Lauraine’s blog
26 July 2010
In the Green Kitchen
By Alice Waters
Many years ago I was a teacher for a very brief period of my life. I discovered that to get kids to read, there’s always a book somewhere that will be the key to getting them hooked. Just as I found the right book for those kids, I am now sure that this new book will hook the reluctant cook and send them running to the kitchen.
In fact my husband grabbed my copy when I returned with it from San Francisco recently and has begun to cook! With enthusiasm. He’s already begging to cook the dinner.
‘In the Green Kitchen’ grew out of a food celebration and gathering, Slow Food Nation. It’s a book filled with techniques cooks should master, simple recipes and lovely shared stories and food of the chefs that Alice Waters admires. Alice of course, is the revered guardian of everything that’s fresh, organic and wholesome about Californian food, and the owner of that temple of dining in Berkeley, Chez Panisse. Alice also has been one of the prime movers and shakers behind Michelle Obama’s initiative to get the school children of America gardening, cooking and making the connection between these two activities. She’s also the voice of Slow Food for USA.
Her friends in the book are the passionate cooks, gardeners and suppliers who move in these circles. There are lovely portraits and ideas from luminaries like Dan Barber, Darina Allen, David Chang, Deborah Madison, Lidia Bastianich, Charlie Trotter and many more. But best of all, the recipes are simple and delicious. There’s nothing ambitious about roast leg of lamb, leek and potato soup, fresh green salad, or even a poached egg. But what the recipes do make is make all these things and many more possible, in the most wonderfully explanatory way.
Just as it has got my husband interested in cooking, it’s made me look afresh at the way I write recipes. There’s a need for more explanation I believe, than is currently the trend.
Very highly recommended.
Published in the USA by Clarkson Potter, available on order at bookstores through Random House NZ $69.95
15 July 2010
Canvas editor, Greg Dixon, added a note to last weekend’s restaurant review of the very good Engine Room in Northcote. He was furious that owner Natalia Schamroth has refused to allow the NZ Herald’s photographer in to shoot her food, and said that would be the last ever review of that restaurant in Canvas. Natalia’s reason for refusal in her own words was, “I just wanted a guarantee that the facts were correct and that I was not cooperating (by allowing a photo) with an article that may have been damaging to our reputation.”
Now that may seem precious of her, and it well may be, but Natalia has been bitten before by incompetent reviewers who have visited her restaurant. They have written incorrect facts, and shown their ignorance of cooking techniques and food products. Every word written in print media is there forever, and such reviews can be damaging, so facts should never ever be wrong.
I believe that underlying this debacle is a much bigger and more damaging issue for restaurateurs. Currently the restaurant reviews around the country in many newspapers and magazines are often substandard, egotistical and incompetent. It would seem in almost all publications that it is a job that is handed out to the staff as a perk. The main requirement of the reviewer would appear to be an ability to write entertainingly, eat copiously and file copy by deadline. What writer is going to refuse the opportunity to take the company credit card and eat out with one or two friends? It’s an easy and cheap way for a newspaper or magazine to fulfil the need for restaurant writing as their staff writers are on salary, or may even do the job for a mere pittance as it is such “fun.”
It’s likely that these people do not know their beurre blanc from their hollandaise, don’t know the difference between quatre épices and five spice, or confuse crème brulée with crème caramel. To be a restaurant critic, there should be several requirements. First and foremost a thorough knowledge of food, cooking and technique. Culinary training is a pre-requisite, as is an understanding of how a restaurant works. If you think the pass is when someone comes on to you, or what the All Blacks try to do when they’re on the field, you’ll never be a good reviewer. The skill to write must come next. After all, entertaining writing is paramount. Hold the reader’s interest. Make them laugh, make them cry, but keep them reading and coming back for more.
Other considerations for the reviewer. Appetite can’t be overlooked. It should be voracious. Allergies, food preferences, and refusal to eat certain foods or vegetarianism will not be tolerated. (What? You don’t like oysters? Shame on you. ) A natural curiosity about food and its provenance is also at the top of the list for reviewing, a real deep understanding of food trends past and present, and an encyclopediac knowledge of who’s who and their place in the history of the food culture and restaurant scene.
