Text 25555, 133 rader
Skriven 2012-05-31 11:16:00 av MICHAEL LOO (1:123/140)
     Kommentar till en text av JIM WELLER
Ärende: fee fie faux food 739
=============================
 ML> The real truffle does have a sexy odor
 JW> If you're a pig! [g]

We are not that different, physiologically (and perhaps
psychologically).

 ML> It was the Sac I believe.
 JW> Now did he tip me off or did I stumble across it on my own? Memory
 JW> fails. Old age is a terrible thing.

Young death is a terrible thing.

 ML> Kobe beef / Tender isn't quite the word - a good Wagyu
 ML> (whatever that means) sirloin had almost no grain at all
 JW> It's as close to pate in texture as a whole chunk of meat can be.

I had some midgrade stuff, and it was about as rich as I
could take. I could never afford more than midgrade, which
is fine, given the state of my arteries.

 ML> Here, you aren't certain that what you order is going to be
 ML> crab until you see it.
 JW> The price should be a tipoff. I would expect a $6 salad in a casual
 JW> dining place to be surimi but I would expect a $26 salad in a high
 JW> end place to have real crab and lots of it or I would complain most
 JW> vocally.

Be prepared for some shouting if you came down to the lower 48.

 ML> I've had restaurants advertise "dry" scallops on their menus
 ML> that turned out to be no such thing.
 JW> More fraud.

So, in honor of this thread, and with Mr. Clean Dave and myself
agreeing that it had been a good long time since we had a decent
scallop, and having a couple hours to kill transferring from bus
to train, I went yesterday to the Grand Central Oyster Bar,
eating at the bar area (refitted, expanded, and turned 180 degrees)
for the first time in a couple decades I think. I had a Chelsea
Red (a very malty, low-hopped ale, no relation to any member of
the Clinton family) followed by one of the great New York culinary
bargains, scallop pan roast, under $15, while fried or broiled or
Saint-Jacques all weigh in at approximately twice that. The
scallops of the day were Maine coast or New Bedfords.

What came, a hot pink pint of liquid with ten big pillows and
a few pieces of unidentifiable fish. On tasting, the ten were
found to be very fine Massachusetts product, sweet and tender
though imperfectly trimmed, just barely poached - I believe that
(contrary to accepted procedure) these were piled raw onto the
plate and the hot liquid poured over, cooking the outside but
leaving the interiors pleasantly raw; the unidentifiable fish,
bringing the count up to a dozen equivalent, turned out,
strangely, to be bad supermarketoid scallops; the dish would have
been much better served without them. The liquid was half heavy
cream, filled with a mixture of clam or oyster broth, ketchup,
and seasonings of which paprika was too much in evidence, and
the Worcestershire and celery salt that used to come at least
seemingly absent. Next time I'll be back to the stew, when I
have my pills (by the way, the pills worked excellently well,
and I had no distress - a risk given that I was going to take
a trip on a commuter train with no rest room).

Did they think they were doing a favor by adding the extra
tasteless protein, I wonder. I got them down by - when
discovering one in my mouth - immediately diluting the
bland badness with a bite of the soup-logged toast that had
been sunk into the bottom of the plate. Saved a couple of
the plumpest big ones for last, but even that didn't kill
the weird mouth effect. I made up for that with four each
cherrystones and Grand Central Connecticut Blue Points,
all quite fine, but costing more than the pan roast for
about 1/10 the calories.

 JW> On a related note, not yet covered, I read often that a high
 JW> percentage of fish is mislabeled as to species by both restaurants
 JW> and fish mongers; that is certainly above and beyond inventing new
 JW> names to replace ugly ones in the market place. After all flake
 JW> sounds more delicious than gummy shark, spiny dogfish or mud shark.

Flake sounds disgusting. I'd rather eat spiny dogfish. Of course,
I am not your normal customer and will ask for squid rather than
calamari, sometimes with amusing results. I'll have the fried
squid appetizer, I'll say, and the waiter will draw a blank. I
make a Davy Jones face, waving my fingers in front of my face,
and perhaps the waiter will say, ah, you mean calamari, or
perhaps he will continue to be befuddled (or be fuddled, which
is the same thing, oddly enough).

 JW> I can't agree on that last one though. It is certainly mild
 JW> flavoured, but it is subtly tasty, has a nice texture and is
 JW> only 150% more than other less popular fish.
 ML> You would agree if you saw your father order the Dover sole
 ML> for 3x the price of anything else on the menu at Fortnum's.
 JW> Fortnum's in London? 

Yeah. It's mostly a store, but the Brits have made a
proud thing out of the shoppers' canteen - something we
used to have in the department stores, but they seem to
have gone by the wayside or at least have become mere
shadows of themselves. In London, they rank among the
fashionable places to eat, and the food, though generally
plain English, can be decent.

 ML> Flounder is as good. Young halibut is better.
 JW> Halibut is indeed most excellent.  

Fish is most excellent, something that I conveniently forget
when eating. At fish restaurants, I order shellfish; at
regular restaurants, I order rare meat.

Helen Corbitt's Chicken Salad
cat: department store, lunch, sandwich

1 lb cooked chicken breasts, cubed 1/2"
1 c mayonnaise
1 c thinly sliced celery
1 c halved purple grapes
1/2 c sliced almonds, toasted
1 Tb finely chopped parsley
1 ts kosher salt, plus more to taste
1/2 c whipped cream
Freshly ground black pepper, to taste

Combine chicken, mayonnaise, celery, grapes, almonds,
parsley, and salt in a bowl. Add whipped cream and
pepper; fold to combine. Serve in lettuce cups.

Neiman Marcus Cafe, circa 1950-1955

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