A Snack Tray to Gather the Family Around
October 21, 2016 3:12 PM Subscribe
The lady in seat 4F, though, the one in the light cashmere pullover reading the newspaper, she clicked the latch on her seat-back tray and said: “Double Smirnoff, on the rocks. And Doritos.” NYTimes
Recipe: Celery Toasts
Recipe: Celery Toasts
I don't even know where to buy hairy celery, let alone how to shave it .
posted by biffa at 3:17 PM on October 21, 2016 [2 favorites]
posted by biffa at 3:17 PM on October 21, 2016 [2 favorites]
Glorious. I, too, love a snack tray.
This might be the perfect solution to trying to feed two adults, a toddler, and a preschooler.
posted by apricot at 3:19 PM on October 21, 2016 [3 favorites]
This might be the perfect solution to trying to feed two adults, a toddler, and a preschooler.
posted by apricot at 3:19 PM on October 21, 2016 [3 favorites]
Celery is my favorite vegetable. People think I'm lying when I say that, but it's true.
posted by thebrokedown at 3:24 PM on October 21, 2016 [2 favorites]
posted by thebrokedown at 3:24 PM on October 21, 2016 [2 favorites]
I'm not sure what this essay is saying? I mean, it's definitely saying something, but I'm not getting it. Something about class and simplicity and non-hipsterdom, but then there's the celery toast thing, and Cambozola (which isn't a "simple" food).
Possibly it's just that it's Friday afternoon of a hellishly long week and I've eaten too much kettle corn and my brain isn't working.
Can someone explicate this?
posted by suelac at 3:29 PM on October 21, 2016 [17 favorites]
Possibly it's just that it's Friday afternoon of a hellishly long week and I've eaten too much kettle corn and my brain isn't working.
Can someone explicate this?
posted by suelac at 3:29 PM on October 21, 2016 [17 favorites]
> It's not super fancy or super novel it's just perfect.
Yes, yes it is.
posted by rtha at 3:31 PM on October 21, 2016 [1 favorite]
Yes, yes it is.
posted by rtha at 3:31 PM on October 21, 2016 [1 favorite]
Celery is the Vegetable without Qualities. This makes it the best vegetable and the worst vegetable all at the same time. I'd call it Schrödinger's Vegetable, but who am I kidding? That waveform will never collapse.
posted by GenjiandProust at 3:32 PM on October 21, 2016 [3 favorites]
posted by GenjiandProust at 3:32 PM on October 21, 2016 [3 favorites]
thebrokedown: Celery is my favorite vegetable. People think I'm lying when I say that, but it's true.
I believe you! I frequently cook up a big batch of jambalaya for friends, and when I do, my favorite part is chopping the celery. So fragrant and tasty.
posted by Hot Pastrami! at 3:32 PM on October 21, 2016 [3 favorites]
I believe you! I frequently cook up a big batch of jambalaya for friends, and when I do, my favorite part is chopping the celery. So fragrant and tasty.
posted by Hot Pastrami! at 3:32 PM on October 21, 2016 [3 favorites]
Dame? Is this a thing now?
posted by Splunge at 3:32 PM on October 21, 2016 [1 favorite]
posted by Splunge at 3:32 PM on October 21, 2016 [1 favorite]
> and Cambozola (which isn't a "simple" food)
What makes it not "simple"? I've seen it at Safeway, each wedge wrapped in plastic, next to other kinds of cheese (which all seem simple to me, but maybe that's just me - like, unwrap, eat).
posted by rtha at 3:38 PM on October 21, 2016 [5 favorites]
What makes it not "simple"? I've seen it at Safeway, each wedge wrapped in plastic, next to other kinds of cheese (which all seem simple to me, but maybe that's just me - like, unwrap, eat).
posted by rtha at 3:38 PM on October 21, 2016 [5 favorites]
I think it's saying that you can enjoy the symbolism of food without making food a status symbol.
posted by howfar at 4:05 PM on October 21, 2016 [6 favorites]
posted by howfar at 4:05 PM on October 21, 2016 [6 favorites]
I think it's saying that you can enjoy the symbolism of food without making food a status symbol.
