Nothing Is Impossible

New York Times: Four Nations Where Forks Do Knives' Work: "Old-fashioned it may be, but boiling is creeping back into fashion. The überchef Daniel Boulud recently rhapsodized about pot-au-feu in a column in Elle Decor, although naturally he throws in a couple of filets mignons for greater luxe.

Upmarket restaurants across the country are finding places on their menus for boiled meat (a listing appears on Page 4). In food-frenzied London, where boiled silverside (corned beef) was a standby at the Savoy and Connaught hotels before the dubious updating of their dining rooms, boiled beef and carrots is a big draw at Wolseley, the hot new brasserie."

Has everyone suddenly forgotten that boiled meat doesn't taste good? This has to be at least the third article I've read rhapsodizing about the reason British cuisine has been so widely ridiculed in the past. Boiling meat draws out its flavors into the liquid, giving you a delicious broth, for sure, but leaving you with a tasteless main dish. Not to mention how easy it is to dry out meat cooked with such a method.

I'm sure that in a few weeks boiled meat will go back to its position of shame as other columns write it off with nothing more than a line while describing better fare. But I have to wonder what has prompted this sudden cavalcade of sources praising it. It's as if there's a conspiracy within the culinary-critic world to turn readers on to bad food. Perhaps they've decided they want to keep all the good stuff to themselves.