CUISINE IS BOTH AN ART AND A SCIENCE

[Jeanway 0]

QUOTE: It is an art when it strives to bring about the true and the beautiful in the order of culinary ideas. As a science it respects chemistry, physics and natural history. It's axioms are called aphorisms, it's theorems recipes, and it's philosophy gastronomy

[Jeanway 0]

I dedicate this thread to nik

[nik 0]

I dedicate this thread to nik :)

Aw, shucks, Jeanway, you're very kind! (Where's the blushing smiley?)

 

That's a great quote! Where did you get it? It sounds like something I had

hanging in a kitchen once upon a time in another place.

[Jeanway 0]

That's funny nik, this is something I also have hanging in my kitchen. It was a menu from a restaurant in Boston. Ring a bell? I thought it was so beautiful , I had it framed. :) Scambo? I got it when I was just a lttle girl and saved it. :) Got any good Theorems? :)

[nik 0]

In high school, I worked in a pretty nice restaurant, starting off as a prep cook, and then getting promoted to chef by the time I graduated. We used to take great pride in

our work. The exec-chef would always say, "Make every plate a Mona Lisa." I remember he had a framed quote in his office, and I think that was it. He (and hence,

the rest of the crew) really took cooking seriously. Indeed, it is both art and science.

We always found time to "experiment" - different techniques, different recipes, different

tools. While I found the art to be tremendously fullfilling, my niche in the kitchen was sort of as the chief science office (yes, the exec ran the kitchen like a well-tuned

naval vessel). The most efficient cooks were the ones who had in intimate knowledge of things like specific heats (i.e., why a potato take a while to bake, while a filet

mignon can take minutes), thermodynamic conduction (why you use higher heat to

cook a rarer cut), convection (blow hot air over the food to cook more uniformly), mechanics (why it's dangerous to fleur strawberries with French knife), chemistry (which cleaning solvent do we use on the silver), and on an on. Economics was also an issue. It was hard work, but the results were beautiful. If I never make in this career, I'm opening a restaurant.

 

Cooking is fun. Good topic! We should discuss more!

 

And again, thanks for the dedication. As the Japanese would say, "Aoi ganmen ga arimasu." ("I am blue-faced." That's what they say when they blush. Funny, no?)

[Jeanway 0]

That's funny, nik, there is a saying in French which I can't remember right this minute, but'll come to me, probably in the middle of the night, translated to English it means, ' your running on my bean' :) But it's used like 'Your getting on my nerves'. Anybody know this one? I've also taken a few cooking classes. My specialities were, sauces and desserts. :)

[nik 0]

"Tu marche sur mon haricot? "

 

Well, that's how one would translate literally, but I'm probably wrong..... never heard that one before. That's good. I'll have to try it in English to see what sort of reactions I invoke.

[Jeanway 0]

Tell me. Some people put a potato in their Italian Gravy, { spaggetti sauce }. They say it sweetens it. I don't do this. I like tomatoes the way they are. isin't it just the starch in the potato that turns to sugar? If it is why not just add some sugar? I've heard other explanations but they sounded ridiculous to me.

Edited April 28, 2004 by Jeanway

[nik 0]

Well, to be honest, I never put potatoes in any of my marinara, primevera, or carbonara. That sounds like anathema to me! I have heard of this practice, and it does tend to take some of the bite out of the flavor, but that's what the pasta is for, right!