5/02/2008
Another Simple Way with Goat Cheese
I've been on something of a goat cheese kick recently, and last night the urge struck again. This time, a full garlicky goat cheese wrapped in a horn of puff pastry with sauteed vine tomatoes. Mmm.
Brown busted
Non-Food!
Gordon Brown, British Prime Minister, has been given a big thumping in the local elections held yesterday. I don't care much, except to say that "I told you so". Writing three years ago, I noted, given the likelihood that Brown would succeed the then reviled Tony Blair, that laborites who thought that Brown was some sort of electoral panacea were likely to be disappointed. As I argued, not only was Brown unlikely to be the true labor leftist a certain type of activist was pining for, but he was probably a pretty inferior politican too:
The problem, of course, is that the moment Blair leaves, the tories will revive. The labour left's assumption, that there's something about tory policies that the country has foresaken forever, is flatly wrong - they've thought this before, and they got themselves Thatcher. Rather, the problem is the now reviled Mr. Blair - he's got the tories so totally flummoxed that they've resorted to the hoary chestnut of immigration, along with bizarre posters that say things like "Are you thinking what we're thinking?". With Blair sitting solidly on the precise center of British politics, I doubt very much that the Tories would ever win.
But Brown cannot equal Blair's achievement. If he does live up to the advertising, and goes left, then the tories will simply re-take the center. No one in Britain wants a return to the 70s, when what is now a vibrant economic power asked for help from the IMF. And if a man known as the Iron Chancellor does what seems more likely,and tries to remain where Blair has been successful, I think it very unlikely that he will be as good as Blair. Does anyone believe Gore had even a twentieth of the political skills of his master? If he did, he would have been president, and not Bill.
In the interim, Brown has become Prime Minister, got himself into a variety of preposterous muddles (including the latest, which involves pushing five million people currently paying a 10% tax rate into the 20% bracket) and has not assuaged any of the leftists' complaints. Whoops.
* Now, to go find all those examples where my predictions were really really wrong, to balance this out.
Gordon Brown, British Prime Minister, has been given a big thumping in the local elections held yesterday. I don't care much, except to say that "I told you so". Writing three years ago, I noted, given the likelihood that Brown would succeed the then reviled Tony Blair, that laborites who thought that Brown was some sort of electoral panacea were likely to be disappointed. As I argued, not only was Brown unlikely to be the true labor leftist a certain type of activist was pining for, but he was probably a pretty inferior politican too:
The problem, of course, is that the moment Blair leaves, the tories will revive. The labour left's assumption, that there's something about tory policies that the country has foresaken forever, is flatly wrong - they've thought this before, and they got themselves Thatcher. Rather, the problem is the now reviled Mr. Blair - he's got the tories so totally flummoxed that they've resorted to the hoary chestnut of immigration, along with bizarre posters that say things like "Are you thinking what we're thinking?". With Blair sitting solidly on the precise center of British politics, I doubt very much that the Tories would ever win.
But Brown cannot equal Blair's achievement. If he does live up to the advertising, and goes left, then the tories will simply re-take the center. No one in Britain wants a return to the 70s, when what is now a vibrant economic power asked for help from the IMF. And if a man known as the Iron Chancellor does what seems more likely,and tries to remain where Blair has been successful, I think it very unlikely that he will be as good as Blair. Does anyone believe Gore had even a twentieth of the political skills of his master? If he did, he would have been president, and not Bill.
In the interim, Brown has become Prime Minister, got himself into a variety of preposterous muddles (including the latest, which involves pushing five million people currently paying a 10% tax rate into the 20% bracket) and has not assuaged any of the leftists' complaints. Whoops.
* Now, to go find all those examples where my predictions were really really wrong, to balance this out.
