NationStates Jolt Archive

Yes, these overpriced tins of pate
http://www.finestwine.com/english/foiegras.asp

are really:
http://www.shipbrook.com/jeff/graphics/potted1.jpg

Yes, I've deliberately served the potted meat product (remolded) as pate - and people who claim to have a discriminating palate had NO IDEA that they were eating potted meat product.

Potted Meat Product:

NUTRITIONAL INFORMATION:
Serv. Size 1/4 cup (62g);
Calories 80;
Fat Calories 50;
Total Fat 5g (8%);
Saturated Fat 2.5g (12%);
Cholest. 55mg (18%);
Sodium 550mg (23%);
Total Carb 0g (0%);
Protein 8g;
Vitamin A 0%;
Vitamin C 0%;
Calcium 4%;
Iron 6%

Pate:

Serving Size: (100 grams)

Amount Per Serving
Calories: 462
Total Fat 44g 67%
Saturated Fat 14g 72%
Cholesterol 150mg 50%
Sodium 697mg 29%
Total Carboydrates 5g 1%
Dietary Fiber 0g ~
Sugars 0g ~
Protein 11g 22%
Vitamin A 66%
Vitamin C 3%
Iron 30%
Calcium 7%



Well, as far as the fat content and calories go, the potted meat product is better for you. The pate has a better score on vitamins and minerals.

It just goes to show that if you take any product and give it a French name, people will think it's some kind of delicacy (the French probably planned this in advance...)

Whoa. Remind me to stock plenty of Pate if I go camping... That would make for some good rations.

:D

It just goes to show that if you take any product and give it a French name, people will think it's some kind of delicacy (the French probably planned this in advance...)

Smart marketing. Take the offal and fat from animals, grind it up, and cook it, put it in a can, and call it something fancy.

It's like wine connasseurs (sp?)....who love expensive Chilean wine here, never knowing that you can get that wine for less than a dollar there, and it's basically considered crap:).

Smart marketing. Take the offal and fat from animals, grind it up, and cook it, put it in a can, and call it something fancy.

Which is why I never buy meat I can't identify.

Well, as far as the fat content and calories go, the potted meat product is better for you. The pate has a better score on vitamins and minerals.

Legs, you don't consume pate on the basis that it's good for you. It's meant to be decadent. And anyway, a little footwork and a winning personality can score good fresh pate for a whole lot less than the prices listed on that website you linked to. A lot less.

I once had too much pate on my hands, so much in fact that I began feeding it to my room-mates' appreciative cats. After a while, even they'd had their fill. I'm talking about a brick-sized package of pate, here.

Ahhh, days of decadence gone by...*sighs*.

Legs, you don't consume pate on the basis that it's good for you. It's meant to be decadent. And anyway, a little footwork and a winning personality can score good fresh pate for a whole lot less than the prices listed on that website you linked to. A lot less.

I once had too much pate on my hands, so much in fact that I began feeding it to my room-mates' appreciative cats. After a while, even they'd had their fill. I'm talking about a brick-sized package of pate, here.

Ahhh, days of decadence gone by...*sighs*.

It's rather hard to get good pate here in the US if you're too far from a major urban center.

That, and no one I serve it to can tell the difference, despite their protests to the contrary.

I just think the French were very clever. Potted meat product is really cheap - and even the cheapest pate is not that cheap.

The French sure do have quite the effective scam running, don't they?

The French sure do have quite the effective scam running, don't they?

Well, they also sold the world on the idea of eating snails and moldy cheese

Well, they also sold the world on the idea of eating snails and moldy cheese
Ey! What's wrong with garlic snails and blue cheese?!? (except for the obvious: they are considered to be French)

Ey! What's wrong with garlic snails and blue cheese?!? (except for the obvious: they are considered to be French)

Well, I'm already sold on them (damn those French), but think about it.

