Contrasts

originally posted by Thor:
I once made it with just crisped duck skin and duck fat, but I slightly preferred the bacon version. Substituting duck confit in its entirety moves it into salade de gsirs territory, doesn't it? Not that I'd complain.

I usually just call it "good", but I'm a simple man - in all the definitions.
 
Only if chicken breast or thigh counts as chicken gizzard.
Well, I did write "moves it into [...] territory," not "becomes." But you're right, it's still a long way away.
 
originally posted by Sharon Bowman:
originally posted by MLipton:
Hey, what about salade Lyonnaise? Once you get past the lardons, croutons and poached oeufs, there's something green lurking underneath.

Mark Lipton

Mark, that's lunch.

Actually, I was just thinking I should have taken a picture of my dinner salad, two nights ago. A pile of thinly sliced, deep-fried potatoes with minced garlic and parsley, and beneath, a layer of overlapping duck prosciutto and torchon of foie gras (fairly thickly cut); beneath that, feuille de chne lettuce with creamy sauce.

Often, actually, in Paris bistros, salads are more copious than ordinary main courses.

And often the best deal. My wife and I are big fans of a salad related to yours - greens (preferably frisee and bibb) topped with minced seared lardons or prosciutto and very roasted potatoes, chives, mustardy dressing.
 
But green veg? C'mon.
But something has to be done with all those yummy things growing in the potager. Another course? I do recall a really nice first course of warm green beans topped with a little olive oil, cracked pepper and salt and a slice of foie gras somewhere in the past.
 
originally posted by Sharon Bowman:

The multiple-sides-with-main threw me for a loop in New York, even though I did grow up with it.

Gagnaire in Tokyo was serving multiple sides with a course, but on multiple small plates gathered around. Almost like a Korean setup.
 
originally posted by Sharon Bowman:
Right, but Gagnaire is to tradition as a seahorse is to all other fish.

Or something.

Sure, just to mention. Coming from a perspective of French restaurants in New York, I'd never seen anything like that, thus it sticks out in memory.
 
originally posted by Christian Miller (CMM):
But green veg? C'mon.
But something has to be done with all those yummy things growing in the potager. Another course? I do recall a really nice first course of warm green beans topped with a little olive oil, cracked pepper and salt and a slice of foie gras somewhere in the past.

I believe Sharon's original point was that one veg was served with the main course commonly in France and potato could count as that. I must say that this isn't my experience. Both in restaurants and in homes, the number varies from one to three or even four, depending on the state of the market. And at the dinner at which I was served only duck breast and potatoes, the hostess joked that her husband, who did the cooking, didn't like green vegetables much and didn't cook them. She seemed to consider the situation anomalous, if charmingly so.
 
originally posted by Cristian Dezso:
with the pasta... 1988 Pergole Torte... An exercise in elegance. Typical notes of cherries, twigs and menthol that I encountered now in most of my Montevertines, but the most remarkable thing was the exquisite integration of the wine's elements. It still seems that the wine has ways to go, as there were no traces of tertiary aromas, and the tannins were still well in place.

Fantastic wine that I haven't had in a good while. Wish I owned some.

with steak... 1996 Clerico Ciabot Mentin Ginestra... Was a different story - showier, fruitier, and slightly less elegant. Amazing handling of wood on this wine - the oak is superbly integrated and the nose of sweet spices, incense, menthol and dark fruit... I am sure this will get better, but at the same time, if I had more, I would not hesitate to open it.

That's really good news. I bought a fair amount of Clerico 1996s after visiting the domain and being very impressed with the level of care and farming there. I have been less impressed with how they have been developing and have actually offered them for sale. Maybe I should re-think this given your note.
 
originally posted by Jonathan Loesberg:

I believe Sharon's original point was that one veg was served with the main course commonly in France and potato could count as that. I must say that this isn't my experience. Both in restaurants and in homes, the number varies from one to three or even four, depending on the state of the market. And at the dinner at which I was served only duck breast and potatoes, the hostess joked that her husband, who did the cooking, didn't like green vegetables much and didn't cook them. She seemed to consider the situation anomalous, if charmingly so.

There is no accounting for what people do in their own homes. But surely you are familiar with the term l'assiette anglaise, which seems to suggest that something about the concept of multiple side dishes on one plate is foreign.
 
That's really good news. I bought a fair amount of Clerico 1996s after visiting the domain and being very impressed with the level of care and farming there. I have been less impressed with how they have been developing and have actually offered them for sale. Maybe I should re-think this given your note.

Well, it is worth trying one and if you are still not pleased with it then yeah, proceed with the sale; perhaps keep one for 2016 just to see how that is. Though there is a risk that it might be good and then you'll regret selling them (to me).
 
originally posted by Rahsaan:

There is no accounting for what people do in their own homes. But surely you are familiar with the term l'assiette anglaise, which seems to suggest that something about the concept of multiple side dishes on one plate is foreign.

Well, keep in mind that time-honored tradition of ascribing that which we find outr or shameful to another culture, as in "French letters," "Dutch courage" and, most famously, "Belgian waffles."

Mark Lipton
 
originally posted by Rahsaan:
I might say the same to you!

Nothing wrong with waffles. At all.

At least the good ones. Of course.

You are overlooking, I think, the nature of the "Belgian" waffle as often encountered in our fair country: a 3" thick, spongy mass reeking of vanillin and topped with 50 g of (very sweet) whipped cream and sugared fruit. Except, of course, when it's topped with 20 g of butter and slathered in high fructose corn syrup flavored with sotolon. This qualifies as outr, not shameful, to me.

HTH
Mark Lipton
 
originally posted by MLipton:
You are overlooking, I think, the nature of the "Belgian" waffle as often encountered in our fair country: a 3" thick, spongy mass reeking of vanillin and topped with 50 g of (very sweet) whipped cream and sugared fruit. Except, of course, when it's topped with 20 g of butter and slathered in high fructose corn syrup flavored with sotolon. This qualifies as outr, not shameful, to me.

All of that has nothing to do with waffles and everything to do with bad taste in American fast food.

Of course waffles are a Belgian specialty, so the naming was not random. And many of the 'fast food' versions in Belgium are more delicious than what one finds on the road in the States.

But I grew up eating delicious homemade waffles on the weekends, topped with fruit and maple syrup (the American touch), so they're particularly dear to me!
 
originally posted by Rahsaan:
originally posted by MLipton:
You are overlooking, I think, the nature of the "Belgian" waffle as often encountered in our fair country: a 3" thick, spongy mass reeking of vanillin and topped with 50 g of (very sweet) whipped cream and sugared fruit. Except, of course, when it's topped with 20 g of butter and slathered in high fructose corn syrup flavored with sotolon. This qualifies as outr, not shameful, to me.

All of that has nothing to do with waffles and everything to do with bad taste in American fast food.

Of course waffles are a Belgian specialty, so the naming was not random. And many of the 'fast food' versions in Belgium are more delicious than what one finds on the road in the States.

But I grew up eating delicious homemade waffles on the weekends, topped with fruit and maple syrup (the American touch), so they're particularly dear to me!

On the issue of servings on a plate, they can call it what they want, both in homes and restaurants, the French put more than one thing on a plate at least sometimes.

On Belgium waffles, the original point was that countries name dishes after other countries that those countries would never accept identification with. Belgium waffles--a truly grotesque confection--no doubt are not typical of Belgium, but that was the original point being made about your referencing assiette anglaise as well.

Oddly, the French don't claim that they invented French kissing, either, or at least don't call it that, though one would think any nation would be proud to claim they invented that.
 
The Belgians have some pretty weird food named after Americans. It's only fair that we get them back.
 
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