To Jenny
One may have noticed a recent trend towards light, fuss-free cuisine, as promoted by some of the more popular cookery shows. With an emphasis on friendly can-do dishes using widespread ingredients, it seems the new buzzword phrase circulating in foodie circles is "simply delicious"!
According to many fast-paced executives, pressed themselves to climb a corporate ladder, the trend for them is to become disllusioned with the fine-dining scene. They now prefer to spend more me-time on weekday evenings with spouse and children by dashing home after work in the car, just in time to whip up a one-man (or woman) culinary storm in a home-based domestic type setting, surrounded by captivated loved ones. However, they also wish to transplant the professional styles of cooking into a more user-friendly mindset, so that the whole family unit can joyously savour restaurant classics while still cosily attired in the comfort of their casual home clothes.
Yet, the sticklers to restaurant cookery may react violently with shame and horror to so daring a suggestion. "No," they offendedly exclaim, and then add, that the home kitchen should not be invaded thus by trendy movers and shakers from the restaurant realm. They seem to be right. The humble domestic kitchen is certainly no place for a truffled turkey! Home cooking and restaurant cuisine are definitely mutually at odds with the other, and no cultured foodies worth their salt would dare to dream of mixing the two. As it is, however, the situation is a positive nightmare!
"I have several ladies of leisure coming to me for home kitchen tips," says Madam Victoria Sng-Wallace, a retired cookery consultant, 57. "Nowadays, everyone wants to spice up their repertoire of dishes preparable at home. Ladies like to introduce labour-intensive foods like Peranakan sambals into the home arena, but they don't wish to undertake the aches and pains caused by squatting there and pounding - two typical actions that the preparation of rempahs require."
But there seem to be more ironies to the situation. The opposite dilemma is common in professional kitchens, where chefs find that they are no longer called upon to conceptualise elaborate pleasures of the table (let's say, in the late 90's grand French style). In the current dining climate, diners tend to have a minimalist dining frame of mind, thinking that it is trendy to dine lightly rather than heavily. Whereas, ten or perhaps even fifteen years ago, a typical epicure might have eaten in true splendour, zooming straight in onto the plumper cuts of meat on the menu, doused in a liberal overpouring of cream-based sauce, today's jet-set considers this vulgar - and also fairly unhealthy. Instead, dishes like poached fishes with organic vegetal accompaniments or fruity accents are the current fashionable rage.
According to many fast-paced executives, pressed themselves to climb a corporate ladder, the trend for them is to become disllusioned with the fine-dining scene. They now prefer to spend more me-time on weekday evenings with spouse and children by dashing home after work in the car, just in time to whip up a one-man (or woman) culinary storm in a home-based domestic type setting, surrounded by captivated loved ones. However, they also wish to transplant the professional styles of cooking into a more user-friendly mindset, so that the whole family unit can joyously savour restaurant classics while still cosily attired in the comfort of their casual home clothes.
Yet, the sticklers to restaurant cookery may react violently with shame and horror to so daring a suggestion. "No," they offendedly exclaim, and then add, that the home kitchen should not be invaded thus by trendy movers and shakers from the restaurant realm. They seem to be right. The humble domestic kitchen is certainly no place for a truffled turkey! Home cooking and restaurant cuisine are definitely mutually at odds with the other, and no cultured foodies worth their salt would dare to dream of mixing the two. As it is, however, the situation is a positive nightmare!
"I have several ladies of leisure coming to me for home kitchen tips," says Madam Victoria Sng-Wallace, a retired cookery consultant, 57. "Nowadays, everyone wants to spice up their repertoire of dishes preparable at home. Ladies like to introduce labour-intensive foods like Peranakan sambals into the home arena, but they don't wish to undertake the aches and pains caused by squatting there and pounding - two typical actions that the preparation of rempahs require."
But there seem to be more ironies to the situation. The opposite dilemma is common in professional kitchens, where chefs find that they are no longer called upon to conceptualise elaborate pleasures of the table (let's say, in the late 90's grand French style). In the current dining climate, diners tend to have a minimalist dining frame of mind, thinking that it is trendy to dine lightly rather than heavily. Whereas, ten or perhaps even fifteen years ago, a typical epicure might have eaten in true splendour, zooming straight in onto the plumper cuts of meat on the menu, doused in a liberal overpouring of cream-based sauce, today's jet-set considers this vulgar - and also fairly unhealthy. Instead, dishes like poached fishes with organic vegetal accompaniments or fruity accents are the current fashionable rage.
posted by D at 23:02
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