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Cook the Book: Welsh Rarebit
Once Welsh rabbit, always Welsh rabbit. There's no mystery of how rabbit becomes rarebit. Political correctness wasn't invented in the 1980s. Quote from The Devil's Dictionary:
RAREBIT n. A Welsh rabbit, in the speech of the humorless, who point out that it is not a rabbit. To whom it may be solemnly explained that the comestible known as toad in the hole is really not a toad, and that ris de veau à la financière is not the smile of a calf prepared after the recipe of a she banker.
Why The Hate For Alice Waters?
It's not the food. It's not the educating. It's the preachiness. And all preachers at some point come off as messiahs. And all messiahs need their comeuppance.
@simon. "The price of real food would come down if more people bought it." No, actually. It would go up. It's called demand outstripping suppy. So unless demand drives a greater supply, the price will not go down.
Also, over the last decade there's more consumption of organic foods. Yet there's also an increase (diagnosis) of autism. Therefore organic food causes autism? Just pointing out your very flawed logic.
In Videos: Jackson Heights Street Cart Crawl with Joe DiStefano on VendrTV
A nice little production. Though it would have been better if Daniel would have mentioned the cross streets in the V.O. during the segues between carts. "Onward!" Joe had his tough guy duds on, playing the pickle to the host's ham. It works. I'm hungry.
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Food-Related Idioms from 'I'm Not Hanging Noodles on Your Ears'
Fry the squid. A cantonese idiom for getting fired.
Cook the Book: Welsh Rarebit
Once Welsh rabbit, always Welsh rabbit. There's no mystery of how rabbit becomes rarebit. Political correctness wasn't invented in the 1980s. Quote from The Devil's Dictionary:
RAREBIT n. A Welsh rabbit, in the speech of the humorless, who point out that it is not a rabbit. To whom it may be solemnly explained that the comestible known as toad in the hole is really not a toad, and that ris de veau à la financière is not the smile of a calf prepared after the recipe of a she banker.
Why The Hate For Alice Waters?
It's not the food. It's not the educating. It's the preachiness. And all preachers at some point come off as messiahs. And all messiahs need their comeuppance.
@simon. "The price of real food would come down if more people bought it." No, actually. It would go up. It's called demand outstripping suppy. So unless demand drives a greater supply, the price will not go down.
Also, over the last decade there's more consumption of organic foods. Yet there's also an increase (diagnosis) of autism. Therefore organic food causes autism? Just pointing out your very flawed logic.
In Videos: Jackson Heights Street Cart Crawl with Joe DiStefano on VendrTV
A nice little production. Though it would have been better if Daniel would have mentioned the cross streets in the V.O. during the segues between carts. "Onward!" Joe had his tough guy duds on, playing the pickle to the host's ham. It works. I'm hungry.
Best Coffee in New York City?
It all depends. If you live on "regular" coffee, then Mud truck lives up to its name. It's mud. Stay away. The deli on Sullivan and Bleeker, uh! Try J&B on W 3rd between MacDougal and 6th Ave.
Oh, and the coffee at 'wich in Bryant Park has gone to shit. Not that it was any good to begin with. But it is now laundry water.
I think espressos, cappucinos, and the likes--well, it's very personal. But I can't imagine Starbucks rating anywhere near top 5.
Food Businesses Guilty of Spelling and Grammar Errors
Ah, remember when Noah Webster changed the spelling from colour to color. Long time ago. He also wanted to reform the spelling of cat to Kat. Good thing he failed, no? Or it could have led to the next great culinary misadventure. And what of Kuban? It's not the island.
I suppose unnecessary quotation marks can be annoying. But so can unnecessary hyphens.
But I guess we are all a little curmudgeons at heart. It isn't "rare" and it ain't no "bit", it's Welsh Rabbit.
Sam Kass, the New Assistant White House Chef; Is Everybody Happy Now?
Waters's pigeonholed. Squab says buttonholed. Mr B says butthole.
Banh Mi + Panini = Banhmi-Ni
Ah, no. I actually like the satisfaction of having my incisors and canines cutting through the crust and crumb of the baguette.
What will they think next? Open-faced Bahn Mi slathered with sausage gravy? And they call it Bahngravy Mi.
Underground Brooklyn Chef Re-Creates $1,500 Alinea Meal
Has it come to this--the culinary version of a tribute band?
The food world is becoming a circus. The stilts. The flying trapeze. The clowns. And the ringmasters are orchestrating the whole farce.
Let's drop the foodie fetish and just be an eater. Let's go to grandma's.
Trying to Re-create Dishes from Restaurant Cookbooks, Including Shopsin's 'Slutty Cakes'
In all the time I've eaten a Shopsin's--and that's going back to the Bedford days--I've never been insulted.
