What is a Gourmet
I suppose that when I was a kid and I first understood the term ‘Gourmet’, it sort of conjured up pictures of stuck-up French Aristocrats with waxed moustaches and monocles, hair plastered down with a couple of tons of lard. Before starting this blog, I took the time to ask around, mainly friends, saying “whats your idea of a Gourmet?”.
The normal response I got was pretty narrow and ranged around lovers of complicated recipes with rare and expensive ingredients and finicky aging types likely to complain if the consommé was not crystal clear or the Clos Vougeot was not at exactly the correct temperature.
To me, this is not what a gourmet is all about. Food is a great pleasure. Recipes are a joy. Sometimes, a recipe brings pleasure from its complexity and lengthy preparation as in the Elizabethan Oleo, which I will be exploring later. At other times, the simplest of dishes outweighs expense and time. Like mature cheese fried in best butter, or creamed mushrooms on toast, pure comfort food for cold wet dreary night.
On this blog I will be examining all aspects of good food regal and simple, and I will also be peeking at the seedier side, like avoiding those couldn’t-care-less restaurants which turn up the contents of a cess-pit and try to disguise the result as Volaille en Casserole à la Fermière.
One last point whilst we are on the subject French sounding nibbles. There is one thing you will NOT find me discussing on this blog after this current entry, and that is Foie Gras. Foie Gras is inhuman and should be banned forthwith. I abhor any form of forced animal cruelty and Foie Gras production is the epitome of this. If you need any further explanation on this subject I suggest that you see Sir Roger Moore’s short video which can be found here. But beware it is heart rending.
I suppose that when I was a kid and I first understood the term ‘Gourmet’, it sort of conjured up pictures of stuck-up French Aristocrats with waxed moustaches and monocles, hair plastered down with a couple of tons of lard. Before starting this blog, I took the time to ask around, mainly friends, saying “whats your idea of a Gourmet?”.
The normal response I got was pretty narrow and ranged around lovers of complicated recipes with rare and expensive ingredients and finicky aging types likely to complain if the consommé was not crystal clear or the Clos Vougeot was not at exactly the correct temperature.
To me, this is not what a gourmet is all about. Food is a great pleasure. Recipes are a joy. Sometimes, a recipe brings pleasure from its complexity and lengthy preparation as in the Elizabethan Oleo, which I will be exploring later. At other times, the simplest of dishes outweighs expense and time. Like mature cheese fried in best butter, or creamed mushrooms on toast, pure comfort food for cold wet dreary night.
On this blog I will be examining all aspects of good food regal and simple, and I will also be peeking at the seedier side, like avoiding those couldn’t-care-less restaurants which turn up the contents of a cess-pit and try to disguise the result as Volaille en Casserole à la Fermière.
One last point whilst we are on the subject French sounding nibbles. There is one thing you will NOT find me discussing on this blog after this current entry, and that is Foie Gras. Foie Gras is inhuman and should be banned forthwith. I abhor any form of forced animal cruelty and Foie Gras production is the epitome of this. If you need any further explanation on this subject I suggest that you see Sir Roger Moore’s short video which can be found here. But beware it is heart rending.
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