5/01/2008
Baba
So, this is yet another example of when a better camera would have been helpful. Alas. The other night, I got a hankering for Baba au rhum, after seeing Lidia Bastianich's aged mother devour one happily on Lidia's Italy, a somewhat underrated program usually seen on public television. I didn't have rum, though, or limoncello (as Lidia recommends), so I just used some wonderful scotch whiskey I had cadging around. The recipe is basically a simplified, yeasty brioche, to my untrained eye - buttery, eggy, and most importantly, spongy, in order to soak in the spiked sugar syrup the breads are immersed into at the end. The babas themselves emerged perfectly out of the oven, rising above the ramekins I had put them in to give me the classic bulbed shape. I could feel the perfect texture inside. And they greedily slurped up vast amounts of syrup, growing almost once over again.
But questions abound - would it be better if they had slow risen, like I do with bread, overnight in the fridge? Should both syrup and baba be cool before baptising the babas, or just the syrup, or just the baba (I did hot syrup and cool baba, to good effect)? Should it taste of liquor or sugar?
But questions abound - would it be better if they had slow risen, like I do with bread, overnight in the fridge? Should both syrup and baba be cool before baptising the babas, or just the syrup, or just the baba (I did hot syrup and cool baba, to good effect)? Should it taste of liquor or sugar?
4/30/2008
Dissonance
A few days ago, I heard someone near my office building say to her friends, in an exasperated tone, "I don't understand how people can pour carbs into their body. It's so unhealthy."
Fine, I thought, as I walked off to Bella Napoli on 49th street* to pour carbs into my body. A little preachy, but her prerogative.
Coming back after having gobbled two slices of pizza, I found the same woman outside. Smoking. As in cigarettes.
* Bella Napoli is the most acceptable pizza I know of in the area between 8th Avenue and 6th Avenue, 55th to 45th streets, which is about reasonable walking range during a light to medium work day. The superior Naples 45 takeaway is too far. Sullivan Street Bakery is on 10th Avenue and 48th, within walking distance, but also not hot (it is served at room temperature), and in any case sometime one wants margherita, which SSB does not serve. Two Boots, which recently (and inexplicably) won a poll at Midtown lunch, is also slightly outside my radius, and also awful. The fairly good pizza trucks on Park Avenue are also slightly outside range. The 99 cent pizza is unacceptable, as is Amish Market, as are all the "Ray's" and "Ray's" derivatives.
Fine, I thought, as I walked off to Bella Napoli on 49th street* to pour carbs into my body. A little preachy, but her prerogative.
Coming back after having gobbled two slices of pizza, I found the same woman outside. Smoking. As in cigarettes.
* Bella Napoli is the most acceptable pizza I know of in the area between 8th Avenue and 6th Avenue, 55th to 45th streets, which is about reasonable walking range during a light to medium work day. The superior Naples 45 takeaway is too far. Sullivan Street Bakery is on 10th Avenue and 48th, within walking distance, but also not hot (it is served at room temperature), and in any case sometime one wants margherita, which SSB does not serve. Two Boots, which recently (and inexplicably) won a poll at Midtown lunch, is also slightly outside my radius, and also awful. The fairly good pizza trucks on Park Avenue are also slightly outside range. The 99 cent pizza is unacceptable, as is Amish Market, as are all the "Ray's" and "Ray's" derivatives.
Pizza nut
My former classmate, Amber, points to this extraordinary site, detailing one man's obsession with achieving the perfect home pizza. I had seen it previously linked on Stuart Buck's website, but I can't find my post about it, and the author's efforts are so startling that it's worth another look. And no, New York pizza isn't good because of the water, just like French bread isn't good because of the water.
UPDATE: I found my old post!
UPDATE: I found my old post!
The Burger King Kobe Burger
Via Loccusolus, I see that Burger King is going to serve up an 85 pound ($170) Kobe beef hamburger. It's obviously a marketing ploy, like the various $1000 sushi rolls and $500 pizzas floating around, but what struck me was the price. 85 pounds? How does ground kobe with foie gras add up to that much? Even at Craftsteak, true Japanese Wagyu steak costs only $30 an ounce ($120). One has got to figure that Craftsteak has just the tiniest bit higher overhead than Burger King. Fine, so this is all nit-picking of a project designed to make a splash, but I'd still like it to make sense.