Greetings. I will be your server tonight. May I suggest the plate of beans?
posted by Splunge at 4:22 PM on October 21, 2016 [12 favorites]
Greetings. I will be your server tonight. May I suggest the plate of beans?
posted by Splunge at 4:22 PM on October 21, 2016 [12 favorites]
i've been nauseous off and on all day but this looks so good and i'm going to berkeley bowl immediately after work to get the ingredients i can hardly wait!!!
posted by burgerrr at 4:24 PM on October 21, 2016
posted by burgerrr at 4:24 PM on October 21, 2016
This is the Grey Lady. She offers a lèse-majesté defense of common cuisine, as an amuse-bouche to those who will chuckle and go on to their high-priced fad-of-the-month culinary meccas for dinner tonight.
posted by kozad at 4:41 PM on October 21, 2016 [8 favorites]
posted by kozad at 4:41 PM on October 21, 2016 [8 favorites]
"I'm not sure what this essay is saying? I mean, it's definitely saying something, but I'm not getting it."
I'm a bit there too, but what I took away from the article is that "simple" foods can be good and bring family together. I had a neo-hippie girlfriend for a couple of years whose teenagers had never had cooking from a meat-eater (me) or had been encouraged to be adventerous about food. I introduced them to home-made BBQ chicken pizza, sardines with mustard on Triscuits, liverwurst on saltines with scallions, taco omelettes, chocolate milk from cows, etc.
Best was when we were on vacation and I got the daughter to try an oyster on the half-shell.
She: "I don't really like that."
Me: "That's fine, you tried it and that is what counts. It's good to try new foods."
Later that night she told her grandfather about it and he said, "Kim, you at a raw oyster?"
She was convinced she was going to die.
Until the next day, when I intorduced her to poutine.
posted by ITravelMontana at 4:50 PM on October 21, 2016 [3 favorites]
I'm a bit there too, but what I took away from the article is that "simple" foods can be good and bring family together. I had a neo-hippie girlfriend for a couple of years whose teenagers had never had cooking from a meat-eater (me) or had been encouraged to be adventerous about food. I introduced them to home-made BBQ chicken pizza, sardines with mustard on Triscuits, liverwurst on saltines with scallions, taco omelettes, chocolate milk from cows, etc.
Best was when we were on vacation and I got the daughter to try an oyster on the half-shell.
She: "I don't really like that."
Me: "That's fine, you tried it and that is what counts. It's good to try new foods."
Later that night she told her grandfather about it and he said, "Kim, you at a raw oyster?"
She was convinced she was going to die.
Until the next day, when I intorduced her to poutine.
posted by ITravelMontana at 4:50 PM on October 21, 2016 [3 favorites]
Celery, like iceberg lettuce, is just an edible delivery mechanism for water, and I will not be convinced otherwise.
(Kidding, kind of. But I still find raw celery tasteless, for the most part. Decent addition to a hearty soup, though.)
posted by tobascodagama at 4:57 PM on October 21, 2016 [1 favorite]
(Kidding, kind of. But I still find raw celery tasteless, for the most part. Decent addition to a hearty soup, though.)
posted by tobascodagama at 4:57 PM on October 21, 2016 [1 favorite]
Iceberg lettuce and celery, to a lesser extent, are textures that add to a dish. I don't know how anyone else uses them, but you can vary the mode of delivery of flavor with them.
Celery can be sliced on a bias and cooked to varying degrees. Chinese food, beef stew, spring rolls and seafood cakes are all accented well with celery. As well the combination of root vegetables, celery and indeed celery seed is a classic taste.
Iceberg lettuce can be a wrap, a shred, a chop, blanched and indeed a huge wedge. You use it like a blank canvas for your other flavors. In the right amount and form it can be a palate cleanser.
No vegetable is simply itself. Nor is a meat or a fish. Layers and considered additions make anything sing.
Except for sea urchin. Fuck sea urchin. :)
posted by Splunge at 5:26 PM on October 21, 2016 [3 favorites]
Celery can be sliced on a bias and cooked to varying degrees. Chinese food, beef stew, spring rolls and seafood cakes are all accented well with celery. As well the combination of root vegetables, celery and indeed celery seed is a classic taste.
Iceberg lettuce can be a wrap, a shred, a chop, blanched and indeed a huge wedge. You use it like a blank canvas for your other flavors. In the right amount and form it can be a palate cleanser.
No vegetable is simply itself. Nor is a meat or a fish. Layers and considered additions make anything sing.