If a reviewer only visits a restaurant once, the picture can be tainted by any number of things. Writing should be done with consistency, clarity and accuracy. It’s interesting to see the number of reviews that are personal accounts of what has been eaten and what happened that particular night. These are utterly egotistical. I don’t want to know only what the reviewer and companions ate. I want to know what sort of food the chef is cooking, the range of the menu, what his influences are, where he’s been lately to find new ideas, and how much work has gone into the food. I don’t want to spend five paragraphs reading about how I got there, what has happened in the writer’s life lately or where the car is parked. (There seem to be a lot of I-want-to-be-AA Gills out there.) I want to be firmly seated in the restaurant and know whether this is a place to have fun, to celebrate on a special occasion or if I could take my elderly mother there. Wine is often quite a large proportion of the total bill, so a restaurant critic should have good wine knowledge. Readers deserve to know about the wine list, the cocktails, how varied the list is, if it matches the food and if the staff is clued up and knowledgeable.
Chefs spend years and years perfecting their craft, and restaurant owners spend thousands, sometimes millions on creating a wonderful space. They care deeply about their business, their staff and their customers. (Read Steve Logan’s latest blog on foodie.co.nz to see how Logan Brown invests in the staff.) The restaurant and hospitality industry is one of the biggest employers in the country and contributes millions and millions to the economy. They deserve to be treated with respect and written about with knowledge and experience.
Neither do they deserve the sort of reviews that are all over the web these days, posted by terribly opinionated people and bloggers who hide behind pseudonyms. That group should think twice before posting something really damning, and consider just what experience and qualifications they really have. Eating and paying is not enough.
Overseas well-read and often revered newspapers (Melbourne Age, The Financial Times, the NY Times, Sydney Morning Herald) invest thousands in their critics, and accord the industry the respect it deserves. Canvas’ Greg Dixon, by throwing the toys out of the cot and stating Engine Room will never get another review, shows his colours. He thinks the newspaper is doing a service to the restaurants by writing about them…but he’s not a pr machine for restaurants and it’s his readers he should be focused on. Maybe the editors should listen carefully to the real message behind Natalia Schamroth’s refusal to co-operate and examine what experience their writers really have. They might like to consider just what consistency and respect would bring to the industry. And maybe more restaurateurs should be like Natalia and refuse to co-operate until a real reviewer emerges that they can respect and even learn from.
9 July 2010
"MEDIUM RAW A bloody valentine to the world of food and the people who cook it."
A new title from Anthony Bourdain
Part One. You will love this book. Tony Bourdain is one of the most opinionated food writers on the planet. We are all too familiar with the way he grabbed attention with Kitchen Confidential. ‘At last!’ we said, ‘A writer who calls it like it is.’ And he really did break open the disgraceful side of the restaurant world almost a decade ago.
He’s grown up now, rejected the drugs and the over-drinking, got rid of his earring, and become a respectable father who lives in New York’s Upper East side and is obsessed with his lovely little daughter and her mother. Astonishing. And he has travelled more, even further than most chefs could ever dream of doing, continuing to shamelessly trade on his success, eating his way around the world, filming and writing.
He has sassy opinions on almost all the stuff that people are concerned with and each chapter unveils a different story. His piece on why and how children should learn to cook is imminently sensible and possible. His treatise on why everyone should eat high quality meat is convincing. His ‘Heroes and Villains’ chapter is one of the funniest and most perceptive views of the big names in the food world and he has the guts to say exactly what he thinks. His put down of Alice Waters is bold and will make him no friends but it’s honest.
He’s clever. He pays homage to his best mate’s place (Eric Ripert at Le Bernadin, the top rating restaurant in NYC) by thinly disguising it as a story about the guy who cuts up the fish. But you’ll love him (the fish monger.) And you will be readily and royally captured by the quick flowing prose that doesn’t falter for a minute. Gossipy, juicy and an everything-laid-bare read that I would thoroughly recommend.