By the way, to be au courant with the current trend in New York, my back of the envelope calculation is that even if the Wagyu was a relatively lean 50% fat (some Wagyu is much more), the resulting quarter pounder would have 56 grams of fat, excluding the foie gras, sauce, bread, etc. How's that for healthy?
By the way, to be au courant with the current trend in New York, my back of the envelope calculation is that even if the Wagyu was a relatively lean 50% fat (some Wagyu is much more), the resulting quarter pounder would have 56 grams of fat, excluding the foie gras, sauce, bread, etc. How's that for healthy?
4/29/2008
So, what think you now?
Ezra Klein has a post today being sad about the effect of the rising cost of food on people's diets (from a story in the New York Times). That's all well and good and all, but perhaps Ezra might reconsider his post about how great it would be if food was more expensive, from a month ago (and which I made fun of back then)? Or did he just mean it would be nice if food was more expensive and humane, and yet through some kind of magic, people would be unaffected?
4/28/2008
Leftover Rosa del Rosa and Scrambled Eggs
I had about a glass of Rosa del Rosa leftover from Saturday night, and I was alone for Sunday lunch, so I decided to have a sort of light brunch. What better than scrambled eggs (in the French soft curdy style, rather than the chewy mess it often is over here). I tried Gordon Ramsay's technique (linked by E. Klein), but found it no better than my usual (in short, he starts both the butter and eggs cold, whereas I usually melt the butter before adding the eggs. Eh.) With a couple of smoked salmon trimmings from my local supermarket (the ends of large planks of smoked salmon are often sold for two or three dollars by the supermarket in little plastic tubs - they are a great value for scrambled eggs, pastas, smoked salmon sandwiches, creme fraiche pizzas, etc, etc) and some toast, I settled down in front of my computer for some writing.
4/27/2008
Wine Note: Properieta Sperino, Rosa del Rosa
I'm no Professor Bainbridge when it comes to wine, but I enjoy buying and drinking the stuff, especially from the wonderful Moore Brothers. I was introduced to Moore Brothers when I was living in Delaware (one of them was sommelier at Philadelphia's well known Le Bec Fin) and was delighted when they opened their New York location. It is a pleasure to drink wine chosen by people who know what it is supposed to taste like. I have never had a bad bottle from them.
In any case, yesterday we had a terrific rose from Italy, Proprieta Sperino, Rosa del Rosa. The wine has a immensely powerful aroma, which my girlfriend thought was apple and I couldn't identify. Flopping around the internet, I found a tasting note by someone else that gave me a clue as to what I was smelling - which is to say, extremely pungent raspberries. In any case, I agree with the commentator at The Tasting Note. "This is a ****ing good rose."
(Dinner, incidentally, was chicken breast taken off the bone and sauteed skin side down on my gas griddle for fantastically crispy skin [fried chicken without the guilt, I said] with a simple red potato salad [boiled potatoes, spring onions, dijon vinaigrette but made by replacing half the red wine vinegar with lemon]).
In any case, yesterday we had a terrific rose from Italy, Proprieta Sperino, Rosa del Rosa. The wine has a immensely powerful aroma, which my girlfriend thought was apple and I couldn't identify. Flopping around the internet, I found a tasting note by someone else that gave me a clue as to what I was smelling - which is to say, extremely pungent raspberries. In any case, I agree with the commentator at The Tasting Note. "This is a ****ing good rose."
(Dinner, incidentally, was chicken breast taken off the bone and sauteed skin side down on my gas griddle for fantastically crispy skin [fried chicken without the guilt, I said] with a simple red potato salad [boiled potatoes, spring onions, dijon vinaigrette but made by replacing half the red wine vinegar with lemon]).
4/25/2008
Twilight Picnic
We had a delightful twilight picnic in Astoria Park last night, overlooking Manhattan. Dinner was good turkey sandwiches, rubbed generously with kalamata olive paste, and thick slabs of Greek pastry from the usually excellent Artopolis bakery. Also, one of the park's indigent inhabitants came and yelled at us about "the blood of science and god" for five minutes, but that didn't spoil the mood.
4/24/2008
Torture
Warning - Non-food content!
