To All Those Critics of British Food...

[Spiffor]

I dispute the list.

Unless there has been a major change in a few years, I don't see how they can possibly list La Tupina there? True, it's a good one, but I didn't find anything in it that puts it above many that don't figure in the list.

[Agathon]

From the country that created Spotted Dick?

[alva]

Originally posted by bfg9000
The Brits do meat very well. A good steak and kidney pie washed down with a McMullens ale is an excellent meal..

Yep...either fossilised or charcoaled, take your pic.

[Dis]

Re: To All Those Critics of British Food...

Originally posted by molly bloom
Time to eat your words. The Fat Duck Restaurant in Bray has been voted the world's best.


I noticed as well that an American survey found that gourmets there thought London was best place to eat out.

Here's a degustation menu from Chef Heston Blumenthal's Fat Duck:


MENU SAMPLE FOR TASTING MENU
NINETY-SEVEN POUNDS AND FIFTY PENCE

NITRO-GREEN TEA AND LIME MOUSSE

ORANGE AND BEETROOT JELLY

OYSTER, PASSION FRUIT JELLY, HORSERADISH CREAM,

LAVENDER POMMERY GRAIN MUSTARD ICE CREAM,

RED CABBAGE GAZPACHO

JELLY OF QUAIL,

LANGOUSTINE CREAM,

PARFAIT OF FOIE GRAS



SNAIL PORRIDGE
Jabugo Ham, shaved fennel

ROAST FOIE GRAS
Almond fluid gel, cherry and chamomile

SARDINE ON TOAST SORBET
Ballotine of mackerel ‘invertebrate’, marinated daikon

SALMON POACHED WITH LIQUORICE
Asparagus, pink grapefruit, "Manni" olive oil

POACHED BREAST OF ANJOU PIGEON PANCETTA
Pastilla of its leg, pistachio, cocoa and quatre épices

WHITE CHOCOLATE AND CAVIAR

MRS MARSHALL’S MARGARET CORNET
PINE SHERBET FOUNTAIN

MANGO AND D0UGLAS FIR PUREE
Bavarois of lychee and mango, blackcurrant sorbet

CARROT AND ORANGE TUILE,
BAVAROIS OF BASIL
BEETROOT JELLY

SMOKED BACON AND EGG ICE CREAM
Pain perdu, tea jelly

LEATHER, OAK AND TOBACCO CHOCOLATES
PRALINE ROSE TARTLET

A selection of wines by the glass to accompany this menu £67.50

A selection of Champagne Taittinger by the glass to accompany this menu £90.00


Forgot the link: http://www.fatduck.co.uk/

you aren't going to sway me with that menu. You shouldn't be insulted when I badmouthed European food in the other thread. I find just about any northern european food to be disgusting or just average at best.

[Drake Tungsten]

I don't understand this thread. No one said that French cuisine was bad...

[Dinner]

Originally posted by MikeH
Where did you see this article?

I found this:

http://www.worldpress.org/Asia/1920.cfm

That said it was second best (and another restaurant in Bray in the top 20)

Best Restaurant in the World: The French Laundry, CA, USA

WE'RE NUMBER ONE! WE'RE NUMBER ONE!

Bow down biatches!

[Drewcifer]

Re: To All Those Critics of British Food...

Originally posted by molly bloom


MENU SAMPLE FOR TASTING MENU
NINETY-SEVEN POUNDS AND FIFTY PENCE

NITRO-GREEN TEA AND LIME MOUSSE

ORANGE AND BEETROOT JELLY

OYSTER, PASSION FRUIT JELLY, HORSERADISH CREAM,

LAVENDER POMMERY GRAIN MUSTARD ICE CREAM,

RED CABBAGE GAZPACHO

JELLY OF QUAIL,

LANGOUSTINE CREAM,

PARFAIT OF FOIE GRAS



SNAIL PORRIDGE
Jabugo Ham, shaved fennel

ROAST FOIE GRAS
Almond fluid gel, cherry and chamomile

SARDINE ON TOAST SORBET
Ballotine of mackerel ‘invertebrate’, marinated daikon

SALMON POACHED WITH LIQUORICE
Asparagus, pink grapefruit, "Manni" olive oil

POACHED BREAST OF ANJOU PIGEON PANCETTA
Pastilla of its leg, pistachio, cocoa and quatre épices

