The week that was (15 October 2015)

Soap box (all on the box) -

- We start with a folly: Burnt, the big-budget, food-focussed film due out next month, is said to "prove(s), beyond all doubt, that food culture has entered the mainstream.” Marcus Wareing was in charge of culinary training for both Bradley Cooper and Sienna Miller, no mean feat given the skills involved. "As time went on – the long days, the hot kitchen – you could see the crew and the actors getting more tired and more frustrated, and they started to look like chefs, as every day went by. And the mundane, monotonousness of 'action, cut, action, cut' takes its toll. I think after a while, they all started to look like shit, tired, miserable, aggressive. And that's when you start to see the chef come out in them.” There are stereotypes a-plenty (drugs, booze, anger etc) but I admit to thinking it actually looks alright. If you want a sneak peak there’s a trailer here.
 
- For something with a little more bite, check out the preview of The Grain Divide. The premise is that the farm to table movement forgot our most basic food, grain. This doco sets out to change that. Chad Roberston (Tartine) is on board as associate producer and the film’s cast includes culinary crusaders such as Pollan, Barber and Brock. Everyone is in agreement that industrial flour is actually dead wheat and this is what needs to be changed. The call to arms is to view grains as we do other fresh fruit and veg. Barber asks: "How do you change the culture around, looking at a wheat seed as a fresh product? That’s going to change the world."
 
- And for something a little more art house, take a look at this beautiful little video insight into theSeptime kitchen (my favourite Parisian restaurant), capturing that moment where service reaches its crescendo, the "coup de feu."
 

The week that was (8 October 2015)

Soap box:

- So, over to the story that really got me going, Lethlean's "Hipster diners - how Urbane, Ester and LuMi differ from Sagra and The Euro". His basic premise was to separate nice from niche (which automatically sounds a little offensive, implying niche isn't nice). Lethlean was clear this wasn't about him being a grumpy old man, but rather those he was interviewing. In many respects we have to believe that, as most of the niche restaurants he mentions have been on the receiving end of glowing reviews and cracking scores from the author himself. 

Lethlean poses the question: "Has going out to dinner stopped being about you? Has going out to dinner become about them? Well, sometimes, yes. 'They' are the hordes who make up Australia’s food, wine, bar and hospitality workforce, and a school of fanatical diners who follow them, many from the worlds of media, PR and food/wine supply. There are a lot of them, and they spend." It sounds like a culinary call to arms ... grumpy old men unite.

"Demand for the dining values of the past — mood, respect, approachability, common sense — hasn't disappeared, but supply seems to be drying up" explains Lethlean. And, it is clear these old guys think they know better in regards to noise, booking policies, food, lighting (in fact practically everything), their tone is slightly patronising and the us vs them mentality is clear. It's grumpy old men whining about an evolving dining scene that dares to cater to people in a different age bracket to themselves, to a burgeoning group of diners who want to eat the food these "hipster" chefs are cooking, incidentally food the "hipster" chefs want to eat themselves. Don't even get them started on natural wine.

This argument of cultural evolution is as old as the days, we see it in art, music and even, as my Dad points out (who happens to be reading a nerdy grammar book on the same topic) the English language. "The graybeard sensibilities ... come not just from an underappreciation of the fact of language change but from a lack of reflection on their own psychology. As people age, they confuse changes in themselves with changes in the world, and changes in the world with moral decline - the illusion of the good old days." Hear, hear. 

- We finish with a spoon full of sugar, a couple of lovely stories about Margot Henderson of Rochelle Canteen. There's a beautiful article "Where are all the women chefs" in Lucky Peach. Unlike the above, it is not so much a derision of the "other" but rather an open conversation celebrating the differences."There is a difference between men’s and women’s approaches to food. A really great restaurant is aware of both and finds a way to combine them. I think it’s ancient. I think it goes right back to the Stone Age. Women produce food; men provide food." If you would rather consume with your eyes and ears, watch this vid with Margot on Munchies.

The week that was (1 October 2015)

Soap box:

- Is the “gut brain” the next frontier in gastronomy? The gut is pretty fascinating … it’s nine metres long, has an autonomous brain, has its own language and a whopping 60% of our immune system is concentrated in the gut. Lucky Peach have more here.

- Are single-estate spirits the next big thing in alcohol production? Of course we have seen much of this movement in Australia, this UK article also looks at the big kids pretending to be little kids. “Debate has been raging in the spirits industry for some time over what has been seen by many as an appropriation of the “craft” label by heavyweight companies that want to monopolise the market. Arguably the same could now be said to be happening to small single-estate producers.” If you like your craft spirits, check out the Oak Barrel's line-up for their inaugural Craft Spirits Fair here.

