Terry
08-29-2007, 08:06 PM
<div>Dear Foodies,</div><div> </div><div>You know that as I visit and dine in above average and popular restaurants today, I have noticed that in the preparation of dishes, the company's chefs, according to corporation dictates, prepare foods using shortcut styles.</div><div> </div><div>For instance, recently I have noticed that one of my favorite restaurants makes Chicken Marsala. And, while it tasted very good, the cooks in the kitchen prepare it by grilling the chicken on an oak grill imparting a strong oak grill taste.</div><div> </div><div>Typically, anymore, chicken in Chicken Marsala is not pounded like veal in Veal Marsala. It is a huge hunk of chicken cooked either by sauteing or by grilling.</div><div> </div><div>Grilling is just too strong and leaves the chicken dry and tough. And, as I mentioned, if it is cooked on an oak grill, it has a strong oak grill taste.</div><div> </div><div>Chicken Marsala, properly prepared is pounded into thin medalions and gently sauteed. It also is enveloped into a delicate brown sauce with a good taste of Marsala wine. Being cheap with the wine only cheapens such a classic dish.</div><div> </div><div>Many times, in many Italian restaurants, I have inquired BEFORE I ordered this dish if the chef pounds the chicken or if they grill it. If they do, it is just not prepared in the classical and gentle way.</div><div> </div><div>One time I went into a fine Italian restaurnat and asked if the chef would kindly pound the chicken. I knew the chef to be tasty on occasion but his wife came back to the table and said it would be done. During the course of conversation with my husband, I heard the thundering pounding sounds emanating from the kitchen. We laughed when we came to the conclusion that the loud sounds were the chef pounding my chicken.</div><div> </div><div>So, what chefs do today in making such dishes as Chicken Marsala is that they do not pound the chicken into delicate medalions. Many others shortcut by grilling the chicken instead of gently sauteeing it. The end results is that Chicken Marsala does not taste as it should. And, so many customers do not know today what good Chicken Marsala tastes like.</div><div> </div><div>And, another franchise, known to many, Olive Garden, will make an Alfredo sauce , typically made with egg, but it is not real Alfredo sauce. Why? Because, again, Alfredo sauce is a delicate and perishable sauce and difficult to make for the masses that visit large franchises around the counrty.</div><div> </div><div>What do they do to make their sauces like Alfredo style and not as perishable in an evening for the masses of people that frequent their establishments? They make a Bechemel sauce and add parmesan cheese to it and mix their pasta with this.</div><div> </div><div>Maybe that is a good thing. But, for me, in the end, most folks will never know what a real Alfredo sauce tastes like. I am a purist and like to know that when I am eating an Alfredo sauce that it is really an Alfredo sauce.</div><div> </div><div>What do you true cooks think?</div><div> </div><div>Just a foodie, too</div><div> </div><div>Terry / Chicago area</div>