I am sure by now that the majority of people here know that I am a great fan of cooking and particularly love modern cuisine (often called molecular gastronomy because of the scientific nature of it). I have been wanting to do a list like this for some time and finally got around to it! This list comprises the 10 most common (but unusual) techniques used in haute cuisine at the moment. While they are not all new ideas, they are all unique in the way that they are now being put to use. These methods are becoming so popular that many amateur cooks are incorporating them into their home cooking. All I ask is that you read this list with an open mind – many of the things here may seen awful – but I assure you, once you taste this type of cooking, you are a convert.
Imagine a bowl of steaming prawn noodles – made almost entirely with prawns and including no flour (the prime ingredient in noodles). This is the type of food you can produce using Transglutaminase (“meat glue”). Transglutaminase breaks down the cells of meat and basically turns it to a mush that can be piped or shaped. It is used in commercial food for binding meats together (as in hot dogs and sausages) but it really comes to life in the hands of modern chefs. Pictured above is a plate of shrimp noodles by Wylie Dufresne, chef of New York’s avant-garde restaurant wd~50.
This is an incredibly exciting product being used in cooking. Methyl cellulose is a compound that turns to a firm gel when it is heated. For this reason, many bakeries mix it into their pie fillings to ensure that they don’t spill out of their pastry shells when cooking. But, the molecular gastronomers have found a more exciting use for it in their restaurants: hot ice cream! This is done by mixing a standard ice cream base with methyl cellulose (1.5% of the total recipe) and submerging a scoop filled with the liquid into a pot of hot water. The hot water causes the ice cream to go hard. This is served immediately and as the ice cream cools down, it melts! Pictured above is hot cauliflower ice cream [image source].
Some restaurants are now experimenting with food via the other senses that we normally don’t relate to cuisine – such as darkness and audio. For example, when eating in a pitch black environment, diners are said to have a much greater appreciation of individual flavors in food as they are not distracted by the in-built perceptions of food that come from appearance. Other restaurants use sound to enhance flavor – at the Fat Duck there is a course called “Sound of the Sea” in which you listen to the sounds of the sea through an iPod while eating powdered baby eels, oysters, pickled onion juice foam, and more. It is an extraordinary experience. Scientists have shown that when a person eats a carrot with the crunch amplified via a microphone and headphones, the consumer believes it to be much fresher and cleaner tasting than a carrot without the audio equipment. Pictured above is the iPod in a shell that each diner receives at the Fat Duck to accompany the delicious “Sound of the Sea” course which can be seen here complete with powders and foam.
Powders are a new addition to modern menus – they are flavors that are dried to a dust and then sprinkled or served alongside food as a garnish (you can see two types of powder in the first image of this list). In some restaurants they are served as an entire course on their own. The main method for preparing powders is to mix a liquid of some type with maltodextrin. This is then processed in a food processor until you get a powder of the consistency you prefer. An incredibly tasty powder is made from rendered bacon fat and maltodextrin – it melts in your mouth while filling it with an intense bacon flavor. What more could anyone want to eat?! In the clip above we see a chef at Alinea, one of the great American molecular gastronomy restaurants making a caramel powder. Here is the full youtube clip on Alinea which demonstrates many of the ideas in this list.
No doubt we are all familiar with the good old slow cooked stews that our parents made. But modern cuisine has to take things further. First, a little science: when cooking meat at a high temperature, the flesh contracts and pushes the liquid out – the end result being a dry lump of hard meat. The solution to this is to cook the meat at the perfect temperature for eating – low enough not to cause constriction of the flesh. Master chef Heston Blumenthal (pictured above) has a recipe which calls for beef to be cooked at 50 degrees for 24 hours. When it is done, you sear it with a blow torch to brown it and flavor it. The resulting flesh is so soft it can be cut with a spoon. In his restaurant (the Fat Duck), he roasts a chicken at high temperatures for the juices (and does not serve the meat), and then cooks one at low temperatures for the soft meat – this is served with the juices from the first bird. Expensive, but worth it.