Part Two: You will hate this book. Tony Bourdain dishes up the second helping of his debauched sad life with an over-opinionated view of everything and everyone in the culinary world who could possibly matter. He’s mean, he’s foul-mouthed and he uses the f-word on almost every page. (I tried to count them up but gave up at 52 by page 50.) He hates lots of good people, and holds grudges.
He often takes far too long to get to his point, and spends pages on meals he’s eaten describing every mouthful or forkful. You will learn lots about his past sex life, and you will hate the way he uses sex as a metaphor for eating. You will think he’s a chauvinist but maybe you will love his wife Octavia. (She deserves to be loved as upon reading his chapter on Bourdain’s assessment of his meal at Alinea in Chicago, ‘the bitch’ as he calls her, jumped on a plane and flew there to check it out, eating alone. She loved the super lauded Grant Achatz’s food.)
And he slams the Food Network and most of the stars created there, who can’t cook well but have adoring fans around the world.
Loads of people you have never heard of are written about and rarely praised. But then this was not written for you, nor for anyone else who’s a prude or has not eaten their way through New York and other top foodie spots around the world. I recommend you leave it on the shelf and go back to watching chefs fighting it out on TV.
Published by Harper Collins
5 July 2010
It’s a sassy idea: Selaks National Roast Day on Sunday 1 August coming up soon. I attended a Celebrity Roast lunch at Cibo last week to kick it off where Kerre Woodham had everyone in stitches with her witty repartee. In 25 years of food writing I have never seen so many media show up, and absolutely everyone who could possibly matter turned out for Kate Fay’s great food, matched to some exciting Selak’s wine. My favourite dish? The tender roasted beef fillet from Silver Fern Farms served with beetroot and a green horseradish sauce (pic), matched to Selak’s Pinot Noir.
I will be roasting a fabulous T-Bone standing rib roast with all the trimmings on the eve of National Roast day as I have already invited visitors for dinner that night. So it will be roast leftovers on the actual day, Sunday August 1 if there is anything over.
I wrote a quiz for the guests at the Cibo Roast lunch which is below. Send your answers to me via email and see if you can beat the foodies. (The best mark was a mere 8/10 from the table that included Claire Aldous from Dish and Vic Williams.) A bottle of Selaks wine for the first 100% score I receive.
- What is the name of the machine that roasts meat and poultry while turning on a spit directly over heat?
- Which New York food writer wrote the book ‘Roasting – a Simple Art’?
- What is the name of the tasty baked egg batter that is the usual accompaniment to Roast beef?
- What fruit is most commonly cooked and puréed to match roast pork?
- What is a Crown Roast?
- Name the sauce that is most often called for to match Roast Lamb?
- Which country would you be Likely to be eating in if you were served skirlie with your Roast pheasant?
- Which King said this about his roast “I will knight it and then it will be Sir Loin”? And what animal was the meat from?
- Which roast meat would you be most likely to serve mustard with?
- What herb do the French use when they roast chicken?
5 July 2010
I went to an apple tasting. That might sound a little mundane but this was very special. Upstairs at the Mt Eden Nosh (Dominion Rd) they have a great area for tastings, cooking classes and receptions, and I would be hard pushed to say which this was, as the event qualified on all three counts.
A glass of bubbles on arrival (Pelorus NV, no less, from the smart winemaking team at Cloudy Bay) is always a great start to an event. And usually events like this are filled with media who can always be counted on to turn up to a free lunch. This day, however it was a very sophisticated crowd who had been invited, with businessmen, designers, auctioneers and managers from the fruit industry, brand strategists and a few food industry consultants.
It was straight into business. I have never been to Porcini bistro and pizzeria in Helensville, but it has shot to the top of my must-go-to list as the chef Peter Brennan was in the Nosh kitchen cooking up a storm with apples. He was extremely articulate and his introductory words made me think differently about apples. The ‘enza’ brand carries one of New Zealand’s most recognisable logos, due to all those cartons that can be spotted in markets throughout Asia and Europe, and as it was, of course, proudly displayed on Team NZ’s sails in the various assaults on the America’s Cup.