Professor Sandy Levinson at Balkin has a post today concerning the moral gravity of torture compared to, say, carpet bombing. It resembles, in a way, a colloquy I had with Prof. Levinson when I was his student during his visit to HLS. Briefly, I tried to push him to provide a clear answer to why torture was worse than any of the other barbarities that accompany war. The only answer that has even remotely satisfied me is that torture involves the infliction of pain on someone entirely in your grasp. It is, in that sense, especially barbaric, an indicative manifestation of a basic incivility. But I do not see how dropping an atomic weapon on millions of civilians who do not know it is coming is any worse.
I suspect that Prof. Levinson's answer to the conundrum is rather different than mine, in that he would likely say that both the bombing (as well as a host of lesser civilian oriented attacks) and torture are equally indefensible, constitute war crimes, etc. During my talk with Prof. Levinson, and on my old blog, I've gone on the record saying that I am willing to defend our obliteration of Germany during WWII, as well as Hiroshima/Nagasaki, while I am not willing to permit torture (in which I include waterboarding). But my distinction is not based on morals - the man or woman who orders either, I think, bears an equal and possibly indelible, moral weight - but on practicality. Torture doesn't work, it can be used on our men and women, and it looks horrible in a conflict where we are fighting an ideological war as much as anything else. But is the distinction really one of gravity, as people seem to think? I'm not sure.
Professor Sandy Levinson at Balkin has a post today concerning the moral gravity of torture compared to, say, carpet bombing. It resembles, in a way, a colloquy I had with Prof. Levinson when I was his student during his visit to HLS. Briefly, I tried to push him to provide a clear answer to why torture was worse than any of the other barbarities that accompany war. The only answer that has even remotely satisfied me is that torture involves the infliction of pain on someone entirely in your grasp. It is, in that sense, especially barbaric, an indicative manifestation of a basic incivility. But I do not see how dropping an atomic weapon on millions of civilians who do not know it is coming is any worse.
I suspect that Prof. Levinson's answer to the conundrum is rather different than mine, in that he would likely say that both the bombing (as well as a host of lesser civilian oriented attacks) and torture are equally indefensible, constitute war crimes, etc. During my talk with Prof. Levinson, and on my old blog, I've gone on the record saying that I am willing to defend our obliteration of Germany during WWII, as well as Hiroshima/Nagasaki, while I am not willing to permit torture (in which I include waterboarding). But my distinction is not based on morals - the man or woman who orders either, I think, bears an equal and possibly indelible, moral weight - but on practicality. Torture doesn't work, it can be used on our men and women, and it looks horrible in a conflict where we are fighting an ideological war as much as anything else. But is the distinction really one of gravity, as people seem to think? I'm not sure.
4/23/2008
The Chart Explained
Pinkberry, the luxury frozen yogurt brand sweeping the nation, has recently been exposed as, well, not especially natural (as it had been advertised). I'm not surprised, because I tried it about a year ago and wasn't impressed,suggesting that I would have been equally happy with a McDonald's soft serve ice cream cone. Now that the Pinkberry ingredients have been revealed, probably courtesy of the law suit contesting their claim to be natural that was recently settled, we can see exactly how Pinkberry yogurt compares with its much cheaper, down market competitor. Below, you'll see a chart comparing all the ingredients of each dessert, drawn from their respective web pages.
My methodology is pretty simple. I found the ingredient lists of both frozen treats, and attempted to categorize each ingredient by way of google. For those ingredients that differ, I have provided a link to what I found. My conclusions are below, and I present them with the obvious caveat that since I'm not any kind of food scientist, I may well have something wrong. If so, tell me, but even if some additive is a emulsifier and not an acidifier, I think the point is basically made. At about four times the cost, Pinkberry has more ingredients, more additives, and more food coloring than Mcdonald's. Advantage Golden Arches.
1. As you can see, 10 of the ingredients (the Red) are basically the same. Yes, Pinkberry has yogurt and Mcdonald's has cream, but effectively, there is no difference or superiority here.
