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Confessions of a Michelin Star Inspector

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Re: Confessions of a Michelin Star Inspector

#281

Post by ska »

satellite2 wrote: post #76
ska wrote: post #49

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> But my few MS experiences were not markedly better than my best other experiences. This is just as you would expect, given sufficient samples, from any classification process that really doesn't want false positives but isn't too concerned about false negatives.

Perfectly on point. I feel the question that might have missed in this interview is what kind of coverage do they manage yearly. And by region. I expect France should comme much closer to 100% than say, any south Asian country.

I think their evaluation method and need for repeat visits means they can't have very good coverage anywhere (there are what, 20-30k in NYC alone?). I doubt any region/city has more than a handful of reviewers.

If they were uniformly sampling this would be a disaster, but presumably they have a (probably opaque) system for funnelling down to a manageable number.

Re: Confessions of a Michelin Star Inspector

#282

Post by Ansil849 »

thaumasiotes wrote: post #264
moehm wrote: post #178

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Eh, no wine maker adds TCA [0] into a wine bottle to make it taste like wet dogs. If you burn your sauce, that's probably an off-flavor. Smoked meat and cilantro taste like intended, no undesired flavors there. [0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2,4,6-Trichloroanisole

> If you burn your sauce, that's probably an off-flavor. Probably, but people burn meat on purpose.

> Probably, but people burn meat on purpose.

People also sometimes write poor code on purpose.

Re: Confessions of a Michelin Star Inspector

#283

Post by miked85 »

kragen wrote: post #146
miked85 wrote: post #131

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I have never heard anyone in the US refer to just the patty as a hamburger. I have definitely never heard the term "hamburger sandwich" before.

Every supermarket I remember visiting in the US describes the hamburger patties they sell, as well as just the bulk ground meat, as "hamburger".

"hamburger" might describe the patty type, but a patty is not typically known as a hamburger as you described.

Re: Confessions of a Michelin Star Inspector

#284

Post by phonypc »

diffeomorphism wrote: post #276
phonypc wrote: post #73

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> objective criterias, like complexity, balance, off-flavors, aftertaste, presentation Those... simply aren't objective criteria. One persons off-flavor is another persons desired flavor (cilantro/coriander for an obvious example). What is the quantitative measure of "complexity" or "balance" in a dish?

That is confusing off with undesired. In other words "would it still taste like this if the chef had spent more time/effort/money". Cilantro tasting like cilantro -> great. Cilantro tasting like it is old/thawed/burnt -> not great. Taste being "off" is about unintentional deviation.

Disagree. Clear-cut off-flavors are just those people tend to be in alignment about being undesired. (e.g. burnt). The flavor of cilantro can be intentionally present, but it's still an off-flavor for the minority of people who perceive it differently.

Re: Confessions of a Michelin Star Inspector

#285

Post by phonypc »

moehm wrote: post #178
thaumasiotes wrote: post #94

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> 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!

Eh, no wine maker adds TCA [0] into a wine bottle to make it taste like wet dogs. If you burn your sauce, that's probably an off-flavor. Smoked meat and cilantro taste like intended, no undesired flavors there. [0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2,4,6-Trichloroanisole

I brought up cilantro because I thought it was common-enough knowledge that, for some people, it does not taste like intended and is very much an off-flavor that can ruin an otherwise enjoyable dish.

Re: Confessions of a Michelin Star Inspector

#286

Post by ramblenode »

stdbrouw wrote: post #155
pjc50 wrote: post #142

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> The difference would be completely lost on them. I've definitely heard the life advice to avoid trying this kind of thing in case you do like it, then everything less is permanently tainted with the knowledge that it's not as good. However, western super-high-price dining tends to be one or both of "demoscene for food" or "NFTs for food" - demoscene: a series of increasingly elaborate and labor-intensive techniques…

> I've definitely heard the life advice to avoid trying this kind of thing in case you do like it, then everything less is permanently tainted with the knowledge that it's not as good. Does that actually happen though? I know a thing or two about wine and sometimes buy bottles in the 50-100 euro range, which I feel are totally worth it, but I'm still happy to drink cheap plonk with friends most of the time. This work…

It happened to me with speakers/headphones. I used to listen to all kinds of music on cheapos before I found a nice pair of cans with good balance across the frequency range. After that I couldn't help noticing all the distortions from the cheapos and how they degraded the entire mood of the music. When the nice ones broke I pretty much stopped playing music. Sometimes I would get the urge and start up a playlist but it would usually feel flat. After it was over I didn't have the motivation to put on anything else and would rather just be in silence. The music was so much nicer in my head that playing it through the cheapos was just too disappointing.

Re: Confessions of a Michelin Star Inspector

#287

Post by tolai »

WastingMyTime89 wrote: post #181
bjarneh wrote: post #151

The worst part about some of these 3 star restaurants, is that staff are often unpaid. It's basically what Americans call an internship, i.e. the only "salary" is that you can add working in a 3 star restaurant to your CV. I once visited a 3 star restaurant in Spain (Arzak), where this was the case. If you look at the cost of eating there, and consider that most of the staff is unpaid, it really leaves a bad taste in…

Considering the owners of Arzak are not in jail and that not paying your workers would be a serious violation of Spain labor laws, I am going to go on a limp and posit that what you say is probably not entirely true.

It is true, and was quite the scandal a couple of years ago. If you can read Spanish, here's a piece explaining what happened

(Michelin-starred chefs defend unpaid internships) https://www.elconfidencial.com/espana/2017-05-01/michelin-ar...

Re: Confessions of a Michelin Star Inspector

#288

Post by ed_balls »

jiggawatts wrote: post #89
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…

I've been to two Michelin-starred Sushi places in Japan. I thought they were both amazing, but I realised that my parents would not have thought so. They grew up relatively poor, and still have the habit of eating at home from a rotating menu of relatively straightforward recipes. Stews, soups, that kind of thing. They've gone to restaurants maybe a few dozen times in their lives , if that. I've been to so many Sushi…

I've been to a few michelin-starred shushi places in London and Europe. A regular shush place in Tokyo was much better. Even a cheap place with no waiters (conveyer belt). It was the greatest difference between food X and food X in the country of origin.

The biggest disappointment was the michelin-starred stall in Singapore. The food was just... bad.

Re: Confessions of a Michelin Star Inspector

#289

Post by martijn_himself »

rednerrus wrote: post #273
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…

If you live in a city, go find a specialty grocery store and ask them for stock and demi. They'll get you restaurant quality versions of both items.

That's some really good advice. I must give that a try, thanks.
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