What drives me batty about foodie media

So Phil and I were sacked out on the couch the other night, and our TiFaux did deliver unto us the Good Eats episode "Tuna, Surprise." I was pleased, as I currently have twelve 6-oz cans of Starkist in the pantry and am open to finding things to do with them above and beyond the old standard tuna salad.

Sadly, I am still bereft of ideas. The episode focused on Alton advocating that we ditch the humble can for either the pricey tuna-in-a-pouch or the even more pricey tuna-imported-from-Italy. (How pricey, you ask? One four-ounce tin costs $17; I picked up ninety ounces of tuna packed in water -- i.e. fifteen times the quantity -- from Costco for a mere $9.)

This episode stands out as an anomaly, because Good Eats has provided us with many, many great recipes that do not require pricey or hard-to-find ingredients. It has been one of the happy exceptions of foodie media insofar as I am concerned. Our local food section often includes recipes that call for things that can only be mail-ordered, purchased on an installment plan, or procured up in Yreka on the first Sunday of the month between two and four p.m.

I suppose the foodies love it -- and here in the Bay Area, they may outnumber the aging hippies -- but for those of us who merely want to get a tasty, home-cooked meal on the table without breaking the bank or waiting until midnight to eat, it is darn frustrating. And our food section is only a reflection of what I see in a lot of food-oriented magazines. Just as fashion magazines seem to sniff, "Well, it's about what the clothes say" while simultaneously encouraging the readers to ape the message on a fraction of the budget, so do some food magazines confuse complexity and costliness for taste and satiation.

Sure, there are times when it's worth it to pay more: for what a bar of Scharffenberger costs, I can get six Hershey bars. I think the former tastes better, so I pay more money for less overall chocolate. But when it comes to making s'mores, I'm going to go with the six-pack of Hershey's. It does the job and tasts fine. Honestly, Scharffenberger's best qualities would be wasted if it was smushed next to some burnt marshmallows and a graham cracker. Why waste the money? Sometimes it's worth it to work with the Hershey bars of the world -- or the Starkist tuna packed in water.

This is not me throwing my hat in the ring for Sandra Lee and the packaged-goods movement -- god, no. What I'm saying is, sometimes it's possible to eat well without spending an arm and a leg and going to a crazy amount of effort. Alton Brown usually teaches this. In between acronym-slinging, Rachel Ray manages it. Cooks Illustrated throws bones to the time-pressed in every issue.

This is me saying that sometimes, there's such a thing as getting too goddamn complicated for no good reason. When I read today's recipe for chocolate chip cookies in the NYT, what got me was not the two types of flour, two types of leaveners, two types of salts and two types of sugars required to make eighteen cookies. No, what got me was the note for procuring the right chocolate:

1 1/4 pounds bittersweet chocolate or fèves, at least 60 percent cacao content. Disks are sold at Jacques Torres Chocolate; Valrhona fèves, oval-shaped chocolate pieces, are at Whole Foods.

The day I can't march into a Lucky's or a Ralph's or a Food Lion and grab all the ingredients for a batch of chocolate chip cookies is the day I lose my will to live. The best chocolate-chip cookie recipe I've ever had is this one. I get compliments on the cookies every time I make them. And you know what? Sometimes it doesn't take two types of flour, two types of leaveners, two types of salts and two types of sugars to get the job done. Sometimes it takes Bisquick. And if that bars me from foodie status, then hey -- more cookies for me!

Comments

[Polly]

And didn't the Times just run an article on way-too-complicated recipes? (Oh! here it is!) I swear, there is no need whatsoever to parody their lifestyle coverage--whenever I think it just can't get any more spoiled and status-obsessed, they surprise me.

[Jessica]

This is why although I subscribe to both MSL and Everyday Food, I only make recipes from the latter. The flagship mag can have me dirty 12 prep dishes just to boil a frickin' egg.

[SP]

Oh, I just read this, like a minute ago, and had what I think was about the identical reaction:

Okay, let's see, so...huh. Okay. Well, all right, I have cake flour on hand, so that's all right; sea salt...eh, I'll just use plain old salty salt; crystallized ginger...okay, that's probably not going to happen; now what's this about a note regarding the chocolate? Doo dee doo dee doo...ah -- oh HELL no, are you kidding me? Bite me, Dining section!

And then I came here. And, yeah, that's insanity. I will make my Jeffrey Steingarten cookies like always, thank you. (Although I probably will try that 36-hour thing.)

[Kip]

Nestle's "Chocolatier" chips are 60% cacao and disk-shaped, so exactly meet Torres' spec. They are available in every supermarket. They're slightly more expensive than the Toll House chips, but not insanely so.

I don't mind when someone of Jacques Torres' talent tries to optimize an old special-occasion standard like chocolate chip cookies. I'm more than willing to make something fiddlesome once in a while, especially if I think I'm going to get a great result. I'm definitely going to try the NYT recipe. Oh, and remember the Bittman no-knead bread? Sometimes the chef's treatment of the basics makes them easier!

What does irk me is when foodies make everyday food complicated and expensive, or when the "dinner tonight" menu suggestions involve cooking more than one dish. I will make an entree, toss a salad, and maybe steam a veg but will absolutely not make an entree + side + salad dressing + dessert every night, even if Martha provides punch out cards that claim I can have it all done in under an hour.

