Oprah and grilled chicken

I see that some people are complaining that Oprah's grilled chicken promotion (as I understand it, it involves getting free "Kentucky Grilled Chicken") is somehow hypcritical or wrong more generally because KFC feeds people industrially raised chickens.

Let's just get something totally clear here - whatever one thinks about eating KFC's chicken themselves, our agriculatural system will simply not work if, as the complainer says, KFC starts selling free range chickens (and by free range I mean actually free range, rather than industrial free range, whereby the chickens theoretically could go outside if only they knew how to get there through the small hole in their coop). Real free range chickens cost at least $12, and more like $20 a bird. As tasty and delicious as they are, as amazing the difference is between them and an industrial chicken, the existence of the industrially raised product is the only thing between us and a two tier world where the wealthy eat meat, and everyone else dreams about their once a week or month roast.

Maybe that's a good world, in a lot of ways. But it ain't going to fly today.

Beacon

We had a disappointing experience at Beacon yesterday, a normally very good American chophouse which both of us have enjoyed before. Yesterday, though, although the food was quite good (I had a well made tuna nicouse salad, with quail eggs and seared tuna), our service was very slow and badly paced. It really put us off.

Further, I am less happy about the value proposition the more I think about it. Beacon is doing 20% off everything on its menu, and yet main dishes are still more than $25. In fact, even my nicoise, just a plain old salad, was $23. That's a hefty toll when other very good restaurants indeed, with a little more ambition, are about the same price.

I think Beacon is a real value in its set meals, whether we're talking about the mammoth Sunday dinner for its prix fixe. I'm less sure now about just ordering a plate.

Pommes Maxime

I've been trying to figure out pommes maxime since my visit to per se in January. They're not that complicated, honestly - just thinly sliced, layered potatoes crisped perfectly. (here's a picture of pommes maximes made by per se). I loved them then, and I especially loved that they're a sneaky way of smuggling potato chips into haute cuisine.

I started by trying to bake the thin slices of potato just as is, but I quickly realized they needed to be weighted down to get the flat effect per se manages. So I baked the potatoes, after tossing in olive oil, with another sheet pan on top. That worked somewhat, but wasn't reproducing even close to the even browning I was hoping for. The oven is sort of the sledgehammer of cookery - not exactly the most delicate instrument, and what it yielded was unevenly cooked potatoes, blackened here, still soft there.

My latest attempt was over the fire. I sliced the potatoes thinly and layered them as usual, tossed them in oil, and added them to a non-stick pan. Then I covered them with a layer of oiled aluminium foil, and squashed them as hard as I could with a glass milk bottle, leaving them to cook on medium heat for about 5 minutes on each side.

They flattened and browned!

I drained them on towels, and then just before serving, gave them a last crisp in the pan. They got served in an asparagus puree with sauteed morels, and they were pretty darned good.

A picture will follow tomorrow.