Kitchen Guy

Video: Marinated Flank Steak

Posted by Chef Jim on August 25, 2009  |  Comments Off

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Blog Topic: That “Julia” Thing

Posted by Chef Jim on August 23, 2009  |  Comments Off

I don’t generally go to movies because following the advent of the VCR and DVD eras, moviegoers seemed to treat theaters pretty much the same as their living rooms and generally have no regard for others around them.

I also have a huge problem with those enormous tubs of overpriced popcorn and soft drinks that certain people in the theater feel obliged to chew and slurp so that everyone else is forced to listen to their boorish ways and extraordinarily bad manners.

Despite all of the forgoing, I had to make an exception for the recently-released “Julie and Julia,” a bio-pic paralleling the lives of the legendary Julia Child and the blogger-cum-gourmet cook Julie Powell.

The producers and distributors of this film have spent enormous sums promoting the movie on television, radio, and online – the new hot place to promote a la Facebook and Twitter. As a Facebooker and Twitter user as well as a TV viewer, I saw quite a number of excerpts from the movie. That Meryl Streep can morph into anyone she chooses is a given, but this was an exceptional impersonation.

And Stanley Tucci (as Paul Child) manages to find himself cast in some of the greatest food movies ever – starting with “Big Night.” Lucky guy. Amy Adams, in my opinion, is a talented actress who probably ought to stay in fantasy musicals. I think she was miscast in this film.

Nora Ephron, the director, is well-respected in food circles herself. Read her book, Crazy Salad Plus Nine, if you need proof.

Many professional movie critics have called this film a chronicle of two love stories, with food playing a secondary role. The reviews have been lukewarm, at best. Tell that to the foodies of America. To me, the food looked great. It should have. Ms. Ephron hired some very talented chefs who made every dish numerous times so that scenes could be re-filmed until the director was satisfied.

I enjoyed this movie, for the most part, but felt the ending was rather abrupt. I left the theater feeling as though I had eaten a fine French meal and had to leave before dessert was served.

Long before I considered the culinary profession as a career, I used to watch Julia Child. The food she prepared in those days seemed secondary to the character she was playing – herself. She was a funny lady and I think she knew it. Nevertheless, all of the plaudits and honorifics accorded her, as the one person who changed the way Americans cook and eat, are correct and richly deserved.

Julia Child predated Food Network by decades. She used a kitchen that was primitive by today’s standards, but proved that fine food could be prepared in any home kitchen (which is actually the premise of my weekly television show). Unlike so many of today’s celebrity chefs, she refused to endorse or be associated with any brand-name product. She also declined to put her name on cookware, knives and other kitchen equipment. She felt it demeaned her authority as a cook. It’s a quality to be admired. The economics of today, regrettably, don’t give television cooks any such luxury of choice.

Nevertheless, the legions of us who do cook on television owe our livelihoods to Julia Child and the ground she broke so many years ago. She proved that cooking could be educational and entertaining at the same time. Her own mistakes on camera became the stuff of legend, but proved that even the most seasoned cook or chef is human.

The Saturday Night Live spoof of her, performed brilliantly by Dan Akroyd (and a favorite of Julia Child’s), is replayed in the movie.

I was only casually aware of the blog that Julie Powell wrote about cooking everything in the Child masterpiece, Mastering the Art of French Cooking, and I tip my toque to her for the accomplishment.

What it reminded me of, though, was that I lent my copy of this book to someone some time ago and it was never returned and I can’t remember who borrowed it.

Happily, however, I will contribute to the royalties the Julia Child Foundation will receive when I replace my long-lost copy with a new one from the 49th printing.

When my cookbook is published, I should only be so lucky.

Blog Topic: Food Entrepreneur

Posted by Chef Jim on August 21, 2009  |  Comments Off

I receive a number of food-related newsletters daily and weekly. It’s one way I stay on top of trends in the culinary world.

