On another program someone was talking about wine. He said you can taste the acidity of the limestone where the grapes were grown. Sorry ... no ... you are drinking vinegar and passing it off as a fine wine costing $1.99 a gallon. Stop fooling your audience and benefiting by promoting gnats' piss.
And the pretence goes on. If your meat is overcooked and falling to pieces you call it pulled pork or pulled beef; if it is totally raw and bleeding you call it rare. There was a cook with an open packet of pasta which he served straight onto the plate and called it al dente to the delight and applause of his admiring stooges.
There's also this trend on TV of chefs preparing their meals al fresco ... or outdoors as you and I would say. They have a gas powered fire on a table on the beach, or the countryside or a farm and they prepare all kinds of delights whilst behind them an asteroid has hit the earth and they are totally unaware of the dust and debris polluting their lobster thermidor.
If I were to go out in the garden and pick up a snail and eat it, you'd think I've gone mad. But add a bit of garlic butter to it, call it escargot, and you're suddenly a gourmet.
As for grabbing a frog and biting off its legs ... I don't suppose this is something some of you would do; is it?
As long as you use the right words like haute cuisine or nouvelle cuisine then it's OK to come on TV and offer all sorts of things for your audience to marvel at and eat.
I'm sure you have come across other examples of pretentious language used in the food industry, (or elsewhere). Please share them with us here.
I think I'll stick to burgers and fries from my fast food outlet ... oh, with a tossed salad on the side please.
I have to say - my husband is the main chef in our house, and I wouldn't want to change it. He makes a beautiful bread and butter pudding, and I don't think I could find a better recipe for it than his. God bless.
ReplyDeleteSame here. I am the chef and our dog appreciates all I cook. The rest of the family don't think I'm that good.
DeleteGod bless, Brenda.
...we eat rather simply.
ReplyDeleteBest way to eat, Tom. God bless.
DeleteBrava, brava! All true, not to mention the itty-bitty serving sizes currently in vogue at certain establishments. As for me and my house, gimme Real food for Real people.
ReplyDeleteI tried cooking lobster thermidor the other day and I'd run out of thermidor. I didn't have a lobster either. So I opened a tin of sardines on toast.
DeleteYou're right about the tiny portions in restaurants, Mevely. The price is not tiny though. Even fish and chips costs a fortune over here. I told the guy I wanted one portion, not buy the whole restaurant.
God bless.
For years I've been calling my mashed potatoes with lumps smashed potatoes and moving on :-)
ReplyDeleteYou're in vogue, Kathy. A legend before your time. You should be on TV advertising crushed or smashed potatoes.
DeleteGod bless.
We prefer simple foods and haven't eaten in a restaurant in years.
ReplyDeleteYes, same here CM. God bless you.
DeleteDanny's the head chef here, and I am most fortunate to enjoy his unpretentious, but delicious, fare any time, Victor. His mashed potatoes are smooth and creamy beyond belief, too. Blessings!
ReplyDeleteYou're so lucky, Martha. Smooth mashed potatoes ... I was surprised when the chef on TV called them crushed. You could see the lumps from miles away. Yet he made his potatoes into a virtue to be copied.
DeleteGod bless.
Ken and I both are the cooks in our house and our meals are not fancy either. Our favorite is pizza as I'm sure you know.
ReplyDeleteYes, hooray for pizza. You must invite me some time, K.
DeleteGod bless always.
We are just simple food eaters. It's nice, easy and quick.
ReplyDeleteI agree to that, Bill. Fish and chips or pizza are our favourites.
DeleteGod bless you and yours.
I like to cook, and I like going out to eat. I cook - but my cooking it not perfect by any means, it can be lumpy too.
ReplyDeleteLumpy is good, as long as it is not called crushed.
DeleteGod bless you, Sandie.
Out in a local restaurant recently I did enjoy crushed potatoes with sea bass ... apparently mashed potatoes are smooth with no lumps while crushed or smashed potatoes have chunky bits!
ReplyDeleteIt's almost Friday, the weeks do go by quickly, have a good end of the week :)
All the best Jan
When I was young I told mum that her mashed potatoes had lumps in them. She said they were not lumps; they were bits of chunky potatoes. She was a legend before her time.
DeleteGod bless, Jan.
I enjoy watching the food competition shows and one thing I notice is when they’re making a dessert (or a meal) and it doesn’t turn out, they try to pawn it off to the judges as a “deconstructed cheesecake or deconstructed burrito “ etc. Then there is the smash burger. Instead of forming a round patty of meat, you just throw down a blob of meat and smash it with a spatula.
ReplyDeleteI admit to recently adding too much milk to my mashed potatoes so taken everything I have learned from the food competitions, I called it a potato purée. Unfortunately I didn’t fool anyone.
Oh yes Debby, I had forgotten about the "deconstructed" foods, and the smash burgers. It's a trend over here too on our TVs. Imagine buying all the raw ingredients from the shop; meat, vegetables, pasta and so on and asking your guests to cook the meal because it is now deconstructed. I shall try that next time we invite some people round.
DeleteGod bless always.
It can be fun to watch them perform, but TV chefs are entertainment, not necessarily cooking what I will eat.
ReplyDeleteIndeed, I love watching them whilst I phone for a pizza.
DeleteGod bless, Mimi..