- Will Hervé This’s note-by-note (NbN) “cooking” change the way we feed the poor (and perhaps ourselves)? Hervé This is a bit of a whacky legend, who gave the world molecular gastronomy and the 65 degree egg, and so I think the NY Times article is worth a read, if only to know what you don’t want. The basic premise is they remove the water from produce to reduce transportation and spoilage issues and then share the powder with the world. Using the compounds you can then recreate the dish note by note (as with a musical composition). It sounds ridiculous, but Gagnaire, three-star chef and long time co-conspirator, has already featured one such dish on his menu.  

- Massimo Bottura has a different solution for a similar problem. The Refettoria Ambrosiano is a charity initiative created in conjunction with the Milan Expo 2015. The refectory is designed to use the waste from the expo to feed the poor and needy across the other side of town. Unsurprisingly, given the immense respect afforded to him by the industry, Bottura has encouraged some of the world’s best chefs to help him out. “Chefs don’t need to rush to have the best caviar, the best truffle. Emotions can be transferred from a crust of Parmigiano and leftover bread. Foraging for new ingredients is not important,” Bottura says. “Foraging for ideas, this is important.” Read this article about the concept and then check out #refettorioambrosiano on the gram for an understanding of how it played out.

- Of course, we have solutions here too. If you do want a Good Food Month suggestion consider booking into one of the OzHarvest dinners. The money from each place booked (in some rather delightful restaurants) means 400 meals for Sydney's vulnerable. 

- Finally, on a lighter note, lovers of barbecue will like this little swing around the fourteen different styles of the USA bbq. One for the trivia files …

The week that was (24 September 2015)

Soap box:

- The Guardian took another look at the impact of the labour shortage in the industry and the possible ramifications. “We want chefs to be treated well. We want to eat ethical, quality ingredients. But we also want to eat as cheaply as possible. It is a contradiction that restaurateurs are only too aware of, and one that cannot hold in perpetuity.” Their out-take is that this will change the way we cook and design menus. “If the skills shortage worsens, people will have to think about making [restaurants] as de-skilled as possible.”

- There was a lovely little piece by Nigel Slater too. Granted it was a plug for his new book, but I do enjoy his writing. “Cooking doesn’t stand still, at least not for anyone with spirit, an appetite and a continuing sense of wonder.” He correctly ascertains that too many have converted the popularity of food into an opportunity to talk but not act “… good food should be something we take in our stride, a life-enriching punctuation to our day, rather than something to be fetishised. And if I read once more that someone is a “passionate cook” I think I’ll eat my oven gloves.” Hear, hear (particularly in regards to the over-use of the word passion, a pet peeve of mine).

- Redzepi penned an article for Lucky Peach about closing his restaurant to re-open in a new location in Copenhagen. I enjoyed his thoughts about the status quo, which is an interesting question. We all like the idea of harking back to a romanised period in time, but where do we draw that line in the sand? “And how do we consider potatoes, which were introduced from Peru but are now entrenched in modern Scandinavian food? What about pickles from India? How far back in history does one go to be “authentic?” It’s clear that in the world of cooking we haven’t fully understood many of the labels that define us.”

I also like where he's heading with the seasonal concept for their year, mainly because he is debunking the four season model for a year split into three (and thus actually reflects the Danish seasons as they are presented by the produce in the kitchen). This has been playing on my mind of late while working on a potential story about the Aboriginal views on our seasons, which changed from region to region, but sometimes included up to six distinct seasons, taking into account temperature, winds, plant cycles and animal migration.   

The week that was (2 September 2015)

Le soap box …
 
As for France, it’s pure delight. I am staying in a small town called Castelnaud la Chapelle in the Dordogne. It's all stone buildings and church bells. The bells ring the hour, every hour, but they actually ring twice, just in case those in the fields forgot to count the first round. The swallows dart in the fading afternoon light, searching for moths, but generally looking like they are having the best time. It’s hard not to. 
 
The food so far has been the typical Frenchie bistro fare, my highlights a delicious yet incredibly simple garlic and egg broth made with a little stale bread to thicken it and a veal sweetbread and cepes concoction, the sweetbreads perfectly cooked. The cepes are just finishing their first flush of the season. Hopefully last night’s rain will draw the next batch out. I bought a fistful at the market and will be following up with a cepes omelette for Dad and I this evening.

The week that was (27 August 2015)

And onto the soap box:
 
- Duncan Welgemoed spent some time this week in the Northern Territory and was not impressed with what he found there. His visit to the local community store disgusted him: best before dates extended over a number of years, rotten fruit and veg etc etc. You can read/see more here. He wants your help to take it viral.
 
