SIR NOSE ON LINE

food (yum yum)

The Nose Says

"Just a few thoughts when ever I happen to have them.

Brie.The cheese. 99% of people eat it far to ripe. Try it very unripe, it's infinitely better.

Put your prejudice and snobbery away, take my hand and eat BRIE as it should be eaten.It should be very firm and have a white chalky middle. It will have a fresh salty taste and when eaten on its own or with crackers or good French bread and/or with a glass or two of wine, you will come to know the food which is eaten by the angels in heaven. If you buy from a supermarket Safeway has the best FRENCH BRIE. "

2nd: Butter. Why do top class restaurants spoil good bread with salty butter? Only unsalted will do! If you haven't already try it!

The French would never dream of serving salty butter to a guest, neither would I. for the best taste only eat unsalted butter.

3rd: Cooking Times. There seems to be a never ending mania for food being far to under cooked. Everyone I know is embarrassed to admit they like fully cooked food!

Before continuing I have to say I don't like over cooked food either but overcooking is usually through ignorance or lack of care. Under cooked food is usually a sign of pretentious affectation.

Beefsteak is a good example. When cooked and at its best it best it will either just have a hint of red in the centre or have just turned colour. When cut the juice should run. Like this it will be at its most tender and flavoursome. If its 'rare' it's impossible to cut and the flavour and texture can be slightly revolting. Man is not a natural carnivore and therefore to eat meat it must be properly cooked.

Lamb is generally served to pink , as is the majority of meat. I could go on but simply put people prefer well cooked food and shouldn't be afraid to say so!

Before I leave the subject, I haven't had a properly cooked vegetable in a restaurant for many years. They invariably are either overcooked to the limp and lifeless state or are not cooked at all, just introduced to hot water to heat through i.e. hot uncooked vegetables. The timing is critical, firm and tender not limp or rock hard.

Nuff said.

4th: Wine. I like wine, especially with dinner. Why not? I particularly like Champagne or other types of sparkling wine.

My favourite wine is served in France, Spain, Italy or other such countries. You go to a little place somewhere in the country, by a lake or river, perhaps by the sea, ask for wine and it just arrives, with a few olives or something, and the wine is wonderful, it never has a name and it's just wonderful.

Here and in big city restaurants there is a major production with a special waiter wearing a bunch of grapes on his (or her) lapel.

A major production is made of the choosing and serving and it's usually not worth the effort. The same is true of the snobbery when buying from a merchant. It's just wine for heaven sake.

I hate wine snobs.

At its best wine is a wonderful sensual and essentially private experience, the liquid caressing the tastebuds and the alcohol subsequently making the head spin in a pleasant whirl. Don't be put off by the wine snobs nonsense.

Sniffing and slurping is OK for professional tasters and critics, but for you and me, pour it, drink it and say I like it or I don't like it? No more or less.

5th: Vegetables in restaurants. Why can't I get the selection of vegetables that I want in a restaurant? Why is it always veg of the day? I used to be able to have what I wanted, I am the paying customer after all. I want beans, peas, chips, mash and pureed okra (maybe). I'm offered baby sweetcorn, mange tout, carrots and baby new potatoes or similar, no alternative. I know all the excuses, but I'd like to make my own selection of vegetables. Can't modern overpaid chefs cope with this simple request?!

6th: Fish and Chips. I'm British and proud of it...... well usually, I am embarrassed that any country called Great Britain could elect Thatcher three times followed by Major....... still that seems to be sorted now and we seem to have a decent gentleman. However, even though I'm proud how is it so many of us smother perfectly decent fish and chips with lashings of salt and vinegar. A little salt on the chips by all means (when I say a little I mean a little), but vinegar?! Vinegar totally overpowers any of the natural taste of this food, you might as well soften cardboard in water, heat it up and smother that in salt and vinegar, you wouldn't be able to tell the difference.

7th: Lamb: as No6 except why kill the beautiful delicate flavour of lamb with mint sauce. It's wrong, it doesn't belong, don't do it, it's an insult to the memory of the dear departed animal. Here I must confess even my good lady Madam Nose, no doubt through poor family upbringing, eats mint sauce with lamb but has the good grace to look embarrassed. Try it cooked with fresh herbs especially rosemary, this was made in heaven as a combination.

This update 27.9.97

More after dinner.