September 2008

Haute Cuisine: “Nowadays, haute cuisine is not defined by any particular style – there are haute cuisine restaurants serving fusion cuisine, regional cuisine and postmodern cuisine – but rather by careful preparations, elaborate service, critical acclaim, and, most importantly, obsessive attention to detail (and high price). (Source: Wikipedia).

Normally, I will not care about haute cuisine. Instead, I like simple ingredients and simple flavours. When I was growing, my mother had a unwritten rule when it comes to food. Unless it was a festivity (New Year, Mid-Autumn Festival, et al), our meals were usually composed of a protein dish, one or two veggie dishes, sometimes a light soup and rice. Usually, all of them cooked in ~40 or so minutes. Too much work? Not really. Boil some leafy greens (bok choy, nappa cabbage, et al), add some minced beef drain the leafy greens (to prevent overcooking ) and you have two dishes already.

This upbringing reflects what I usually cook, now that I am on my own. Of course, if I eat out, I will try to eat something I can’t prepare at home with ingredients I would normally not buy. For example, I seldom buy shellfish because it is a hassle to prepare but if it is at a reasonable price in a restaurant, chances I will get some. However, what about damn expensive ingredients just to make a simple dish “haute”?

At first, I could not think much. In the case of Chinese cooking, something like shark fin soup would be a delicacy and almost nobody would prepare it at home. Same as abalone. In the case of western cuisine, we have ingredients like truffle and foie gras. What I find funny is that humble dishes are “fancied” by adding these ingredients – like poutine in this article.

Is there such need? Why can’t we just stick with the classic version? But, then again, I will not spend $20 for a simple serving of poutine; yet I can’t help myself wonder why somebody would. I guess economy works in funny ways on these odd times… Now if it was poutine and (real) bacon bits!