I was of the opinion that the modern enza apples were bred to last, and last, and last in the cool rooms around the world and were nowhere as flavoursome as heritage varieties. How wrong I was! Peter Brennan explained the amazing crispness and flavour of the two stars in the room; Jazz apples and Envy apples. I knew about Jazz but this was my introduction to Envy.
Envy is gorgeous, a crisp sweet apple that’s red and greeny lemon coloured with an almost almond flavour and is big, bold and beautiful. Perfect for cooking and prefect for eating. Jazz, is smaller, more evenly red, is a little tarter and has a ton of crunch due to the dense nature of the flesh. Both apples are strong and will last for ages away from the fridge. Yum!
And then, Peter Brennan passed around ever so slightly stewed Jazz apples that had spicy preserved beef slices wrapped around as an ideal hors d’oeuvre to match the Pelorus. He followed that by tossing together a bowl of roast duck and cashew salad that had Envy apples mixed through with a multitude of other delicious treats. And the Black Estate Riesling from Waipara was an ideal partner with lovely soft apple-ly flavours and a nice balance between acidity and sweetness. And if this was not enough he served up a wonderful layered dessert with an apple and rosewater sorbet accompanied by a late havest Riesling from Fromm.
These apples were just great in each dish served, but the ones I brought home have already been munched up and I am off to Lum’s to buy some more. Jazz and Envy. Envy me!
27 June 2010
The Museum Hotel in Wellington does everything splendidly. On Friday local foodies, the Mayor of Wellington and members of the NZ Guild of Food Writers gathered there over High Tea and a glass or two of bubbles to celebrate the contribution Lois Daish has made to the New Zealand food scene. As President of the NZGFW it was my honour to present Lois with her Honorary Life Membership brooch.
Wellington has a wealth of accompalished food personalities and many came to celebrate Lois' food writing and the part she had played in the local cafe and restaurant scene. Simon Holst, David Burton, Ruth Pretty, Jeff Kennedy, Brett Newell, Margaret Brooker, Anna Tait Jamieson, and the ever popular Al Brown (pictured above with Lois and myself) all enjoyed delicate sandwiches, dainty pastries and selection of lovely teas served in the sort of teacups my grandmother had. It was a fitting and wonderful tribute to a wonderful writer and personality.
And Lois, in her understated and humble manner, told us that she was really delighted with this recognition but now that she has retired her cooking has improved and is far better than it ever was.
24 June 2010
This has been an amazing week and it’s not over yet. Over the past few weeks I’ve been fortunate to be involved in a couple of terrific big projects where many people have come together to create something that’s very special. And both, as you would expect if I am spending time writing about them, involve food.
On Sunday, the day started out stormy and dark, but absolutely perfect weather for the Mercy Hospice Brunch in the Hyatt Auckland Ballroom. It was the fourth time this glamorous event has been held. ‘Ten – A Celebration of Tastes’ has become a must-attend fixture on the Auckland calendar and a major fundraiser for the hospice. Ten restaurants and caterers each prepare a special signature plate of well designed and cooked fare and each is paired with a winery so that the brunch guests can collect great food and wine combos to take back to their table. 450 guests paid $200 each to attend and there was a waiting list for weeks before the big day.
Hawkesby (the senior, most talkative member of that talented family) and I have presided over the proceedings each year and I swear his jokes become sharper, his wit more savvy, and his powers during the day’s big auction more persuasive each year. I’m there to keep him, and the day on track, for as every one knows, we really do not need many more Waiheke jokes. (His best joke this year? The announcement that anyone who was tiring of the proceedings could join Shane Jones in room 618 to see the in-house movie just ordered.) We had a surprise guest judge this year to pick the best food and wine match, Masterchef winner Brett Mc Gregor, who chose Prime Bistro’s beef osso bucco with truffled potato tortellini and gremolata, matched to Ransom Wines Dark Summit 2005 rich flavoursome Cabernet blend. A fabulous choice and there will be much more about the wine and food matching on the day on my ‘wines to drink’ page of this blogsite.
