Posh Ingredients

[Gillthepainter Profile Website]

And now the "truth" is out.

I'm watching the Great British Menu.
And seeing these old posh favourites not hitting the mark when coveting perfect 10.
Yuzu.
Tonka.
The sous vide seems to let the side/chef down.

Lobster doesn't guarantee a perfect 10.

So what posh ingredients ARE worthy of the banquet.
I'd say turbot myself. I think you are likely to get success with turbot more than lobster.
No-one seems to serve up a foie gras. Why'z that?

[Alexandria Profile]

Posh Food Ingredients, is quite an interesting topic, Gil The Painter ..

Off the top of my head, at least here in The Iberian Peninsula and Mediterranean:

1) Kobe / Wagyu ..

2) Italian Truffles ( white and black ) ..

3) Caviar .. ( They have found a means to obtain the Roe, without killing the Sturgeons; amazing .. ) ..

4) Wild Salmon ( Nigriri, Sashimi ) ..

5) Wild Mushrooms .. ( In Spain: Boletus Eduli )

6) Anguila ( Eel in both Spain & Italy ) ..

7 ) Acorn Fed Iberian Jabugo Ham ..

8) Champagne ..


9) Carabiñeros ( Aristeus Antennatus Red Prawns ): Crevette Rouge in French ..


10) Fresh Wild Oysters on the half Shell ..

Have a lovely day ..

[Stokey Sue Profile]

Yes, I'd agree all those are properly posh ingredients Member 461

Smoked eel is one of the nicest foods imaginable

Going back to Gill's list I'd like to try fresh Yuzu, I've only had the bottled stuff, and to me it tastes of generic pasteurised citrus juice - not enough different from bottled lemon or lime

Lobster has always seemed to me bit of an oddity, it's nice enough but both langoustines and crab are cheaper and have more flavour, I've never quite understood apart from scarcity why lobster gets the cachet.

My fishmonger occasionally sells the big SE Asian prawns the ones that are dark shelled and about 25 cm long excluding whiskers.. In London they are about £40 per kilo, In Burma, $2 a plate at a truck stop.... and that's the thing about posh food, it's stuff that can't be too widespread it has to be "exclusive" - you can't usually catch your own lobster, but you can catch your own crab or buy them cheap from local fishermen.

And there tends to be an element of exclusion - smoked paprika (pimento d la vera) was posh in London when only a few peopel knew about it, and you had to bring it back from Spain or trek to Garcia's or Harvey Nil's to get it.. Now in Yesco, not posj, but tastes just the same!

[Alexandria Profile]

Sue,



1) Smoked Paprika ( Pimentón de La Vera, Extremadura ) considered Posh ! Interesting .. It has been a staple in Spain since Hernán Cortez brought the chili peppers back from Mexico in the 1500s ( 1520 - 15 30 more or less ) .. All dishes in Galicia, prepared with La Vera, as we call it locally, are: Polpo a la Gallega for example ( octopus with smoked paprika and boiled Cachuelas, a yellow potato from Ancient Peru, which has an extraordinarily creamy interior ) ..

2) Yes, eel is a true delicacy ..

3 ) The Red Prawns you are referring to are: Carabiñeros in Spanish ( on my list of Posh ingredients ) and are called: Crevettes in English as in French .. They are the largest prawn and are a deep deep red.. The species, Aristeus Antennatus from the Aristeidae Family .. They are most common during Christmas and prices rise significantly as you know during this time.
Off season: 10 Euros a kilo and during Christmas 60 Euros a kilo !!

4) King Crab, or Centolla, one of the largest, called Txangurro in Basque is a grand delicacy and sweet as a ripe Persian Melon ! Delectable .. This species ins from the Malidae family, Maja Squinado .. They are commonly caught off the Cornish Coast, northern Portugal and The Basque Coast ..

5) Lobster: The key to a tender, exquisitely sublime lobster, is to boil ( or steam if preferred ) in Sea Water as in Atlantic Ocean Water or the Mediterranean Sea Water etcetra ..

So, next time you are on a coast, take a few large jars with you and fill them with sea water ..

Then strain to remove the sand particles very carefully !

Ciao. Have a lovely day ..

Have a lovely day ..

[Renee Profile]

Drat! I don't know where my post went to, but I have to go out again soon for a hair appointment, so will start again on my return.

[Joanbunting Profile]

Interesting thread Gill.

I suspect posh depends on where you live not what is necessarily expensive.

I love lobster but I equally love crab - but both have to be fresh out of the sea so that depends on your location. otherwise has to be air freighted which makes it prohibitively expensive. There fore posh?

The things I will happily spend too much money on, either as an ingredient or included in a restaurant dish include

Truffles, local and Italian white ones
The wild mushrooms that I can't go into the woods and pick myself - but these would be a luxury to others
A perfect dover sole
Oursins (sea urchins)
Poutague - Provencal smoked mullets roe
Caviar - they raise it in Aquitaine these days and it is not bad at all
Smoked eel but I really need to know the provenence
Smoked
Clotted cream
Wild asparagus
Fine singls malt whisky (for M)
Old Calvados (for us both)

I don't consider oysters or properly raised fioe gras a luxurty, they are an essential
for life likewise chamagne

[Alexandria Profile]

Joan,

A vintage year of Calvados ..

This is exquisite ..

Do you have a special brand that you buy from the Winery ?


