THE GURGLING COD

Nathan Myhrvold has 251 more problems than Jay-Z

Over to the DJ, news that Cod special fave Modernist Cuisine has a few bugs in the system. Nathan Myrhvold, seen at left giving a TED talk on the subject of this one barista back home* checked in like this: 

“We had many copy editors and proofreaders to help us pore over the book, but after the nth reading, you become blind to any further errors,” he wrote. “Unfortunately, the enormous demand for MC and the unexpected delays in shipping the books to customers meant that we had very little time, with very few readers, to find errors."

And: 

"That’s not to say that we have now cor­rected every last error, how­ever. Indeed, in the days since the presses started run­ning again, we, Larry, and other read­ers have iden­ti­fied a few more mis­takes. If and when we under­take a third print­ing, we’ll cor­rect those, too. In the mean­time, we are mak­ing avail­able here a list of cor­rec­tions and clar­i­fi­ca­tions for the first print­ing. We’ll update this list when­ever new goofs are spot­ted. It’s avail­able in PDF for­mat as well, in case you want to print it out or have a handy search­able ver­sion on your com­puter. If you spot a mis­take in your copy that isn’t already men­tioned here, please send it in."

The Cod knows all too well that it sucks when your book gets fucked up in production. (Authors should emulate hoboes, and make chalkmarks outside of presses that have version control management issues, or who won't promote your book at conferences, or... but I digress.) But! Charging folks six bills plus for a cookbook, and then enlisting them as your beta testers, sounds like an idea that only a software engineer could dream up. Oh, right. 

The Amazon reviews are still overwhelmingly favorable -- if you had paid for it, it would be hard to admit to yourself that it was not quite the thing, but more surprising to the Cod is that the proliferation of errors are further testimony to the awesome grandeur of the book:

At times the errata read like science fiction –- fleeting glimpses into the world of “beet flexicurd,” “halibut cheek gel base” and “scallop mochi.” It’s a place where oysters, before they meet their demise, are fed sieved beet juice (and the juice should be strained through a 25 micron sieve, not a 500-micron one).

Also, the testers are drinking the Kool-aid through a relatively coarse sieve:

“When I read through the errata, part of what I’m realizing is 80 to 90 percent is rinky-dink stuff that has to do with a dropped ‘S’ for a verb or something like that,” Mr. Amirault said. “And then occasionally there are meaningful things, like a dropped decimal. You’re dealing with a cooking that really values precision and includes really small amounts of some ingredients. When you get to that level, you need to be really precise, and a missed decimal makes a difference.”

First, subject-verb agreements is rinky-dink? For athletes on Twitter, maybe, but in a, you know, book, subject-verb argreement are important. Also, "when you are dealing with a (sic) cooking that really values precision," you need to be precise in a cookbook about that cooking. Ask Julia Child and Judith Jones. 

At the day job, The Cod is in the early stages of working on a project to help engineers write gooder, and wishes he'd gotten started sooner. Also, I cannot resist pointing out that a proliferation of errors, involving rinky dink verbs, as well as important shit like decimals, is not surprising for a cookbook that betrays its blithe disregard for language in the first word of its title. 

I leave you with the Jigga: 

 

*Or not. 

Gene Stallings carries on

A beautiful day for the sad business of remembering a fellow 'Fesser who died far, far too young. Betimes, it's food related, so I am straight up ganking the whole post from EDSBS:

A REMINDER THAT CIVILIZATION ENDURES

 by Spencer Hall on Apr 29, 2011 12:19 PM EDT

We love that when everything collapses and civic order is threatened, when the horror of the unexplainable arrives at the front door unbidden, and when all seems like tragedy in 360 degrees of vision, there are those men who take deep breaths, nod grimly, and in a deep, gravelly voice intone: "Someone fire up the grill, because we are going to need some hamburgers." Old country dudes in crisis situations are so beyond necessary it's not even funny.

(Donate by texting 90999 to the Red Cross or donate directly here. Pic via ABC 3340's Flickr page.)

 

Au Pied & higher ed

One of the grasshoppers from my day job is spending the semester in Montreal. I made it clear that part of my expectations for the semester was at least one meal at Au Pied du Cochon. Semester is winding down, and still no APDC visits. So, the Cod asks an ethical and pedagogical 'Fessering question - should I not approve the coursework if there is no visit to Au Pied du Cochon? Please answer in the comments. 

Brock & Maws dinner verdict: food is good.

The Cod has no problem posting up on, like, ill considered food truck names, but the fancier and more interesting the meal, the less likely it gets a post. So, after pondering all sorts of profound things to say about the Tony Maws collab with Sean "Husk" Brock last month, about balancing ingredients and technique, etcetera, etcetera, I will just post a scan of the menu, and a soundtrack for reading it below. Brock completes the home and home with a guest appearance at Craigie this July, so don't sleep.

The Sandwich Police: Bon Me

Welcome to a brand-new feature on the Cod -- The Sandwich Police.* The first case involves an establishment the Cod has not patronized, but is under investigation because of its name. Back in the Cod's spawning grounds, AKA TLOTB&TC, there is a truck that sells banh mi. Not mad at that, at all. There are times when it's convenient to purchase a banh mi sandwich, as opposed to spending all damn weekend fixing yourself one from scratch. But! The banh mi truck is called "Bon Me," or the phonetic spelling of the Vietnamese banh mi. They did win a prize, but phonetically spelled foreign names seem more suited to a food court in Branson, MO, than to a prizewinning food truck in the Athens of fucking America. 