You don't see the Americans canning "chitterlings" and selling it as an expensive delicacy in Europe.

http://www.foodreference.com/html/fchitterlings.html

Well, they also sold the world on the idea of eating snails and moldy cheese

mmm, mouldy cheese... never been much into the escargots (prefer oysters), but don't forget the truffles. The French eat truffles, too.

mmm, truffles...!

Too bad they make wretched coffee, though.

mnnn, foie gras, pate de cognac, pate de campagne, what do u mean overpriced, have any of you had true French Pate? I think not! How insulting.

Most pate sold in the US is just crap.

Make your own pate, it will taste much better! The basis is normally chicken or veal liver, animal fat and ground animal meat (pork and others). You can make it very tastin and interesting by combining wild game meat (such as deer), nuts and berries in your pate.
For example:
- rabbit, hazelnut, cranberries
- ostrich, pistachio, orange peels
- pork, duck, mushroom and sherry

Well that's the kind of pates we find in Montreal. They're locally made... no need to import from these French overcharging capitalists!!! And by the way, they export their worse products, and keep the best for themselves.

I kinda like pate... even though it's just liver, fat and ground meat!!! LOL

You don't see the Americans canning "chitterlings" and selling it as an expensive delicacy in Europe.
Well, I think you've found your niche right there. Surely you aren't saying the French are better at marketing than yous guys?!?

mmm, mouldy cheese... never been much into the escargots (prefer oysters), but don't forget the truffles. The French eat truffles, too.

mmm, truffles...!

Too bad they make wretched coffee, though.

Most frenchmen don't actually eat truffles, for the commoner it's a rare delicassy, since a good sized truffle usually goes for about 200 - 500 euros, unless it's high quality.

mmm, mouldy cheese... never been much into the escargots (prefer oysters), but don't forget the truffles. The French eat truffles, too.

mmm, truffles...!

Too bad they make wretched coffee, though.

You forgot cerveaux en beurre noir

Here's a reality check.

I went to France in 2000.
Most people live in big cities, shop in supermarkets and eat crap.
Some of their crap is better than our crap, but it's industrial crap anyway.
Their culinary traditions are going down the drain as fast as you can say "corporations"!

Only in the countryside do people eat nice food. Well I guess that anywhere in the world, if you have access to fresh, locally produced food, you can eat well. ;)

But in Spain... even in large cities, people seem to eat in a more healthy way. They make wonderful dry sausage, cured ham, paella rice, fried or roasted seafood, and an infinite number of different appetizers called "tapas".

After some googling, I found out that you are pretty much comparing this (http://www.gourmetfoodstore.com/foisgras/) to this (http://www.shipbrook.com/jeff/potted.html).

I have to say I find both rather unappealing. I have to saythough, I never had foie gras, but I've had my share of spam.

*Garcon! More frog legs, immédiatement!*

Well, I think you've found your niche right there. Surely you aren't saying the French are better at marketing than yous guys?!?

Obviously, anyone who can market rotten cheese, offal, and snails is pretty good at marketing.

Yes, the French "way of life" has declined into seedy consumerism, but that's not the image of France they peddle overseas...

We are all being told about things like the cuisine of Normandie, and we're getting a whiff of calvados...

Here's a reality check.

I went to France in 2000.
Most people live in big cities, shop in supermarkets and eat crap.
Some of their crap is better than our crap, but it's industrial crap anyway.
Their culinary traditions are going down the drain as fast as you can say "corporations"!

Only in the countryside do people eat nice food. Well I guess that anywhere in the world, if you have access to fresh, locally produced food, you can eat well. ;)

But in Spain... even in large cities, people seem to eat in a more healthy way. They make wonderful dry sausage, cured ham, paella rice, fried or roasted seafood, and an infinite number of different appetizers called "tapas".


tapas aren't apetizers their to be eaten with drinks during the siesta period in the summer when it is hot and their is little time for lunch.

And the food in the metropolises of France are fine compared to the crap sold in English and Americain cities.

I just want to know one thing. Was it the Russians or the French who first got the idea of selling fish eggs as a snack?

