Mark Bittman video on What's Wrong with What We Eat

I can't seem to get politics off my mind lately. But this time, it's food politics. If you have 20 minutes, I think you will find Mark Bittman's speech very interesting and persuasive. And I think you might look at food differently from now on.

Here's the link to his speech.

Mark Bittman is a contributing writer to the New York Times food column. He originally gave this talk in December, 2007 at a TED conference (technology, education design....ideas worth sharing). View it and be challenged in the way you think about meat. It's posted for the world to view. You'll find many more interesting speeches at the TED.com website...check it out. Let me know what gems you might find.
:)

What it was like to be there for the U.S. Presidential Election 2008

I really must write about last week’s U.S. presidential election. The entire world felt the magic of Tuesday November 4th, 2008. In fact, it was the highlight of my recent trip to Manhattan, topping even the great food spots & shops we were fortunate enough to sample all week. I will warn you, however, this post became much longer than expected. I just couldn't help myself - it was an amazing, “once in a lifetime” experience that I had to share.

The Day.
I walked by Rockefeller plaza around 9am to find the t.v. crews were already set up, anticipating the day's events. There was already a certain buzz in the air. "Rockefeller Plaza" had been converted into what they were calling "Election Plaza" - rows and rows of US flags had replaced the UN flags normally gracing the space. And a schematic drawing of the US map was placed in the center of the ice rink....ready to be changed to red (republican) or blue (democrat) depending on how the votes turned out later that night.

The countdown to Election Day was now zero. November 4th had finally arrived. However, to be honest, we found ourselves feeling nervous throughout the day, if not for the weeks leading up to that day. We asked each other, "What's going to happen? What crazy thing might possibly happen this time?”.

Why were we nervous? Well…one concern was ‘vote count accuracy’ (as I’ll call it). Despite the government’s funding of billions of dollars (via the Help America Vote Act of 2002) to replace punch card voting systems with electronic systems after the 2000 election (where over 2 million ballots were disqualified), 2008 early-voting results indicated that malfunctioning machines existed at the polls. My cousin told me about an example that was even videotaped: several voters had actually selected Obama on the touch screen, and yet their votes were being registered as McCain, a phenomenon called "voter switching".

Additionally, other factors were looming overhead: (1) a data uploading problem identified last August had caused votes to be dropped altogether, (yikes, was this adequately fixed yet?) (2) “the Bradley affect”, and (3) the distinct possibility that pollsters might be wrong in their optimistic prediction favoring Obama. Finally, we were feeling uncertain how our nation would actually vote….by which I mean to say, and this is a sad thing for me to say, if the country could vote Bush into office a second term….what would stop us from making an equally incomprehensible decision in the 2008 election?

Of course, at that very moment and time, we had no idea to what extent these issues might be played out. The closer the race, the more critical they would become. And so, all we could do was wait & see, like the rest of the United States, and the world, as it turned out.

The Evening.
While waiting for the first states to close their polls, we had dinner at a small Lower East End restaurant. As we left the restaurant, we were drawn in like magnets to a nearby bar having a giant flat-screen t.v. and live coverage. We heard the first news of the night -- things were looking good. Virginia polls had closed & the state went blue for the first time in something like 44 years. Florida might even turn democrat as well. We heard one guy prognosticate, “it’s gonna be a landslide”. We didn’t believe him entirely, but we did start to feel pretty good, as if maybe this was going to work out after all.

Next stop: “Election Plaza”. We arrived to a very large, but quiet, crowd. Unusually quiet, I would add. Big crowds usually sway with constant motion - people moving in & out or squeezing by each other in a “herd-of-cattle”-like togetherness. But not this crowd. We were the only ones trying to make a move. Everyone else was oddly stationary. Then we noticed they were all facing the same direction & absolutely everyone was looking up. We stopped and looked up ourselves. And we immediately understood what it was all about - why the crowd was hushed and under something of a trance. History was just about to unfold.

It was 11pm by this time (eastern DST). The big screen t.v. above us showed polls in the major states had already closed or had significant votes tallied: Ohio, Florida and Iowa all changed from red to blue states. Colorado and New Mexico looked favorable. Then the television broadcaster announced that they believed Obama had won. Everyone still waited for the definitive moment – when it became official – but the excitement was building. We looked at the data map and it showed Obama had about 290 electoral college votes; he needed 270 to win. McCain had around 170.

