Cookaholics Bulletin Board
http://cookaholics.org/

Meal epiphanies
http://cookaholics.org/viewtopic.php?f=37&t=837		 Page 1 of 2
Author:  wino [ Tue Oct 05, 2010 2:13 pm ]
Post subject:  Meal epiphanies
The recent issue of Saveur features 25 anecdotes about memorable meals or dishes that influenced well known foodies http://www.saveur.com/gallery/25-Greatest-Meals-Ever/1. Fortunately, it also includes recipes for each, which I will try.

I thought it might be interesting to take this sideways a bit and ask what was the FIRST singular dish, event, or meal that triggered you to appreciate great cooking?

For me it was a meal with my brother in San Bernardino in the early sixties at a restaurant our family always went to, The Cocky Cactus, but to which only he and I were eating this time - I am assuming I was just over 16. We had steak with all the trimmings and a Caesar salad. This was the first time I had seen a Caesar salad made at the table from scratch. For unknown reasons, that simple act gave me goosebumps and the taste was spectacular. For decades I would get similar goosebumps with table-prepared Casear salad. Seems weird now but it made me realize the power of perfomance combined with excellence. :D
Author:  marygott [ Tue Oct 05, 2010 2:46 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Meal epiphanies
What a great idea...

The very first time I remember being blown away by a restaurant meal was at a barbecue place somewhere outside of the naval base in Jacksonville Fl. I was probably in the 1st or 2nd grade when we lived there but I still have a very clear memory of a small dark place with a huge open fire that might as well have been the gates of hell complete with the luscious smells of burning flesh. I also clearly remember giant platters of ribs that were, meaty, smoky, spicy and very messy. I wasn't very big but I ate a yeoman's rasher of ribs, that's for sure!

Mary
Author:  wino [ Tue Oct 05, 2010 3:41 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Meal epiphanies
:mrgreen: :twisted: This could be a very dangerous thread!! I love that story.
Author:  fitzie [ Tue Oct 05, 2010 4:04 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Meal epiphanies
Breakfast on the train to Denver with my grandparents when I was about 8 or 9. The waiter asked what would "miss" like? I ordered scrambled eggs and bacon. Toast came in a little rack. It was divine. But it was the whole experience of the dining car - the smells of coffee, bacon, toast - the sounds of heavy silver and china coffee cups - that hooked me. I'd love to be able to repeat that meal.
Fitzie
Author:  TheFuzzy [ Tue Oct 05, 2010 10:27 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Meal epiphanies
Here's a couple of sketches:

Vietnamese Food, Gainesville, Fla.: my parents regularly took me, at the age of 7 or so, to a Vietnamese restaurant near UF. There my favorite dish was stuffed squid, and they had little candies wrapped in rice paper you could eat. I think this one restaurant cemented my love of spicy food and exotic food, and guaranteed that I would lapse from keeping kosher by the time I was 20. It also gave me my familiarity with chopsticks.

----

15 years later, my girlfriend's parents were quite dubious about me. I was an artist and a Green Party member, and a professional baker. They were Republicans. Her father in particular kept trying to discourage me and push her towards the son of one of his Rotary buddies. So, I made a full dinner for the family at their house: homemade bread and fresh corn chowder. This won over her father and he stopped pretending I wasn't there.

Now that girl is my wife. According to Kris "the way to a man's daughter is through is stomach."
Author:  JesBelle [ Tue Oct 05, 2010 10:58 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Meal epiphanies
Martini's Pizza in the early '90's. They have nicer digs now, but they used to be in a tiny shopping center next to a used sporting goods store. The lighting was a mixture of old fluorescents and blue neon. They had 3 tables and 8 chairs. Obviously, they mostly did take-out. They college students working there had Lou Reed playing so loud, you had to project a little to be heard by your tablemates. We were the only ones dining there, and, being just past college students ourselves, I guess they figured they didn't have to turn it down. It was the first time I'd had any dish with fresh mozzarella. Heavenly. It was just before midnight and I remember being so happy and sleepy it was like being high. Of course, it could have just been a contact buzz from the aforementioned college students.
Author:  KSyrahSyrah [ Wed Oct 06, 2010 9:33 am ]
Post subject:  Re: Meal epiphanies
Maison Jaussaud in Bakersfield, California. I think I must have been 9. The building itself is a landmark example of French provencial architecture, made of stone and supported by redwood beams, with a port cochere in the front. I had never seen a maitre'd before. It was the first time I had ever had abalone in some very rich sauce and the first time we had a relish tray. Very French, shee shee and expensive. A doctor my mother knew treated us. They had a stage in the bar, and it was the first time Johnny Carson performed stand up (I was wasn't there for that - but was legendary, he bombed.) A lot of "movie stars" used to come up for dinner. Unfortunately, Freeway 99 bypassed the old highway, and it has since fallen on hard times; the neighborhood has gone to hell. But I'll always remember that dinner in about 1958. I wanted more good food like that. (And abalone is now an endangered species.)
Author:  talanhart [ Wed Oct 06, 2010 2:28 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Meal epiphanies
Every year my father would take the family out for a nice dinner. We would have to dress up and this is where we were taught how to dine correctly. We always had Filet Mignon. This was back in the 60's. Ever since then, I have always enjoyed good food. I started cooking food on Tuesday nights when I was about 12. My grandmother would come and spend the night with us while my mother went out and played Bridge. I would get home from school and put a roast or chicken in the oven. As I aged, I started to get a little more adventurous and I would look up recipes in cookbooks and started cooking more things for dinner. In High School I took a class called Restaurant Managment (Cooking Class for guys). I received an Oustanding Student Achievemet Award at my HS graduation. My plans were to go to the CIA, but that didn't happen and I earned a degree in Dietetics instead.
Author:  gardnercook [ Wed Oct 06, 2010 6:09 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Meal epiphanies
I used to visit my aunt and uncle in Brooklyn every Christmas and for two weeks in the summer (starting at age 3, my parents would put me on the bus and the busdriver, a family friend, would take care of me until my aunt met me at the station in Manhatten). My uncle had a linen supply business and most of his customers were restaurants. When we went out to dinner, we generally entered through the kitchen of one of his customers and I got a first hand look at a restaurant kitchen in full frenzy. I always enjoyed those meals, having seen the crew in action and I think that jump started my interest in cooking and fine dining.
Author:  MiGirl [ Fri Oct 15, 2010 7:14 am ]
Post subject:  Re: Meal epiphanies
When I was about 7 or 8 each sunday we would go to my grandparents house for dinner. Grandma always served roast beef. She would let me help her peeling carrots and potato's. This is also where I learned the proper way to set a table.

When it was time to make the gravy she would pour the drippings from the roasting pan into a sauce pan and then take a piece of fresh white bread and wipe the roasting pan out with it. She'd tear the bread in half and we'd eat that lovely fond soaked delight. It was heaven! I can still see us standing in from of that old stove in her tiny kitchen with big smiles on our face's from our little secret.
Page 1 of 2 All times are UTC - 7 hours [ DST ]
Powered by phpBB © 2000, 2002, 2005, 2007 phpBB Group
http://www.phpbb.com/