Recently, I came across an item about two small cities in Michigan where an entrepreneur has put together “food tours” of the two cities’ restaurants. For a fee, food “tourists” can visit from eight to 12 restaurants and sample each establishment’s cuisine.

Why isn’t this available everywhere?

I travel frequently for both business and pleasure and find myself in strange cities where I don’t know the lay of the land. So when I go looking for places to eat, the only hints I have about any restaurant’s offerings are the menus they may post in their windows. If the menu writer is a talented wordsmith, you can easily be fooled into thinking the products of the kitchen are fantastic.

Sadly, that’s not always the case.

A number of years ago, my wife and I visited a city we had never been to before and we made the mistake of asking the hotel desk clerk where we could find the best restaurant in town. Price was no object, we told her and we made it clear that we were looking for fine dining. Without a moment’s hesitation, the clerk named a place and told us how to get there, praising the establishment as the best the city had to offer, and she further assured us that this would indeed be a fine dining experience we would remember.

Arriving at the place, the first thing we saw was a serve-yourself salad bar. No offense to those of you who enjoy the all-you-can-eat salad bar/buffets, but that is not a trait of a fine dining establishment. Promise.

We had an okay meal, forgoing the salad bar. It was actually while we were having an after-dinner drink that the bartender clued us in about real fine dining in the city. We took his recommendations and were more than satisfied (and grateful).

So between uninformed advice and deceptive menus on display in restaurant windows, I can tell you that I’ve had some perfectly dreadful meals.

But if there were more of these “food tours,” we could have an almost instant understanding of the food culture of almost any city. The stops don’t all have to be fine dining. After all, not every meal I eat out is fancy white linen tablecloth stuff. I like a burger just as much as the next person. Fried chicken (actually, fried anything) is up there, too.

Seriously, if one of you out there doesn’t do this business idea, I’m going to do it. I’m going to get together with every restaurant owner and chef I know and put together a special sampling program. Then I’m going to make arrangements with the hotels and motels in town, print up some brochures and I think I’ve got the makings of a pretty good business idea.

This culinary tour does not have to be confined to strangers in town. This could also be a fun night out with friends. If the activity of the evening is dinner out, you’re going to spend a certain amount per person anyway, so why not spend a similar amount of money on a “moveable feast” – a progressive dinner of sorts.

One of the major television networks has a new show coming on the air this fall about entrepreneurs pitching their ideas to venture capitalists. (Okay it’s the same network that my television show is on – ABC.)

I think I’m going to apply. Maybe I can get a couple hundred grand for my “Eat Your Way Through (insert name of city here) Food Tour.”

Video: Eggplant Marinara

Posted by Chef Jim on August 19, 2009  |  Comments Off

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Video: Huckleberry Pancakes

Posted by Chef Jim on August 11, 2009  |  Comments Off

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Blog Topic: Wave of the Future?

Posted by Chef Jim on August 7, 2009  |  Comments Off

You’ve read my rants in this space before about poor service in restaurants, so I have good news and I have bad news.

The good news is that there is a high tech interactive table that has been created for restaurants that means you do not have to put up with undertrained or incompetent wait staff. The bad news is that there is a high tech innovation that has been created for restaurants that means human interaction is reduced to a bare minimum.

This “innovation” has debuted in the fashionable Soho section of London at an Asian fusion restaurant. It’s a table for two that has a sort of touch screen so that you need not have any human contact while ordering your lunch or dinner.

You simply touch your way through the menu on the interactive ordering system that uses a Bluetooth linked track-pad embedded in the table that is also connected to the kitchen. It works using a projector on a hood above the table because – get this – technology still doesn’t allow for two mouse interfaces going to the same processor.

And while you’re waiting for your food you can play games against your dining companion. You can also change the look of your table by selecting a variety of virtual tablecloths. After the meal you can order a taxi or browse a map of London’s subway system to figure out which train to take home.

Since the table is linked into the restaurant’s point-of-sale system, you can also order your bill.