I've heard him call Eve a c---. He told one lady who ordered a lentil-ish soup to a 9, "you don't get into a pissing contest against me." And one time I ordered a cactus soup off the specials board. He asked how it was. "Good. Real good," I said.
"I know," he was overhanging the deli counter. I didn't understand. "I tasted it before I sent it out."
It was the first time anyone had ordered it. He winged it based on the name he had made up and put on the board. A silly name. Something Cactus. That's how he works. I wish I remembered the name. But it was not "Cactus Bingo", which was an standard in the old place.
It's too easy to mention the insults, to report on brusk treatment, and relay stories about being kicked out. And they may all be true. But that is all to miss the point.
Off the Beaten Path: Fresh Masa and Italian Tamales at Tortilleria Nixtamal in Corona
Don't you hate pasty pasteles and talcum tamales that gets dished out all around town. This one looks yummy. Lard is important.
Off the Beaten Path: Pancita de Res from Taqueria Coatzingo in Queens
You go off to eat tripe and don't invite me? But is it strange that almost all tripe soups in Hispanic joints have a funky smell? I love tripe. But I'm still in search of the ultimate tripe dish.
Copia Files for Chapter 11
We are a culture of museums and Halls of Fame, monuments to aggrandizement for the shallow. There's no surer sign of old age, death and decay as being institutionalized. The framing, the little placard, the explanatory text. It's moribund. When did food and wine become so cold? No. Let it die a quick death. And let's celebrate at a good bistro.
Do You Put Ranch Dressing on Pizza?
All those who just confessed to dipping pizza into any condiment whatsoever just had their pizza-eating licenses suspended. For in fact you weren't eating pizza. You don't like eating pizza. What you like is eating dip, ranch being a popular option it seems. And cardboard.
Here's a real lunch I once had the honor of watching someone wolf down. Cinnamon raising bagel with lox spread, a bag of ranch Doritos, washed down with a bottle of Yoo-hoo.
I bet that makes you hungry, eh?
Serious Eats City Guide Premiere: New York (How to Leave Here Pleasantly Full)
Masa is the type of place that if you can afford it you'd know about it and don't need a guide to point it out.
Do We Really Need Organic Potato Chips?
To be a little simplistic. The fight against labeling processed food as Organic was lost years ago with the USDA, (processed organic being arguably an oxymoron.) But maybe the war was won in the market place.
Hog Heaven at the Ridgewood Pork Store
This is the far post of those European butchers in the neighborhood. A bit too far a walk for me. Must car it. What about the headcheese? And how does it compare to Muncan, Moscher's, Karl Ehmer, or Forest Pork Store?
Do You Put Ranch Dressing on Pizza?
How do you get a white trash girl to suck your d**k?
Dip it in ranch dressing.
Serious Eats City Guide Premiere: New York (How to Leave Here Pleasantly Full)
@Ed: I think most New Yorkers might be over the Shake Shack burger - am I alone here? There is an amazing burger down in FiDi at a hotel bar - I would definitely add it to the list - at The Libertine..
Do You Put Ranch Dressing on Pizza?
I don't put ranch on anything! Gross tasting stuff.
Do You Put Ranch Dressing on Pizza?
Amen "omnomnom"! (I'm from Mich, too. Same area)
Do You Put Ranch Dressing on Pizza?
I absolutely love ranch on my pizza. Granted, I am a middle-school student (though homeschooled), and got the idea from my (middle school, homeschooled) friends after we started dipping French-Fries in Ranch (that's justified in Mich--here most of the fries are way too greasy or way too dry). We decided to try it on our pizza--and it's great. Only Hidden Valley (tm) works though. Deep dish pizza doesn't need it, fortunately. A group fave for us is cayenne pepper, fresh black pepper, ranch, and tabasco sauce. I agree, if it's good pizza, it doesn't need condiments, but (1) pizza in metro-detroit isn't that good, and (2), it doesn't matter if it needs it--if ya want it, I say put it on unashamedly!
Food-Related Idioms from 'I'm Not Hanging Noodles on Your Ears'
Scraping tapioca. Trobriand Islander for, er, ah, enjoying oneself.
Cook the Book: Welsh Rarebit
I had no idea this was endangered- I'll have to make some right away.
Cook the Book: Welsh Rarebit
Oh my goodness, I eat rarebit ALL the time! it will not be forgotten with me!
I use it a lot as an appetizer, cut the bread in round slices instead of long ways broil 5 minutes and ta-dah, and it stays well a long time.
sometimes i even eat it on a english muffin for breakfast. yum yum
now i think i'm going to have to have some with lunch!
Cook the Book: Welsh Rarebit
Thanks Feefiefoefum, I'm glad someone pointed that out. It's sort of a pet peeve of mine for the reasons quoted.
I also don't think that the origin of why it's called Welsh Rabbit is really 100% known, either. The story told here is just (likely!) speculation.
Do You Put Ranch Dressing on Pizza?
