Food Porn for the Bookworm

October 14, 2011 1 Comment

“Time spent reading is time well spent” or so I will begin to always say. Not those purple paperbacks or self-help books so frequently seen cluttering bookshelves these days, I’m talking about books that really add to (and refresh) the fountain of knowledge we’ve collected over the years.

When I can tear myself away from the Larousse Gastronomique, I’m studying Sarah Labensky’s On Cooking. Reluctantly I’ll peruse my copies of Gordon Ramsay’s World Kitchen and A Chef for all Seasons before diving headfirst into my own copy of Heston Blumenthal’s Big Fat Duck Cookbook. But the true gems in my collection are Herve This’ Molecular Gastronomy,  Harold McGee’s On Food and Cooking, and Niki Segnit’s Flavor Thesaurus. The first four are valuable for picking up technique and learning classic recipes. The last four are a boon to anyone looking to experiment with flavors once the fundamentals are well understood.

A friend of mine recently sent me a link to another great tool – I’m going to print this out as a huge poster and put it on the wall of my test kitchen. Check out “Taste Buds: Complementary Flavors“.

Enjoy, and keep on truckin’

7 minutes, boiled.

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I wish I had said it #4

May 4, 2010 2 Comments

Anti-foodie sign, seen in New York of all places.

A whirlwind April has given way to an even tempered May – that is, if my my horoscope is to be believed. Lots of stuff up in my head, lots of little drumsets in this head of mine, but the loudest one at 4am happens to be the question of whether to use the term “Foodie” or “Foodist” to describe my addiction to all things, err, Food.

In my search for answers, I slipped back into old habits; researching and cataloging sources so I could come up with a conclusion. But sleep and the desire to get home and watch Celebrity Masterchef cut that whole endeavor short, and so I’ll link to the two most entertaining pieces I’ve read about the subject. Besides, these guys have said everything I could possibly want to say but better; that’s why this post is under the “I wish I had said it” category.

A Call for Revolution, by Dan Restione

The Final word on “Foodies” by Hagan Blount

At the end of it all, you gotta ask yourself: Would Anthony Bourdain call himself a Foodie/Foodist? Probably not.

Raw, Uncooked.

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I wish I had said it #3

April 21, 2010 2 Comments

Learn this well, and then thank me for giving you yet another reason to make fun of your friends.

Thank you, I-am-bored.com

Do not put the wasabi in the soy sauce, damnit.

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I wish I had said it #2

April 11, 2010 3 Comments

Desk Girl eloquently encapsulates the world of a foodie in her latest post. One small note: isn’t it Foodie, not foodist? A Fattie is someone who loves fat people, and a Fatist is someone who hates them. By that same token, wouldn’t a foodist be someone who hates food?

Desk Girl, hats off to ya!

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I wish I had said it

February 25, 2010 Leave a Comment

I’ve been on a marathon 3 day viewing of the first four seasons of “How I Met Your Mother”. I gotta say, this is much more enjoyable than watching all 3 seasons of “Two Guys, a Girl and a Pizza Place”.

And I wonder why I’m getting fat. Moving swiftly on.

In the third season, Marshall (played by Jason Segel) leads the charge to rediscover the “best hamburger in New York”. After being presented with a series of Burgers and still not being convinced, he was asked what was so special about his particular Holy Grail Burger. His response was pure poetry”

“Just a Burger? Just a burger. Robin, it’s so much more than “just a burger”. I mean…that first bite—oh what heaven that first bite is! The bun like a sesame freckled breast of an angel resting gently on the ketchup and mustard below—flavors mingling in a seductive pas-de-deux And then…a pickle…the most playful little pickle! Then a slice of tomato, a leaf of lettuce and a…a patty of ground beef so exquisite; swirling in your mouth breaking apart and combining again in a fugue of sweets and savor so delightful. This is no mere sandwich of grilled meat and toasted bread, Robin: this is God…speaking to us in food.“

As Barney would put it: “Legen – I hope you don’t have lactose intolerance – Dary”

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