Am I the Restaurant Customer from Hell?

If you were asked to name the qualities you like to see in a restaurant - what would they be?  For me it is very simple and can be listed as follows:

• Atmospheric
• Welcoming
• Value
• Knowledgeable
• Efficient

First off, the place has to look inviting, cosy, (warm in winter, cool in summer) and most importantly not empty and echoing.   Secondly, when I walk in, after having a glance at the menu outside I want to feel welcome.  There is nothing worse than standing at a sign saying "please wait to be seated" while the staff buzz about ignoring you!  An acknowledging smile and a nod to say "yes, I have seen you and I will be with you in a minute, when I finish what I am doing" is all it takes.  My ex-husband worked in his family pub and the staff were trained to do that, which eliminated any problems with people having to wait to be served during a rush.
The food on offer must be value for money.  This goes without saying but it is incredible how so many restaurants get it so wrong on this front.  In a Michelin starred restaurant you are paying for unbelievable attention to detail and also quality service.  The food should also be mind-blowing.  I always feel, if I have a meal that I would find virtually impossible to recreate at home; then to my mind, it is good value.  Maybe this is a strange rule-of-thumb, however, there is nothing that annoys me more than a restaurant that serves up a badly-executed plate of food that is over-priced and tasteless.  I also hate "menu speak".  The menu that describes something as "resting on a bed of foam" type of thing.
The staff should be knowledgeable and familiar with the menu.  There is nothing worse than a waiter/waitress who has to run off into the kitchen to ask a busy chef if a sauce has garlic in it, or some such.  They should be able to describe the special of the day in particular and preferably have tasted it.  Another bug bear of mine is staff who are not trained to serve wine correctly.  It has happened in the past that I have ordered a bottle of wine which was then emptied into 3 or 4 glasses and filled to the brim, so much so, that I was tempted to get down to eye level and slurp it!! 
My final quality is efficiency and attention to detail.  And by efficiency I do not mean whipping the plate out from under me before I am finished.  A waiter/waitress who knows when to clear a table, when to suggest looking at the dessert menu, who knows when to give you the bill.  The amount of times I have been tempted to walk out without paying because the said waiter or waitress refused to give me the bill despite being requested to numerous times.  Or even did not return with a receipt or change no matter how small the change was.  This happened to us in France this summer in Narbonne where we sat outside on a footpath while the staff rushed backwards and forwards into the restaurant looking incredibly busy but actually doing nothing.  The amount of tables left waiting to order, waiting for food or drinks, waiting to pay the bill and then finally as we were, left waiting for our change beggared belief.  Eventually, when we got our change we got up fuming and did not leave a tip.
If this makes me the customer from hell then maybe I am.  It never fails to amaze me that so many restaurants are let down by badly-trained staff despite the food being great and also how mediocre food is made a hundred times better by friendly, smiling, efficient staff.  The importance of service can never be over-estimated.

Restaurant Reviews   Restaurant Critics  Narbonne  Restaurant Customer  Menu Speak

Making your own Stock

I had to do some catering recently to accommodate all sorts of different diets.  I quite often prepare a vegetarian meal for us here, but I don't need to worry about using a chicken stock if I think the dish needs it.  However, I had to make a Cassoulet for the vegetarian contingent at the party and of course I couldn't use my chicken stock.  I finally capitulated to the advertising by Marco Pierre White for his Knorr stockpots.  I added two little jelly pots to my beautiful Cassoulet made of organic vegetables and freshly soaked and boiled pulses and it is safe to say they destroyed the entire dish!  They are poisoned with salt and I had seasoned as I usually would do.  They have a deeply artificial, chemical flavour, created in a laboratory.  You get the idea?  For every "flavour" the first ingredient listed is fat, be it vegetable fat or chicken fat.  I am not sure about anyone else but I have never put fat in any stock and in fact skim it off.

I decided to make some vegetarian stock for my freezer stock-pile so to speak.  I generally have chicken and veal stock frozen into ice cubes and bagged.