- It’s not all roses in the city stores either. Letho took a look at Kylie Kwong’s pre-packed supermarket meals, questioning the significance of the RSPCA accreditation. Kylie has made her name being one of the most stringent in the business when it comes to animal advocacy and organic produce. I too was surprised to see her put her name to it. Lethlean looks at what this actually means. The answer is not much.
 
- Matt Evans has responded to the Senate decision to ignore seafood labelling, particularly where they pertain to cooked seafood. I mentioned this a couple of weeks back, but was missing the details, you canread his response here.
 
- On the other side of the world, Heston was interviewed in the Guardian. He’s readying himself to open the Fat Duck again and was taking stock of what he has learnt over the years. His focus is on the importance of telling a story with your food and his obsession with childhood memories and nostalgia remains.
 
- A counter-article appeared in the NY Times, entitled Dinner and Deception. "Guests wanted to believe the make-believe; they wanted to believe everything was perfect. But the moment someone noticed a minor imperfection — a smudge on the butter, a fingerprint on the fork — other imperfections would suddenly become noticeable, threatening the illusion we all worked to maintain." It's a great read.

The week that was (20 August 2015)

Soap box:
 
- Back to one of my favourite topics and what's happening to the world of cookbooks. Prue Leith, a veritable queen of the cookbook, has a crack in the Guardian. “Now the look of the book dictates the sale ... In my day you could still buy a good cookbook in paperback with no pictures at all. I doubt if that would sell today. But those books were much used: they lived in the kitchen and got splattered with custard and gravy ... Today, if we cook, we Google it. New cookbooks lie on the coffee table and we drool over Tuscan landscapes and rustic bread ovens. Before ordering in a pizza.”

- If you, too, like Food & Words (figuratively and literally), check out Barbara's run sheet for a day of culinary thought here. There's a cracking line up of Australia's most thoughtful food communicators. Food & Words is held on the 19th September at the Mint. I'm sad I won't be here for it (more on that below).

- Want to know how to perform Ike Jime? Lucky Peach has a fascinating article looking at the impact of the change in water pressure on the fish, the lactic acid build up due to the fight on the line and how this is dealt with and countered using traditional Japanese technique. We all know how important a calm death is for farmyard animals ... now read this and understand the ways to deal with it in the water. 

- This month they also have a little on kombu (the different varieties, their differing uses and why kombu is aged), a couple of case studies on the seaweed industry in the US and some other seafood related articles up on their website now.

- Nicole Pisani left her job running Ottolenghi’s Nopi to work in a school canteen, it's a lovely story and she tells a little bit of it here. "It’s hard to compete with processed food when it comes to young taste buds (or older ones, come to think of it). Food manufacturers spend a great deal of money working out product formulations that press all the right sensory buttons." 

- Last week I mentioned all the new openings afoot, a fact that is undoubtedly going to put pressure on hospo staff. Add to that the lack of graduates coming through, a perverse idea of what occurs in the kitchen (due in part to the reality tv shows) and of course the cash. It's an old and familiar tale, reiterated last week in the Washington Post. "One of the clearest obstacles to hiring a good cook, let alone someone willing to work the kitchen these days, is that living in this country’s biggest cities is increasingly unaffordable." Hear, hear.

The week that was (13 August 2015)

From further afield:

- Chef as disciplinarian - Rene penned an article for Lucky Peach, looking at his own evolution from anger to understanding. "Maybe change starts with schools. The chef curriculum is outdated. You show up at school, they hand you one book and you treat it like the Bible. I've seen the book from the CIA, and I remember the book here in Copenhagen. We need new books, and one dedicated to how you deal with guests, waiters, cooks, and producers - a manual on basic human interaction."

- Chef as family member - Alice Waters did likewise a few months back ... she had me at hello: "I fell in love with food in France, and when I came back home, I wanted to eat the same way. I went over to my little local bookstore/cookware shop, and I was lucky to find a book by Elizabeth David." Two of my favourite things. There are also some very interesting thoughts about keeping a restaurant fresh and striving for more, managing family life and splitting chefs hours to encourage creativity.

- Chef as gardener - This month French mag YAM explores one of Alain Passard's two vegetable gardens. We're not talking patch, rather space for 500 varieties of fruit and vegetables that results in three tonnes to the restaurant each month. I particularly loved the description of the six families of vegetables: vegetable-flower (cauliflower), vegetable-fruit (tomato, cucumber, aubergine), vegetable-racines/root (carrot), vegetable-tuber (potato, jerusalem artichoke), vegetable-leaf (salad and herbs) and vegetable-bulbs (onion). It's in French, but there are pics. 

