Word: broths
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...good. As sushi and sashimi, it was fatty and chewy with a bland, blubbery taste - like salmon that's been kept out too long. The one exception was the whale noodle dish, but I'm going to say its success had more to do with the noodles and spicy broth than it did with the whale. All in all, the experience made it hard for me to keep a straight face when people referred to whale as a "delicacy." It was like eating leftovers from a submarine. (See pictures of Japan and the world...
...perfect it was. But he doesn't measure himself by Swiss farmers. He looks at Alain Passard, whose three-star Paris restaurant treats vegetables as if they were as precious as plutonium. He looks at Japan's Yoshihiro Narisawa, who recently demonstrated a method of using sawdust broth, twigs and wood strips to cook venison. He looks at the young Spanish prodigy Andoni Luis Aduriz, who has come up with a limestone slurry with which to gel-coat his vegetables. At this level, you're paying for technique, not what some guy can pick off the trees. New York culinary...
...alas, the movement appears to have entered its baroque phase. Consider Mina's preposterous fish. There's no doubt that poaching a fish in seawater produces an effect different from that of salted tap water, or broth, or whatever. But they had to fly that water a thousand miles in a jet plane to get it to Vegas! What can be more unnatural than that? Mina sees the technique as the ultimate in no-frills cookery ("there's literally nothing to it"), but even he admits it's not exactly a feat of conservation...
Chiansixianshige The custom at this homely venue in central southeastern Beijing is to cook your meal not in broth but in zhou, or congee, a watery rice porridge. The list of what you can simmer in it is worthy of Noah's Ark. Try the wild mountain chicken, which is not, in this case, a euphemism for frog (though that is available) but an actual fowl. The trick with the chicken is to cook the pieces of white meat very quickly - or you'll be chewing on pieces of rope, this being a scrawny bird - and let the rest simmer...
...Suan Tang Yu The suan tang (sour soup) of Guizhou province, laced with tomato and chili, is the house broth at this Chaoyang eatery, and it goes superbly well with fish. Catfish is one of the more popular choices, sold by weight and carried flapping and thrashing to your table as proof of freshness before returning as your dinner. Together with accompanying noodles, tofu and vegetables, you have the makings of a real feast. About $17 for two, tel: (86-10) 8575 1765. English menu and photos available...