You may be a great cook – but can you beat a chef?

Every day, amazing things are being achieved in domestic kitchens. But some things are still best left to restaurantsThe increasing ambition of home-cooking – with technical complexity, obscure ingredients and long-term projects now part of the lexicon – has thrown up the question of whether there is any point in going to restaurants. Where once an overcooked salmon steak was a disappointment, it is now an active insult. So, is there a better reason to eat out than the fact that there will be other people there?Well, yes. You are going for atmosphere – noise, soft furnishings, cool people, couples who look as if they are not as well suited as you are. But as far as the food is concerned, you are going for talent – imagination, embedded knowledge and dexterity – and the kitchen’s accrued resources. Some recipes will require a brown veal stock as a bare minimum, and there is nothing to stop you doing that yourself, except the bit where you have to start two days before, engaging in a bit of banter with a butcher before he will even look out the back to see if he has any veal bones. Continue reading…
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