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Poivrot Farci

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Everything posted by Poivrot Farci

  1. Poivrot Farci
    The studies don't mention the environmental devastation caused by growing feed-corn for the 90+ million head of cattle in the US. Buy local and eat less meat. Raise the price of oil/gasoline so it is at least the cost of a gallon of mediocre quality milk (or water) and tax vehicle horsepower. If only food was valued as much as "average rated" fancy gadgets and household whatnot on Amazon Prime...
  2. Poivrot Farci
    Massive (or what is loosely categorized as "large") CAFO’s don’t exist in Europe and the UK does not represent the entirety of the EU (won’t represent any by year’s end) and UK farms are larger than those on the European continent. 2/3's of the 10.3 million farms in the EU (accounting for 422 million farmed acres) are less than 12 acres but the average UK farm is around 207 acres (France: 135 acres; Germany: 137 acres according to Eurostat). The average farm size in the US (of 910 million farmed acres) is 444 acres. The EPA estimates about 15,500 CAFO’s in the US and almost 10,000 are defined as "large". That's one for every 21,000; 4 times more than the UK (800 CAFO's for a 66 million population.) US feedlots with a 32,000 head or more market around 40 percent of fed cattle in the US. That is far larger than anything in Europe even when adjusted for population/land. The largest dairy farm in the US (Fair Oaks, Illinois) has 30,000 cows whereas the largest proposed dairy farm in France was to contain 1,700 (France produces 25% of EU beef followed by Germany 17% and UK 13%). And there are significant ecological differences (waste management primarily) between fifty 100 head cattle farms and a 5000 head cattle farm.
  3. Poivrot Farci
    Why should a producer that has fewer environmental consequences be taxed at the same rate as those who are responsible for the bulk of the harm? There should be incentives to move away from the massive CAFO’s that don’t exist is Europe. Just like there are incentives for renewable energy and associated products. The general US population simply does not revere food or have anywhere near the same accessibility to it as in the EU. That’s not elitism, that’s just the way it is. Europeans are already well familiar with taxation and the services it allows government to provide whereas Americans reject taxes and are suspicious of government. If soda and plastic bag taxes are legislative battle, taxing the venerable hamburger is a Mars-shot. Changing methods (and subsidies) would be more beneficial than taxing what a population is resigned to. Changing those methods would already raise the price of curiously cheap food. It is baffling that a chicken leg in the supermarket is $0.69/lb whereas apples are $3.50/lb.
  4. Poivrot Farci
    Never. Americans lust for cheap food as much as they do low taxes. The majority don't have the critical thinking/global perspicacity to know of, understand or even appreciate the virtues of tax revenue and reverence for quality food (either nutritional/environmental merits or designation of standards, e.g., AOC, DOP) that exists beyond the bourbon label. However, if a tax were to be imposed on those raising ruminants, it should be applied to the CAFO's and factory farms which acerbate the situation by feeding their animals terrible feed grown with terrible pesticides from far away, shipped back and forth across the country, excessively packaged and burning all sorts of resources in the process. Taxing smaller operations would likely run them out of business and concentrate even more production to the massive shit-shows we like to call "farms". Tax the things that are bad for you (cigarettes, alcohol) as well as those which are frighteningly cheap (soda, commodity meat). After plenty of calculus, smaller farms which raise their animals in manners less detrimental to the environment should be given a tax incentive or reprieve given the high costs of small scale farming -one that doesn't enjoy the efficiencies of scale. The premium of such products reflect the true cost of growing food and taxing absurdly cheap $4/lb ground beef (national average) to make it as expensive as better-than-average apples would begin to help reset the reality of what food costs.* *while at the far, far end of the spectrum, at our 28 acre farm we sell our 100% grass fed lamb for $16-$35/lb ; chickens from $8/lb whole to $18/lb breasts and pork from $14 for ground, $16/lb sausages to $23/lb pork chops. Our customers happily satisfy their consciences and palates with their expenditures.
  5. Poivrot Farci
    Co-wrote, with varying degrees of help from Joshua Stein. To date, chef Kwame has only held 1 job in the capacity of "chef" that has lasted more than 4 months. The term "chef" merits more scrutiny and deserves to be distinct from cooks who do not, yet, preside over a kitchen staff. So does "memoir".
