Big, of course, is the natural swing away from small. Small was a fad (mercifully now faded,) during which vegetables were miniaturized. Suddenly we were confronted with one-bite cauliflowers, one-chew artichokes, turnips, once as large as a small pumpkin shrank to the size of a green grape, (seedless,) eggplants dwindled to the contour of an index finger and zucchini grew so small it appeared for a while as though it may disappear entirely or simple be pained on the plate as part of the pattern.

While capturing our  imagination, Joe Baum elevated the act of dining into a fine art. Long before it became fashionable to embrace farm to table concepts, this legendary restaurateur extraordinare, changed the way America eats.

• He was the first restaurateur to commission farmers to grow vegetables and fruits specifically for his restaurants
• The first to have salt water and fresh water fish tanks in his restaurant
• The first to introduce fine art in the form of paintings, sculptures, carved wood and blown glass into restaurants
• His table top designs are included in the permanent collection of the Museum of Modern Art
• He was the first to undertake scholarly research to authenticate the details of his restaurants
• The first to engage professional theatrical designers to produce custom-fitted staff uniforms
• The first to create restaurants as entertainments
• The first to offer a formalized seasonal menu and create a distinctively American menu — written in English
• The first to launch major advertising and public relations campaigns for restaurants

In a January 5^th article in The Tribune, Nancy Maes resports: Gemini Birstro and Rustic House is serving offer a trio of gelati: rosemary Irish cream; casatta with dried fruits and nuts in a cinnamon orange base; and honey chestnut. $7.  Big Jones’ Paul Fehribach created a sour orange sage sorbet paired with sweet potato pie. There’s also a chocolate chili ice cream served with chocolate bread pudding, garnished with salted caramel and chocolate sauce. $8 sorbet with hints of cinnamon, allspice and clove. Another is a vibrant orange persimmon pudding ice cream, inspired by the fruit that its originator ate growing up in northern Indiana. She says it has a flavor like that of a pumpkin combined with a citrus fruit, enhanced with cinnamon, nutmeg and orange zest. Another choice is a dark chocolate ice cream laced with a burgundy-colored ribbon of house-made fig jam, created with dried figs, red wine, honey, orange zest and balsamic vinegar.

Yum.  Who sez ice cream is only for summer days?

By the way, even small dairies employ a professional ice cream taster who may be asked to suggest new flavors too.

I recently came across an article in the Los Angeles Times about Katherine Montero who describes herself as an ice cream sommelier.

She graduated with a business degree from Harvard University and an interest in molecular gastronomy and biology. She’s created a job working with a chef in an ice cream laboratory in Miami.

They’ve dreamed up some truly weird flavors including pizza ice cream: a combination of basil and tomato marmalade served with a curl of parmesan cheese. There’s also maple syrup served with a strip of crisp bacon and chocolate mole ice cream. Those who yearn for vanilla may be out of luck but there is a never ending parade of people who are willing to try anything, at least once.

I mention these things because if you can identify the thing you truly love, you can scoop up a career wrapped around the object of your affection.

This is just the sort of thing I love.

The Rules of the Chef

As they were listed in the office of the Chef of the Queen Elizabeth’s yacht:

1.     The Chef is right

2.     The Chef is never wrong

3.     The Chef doesn’t drink, he tastes

4.     The Chef is never late, he is delayed

5.     The Chef never leaves his property, he is called away

6.     When you offer the Chef an idea, you are told about his

7.     The Chef is always addressed reverentially as Chef

8.     If you criticize the Chef, you criticize the Almighty

The news that he is closing his restaurant comes as a huge surprise to many who have long admired his vision. He was a pioneer years before the eruption of the current crop of avant garders and creative thinkers. He was a prophet who arrived in a culinary desert a tick before his time. Even so, he surely must be tucking a little smile into his top pocket as he surveys his extraordinary accomplishments as a leader in the evolving American food revolution.

If I had to record the three best meals I have had, one would be Charlie’s salmon luncheon.

He prepared the meal for the food press. The Norwegian Salmon Fishing Trade Association sponsored it.

