[Just Jim]

Originally Posted by KYHeirloomer

Instead of reacting, "that pink stuff really tastes bad," they'd have said, "that reduced beet juice in sour cream really tastes bad." But nothing would have changed. It would still have been bad tasting, whether they knew what it was called or not.

The issue I have with this scenario is context.
Sauces aren't usually served as a stand alone product, they are developed to compliment/contrast other flavors.
A "bad" tasting sauce on it's own may be considered heaven once the chef pairs it with it's intended partner.
When I was younger I had a taste of hollandaise and considered it bad tasting.
Then I had it with crab and asparagus and a whole new world was opened up to me.
So a little knowledge of what you're eating and why you are eating it goes a long way.

[KYHeirloomer]

Wow! Talk about reaching back, Jim. I had to seach the thread to see where and how that fit.

But you're right. The key word is "context." And within the context of the discussion, I stand by what I said.

Back then, Ed was trying to make a point that you have to know all about food, including the names of things and the techniques for making them, to be able to write a meaningful review. He also was contending, as is his wont, that professionals in the food industry automatically fit that mold, and that writers automatically do not.

My contention was, and remains, that that is far from true. Whether paired with its intended partner or not, if the reviewer found that the pink stuff ( in the context of that dish was implied, btw) was bad, it would still be bad, even if he knew it was a reduced beet juice in sour cream.

I get a little testy on this subject, not only because of who I am, professionally, but because more than half the book reviewers here at Cheftalk are not food professionals. Anyone who implies that they aren't doing a great job because of that has declared war. I'll stack our cookbook reviewers against any in the business, and spot you a creme brulee (or should I say custard with melted sugar on top?) to boot.

Apparently, the reading world agrees. If you search for any of our reviewed titles (parameters "name of book review") you'll find that we consistently score higher than anyone else except Amazon.

I'd also suggest that if the same crew were doing restaurant reviews they would do just as superlative a job.

[Just Jim]

Just to be clear, I wasn't taking sides.
And maybe I was too myopic in my view, but that part stood out as worth discussing.
I have no emotional attachment to this subject and if I caused you any angst, my apologies, not my intention.
I would hope that a reviewer, novice or pro, would put that much thought into their evaluation, to consider the full intention of what they are reviewing (not sure if I stated that properly).

*edit: I also want to mention that I missed how long ago the discussion had gone on when I posted, it was the first time I noted the thread.

[KYHeirloomer]

I didn't think you were taking sides, Jim. Just wanted to make sure that your very point---that things need to be taken in context---be observed.

In point of fact, if you go back over the posts preceeding my comments, you'll see that they refer to an actual sauce served as part of a dish. A catering director and banquete manager (who, in my opinion, would certainly qualify as food professionals) expressed their opinion that it wasn't any good. The chef---one of Ed's heroes, apparently, and thereby incapable of being wrong---didn't react to their criticism, but, rather, to the fact that if they didn't know what it was suposed to be, they couldn't possibly know it was bad.

That was the context; and had nothing to do with whether or not sauces are stand-alone dishes.

[Just Jim]

I guess I didn't see the connection of context, and still don't really.
It seemed that the post on the F&B and catering director was stand alone, and while I agree that a Catering Director and F&B should be food professionals, my experience is that they are experts in decorations and numbers at best.

*edit: Case in point: F&B that started offering Baron of Beef on the banquet menus.
I told her we needed lead time to order the steamship rounds and she said no, we would just do a sliced roast beef in a hotel pan with gravy "the customer doesn't know the difference". Obviously neither did she. Of course, the Catering Director didn't make a peep either.

But I digress, this topic was about restaurant reviwers, not chefs and their counterparts, or reviewers of another nature.
We're all good KYH.