I had a breif spell as a chef for the household staff of an oil magnate a couple of years ago. The crisis hit, Shakey lost a couple of billion and decided to save money by firing me. This was a shame for two reasons, firstly I lost the very welcome winter income and secondly and more importantly I lost the guinea pigs I had to feed and with it the funding to do as I pleased foodwise. Previous to this, winters had been fairly barren creatively with no clientele and 2 v small children who I couldn’t really try out too much stuff on.
All the above remains the same except that les enfants have grown and so has their interest in food. So now I’m going to cook just whatever I feel like and see their reaction.
Day 1 Carpaccio of Kobi Beef with parmesan and black pepper
My butcher gave me 5 frozen, pre-sliced, vacpacked, 80 gram portions of Kobi carpaccio. He said it had too much marbling to be able to sell it but I think he was trying to give me a gift cos I spent so much goddam money in his shop this summer. Anyway I took the stuff home, defrosted it, plated it up and seasoned it. Les enfants devoured it. I didn’t mention the perceived marbling problem and they didn’t either. They loved it.
I found it to be grey and wet and a little too pungent, a little too musty. Jolly edible and all that but what is the point? Kobi beef is supposed to be the culimation of bovine excellence so why would you want it 1. Vacpacked and 2. Frozen? I understand that we wouldn’t be able to have it if it wasn’t like that but surely that’s the point – don’t have it unless it is at its best.