In a way this is a rather ancient method of cooking – eggs could be said to be cooked sous vide when boiled. Sous vide (meaning “under vacuum”) is when food is vacuum packed and cooked in a pot of boiling water until it is done. The benefit of this type of cooking is that meat can be cooked for hours without over-cooking. For example, beef can be cooked to medium rare by boiling it in a vacuum sealed bag for one and a half hours at 160 degrees. Oxtail will cook perfectly in eight hours at 165 degrees. Because the water can be kept at a constant temperature (with the use of a thermometer), you can not overcook the meat. When the meat is done, you can brown it with a blow torch or in a frying pan – guaranteed perfect results every time – and the most tender meat you could imagine. Pictured above is beef cooked sous vide.
In the finest of modern restaurants, gravy and sauce are becoming a thing of the past – being replaced with airs and foams. Airs are produced by using a submersion blender with cooking juices or fruit juices combined with a stabilizer – usually lecithin. The blender causes the liquid to froth up and the froth is then used on the plated meal. Foams are slightly more dense than airs and they are generally made with a similar liquid, but foamed up in a cream whipping device charged with nitrous oxide. Airs and foams are both used in the same way but for different effects. In the clip above you can see a chef making a parmesan cheese flavored air. It should also be noted that in some restaurants, you can be served a course which is made of nothing but air.
If you thought airs were unusual – you ain’t seen nothin’ yet! In many haute cuisine restaurants, all of the senses comes into play – and smell (perhaps the most important sense next to taste) can play a significant role. The idea is to bathe the diners in scents that cause a deepening of the flavors of the food. This is achieved in a variety of ways. At the Fat Duck (rated best restaurant in the world in 2007), waiters spray lime scent when serving lime and green tea mousse. At El Bulli diners are given fresh stems of rosemary to smell while they eat, and in some restaurants, bags filled with food scents are stuck with holes and weighted so there is a constant release of odor during the meal. Next time you eat a piece of lamb, try sniffing a stem of rosemary instead of adding it while cooking – you get the flavor of rosemary without overpowering the delicate lamb flavor. In the video above you see a box of oak moss and liquids to which liquid nitrogen is added – the resulting “smoke” has a faint odor of moss. This clip is from the Fat Duck.
Alginates are a type of gum that cause calcium based liquids to gel. They are used to create “caviar” – fruit juices in the form of caviar, ravioli without pasta, and much more. The uses are virtually unlimited. In the video clip above, we see Ferran Adria, the owner of El Bulli (ranked the best restaurant in the world in 2008), making an “artificial” olive by using olive juice and alginate. As you can see the technique is not a particularly complex one, but the results are stunning.
Freezing has long been a staple in kitchens and cooking, but it is only recently that it is really coming to the fore – particularly extreme temperature and fast freezing. Liquid Nitrogen is especially useful in making ice cream as the rapid freezing prevents ice crystals from forming – and it is the ice crystals in ice cream that makes for an inferior product. Liquid Nitrogen frozen ice cream is the smoothest silkiest ice cream you will ever eat and it takes only a few minutes to freeze. You can also use this technique to freeze pure fruit juices into sorbets. In the video clip above, one of the waiters from the Fat Duck prepares bacon and egg ice cream – I know it sounds weird, but I can assure you, it is the nicest ice cream you could ever eat!
Contributor: JFrater
This is what makes me excited about cooking. Something new to learn! A new way of thinking about food preparation. You can cook things all your life and truely enjoy the flavor but nothing is quite like the first time you make something succesfully. The pride and excitement. I think all chefs are looking to capture that feeling again and push the boudaries of the profession.
Great List for foodies!
Sorry, but I’m not going to spend hundreds of dollars on a plate full of air and powder. I don’t see the point in most of these techniques. Experimentation and taste explosions are all very well, but I can’t imagine any of this making a satisfying meal. Slow-cooked meat is probably very tasty, but do you have to order it 24 hours in advance? My workplace publishes the (outrageously expensive) El Bulli books, and to me they come across as food *****. This kind of cuisine is more about impressing people than feeding them.
