Cuisine, the techniques, recipes, standards and definitions that make up the French culinary approach and modern food, was codified in the 19th century by Georges Auguste Escoffier. That was all you needed to know about that to move on to the next question in one of my first semester culinary school finals. Marie-Antoine Careme (kind of a crappy name for a dude) did a lot of the work as well. Another dude fell on his sword because a fish delivery was late. It was an exciting time to be cooking, and French. They took the bizarre, heavy spice-laden, 17-birds-each-stuffed-inside-the-next-larger-and-then-roasted-loving Medieval cuisine and decided it was time to lighten the sauces a little, figure out a system, and find better ways to do things and make food taste better.
I respect order and systems like that. Real military-like. I've worked in a lot of good, high-end old-school classical French-system kitchens. I've been to culinary school (for a minute). I own Gastronomique and more textbooks than a culinary school dropout oughta. That said, I work in a vegan/vegetarian/somethinglikethat restaurant. I describe it as "2 Legs or Less". We cater to any diet or eating quirk you could dream up; desserts AND entrees. Raw vegan? Grain free? Regular vegan? Obligatory Simpsons level five vegan quote vegan? Gluten free? Nut free? Oil free AND vegan?
How did I end up here, given my background? Wouldn't I be happier with my eyes rolling back at the thought of bacon or stinky veiny cheese, or putting a hard sear on a ton of shortribs, mounting my celeriac purees with whole local butter and frozen foie gras shavings? It's kind of a calling. I've always liked vegan stuff. It's a challenge. All the tasty, fatty, creamy, meaty crutches are removed. Coming up with stuff to satisfy random requirements in, first and foremost, a tasty manner, is pretty much how I get my jollies. It sounds really New Age-y, and it is. It gets interesting when you try to approach it from a more classically (French-ly) trained and non-vegan background like mine is. Often, elbow deep in bizarre vegan cake recipes that are technically muffin recipes, or sauce recipes that are really recipes for Asian style cornstarch gravy sauces, or fruit-sweetened tofu that I'm passing off as vegan creme fraiche, I start getting frustrated. I've been cooking a long time, and I've eaten a lot of food, and if something 'tastes vegan', I get upset. I start wishing vegan and alt-diet 'technology' and method were as explored and legit as the buttery meaty Escoffier/Careme school is. I start wishing the vegan and alt-diet cookbooks were as enlightening and no-nonsense as Gastronomique, or even Mastering the Art of French Cooking. I start wishing I could trust the blogs and recipes that come up when I google for something as simple as "vegan snickerdoodle cookie". Vegans do not deserve chalky brownies. Vegans do not deserve rope-y barbecue sauce. Nobody deserves doughy slimy agave-sweetened cakes.
"We bumble along reading cookbooks that often aren't even tested, written by enthusiastic foodies rather than trained experienced cooks, and we throw together what they tell us. When the result emerges from the oven edible we deem it an instagram-able succuss!, a perfect, delicious facsimile of whatever non-vegan dish the recipe is imitating. We have nothing to compare it to, and no standard by which to measure it."
And then I start wondering why I don't just stop daydreaming and do something about it maybe?
So, this blog.
This blog and its recipes are written by a trained cook. In its entries you will find:
-Solely my own recipes... unless they're somebody else's. Then I'll give them credit.
-Instructional, step by step photographs (if any), as opposed to glossy, awkwardly large, artful, borderline pornographic finished-product photographs.
-Legitimate, professional cooking terms. No "mix til goopy". No "half a palmful".
-Amounts by weight as opposed to 'cups', 'heaping tablespoons', etc.
-Actual methods, actual recipes. I will not give you a recipe for 'vegan BLT' that calls for "vegan bread, vegan bacon, veganaise, tomato, lettuce'.
-Whole food ingredients whenever optimal. No 'vegan cheese', and often even eschewing soy milk or tofu (!).
You will NOT find the following:
-'HEALTHY' recipes for the sake of being healthy. Man, I don't know what healthy is for you. I drink so much iced tea every day it should probably be a jailable offense. If eating eggs or dairy causes you to die outright, then these are way healthier recipes for you. One of the biggest setbacks plaguing vegan food is the nasty preconception that it's crunchy granola 'health food'. Sprouts. Brown rice. Kombucha. Whole spelt bread. Applesauce as a substitute, you know, to cut your cholesterol intake. Most of these recipes are desserts and comfort food, no anti-obesity agenda. If you want a salad, eat a salad. If you want pecan pie, make my pecan pie.
So, thanks for bearing with me, in advance, and enjoy some tasty treats.
Cortez
