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I think a lot of it depends on where you live, and what is common to where you live.
Where I live, in the Midwest, a bowl of Pho is heavenly, exotic, and hard to get...whereas in San Diego, you can kind of throw a pebble and hit a Vietnamese restaurant.
Pretty much it. My son went to the big city this weekend and ate some nice ramen and went to a cocktail bar. Lucy and the Green Mountains. At $15 it was the cheapest drink on the menu. Sometimes po' folk need to have a good time.
Sometimes I regret introducing him to the finer things in life.
Don't forget "deconstructed" food. (Sometimes also referred to as "reimagined".) Which is basically code for "unfinished" or "do it yourself". Consider the examples. That, and they charge you more, even though you do some of the work for them. I guess the higher price is to cover the additional labor costs of washing the extra dishes they use. Here are some of the examples I remember reading about.
Deconstructed hot chocolate - hot milk, chocolate bar, sugar, and marshmallows, served in separate containers. You mix them together.
Deconstructed mimosa - champagne and orange juice, served in separate glasses. You mix them together. The question is: what do you pour into what?
Deconstructed cobb salad - each ingredients, including the dressing, is served in its own small bowl, all set in a manner similar to a Passover seder plate You combine them yourself or eat them separately.
Deconstructed black forest cake - chocolate sponge cake, chocolate Bavarian-style cream, whipped cream, and sour cherry compote, all placed separately on a large plate, accompanied by kirschwasser in a shot glass. You eat them separately.
Last edited by MillennialUrbanist; 04-11-2017 at 09:27 PM..
Don't forget "deconstructed" food. (Sometimes also referred to as "reimagined".) Which is basically code for "unfinished" or "do it yourself". Consider the examples. That, and they charge you more, even though you do some of the work for them. I guess the higher price is to cover the additional labor costs of washing the extra dishes they use. Here are some of the examples I remember reading about.
Deconstructed hot chocolate - hot milk, chocolate bar, sugar, and marshmallows, served in separate containers. You mix them together.
Deconstructed mimosa - champagne and orange juice, served in separate glasses. You mix them together. The question is: what do you pour into what?
Deconstructed cobb salad - each ingredients, including the dressing, is served in its own small bowl, all set in a manner similar to a Passover seder plate You combine them yourself or eat them separately.
Deconstructed black forest cake - chocolate sponge cake, chocolate Bavarian-style cream, whipped cream, and sour cherry compote, all placed separately on a large plate, accompanied by kirschwasser in a shot glass. You eat them separately.
Deconstructed desserts are the worst. They are usually ugly too.
Don't forget "deconstructed" food. (Sometimes also referred to as "reimagined".) Which is basically code for "unfinished" or "do it yourself". Consider the examples. That, and they charge you more, even though you do some of the work for them. I guess the higher price is to cover the additional labor costs of washing the extra dishes they use. Here are some of the examples I remember reading about.
Deconstructed hot chocolate - hot milk, chocolate bar, sugar, and marshmallows, served in separate containers. You mix them together.
Deconstructed mimosa - champagne and orange juice, served in separate glasses. You mix them together. The question is: what do you pour into what?
Deconstructed cobb salad - each ingredients, including the dressing, is served in its own small bowl, all set in a manner similar to a Passover seder plate You combine them yourself or eat them separately.
Deconstructed black forest cake - chocolate sponge cake, chocolate Bavarian-style cream, whipped cream, and sour cherry compote, all placed separately on a large plate, accompanied by kirschwasser in a shot glass. You eat them separately.
LOL What? I'm missing life. BTW in some of the earlier posts the poor OP got way too much hate for mentioning rare meat. I hate it too. My mom always stewed steak. It tastes best to me cooked to death with onions and veggies and gravy. No matter what the cut. But I really have had meat medium (I can't do rare) just to not look low class.
Location: St Thomas, USVI - Seattle, WA - Gulf Coast, TX
811 posts, read 1,145,884 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by MillennialUrbanist
Don't forget "deconstructed" food. (Sometimes also referred to as "reimagined".) Which is basically code for "unfinished" or "do it yourself". Consider the examples. That, and they charge you more, even though you do some of the work for them. I guess the higher price is to cover the additional labor costs of washing the extra dishes they use. Here are some of the examples I remember reading about.
Deconstructed hot chocolate - hot milk, chocolate bar, sugar, and marshmallows, served in separate containers. You mix them together.
Deconstructed mimosa - champagne and orange juice, served in separate glasses. You mix them together. The question is: what do you pour into what?
Deconstructed cobb salad - each ingredients, including the dressing, is served in its own small bowl, all set in a manner similar to a Passover seder plate You combine them yourself or eat them separately.
Deconstructed black forest cake - chocolate sponge cake, chocolate Bavarian-style cream, whipped cream, and sour cherry compote, all placed separately on a large plate, accompanied by kirschwasser in a shot glass. You eat them separately.
This is a total misinterpretation of what deconstructed dishes are (meaning these lame-o restaurants have hijacked the terminology). Taking apart the components and laying them out for the guest to either consume separately or put back together on their own is NOT what deconstruction is AT ALL. I understand that restaurants and popular culture have hijacked the terminology and turned it into the exact, pseudo-sophisticated dishes that you mention here and that the OP is referring to, so this is a really good example for this thread, but these things you've listed are NOT examples of culinary deconstruction, whether the restaurants serving them claim it to be or not.