Yes, I agree that foie gras de canard & Champagne are refined sublimeness. I like " Y ´d´ Quem " Sauturne with my foie gras de canard. Truly a stunning pair ..

Have a nice day ..

[Joanbunting Profile]

Living where we do it is more usual to drink a fine Muscat de Beaume de Venise with foi gras Apart from anything else we can't afford decent Sauternes.

[Alexandria Profile]

Joan,

Yes, elegantly refined ( the Muscat you mentioned ) ..


Could you recommend a couple of Brands of Calvados ?

Appreciate it .. Thank you.


Yes, D´YQuem could be quite pricey depending on the harvest year and designation of origin ( there are 5 in close vicinity ) ..

[Gillthepainter Profile Website]

Ha ha ha.
Actually, do you remember in the very first series, the ingredients had to be local and British? Chefs were docked points if the used spanish pimenton for example. Oooooo it's great, but not British?
Am I mixing up my programmes?

Now sea urchin is an interesting one.
In Sicily, I had sea urchin spaghetti, with truffle. The waiter put the urchin on sparingly at the table, saying it was better in moderation.
He was right, tiny little pieces.
T'was exquisite.

[Stokey Sue Profile]

Interesting thread Gill.

I suspect posh depends on where you live not what is necessarily expensive.

Yes, that was the point about the pimenton - in London non-native and hard to get though never actually expensicve. but it had a ceratin cachet just because you knew about it and had located it.

And I am not keen on truffles but do see them as "posh"

The prawns I was talking about are Macrobrachium rosenbergii, the giant river prawn or giant tiger prawn. They have to be imported into Europe but they will stop being posh very soon, as they are now a pest in the Gulf of Mexico it seems. Hope they are providing someone with cheap protein

Giant.jpg (8.36 KiB) Viewed 8989 times

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[jeral Profile]

Just on GBM fish, assuming Scotland want to highlight local food, I wondered if they fished turbot. (It's about the best white fish I've ever eaten.) Apparently they do and have some of the finest waters. Under EU quotas, we're not allowed to keep much though
As fish scallops and France are in the news, I found a quota map and info, which I'll start a new thread with.

GBM has always been "with a modern twist" so classic or dated is bound to lose marks. Chefs should know that by now.

Fish for a banquet is tricky IMO as it's better kept simple. Surf and turf things like wrapping in bacon are a cheat fudge to me, so I'd mark those down to zero (or simply ban them for this event).

Michael O'Hare won (deservedly so IMO) the WI GBM with his take on bog standard fish and chips, so doing something special with a fish 99% of us regularly eat - now that's clever. That's been "Done before" now though.

Re prawns (big or medium sized), could they actually be cooked whole to perfection for 100-ish covers at the same time? I struggle to get half a dozen just right.

[Alexandria Profile]

Sue,

Thank you for posting a photo of the Prawn that you had made reference too ..

I am unfamiliar with Asian Prawns by name and have only been to Japan, Hong Kong and Thailand .. None of the prawns I had eaten were from rivers ..

Surely must be lovely ..

We do have a Tiger Prawn ( langostino de Tigre ) from the meeting point of Spain & Portugal, and in direction of Algarve .. However, they are not very common in the northeast of the Peninsula ..

Have a nice day ..

[Joanbunting Profile]

Member 461. Re Calvados.

I'm happy with just about anything from Christian Drouin , but as I really don't keep such exotic things at home I'll stick to ordering one at a high end restaurant -ie about once a year!

[Alexandria Profile]

Joan,

Thank you very much ..

[Uschi Profile]

Lots of lovely stuff there.

For me, especially in autumn, wild fungi are wonderful.
I do small buckwheat pancakes with a creamy chanterelle sauce.

In late spring white asparagus is delicious!

As for truffles, surely hand made chocolate truffles are a delicacy!

[karadekoolaid Profile]

Wot´s posh fer me?
Caviar - the real thing.
Chocolate clams. ( Only on the north coast of Mexico around Xmas time)
Caribbean deep-sea Cigalas . Big prawns, really, but iodine-charged.
Cristal champagne. ( Once went to a wedding in Caracas where THAT was all they had to offer!!)
Truffle - but I prefer the white Alba, rather than the black Perigord.
Bowmore Black single malt - if you´re prepared to pay a thousand quid for a shot.
Paté de fois gras. Nothing like it. It´s creamy, unctuous and utterly delicious.
Hoyo de Monterrey Doble Corona.

All served with chips cooked in lard, of course

[Alexandria Profile]

Karakoolaide,

Super List, especially the Cigalas, called: Norway Bay Prawns or " Scampi " in English..

Have a lovely weekend ..

[karadekoolaid Profile]

No, Member 461 - these were not Norwegian Bay prawns or Scampi.
These were huge prawns ( or maybe shrimp?), about 15 cms long. Deep brown in colour and redolent of iodine. Not like a langoustine or crayfish.

[Gillthepainter Profile Website]

Some things do seem to grow real big in the southern hemisphere.

Hi Uschi.
I agree with you that white asparagus is delicious.
I see it rarely here, but keep my eyes open for it. We are smothered with the green one, especially as we are in the World Harvest Site of the Vale of Evesham.
Germany has long asparagus seasons, I remember.


Are chocolate clams just a name for clams? It is shellfish right?


Another thing that goes down badly is cabbage wrapped.
It was done this week, and looked pretty rubbish.