Except for sea urchin. Fuck sea urchin. :)
posted by Splunge at 5:26 PM on October 21, 2016 [3 favorites]
This article inspired me to drink bourbon and eat thick cut baked bacon so it did do some good in the world.
posted by Potomac Avenue at 5:36 PM on October 21, 2016 [10 favorites]
posted by Potomac Avenue at 5:36 PM on October 21, 2016 [10 favorites]
Yeah, thanks to this piece, we are having snacks for dinner: cheese, olives, celery, etc. Nobody felt like cooking or even getting takeout, so here we are. It probably won't be as nicely plated as Hamilton's but she's a professional chef and I'm not.
If anyone wants a good chef memoir, her book Blood, Bones, and Butter is fantastic, and both it and the section on her in Mind of a Chef prompted us to go to her restaurant when we were in New York last spring. It is not a fussy or fancy place; the attention to the food is magical. It's a meal I'll remember for a long time.
posted by rtha at 5:54 PM on October 21, 2016 [7 favorites]
If anyone wants a good chef memoir, her book Blood, Bones, and Butter is fantastic, and both it and the section on her in Mind of a Chef prompted us to go to her restaurant when we were in New York last spring. It is not a fussy or fancy place; the attention to the food is magical. It's a meal I'll remember for a long time.
posted by rtha at 5:54 PM on October 21, 2016 [7 favorites]
It's so disturbing to me when people go on about how bland celery is — I've only ever found it incredibly and unpleasantly pungent. Not even "bitter" exactly, it just has an overpowering and very distinctive flavour that annihilates anything it touches. Hideous. Hellery.
Anyway, I'm off to do serious damage on a box of Wheat Thins, a brick of cream cheese, and a crockpot full of green tomato chutney. I also recommend dried apricots with peanut butter, and the correct dressing for any variety of fried potato is toum, tahini, and hot sauce.
posted by wreckingball at 6:09 PM on October 21, 2016 [16 favorites]
Anyway, I'm off to do serious damage on a box of Wheat Thins, a brick of cream cheese, and a crockpot full of green tomato chutney. I also recommend dried apricots with peanut butter, and the correct dressing for any variety of fried potato is toum, tahini, and hot sauce.
posted by wreckingball at 6:09 PM on October 21, 2016 [16 favorites]
reading The Financial Times, which she’d folded in vertical fourths, exactly the way all the charcoal gray suits used to do back when bankers still rode the subway to Wall Street in the mornings.
They still do...the only thing that's changed is that they don't read paper newspapers anymore, they read from their phones. And people dress much more casually these days, so maybe they're not as identifiable as "bankers"...
posted by pravit at 6:56 PM on October 21, 2016 [2 favorites]
They still do...the only thing that's changed is that they don't read paper newspapers anymore, they read from their phones. And people dress much more casually these days, so maybe they're not as identifiable as "bankers"...
posted by pravit at 6:56 PM on October 21, 2016 [2 favorites]
Can someone explicate this?
Determining the lightness of a pullover would involve ... Naah. Writer looks at your breasts when you talk.
posted by Mr. Yuck at 7:28 PM on October 21, 2016
I'm not sure what this essay is saying? I mean, it's definitely saying something, but I'm not getting it.
I had exactly the same reaction.
But I've bookmarked those celery toasts to try later – I love celery, and they look and sound delicious.
And, an erstwhile foodie, I've found myself wishing lately that we (the collective "we") could embrace simple food again. Maybe the insanity of 2016 has caused me to regress into childhood a bit, because I've been randomly remembering the traditional, homey, unpretentious meals I loved as a kid: Chicken and dumplings. Beef stewed in the slow cooker with big chunks of carrots, celery, and potatoes. Chicken à la King. Homemade, American-style vegetable soup. Fried green tomatoes straight from the garden (all you need is cornmeal, salt, and pepper). Beans with okra and cornbread. That stuff is good. And it's good partly because it's cheap, simple, un-aspirational, and connects us to a shared heritage of foodways, instead of striving toward ever more exclusive and rarified strata of conspicuous (and literal) consumption.
To bring it back to snacks: one of my favorite meals is called "eat all the random scraps from the fridge and cabinets". The last of the pickled green beans, some crackers that are about to go stale, the leftover bit of cheese from the thing I made last week, those slivered almonds that have been sitting in the back of the cabinet forever, a piece of fruit from the basket...nom.
posted by escape from the potato planet at 7:34 PM on October 21, 2016 [5 favorites]
I had exactly the same reaction.
But I've bookmarked those celery toasts to try later – I love celery, and they look and sound delicious.
