Serious Eats - seriouseats.com

Even if it were technically possible, I don't think I'd want pork belly with "just about all of the fat rendered." Thin, but distinct layers of custard-like fat, and the exquisite counterpoint they play with the meat and the crispy skin, are an integral part of the peak pork belly experience...embrace them...

I don't have a problem with BLT Burger other than that the service is terrible--non-existent, apathetic, incompetent--and that the fries are totally pre-fab. I am not offended by celebrity chefs doing burgers, but BLT Burger deserves to die simply because it is stocked with employees who seem not to care a whit about serving their customers.

cindy, I guess I was suggesting that part of the responsibility for enjoying a fine dinner is borne by the diner and that includes learning how to eat certain dishes. I clearly recall the first time I ate out with fellow college students at a "nice" restaurant. What I noticed more than anything else was that they were more adept than I was using a knife and fork. I resolved to to appear more sophisticated by the time graduated--or at least to be a more confident boor in public.

My second thought, as expressed in my post, was that some foods are just naturally messier than others, but still worth it. Isn't that why god gave us napkins, or rolls of paper towels where appropriate.

To a greater degree, I might have been reacting to the idea that anyone should call for the disappearance of any food based on his own subjective taste. It didn't even make sense for Ed to call for an end to savory flavors in ice cream--I assume that would include black peper in vanilla ice cream--when he had just called for more salted caramel ice cream. Even the basic license for inconsistency assumed by food critics should call for a day's pause.

As for instruction on eating frisee, I have to think about that. It's been a while since I've ordered it and we rarely have it at home. My wife doesn't like it much. ;-) Therein lies the best suggestion. If you don't like it, just don't order it or buy it. I suspect that in some restaurants it's more daintily prepared, reducing the problem. Although I can't recall for sure, I suspect I am more likely to try and and use my knife and fork to fold the frisee into a manageable bundle, than I am to cut it, but that too is certainly an option if the kitchen is sending it out in hunks resembling small heads. And yes, sometimes I get dressing on my beard and even egg on my face. The key in that case is to make the others at the table believe they just didn't enjoy the meal as much as you did.

bux, are you gently suggesting i'm fumble-fingered at the dinner table? ah, me - perhaps there is some truth in this. might i humbly request a lesson on frisee-salad-eating technique? for starters, do you cut the leaves into bite-sized portions before you begin?

Bad pork bellies, bad 'molecular gastronomy" and bad hamburgers are all part of the larger food group--bad food--and as such, really don't reflect on the superior examples of their type. Is it really worth singling them out for scorn? Even good pork bellies may take some acquiring of taste to appreciate and a little goes a long way, although admittedly, bad pot roast is probably still edible. Perhaps I should be grateful my grandmother never made pork belly. Adrià, by the way, says 'molecular gastronomy' doesn't apply to his cooking and that he was not influenced by the movement or workshop that is credited with the origin of that term.

Savory ice cream, however, is worthy of more discussion. Are you objecting to savory flavors in dessert, or the use of ice cream in savory courses? Maybe ten years ago or more, I had pear ice cream flavored with tarragon in a three star restaurant in San Sebastian and poached fennel with vanilla ice cream in an unstarred Paris bistro. Since then, the incorporation of savory ingredients in ice cream has seemed uncontroversial and the results delicious when handled by a good pastry chef. An incompetent pastry chef can muck up chocolate. As for savory ice creams in savory dishes, the only problem I've seen is perhaps the need for sugar to keep it from crystallizing. For all the examples one might offer in terms of fruit with meat and sugar in Asian savory dishes, I find sweetness a taste most chefs don't handle well when being creative.

See also:

http://www.baumwhiteman.com/FOOD%20TRENDS%202007%20bg.pdf
http://blog.foodienyc.com/2006/11/2006_best_and_w.html (NYC-centric)

CookieCrumb at I'm Mad and I Eat and I (Seriously Good) are having a mac-n-cheese-off on Friday Jan. 5th. Anyone who wants to join the melee is invited.