I have NEVER heard of this culinary habit of ranch dressing on pizza until I read this in the Wash. Post:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/05/27/AR2008052700821.html
It just seems like such an incongruous flavor or condiment to add to a pizza.
Do You Put Ranch Dressing on Pizza?
Nothing is better than Ham & Pineapple pizza dipped in Ranch.
I hated pizza until I tried it with ranch. Any type of pizza goes great with ranch really except Mexican style, I usually dip that in sour cream.
Why The Hate For Alice Waters?
"But, at some point, there has to be movement beyond the prototype stage, into the real world of practical workability."
Agreed.
Baby steps, baby. Baby steps.... And they must be making an impact because- heck- we're talking about it, starting to make choices, organics are becomig more available, even in regular grocery stores, not just health food stores.
I'm sure that she tackles the real cost issues in her restaurant every day. Just read recently about a couple of chefs who've followed her lead and taken steps to grow kitchen gardens which provide fresher foods and defray operating costs.
Making it work in the real world takes more than one person.
BTW, I wear glasses too. No, not the rosy kind.... ;o) *L*
Why The Hate For Alice Waters?
@grumpyglutton - I completely understand. To sell out your own cause for some ahem... subsidized dollars is unfortunate but not shocking. Such is the history of mankind I'm afraid.
@Mhila - I totally understand that too - there are NONE, not ONE CSA in this area. Even if you wanted to join - tough. There is an organic delivery service though, which is a step in the right direction.
@CJ McD - fight the good fight! To shoot the messenger for the message is to be willfully ignorant.
Why The Hate For Alice Waters?
Well, I do wear glasses, so the myopic remark is pretty on-target.
If you consider her restaurant as a prototype expression of her ideas, then I suppose it's fine.
But, at some point, there has to be movement beyond the prototype stage, into the real world of practical workability. I just wonder whether she's ever tackled the issue of cost with her restaurant. If she's never seriously considered it -- of if it never even occurred to her -- then (gasp!) the elitist word might be appropriate.
Why The Hate For Alice Waters?
" I'm referring to people who make less than $1.25/day. At least one in six people in the world fit that criteria. Of those people, the overwhelming majority are severely undernourished. Millions of children starve to death every year. Do you seriously believe that they can afford to spend more money on food? What's your solution for parts of the world with large populations and very little arable land? We're all aware that this isn't an all-or-nothing philosophy; growing vegetables at home is a good thing if you can do it, and buying foodstuffs (notably fruits and certain vegetables) from local farms at the peak of freshness is an enjoyable luxury, but the ideas you espouse as "world-saving" can't really be applied to most of the planet we live on."
You're reading more into my comments than what was written and are twisting my words. I haven't commented on world-saving nor the politics and government policies of world food sources. That's off topic but it merits discussion in another thread. (Let's keep that in mind. It's a great topic.)
All I have done is defended her efforts against critics.
Why The Hate For Alice Waters?
"Cost is a real issue for most people. It really should be taken seriously. If not, then the effort -- whether in respect to food or homes -- is going to be a boutique industry, irrelevant to most people for the simple reason that they can't afford it."
Yes. Cost is a real issue.
And as with any new process/product/movement, at the "beginning" of it (where we are now even though she's been promoting it for over 25 years and it until recently, has not been embraced and still meets with resistance) there are always and only a select few who can afford it; be it indoor plumbing, televisions or organic, fresh food.
But to label HER elitist because we are at the beginnings of a movement that CURRENTLY everyone cannot afford it sligtly myopic at best.
Why The Hate For Alice Waters?
It's great that she's started a foundation, authored books, etc. Those efforts seem more likely to convey her message than the restaurant, it seems to me.
Her restaurant reminds me of an eco-friendly, green home that sells for $2 million. It's great that the design accomplishes what it does...but how many people can afford to purchase a $2 million home?
Cost is a real issue for most people. It really should be taken seriously. If not, then the effort -- whether in respect to food or homes -- is going to be a boutique industry, irrelevant to most people for the simple reason that they can't afford it.
Why The Hate For Alice Waters?
I had the pleasure of being introduced to Alice Waters when she ate in the restaurant I was working. She was very warm and appreciative of the food and menu. I enjoyed her biography and feel the need to point out that Chez Pannisse is not a corporation focused on the bottom line and making profits. As it was represented in the book, the larger focus of the restaurant is to provide good jobs, insurance for employees, and funding to programs the shareholders believe in. This is Utopian, but that is a good thing.
Why The Hate For Alice Waters?