When you buy organic vegetables such as onion, carrot, celery, and herbs such as parsley, save the outer skins and/or peelings and stalks until you have a decent quantity and put in a pot with some water.  You can add the peelings from squash and even swede but not the actual flesh.  Fennel peelings are good too.  Do not add cabbage until the very end as if you boil cabbage there is a chemical reaction which gives that horrible smell and taste of overcooked institutional boiled cabbage.  Simmer gently for about an hour and then strain.  Bring to the boil and reduce by half.  Cool and refrigerate.  I find it really handy to freeze in ice cube trays and then next day remove and store in zip-lock bags.

For chicken stock I use the carcass of the chicken and all the bones saved off plates, add your vegetable peelings/stalks as above and simmer for about 3 hours.  Strain and reduce as above and then freeze.

For beef or veal stock I roast the bones for about an hour or until they have been browned it a hot oven.  Then make as chicken stock.

For fish use the bones but also the skins and simmer for less time usually an hour is more than enough. 

The taste of stock made like this is really so much better than anything you can buy.  The preparation time is minimal.  The only drawback is steam in your kitchen however if you are lucky enough to have an Aga or similar you can make stock overnight in your oven.


Homemade Stock Recipe  Vegetable Stock  Meat Stock

Sour Dough Starter and Bread Recipe

I love sourdough bread.  My first memory of it was when I worked in San Francisco years ago.  Actually sourdough has been "around" since ancient Egyptian times and was more than likely discovered by accident.  The brewery and the bakery were often in the same place and possibly wild yeast spores settled into a dough and caused fermentation.  By trial and error they discovered that some yeasts cultures were more effective than others and could be used as a starter.  This starter was then used to start another batch.  The yeasts metabolise the sugars and starches in the flour converting them into lactic and other acids which gives the distinctive sour flavour.  It is incredibly easy to make your own starter.  I find it is easier in summer than in winter but don't let that limit you.  In summer it is warmer and you have windows and doors open more and there is more air circulation.  Get a kilner jar and put a tablespoon of unbleached, organic flour.  Mix to a paste with equal quantities of water.  Do not completely seal with lid,  just flip it over to cover.  Leave in a warm place (a window ledge).  Next day give it a good stir, throw some away and then add more flour and water.  Repeat this for about a week until you begin to notice some activity which appear as bubbles and a slightly alcoholic smell.  Continue for another few days feeding your starter until it is good and active.  You will notice that as the flour settles in the jar you will have a blackish liquid on top.  This is normal and it has not gone bad.  This liquid is called Hooch.  Some recipes I have seen say throw this away.  But to my mind that is crazy as it contains a lot of the flavours.  Just stir it back into the mixture before you use it.

To make your bread you need to remove your starter and pour into a bowl.  Add 250g of strong unbleached bread flour and 375ml of room temperature water.  Give it a good stir and cover with a tea towel and leave in a warm place overnight.  Next day this will be a bowl of bubbles and froth.  This is what is called your Sponge.

Take approximately three quarters of this sponge and add 300g of flour to it as well as a tablespoon of olive oil, salt to taste and enough warm water to make a smooth dough.  Mix on a low speed with a dough hook.  The remaining sponge is your starter and just pop it back into a clean dry jar for use next time.  Remove your dough when it feels smooth and silky and when you stretch it, it feels like bubble gum.  This means the gluten has been stretched and unravelled and is now flexible enough for the bubbles of carbon dioxide produced by yeast metabolism to raise the bread.  You now need to prove the dough which means leaving it somewhere warm and with no drafts for about 8 hours.  Sour dough rises slowly and sedately  unlike commercial yeast bread production.  The longer you leave it the more the flavour will develop.  Remove, knock back and allow to prove for a second time.  This can take up to four hours or longer.  Place in a hot oven on a baking tray or in a tin and place a container with some water in the oven to create steam to help crust development.  Bake as you would a normal yeast dough and then remove and cool.

The portion of the sponge that you have retained becomes your starter and you need to keep this in the fridge for use next time.  However you do need to feed it at least once a week, by repeating the procedure when you first started to make your starter.  Throw away half of it and add more flour and water in equal proportion.  Give it a good stir to aerate it and put back into fridge.  If you have to go away it will survive but just give it a good feed in advance and feed it again when you return. Remember it is a living thing!

Sour dough bread takes time to make but there is not a lot of work involved.  I find if you time it right, it takes very little work on your part.

  

Sour Dough Bread  Sour Dough Starter  Bread Recipes