Batali/Keller beat McD's in Calories

[jfood]

WSJ had a funny article yesterday on comparing some of these chef's dishes with some McD burgers. Some interesting results:

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB11974...

Also on the site are a couple of recipes.

[fatfudge]

Mario Batali is "not-quite fat"?!?

[gridder]

I've never seen him in person, so it is hard to tell. (Cameras do add lbs.) I like the phrase though -- I think I actually fall into the category!

[Blueicus]

Unless they're using a fish eye lens I don't think a camera is capable of making Joe Schmoe into looking like Santa Claus.

[ChefJune]

imho a silly comparison! many folks eat fast food EVERY day! Those dishes of Batali's or Keller's are easily "special occasion" dishes, even if made by the home cook.

and tho I love Mario, he is way more than "not quite fat!" (lol)

[Leonardo]

I agree..there are many people who eat fast food 12 times a week.
French Laundry is for that twice a year special occasion.

[ccbweb]

In your income bracket perhaps...but there are those who are eating French Laundry or Per Se sorts of food many times a week as well. The point I took from the article was that regardless of how much one is paying or where one is eating, there are calories and fat and sodium in everything we eat and we should pay attention to it.

[Ruth Lafler]

The number of people who are eating French Laundry/Per Se sorts of food "many times a week" is infinitesimal, and if you look around high-end restaurants, the percentage of people who are significantly overweight compared to the number of people who are overweight at McD's is much lower. Being fat is very declasse in our culture, and people in the income bracket where they can eat FL-type meals on a regular basis don't let themselves get fat (they have enough money to hire a personal trainer or belong to a gym, plus people in that income bracket are usually there because they're very good at managing their lives).

Comparing the nutritional quality of food eaten by a tiny number of people on mostly special occasions to fast food really trivializes the whole issue of poor quality nutrition in the foods the vast majority of people eat every day.

[dagoose]

and, might I add, have the leisure time to actually use that gym, which is often what lacks in the lower income brackets.

[Ruth Lafler]

That's not precisely true -- that's why I phrased it the way I did. A lot of high-powered, high-wage earners put in long hours, but they budget their non-work time differently (and actually, a lot of those meals are working meals). But they tend to have more flexibility about how to organize their time than lower income people do. So, for example, they can take an hour and a half for lunch and go to the gym, and make it up later, instead of having a strict 60 (or even 30) minute lunch period assigned to them.

What I left out is that they have more choices and are less bound by the decisions other people make.

[jfood]

RL

That's a nice way of putting it. In jfood's case, his "leisure time" also know as hit the machine time is 530-645AM. Except his 1-day per week spin class at lunch he has not eaten a "leisurely 60 minute lunch" in 20 years, usually on calls, in meetings, or at a business lunch.

Not complaining, jfood loves the excitement, but the impression that many business men spend their days eating and exercising is just silly. The green grass on the other side of the fence is sometimes crab grass.

[moh]

Oh dear. i thought my pants were feeling a bit tight after our trip to NYC. I don't want to know how many calories i comsumed at Per Se. My only consolation is that at least they were quality calories.... salad and water for the month of december it is.

[alkapal]

LOL, Mario saying this:
"We [...] keep olive oil to a minimum."
Thanks for sharing, jfood. Happy holidays to you and yours! (including 22 year old "little jfood"!)
;-)

[jfood]

Ditto to you Alka. mrs jfood taking little jfood to a play in NYC so jfood is alone in the kitchen again

Can you say short ribs and chocolate cake?

[ccbweb]

jfood, have you ever posted your short ribs recipe/technique to the home cooking board? I'd love to compare notes. Thanks!

[maria lorraine]

Yes. Here 'tis:
http://www.chowhound.com/topics/470816

[jfood]

Thanks ML, didn't think of posting the link.

[scubadoo97]

Funny, I've been watching Molto Mario on the Fine Living channel and the amount of oilve oil used is far from minimum. Not that there is anything wrong with that.

[alkapal]

exactly, scubadoo97. mario probably bathes in the stuff!