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Transcript - Page 2 pages- 1 2 3
Electra101: How do you stay in shape when you're working in the kitchen?
DavidR: I love this kind of question, because it has a presumption that I don't especially think is true - but thank you! My problem with staying in shape is not cooking on TV or writing cookbooks, but being a
restaurant critic. For my Gourmet Magazine job I have to dine out at
least once or twice a day, every day. And order many things, and taste them over and over again to be sure my judgment is correct. What's especially tricky is that when I come home after a review dinner, because I've been thinking through the whole dinner, not enjoying it, I feel hungry! And that's when a hamburger is likely to happen! And that's the real problem. So, my chief method of physical fitness is I try to get up every morning and run a couple of miles around the reservoir in Central Park. Notice I said "I try to". ;-)
creampuff: I followed a recipe for baking swordfish but their baking time was WAY off-thank god my dinner guest had a good ability to sense when it was done. What's the secret to cooking swordfish?
DavidR: Well, I would say that cooking swordfish is not very different from cooking other fish steaks. The main questions are what degree of doneness do you like, and how thick is your steak or fillet. What I like to do is... I like a thick steak, so you can get it nice a brown and crusty on the outside, without overcooking the inside. I would prefer it on a hot grille, until it's just cooked in the center. And the only way you can really tell is to take a little peek. :-) Of course I tend to like my fish less done than some other people do, but it's all a matter of taste; of personal preference. A hot sauté pan is also good, as is cooking under a hot broiler.
TRegs: Will you be opening your own restaurant?
DavidR: There's a rumor to that effect! Oh, perhaps you wanted me to confirm or deny that! ;-) I intend to. I'm working with a famous New York city restaurateur, the owner of Tavern on the Green and Russian Tea Room, and we are in negotiation both with realtors and each other, to open a restaurant called Rosengarten. I would guess that it will happen, but that it will not happen any time before 18 months or two years. And you're invited, TRegs. ;-)
Vegg8: What's the one piece of kitchen equipment that you find essential?
DavidR: Knife. :-) There are a few basics, but beyond those basics, I guess one thing that's essential but I *could* do without... I live in an apartment in Manhattan and therefore I can't grill outside, but several years ago I found an indoor grille made by T-Fal - an electric grille with a water pan below to eat some of the smoke, and if I put something thick on it - a thick steak or piece of eggplant - it does a terrific job of grilling, and almost simulates the taste of charcoal grilling. Another item that gets a lot of use in my kitchen is a little smoker, the one I use is made by a company in Washington State called Burton. You wet some chips, like hickory chips and put them in the bottom of the unit, with your food on the rack, and slide a cover over that. It fits over one burner on your stove and in 20 minutes whatever you're smoking - salmon, eggplant, mozzarella - has picked up a wonderful smoky flavor. By the way there are several recipes in the 'Taste' cookbook that use the smoker. A recipe for Jamaican Jerk Chicken Mon that uses it, and one that produces a dead-on replica of Memphis Dry-Rubbed Ribs at the Rendezvous restaurant in Tennessee - ground zero of barbecue in the universe. ;-)
mammacass: What is your favorite style of cuisine?
DavidR: People often ask that question in some form or other, and I
always say "good food", which sounds like I'm avoiding the question. But I don't have a favorite style of cuisine. I find that when I'm served great examples of any cuisine around the world I love it. I'm fickle. But let me try to answer that question in another way. People
sometimes ask what's my favorite country for food, and if they mean which type of food as represented in the U.S., I can't answer that question. But if they're asking which country I most like to go to to eat, there's no question. That's where that Francophile stuff all comes from. It's like there's a conspiracy there (in France) to keep the quality of food up! People sometimes ask what I'd choose for my last meal on earth. It would be in France. I would start with an enormous platter of French oysters, raw (it would have to be French oysters, which are very different than American oysters - they’re clean, briney, with barely congealed sea water). Then an enormous platter (note the word enormous keeps popping up) of charcute garnis - sausages and various kinds of meat on sauerkraut. Naturally a course of smelly, runny French cheeses, and finally, my favorite dessert in the world - a properly made Tarte Tatin - an upside-down apple tarte. I'm getting hungry, and I just had dinner! I was at a black-tie dinner at the Greenbriar here in West Virginia. We were served a consommé, a lobster ravioli and then an individual shepherd's pie topped with slices of rare cooked loin of lamb. It didn't exactly work, but that's why I'm dreaming of having charcute garni right now!
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Cooking
