Chefs in Burgundy
 

The latest issue of the wine spectator has a feature story on the new up and coming chefs of Burgundy that are shakin up the staid cooking.

So what can we look forward to, chicken liver foam over raw sea cucumber topped with fried crab gills?

Wine recommendations?

((I))

in sept. we had a lobster bisque cappucino at le vieus moulin in burgundy--does that count? it'd been my impression that the leading burgundian chefs long ago stopped making the "staid" cuisine.

>lobster bisque cappucino<

I am willing to suspend disbelief for a few minutes and ask, "what is it and how did it taste?".

((I))

One weird dish is snails atop of pear syrup, another place serves duck foie gras with tagliatelle along with the local wines. One place serves a bean shake that the writer says tasted like coconut.

i'll stick with the classic dishes!

I like my food to taste like what it is but this "fusion" a word alot of chefs dislike is getting out of hand by these young chefs who are trying to compete with the original innovators like Marc Fayet and Michel Bras.

>One weird dish is snails atop of pear syrup,...<

Are they still crawling?

Yes! They were doing the backstroke. :)

I have always enjoyed progressive cuisine. I love French food, but I am tired of the same old lump of protein covered in a reduced sauce made from "drippings" and cream. This is why I never liked the famed Le Bec Fin in Phildelphia. I think I would love the snails atop pear syrup. :)

Hi TG,

Have you read MFK Fisher?

She was cooking Nouvelle Cuisine in the 30's.

((I))

No, she liked her foods very simple was a great food writer but not a great cook. She once poisened her family, they got very ill because she stuffed the turkey the NIGHT BEFORE with oysters.

Yes, I know all about MFK Fisher and her "followers," chefs like Alice Waters who grow their own vegetables.

You forget, Monsieur Ira, that I am rather sophisticated. I was drinking Cos d'Estournel in the cradle.

My dear TG,

>You forget, Monsieur Ira, that I am rather sophisticated.<

How could I possibly forget?

Hi Cigal,

>She once poisoned her family, ...<

Picky, picky, picky. :)

Mention of Waters, what became of the plan for her to open a restaurant in Paris.

ira, even at MFK's death bed she refused to tell her daughter who the father was.
After reading many books of her circle I rounded up the suspects and I think it was Laurence Powell.

Alice Waters was invited to open a restaurant at the Louvre by Madame David-Weill, one of the grande dames of Paris. Supposedly, the deal fell through. I remember there were anti-Waters feelings amongst the people of Paris after she told one of the French newspapers (in an interview) that most of the vegetables in the Paris markets were horrible. Yikes!!

Wowie! That surprises me. She comes off on Tv as if she would be a great person to represent the USA. But saying that is absurd on her part. Desolée!!

John, I found this on the PBS Master's site..DH: Several years ago, I learned that Alice had been invited to open a restaurant at the Louvre in Paris. It was an amazing offer that this American woman would be invited into the seat of French culture to create a restaurant. Some French chefs were offended and appalled. Years ago, there was a wonderful story about a snooty French chef who was asked what he thought of Alice's cooking, and he sniffed his response, "Zhat is not cooking, zhat is shopping." I don't think Alice ever objected to that criticism. For her, the produce is king, whether in the hills of Berkeley or the palace of French kings.

Anyway, I thought it would be wonderful to make a film about Alice opening the restaurant. David Fanning, my boss at the time and the Executive Producer of "PBS FRONTLINE," put me in touch with the right folks at PBS, who agreed that we should make this film. Unfortunately, not un-typically, French government bureaucracy killed the Louvre project shortly thereafter.

PBS was still interested in Alice, however, and I was introduced to Susan Lacy, who, by coincidence, had been thinking about doing a film on her! Susan started American Masters 17 years ago, and it had become the PBS series that really analyzed the lives of great Americans who have influenced our culture. In recent years, she had worked to expand the scope of the show from just performers. They have done "60 Minutes" and Julliard, for instance. Susan wanted to do a chef, and Alice was the obvious choice. I also think it is a real sign of the growing understanding in America of the relationship between food and culture. We really are what we eat - in many more ways than just nutritionally.

Q: Were there other obstacles to making this film?

DH: Yes, filming the perfect peach in season, in the perfect light, is no easy task, and this project depended on that. I have worked as a television producer in news for years, mostly at "PBS FRONTLINE" and "60 Minutes." I've been in some pretty stressful filming situations, but I always thought the stress was related to the high-stake demands of deadlines, breaking news, and the rigor of investigative reporting. I was amazed while filming this project how stressful it could be to film those perfect peaches. The deadline of filming the peach at the perfect moment - which Mother Nature doesn't give you much control over - was hard. I came to realize that television production, no matter the subject, is by its very nature stressful. It was, in fact, a relief to come back into the kitchen at Chez Panisse where these talented cooks working under deadline were calm, steady, and excellent. The whole staff of Chez Panisse was incredibly generous to us. They let our cameras operate in their cramped spaces when they were under a lot of pressure, and they never seemed to mind.

Q: How did Alice surprise you?

DH: Alice is a remarkable woman. She really does not like speaking in public or being on television. It makes her very self-conscious. She is such a natural person that I think she is uncomfortable being anything other that who she is. Having to perform for a camera feels unnatural to her. Knowing all of this, I was worried that we wouldn't be able to get her real character on tape, but in the way that is typical of Alice, she generously let us into her world, and I think in time, she grew used to it.

ira, the lobster cappucino tasted like a thinned down lobster bisque whippped up with frothy milk. it wasn't spectacular.

I honestly think the journalist who interviewed Alice Waters "twisted" what she actually said. She probably stated that her home-grown vegetables were better than what she had seen at the Rungis market.