Total human interaction is not entirely eliminated, as your “server” has to activate the table and, presumably, bring the food you order. And that reminds me that this high tech table also gives you the ability to watch your food being prepared, and in my estimation that also can be good news – or bad. One of these days I’ll write about restaurant kitchen horrors.

For exasperated fast food restaurant owners and franchisees who have a hard time finding competent help, I’m certain that it may seem like the answer to a prayer. Things got so bad a few years back in the fast food sector that the ordering/register systems had to put pictures on the buttons because of literacy issues.

If you’re going out for a nice dinner or a special occasion, the meal can be enhanced by a knowledgeable and personable waiter or waitress. That interaction becomes an important part of the experience. You wouldn’t want anything like this contraption in a better restaurant.

So I’m wondering: What’s the point of having a table where you place your own order, press a button for your check and have as little human contact as possible?

I love high tech gadgets. I love my laptop, my iPod, my Blackberry, and so on. And techie publications worldwide are gushing about this interactive ordering system invention. I’m trying to figure out what the big deal is.

You can get just about the same experience at any drive-through fast food joint in America.

Video: Shrimp in Chardonnay Sauce

Posted by Chef Jim on August 4, 2009  |  Comments Off

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Blog Topic: Tasteless

Posted by Chef Jim on August 2, 2009  |  Comments Off

I pride myself on my baked desserts, especially my fruit tarts. I’ve had master chefs ask me for my recipes, a source of great personal pride.

Last week, however, I produced a blueberry tart that was, without doubt, the worst one I’ve served ever. The crust was perfect. The fruit was cooked, sweetened and thickened perfectly.

But it had no flavor at all. None. Zero. Nada. Zilch.

This was particularly distressing to me because blueberries are my favorite fruit. The folks I served it to said they enjoyed it, but I had a piece, too, and I knew they were just being polite. Blueberries without any flavor. Imagine.

As chain supermarkets spend millions sprucing up and modernizing their spaces and expanding their produce departments with eye-catching displays of exotic fruits and vegetables imported from far and wide, there’s something that’s going fundamentally wrong in these places.

The produce buyers are bringing in more mass-produced and gassed fruits and vegetables that look beautiful. But that’s where it ends. What looks great in the display often has no taste at all.

The exceptions, of course, are the beautiful fruits and vegetables we buy at the farmers market. But that’s only a few months of the year.

This trend to make fruits and vegetables look better than they taste started with tomatoes. I have a friend who’s in the tomato business. His company is completely vertically integrated. They produce their own seeds and plants and they own or lease farmland from Florida to Maine and follow the growing season as it moves from south to north. They mass produce tomatoes and bring along fleets of trucks with trailers that hold the freshly picked tomatoes. I learned that in order to make them immediately saleable, these freshly-picked (green) tomatoes are subjected to ethylene gas in those trailers on the way to the wholesalers to turn them bright red so they’ll look appetizing.

But they are virtually tasteless.

So I grow my own tomatoes or otherwise in the winter use canned. I don’t have the skill or space to grow berries and I would rather not use the canned fruit products, but I’ve learned that frozen berries, though they lack structure, do have flavor.

My wife and I are actually considering spending a considerable sum to erect a small greenhouse so that we can grow our own vegetables and herbs year-round because the stuff we’ve been getting at the supermarket just doesn’t taste good. Or it just doesn’t taste at all. I wonder if the nutrients have gone to the same place the flavor has, too.

A number of my chef friends around the country have become “locavores.” It means they are sourcing most of their food locally, rather than buying from brokers who bring in foodstuffs from places unknown. They’re developing relationships with farmers and ranchers in their immediate area who can provide fresh produce, meat and poultry that does not go through the vast processing machinery of corporate agribusiness.

In other words, they know exactly where the food they’re cooking and serving comes from.

In some respects, being a locavore may mean paying a little more for your foodstuffs, as you forego the cost-savings of mass production.

But I think I’d rather that my food has flavor, so I’m joining the locavore movement.

That tasteless blueberry tart was the last straw.