We finally heard the news we were waiting for: McCain conceded the election to Obama, officially ending the election. The transformation at the plaza was swift and sudden: a massive celebration was now underway! The entire crowd was jumping up & down and cheering and hollering and hugging and waving their arms. And yes, there were lots of uncontrollable tears of joy at the realization of what had just happened. It was an intense moment of pride and hope.

The broadcast switched to Phoenix, Arizona for McCain's concession speech. The crowd at Rockefeller Plaza, after some isolated initial unrest, grew rapidly quiet and respectful. We all listened closely to McCain. He was gracious that night, I think we could all agree.

As more states closed their polls, the tally board continued to change. The count for Obama eventually grew to over 300 electoral votes….then 330. The broadcast moved to Grant Park in Chicago. We were waiting to see and hear president-elect Obama for the first time. I was awestruck to see such a large crowd gathered there – maybe 200,000 people, maybe more. It was huge. This touched me to no end, seeing as I come from that part of the world myself. The cameras panned in on celebrity Oprah and on long-time activist Jesse Jackson, each unabashedly moved to tears. We saw many more “every day kind of people” at the park – each and every one of them celebrating like there was no tomorrow. And who were these every day kind of people? Blacks and whites and asians and hispanics and who cares what race – it didn’t matter. We were all sharing the same moment.

We waited to see the Obama family come out on stage. Meanwhile, the broadcast switched to Times Square, Rockefeller Plaza and Harlem. And we saw the same thing. People dancing. People smiling. People deeply moved to tears. People reveling. People rejoicing. Next, it was on to Japan – more of the same. Then, Kenya, Africa – where Obama’s father is from - his grandmother was leading a celebratory dance. Then we realized what a large scale this was. The whole world seemed to be celebrating. To realize this was certainly one of the many emotional moments of the day. Even if you understood intellectually that the world was watching the outcome, it’s different to see that the world was also celebrating the outcome.

It was time for president-elect Obama's speech. Anyone who watched it knows it was well done. It was riveting, uplifting, and realistic. We watched in awe as if it was history-in-the-making....because it was. After Obama’s speech ended, the stage cleared at Grant Park, and the crowd at Rockefeller plaza started to disperse. We simply had to go raise a glass to celebrate this momentous occasion. Tuesday, November 4th, 2008 is a day that will never be forgotten. Future generations will learn about this day in history class. We experienced it live. It felt like hope. Like optimism. Like the future. And importantly, it represents a turning page in race-equality, which I certainly applaud loudly.

Thank you to those who supported Obama. And to those who did not support Obama, some in my immediate family, I hope you will try to be positive. There will be change. It won’t be easy for anyone. We all recognize this will be a difficult presidency, no matter who would have won. Between the financial crisis and the continuing wars, and all the other “internal problems” we face (rising health care costs, education, and oil dependency, to name just a few), we need strong leadership now more than ever. I believe Obama brings us hope. But, he will not be perfect. He will not save the world. He will not change things overnight. Let’s not expect these things.

Obama now needs to to “walk the talk”. Campaign promises mean nothing if there’s no substance behind them. Time will tell – it always does. His every move will be scrutinized, perhaps more than any other president’s has been. We can hope for a more uniting and conciliatory approach….globally. We can hope for strong leadership at a time when our country sorely needs it. President-elect Obama, please don’t let us down.

PS. I’m still not sure if the problems associated with “vote count accuracy” have been fixed. This election was not close at all, so I suppose only the voting officials understand what they’re really up against. And I hope they continue working on its integrity. A country that espouses the importance of democracy to the world cannot afford not to have a voting system with the highest level of integrity, right? P.P.S. – sorry I don’t have more pictures….I can’t believe I forgot my camera on such a historic night. P.P.S.S - Please share your comments with me about this post. I would be most interested to hear your perspectives of this historic event.

Champagne Fizz - iSi Whip

On the way home from our recent day-excursion to the Champagne region, with not a single bottle of champagne in hand, I wondered what would happen if I took an ordinary white wine and charged it up with N2O (nitrous oxide) in my iSi Whip cream canister. Wouldn't it be great if we could get some sort of blanc de blanc (bubbly wine) out of it? Let's give it a try, I said with total enthusiasm.

What do you think might have happened?

It starts off promising. And then the fizz disappears with such rapidity that it's almost scorning me, "What were you thinking? Did you really believe you'd get a sustaining bubble out of me? It's taken centuries to develop a perfect méthode champagnoise (champagne method) that requires not just one but two fermentation steps and several months of stockage..., and you want to do it in a matter of a few hours and with two cartridges of pressurized nitrous oxide*? Ha."