So it was an advert for the Fat Duck then? It was mentioned atleast six times and is probably frequented by the kind of out of touch morons that want their food cooked in a particle accelerator because everyone else can only afford fire. Yes, it is a concept in cooking but then so is heating a dead sparrow with a zippo and then charging two hundered bucks for it because “I’m an artist”.
Yes, people are starving in the world and its one of the saddest things imaginable, especially when some smug chef is serving an ***** an overpriced dish that fuels the smug, pretentious drive for this rubbish to continue and snowball….
re # 39 & 40 Cooking at 50 degrees.
A few years ago the Fat Duck did receive a compliance order after a visit from local environmental health department. They were able to show with the aid of scientists that the methods were perfectly safe and as effective at preventing bacterial growth as normal cooking. British food safety laws would require food be cooked to 75/82 degrees core temperature and held hot at a minimum of 63 degrees. These rules were not complied with so he received the order. He contested it and won. As to why it’s effective, can’t honestly remember.
I don’t know how comfortable I am eating chemical based foods like this. The liquid nitrogen items seem ok b/c it’s pure foods frozen quickly, so you’re not eating the liquid nitrogen (obviously). I don’t think I’m prepared yet for chemically enhanced foods. I eat all organic and believe the fewer ingredients the better. Whatever is naturally on Earth is what sustains life, so it’s the best food in my opinion.
I also agree astraya & Tricia. The point is it is worthless to advance 1% of the population if the other 99% are still starving and dieing of diseases. It would be understandable if humanity was working on helping each other at the same time they are working on extra curricular items (like fancier food), but we have yet to learn to work together to save the planet and our species. It’s always made me wonder why people are cloning sheep while simultaneously destroying other species of life. The sheep are fine! We have plenty of them right now; help the others we’re killing off with pollution and human expansion!
I posted my little item before I read some of the other comments dealing with indulgence and extravagance.
First of all, I’m about as middle class as they come. Most of the stuff listed will never touch my lips, except on the rare occasion when I’m out on a date and I want to take whomever I’m with out for an impressive meal. But I really can’t understand bringing the starvation and suffering angle into a list like this. It doesn’t have to be as fatalistic as all that. I’m sorry, I’m not Christopher Robin and I can’t cheer up some of you Eeyores out there. I’m not going to be guilted into refraining from a slab of steaming prime rib or lobster just because there are starving people in the world. I’m quite thankful that I have the means to consume such a meal. For most of my life I’ve been more poor than flush, so if I happen to have the fat paper, I’m going to enjoy it, spend it, give some of it away and try to be happy with whatever’s in front of me at dinner time whether it’s Top Ramen, Charlie Tuna or bacon vapor.
It’s a list of weird techniques and cuisine, not a social commentary on rich vs. poor. Lighten up Debbie Downer!
Fancy list, but give me some good ol’ country fried steak smothered in gravy, mashed taters and corn anytime for $4.50 at the diner. And I’m wondering is #10 on this list an appetizer or a meal, cause if thats a meal, then you’ll need about 8 courses to feed a man.
bucslim: your first post had me laughing out loud. well done, sir.
alot of these i have seen on either “iron chef america” or “good eats”. i wouldn’t mind trying most of them just for the experience. would i pay for foam/air/vapor. no. would i pay for ice cream with no crystals? you bet ya. would i pay for the most tender, “cut with a spoon” steak that has been crusted with a blow torch? where do i sign up?
but being that i live in houston, dining at fat duck isn’t really an option. so i will go to a local chef who sautees thinly sliced strips of marinated beef shank with julianned onions covered with a fine powder of garlic salt and then sprinkles in aged jack cheese and then presents it with a covering of hand pressed lightly grilled dough. otherwise known as a burrito.
50. downhighway61: I comepltely agree.
