Theory of Consumption

"Theory of consumption" is the term I just coined as a fancy way to ask "how the heck am I supposed to eat this?" I have asked this question of myself before; it came up again when confronted with this dessert from Bakery & Table in Hakone, Japan. The dish combines ice cream and golden croutons. This is a clever way for a bakery to use up old bread. It also sounded pretty tasty.

As you can see, the ice cream is piled up on top of the croutons. This brings up the question of how soft the croutons should be. Should I keep them away from the ice cream as much as possible? Or should I let them bathe in the ice cream for a moment before I eat? After experimenting with the dish---that is, eating it---I came to two conclusions. First, a very crunchy crouton is a nice textural contrast to the ice cream so keeping them separate as long as possible is a good plan. Second, this presentation isn't the best way to serve this treat. Separate dishes of ice cream and croutons would have allowed me to plunk one or two croutons on top of the ice cream, then snatch a bite. Theory of consumption is an important part of the culinary experience. It is often neglected, unfortunately, particularly in these days in which chefs believe that architecture is their true calling. If diners have to work too hard to figure out how to enjoy your dish, perhaps it is time to regroup and rethink.

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Eating Around Georgia Tech: Ecco

Our Texas Instruments colleague Cathy Wicks was gracious enough to host several of us at Ecco tonight. This is one of those restaurants that has been on my list for a long time. Even though it is within easy walking distance of Georgia Tech, I hadn't made it there until tonight. The menu is a combination of Italian, Spanish, and French that make use of some local Georgia ingredients. The combination of those three countries is sometimes a little forced, although the georgia ingredients (fruit, cheese) were all great and perfectly appropriate. We started out with a meat and cheese board. This actually reverses the French tradition, where cheese usually follows the main course. Everything was excellent. The Georgia cheese was a big hit, as was the French cow/goat cheese. I thought the sauscisson was very subtle and very good. The waitress said that the roast pork pasta was their signature dish, so I had to try it. It had traditional broad pasta (fresh, of course)

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Pressure Cooker Candied Ginger

I made candied ginger a few years ago. It's not something I would do every day but I had a lot of fun doing it. I recently acquired a pressure cooker and it inspired an interesting idea to me: why not make candied ginger in the pressure cooker? It should be very soft and flavorful. Here is the result. I peeled two large ginger roots, cut them into small cubes, and put them in the pressure cooker with heavily sugared water. The traditional method first boils the ginger in plain water to soften it and then again in sugar water to candy it. The resulting candy was very tender but still with the characteristic ginger texture. It was also sweet without being overpowering. The traditional method leaves a lot of sugar crystallized around the ginger. The pressure cooker gives a much more subtle result. The ginger stays moist even after it cools but you can dry it in the oven at 350 degrees for about 10 minutes. That inspired me to dip it in chocolate. While I was in the b

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