And, an erstwhile foodie, I've found myself wishing lately that we (the collective "we") could embrace simple food again. Maybe the insanity of 2016 has caused me to regress into childhood a bit, because I've been randomly remembering the traditional, homey, unpretentious meals I loved as a kid: Chicken and dumplings. Beef stewed in the slow cooker with big chunks of carrots, celery, and potatoes. Chicken à la King. Homemade, American-style vegetable soup. Fried green tomatoes straight from the garden (all you need is cornmeal, salt, and pepper). Beans with okra and cornbread. That stuff is good. And it's good partly because it's cheap, simple, un-aspirational, and connects us to a shared heritage of foodways, instead of striving toward ever more exclusive and rarified strata of conspicuous (and literal) consumption.
To bring it back to snacks: one of my favorite meals is called "eat all the random scraps from the fridge and cabinets". The last of the pickled green beans, some crackers that are about to go stale, the leftover bit of cheese from the thing I made last week, those slivered almonds that have been sitting in the back of the cabinet forever, a piece of fruit from the basket...nom.
posted by escape from the potato planet at 7:34 PM on October 21, 2016 [5 favorites]
Determining the lightness of a pullover would involve ... Naah. Writer looks at your breasts when you talk.
posted by Mr. Yuck at 7:28 PM on October 21
Writer is a woman, and women often pay attention to what other women wear. More on point, though: writer is a writer, and writers pay attention to details and describe them. Weird, huh?
posted by rtha at 7:48 PM on October 21, 2016 [10 favorites]
posted by Mr. Yuck at 7:28 PM on October 21
Writer is a woman, and women often pay attention to what other women wear. More on point, though: writer is a writer, and writers pay attention to details and describe them. Weird, huh?
posted by rtha at 7:48 PM on October 21, 2016 [10 favorites]
I proposed to my wife right after a dinner at Prune. It worked.
posted by Stonestock Relentless at 7:53 PM on October 21, 2016 [8 favorites]
posted by Stonestock Relentless at 7:53 PM on October 21, 2016 [8 favorites]
Celery is the Vegetable without Qualities.
Stringy, fibrous and astringent are definitely Qualities. Not necessarily good ones, either. I'll allow that it is sort of useful for flavouring stock, but otherwise I have much the same reaction Newman does to broccoli. Now there's a vegetable.
posted by Jon Mitchell at 8:20 PM on October 21, 2016
Stringy, fibrous and astringent are definitely Qualities. Not necessarily good ones, either. I'll allow that it is sort of useful for flavouring stock, but otherwise I have much the same reaction Newman does to broccoli. Now there's a vegetable.
posted by Jon Mitchell at 8:20 PM on October 21, 2016
I've found myself wishing lately that we (the collective "we") could embrace simple food again.
I'm not really convinced they were ever unembraced? I mean like foodwriters don't write about that stuff so much but presumably because it doesn't get clicks to write about things that everyone already knows how to cook and has an opinion about.
posted by bracems at 8:20 PM on October 21, 2016 [3 favorites]
I'm not really convinced they were ever unembraced? I mean like foodwriters don't write about that stuff so much but presumably because it doesn't get clicks to write about things that everyone already knows how to cook and has an opinion about.
posted by bracems at 8:20 PM on October 21, 2016 [3 favorites]
I had some fancy whole grain crackers, Jarlsberg slices, last of the Utah yellow peppers, and last of the Armenian cukes, mayo on the side. Tea. Dinner. The cheese, cracker and something or other has been an evening meal favorite of mine, this summer, slipping into fall.
posted by Oyéah at 8:45 PM on October 21, 2016 [4 favorites]
posted by Oyéah at 8:45 PM on October 21, 2016 [4 favorites]
I also didn't feel like this article was saying much, but I'm kind of a connoisseur of tiny weird snacks, so I liked that aspect of it. It was all atmosphere and little substance, but I still liked it.
posted by limeonaire at 9:23 PM on October 21, 2016
posted by limeonaire at 9:23 PM on October 21, 2016
I also didn't feel like this article was saying much
It was the way in which it was said.
posted by oheso at 11:30 PM on October 21, 2016 [1 favorite]
It was the way in which it was said.
posted by oheso at 11:30 PM on October 21, 2016 [1 favorite]
Greetings. I will be your server tonight. May I suggest the plate of beans?
