Oh Rats! How to Fake It When There's No Tiny Gourmet Chef Under Your Hat

Ratatouille: [RAT-a-too-ee] a new animated-adventure where a rat named Remy dreams of becoming a great French chef despite his family’s wishes and the obvious problem of his species. www.disney.go.com

Ratatouille: [ra-tuh-TOO-ee] a popular dish from the French region of Provence that combines eggplants, tomatoes, onions, bell peppers, zucchini, garlic, and herbs – all simmered in olive oil. – Barron’s Food Lover’s Companion




Ratatouille the Movie

Only once have I ever called a chef a "rat", and that was by accident. I was sending an email to Chef Rod Butters and one nanosecond after I had hit the “send� button I noticed that my computer's Spell Check program had “efficiently and very unhelpfully� changed his name “Rodney� to “Rodent� throughout the letter.

I think he forgave me, and since then I can’t recall any other embarrassing incidents involving confusion between rats who are chefs and chef who are rats.

AS for the movie, I’ve been trying to see Ratatouille, the Disney production, for weeks, but have been deflected from that intention by the endless line ups of people who have made it to the theatre before me. I’ll make it eventually. Not that I condone the perpetuation of clichés or anything but my main objective is to see Peter O’Toole as the mean spirited restaurant critic Anton Ego (a character that the animators were said to have physically modeled on a vulture). I’ve heard that his cinematic speech on the affirmation of criticism is worth the price of admission alone

Here's a quote on the subject from the blog Easily Distracted

[I think} Ratatouille, on the other hand, is fantastic … I’m sure it’s partly because I’m a foodie, but there’s a lot more to the film. A lot of critics have picked up on the anomaly of a mainstream movie at least partially aimed at children that is praising good taste and a life devoted to aesthetic pleasure. What I think is almost more startling is that it is a film where the most emotionally moving scene centers on the importance and usefulness of cultural criticism when it is done honestly, on the importance of discerning judgements about taste and beauty. It might be the first time I’ve ever found myself tearing up while listening to a critic read a theoretical statement about his craft.

This I gotta see ... but back to the original item ...


Ratatouille the Dish

If you are too lazy to cut up vegetables, an excellent alternative is the boil in a bag version that real chef, Ben Côté of Cassis Bistro has been selling for about five years now under the étuvé label via such stores as Capers.

Côte obviously prefers the term étuvée (ey-tu-vey) over the one we see more often, “sous-vide�, or the even older term étouffée, which all translates as “a European cooking method that places ingredients in a tightly sealing cooking vessel (in this case, a vaccum sealed bag submerged in boiling water), hence sealing in nutrients and intensifying flavour by cooking it in its own undiluted juices.

Basically these heat and serve meals in a box are the same sort of homey traditional dishes prepared with classical French cooking techniques that Chef Ben would make from locally sourced organic ingredients and serve at his Pender Street bistro, only in this version they can be prepared easily and conveniently at home.

The line includes the Ratatouille, as well as a Daube de Beouf, and a Coq au Vin (described on the label as “free-range chicken braised in red wine, mushrooms and pancetta) and they sell for approximately $10.99 depending on the retail outlet. The étuvé line also includes stocks, soups and other items such as caramelized onions. Get more information at www.etuvefood.com



And not that we want to make any further associations between the two of course. But as a quirky sidebar, it’s interesting to read the entry for “Rat� in the older printing of the Larousse Gastronomique.

"RAT - a rodent which was elevated to the rank of comestible during the siege of Paris in 1870, and which is still eaten in certain regions. The flesh of well-nourished rats can be, it seems, of good quality, but sometimes with a musky taste. Rats nourished in the wine stores of the Gironde were at one time highly esteemed by the coopers, who grilled them, after having cleaned out and skinned them, on a fire of broken barrels, and seasoned them with a little olive oil and plenty of shallots. This dish which was then called Cooper’s Entrecôte, would be the origin of the Entrecôte `a la Bordelaise."

For a more modern example see the article “Gourmet Taste Eases Rat Infestation" on page A6 of today’s Sun newspaper.