Dorin Motz at [EMAIL PROTECTED],Internet writes:
>I don't have any problem with Judyth being a vegetarian since 1970, but
>she should definitely be more tolerant towards who are not.
Actually, if you read what I wrote, you will see that I am in fact
very tolerant of those who eat meat. On the other hand, I'm very
INtolerant of people who serve badly-made food, or who don't
describe what they serve in accurate terms. While I don't eat
meat any longer myself, most of my friends and family do, and
I've even been known to cook it (well, I'm told) on occasion.
Cookery is a major interest of mine, I read recipes and articles
about food with great interest, and I live in Montreal where
food is pretty nearly a religion. There's an old joke that
defines a Montrealer as somebody who feels insecure if he's
more than four feet from a good restaurant.
>Anyway, "chopped steak" sounds so... chopped!
Now, that is interesting. From my perspective, "chopped" is
no different from "sliced", "cubed", "julienned" or whatever
--just a description of a certain cutting technique which does
not materially alter the nature of a food. The big difference, to
me, is the one between "hamburger" (ground miscellaneous bits
of beef, legally permitted to contain up to 30% fat), "lean
hamburger" (also miscellaneous but under 20% fat), "ground
round" (specifically, round steak and nothing else, with no more
fat than is part of that cut), "ground sirloin" (which is sirloin
steak), etc.
Commercial hamburger (what non-gourmet restaurants buy) is
made with a lower quality of beef than the "grade A" most consumers
buy, and whether you shape it into patties or mock cutlets or fry it as
"loose meat" (very American, that) or put it in your Spaghetti
Bolognese, it is a far cry from steak. Perhaps I was too stern in
calling "hamburger steak" an oxymoron -- it's an established term
in *greasy spoons* (cheap restaurants where the food is rated on
quantity and price rather than quality) -- but it is a definite
misnomer, along the same lines as the "nut cutlets" so beloved by
British vegetarians. Intolerant soul that I am, I say "bah humbug!
If it's made of nuts, I may eat it and like it but it bloody well
ISN'T a cutlet."
>The bottom line is: who are the customers the brasserie in Alsace wants
>to target. Are there quite a few Americans (on whom Judyth seems to pour
>such undisguised scorn!) visiting this restaurant, desiring to
>understand what they want to order, then by all means! The English
>(albeit American English) part of the menu should say what it means and
>mean what it says. Period. There rest is silence....
Would it be amiss for me to mention that I was born in Newark,
New Jersey (generally nicknamed "the armpit of the universe")
and that most of my family lives south of the border? I don't
despise Americans but I do despise certain of their culinary habits
(especially having eaten from time to time in what passes for
decent family restaurants there these days) and I spoke from the
implicit assumption that what that brasserie in Alsace was
planning to serve was not a greasy-spoon-style hamburger but
a decent-sized individual portion of ground (put through a
meat grinder) or chopped (cut small with one or two knives, or
using a food processor) beef not necessarily grown where there
used to be Amazonian rainforest and not necessarily laden with
hormones, antibiotics and "flavor enhancers".
Well, I was trying not only to make a snide remark or two but
also to ensure that the Alsatians didn't shoot themselves in the
foot. If what they are planning to serve is hamburgers - ground
beef patty in a soft white bun, usually covered with ketchup,
mustard, relish, onion, lettuce-and-tomato and/or dill pickles
in the attempt to make it taste like something - by all means
call it that. But if the menu says "hamburger" or "beef burger"
and the restaurant is actually serving minced steak, the
Americans looking for hamburgers will think the price is
ridiculous and will be disappointed when they get it on a plate
rather than a bun...and so will any British folks who happen to
be there. If they call the dish "hamburger steak", the Americans
and Canadians will expect the proverbial oval slab of hamburger
meat, covered with the previously mentioned gluey brown
sauce (from a mix which is mostly caramel and cornstarch)
and traditionally served with mashed potatoes and canned peas.
Most people from the U.K. probably know what a hamburger is
and certainly know about steak, but may not be sure what is
meant by putting the two together --not that they don't eat
this dish, mind you! it's just that it turns up on their menus
(and some North American ones) as "Salisbury steak" and is
supposed to involve a better grade of meat than industrial
hamburger.
100% in favour of truth in advertising, as well as on menus,
Judyth