Hmmmmmmmm........
posted by clockzero at 12:01 AM on October 22, 2016 [3 favorites]
Hmmmmmmmm........
posted by clockzero at 12:01 AM on October 22, 2016 [3 favorites]
I'm with wreckingball- I hate the stuff. It stinks, and the stink stinks up everything it touches. Such a nasty vegetable.
posted by I_Love_Bananas at 2:12 AM on October 22, 2016 [2 favorites]
posted by I_Love_Bananas at 2:12 AM on October 22, 2016 [2 favorites]
“Snack tray” quickly became a cheerful, wordless conversation about who we wanted to be in the world and how we wanted that world to be. Where food was not a fetish object, where your car and driver — not your handcrafted artisanal gin — was still your status symbol.
This feels like a sentence out of a completely different reality & I'm not really sure what it means. It's a weird sentence cause it's explicitly making food into a fetish object of their shared values of unpretentiousness. But it's still all just as incredibly pretentious if not more so. I mean not that it's not ok for 2 high powered NYC chefs to be pretentious about food. But at least be honest about it? I dunno.
posted by bleep at 2:36 AM on October 22, 2016 [1 favorite]
This feels like a sentence out of a completely different reality & I'm not really sure what it means. It's a weird sentence cause it's explicitly making food into a fetish object of their shared values of unpretentiousness. But it's still all just as incredibly pretentious if not more so. I mean not that it's not ok for 2 high powered NYC chefs to be pretentious about food. But at least be honest about it? I dunno.
posted by bleep at 2:36 AM on October 22, 2016 [1 favorite]
And I mean who cares if your status symbol is having a driver or drinking special gin? What makes one worse than the other?
posted by bleep at 2:37 AM on October 22, 2016 [1 favorite]
posted by bleep at 2:37 AM on October 22, 2016 [1 favorite]
Is there something wrong with American celery maybe? There's a reason that it's part of the French mirepoix and Louisiana's "holy trinity": it's damn near indispensable, ranking just below onions on my list of kitchen necessities.
I love celery for its crunch when blanched, its umami-like flavor that balances out sweeter vegetables like carrots or onions. It's indispensable in vegetable soups, or jambalaya, or gumbo. It adds a nice crunch to some vegetable stir fries, a change of colour and texture to meat ones, and freshness to stocks and chicken soup. Chacun à son goût and all that, but I simply can't understand this hate for one of the most basic ingredients.
posted by Joe in Australia at 3:54 AM on October 22, 2016 [5 favorites]
I love celery for its crunch when blanched, its umami-like flavor that balances out sweeter vegetables like carrots or onions. It's indispensable in vegetable soups, or jambalaya, or gumbo. It adds a nice crunch to some vegetable stir fries, a change of colour and texture to meat ones, and freshness to stocks and chicken soup. Chacun à son goût and all that, but I simply can't understand this hate for one of the most basic ingredients.
posted by Joe in Australia at 3:54 AM on October 22, 2016 [5 favorites]
Celery, like iceberg lettuce, is just an edible delivery mechanism for water, and I will not be convinced otherwise.
(Kidding, kind of. But I still find raw celery tasteless, for the most part. Decent addition to a hearty soup, though.)
IMHO, it's a tabula rasa onto which you project your foodly desires.
Whether those desires are aspirational or lowbrow - go for it. Schmear some Cheez Whiz on that bad boy. The world is your oyster. Speaking of which, ever spread smoked oysters on celery?
posted by mandolin conspiracy at 6:47 AM on October 22, 2016
(Kidding, kind of. But I still find raw celery tasteless, for the most part. Decent addition to a hearty soup, though.)
IMHO, it's a tabula rasa onto which you project your foodly desires.
Whether those desires are aspirational or lowbrow - go for it. Schmear some Cheez Whiz on that bad boy. The world is your oyster. Speaking of which, ever spread smoked oysters on celery?
posted by mandolin conspiracy at 6:47 AM on October 22, 2016
> Can someone explicate this?
