Food Snobbery

Well lets finish 2017 off with a pilfered set of questions from an interview I was reading in a food blog.

What’s the most expensive piece of equipment in your kitchen? Has it made your life better?
Probably the 6-quart All-Clad Copper Core sauté pan and yes, as hyperbolic as it sounds it has made my life better. That pan is used, on average, four days a week, every week in our kitchen. From skillet lasagna to pan-fried whatever to bananas foster, that pan has seen it all.

Do you buy the fancy salt?
Oh dear, I do indeed. Morton kosher salt is the workhorse in our kitchen, but I do own various fancy-pants salts like Maldon, Himalayan pink, and Hawaiian black. All the fancy salts are used as finishing salt.

Are San Marzano tomatoes really worth it?
Personally, I have never been impressed by authentic, albeit canned, San Marzano tomatoes. I have had much better results with Muir Glen canned tomatoes.

Are Le Crueset Dutch ovens really that much better than cheaper brands like Lodge?
I have had the great fortune to own a large Le Crueset dutch oven for almost twenty years so I have zero experience with other brands. I will say, bar none, the Le Crueset dutch oven is the single most important and loved piece of cookware in our kitchen. Soups, stews, chilis, sauces, and roasts have graced our Le Crueset with fantastic results time and again.

What’s your go-to luxurious edible treat?
This may be a stretch, but I am going with certain single malt Scotch whiskies as well as Straight Bourbon and Rye whiskies. There are a handful of distilled spirits that have a transcendental effect on me. Yes, I understand these are intoxicants and yes, that has something to do with it, but sipping vodka or rum or tequila based cocktails has never challenged the enjoyment found in sipping a favorite whisk(e)y neat after dinner. Favorites include Ardbeg 10 year, Laphroaig Quarter Cask, Balvenie 15 year, Deanston 14 year, Four Roses Single Barrel, E.H. Taylor, Elmer T. Lee, and Elijah Craig Barrel Proof.

What kind of snob are you?
A selective snob. Some things matter while others are trivial. I care little about who makes the blue jeans I wear, but care very much who makes the dress pants I wear. In general, the more formal the intent, the more I care about an item's pedigree and quality.

What are you absolutely not snobbish about even a little bit?
Peppercorns, socks, olive oil, sneakers, polo shirts.

What’s the one “premium” food or beverage you just don’t get?
Here are several - caviar, fois gras, Tito's Vodka, Angel's Envy bourbon.

What was your finest dining experience ever? Was it all you thought it would be?
Fine dining - The Queen Victoria Room at Victoria & Albert's. The meal was ludicrously expensive, but the experience, attention to detail, and delivered flavors were sublime. To date, our dinners here have delivered the finest bites of lamb, lobster, fish, and beef that I have ever experienced.

General dining - essentially the whole of New Orleans. From K-Paul's to Acme Oyster House to Lafitte's Blacksmith Shop to Cafe du Monde, New Orleans is just our speed.

How do you buy wine?
Wine to me is a never-ending exercise in learning. Bourbon, Rum, Scotch, and Tequila all pale in comparison to the breadth and variety found in the wine world. Two long-time local wine merchants have helped educate and guide me through world of wine. I met the first wine merchant over 15 years ago when I went into his shop and asked for a good Burgundy in the $100 price range. The merchant chuckled and shot back, 'with all due respect, anybody can buy a good bottle of wine for $100, the goal should always be to buy an excellent bottle of wine for $20'.

Favorite varietals include Gewurztraminer, Pinotage, Carmenere, Cabernet Franc, and Chenin Blanc.
Favorite regions include Alsace France, South Africa, New Zealand, Chile, Argentina, and Washington/Oregon State.

Which foods do you buy organic, and why?
Eggs, milk, cream, chicken, and beef. For dairy products, we have done A/B side-by-side tastings of organic vs. non-organic products and without fail, the organic items tasted better than their non-organic counterparts. Organic chicken has to date tasted better as well, though there has been recent slippage in that when compared to non-organic chicken. Organic beef is typically 100% grass-fed which I personally prefer to the flavor of traditional grain-fed beef.

Do you have a favorite fancy bottled water?
Nope, but I am guilty of mandating that at our wedding ceremony we had plenty of Fiji Water available throughout the church for our guests. Nowadays, I drink good ole tap water at home exclusively.

Is there a premium pantry staple you simply must have stocked at all times?
Oh yes, several. Pure maple syrup, real vanilla extract, minimally refined sugar, a variety of whole bean coffees to name but a few.

What’s your favorite expensive cheese?
Well Parmigiano-Reggiano is too easy, but its presence is mandatory in our refrigerator at all times. As for a more random splurge - Ossau Iraty, a sheep's milk cheese from the French Pyrenees.