But I love it. You're not cut out for fine dining…neither am I. I am a huge fan and so happy about the gastro-pub movement. I am in search of slightly glorified comfort foods. Things that are delicious, well prepared, but not stuffy. Not stuffy at all.

Thanks for the blessings of your writing.

But I love it. You're not cut out for fine dining…neither am I. I am a huge fan and so happy about the gastro-pub movement. I am in search of slightly glorified comfort foods. Things that are delicious, well prepared, but not stuffy. Not stuffy at all.

Thanks for the blessings of your writing.

That being said, I'd like to hit a more serious note after reading the last bit of your post, and I hope sincerely that you won't be offended: I never would have been able to make the decision you did to eat foie gras, knowing in-depth the excessive cruelties involved with its production.

From NoFoieGras.org:

“In modern foie gras factory farms, geese and ducks are confined, usually in either small pens or in tiny cages that virtually lock the birds in place. Thus restrained, the birds cannot escape the “feeder” and the mechanized feeding machine. One by one, the feeder grabs each bird and plunges the metal pipe of the feeding machine down the birds' throat. The machine pumps a huge amount of a corn-and-oil mixture directly into their gullets in just a few seconds, equivalent to one-fourth to one-third of the birds' own body weight each day.”

“Necropsies performed on foie gras birds have shown them to suffer from grossly enlarged livers, lacerated tracheas and esophagi, pneumonia, throats and gullets severely impacted with undigested corn, massive internal bacterial and fungal growth, and sore feet from bumblefoot – all consequences of the production method for which veterinary care is not profitable.”

There is a slideshow here: http://www.nofoiegras.org/media/media_img/index.html

Again, I really love your blog, but it saddens me to see food bloggers and chefs advocate a form of food (however delicious) which causes such immense amounts of unnecessary suffering.

I don't think our sense of taste should dictate how we treat other living things.

I know this post is as old as dirt, so your position may have changed. Can you tell I'm lovingly going through your archives in my spare time? 🙂

Ha, ha! Thats a great description!!

BTW, I have discovered THE PERFECT SOUP. It is butternut squash, apricot and ginger from the < HREF="http://www.blogger.com/r?http%3A%2F%2Fwww.newcoventgardenfood.com%2Fhome.htm">New Covent Garden Soup Co.<>

I literally can’t resist trying things which are that weird and in this case it was worth it. The flavours are so well balanced that you can’t taste the apricot or ginger, but you are aware that it is not just butternut squash. A work of art!

And re: foam–
A Spanish chef named Ferran Adria (most famous for his current venture, El Bulli) invented the foam concept, and it’s now been widely copied. Essentially, you put a liquid (say, a thin but intense carrot reduction?) into a soda siphon, pump it full of air bubbles under high pressure, et voila! Foam! It’s kind of like eating intensely flavored air. I’m not a huge fan, though–it’s interesting and can interact in surprising ways with other flavors on the plate, but texturally, I find it odd. Not so into foam.

Enjoy that lamb!

I love really odd food combinations in the same way I like art that succeeds at being experimental.

I know what you mean about simple dishes though. I am so looking forward to cooking the joint of lamb I have in the ‘fridge and serving it with a simple accompaniment of veggies and lots of gravy!

btw, what is a ‘foam’???