  6. Poivrot Farci
    To characterize Grant Achatz and Cat Cora as culinary stalwarts at the same height in the culinary stratosphere is like lumping Ernest Shackleton and Popeye Captain Stubing in the same boat as accomplished sailors. But sure, we can all agree that any international "go fuck yourself/s" gesture is the perfect catalyst to a reasonable conversation.
  7. Poivrot Farci
    Former coal lobbyist, clean air champion and acting EPA chief Andrew Wheeler is an investor in "eco-friendly" Lucky Buns, which is curious since commodity feedlot beef (and the heavily subsidized, heavy pesticide feed) is not really beneficial to any physical or social environment (particularly the animals and the poor bastards that work in factory slaughterhouses). He's hopefully invested in Lipitor too.
  8. Poivrot Farci
    Good for them. They should buy a cheese map and if they have any money left go to what they believe to be Provence and see the limited selection of cheeses there which are objectively not Camembert. When I dramatically pour cider into a champagne flute I call it "Arc de Triomphe" because who cares about food integrity these days.
  9. Poivrot Farci
    Because nothing evokes the sun-drenched fields of lavender and olive groves undulating into the Mediterranean like Camembert cheese.
  10. Poivrot Farci
    Hello Mr. Hayler. Are you able to sniff out what happens behind the double doors at 3* (and other) venues and would social/environmental/economic factors such as employee benefits,/waste management & energy efficiency; food-seasonality-or-scarcity/how-the-establishment-affects-the-local-economy-for-remote-outposts affect the calculus of your verdict? Should Michelin and other rating agents consider those issues when judging for a consumer base that is perhaps more aware of peripheral consequences and values beyond food, drink, service and upholstery than half a century ago?
  11. Poivrot Farci
    The indignity of working in the US hospitality industry can only be rivaled by flying coach or taking a 1960's commuter train in the 21st Century America. Terrible pay and little to no benefits*. It is astounding and despicable that an $800 billion industry can't afford to pay livable wages, provide anything more than the worst health care available, paid maternity leave, paid vacations, paid sick days and paid holidays for all employees like every other modern country with electricity and indoor plumbing. *ETA: With the notable and remarkable exception of a luxury boutique hotel where warm linens were provided before each shift, plentiful staff meals, staff outings, free room overnight (when available) for dinner -> breakfast shift, premium health insurance, ample pay and even a birthday card from HR.
  12. Poivrot Farci
    Severance pay for minimum wage employees? Whatever food they don't donate for a tax credit, maybe, unless the creditors take that too.
  13. Poivrot Farci
    2 days notice for all employees that they don't have a job anymore on Monday. That's nice. I hope Casey Patten steps in shit and that his keys, wallet and expensive telephone fall irretrievably through a sewer grate.
  14. Poivrot Farci
    Karma is an unreasonable bitch if you are now an unemployed employee who had nothing to do with Mike Isabella's imbecility and will never have anywhere close to the personal wealth he has squirreled away.
  15. Poivrot Farci
    Or turn them into large covered wholesale/retail food markets like Eastern Market, Pike Place, Reading Terminal, etc... with barber shops. Quality perishable foods that you can inspect first hand and a good haircut are not something the internet can readily provide yet. Mr. Isabella should have recognized that enough people are passionate about ingredients and food beyond having it cooked for them.
  16. Poivrot Farci
    There are different degrees of "cured". Shelf stable uncooked dry-cured/fermented meats (salumi, proscuitto, pancetta, etc...) are cured with the addition of nitrate (colloquially #2 cure; time activated) whereas non shelf-stable fully cooked meats (bacon, cooked sausages, pates) are cured with nitrite (#1 cure, temperature activated). They are both cured in that nitrates extend the shelf life, but the dry-cured do not need to be refrigerated, have lower water content and much higher salt concentration. The D'Artagnan label reads: "NO NITRATES OR NITRITES ADDED except for naturally occurring celery powder". Bullshit #1 While D'Artagnan maintains that their bacon has no preservatives, salt is most definitely a preservative (salt cod/pork). Bullshit #2. So is sugar (jams, jellies). Bullshit #3. Please move this 2nd page to it's own thread.
