Re:A database for 2022
by tptacek on Friday April 01, 2022 @10:06PM
(#30885263)
They don't, but there are other "finesse" dishes that people do in fact go to restaurants for that are notable for their simplicity, and the fact that you can only pull them off if you have flawless technique. Japanese, in particular, is notorious for this.
[ Parent
| on HN ]
There’s a manga about a food critic (Oishinbou [1]), where he takes another food critic to a hole in the wall Tokyo restaurant as an example of elite cooking. The chef-owner brings him his meal.
Which is just a piece of cooked fish, rice, and miso soup. The critic is first almost insulted by such a simple meal. But then realizes the fish, rice and soup are prepared to perfection, and is amazed at the chef’s skill.
Which is basically also the ending of the Pixar film Ratatouille. The protagonist wows a critic with a simple dish prepared to perfection. It’s a common trope, but also true. “Simple” food prepared well can be much better than a complex dish with many flavors.
Similarly, I’ve also heard (probably from a show like Top Chef, so YMMV) things like a salad or soup are also quick ways to differentiate chefs. In this case, it’s less about technique and more about identifying and mixing flavors.
It works because there is no place to hide. You either have good flavor or not.