SC - au Gratin

[Philip & Susan Troy]

Nanna Rögnvaldardóttir wrote:
> 
> Adamantius wrote:
> >
> >Actually, my cavil about Bocuse in this discussion is that he was one of
> >the founders and early proponents of nouvelle cuisine in the 1950's (and
> >you thought it was an '80's thing, harrumph!). This would be roughly
> >equivalent to including Martin Luther on a list of prominent Catholics.
> 
> ´80´s? The birth of the "nouvelle cuisine" was, I believe, first announced
> in Vincent La Chapelle´s Cuisiner moderne in 1733.
> 
> Nanna

True. On the other hand, what most people think of today in connection
with the term, a lighter, fresher style of seasoning and flavoring, a
simple but elegant presentation where you can see the food, food not
crowded onto plates like they do in diners, nothing but edible
garnishes, this is the same phenomenon Americans used to make fun of in
the 80's (and rightly so), talking about huge plates with tiny bits of
food on them, usually accompanied with a quarter-spoonful of raspberry
coulis. This most recent outbreak of the phenomenon began in the 1950's,
promoted by two French food writers and adopted by chefs soon after.

However, the phenomenon didn't seem to have taken hold in the USA until
the late 1970's, early 80's. 

But yes, the more recent outbreak of nouvelle cuisine (sounds like an
epidemic, eh?) probably had a fair amount in common with the previous incarnations.

Adamantius
- -- 
Phil & Susan Troy

troy at asan.com