It's a love letter about snack trays, but not to them.
posted by lucidium at 8:09 AM on October 22, 2016 [2 favorites]
It's a love letter about snack trays, but not to them.
posted by lucidium at 8:09 AM on October 22, 2016 [2 favorites]
All this talk of celery reminds me of a masterful essay with certain intersecting themes, that has been shared on the Blue previously.
posted by howfar at 8:22 AM on October 22, 2016
posted by howfar at 8:22 AM on October 22, 2016
I read this whole essay increasingly wondering if her hypercompetitive no frills snack appreciating girlfriend could be Ashley Merriman, who I've had a sizable ladycrush (and foodiecrush) for ever since she was on Top Chef, and indeed, it's true! Aww. I wish them many more happy snack trays together.
posted by deludingmyself at 8:47 AM on October 22, 2016 [1 favorite]
posted by deludingmyself at 8:47 AM on October 22, 2016 [1 favorite]
My breakfast just now was a cup of coffee and a cheese rubbed with lavender buds and coffee grounds on apple slices. The finest possible weekend lunch in early-mid fall for my money is a flavorful cheese on (crackers|crusty bread|apple slices) and a beer. So I'm generally on board. CAN WE TALK ABOUT THE CELERY THO. The celery is SHAVED. This is a game-changer! This shaved asparagus frittata was a revelation -- I'm sure it helps that I was not the person who had to shave every single asparagus spear, but the way it diffuses the bitterness and fibrous texture of the asparagus is brilliant.
posted by clavicle at 8:54 AM on October 22, 2016 [1 favorite]
posted by clavicle at 8:54 AM on October 22, 2016 [1 favorite]
Shaving zucchini was a revelation as well!
Just shave it with a vegetable peeler and toss with some olive oil, pepper and toasted nuts (slivered almonds, pine nuts, crushed walnuts, whatever! Parmesan or romano is an added bonus.
In any case, I picked up some celery and cambozola about an hour ago, so I'm giving the snack in the FPP a shot today.
posted by mandolin conspiracy at 9:06 AM on October 22, 2016 [1 favorite]
Just shave it with a vegetable peeler and toss with some olive oil, pepper and toasted nuts (slivered almonds, pine nuts, crushed walnuts, whatever! Parmesan or romano is an added bonus.
In any case, I picked up some celery and cambozola about an hour ago, so I'm giving the snack in the FPP a shot today.
posted by mandolin conspiracy at 9:06 AM on October 22, 2016 [1 favorite]
It's so disturbing to me when people go on about how bland celery is — I've only ever found it incredibly and unpleasantly pungent. Not even "bitter" exactly, it just has an overpowering and very distinctive flavour that annihilates anything it touches. Hideous. Hellery.
Yes! To me it smells like headaches and nausea.
posted by kersplunk at 10:02 AM on October 22, 2016
Yes! To me it smells like headaches and nausea.
posted by kersplunk at 10:02 AM on October 22, 2016
> I read this whole essay increasingly wondering if her hypercompetitive no frills snack appreciating girlfriend could be Ashley Merriman, who I've had a sizable ladycrush (and foodiecrush) for ever since she was on Top Chef, and indeed, it's true! Aww. I wish them many more happy snack trays together.
Oh my god! So when we had dinner at Prune in May, I was loitering near the (tiny, open) kitchen because that is where you loiter when someone is in the restroom. The chef, who looked damn familiar but was not Hamilton, asked me if I was enjoying dinner. Yes, I said, so very much. "I've never had tripe before, but I figured if I was ever going to try it, here would be a good place and I loved it. It was wonderful. Thank you so much!" She smiled and looked so happy and thanked me and that made me happy, too. The whole meal made me so happy.
I thought about trying to figure out why the chef looked so familiar, but "chef who looks like someone from Top Chef, probably?" is not easily google-able, so I left it. But lo, Ashley Merriman was indeed the chef who was so happy I had the tripe!
posted by rtha at 12:12 PM on October 22, 2016 [2 favorites]
Oh my god! So when we had dinner at Prune in May, I was loitering near the (tiny, open) kitchen because that is where you loiter when someone is in the restroom. The chef, who looked damn familiar but was not Hamilton, asked me if I was enjoying dinner. Yes, I said, so very much. "I've never had tripe before, but I figured if I was ever going to try it, here would be a good place and I loved it. It was wonderful. Thank you so much!" She smiled and looked so happy and thanked me and that made me happy, too. The whole meal made me so happy.
I thought about trying to figure out why the chef looked so familiar, but "chef who looks like someone from Top Chef, probably?" is not easily google-able, so I left it. But lo, Ashley Merriman was indeed the chef who was so happy I had the tripe!
posted by rtha at 12:12 PM on October 22, 2016 [2 favorites]
So does the restaurant mainly just lift recipes from Fergus Henderson?
posted by howfar at 1:01 PM on October 22, 2016
posted by howfar at 1:01 PM on October 22, 2016
Her cooking seems very different from Henderson's to me, but I have tried neither restaurant. I have seen the first episode of the Mind of a Chef season she stars in, and tried to post a link here, but my browser kept crashing, so here is an article about it instead. She seems utterly charming, but also tough. And the food looks delicious.
posted by mumimor at 2:18 PM on October 22, 2016
posted by mumimor at 2:18 PM on October 22, 2016
> So does the restaurant mainly just lift recipes from Fergus Henderson?
