Harters
(John Hartley - a culinary patriot eating & cooking in Northwest England)
41
Yes, really.
The most “deconstructed” I’ve seen was a one of the desserts on the tasting menu of a Michelin 2* L’Enclume. The deconstruction was of sticky toffee pudding - a brave move as this was a restaurant in the county of the dessert’s creation. What was presented was five spheres, treated by that gastro chemistry, where liquid develops a skin to turn it into the sphere. Each sphere was a liquid element of the pudding - fig, toffee, etc - and it was suggested that we ate them quickly and in a particular order. It was fine, and very interesting, although not as good as the original Sharrow Bay Hotel pudding
Ok, then we’re saying the same thing but in different ways, understood. That’s exactly the kind of fascinating, creative dish that an uncreative/lazy chef might interpret as “hey, I can throw stuff on a plate and call it ‘deconstructed’ rather than actually assemble a dish.”
Harters
(John Hartley - a culinary patriot eating & cooking in Northwest England)
43
I’m not sure we are - although perhaps we are. I fully understood and agreed with honkman’s interpretation but I’m not sure I would regard your description of the elements of the gateau being on the plate as “deconstructed”. It doesnt seem to be a reworking of the dish, rather just plonking the various ingredients down.
I was just trying to explain what I’ve personally seen on menus. My personal experience. I didn’t expect to be called out on it. But please, feel free. I’m done.
Artisanal means “craft”. An artisan is a craftsperson; it is a more Latinate word, hence more upscale? Completely superfluous; craft bakery is fine, and farmhouse cheese has an actual meaning.
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Harters
(John Hartley - a culinary patriot eating & cooking in Northwest England)
50
Indeed so. And, for instance, “West Country Farmhouse Cheddar” has European Union designated origin status.
I think “deconstructed” is definitely a term that depends on the restaurant.
Some, as you say are highly creative and exciting to eat (although IMO still often not an improvement on the original). Whilst others miss the mark so badly it can seem it is lazy cheffing with a chef that can’t be arsed to put the effort in.
The problem is its a bit of a lottery - some good restaurants stuff it up, some humble places can get it right. I like experimental food and pushing the boundaries so often take the risk.
My examples of places that get it right are Alinea’s dessert table which is a Jackson Pollack like mess of stuff thrown onto a silicon table cloth by a couple of chefs. And El Bulli’s special olive (although is that reconstructed?) where the taste and texture is so much better than a real olive (although many of the imitations I have tried also miss the mark). (Un)Fortunately the failures - scoops of ingredients arranged on a late - have been pushed to the back of my memory.
I had always believed the term Artisan came from France, possibly popular in the US before then heading to the UK. You would assume a more direct route from France to the UK, but I suspect that it didn’t enter common usage until the US usage became common.
In France the best bread comes from “Artisan Boulanger’s” who usually display Artisan Boulanger in their names and a little blue and yellow sign that says “Votre boulanger. Un artisan authentique”. Bakers who don’t display these signs don’t make bread on the premises, they may cook bread but its often frozen or shipped in.
And technically isn’t the Artisan the person who makes the Craft product…? So artisan brewers make craft beer as opposed to industrial brewers who make anything but…
“And technically isn’t the Artisan the person who makes the Craft product…? So artisan brewers make craft beer as opposed to industrial brewers who make anything but…”
Except in the US the large brewers have influenced the definition of ‘craft’ to officially include brewers who produce HUGE quantities compared with those one would LIKE to think of as ‘craft’ brewers.
Same here in Australia - the big boys buy up the craft brewers and then industrialise them, or create their own “craft” brews.
My comment was meant to convey that i.e. a true Artisan brewer will produce a craft beer, and it’s debatable whether an industrial brewer really does as they need to scale up demand/production to put the volume through their distribution channels.
And to get demand they tend to make less challenging beers. In my youth in the UK we had the rise of CAMRA (Campaign for Real Ale) in response to anonymous euro fizz lagers and fizzy key bitter. Not certain CAMRA sees craft beer as real beer given so much is pasteurised and thus no longer a living product…
Harters
(John Hartley - a culinary patriot eating & cooking in Northwest England)
57