And as for all the people complaining about the extravagance, belive me that in my part of the world, some people would consider your internet connection an unattainable luxury. Are you willing to give up the money you spend on that in order to send it to people in need? You have food, clothes and shelter, do you really need the internet? Or the cable service I´m sure you have?
Who is more concerned about the world´s poor and suffering: the person who eats at these places but still donates money and time to charity or the person who screams “unnecessary indulgences and luxuries” but does nothing?
Give me a break…
Cool List – with quite a few techniques I haven’t heard of. I live very close to the Culinary Institute of America and have had the pleasure of dining in 2 of thier restaurants. But, have never had an experience quite like the ones mentioned here.
Disc, thank you old friend, for the kudos. Nice to know I still make some people laugh.
By the way, the best shrimp I ever had was when I was on a sales trip to Houston 100 years ago before I became the greatest video producer in the midwest. I can still see the pile of empty shells on my plate.
Remember the good old days when movies made fun of haute cuisine where a $$$$$ meal consisted of two teeny carrots and on small shrimp in the middle of a plate with a drip of sauce. Air and dust and vapor indeed.
Unusual cooking concepts – We used to fish off the coast and bring in 4 or 5 shad in 15 min.
We dug a hole +- 400mm deep, and put in active charcoal, the fishes were gutted – tail and head off scales left on,and wrapped in banana leaves put on the coals, followed by a second layer of coals on top
Cover that with sand .
Wait 45 min. and take it out the scales and skin falls away.
You have to be a fish lover to appreciate this, the salt – iodine taste is incredible.
Sorry guys I left the beaten track for a wee while.
Fantastic list, Jamie! I love it!
I would love to try the powders, especially the caramel powder.
My husband and I are both something of the “gourmet” cook, and we almost never eat out. There are a few of these methods I am going to research to see if we can duplicate them at home.
YUM!
I don’t think that this list represents overindulgence in any way. These are not ways to spend more money, rather they are simply different ways to cook food. As jfrater pointed out many of these methods are not very expensive to do, they simply require more or different steps than most people are used to.
I think the real overindulgence is when restaurants intentionally use exspenive ingredients in order to drive the price up. I’m thinking of an article I read that was talking about the worlds most expensive hamburger. I think it had Kobe beef, premium caviar, the most expensive truffles on the market and was topped with flakes of gold. Something like that is meant for people who want to say they paid 1000 dollars for a burger. The interesting thing is that the burger is still probably cooked the way we all do at home.
modelpenguin @65:
“It’s always made me wonder why people are cloning sheep while simultaneously destroying other species of life. The sheep are fine! We have plenty of them right now.”
Umm…you DO know why the cloned the sheep right? It had nothing to do with making more sheep! They wanted to see if they could actually do it and unless you would rather have them test on a human first, a sheep worked just fine. And the whole point of it was to see if it worked and if so, we could clone human body parts for people who needed transplants. The cloning of Dolly was a huge breakthrough for science, an outcome with the hope of being able to save lives.
No, they cloned the sheep for more lamb chops
and sweaters for poor people
I live just down the road from Alenia (#7) and talk to Grant (the Executive Chef, not the guy in the video) now and again. He is one of the nicest guys I have ever met. He’s eaten in my restaurant a few times and an all-around great guy. I have said that to say this: For the most part, the artisans crafting these foods, myself included, are just that. This is basically art that one can eat. If Sotheby’s and the like can auction famous peoples clothing and other forms of art or collectibles for outrageous sums, why is food looked at in a different manner?
The funny thing about it though is that most fine dining chefs I know, although we all love food like this, most of us want sushi or a big greasy cheeseburger on our days off.
JFrater: Great list. There is another Chicago restaurant you should check out. It’s called Moto. The chef’s name is Homaro Cantu and he is a genius. Hope to see more food related lists in the future.
I forgot: Yes I have eaten at Alenia a few times and it is always worth it. Amazing wine selection, even better food. Although the meal is very small portions, you get quite a few of them and are always satisfied.
