Aidan Brooks: Trainee Chef: Dandelion And Noodles

Saturday, 7 October 2006

Dandelion And Noodles

A film that that been a favourite in my family for as long as I can remember is Juzo Itami's Japanese spaghetti western "Tampopo" (dandelion). It's a brilliant, multi-layered comedy involving two truck drivers (modern cowboys) who ride into a village where a poor woman (Tampopo) is struggling to survive as a noodle chef in the face of evil restauranteurs (bandidos) who dominate the local market.

Weaving together tales of Japanese culture, with the eternal twins food and sex as the common link, Tampopo is a film that no foodie should miss. Hat-tip to zaedu for posting an extract on YouTube. In this clip, gourmet vagrants break into a hotel kitchen to cook a rice omelette for Tampopo's hungry son.

1 comment:

Mike said...: My favourite scene is the one where the young ladies gastronomic etiquette class is disrupted by the chap in the corner slurping his food and belching.

And as for the raw egg....; 10/16/2006 11:44:00 pm

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Welcome

I'm Aidan "Trig" Brooks, a 22-yr-old from Hackney in London's East End. I left Westminster Kingsway College with a Professional Chef Diploma in summer

2007 and moved to Spain, where I trained in Barcelona at Carles Abellan's Comerç 24 (which won its first Michelin star) and Martín Beresategui's Lasarte (which won its second Michelin star) and was chef de partie and later Pastry Chef to Paco Morales at the amazing hotel restaurant Ferrero in the Valèncian mountains. This Spring I returned to London as part of the team of celebrated Portuguese chef Nuno Mendes, opening East End restaurant Viajante. I'm still working with food, but taking a break from fine dining. Passionately pursuing my life-long ambition to become a top-class chef and, one day, a world-famous restaurateur.

Independence and code of ethics

What's in season in the UK?

Here is this week's UK seasonal food item, courtesy of eat the seasons. This week's seasonal food item is monkfish. This resident of the deep is often described as the ugliest fish in the oceans, though from looking at the beautiful picture below it's hard to see why. Actually, monkfish isn't a fish, but a generic name given to fish from several different genus. The most common is the anglerfish, but the generic term can also refer to angel sharks and sea monks. Whichever variety we are talking about, they should be considered a special treat as all are listed as being unsustainably fished at present. Monkfish has a firm but succulent texture and a slightly sweet flavour and is often compared with seafoods such as lobster and scallops, with which it pairs well to make some luxurious dishes. Monkfish has long featured in Iberian regional dishes, but was almost unknown in the UK until recent years. It now appears on many restaurant menus and is highly sought after by fishing vessels in the waters around SW. England, W. Ireland and W. Scotland. Monkfish is low in calories and a good source of protein. It contains useful amounts of vitamin B3 (aids proper functioning of the metabolic system), potassium (controls the balance of fluids) and selenium (an antioxidant that also helps the immune system). The flesh is sufficiently strong to stand its own against otherwise dominant flavours such as the chorizo, saffron and pimentón typically used with it in Spanish dishes.