I think it was probably the first time any of us had experienced what became known as a tasting menu; tiny course followed tiny course like principal dancers performing solo or in duets in an exquisitely choreographed ballet. Miniscule renditions of salmon appeared in fourteen glamorous poses. We gasped with delight as each model morsel strutted forth from the kitchen runway to pirouette onto our plate.

What a triumph it was.

Without a doubt Charlie Trotter’s next incarnation will be just as dazzling.

Bon voyage, Charlie as you complete your Master’s Degree in philosophy and political theory. The teacher becomes the student in preparation for the eagerly anticipated next class act.

“Food and the cooking of it can be a form of self-expression or a remnant of sexist enslavement, a glamorous means of obtaining wealth and attention or a time-consuming chore, a sign of individual status or a source of collective identity, a vector for politics, an intellectual exercise, a subject for scientific inquiry, an expression for love. Food is all this, remarkably, while still doing what most of us want it to do, which is to taste good.”

We have traveled in time and technology from being intimidated by haughty maitre d’s in fine dining restaurants to trying to figure our how to eat “food” presented on pillows and twigs.

We may still worshiply remember how much we loved Julia when she appeared on a tiny black and white TV screen but we have stopped measuring our self-worth by our ability to make her boeuf bourguignon. An increasing number of evening meals have been taken out and brought home and “cooked” in the microwave.

If Mom is asked if she is making dinner tonight, her answer may be “fat chance,” or “slim chance,” which means very little chance at all. The evening meal may simply involve the decision to open a box of spaghetti, unscrew a jar of pasta sauce and locate that green box of grated cheese. Salad comes in a bag with its own climate-controlled bag with measured dressing. We no longer have the strength or enthusiasm to cut a lettuce.

The food industry has come to the realization that many folks don’t want cooking made easier, they don’t want to cook at all.  Part of the nation is becoming cooking illiterate while another sector is leading a resurgence of interest in food and its relationship to wellness.

Good.

You can consider a career in a test kitchen because you will need the same skills:  you must be analytic, accurate, flexible, efficient and punctual along with the discipline to follow directions and work with members of a team.

At an IACP conference, Anne Cain MS, MPH, RD described an essential first step to becoming a professional recipe tester. “Be clear on what the editor/client expects.  This will not only clarify the demands of the editor/client but enable the recipe developer to schedule accordingly.”

Here is a list of other essentials to be ironed out before, not after, work begins:

• Create a written contract in which you make sure the cost of ingredients is included. Insert a clause clearly anticipating there may be repeated efforts before arriving at a final version of the recipe that is ready for publication
• Establish deadlines but build in flexibility for inevitable delays
• Identify the target reader for the recipe
• Maintain a chronological “work in progress” journal along with your detailed comments
• Keep a paper trail of the cost of groceries, car mileage, time spent on meetings and any other costs incurred. (These will be useful for tax purposes.)

Where are the Clients?

Virtually every commodity has a test kitchen that provides recipes for consumers. The Blueberry Council, Pork Council, Rice Council, Vidalia Onions, The Grape Council all produce recipes for publication in newspapers, for magazines and for blogs.

All the major food-processing companies have test kitchens that employ a few or many recipe testers.

Many magazines, in addition to the food magazines, make sure their published recipes are accurate. Some employ freelance testers.

Cookbook publishers may engage recipe testers as do chefs and even so-called food writers whose primary task involves story telling, need capable help when recipes are added to the narrative.

The entry level salary for a recipe tester is $27,000 though fees will vary greatly depending on the employer, location, industry, experience and benefits.

Does this sound like something you can handle?

It’s hard to know whom to thank for the deliverance of pizza.

Harper’s Index uncovered the truly shocking news that the number of families that engage in wide-ranging conversations about the arts during the shared family meal is .0005 percent.

As fast food continues to blanket the earth, and the economy becomes increasingly global, formerly inviolate modes of behavior are being fractured and misunderstood:

A guest at a banquet in Moscow was pressed to have a second helping.  Patting his ample stomach, he genially declined.  He explained, “The spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak.”  The translation?  The vodka is terrific but the meat is horrible.”

Moral:  Mind your manners and keep your elbows off the table.  You never know when you may need them.

Food Job: Table Manners Trainer