Cauliflower ice cream?
Whoever came up with that should have to do penance.
Somehow I have the impression that ChicagoChef and Homaro Cantu are the same person
Great List!
I guess the basic question is do you live to eat or eat to live?
Tricia: hey- life would be dull if we agreed on everything
You can have your dry bread and I can have my foie gras and we can still be friends and have a damned good time!! 
bucslim (47): “I could have a baggie of bacon powder at work and snort a few lines in the bathroom”
You could be on to a brilliant marketing idea!!
ChicagoChef: thanks for posting – I have indeed heard of Moto and Cantu! At some point I will try to make a trip to the US to try some of the molecular gastronomy happening there. I am particularly keen to check out Minibar which has a 30+ course tasting menu – it looks amazing but only seats 6 so I will book my holiday around restaurant reservations
jfrater – does the bacon powder make you paranoid? Can you pack it into rocks and smoke it? Would it smell like hickory? Instead of crack it could be called ‘cracklin’ or ‘scraplin’
Most people’s vision of excessive drug use would be snorting coke off of a *****’s ass, mine would be to snort bacon powder off a pigs ass.
buc: lol, but if you are gonna be that close to a pig’s ass, why go with the powder? you are inches away from the real thing.
bucslim: hahah cracklin! That is a perfect name for your new product! Oh – and while I am happy to try the product – you can keep the pigs ass for yourself
DiscHuker: that really gave me quite a revolting image in my mind!
CJ: because cooking and eating is my number one hobby, I live to eat
I am sure most eat to live though.
Hey JF,
When you come to the US stop in Atlanta and I’ll take you to Gladys Knight Chicken and Waffles. It will put your foie gras to shame!
MT: hehe we shall see
I think that seen in the intro is supposed to be seen. Good list! Food actually does taste more flavorful in the dark!
Excellent list Jamie. I would save for a long time in order to try some of these dishes. That wouldn’t be extravagance in my books, just money well spent. Conspicuous consumption would entail eating for the sake of spending money, not for the taste or experience.
I would really like to try the fancy-ass boil-in-bag btw. (actually simmer). The steak looks awesome.
Remind me to never ever eat at Fat Duck.
Ever.
Wonderful list. Makes me want to go out and eat… I only wish I could go to one of the restaurants mentioned
I think that all this stuff is ridicolous. I bet you can eat better food here in Italy too.
Nitrogen to avoid ice crystals in ice cream? What ice crystals? Eat real italian ice cream and you won’t find ice crystals.
Also adding chemicals to food cant’ be good, even if someone tells you it’s ok for you.
Believe me: in my town 80 years old ladies can make sublime tagliatelle using a couple of eggs, flour and water and add fantastic ragù (meat sauce) that can bring you to tears.
Of course this doesn’t happen only in Italy.
All this is hype. Amazing stuff, of course. But I’ll stick to the good old stuff.
OK, please STOP! I´m trying to fit into my wedding dress for this Friday and all this talk about bacon powder and foie gras is just making me extremely HUNGRY!
Maybe I can have just a little bit of the powder… Just a little man, come on… Just a tiny taste…
bucslim: you made my day… I was just about to get irritated with the people crying about the over-indulgence of this list (actually, scratch that, I already got irritated and posted my rant above…
) but you comments have brightened my mood… I thank you!
some of those are pretty intense! I’d love to try the liquid nitrogen. It may be a failure if i try it, but fun none the less !
I have to wonder about what happens to the first chicken in Heston Blumenthal’s recipe that you descibe above under 6. If it’s cooked purely for the juices, does that mean the meat of a whole chicken is wasted everytime you order one of these meals? I certainly hope not… I’m not one to say that people shouldn’t indulge in some manner of luxurious food because of the hardships endured by others, but I find wasting food, especially meat, to be abobinable.