[verucaamish]

I hate that food has become status. Seriously it's about opportunity cost here. Will you get THAT much more enjoyment out of a cookie made with two kinds of esoteric flour and valrhona chocolate? That's why I've been a big fan of Nigella Lawson who understands that increase in quality isn't necessarily worth the increase in cost, work, and aggravation. I am glad that I got my subscription to the Washington Post to follow me in my move to Oakland. Hearing about the Chronicle's food section makes me even sadder about the decline of the Chronicle.

[Jane]

After a rather crappy day, the bisquick chocolate chip recipe has provided a little light at the end of the tunnel! I shall try this soon and teach my teenage sons to make them too. Chocolate chip cookies from bisquick? Who knew?

I'm also a fan of Nigella for the same reasons outlined above. Foodies are pathetic and they are everywhere. I'm not saying don't have fun and be innovative with food, but no chocolate cookie will ever be made better with using 2 types of flour, etc, etc. It doesn't make sense. (I must say, when we want to be "gor-may" I might chop up a Toblerone bar and substitute it for the chocolate chips - but that is pushing it a bit! - plus the Toberlone usually gets eaten long before I get around to making the cookies)

[Kerry]

It's about status, but also perfectionism, as if food isn't inherently subjective in terms of what an individual likes in taste, texture and atmosphere.

I think as a culture we've lost the ability to be comfortable in a gray area and expect perfect answers that work for everyone, and that such an answer is always available to be fed to us. And like Lisa says, sometimes good enough is just fine.

Speaking of the tuna--if you're having people over or feel like eating it for a week, I have a great tuna pasta salad recipe that chock full of veggies, and tuna and white beans laced with vinegar & oil and oregano over salad greens is also refreshing.

[Polly]

I think as a culture we've lost the ability to be comfortable in a gray area and expect perfect answers that work for everyone

Yeah, I feel like that's always the problem with chef recipes--they certainly work for the chefs, but they're not suitable for me. If I cooked for a living, had suppliers bringing obscure ingredients to my door, had sous-chefs to do my grunt work, and most importantly, needed to produce absolutely top-notch food to keep the customers coming in, then it would be worth it to me to go to that kind of trouble. But none of that is the case.

When I lived in NYC and wanted chocolates, I often went to Jacques Torres--I agree with Kip that his stuff is delicious. But when it comes to cookbooks, I like Bittman, who isn't a chef (never worked in a restaurant, never had formal training) and is (or should I say, therefore is) very focused on keeping it simple.

[Maria]

What Polly said? That is why I am always wary of giving people my recipes when they ask. I am well aware of the difference between baking in a professional, commercial kitchen and baking at home. I do not make puff pastry for the hell of it, you have to pay me. It is hard work. But I have a lot of fun doing it, so even the stuff I make at home can be more complicated than others will want to deal with. My cookies, however, are quite excellent without 2 different kinds of flour and I am happy to give those recipes out.

[laura]

My husband is a former chef (culinary school grad) and we are close with a couple who own restaurants (but are "self taught" chefs.) We have the best pot lucks together EVER on Fridays-- when we need to clean out all the produce that is looking sad before we hit the famer's market the next day (and living in SE VA, the farmer's markets are close and cheap-- we're lucky.)
We manage to eat delectably on leftover local produce (I'm talking butterbeans, vidalias, tomatoes, corn-- nothing fancy), with some lemon, some garlic and some salt and pepper judicially used and the protein cooked just right. I guess what I've learned is that technique DOES matter and, as long as the ingredients are of reasonably good quality, good technique more than makes up for lacking a complicated sauce or rub or whatever.

That recipe from NYT KILLED me-- I am going to stick to my favorite one, but I think I'll try the dough-resting technique because they did sell me on that.

[Kate]

I agree with Laura--the Times did a good job of selling the resting technique, and to a lesser degree selling the idea of using better-quality chocolate in a different shape. But they didn't really make the case for the two flours comprehensively.

Speaking as a food writer, this stuff kills me a little bit too. I love the pricey olive-oil packed tuna but the other stuff is fine too. Thus, three ideas for using your canned tuna (the two pasta dishes are things I have made since grad school, and as I think you can imagine I did not use $17/can tuna fish in grad school):

1. Schmancy Tuna Melts: Make tuna salad with no mayo but with lemon juice, a tiny slug of olive oil, chopped celery, chopped fennel, shallots, plenty of black pepper, and whatever fresh herbs you like. Put several spoonfuls of this on your bread, top with sharp aged cheddar, and broil. Or, top with more bread and make panini.

2. Tuna Fish Pasta (red): Meanwhile, make sauce: in olive oil, saute lots and lots of garlic. If you have anchovy paste or some anchovy fillets, put them in too. Don't worry, it won't taste like anchovy; just deep and savory. Dump in a can of diced tomatoes and grind in a ton of black pepper, and the drained can of tuna. Simmer until the tomatoes have broken down and the sauce is thick, and then stir in a bunch of chopped parsley and serve over spaghetti.

3. Tuna Fish Pasta (green): In a skillet, melt some butter with some olive oil. Stir in a lot of chopped garlic, a lot of chopped fresh parsely, some minced fresh jalapeno or serrano, and a little grated lemon zest. When this is fragrant, stir in your tuna fish and then add the juice of the lemon (or two lemons). If it seems really dry add a little water. Dump this over hot pasta and add more butter or olive oil to taste, to moisten it. I know you are not supposed to have cheese on fish-based pastas but I like this with parmesan.

[Kate]

Heh, some recipe writer I am. I initially had "Make pasta" at the beginning of #2, hence the "Meanwhile." Strike "meanwhile"!

Apropos of nothing, Lisa, I thought of you today because I am researching Apple Hill and planning an off-season excursion. I hope I can get some doughnuts.