.


My 3-star French chef hunting buddy has cooked for me and friends a few times. He can make anything, but his favorite things to make are peasant foods - rabbit rillette, wild duck terrines, a wild game broth consomme with woodcock ravioli and black truffles, cassoulets, tarte tatin, and things like that. His favorite food to eat is indeed a Big Mac and fries.

Posted by Bird Dog in Food and Drink at 18:35 | Comments (4) | Trackbacks (0)

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When we lived in The Keys, we frequented a restaurant known for complicated combinations atop its dishes, mostly fish. The Ocean Reef crew always ordered them...at an outrageous price. We always ordered the catch-of-the-day (freshest) sauteed in lightly seasoned garlic butter. The taste of the fish came through.

Haute cuisine, properly prepared, means finding the freshest, most favorable foods and not screwing them up.

My friends who were stationed in the South Pacific during WWII and Vietnam always remind ambitious chefs that curry with all its spices was designed to hide the taste of rotting meats. poultry and fish. If you can't taste the basic protein, ...

Not to diminish the enjoyment of a tasty curry, but I find the recipes our family most enjoys are those that use liimited ingredients properly spiced/herbed with little fanfare. Your recipes are one of the reasons I was drawn to your blog. Thanks.
#1 jma on 2010-08-05 22:42 (Reply)
I must admit I long ago lost much interest in the "haute cuisine" high-scale restaurateur side of eating out. Once in a while, fine.

But travelling through Europe, Australia and North America, I've come to settle on good, wholesome, local grub of the bistrot, gastropub and mama-e-papa trattoria kind.
#2 JJM on 2010-08-06 11:11 (Reply)
Same here.
#2.1 Bird Dog on 2010-08-06 11:50 (Reply)
JJM ... 'cuisine de la campagne' or good old country food is good enough for me at this stage of life. Of course, if one lives down here in Cajun-land, that includes pretty gorgeous stuff -- grillettes, blackened redfish, boudin sausage, biscuits and sausage gravy, things like that, so we don't suffer much.

Marianne
#3 Marianne Matthews on 2010-08-06 15:49 (Reply)

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