Oh my, I’m so hungry now. Gaaaaah, this list is magnificent, it’s my dream to enjoy all the most amazing tastes of the world someday. This list makes my heart ache
I find many of these fascinating. I don’t think this is about overindulgence at all. If you have the money to spend on this kind of food (on occasion) then no one should be able to make you feel bad for that. I have tried some of these done fairly cheaply and I still donate to charities.
As usual, cool list.
But I cant help but feel disgusted. This is beyond food or eating anything for the sake of it being appetizing, just luxurious culinary *****. In order for us to live our rich spoiled lives, a huge amount of poor people need to exist. This is just rubbing it in their faces, that their countries have been exploited and pillaged for resources for *****s to eat some incredibly wasteful overpriced meals.
If little kids in Cambodia saw this list they would cry.
I completely understand the differences in opinion found in this list’s comments. I have noticed the same differences in opinion on the two occasions I have experienced a degustation menu at the best restaurant in my home city. Some people ‘get it’ and some people don’t.
Personally I am a ‘foodie’, and luckily so is my partner. As a result we enjoy this type of food as it is intended…with full appreciation of the various flavours, aromas, and textures, and the way each course complements the others. This type of menu really is a journey of the senses.
Understandably other people do not share this appreciation and prefer simple old-fashioned cooking. There’s nothing wrong with that at all, but I believe that is why this style of food seems pointless to some.
Yes it is expensive, and yes I’m sure there are some that attend these restaurants simply to ‘be seen’. However for those of us that don’t mind indulging every now and then (once a year on my anniversary for me), and for those of us that truly appreciate the skill, artistry, and sensual feast that this type of food can bring, enjoying this variety of meal is an incredibly memorable experience.
Hopefully one day I’ll be lucky enough to attend one of the world-leading restaurants mentioned in this list
jakooooob (105) (and others making the point that this type of food demonstrates ‘excessive and selfish morals’) -
Can you honestly say that you do nothing in your own life that would be classed as ‘rubbing it in the faces’ of those people in need that you are championing?
As most commentors here would be from Western societies, we all no doubt are in a much better socio-economic position than many in third world countries. As such, I am sure every one of us has ‘splurged’ on something at least once in our lives that less fortunate individuals would absolutely love to be able to do.
Whether it be purchasing a new television, opting for that luxurious option on a motor vehicle, or even just purchasing the ‘good brand’ of cat food in a store, every one of us is guilty of having some little indulgence that we have ‘wasted’ our money on…money that could have been donated to charity instead.
The fact is, we foodies indulge in an expensive meal every now and then. Those that see food merely as a means of survival do not understand how we can spend that much money on a meal. But then I can’t understand how some people can spend so much money on a luxury car, when a cheap second-hand model performs the same function. Do you see the point I am trying to make?
Before criticising people for apparently wasting money that could be used helping others, take a look at your own life. If you can honestly say that you have not thrown your money at some activity or item that you did not absolutely need then I will gladly lay down my arms.
Note: I DO agree with those that criticise people that eat this type of food regularly. I believe it is designed to be consumed every once in a while, not every week.
ok i dont get #6. If I leave my steak out for 24 hours, wont it be raw/rotten? i mean, room tempature is usualy like 75 or so, so at 50 degrees you cant cook it at all.
unless you mean centigrade…
i know there are some wacky europeans on this server.
LOL, this list reminds me of “The Emperor and his New Clothes” story!!! Fifteen years ago we would have baulked at the idea of paying for bottled water! Now it’s air!!! LMAO
Why is #5 (sous vide) served up with condoms?
GTT – good luck on your wedding and many happy years. Perhaps bacon powder could be sprinkled on your cake. Besides, after you’ve hooked your man, you can have all the bacon you want!! Wheeee!
From the way you sounded, we need a spoon, a lighter and a needle. Screw the skag, give me a bacon hit!
The liquid nitrogen method of making ice cream, we did in IB Chem 2. That was awesome.
Saying foods like this is extravagance is 1) entirely correct and 2) completely beside the point.