CJ McD,
Do you realize how many people live in poverty? I'm not talking about the US, that's a very small part of the picture - I'm referring to people who make less than $1.25/day. At least one in six people in the world fit that criteria. Of those people, the overwhelming majority are severely undernourished. Millions of children starve to death every year. Do you seriously believe that they can afford to spend more money on food? What's your solution for parts of the world with large populations and very little arable land? We're all aware that this isn't an all-or-nothing philosophy; growing vegetables at home is a good thing if you can do it, and buying foodstuffs (notably fruits and certain vegetables) from local farms at the peak of freshness is an enjoyable luxury, but the ideas you espouse as "world-saving" can't really be applied to most of the planet we live on.
Why The Hate For Alice Waters?
"If her restaurant is an expression of her ideals, then those ideals... will be seen by few people, for the simple fact that few people can afford to eat there.
To me that seems odd (but maybe that's just me)...
I mean, there are many restaurants that charge more than the majority of people can afford to pay for a meal ... you might think it would be different for a restaurant espousing her ideals, but clearly it's not.
I don't know if anyone else finds that to be surprising, but I do."
-----
I would find it suprising too, if it were all she does. But it's not.
From the ChezPanisse website:
"...she created the Chez Panisse Foundation to help underwrite cultural and educational programs such as the one at the Edible Schoolyard that demonstrate the transformative power of growing, cooking, and sharing food.
Among Alice's many board affiliations, she is the Founder and Director of the Chez Panisse Foundation, an International Governor of Slow Food, a Visiting Dean at the French Culinary Institute, an Honorary Trustee of the American Center for Food, Wine and the Arts in Napa, and Board Member of the San Francisco Ferry Plaza Farmers Market.
Alice is author and co-author of eight books, including Chez Panisse Vegetables, Chez Panisse Cafe Cookbook, Fanny at Chez Panisse, a storybook and cookbook for children, and most recently, the encyclopedic Chez Panisse Fruit. Chez Panisse restaurant was named Best Restaurant in America by Gourmet magazine in 2001. Alice has received numerous awards, including the Bon Appetit magazine's Lifetime Achievement Award in 2000 and the James Beard Humanitarian Award in 1997...."
As with any movement, you don't just talk about it, magically wave a wand and *poof*, it's done. I think you are either missing the message or think she has hurculean abilities.
She is a voice, a leader of a movement. It's up to the rest of "us", the people, the buyer's market to make it happen by our choices, actions and purchases.
Why The Hate For Alice Waters?
first to say this no one who is irrelevant could cause this much of a stir
i know not much about her but her food is wonderful
she is charged as a radical and a utopian even if true
the world needs conservatives,revolutionaries,radicals and utoponists
even if you/we don't agree because we are one of the above types we feed each others minds (food for thought ) most good things in the world have come from cross actions from the above groups but ALL bad thinks have come from just listen to one group
Why The Hate For Alice Waters?
@grumpyglutton: thanks for your comments on subsidized agriculture. I live in the heartland where corn and soy are king, and not even all people here realize that the reason the corn and wheat products are so cheap is because of the subsidies and how that plays into the overall food market economy.
One more thing to add to that, my understanding is also that for farmers who take subsidies also cannot grow any other crop on that field. For example, a crop might have the potential to be harvested in July, leaving time for another late summer crop (different food) to be grown, but in order to keep those subsidies, the land can only be used for the subsidized crop. A second harvest of something else renders their agreement void. Someone correct me if I'm wrong in this assumption.
I also don't know about the rest of yall, but the CSA's around here are full with long waiting lists. My family is caught between that rock and a hard place. Sure, I'd love to eat local and we do shop at the farmer's market a couple of times a month. However, fresh vegetables are only available fresh for a short amount of the year up here. Not to mention that in order to balance our desire to eat healthily and frugally, we go for what is inexpensive at the store (i.e. the greenbeans for 99cents this week, the napa cabbage for 89cents/lb next week).
I can appreciate the grandiose vision that Alice Waters has and kudos to her for being able to live that lifestyle. However, if she truly wants it to be universal and not just something that is available to the elites, talk about how to make it accessible to all is necessary.
Too many people are/have grown up not even knowing how to cook something that comes out of a box! My mother and I learned to cook together. We need to start with baby steps. Capture the gems that are universal (such as learning how to grow foods in pots or in backyards or cook and enjoy foods that aren't "typical" and are less expensive) and ignore the rest for now.
Why The Hate For Alice Waters?
If her restaurant is an expression of her ideals, then those ideals (as expressed through the restaurant) will be seen by few people, for the simple fact that few people can afford to eat there.
To me that seems odd (but maybe that's just me)...
I mean, there are many restaurants that charge more than the majority of people can afford to pay for a meal (even on a special occasion); you might think it would be different for a restaurant espousing her ideals, but clearly it's not.
I don't know if anyone else finds that to be surprising, but I do.
Why The Hate For Alice Waters?
Let me backtrack a moment-
The restaurant is her livelyhood. It's a place where people can experience fabulously fresh food prepared in an elegant manner.
It's not her message.
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Fry the squid. A cantonese idiom for getting fired.