2. Both are full of additive emulsifiers (What I've coded as Green)
3. Pinkberry includes starch. That is to say, a pure filler.
4. Pinkberry includes three different kinds of acidifiers (Purple). I couldn't find any in Mcdonald's, but this may have something to do with the need for Pinkberry to be tart.
5. Pinkberry is colored with Yellow 5 Lake. That is to say, tartrazine, an often controversial coloring required to be reported on a label by the FDA because it causes reactions in some people. Pinkberry's color is as natural as Mountain Dew.
My methodology is pretty simple. I found the ingredient lists of both frozen treats, and attempted to categorize each ingredient by way of google. For those ingredients that differ, I have provided a link to what I found. My conclusions are below, and I present them with the obvious caveat that since I'm not any kind of food scientist, I may well have something wrong. If so, tell me, but even if some additive is a emulsifier and not an acidifier, I think the point is basically made. At about four times the cost, Pinkberry has more ingredients, more additives, and more food coloring than Mcdonald's. Advantage Golden Arches.
1. As you can see, 10 of the ingredients (the Red) are basically the same. Yes, Pinkberry has yogurt and Mcdonald's has cream, but effectively, there is no difference or superiority here.
2. Both are full of additive emulsifiers (What I've coded as Green)
3. Pinkberry includes starch. That is to say, a pure filler.
4. Pinkberry includes three different kinds of acidifiers (Purple). I couldn't find any in Mcdonald's, but this may have something to do with the need for Pinkberry to be tart.
5. Pinkberry is colored with Yellow 5 Lake. That is to say, tartrazine, an often controversial coloring required to be reported on a label by the FDA because it causes reactions in some people. Pinkberry's color is as natural as Mountain Dew.
| Mcdonald's Soft Serve | Pinkberry |
| Milk | Skim Milk |
| Sugar | Sucrose |
| Cream | Nonfat Dry Yogurt |
| Nonfat Milk Solids | Nonfat Dry Milk |
| mono- and diglycerides | mono- and diglycerides |
| guar gum | guar gum |
| dextrose | dextrose |
| sodium citrate | sodium citrate |
| artificial vanilla | natural and artificial flavors |
| Corn Syrup Solids | Fructose (a corn syrup extract) maltodextrin (corn syrup based thickener) |
| sodium phosphate (emsulsifier) | |
| carrageenan (emsulsifier) | propylene glycol esters (stabilizer, emulsifier) |
| disodium phosphate (emulsifier) | soy lecithin (emulsifier, stabilizer) |
| cellulose gum (stabilizer) | sodium acid pyrophosphate |
| Vitamin A Palmitate (fortifier) | Starch (filler |
| Tocopherol (Vitamin E, preservative) | |
| Yellow 5 Lake (tartrazine) | |
| Citric Acid | |
| magnesium oxide | |
| calcium fumarate | |
Prune
I took the opportunity of a fairly early night to dine at Prune last night. For those who don't know, Prune's Gabrielle Hamilton is, by all accounts, the quintessential chef's chef. She runs the restaurant herself, chefs eat there, and it is beloved of the New York food cognisenti (see, for example, the Amateur Gourmet, who had a few of the things I had when he visited) . It also has about 24 seats. Consequently, it is effectively impossible to get into on the weekend, so we weaseled in at 9 pm last night.
Hamilton's signature is the utter simplicity of her cooking. It is almost off-putting, to tell you the truth. A dainty slab of monkfish liver (which I have never had before, and had no idea that monkfish had a liver of that size) dressed in nothing but balsamic. Enormous, langoustine sized shrimps, grilled whole, and served in nothing but an anchovy butter. Or, my girlfriend's grilled quails with raisins and escarole, which brought to mind a Jewish pasta I once learned involving schmalz, pine nuts, and raisins. As for dessert, at my first bite of the ricotta ice cream with butterscotch croutons, I thought, "Eh". At my fifth, my spoon started scrunching imperceptibly towards my girlfriend's side of the scoop. And at the end, I was scraping the plate to get the last bit of butterscotch. A truly understated, delicious, ending.