WHITE CHOCOLATE AND CAVIAR

MRS MARSHALL’S MARGARET CORNET
PINE SHERBET FOUNTAIN

MANGO AND D0UGLAS FIR PUREE
Bavarois of lychee and mango, blackcurrant sorbet

CARROT AND ORANGE TUILE,
BAVAROIS OF BASIL
BEETROOT JELLY

SMOKED BACON AND EGG ICE CREAM
Pain perdu, tea jelly

LEATHER, OAK AND TOBACCO CHOCOLATES
PRALINE ROSE TARTLET

A selection of wines by the glass to accompany this menu £67.50

A selection of Champagne Taittinger by the glass to accompany this menu £90.00


Forgot the link: http://www.fatduck.co.uk/

God, that is one of the most pretentious menues I have ever seen.

It is all about "look what I can do with my cool toys" and has no coherent thematic philosophy underlying it as a foundation. Fine cooking IMHO is all about getting the best ingredients possible and showing them off in a way that lets their natural beautifulness shine through. The monstrosity above is what happens when chefs cook with their ego and put that above their respect for the ingredients. Becuase food editors need to sell papers to a public that is enthralled with gee-whiz technology and are often such themselves these bs chefs and their bs food tend to get heaped with praise.

I have been a professional cook and chef for 15 years mostly in fine dinning. Technology is useful but it is not the point of cooking, those nitro-blasters are abhorent, I would never allow one in my kitchen.

[mindseye]

What in the he11 is a nitro-blaster?

[Seeker]

The true test of culinary skill is mastery within a discipline - - not mere innovation.

The Soup, the Pot Roast, the Fish dishes are all true tests in the european realm.

I could care less about peacock's tongues on a bed of gold gilded caviar (or whatever), but give me the Perfect Soup....and I'll call you a Master.

[Pekka]

Right... go to any holiday spot in Europe, preferrably in southern Europe.. what do you get for breakfast in resorts? BRITISH BREAKFAST!!!!! What do the disgusting signs outside the restaurants market... BRITISH BREAKFAST! What is british breakfast? It's heart attack and some disgustoids with it. It's the most horrible invention since super crack. Yeah, thanks for the tourist colonialism! How about just a .. sandwhich and some orange juice, how about a coffee and .. well something NORMAL. Not heart attack and disgustoids.

WICKED WICKED WICKED LADS!!!! WICKED! WICKED!

DIE, pretty please.

[Drewcifer]

Originally posted by mindseye
What in the he11 is a nitro-blaster?

Ferran Adria, the chef at El Bulli in Spain uses liquid nitrogen immersion as a way to manipulate food. El Bulli is another "greatest restaurant in the world" and the one the Fat Duck is copying. Adria is considered the creator of molecular gastronomy.

What it all comes down to is there are a lot of good chefs in the world. In order to be considered the best (if you want to play that game) it helps to have a gimmick. Molecular gastronomy is a great gimmick because not a lot of people can do it and it impresses people who seek novelty. The true path to greatness lies elsewhere... I prefer the French Laundry's approach: make classic food perfectly.

[Drewcifer]

Re: Re: To All Those Critics of British Food...

nevermind

[ravagon]

A British restaurant with no fish'n'chips???!!! :moral outrage:

[molly bloom]

Re: Re: To All Those Critics of British Food...

Originally posted by Drewcifer


I have been a professional cook and chef for 15 years mostly in fine dinning. Technology is useful but it is not the point of cooking, those nitro-blasters are abhorent, I would never allow one in my kitchen.

Blumenthal hasn't made the technology the 'point' of his cooking.


Flavour, texture ingredients and exciting the palate are what it's all about.


If you dismiss technological advances, all you'll have us eating is fresh fruit, seeds and nuts, singed nearly raw meat and food baked in the ashes of fires.

[Provost Harrison]

What a load of pretentious bollocks! Do people honestly eat that sh*t or put it on display in their homes? I want food dammit, not that overpriced muck!

Another sign of their sheer pretention is that they describe everything in French. No disrespect to the French, but this is the ultimate sign of snootiness in our dining establishments...