Looking at this list and saying the art featured here is a waste of time/money is like walking through a fine art museum and saying the paint on the canvasses could have been used to paint some poor farmers house in a third world country, or that the artist should donate his talent and time to laying said paint on said house.
I would dearly love to eat ice cream that melts in reverse, just for the experience. I believe I already make meat you can cut with a spoon. I will never be able to afford to go to these places, even during the “fat” years of my life. I consider shopping at Target or the Gap an extravagance, and sometimes even Walmart is way out of my budget. I don’t begrudge people who can afford these delicacies their indulgences, nor do I feel they (or you) should feel obliged to help me, or anyone else less fortunate.
And lastly…the artists charge that much for such a meal because they CAN. Even with the natural economic models of supply/demand culling out many patrons, you still have to book your meal 1-4 months in advance. If the place was empty, the price would have to come down. And of course, this is where conspicuous consumption comes in, if some people’s patronage is merely bragging rights.
But do not bemoan the money spent! The famous chefs who get all that money go out and buy themselves a Ferrari! And the worker who fabricated the Ferrari (who is pretty well paid) buys himself a new television. The television manufacturer’s workers eat, the television component supplier’s workers eat, etc, and so it goes. And we all know where electronic components are made, because western workers require too much money in order to maintain their standard of living, even one as meager as mine.
bucslim: You live in Houston? Take me out to eat.
ahleena (113) Well said. My feelings exactly.
jfrater- re #3: “smell (perhaps the most important sense next to taste)” – that’s a bit inaccurate, isn’t it? When it comes to flavors of food, the tongue really plays little role other than detecting the basics of sweet, salty, sour, bitter, and umami. All the rest of the taste of food is olfactory.
While I am one to (usually) eat only when hungry, I would love to try some of these. So far I haven’t found much food that beats the filet mignon and sashimi of our local japanese steakhouse, and at $50 for two people, you can’t go wrong.
As far as extravagance versus the poor goes, I’ll tell you a story. My grandmother was a POW by the japanese in WWII, and watched many friends starve to death. When she came to America, she went to a potluck at a local church and saw garbage cans full of wasted food. She never prayed or went to church again. However, grandma knew good food, loved to go out for nice dinners, and didn’t throw away the spice rack because there are other people starving. It makes no sense.
I think haute cuisine is comparable to contemporary art for me. Some of it sounds rather interesting…some of it just makes me shake my head. I agree with OldRedneck and DiscHucker; give me some Mexican or Southern food and I’m a happy person. Although I would definetely hit up a bowl of ice-crystal free ice cream any day
Personally, being a college student, I would like to request that the leftover Chicken Mark I be given to someone who would be happy to eat something with less flavour than cardboard as long as it took away the hunger pangs. Perhaps this is done. If so, kudos to restaurants for appealing to people with money and providing for those who don’t.
I also think that the ability to make flavour should be combined with the ability to extract nutrience, and we’ll have solved two problems in one.
Finally, all those who dislike the ice crystals in their ice cream, send them my way. I’ll take a nice refreshing bowl of ice crystals any day. All the coolness, none of the calories.
I should add that any Listversers who are traversing the wilds of Southern Ontario and looking for the interesting company of a fellow addict, let me know.
I’ll buy the ice crystals.
We used to make ice-cream with liquid nitrogen in my university chemistry class, mmmmm it’s so good.
Jamie in particular and everyone else in general: As I was going through my morning routine today I thought that so much of life in a modern, industrialised country might be considered unnecessary and selfish by historical or worldwide standards. In the space of 20 minutes, without trying, I clocked up: electric lighting, central heating, hot running water, soap, shampoo, shaving cream, a triple-blade razor, various body lotions and processed cereal, then had to choose which clothes to wear.
How much of that would I give up on historical or worldwide grounds? Maybe the triple blade razor and some of the body lotions.
I was in a rotten mood yesterday evening. I must now say that this is a fascinating list, well-researched and well-written. I won’t be running off to experience any of these. If anyone wants to, and can justify it in their own minds, then I’m not going to stop them.