Also, the menu suggests that they are not really that interested in making banh mi, considering they don't even take a stab at the banh mi dac biet, the Viet cold cut combo that is #1 on most every banh mi place's menu, and the benchmark sandwich. Instead, they're doing a sort of mix n match pan-Asiany sort of thing that would make sense in an alternate universe where Ikea started in Hong Kong instead of Sweden. Don't get the Cod wrong - it would be nice to see a truck like this parked outside of my office. I would welcome reports from folks who have visited. But in Boston, or any city with a reasonable concentration of Vietnamese-Americans, you should be able to find better banh mi than this. 

*Thanks to Maceo for the image. 

Hipster or Mexican? Yelpers can tell the difference, like that!

Some of us grind away, blogging haphazardly for years, with not much more than a few new imaginary friends to show for it. Other folks have one good idea that blows up like a rearended Pinto, and becomes a lucrative book deal or costly lawsuit in a matter of weeks. (See TIWYF.) Happy to see the latest of these, The Yelp Elite. The Cod is on the record as thinking the site's owners thuggish and users dimwitted, so it's nice to see someone focused on sharing Yelp gems with the rest of us, The Yelp Elite. Seriously, you can't make this shit up:

There are indeed hipsters behind the counter. LOTS OF HIPSTERS. No Mexicans. Just in case you weren’t sure, hipsters do not EQUAL or substitute IN LIEU OF ACTUAL REAL LIVE MEXICANS.

This gem hits a bunch of chords for the Cod. Authenticity and culinary nationalism both come up around here on the reg. More recently, we've tried to get to the bottom of the internet anti-hipster fatwa. But, unfortunately, I am pretty sure that the hipster or Mexican binary is maybe a little teensy weensy bit racist. Let's ask Esquivel which one he is. And play us off, won't you?

 

EXCLUSIVE: Savoy future revealed

NYC diners got the news recently that Soho mainstay Savoy was closing. From the email from Peter Hoffman:

 To every thing there is a season.  So too with restaurants and in this case, Savoy.  After twenty one rewarding years, Susan and I have decided to close Savoy.  Our last day of regular service will be Saturday, June 18th.  Throughout the summer, we will renovate the space and come back in the fall as a more casual restaurant with a new name.*

Many folks have been wondering what Hoffman will plan for this space. Thanks to the efforts of LES Bureau Chief Penny Pascal, The Gurgling Cod has obtained an exclusive peek of the future of this space:

Wings! It's a great day for Soho diners. No longer will they have to trek all the way to New Rochelle to get their wings on! So many wings. 

*You can read the whole thing here. The Cod suggests this as musical accompaniment. 

Yes, we have no Sifton Soundtracks

No Sifton Soundtracks today. The Cod hit the monthly limit for NYT articles. Seems sort of silly for the proprietor of a blog with literally dozens of readers to pay in order to promote content appearing in America's paper of record, so I'm not gonna do it. 

Before I hit the wall, I did see JTE's jawn. When you see "Tampa" and "crabs" in the lede, its a relief to see that the article is about a restaurant. 

2011 - the year of the growler

The other day, it was growlers for wine, courtesy of FOC Community Tap. Then someone went and made a growler cage for your fixie. Now, growlers for iced coffee. If you drink iced coffee on the reg like the Cod,  this is big news. Next week, Flo Fab will have the lowdown on Greenpoint Gravy Growlers.

My blood runs cold, my cheeseburger is a centerfold.

So The Cod saw where the Eaters were teasing a piece w/ "the problem with food porn." Glad to see it, b/c the Cod used to wonder if people who used the term "food porn" were clear on what pornography is.* A refresher. For instance, the CSPI called Hardee's Thickburgers "food porn," cuz they are, like really bad for you. Like porn. But wait! Porn, the regular kind, is usually involves looking at kinds of people doing kinds of things for/with/to/at oneanother in contexts that are not accessible to the viewer. (Yes, Slammy from Miami, and yes, Rod Huggins, but they are exceptions that prove the rule.) What makes it bad, then, is the distance between the object and the consumer, which produces degrading objectification, etc. But the problem with the Thickburger is not that exists only in print or pixels, creating unrealistic expectations of hamburgeruality in our youths. You can't wander into your local Hardee's and fuck Sasha Grey, but you can order a Thickburger. That's the problem. On the other hand, the folks Eater linked to w/r/t "the problem w/ food porn" conflatepornography and desire in a way that's just kinda effed up: 

 Concerns over mounting food shortages as a result of climate change have experimental philosopher Jonathon Keats questioning our near-pornographic obsession with gourmet cuisine in a moment where even basic sustenance will be in question.

 Oh, and dude also seems shaky on the food part of the food porn equation:

Concerns over mounting food shortages as a result of climate change have experimental philosopher Jonathon Keats questioning our near-pornographic obsession with gourmet cuisine in a moment where even basic sustenance will be in question.

The Cod hates to be a grinch during Eater's Burger Week, but having been outspent on the battle over "modernist," he'd hate to see a useful concept like porn get twisted. 

*Curiously, some other -porn formations, like "shelter porn," preserve the sense of separation implied in the original, unless you are married to that one dude from Coldplay.