I've never eaten at Henderson's but...why do you ask this? Simply because they seem to serve similar kinds of food?
posted by rtha at 2:28 PM on October 22, 2016 [1 favorite]
I've never eaten at Henderson's but...why do you ask this? Simply because they seem to serve similar kinds of food?
posted by rtha at 2:28 PM on October 22, 2016 [1 favorite]
When they say shaved celery, do they just mean celery sliced very thinly? I don't actually know how to shave it without the strings gumming everything up.
posted by Joe in Australia at 2:53 PM on October 22, 2016
posted by Joe in Australia at 2:53 PM on October 22, 2016
I simply can't understand this hate for one of the most basic ingredients.
But isn't this the way of the food writer/critic? This [ingredient] is the new thing. This [ingredient] is so last year. This is what moves food writing in some circles. And the people that depend upon that kind of thing will ever do it. In my NSHO this is bullshit of the highest order. Food is food. Styles come and go. I couldn't care less what a writer who depends upon views thinks of an ingredient. I know my pantry. I know my palate. I know what I've learned from my grandmother to decent TV chefs. Buy fresh. Use what there is to make your menu. Make what you like and what your close circle of family and friends like.
You like kale? Kale it up, bunky. Fuck the haters. They don't get to eat the great stuff that you make. More for us.
posted by Splunge at 4:31 PM on October 22, 2016
But isn't this the way of the food writer/critic? This [ingredient] is the new thing. This [ingredient] is so last year. This is what moves food writing in some circles. And the people that depend upon that kind of thing will ever do it. In my NSHO this is bullshit of the highest order. Food is food. Styles come and go. I couldn't care less what a writer who depends upon views thinks of an ingredient. I know my pantry. I know my palate. I know what I've learned from my grandmother to decent TV chefs. Buy fresh. Use what there is to make your menu. Make what you like and what your close circle of family and friends like.
You like kale? Kale it up, bunky. Fuck the haters. They don't get to eat the great stuff that you make. More for us.
posted by Splunge at 4:31 PM on October 22, 2016
I recall in my youth, my grandfather showing me what weeds in our yard were edible. Of course the were dandelion greens. There was also some kind of ground hugging plant. It was small. It had red stalks and small round, green leaves. Flat to the ground. Yet it was tasty in a salad, after it was washed thoroughly. This is the kind of thing I remember. This is what speaks to me when I cook.
posted by Splunge at 5:16 PM on October 22, 2016
posted by Splunge at 5:16 PM on October 22, 2016
Sounds like purslane, yum.
posted by clavicle at 6:28 PM on October 22, 2016 [1 favorite]
posted by clavicle at 6:28 PM on October 22, 2016 [1 favorite]
Oddly, the bit that sent me scurrying toward the kitchen was the description of bread with butter on it.
posted by darksasami at 3:18 AM on October 23, 2016
posted by darksasami at 3:18 AM on October 23, 2016
So does the restaurant mainly just lift recipes from Fergus Henderson?
No actually a pretty differ esthetic all around. Frankly Prune isn't remotely close to St John in terms of quality or influence.
A reader of metafilter or someone who knows Hamilton through her writing and media (which she is great at) might get a misguided sense of what her restaurant is. It's more of a nostalgia call back thing executed to a superior level.
posted by JPD at 3:46 AM on October 23, 2016
No actually a pretty differ esthetic all around. Frankly Prune isn't remotely close to St John in terms of quality or influence.
A reader of metafilter or someone who knows Hamilton through her writing and media (which she is great at) might get a misguided sense of what her restaurant is. It's more of a nostalgia call back thing executed to a superior level.
posted by JPD at 3:46 AM on October 23, 2016
> Cambozola (which isn't a "simple" food)
I buy it at Costco.
posted by The corpse in the library at 9:03 PM on October 23, 2016 [1 favorite]
I buy it at Costco.
posted by The corpse in the library at 9:03 PM on October 23, 2016 [1 favorite]
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posted by The Whelk at 3:16 PM on October 21, 2016 [7 favorites]