  17. Poivrot Farci
    The USDA does not deem celery juice powder and other vegetable derived sources of nitrates to be reliable curing agents and by law can not be called "cured". Marketing dept takes advantage of that and calls it "uncured" because that sounds so much healthier.
  18. Poivrot Farci
    Todd Kliman opines: "Those cocktails that’re overpriced rn at $14? Soon enough they’ll be going for $18.And you’ll be lucky to find apps below $16 at anywhere decent. Entrees? $36-$40 easy. Initiative 77 is gonna make restos even more a place for those with $$$ ..." Well, after crunching some numbers, if a patron orders a $14 cocktail and leaves a 20% gratuity, they are paying just on the cusp of $17. A $30 entree after 20% gratuity is $36. And so on. Adjusted for inflation and assuming that current restaurants are still open by 2026, the raise will be negligible. It is fascinating how little the affluent are willing to pay to support a fellow resident of the area (and the cost of quality), unless it is on their capricious terms. Patrons and restaurant owners should focus their ire directly towards greedy landlords.
  19. Poivrot Farci
    Absolutely. Alton Brown applauds the savory use of an ice cream scoop.
  20. Poivrot Farci
    Pineapples & Pearls is the unicorn which apparently compensates and offers benefits comfortably above the minimum legal requirement. Gratuity is included in the price and curiously Mr. Silverman is a signatory on the "NO 77." Being forced/shamed into paying a gratuity to a bartender that very simply opens a very consistently made beverage container is ridiculous, as is rewarding/penalizing a server to/from their sub-par wage for their congeniality and transporting excellent/awful food which they had no part in making. The FOH/BOH wage disparity that restaurants happily tolerate and perpetuate is disgusting. I've heard that Culinary schools were the templates for Trump University.
  21. Poivrot Farci
    It appears to me that restaurants recoil at the idea of raising the price of a $10 item by 20% -anticipating and relying on the customer to leave a $2 (20%) gratuity. Whereas customers prefer to be charged $10 and then left the opportunity to decline the gratuity if the server/bartender's service or product is not up to snuff. Is that correct? $10 + maybe/hopefully $2 is the preferred outcome. $12 and no need to tip is out of the question. I wish the remaining 20% of my airfares were based on a gratuity system.
  22. Poivrot Farci
    From ThinkFoodGroup: Our 25-year operating experience, in both polished casual and fine dining restaurants, consistently shows that servers earn appreciably more than back-of-house positions, and well above the minimum wage when you combine the tipped wage from employers and total tips from guests. As it stands, the system is designed to allow servers to earn as much as 100% or more per hour than cooks. It is absurd, baffling and somehow hopelessly unsurprising that in the 21st century, in one of the wealthiest regions of the wealthiest country ever that some topside employees rely on the charity of strangers to earn their wages and they still make considerably more (17% more) than those in the engine room. Customers don't want to charged more, but are happy to tip more. Hourly mean wage for cooks in DC is $14.93. Hourly mean wage for servers in DC is $17.48.
  23. Poivrot Farci
    Some heritage breeds have disappeared for very practical reasons, particularly lard breed pigs: they are whale-oil lamps in the LED age and serve little purpose other than to satisfy the whims of menu novelty and collectors of agricultural nostalgia.
  24. Poivrot Farci
    Wholesale ducks worth a damn are anywhere from $4.50-$6/lb, weigh 5-7/lb ($20-$30 just for the duck) and there are Pekin, Muscovy or Moulard variables. It is easier and more definitive to inquire as to the type of duck being used than it is to speculate. Then the value of going to a fashionable boutique hotel for the luxury of eating out can be calculated. The Line might compensate their staff well, perhaps the duck demands a fair amount of work and maybe the novelty of standing is worth the premium. If a duck dinner feeds 3 or more, is a quality product and tastes good, then $33/pp might not be worth the fraught deliberation. There are other options If Mr. Sietsema’s reviews are within the purview of consumer advocacy, the quality & provenance of the ingredients and how well the staff is compensated would help diners make a more calculated decision about where they choose to spend their ducats.
  25. Poivrot Farci
    Bummer. But worthwhile bread speaks for itself as does retaining and compensating a capable bread-making employee who can passionately turn humble ingredients into something people crave. And then there are the purists to remind bread enthusiasts that certain breads demand considerable dedication to otherwise simple elements.
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