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Confessions of a Michelin Star Inspector

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Re: Confessions of a Michelin Star Inspector

#241

Post by [deleted] »

thaumasiotes wrote: post #94
moehm wrote: post #80

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't say it's really objective, I just say it's way less subjective than one might think. Cilantro is not an off-flavor per se, it's just a flavor you like or don't. A cork tainted wine is an off-flavor. But if you don't like cilantro, it is indeed an off-flavor for you , but that is uninteresting. If I like burned meat, is a medium rare steak flawed for you? > What is the quantitative measure of "complexity" or "…

> Cilantro is not an off-flavor per se, it's just a flavor you like or don't. A cork tainted wine is an off-flavor. That isn't true at all. The flavor the cork adds is another flavor you like or don't like. People choose their preparation methods for flavor impact just like they choose ingredients for flavor impact. Look at smoked meat!

[deleted]

Re: Confessions of a Michelin Star Inspector

#243

Post by ninkendo »

Agingcoder wrote: post #110
tomcam wrote: post #3

Went to Paris and dined at a number of Michelin-starred places, including Le Cinq. The food was fine, but... I didn't get it! I think there is a culinary language that I understand as little as a typical Michelin-starred chef would be able to evaluate a tightly-written C program. On the other hand I was lucky enough to dine at Poppy Seattle every year of its existence and felt their completely original approach to th…

Interesting. I see the 'I didn't get it' - the same kind of thing can happen with wine as well, but you start to differentiate / appreciate by eating/drinking it more often. You're essentially training your palate, if you're interested in it obviously . I give McDonald's and Starbucks a 1 - it doesn't qualify as a meal with any sense of taste whatsoever in my book (I assume restaurant food is edible,and doesn't taste…

Wow, lots of people are absolutely shitting on McDonald’s in this thread so let me just say I rank McDonald’s a 10 and every one of these overpriced michelin star places a 1.

There, that balances things out a bit.

(I’m only mildly joking… I absolutely love McDonald’s, I can — and have — eaten there every day for months. But I rank convenience, speediness, and a hassle-free experience above almost anything else at a restaurant, including food quality.)

Re: Confessions of a Michelin Star Inspector

#244

Post by arethuza »

martijn_himself wrote: post #225

One thing that definitely resonates with me is his mention of sauces when he explains the differences between star ratings. Quite often when I visit a great restaurant I find its a sauce that lifts a dish from the good to memorable. I always thought that was because of the stock made from scratch. This is quite hard to replicate at home- store bought stock cubes add very little depth of flavour to a dish and making s…

"mention of sauces when he explains the differences between star ratings"

That's pretty much my view of bacon sandwiches - without "brown" sauce they are pretty good, but with "brown" sauce they are the food of the gods.

Re: Confessions of a Michelin Star Inspector

#245

Post by dotancohen »

yanokwa wrote: post #226
dotancohen wrote: post #187

Earlier quoted context omitted.

For me it was music. Till this day I cannot stand MP3 audio, and can detect when it's played on the radio, because of one bored afternoon in 2002 experimenting with MP3 and CD audio quality. Sure, you _could_ rip an MP3 with near-undetectable quality loss for most types of music (The Wall, yes. The Downward Spiral, no). But nobody does that, as apparently it was not the default on anything back then and today Youtube…

I’m curious, have you done an ABX test recently? My wife swore up and down she could hear the difference too. An ABX test with expensive headphones in a quiet room across a few different genres and bitrates showed that she couldn’t.

I tested only with the headphones that I had at the time, with the types of music that I listen to. I'd actually be interested in trying again, but with my normal headphones (typical Sony over-ear), not something expensive.

For reference, I listen to mostly Pantera, Beethoven, Pink Floyd, early Nine Inch Nails, Led Zep. It's not too diverse, but there is a short period from about 1990 to 2005 where music recorded in that period does not transfer to MP3 well. Maybe because the digital artifacts that we cannot hear in the published recordings are amplified in the compressed MP3 - but after that period producers began to optimize their recordings to account for that.