(* nitrous oxide = commonly known as laughing gas)

Take a look.

Ah yes, a total flop. But fun to try nonetheless. You never know when you might just get lucky testing out a crazy idea. So that leads me to wondering what might happen if I added a little crème de cassis to the wine first. Crème de cassis is a black-currant-flavored syrup usually mixed in small quantities with Bourgogne Aligoté to make an apéritif called un Kir. I'm wondering if I need a liasion of some sort to help suspend and sustain the bubbles. Any thoughts out there? (Personally, I'm guessing it will work equally as bad as my first attempt...! ) Or maybe I need a cartridge of CO2 (carbon dioxide).....would that work??? Endless questions, endless possibilities! I can't wait for one of these crazy ideas to actually work!

French Onion Soup: Homemade Consommé vs Powder?

It's time to get back to the kitchen. Too much talk lately about other things!

How about this: Is french onion soup made with homemade beef stock so much better than one made from powder that it's worth the effort and expense of making the stock yourself? Or can the powder stuff work just fine in a soupe d'oignon? I did a side-by-side comparison to find out.

The results are in and perhaps, not surprisingly, it's a no-brainer. They sure look the same. But that's where the similarities end. Taste is what it's all about. The french onion soup made with homemade consommé blew the other one out of the ballpark! Not even close. I enrolled Eric in this taste test. He had no idea which was which. We tasted the first one. Had a sip of water. Then tasted the second one. There was no comparison AT ALL. The homemade stock tasted leap-years-ahead better. It was glaringly obvious to both of us. I think the exact words Eric used to describe the onion soup made with powered stock was "pee pee de chat"...a little harsh...and no translation required!

And so, I wholeheartedly encourage EVERYONE to make beef consommé from scratch. It is the most delicious thing you will taste. (Well, I mean, if you're not a vegetarian...) And if you're sick, well there's a reason beef broth is brought to you, if you're lucky. The taste is so rich and it must nourish you right down to your soul. And when used in the french onion soup....you will realize that there's nothing better than this.

Here are the recipes. (Source: Cuisine de Reférence, Michel Maincent-Morel, the reference book we used at Ecole Ferrandi, with modifications by me)

Beef Consommé - called marmite in french (makes 2.5 liters)
Cost: 12 euros (~$15.50), but meat can be used at the end for something else

1.5 -2 kgs of 3rd category of beef & bones (see photos above for what I used)
170 g carrots, either left whole or coursely chopped
170 g onions, cut in half
170 g leeks, cut lengthwise in half
100 g celery
3 small turnips, cut in half
leftover stalk of broccoli if you have it in the fridge!
2 cloves garlic
1 bouquet garni

3 liters of water
kosher salt
cloves

1. Start your stock. Put meat & bones into large pot & add cold water until filled well above meat & bones. Add a good quantity of kosher salt to the water. No cover required. You can ficeler (tie up) your meat if you want as this will help it hold together after it cooks a very long time & becomes soft & potentially falls into bits & pieces.
2. Prep veggies - while water is coming to a boil. Peel carrots, onions & garlic. Make your BG (bouquet garni), cut leeks in half & rinse under cold water to remove sand. Peel whatever exta vegetables (root or otherwise) that you might want to add. I added some turnips & a broccoli stalk left over from something else.

3. Prep the onion. Cut it in half
(in the horizontal sense). Sauté both sides with oil or butter till really nice & almost black. Don't let it burn, but it's one occasion where getting it almost burnt is allowed, so enjoy it while you can! The onion cooked this way imarts some color to the consommé. Prick each onion with 2 cloves. (Do you see them in the pic?) Set aside.

4. Skim off the scum from the pot often. This is especially important if you don't blanchir the meat first. Blanchir means to add the meat to a pot of cold water, bring it to a boil, drain it immediately, and re-add cold water & bring back to a boil. This process (if done, it would be a precursor step to step#1) removes impurities but it can also remove some flavor. Alternatively, you can remove the impurities by skimming the pot, but you need to do it often & pay attention to it. My preference is to skim and not blanchir, but that's a personal choice! I know the scum looks gross, but it's easily removed...