The live auction, silent auction, donations, raffles and ticket sales raised well over $215, 000, and the winner on the day was the generous soul who paid $8100 for a private cocktail party on Soul’s deck. Restaurateurs, caterers, private donors, benefactors like Bob McMillan, John and Alma Sax, Shane Cortese and others too numerous to mention, along with a well motivated and connected committee and hospice staff make this a really feel good event for a really worthy cause that I am proud to be part of. I’ll be back next year! And so will Hawkesby, I’m sure.
And then if that was not enough excitement for one week, yesterday we finished shooting the food photography for a new book, ‘Comfort – Food To Share’ which is due out from Random House in late October and all royalties will be given to the Starship Children’s Hospital. This is another project that relies on extreme generosity of so many good people. Members of the NZ Guild of Food Writers have shared their very best recipes for food which will be perfect to make for families in need of tender loving care. Nick Tresidder has given many hours to photograph the food, and his wife Stephanie has done the styling. Food writers Kathy Paterson, Ginny Grant, Laura Faire and myself made the food with several other food writers preparing and bringing their own dishes into the studio. Janene Draper of Farro Fresh donated much of the food for the shots, and no doubt many more people will be involved before the book is finished.
It’s generosity on a big scale; each contributor putting pieces of the jigsaw together to make a wonderful picture. And the shots of the kids scattered through the book will make you smile. Don’t even think about Christmas shopping this year. Wait, and buy this lovely book for everyone you know.
And I’ll be back next week after my trip to Wellington tomorrow. I am off to the Museum Hotel to present food writer Lois Daish with an honorary Life Membership of the Guild of Food Writers. I can’t think of anyone in the country who has written about food with such a wonderful social conscience and such a real understanding of what and how families could and should cook. Let’s hope the Wellington wind doesn’t do its thing too much!
15 June 2010
The question I am asked most often is “which saucepans should I buy?”
I have always answered that anyone considering purchasing a new saucepan, pot or frying pan should buy the best and probably the most expensive hardware they can find. “Think of it as an investment,” I say, “for if the pots and pans are really good you should be able to pass them on to the next generation.” And if you estimate how much you’re going to spend on the food that will be cooked in those pans over the years you will very quickly realise that spending $200 or $300 is a mere fraction of your forthcoming food bills.
When I completed my Cordon Bleu training I visited the Elizabeth David shop in Chelsea, London and purchased some Le Creuset ware from her that is still in constant use in my kitchen more than 35 years later. I love them and even more love the fact that I have a copy of the one commercial booklet Elizabeth David ever wrote, “Cooking with Le Creuset” published in 1969 in which she extols the value of the Le Creuset range and gives a few recipes. They’re quite avant garde recipes and include such timeless ideas as ‘purple sprouting broccoli with oil and lemon’, ‘shin of beef stewed in red wine’ and ‘pears baked in their skins.’
Recently I have needed to purchase a couple of new pans as I am tired of carrying things backwards and forwards between my beach house at Matakana and home where I am stuck during the week. My guava tree was dripping with fragrant red guavas and even after family, mates and Facebook friends had gathered the little fruits there were still plenty falling on the ground. I needed to make guava jelly and of course my large stockpot was at Matakana where I had been cooking crayfish. I had always bought cooking stuff from Epicurean (now closed) so it was with utter joy I spotted Teresa Le Clerc at the Homestore in Newmarket.
Teresa is the most knowledgeable kitchen equipment sales person I have met since Elizabeth David (and not as grumpy either!) Teresa found me the amazing J. Henckels Zwilling stock pot pictured above. It seemed really ugly with those handles that look like wings ready to fly, and the diddly little bunnies’ ears clasp on the lid. But having used it I now consider it a thing of beauty. It has a very heavy base, can be used on gas, electric and the wondrous induction elements and is amazingly easy to lift and tip. And it was priced at 50% off as others had shunned it too. I feel like I have won the jackpot and look forward to many years of stock making and preparing jams and jellies in this gorgeous pan.