Re: Confessions of a Michelin Star Inspector

#246

Post by toyg »

j7ake wrote: post #229
jiggawatts wrote: post #220

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You're thinking of Jiro Dreams of Sushi. That's the documentary that inspired me to try Michelin starred Sushi restaurants in Japan. I went to Jiro's son's restaurant, which is by all accounts better , but nobody will say so because they don't want to disrespect Jiro while he's still alive. It's a Japanese culture thing. My father asked me why I spend so much money on raw fish and rice. I tried to explain to him that…

Japanese sushi is one of those foods that have almost no chance to be replicated at home. First there is almost no way to get the rice to consistently taste anything close to how they do it in restaurants. Second, it’s unlikely you will buy dozens of different high end top quality fish, prepare the fish, and then just make a few slices for your meal. Finally, sushi is made to be eaten immediately. So if you want to m…

Last time I did it (my ex-wife is hafu), I didn't find the rice particularly difficult, but yeah, from a variety perspective there is no real option: you pick 2-3 types of fish and mix them up in as many different ways as you can. You are effectively forced to prepare for 5-6 people minimum. This is probably why sushi, in Japan, was traditionally considered festive food, not an everyday staple: there is no way to make it well for a single family.

Re: Confessions of a Michelin Star Inspector

#247

Post by brianwawok »

tomcam wrote: post #3

Went to Paris and dined at a number of Michelin-starred places, including Le Cinq. The food was fine, but... I didn't get it! I think there is a culinary language that I understand as little as a typical Michelin-starred chef would be able to evaluate a tightly-written C program. On the other hand I was lucky enough to dine at Poppy Seattle every year of its existence and felt their completely original approach to th…

Man, the hate at cheesecake factory is surprising. I would put it 1 notch above olive garden for sure.

Re: Confessions of a Michelin Star Inspector

#248

Post by prometheus76 »

martijn_himself wrote: post #225

One thing that definitely resonates with me is his mention of sauces when he explains the differences between star ratings. Quite often when I visit a great restaurant I find its a sauce that lifts a dish from the good to memorable. I always thought that was because of the stock made from scratch. This is quite hard to replicate at home- store bought stock cubes add very little depth of flavour to a dish and making s…

Buying a rotisserie chicken and throwing it in an instant pot with some carrots, onions, celery, and enough water to cover it (and some thyme, rosemary, and bay leaves) for an hour or so has surprisingly good results, and is fairly easy to do. Pour the liquid through a strainer. I pour it into ice cube trays and freeze it, so I can just grab a couple of cubes when I'm making a pan sauce or soup.

Re: Confessions of a Michelin Star Inspector

#249

Post by toyg »

atlasunshrugged wrote: post #163
khazhoux wrote: post #145

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is the correct response. Any restaurant with a 20-page menu of every possible cuisine on the planet, you should stay away from.

Ha, yes - I always love seeing those restaurants that are "Kebab, burgers, and pizza!" because you know to stay away. I wouldn't trust Apple to build a car (cough) and I don't trust my kebab guy to make a decent pizza. There's something to be said about specialization.

In the UK, "Kebab, burgers, and pizza" really means "chicken, and only when drunk or depressed".

Re: Confessions of a Michelin Star Inspector

#250

Post by Cederfjard »

jhgb wrote: post #232
Cederfjard wrote: post #224

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Do you mean as in being paid a fixed sum for a given period, as opposed to by hours worked or something? No, that’s a worldwide thing, and a very old concept.

Yes, that's what I mean. Not quite sure how worldwide it is, but as far as I'm aware, my country doesn't have it - either that or it's limited to a very special caste of workers, maybe CEOs or board members or something, but definitely not "normal people" with regular employment contracts as per our labor law.

May I ask where you are from?
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