Kitchen Guy

Blog Topic: Sacre Bleu Part Deux

Posted by Chef Jim on September 5, 2009  |  Comments Off

Several weeks ago I reported in this space about a book that was making the best seller lists throughout Europe in which the author claimed that French dominance in the culinary world was beyond waning – that it was near death.

Now comes the counter-argument that claims French cuisine actually is evolving with the times. In fact, the respected chef, Eric Ripert, the genius in the kitchen at Le Bernardin in New York, lets us know that French cooking now uses far less butter and cream than ever.

Hubert Keller, who was a finalist in the Bravo TV competition “Top Chef Masters,” is another highly-regarded French chef whose recent fame centers on his healthier dishes. Daniel Boulud, Alain Ducasse, Jacques Torres and many other French chefs prove every day that they know how to modernize French cuisine.

So what is it about French cooking that, among non-foodies at least, continues to hold this lofty reputation for being fat-laden, difficult to cook, snooty, financially out-of-reach and so on?

Stereotypes.

The writers and producers of the wildly successful animated feature, “Ratatouille” gave us a peak into the classical French kitchen – hierarchical, thankless, tedious, low-paying, exacting, etc. It certainly was typical for French restaurant kitchens in the 19th and most of the 20th centuries, but that’s stereotypical now.

This is not to say that the traditions, techniques and mystique of the French culinary world have become passé. Au contraire.

All western culinary schools and many in other parts of the world, notably Japan, begin with knife skills developed by the French. All of the classical knife cuts have French names, such as batonette, julienne, chiffonade, and tourné, to name a few. Our cooking techniques have French names such as sauté, braise, and puree. The word restaurant is, in itself, French.

Others have tried, but no one really accomplished the cataloging and categorization and codifying of recipes and techniques the way Escoffier did more than 100 years ago. It’s still the go-to culinary bible, though other more modern reference works have been written and enjoy widespread use.

In any case, French cuisine may no longer be the dominant restaurant style, as it was for so many years. When the venerable Julia Child helped simplify French cooking for the average American cook and it became more accessible, it opened the way for other cuisines (there’s another French word) to be presented to all of us.

The notion that French food is all about fat – butter and cream for starters – is no longer true about modern French cooking. As American cuisine has evolved, thanks to the influx of scores of other cultures from around the world, so has French cuisine.

Nevertheless, when I teach a Beginners Course in cooking, I start with those knife skills that are absolutely critical if you’re going to be a serious cook. I also teach all of the various cooking techniques the French chefs perfected over the last two centuries. We dabble in other forms, too – Asian, South American, Indian, Middle Eastern – but I insist that my students master classical French technique before moving on to others.

Notice I said technique. I didn’t say ingredients. The French chefs of old achieved richness in their sauces and desserts by using butter and cream. We’ve since learned that, while butter and cream are important in many dishes, they are not critical to successful food.

When a cook learns about layering flavors, butter and cream usually become secondary, because the most important part about preparing and serving food is flavor. Not richness. Flavor. That was always the basis of French cuisine, as I understand it.

And to the French, we owe a debt of gratitude for setting that standard.

As for their politics – that’s a whole other story.

French Onion Soup

Posted by Chef Jim on March 10, 2009  |  Comments Off

Click to Play

1 Tbsp. olive oil
3 pounds yellow or sweet onions, peeled, halved and sliced thin
1/3 cup white wine
2 quarts beef bouillon
1 quart chicken bouillon
1 1/3 Tbsp. fresh lemon juice
1 1/2 tsp. salt
1 tsp. white pepper
1 tsp. Tabasco sauce
2 tsp. Worcestershire sauce
1 cup grated Gruyere cheese (or Swiss cheese slices)
8 slices toasted French bread

In a Dutch oven or large heavy soup pot, heat the oil over medium heat. Add half the onions and cook, stirring occasionally until dark golden brown and caramelized, about 15 minutes. Add the remaining onions and cook, stirring occasionally until a deep and dark caramel color (this could take up to 1 hour). Add the wine and cook until evaporated. Add the beef and chicken bouillon, lemon juice, salt, white pepper, Tabasco and Worcestershire. Reduce the heat to medium low and cook for an hour until the soup is thick and fragrant. Remove from the heat, cover and keep warm.

Preheat the broiler. Ladle the soup into crocks until almost full. Float one slice of toasted French bread and cover with cheese. Place all crocks onto a baking sheet and place under the broiler until the cheese is bubbly melted and golden.

Blog: Apres Moi Le Deluge

Posted by Chef Jim on November 2, 2008  |  Comments Off

I get the impression that the French don’t like being outdone by anyone, especially the English and Americans. But that rule of thumb now appears to apply to Italians as well.

In my last column I wrote about the “scandalous” way I used rotini instead of spaghetti in making a pasta frittata. I got all sorts of e-mail originating in Italy that took me to task for – to their way of thinking – destroying a traditional Italian dish. Apparently, every single one of the hundreds of types of pasta has a specific use.

Not to be outdone by their neighbors to the south, the French have begun to weigh in. It seems that in France it’s okay to use whatever pasta you have to make a frittata. BUT…

…if you decide to make an omelet, there had better not be one eensy-weensy speck of evidence that the eggs began to brown. I consider myself warned.

And then I got scolded for my crepe-making.

If you watch one of my videos, YouTube gives you links to others that I’ve posted, so I guess my French viewers searched for things that looked or sounded like anything that vaguely might be French.

So they found my crepes. And soups. And egg dishes. And custards.

Wait a second. Do you have any idea how many tens of thousands of cooking videos there are on YouTube? I’m obviously wondering if other video cooks are getting the volume (both quantity and tone) of mail I am. You know, I’ve always welcomed constructive criticism. I believe it’s one important way to grow and learn new things. But the anonymity of the Internet and e-mail somehow empowers people to say some pretty nasty things that you know they would never say to you face-to-face.

On the other hand…

This is a so much more fun than ham radio! When I was a kid I lusted after a ham radio license and went to the trouble of learning Morse Code and lots of other electrical nonsense that didn’t even relate to what the hobby was about. The Federal Communications Commission decided we should know about tubes and connectors and circuits and antennas. Blah blah blah.

All I wanted to do was find new friends in other parts of the world. The thought of being able to sit in my bedroom with a transmitter, receiver, microphone and headphones, and broadcast the catch all, “CQ – CQ – CQ,” searching for anyone anywhere who could pick up my signal was so alluring.

As with so many other pursuits in my teenage years, however, that one quickly went by the wayside after I discovered girls.

Now after all these years, I am kind of realizing my dream because of the Internet and YouTube. It’s a kind of ham radio for the 21st century. (Not really, but you catch my drift.)

For the most part, my fellow Americans are much kinder and even respectful when they send an e-mail. So I wonder if our country’s tarnished image abroad gives my correspondents in other countries a sense of license to be over-the-top in their criticism.

I should tell you that it’s not all negative. I’ve actually received some very nice messages and new subscribers to my weekly e-mail newsletter. I’m quite proud of my new-found worldwide audience.

But I must tell you that when you’ve been cussed out in Italian one week and French the next, it could give you a Louis XV complex, hence the title of this week’s column.

I wonder whose national cuisine I’ll be offending next.