[Sca-cooks] Drake's a food nazi - was Mastajhi Soup

[Philip & Susan Troy]

Also sprach Craig Jones.:
>Thanks darling, I forgot that everyone's crabs are different (not a
>peep outta you Lainie...).  I have contemplated getting the shells and
>buying crabmeat in a can but I just can't do it.

No, that would be bad. But as I say, around here you can get
scrupulously fresh, shelled and picked, barely cooked, crabmeat in
plastic tubs, and that's a considerably better product than canned
crabmeat, even the kind that is in refrigerated cans. Essentially
they have done what you did in steaming, cracking, and shelling the
crabs, then refrigerated the results and shipped them to your market.

>For probably the same reason as my flatmate called me a "Food Nazi"
>last night. My response: "Nein!"
>
>I mean we'd all explode if we were watching Ainsley Herriot on the
>telly and watched him take Atlantic Salmon, cold smoked and then hot
>smoked over oak logs, fry it and mash it with cream cheese and add
>other unmentionables such as mayo and schlep the mess onto a well
>toasted bagel.

It odes seem a little non-essential, in all its definitions.

>I on the other hand would have lightly toasted the bagel (very
>lightly), spread a thin layer of creme fraiche on each, some thin
>slices of salmon in the middle, some dill and cracked black pepper and
>maybe a couple of caperberries...   If the salmon wasn't hot smoked, I
>would have made gravlax with it...
>
>Of course, I ranted to the telly for a good 10 minutes.  That's not an
>over-reaction, right?

I am pretty much a minimalist about these things, but I think part of
your problem is that you're applying a European
brown-bread-and-butter smoked salmon preparation's standards to a
modified Jewish brunch bagel presentation, which, while a classic in
itself, is somewhat different. Yes, it's a little extreme, I think,
but you may be being a little harsh on the poor sod.

>Sheesh,  I don't understand how some cooks take prime ingredients and
>create convoluted creations that don't let the ingredients sing their
>praises...

There's a recipe in Apicius that includes the line, "No one at table
will know what he is eating." That has always been my biggest
complaint about Apicius.

Adamantius, food imperator with food lictors carrying food fasces
bundled around food axes