Peter Creasey
Peter Creasey
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. . . . . . Pete
La Paulee dinner (menu)
- Thread starter Peter Creasey
- Start date
Karen Goetz
Karen Goetz
Pete,
How was the veal with the Pommard?
Karen
How was the veal with the Pommard?
Karen
Peter Creasey
Peter Creasey
Karen, interesting question. This event was a few nights ago so best I remember the pairing worked well as there were three treatments of the veal...
Besides the Dom Bouchard Pere & Fils Pommard Les Rugiens 1er Cru '06, I had provided the Dom Francois Gaunoux Pommard Les Grands Epenots 1er Cru '05. The wines were surprisingly similar given the variance in their vintage. The Les Rugiens '06 was softer and less assertive whereas the Epenots '05 was earthier and had a tad bit more of the typical Pommard coarseness (if that's the right word?). Both wines showed quite well, the Epenots '05 was drinking especially superbly (as I fully expected).
To answer your question, the wines being served at the same time allowed a switching back and forth which worked well with the totality of the veal presentations. I can't recall anything but positive vibes.
Sorry there's not more specificity.
. . . . . Pete
Besides the Dom Bouchard Pere & Fils Pommard Les Rugiens 1er Cru '06, I had provided the Dom Francois Gaunoux Pommard Les Grands Epenots 1er Cru '05. The wines were surprisingly similar given the variance in their vintage. The Les Rugiens '06 was softer and less assertive whereas the Epenots '05 was earthier and had a tad bit more of the typical Pommard coarseness (if that's the right word?). Both wines showed quite well, the Epenots '05 was drinking especially superbly (as I fully expected).
To answer your question, the wines being served at the same time allowed a switching back and forth which worked well with the totality of the veal presentations. I can't recall anything but positive vibes.
Sorry there's not more specificity.
. . . . . Pete
Peter Creasey
Peter Creasey
Mark, my grasp of French is way obsolete. The "blinis au levain grillé", read: "toasted sourdough blinis", was served this way...
. . . . . Pete
originally posted by Peter Creasey:
Mark, my grasp of French is way obsolete. The "blinis au levain grillé", read: "toasted sourdough blinis", was served this way...
. . . . . Pete
Never the twain shall meet. Toasted levain is bread. A blin (plural: blini) is a small Russian pancake sometimes made with buckwheat (and, yes, often served with caviar).
Jonathan Loesberg
Jonathan Loesberg
Levain is ambient yeast, as opposed to levure, which is packaged. I do not know why one would toast it, but if one did, it would not be toasted bread. My French bakery sold a pain au levain, and they did not call it just levain. And although I would probably translate blini as crepe, the word does exist in French and, as in English, regardless of its source the singular is blini and the plural is sometimes blini and sometimes blini.
Peter Creasey
Peter Creasey
Since spell-checker didn't flag blinis, I explored further. How this (from the Oxford Dictionary) might be pertinent is unknown ...
. . . . . Pete
. . . . . Pete
Jonathan Loesberg
Jonathan Loesberg
In English and French, it is. I suppose one can still find people who insist that, because of Italian, the singular of graffiti is graffito but you'll have to search somewhat longer to find either an English or French speaker who refers to a blin. What is the opposite of podsnappery?
Peter Creasey
Peter Creasey
Jonathan, yes, multiple word sources e.g. dictionaries show blinis as acceptable in English and French.
. . . . Pete
. . . . Pete
Jonathan Loesberg
Jonathan Loesberg
I do hope the dictionaries do not refer to dictionaries as word sources--unless they are the kind of dictionaries that refer to writers as wordsmiths.
Peter Creasey
Peter Creasey
After I hit enter, I realized the reference would probably stir up comment, but decided to leave it.
. . . . Pete
. . . . Pete
Cole Kendall
Cole Kendall
Wiki (I know) suggest blin for the singular (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blini#Etymology), but even as an appetizer maybe you don't just eat one.
I was more struck by the "trois façon".
Jeff Grossman
Jeff Grossman
As long as we're going to have a groaning board of pedantry with this menu, here's my contribution:
- This menu does not get all its plurals correct. Both façon and artisanal should be plural (façons and artisanaux) while blini is already plural so does not take a final 's'.
- The use of commas between the cheese names would also be usual and customary.
- The ingredient 'sweet potatoes' is usually rendered as patates douces.
- The proper parsing of blinis aux levain grillé is 'toasted (sourdough blinis)'. I take this to be the chef's creativity on display: s/he will make blini from a sourdough-style batter.
...
Overall, it's not as much Franglais as other menus I've seen.
I'm far more confused about why anybody is still drinking white Burgundy.
- This menu does not get all its plurals correct. Both façon and artisanal should be plural (façons and artisanaux) while blini is already plural so does not take a final 's'.
- The use of commas between the cheese names would also be usual and customary.
- The ingredient 'sweet potatoes' is usually rendered as patates douces.
- The proper parsing of blinis aux levain grillé is 'toasted (sourdough blinis)'. I take this to be the chef's creativity on display: s/he will make blini from a sourdough-style batter.
...
Overall, it's not as much Franglais as other menus I've seen.
I'm far more confused about why anybody is still drinking white Burgundy.
Oswaldo Costa
Oswaldo Costa
Chablis excepted (pairs well with a blin).
Looking at the picture now, you are right. Nothing toasted probably. Looks like a fairly standard-issue blin with some sort of cultured milk product and caviar. The misinterpretation comes because a "loaf of levain" is often used in spoken English to mean a "loaf of pain au levain;" JL knew that but persisted nonetheless.