What is French Cuisine?

French or Haute, Italian and (Spanish) small plate dishes nowadays are the trend of popular cuisine that defines Western cuisine.  
But an existing pattern shows that many people have a total disregard or simply just don't care whether the dish they are eating is authentic or not.

So what is it that makes a dish French, is it because: 

(a) it's prepared by a person of French background
(b) is consumed by French people
(c) found in France

Many of the new and trendy restaurants today have disregarded the authenticity of dishes belonging to one's culture. And based on contemporary views of authenticity, there is no true definition of authentic cultural cuisine but simply a social construction of the food that we are used to eating interpreted as authentic. (i.e. just because you are dining in a bistro that serves French food, does not mean the dish in front of you is French)

Some authors such as Kwan have argued that authentic cuisine is the result of social conditioning that a person interprets as an authentic dish. Take a look at French cuisine for example, authentic French cuisine exists differently depending on the region of France. So authenticity is produced and not self-existing. (What is considered French food in Gascony may not be in Alsace)

Tarte Flambée (Alsatian)

Confit de Canard (Gascon)

What I am trying to get at here is that authenticity in cultural cuisine does exists and it is the interpretation that leads to erasure.

According to my background, authentic Chinese food to me would be Cantonese cuisine found in Hong Kong and while that is true, I consider Szechuan, Hakka and Beijing (many other regions) to be authentic as well. But, to say fusion and other interpretations of Chinese food (Mandarin buffet, Chinese take-outs or Chop Suey) as authentic then I find that problematic.

貴妃雞 Imperial Consort Chicken (Authentic Chinese)

左公雞 General Tso's Chicken (Americanized Chinese)

Similarly, if you bring "Americanized" Italian cuisine to an Italian of older generation or a person born and raised in Italy, it is not Italian food.

In conclusion, I am not saying that fusion or reinvented interpretations of cultural dishes are bad, in fact I support it. Because it allows us to better understand the interaction and interrelationship between cultural identities and cuisine. But when it comes to authenticity, we cannot take it for grant it and assume the dish we ordered is authentic just because the menu said so.

References:
Chinese Restaurants, dir. Chuek Kwan, 120 min. Tissa Films, 2005. DVD
Pictures:
http://yummyinmytumbly.tumblr.com/image/43344426190
http://www.flickr.com/photos/kwongeats/8287776424/
http://www.nydailynews.com/life-style/eats/best-new-york-general-tso-chicken-article-1.1241839
http://www.bonappetit.com/recipes/2013/03/cioppino
http://www.gourmet.com/recipes/2000s/2004/12/seafood-stew

Making Your Own Heart Too Soft

Let's start off the blog with a post on what a Heart Too Soft is and how to make your own. Heart Too Soft is simply a molten chocolate lava cake, but surprisingly many people don't know what it is and some have never even heard of it.

So let's spread the love for this wonderful dessert!

This is what a perfect molten chocolate lava cake should look like. The outer shell of the cake is suppose to be crunchy, while the heart of it oozes like liquid chocolate (hence the name: Heart Too Soft) that melts in your mouth.

The lava cake is considered a high end dessert usually only found in high end restaurants, but surprisingly as you will see below it is very easy to make it yourself at home.

The following recipe is a simplified version that is guaranteed to give you a perfect Heart Too Soft on par to those found in boutique bakeries or in high end restaurants (in my opinion).

Ingredients:

-(use foil of butter) to butter insides of 4 ramekins

-a stick of butter (125g)

-bar of good quality dark chocolate (100g)

-2 eggs

-1/4 cup of sugar

-3 Tbsp of flour