If anyone wants to understand what deconstruction is better, look into Ferran Adriá and his El Bulli restaurant in Spain. His work is NOT pseudo-sophistication and it is NOT putting components on a plate in an unfinished form. True deconstruction is about awakening a familiar sense of flavors in a dish that is composed/finished in a completely different way. It's blending modern technique with familiar and comforting flavors and textures in a way that is surprising and inspiring. It's like being at an art gallery, a Bill Nye the Science Guy show, and a delicious restaurant, all at once. It's high art, and I absolutely know it's not for everyone, that not everyone will appreciate it, and I'm no food snob, I promise (I love all food, indiscriminately ), but deconstruction is certainly not cobb salad ingredients in separate bowls. Not. At. All.
Last edited by IslandCityGirl; 04-13-2017 at 07:59 PM..
If anyone wants to understand what deconstruction is better, look into Ferran Adriá and his El Bulli restaurant in Spain. His work is NOT pseudo-sophistication and it is NOT putting components on a plate in an unfinished form. True deconstruction is about awakening a familiar sense of flavors in a dish that is composed/finished in a completely different way. It's blending modern technique with familiar and comforting flavors and textures in a way that is surprising and inspiring. It's like being at an art gallery, a Bill Nye the Science Guy show, and a delicious restaurant, all at once. It's high art, and I absolutely know it's not for everyone, that not everyone will appreciate it, and I'm no food snob, I promise (I love all food, indiscriminately ), but deconstruction is certainly not cobb salad ingredients in separate bowls. Not. At. All.
Thank you for clarifying the meaning. But I've never heard of this restaurant, and have very little hope of ever eating there. Can you provide a few specific examples of a properly deconstructed dish? Like names followed by descriptions.
The way you described it here, it sounds awfully similar to fusion cuisine. Like tacos (Mexican) filled with bulgogi and kimchi (Korean), sprinkled with paprika (Hungarian). Am I understanding it correctly?
Location: St Thomas, USVI - Seattle, WA - Gulf Coast, TX
811 posts, read 1,145,884 times
Reputation: 2322
Quote:
Originally Posted by MillennialUrbanist
Thank you for clarifying the meaning. But I've never heard of this restaurant, and have very little hope of ever eating there. Can you provide a few specific examples of a properly deconstructed dish? Like names followed by descriptions.
The way you described it here, it sounds awfully similar to fusion cuisine. Like tacos (Mexican) filled with bulgogi and kimchi (Korean), sprinkled with paprika (Hungarian). Am I understanding it correctly?
No, definitely not fusion. Molecular gastronomy, before it became misused and thusly a dirty word. I definitely roll my eyes when I hear "molecular gastronomy" most of the time, so, trust me, I get it.
El Bulli is closed now (so we all have no hope of eating there). I meant "look into it" in the Google sense. It was still booked for years when it closed, but Ferran Adriá felt that it (he) had run its creative course. He was right. Innovative techniques stop being innovative when they're everywhere and overused.
In a nutshell, Adriá is a mad scientist/visionary/chef. El Bulli pioneered molecular gastronomy before it became mis-used, dumbed down, and turned into weird, out of place gels and foams on people's plates (so definitely the pseudo-sophistication that this thread describes!!). Like I said, part food, part high-art, part magic show.
Deconstruction is the original molecular gastronomy (so yes, foams and spheres - Adriá invented them, and used them purposefully instead of for cheap show). It's not replacing flavors (like the tacos you mention) but actually even intensifying the original flavors of a known/familiar dish so that those flavors remain uncannily familiar, but are presented in a totally different, surprising package. Both of those things: familiar flavors and an unfamiliar package, are important parts of deconstruction. When it's done right, the flavors are intense and balanced and surprising. Think about the first time you had a toasted marshmallow Jelly Belly and thought, "What the heck?! That bean tastes EXACTLY like a toasted marshmallow!" The flavor is something that we're all very familiar with, but we're "wowed" that is comes in bean form. It awakens our senses in a different way. I guess a Jelly Belly is a deconstructed food. LOL! Ugh, this is really hard to explain when it needs to be tasted. Otherwise it just sounds stupid. LOL!
Are you familiar with spanish tortillas? I'd describe it as a Spanish potato omelette. it's a ubiquitous Spanish comfort food. Everyone there knows it and loves it. It's incredibly identifiable in a very specific way. It's delicious, unpretentious, widely available, and prized. Adriá deconstructed the flavor components of the dish into totally different formations and textures: onion jam, egg sabayon, potato foam. It sounds froofy, and yeah, it is. But the fun part is that it's not only beautiful and mysterious in its presentation, and unique texturally, but it tastes EXACTLY like a spanish tortilla, evoking a WTF in your taste buds that something that looks and feels so new can taste so comfort-food-familiar. Part magic show... I hope that makes sense. Molecular gastronomy has been bastardized and mis-used, without a doubt, and it is really stupid and unwanted most of the time, but when true deconstruction is done properly, I promise it really is special and surprising - a perfect hat trick.
Maybe watch the Chef's Table episode with Grant Achatz (Netflix)? I feel like that documentary will bring dimension and likeability to the concept much better than I can. His restaurant is Alinea, in Chicago, and continues to win acclaim for being part theater, part deliciousness. He also uses molecular gastronomy and deconstruction in surprising and fun ways. He has had a million such dishes, one of which is a play on caviar and toast: Osetra, bread foam (I know, I know: foam. But it tastes JUST LIKE TOAST. You recognize it INSTANTLY.), caper gel. It's texturally and visually completely new, and yet totally familiar flavor-wise. Like Willy Wonka and the everlasting gobstopper. Roast beef?
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food. (Sometimes also referred to as "reimagined".) Which is basically code for "unfinished" or "do it yourself". Consider the examples. That, and they charge you more, even though you do some of the work for them. I guess the higher price is to cover the additional labor costs of washing the extra dishes they use. Here are some of the examples I remember reading about.
), but deconstruction is certainly not cobb salad ingredients in separate bowls. Not. At. All.