The week that was (6 August 2015)

From the soapbox:

- The 25 best bars were also celebrated in the SMH. It’s an interesting list as they are all small, and generally places you can snack. This is such an important change to our food culture. I have long believed our “yob” problem, that of alcohol related violence, is more cultural cringe than a culture of consumption. If you look at the French, who on average drink 50% more than us, they still have one of the lowest rates of alcohol related violence in Europe (this also rings true across different states in Australia depending on their drinking laws and habits … unsurprisingly Melbourne had it right). I wrote an article on this topic for the Oz a few years back. More small bars with small kitchens please.

-  I have so much more interest in someone’s bookshelf than I do their medicine cabinet ... Lethlean put together a list of the favourite cookbooks of some great chefs and writers. It's a worthy read. I particularly enjoyed the cross-overs among chefs and find the go-to cookbooks for a particular genre so intriguing. Cooking Thai? Thompson. Cooking Mexican? Diana Kennedy. Researching an ingredient? Davidson's Oxford Companion. Middle East? Ottolenghi. Italian? Marcella. Loved it.
 
- PrimeSafe, Victoria’s meat licensing authority, are doing their best to put the kibosh on dry-ageing. Anything over 21 days is an issue for them and by this account, their procedures are making it nigh on impossible for small butchers to operate. They sound like a bunch of thugs. Lock up your eggs and your dry-aged beef ladies and gents, the inspectors are coming.

- Huckstep rants about “eternal dissatisfaction” as the curse of the creative for FoodService this month. “Every night as I pull the Venetian blinds over my eyes, the what-could-be’s of future endeavours pop around my cranium like corn kernels at high heat. Butter and salt come at breakfast.” It’s a great read.  

- I feel the need to add a tiny rant myself about the Produce Awards last week. I think it was cruel to limit the invitations to one person per nominated producer. No farm operates as a one man/woman band. The more I have heard about it (and think about those left to have a beer at the Opera Bar while everyone else sipped Champagne upstairs) the more upset I become. The Produce Awards is a wonderful event and is without question hugely important, but at its core, it's about the producers. If you can’t fit them all in, dump the fancy-restaurant-that-just-opened and find somewhere you can.   

The week that was (23 July 2015)

Soap box:

- The shock news this week is the announcement that Penguin Random House will cut the Lantern(cookbook) arm in 2016 and, with it, will go its publishing director Julie Gibbs, who is set to depart at the end of the year. Simon Thomson had the story in BI: "The cutbacks at Lantern essentially herald the end of the golden era of cookbook publishing. Lantern’s once great rival, Murdoch Books ... endured major redundancies in early 2012 before the business was sold to Allen and Unwin later that year." Julie has worked tirelessly and brought some amazing books to our shelves, she will be sorely missed. 

- Speaking of books, I recently read 10% Human, a book by Alanna Collen. Not a cookbook, this book delves into the role of our microbiota, specifically looking at its impact on Western diseases (inc obesity and the prevalence of food allergies), mental health and auto-immune diseases. It was paralysing and enthralling in equal measures. There were plenty of food-related buzz words to keep me focussed.

In particular, I was fascinated to learn antibiotics were first given to livestock in the '50s, to accelerate growth/encourage weight gain, not to keep them healthy in a crowded environment. Would it be shocking to suggest a parallel outcome in humans? Collen also looks at the role of probiotics (the opposite to antibiotics, a correlation so obvious, but I had never seen it) on our gut flora. She wasn't talking about adding a tablet to your daily routine, but how you can nurture and encourage your friendly microbes through a diet high in fibre and different fermented foods. We're going to hear more about this. I think it's a bandwagon worth jumping on and a book worth reading.

- Adam Liaw's feature recipes in the SMH riled me up this week. The article looked at under-used cuts of beef and I was perplexed to see him use the American butchers' terminology, not the Aussie/British. The meat world is a convoluted one, a veritable tetris of cuts, but if you are going to explain it you should do it right, and calling the tri-tip "bottom sirloin" is just plain confusing. The rump does join the sirloin, but is made up of three key muscles: the triangular shaped tri-tip (the tail of the rump), the rost biff or eye and finally the cap. Liaw would also have you calling the cap by the American name "top end of sirloin". I'm all for looking around the world for reference (and personally love the South American name "picanha" for the rump cap, a cut they quite rightly hold in the highest regard). But research should mean more than (the American) wikipedia. 
 
- I finish today with a little random piece of information. Did you know that chooks naturally stop laying in winter, so their bodies can concentrate on growing winter feathers/down? Did you know that chooks are born with a certain number of eggs, just like humans, and so when fooled into thinking it's summer all year round (by the artificial lights, heat and purpose breeding etc) they lay all the eggs in succession (and thus die/are killed much younger). Did you know the passing of the winter solstice generally means a return to egg laying for backyard chooks?? If not, you do now!