4. Let meat simmer ~1 hour uncovered. Continue skimming! Then add all prepped vegetables, garlic, BG.

5. Let pot simmer very gently for 3-5 hours, uncovered. Continue skimming & de-greasing.

6. Strain meat & vegetables once meat is cooked (ie, soft & tender): first, remove the meat and vegetables from the pot. Then strain the stock delicately through whatever strainers you have (I strained mine through 2 consecutively finer meshed strainers.) Try to avoid clouding it if you strain too "roughly".

7. Cool it done immediately if storing for a later use (or use as is). It's easier to remove the fat when it's cooled...just passez au chinois! (strain it). This is delicous as is, or can be used as the base of a french onion soup.


French Onion Soup
(scale up or down the quantity you want to make)
800 g onions
100 g butter
1 liter beef consommé

french baguette
250 g gruyère cheese, shredded
salt & pepper

1. Prep onions. Be prepared to cry! Cut onions in the sense of length. Put on cutting board & slice as thinly as possible.
2. Heat butter till frothy. Add onions & cook over low-moderately low temperature for about 1 hour until nice & soft & slightly golden. If you have a thick-bottomed heavy pan, you can afford to crank up the heat a bit. Be careful, however, not to burn them no matter what pan you use! Stir often. Cover with parchment paper while cooking.

3. Slice baguettes & toast gently in the oven @ 160°C until crisp (about 10 minutes).

4. Heat beef consommé on stovetop. Add onions to beef consommé. Season with salt & pepper. Cover till ready to serve. Preheat broiler.

5. Prepare the cheese croutons. Add shredded cheese on top of baguette. Put under broiler until melted & browned nicely.

6. Serve. Fill soup bowls with french onion soup. Add 1 or 2 cheese croutons to each bowl and serve immediately. Be sure to share the rest of the grilled cheese croutons at the table...they will disappear.

In all reality, in an authentic french onion soup you're supposed to put the soup into a broiler-proof bowl and then add the croutons & then fill generously with the cheese. Next it goes under the broiler. I tried this, but personally didn't like it that way so much. It becomes too cheesy & goey for my taste....and it took forever for the cheese to melt in our home oven. As we were hungry that night, I eventually gave up getting that golden cheese color. The next time we had onion soup for dinner, I did it with the croutons & found that I preferred it this way. To each his own.

Beau Biarritz and Restaurant Chez Albert

The forecast last Saturday for the Pyrenées mountains was cloudy and overcast, so that made our decision on what to do that day easy: head for the sun...head for the coast, to beau (beautiful) Biarritz. A short one hour 15 minute ride by car from Pau, Biarritz is a beautiful coastal resort town and summer get-away destination for many. It's so close to Spain that you can even see the Spanish Pyrenées! Our day's plan was simple: go to Biarritz, eat lunch, take une promenade (walk) to help digest lunch you know, and that's about it! Très relaxing.


I highly recommend the restaurant Chez Albert, located at Port de Pecheurs. When sitting on the terrace, you have a view on the Atlantic Ocean, although admittedly, you need to look through the parking lot first. No matter, that doesn't detract from the restaurant's charm, which is to say its fresh, fresh seafood. Here's what we had during our 2+ hour lunch:

Entrées (1st Course)


Left - Huitres (oysters) Top Right - Moules de bouchot (steamed mussels); Bottom Right - Tartare de thon ceviche (tuna tartare)


All was very good, but by far, the best were the oysters. I'm kind of a novice when it comes to fresh oysters, growing up in the mid-west and all, where beef is king, and fresh fish and shellfish are not always easily available. In fact, I was almost a little squeamish the first time I tried to open an oyster and then taste it at Ecole Ferrandi here in Paris. But I have to admit that I've grown to really appreciate them & like them. In France, they have a strict protocol of traceability at all steps in the "supply chain", to use a term from my old business days...from the ostréiculteur (oyster farm producer) to any/all intermediaries...to the end seller...to the customer. There are never any guarantees, but it does provide a good assurance as to quality & freshness. Something like this probably exists in the US...I don't know since I wasn't in this line of work when we lived there! Anyway, the next time we go to Chez Albert, I'll be ordering a big platter of oysters (Marene-Oléron #3)!

Plat (Main Course) - It's the same story here. All were very good. One was exceptionally good. The Saint Pierre (John Dory). It was out-of-this-world good. Cooking a fish whole certainly has something to do with it, which required that two people order it. Find someone who wants to order this because you will really love it!



