Jellies are to cold cookery what consommes and stock are to hot. If anything, the former are perhaps more important: for a cold entree - however perfect it may be in itself - is nothing without its accompanying jelly.
Interpretation
Jellies play a crucial role in cold dishes, much like stocks do in hot dishes.
In this quote, Auguste Escoffier emphasizes the significance of jellies in the realm of cold cooking, likening them to the foundational stocks and consommés that are essential in hot kitchen preparations. He argues that a well-prepared cold dish is incomplete without a complementary jelly, highlighting its importance in enhancing texture and flavor, thus enriching the overall dining experience.
In practice
In a culinary class discussing the fundamentals of cold dishes.
The workman mindful of success, therefore, will naturally direct his attention to the faultless preparation of his stock, and in order to achieve this result, he will find it necessary not merely to make use of the freshest and finest goods, but also to exercise the most scrupulous care in their preparation, for, in cooking, care is half the battle.
Of all the items on the menu, soup is that which exacts the most delicate perfection and the strictest attention.
Stock is everything in cooking, at least in French cooking. Without it, nothing can be done. If one's stock is good, what remains of the work is easy; if, on the other hand, it is bad or merely mediocre, it is quite hopeless to expect anything approaching a satisfactory result.
Original, in French: La bonne cuisine est la base du véritable bonheur. _x000D_ _x000D_ English: Good food is the foundation of genuine happiness.
Soup puts the heart at ease, calms down the violence of hunger, eliminates the tension of the day, and awakens and refines the appetite.
Good food is the foundation of genuine happiness.
Food that's served at the table in a paper parcel always creates a remarkable culinary moment when opened, because the package is full of aromatic steam from the lightly cooked ingredients inside.
To butcher a pork shoulder is to be forcibly reminded that this is the shoulder of a large mammal, made up of distinct groups of muscles with a purpose quite apart from feeding me. The work itself gives me a keener interest in the story of the hog: where it came from and how it found its way to my kitchen.
Why don't we pay more attention to who our farmers are? We would never be as careless choosing an auto mechanic or babysitter as we are about who grows our food.
I don't believe in twisting yourself into knots of excuses and explanations over the food you make.
Kitchens should be designed around what's truly important-fun, food, and life.
Some hae meat and canna eat, And some wad eat that want it, But we hae meat and we can eat, And sae the Lord be thankit.
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