Happy birthday, Julia Child

I am not getting into the ways Julia Child has influenced (or not) how we eat in the USA, there are books and essays on that topic.  All I know is, for years, one of my favorite thing to do on Saturday mornings was watching reruns of the PBS program with her and Jacque Pepin.  These were not only entertaining and educational, but what comes through the casual banter between the two was this conviction that eating food carefully and thoughtfully prepared is a way of life, no matter how simple or complicated the dishes are, or how rarefied or humble the ingredient might be.  Although she had an extraordinary life and career, unlike many personalities in the cooking and restaurant (and on TV) business today, she never appeared elitest or judgmental.  Opinionated yes, but she did not talk down at us mere mortals, she talked to us like neighbors.

sauteed chicken supreme with braised savoy cabbage and lardons 

Trying to honor her 100th birthday, I am cooking and eating French tonight.  Although there are lots of dishes that may be more representative of French cooking, I think a supreme of chicken sauteed in butter, followed by a simple green salad, all wash down with a straight forward Medoc fit the bill pretty well.

Thank you Julia Child.  

A different beast

Following the twitter feeds of a couple of local chefs and restaurants, I heard about this place called Edulis a couple of months ago.  What intrigued me about the place was not only every dish on its menu published sounded delicious, but also their pre-ordered proteinsthat is best consumed by 2 or more people.   Lots of places now offer a large chunk of bone in rib steak that is like 5 lbs or bigger, but what stands out for the Edulis menu was things like Chantecler chicken baked in cast iron pot with hay, or the whole lobe of roasted foie gras etc.

As the place start to get some very positive tweets (before the press started to chime in), we decided to give it a try before the inevitable (hipsters, long waits ...).  Lets get some comments out of the way before I get to the chicken, the service was very friendly, low key, and fairly efficient.  The lady runs the place, I think her name is Tobey, she make you feel like you could actually be friends.  Smoked tuna was really nice, light yet rich.  Manilla clams with lots of spring produce and chanterelle mushrooms in a light broth was perhaps a tad salty, but still tasted fresh.  I just love having a glass or two of chilled Fino sherry to start a meal, especially with seafood, I don't understand why more restaurant don't stock them.

why do we not all cook chicken this way?  

Getting to the point, the chicken was pretty awesome.  While some may be a bit taken aback by the lack of color on the skin, as it was practically steamed in its own juices with the hay in the pot, not roasted, I see it as free of distraction to taste the full flavor of this chicken.  And what flavor it had; it is pretty clear that this is still chicken, it had the texture of a perfectly cooked one (the muscle was maybe a bit tighter, in a good way) and did not have gaminess of water fowls, but it taste a bit foreign (it was also so juicy it makes you wonder why we don't cook chicken this way more).  They hay may have contributed to it, but it is likely that we have all been predisposed to too much factory farmed chicken cooked way too hard and fast, so when a nice bird that was handled a little differently and of course with care, we may find it somewhat strange.  Strangely fantastic.