Top: Saint Pierre (John Dory), whole, cooked in a croute de sel (salt crust) on the grill. Fileted at tableside Left below: Seared giant scallops, with jambon de bayonne, slices of boudin noir et sauce beurre blanc Right below: Tronçons de turbot grillée (grilled Turbot), aspèrges blanc (white asparagus) with poppy seeds, piquillos (red peppers) and sweet potato chips













Dessert: Sorry no pictures. In fact, I didn't order dessert but I tried a bite of Raymonde's gâteau basque made at the restaurant (called Pastiza basque tiede). This is a regional specialty and really should not be missed, no matter how full you feel!

For our promenade, we walked up and down the coast - past the casino, near the Hôtel du Palais (with 1 michelin-star restaurant La Rotonde), and back down the coast toward the Rocher de la Vierge (Statue of Madonna on a rock). We watched the many surfers there that day, observed the waves crashing dramatically against the enormous stones seemingly perched in the ocean at low tide, and saw many locals sitting on various benches lining the beach and park areas. Some were reading alone, some were simply gabbing in the sun with a friend (with noticeably bronzed skin), and others were enjoying an ice cream or looking at nice sand sculptures. Here are a few pictures of our walk. I can see why Cathleen and her family go to Biarritz every summer for the month of August! It sure is tempting...but back to reality, it's worth going, even if just for the day!



L'Addresse:

Restaurant Chez Albert
Port des Pecheurs
64200 Biarritz

Télé: 05 59 24 43 84

Panoramic Pau

Five hours on the TGV, we found ourselves in a compartment full of Sisters and their teen-age apprentis (apprentices) headed to Lourdes no doubt. The trip was quite pleasant, really. And much better than a 10 hour car ride. Plus, we were "blessed" with some gregorian chant practice along the way which helped nod me off to sleep, I must admit!

We arrived just in time for lunch and we headed straight over to our favorite restaurant in Pau, Au Fin Gourmet. It's conveniently located just across the street from Gare de Pau (Pau train station). Unfortunately, I was too taken in by the moment to think about taking any pictures of what we ate! The meal was superb and I can at least describe it to you:

Entrée (1st course) - langoustines (tails of small-lobster) in a farce fine (fine cream-based fish stuffing) which was enrobed by a layer of spagetti, and served with a lobster sauce. The spaghettis were pre-cooked and individually "glued" together to hold the form and to hold the prized langoustine inside....amazing.
Plat (main course) - bonite avec qq (tuna with I don't remember what)! Very good anyway.
Dessert - A roasted, caramalized white peach encovered with phylo dough sitting on a bed of riz de lait (rice pudding), with a caramel sauce. Outstanding. I'm not usually a riz de lait gal, except when it comes to passing the CAP exam (!!), but this one was de-li-cous!

After lunch, we talked with frères Ithurriague, owners of the Au Fin Gourmet restaurant (brothers Christian - front service; Patrick - Patisserie; Laurent - chef de cuisine). They are the ones who catered our wedding. They are also the ones who allowed me to come into their kitchen for a 1-week stage (student work) nearly two years ago when I was just starting my culinary classes at Ecole Ferrandi. That had been the first time I worked in a professional kitchen. It was an amazing experience for me and I'll always be appreciative of their generosity & encouragement.

Then we had an equally amazing dinner at home chez LaSalle. We repeated this pattern every day we were there! Eating well is very important in France. Actually, eating is just the excuse to spend quality time with good people!

What does Pau mean to me?

Panoramic views of the Pyrenées, inviting, warm, palm trees. Sunshine. Relaxing. Fresh air. Above all else, it's the most hospitable place I have ever visited in France. It's where we go once a year. It's where Jean et Raymonde live. Which explains the hospitality part.




L'Addresse:
Restaurant Au Fin Gourmet
24, avenue Gaston Lacoste
64000 Pau
Tél. 05 59 27 47 71

Hi ho hi ho, it's off to Pau we go!

I wanted to let you know that "Snow White" and "Happy" are off to Pau for a long weekend. Up at the crack of dawn to catch the TGV (high speed train) to Pau, we get ourselves to Gare Montparnasse by metro. The only thing to worry about is passing our luggage through the turnstyle system that reads our metro ticket, and navigating the multitude of staircases, with luggage in hand. A good reason to travel light!

Pau is a place dear to our hearts. It's where "Happy" and I were married six years ago, long before we ever imagined we'd actually be living in France! Will write more when we get back.

Meanwhile, who can list all seven dwarfs off the top of their head? Me, I can come up with up with six....someone, please help!
:)