Two questions: 1) Why is it called Prune? (Aha! It was Hamilton's childhood nickname!) 2) Why, why is it so small? (Presumably to allow the chef to keep total control (she was there, after all), but wow. How do you make money in such tight confines?).
Hamilton's signature is the utter simplicity of her cooking. It is almost off-putting, to tell you the truth. A dainty slab of monkfish liver (which I have never had before, and had no idea that monkfish had a liver of that size) dressed in nothing but balsamic. Enormous, langoustine sized shrimps, grilled whole, and served in nothing but an anchovy butter. Or, my girlfriend's grilled quails with raisins and escarole, which brought to mind a Jewish pasta I once learned involving schmalz, pine nuts, and raisins. As for dessert, at my first bite of the ricotta ice cream with butterscotch croutons, I thought, "Eh". At my fifth, my spoon started scrunching imperceptibly towards my girlfriend's side of the scoop. And at the end, I was scraping the plate to get the last bit of butterscotch. A truly understated, delicious, ending.
Two questions: 1) Why is it called Prune? (Aha! It was Hamilton's childhood nickname!) 2) Why, why is it so small? (Presumably to allow the chef to keep total control (she was there, after all), but wow. How do you make money in such tight confines?).
4/22/2008
World's Best Restaurant
I see via a couple of sources that the "world's best restaurants" list released for this year. It's sort of an inane list, of course, because the idea of saying that El Bulli is better than The Fat Duck is sort of a meaningless construct. Everything on the list is very good. There are other very good restaurants. Enough said.
What interests me about this is the extent to which food today really is a transnational enteprise, though. Gordon Ramsay is as famous here as he is in Europe. Everyone knows about El Bulli, etc, etc. We are apparently at a point in the development of a world economy (and, really, a world elite, given what these places charge) that it is entirely plausible for someone to casually note that they prefer Troisgros to Le Bernardin, but Mugartiz is better than both. My actual sense is that this convergence has helped the United States very much, and has hurt France, both in reputation and quality (as French chefs feel compelled to ape America).
What interests me about this is the extent to which food today really is a transnational enteprise, though. Gordon Ramsay is as famous here as he is in Europe. Everyone knows about El Bulli, etc, etc. We are apparently at a point in the development of a world economy (and, really, a world elite, given what these places charge) that it is entirely plausible for someone to casually note that they prefer Troisgros to Le Bernardin, but Mugartiz is better than both. My actual sense is that this convergence has helped the United States very much, and has hurt France, both in reputation and quality (as French chefs feel compelled to ape America).
4/21/2008
Where should we go? I know! The British Library!
It's not food related, but I love the idea that one of the great crises in British academia is that hordes of noisy undergraduates are crowding academics out of the British Library. I mean, really? There are so many undergraduates clamoring to study in the British library that there aren't any seats? This was not my experience of British undergraduate study, let me tell you. And if it were true, isn't it a good thing that undergraduates are crowding research libraries?
Carbonara
I'm surprised to see that Michael Ruhlman's carbonara has cream in it. To me, as some people mention in the comments, that's an unnecessary diversion towards alfredo. Still, he does add the egg raw at the last minute, which I think makes things twice as tasty.
4/19/2008
Le Bernardin VIP
I am trying to figure out how to become a Le Bernardin VIP so that I too can get baby eels. Unfortunately, I suspect it involves eating at one of New York's most expensive restaurants a couple of times a week for a long time, so I'll just content myself with looking from afar. They do look like pastas, though!
Malaysian curry
We're off to a wedding in another state today, which will be a lot of fun. Yesterday, though, I tried to imitate my favorite dish at our local, everyday Thai restaurant, the inimitable Bangkok Tasty. I used a simple combination of red curry paste, sauteed briefly in oil, and then combined with fish sauce, lime, green beans, coriander, coconut milk, bean sprouts, sugar, and firm tofu. It was, indeed, tasty, but next time I would greatly reduce the sugar and up the curry paste, and add cauliflower. Nonetheless, once you get through chopping the ingredients, a wonderfully quick dinner for a night you really need to spend packing, but did not.
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