The second purchase has been the Jamie Oliver saucepan. My husband has a penchant for freshly stewed fruit each morning, preferably apple and rhubarb which he cooks up with no added sugar or water. Not how I would do it. He puts it on to cook, goes away to play his piano, and invariably lets it catch and blacken. That means the saucepan burns too. So we went out shopping to find a small saucepan for his daily culinary exercise. There was quite a range to choose from, and he was won over by the heavy base of this pan, the long handle with a sort of heat resistant ‘padding’ on the underside and like my new stockpot, it can be used on any sort of element including induction. It is shiny and looks fabulous. The husband doesn’t even seem to mind me using this pan, as it is now my first choice for sauces and anything that requires slow and gentle heat. And he hasn’t burned his fruit once since then, but this is probably due to his other purchase; an old fashioned timer that rings loudly to alert us to the completion of the stewing time. Now I have to convince him to take the timer into the lounge and place it beside his piano!
9 June 2010
Six stunning Champagnes at an exclusive tasting. See my report of this by clicking on the 'Wines To Drink' page.
1 June 2010
Tonight I watched a television item on cat fish that is being sold in New Zealand supermarkets. It seems that some fishermen from Nelson will not be going fishing for up to four weeks as the competitive price of imported Vietnamese catfish in their local Countdown supermarkets has meant there is no market for the fish they would catch. Fish caught by local fishermen in local waters cannot compete? Hmmm.
For a couple of years now I have conscientiously shopped only at one of the two big supermarket chains in New Zealand. My friends and anyone who will listen know that I shop at New World in Remuera, occasionally visit Pak ‘n Save and buy incidentals from the wonderfully witty Prashant of the Matakana Four Square. (I admit to also shopping occasionally at Nosh and Farro Fresh as I am in love with their policies of stocking up-and-coming artisan items, and I am lucky to be in a position to afford such luxuries now and again.)
I believe the reasoning for my choice is sound. My personal support and dollars always go to the stores of the Foodstuffs chain, as it is proudly 100% New Zealand owned and operated, with a co-operative model where locals buy into and are guided by the business advisors in the three regional companies; Auckland and the area north of Taupo, Wellington which also covers the central North Island, and the South Island. Individual local ownership means profits are held by the New Zealand owners and some hopefully filters into the local community by various means. Individual owners at Foodstuffs can take advantage of the buying power of the parent group but are free to stock their stores with artisan and local produce as they see fit. There are three levels of store at Foodstuffs; the giants Pak n’ Save who claim to be the cheapest supermarket in the country, New World which has a huge degree of sophistication of both goods and service in the shops I go to, and the smaller Four Square stores where the owner greets every shopper like an old friend. The money I spend there stays in New Zealand.
On the other side, I have completely lost interest in the second dominant chain, Progressive, (their stores are Woolworths, Foodtown and Countdown, and I understand they will all be the Countdown brand within a year or two.) This chain is offshore owned, which to me means the profits do not benefit the New Zealand community, and they have centralised buying and distribution for all stores in their chain. Artisan producers tell me it’s hard to get their products into a local Progressive store. But I was really turned off shopping at Progressive supermarkets when I attended Vision 2020, a Government sponsored conference in Christchurch about two or three years ago. The CEO of Progressive told the assembled farmers, producers and agricultural business people present that at that time Progressive had three full time food buyers in China. As anyone who knows me will attest, I have been a passionate supporter of New Zealand food produced by our farmers, artisan producers and local horticulturalists for many years. I wondered why it was that our country, with an economy which has a backbone of agricultural production, needed to go out and source food that might put New Zealand producers out of business. (viz, the garlic industry).
Tonight I am enraged by the mere thought of Vietnamese catfish, farmed in the Mekong Delta, being brought into the country and sold in Countdown stores, effectively undercutting by more than half the price asked for a New Zealand fish like hoki. It was also suggested that the quality could be suspect. What next I ask?
I understand that there are people who experience financial difficulty putting food on their table every night, and can only afford to buy the very cheapest food. I also concede that both chains make excellent profits, but then this is business and until we think of a better alternative to that, we are stuck with supermarkets raking in seemingly large profits. But my money will be spent in 100% New Zealand owned stores, where hopefully the owners recognise that locally grown and produced benefits all Kiwis. I find it unpalatable that there is a need to seek out goods when they can be sourced or grown here in our beautiful country.