[Leica] Marmite? an English mistake?

[msmall at infionline.net (Marc James Small)]

At 05:08 PM 9/11/2006, Nick Roberts wrote:
>Marc, you're quite a few years behind the times 
>- probably about 20, in this case, or at least 
>15. It may still be true about the steak, but 
>steak is a lot more rare on menus these days in 
>every sense of the word - it has been passed in 
>popularity by an awful lot of things.
>Food is now hugely more important to us in the 
>UK - certainly many of my French work colleagues 
>now take local sausages home with them, and many 
>actually look forward to eating here now - we have a much more eclectic mix.
>
>There are many good things to eating in the US, 
>but I have to say here and now that if one were 
>to judge the culinary performance of a nation on 
>its bacon, the poor old US would be bottom of 
>the pile - never have I tasted anything so awful 
>as what is generally served up - tasteless crunchy garbage.
>

I was in the UK five years back, though most of 
that trip was in the Irish Republic.  I 
acknowledge a good pub lunch is something not to 
miss.  But those awful breakfast sausages and 
those vile overcooked Brussels sprouts!

The next time you are in the US, come by and 
visit and I will take you to a few local 
beaneries which offer fine food at a decent price.

One thing which has occurred in the US over the 
past ten years is the spread of ethnic and 
organic foods.  In the 1950's, Romaine lettuce 
and avocados and artichokes were all but 
impossible to find on the East Coast of the 
US.  By 1970, this had changed.  Over the next 
quarter-century, there has been an explosion of 
foods offered in US grocery stores -- odd Central 
American vegetables, unusual cuts of meat, a vast 
expansion of sea-food.  We still have problems 
getting smoked herring, much less real kippers, 
but I can get Beluga caviar even in a small city 
here in Virginia.  A local grocery store this 
morning had FOUR kinds of avocados available, 
though it refused to stock limes or lemons as the 
last shipment had not met their standards.  Hell, 
while it is illegal in the US (or most US states, 
at any event) to sell live snails for food, I can 
now get prepared escargot at one local grocery, 
in the shell and with snail butter included, at 69 cents a pop.

A word of warning.  Many USian restaurants are " 
theme"  restaurants.  Do not go into an eatery 
over here based on, say, country cooking and 
expect to get a rare prime rib, while visiting a 
steak restaurant and expecting to get exciting 
sea-food is equally challenging.  Having said 
that, we do have some fine cooking over here 
though you often have to know the locality to find it.

English bacon is, well, an acquired taste.  I 
prefer sausage or what we call "Canadian" bacon, 
much closer to the UK standard.  The big rage at 
the moment in the US is "center 
cut"   bacon.  This has a lot less fat 
attached.  But even regular US bacon, cooked 
medium crispy, is delightful if properly 
prepared.  It should be thin-cut and cooked until 
the strip is getting crispy but not quite there.

Marc



Marc James Small
Quo Usque Tandem Abutere, Catalina, Patientia Nostra?
Cha robh b?s fir gun ghr?s fir!