I just want to know one thing. Was it the Russians or the French who first got the idea of selling fish eggs as a snack?
Or maybe the hunter-gatherer tribes of old... the ones who propably discovered snails and other icky stuff too...

Or maybe the hunter-gatherer tribes of old... the ones who propably discovered snails and other icky stuff too...
Eating is one thing.

Marking it way up and convincing everyone else it's a good idea is something else.

Eating is one thing.

Marking it way up and convincing everyone else it's a good idea is something else.
Well, here it is mandatory stuff in every Russian restaurant's menu, so I say the Russians. Furthermore, the best caviar comes from 'Russian' areas, so that seems to strenghten the case...

'Fish eggs' are quite tasty too. I just can't wait for the Chinese to sell the fried crickets to us westerners (yeah, tried 'em once...interesting experience. On so many levels).

Well, here it is mandatory stuff in every Russian restaurant's menu, so I say the Russians. Furthermore, the best caviar comes from 'Russian' areas, so that seems to strenghten the case...

'Fish eggs' are quite tasty too. I just can't wait for the Chinese to sell the fried crickets to us westerners (yeah, tried 'em once...interesting experience. On so many levels).

I have to agree on the fish eggs (Russian and good to eat). However, they seem to have succeeded in marking up something that is sold for far less in other places.

tapas aren't apetizers their to be eaten with drinks during the siesta period in the summer when it is hot and their is little time for lunch.

You have the choice.
In Murcia we were eating tapas as a mid-afternoon snack.
In Barcelona, we were eating tapas as a full meal in the Barrio Gotico.

And the food in the metropolises of France are fine compared to the crap sold in English and Americain cities.
There is a lot of crap in the supermarkets. Fruit punch, instant rice, canned vegetables, burgers, cheap pasta, Danone yogurt with artificial colours, ...

Well that's what I have seen in Toulouse. Same thing in Zurich, Switzerland. They even sell a lot of depressing cold cuts and cheap cheese in grocery stores... where the heck is the fine food? Ahhh... it's in "fine food stores". Overpriced. So I guess ordinary people don't eat it much, right?

But I do agree that generally, fresh products are fine in France and Switzerland. Especially meat, cheese, dairies. Alas, as soon as you go to ordinary places where ordinary people live in cities, the crap ratio goes up quite fast.

However, they seem to have succeeded in marking up something that is sold for far less in other places.
Well of course. Finland, for instance, doesn't have a Caspian Sea (nor sturgeons, for that matter). It's easy to sell a 200 year old brand like 'caviar from the Caspian'. No need to worry for long though. The nations/people around the Caspian Sea will soon kill the last sturgeon. Then it's anybody's marketplace. What we have, is loads of very fresh fresh water (salty one too, if you like, but that's not a niche) and plenty of fish. I happen to think dem fish eggs don't have to be from a sturgeon... just add plenty of salt and tell people it is VERY hard to come by.

Eating is one thing.

Marking it way up and convincing everyone else it's a good idea is something else.
This has nothing to do with pate, but with the obsession over French things. Isn't evian water French? I suspect it is just soda water that is bottled up nice and pretty. Then sold to those of us that are just too unsuspecting and trusting to know any better.

This has nothing to do with pate, but with the obsession over French things. Isn't evian water French? I suspect it is just soda water that is bottled up nice and pretty. Then sold to those of us that are just too unsuspecting and trusting to know any better.

Actually Evian sells distilled water

Just take the bottle, hold it the label facing front, and take a look in a mirror.

Actually, they could sell the same thing in two different packets and charge more for one than for the other.
It's called price discrimination, and it minimises society's dead weight loss associated with market power.

Yes, these overpriced tins of pate
http://www.finestwine.com/english/foiegras.asp

are really:
http://www.shipbrook.com/jeff/graphics/potted1.jpg

Yes, I've deliberately served the potted meat product (remolded) as pate - and people who claim to have a discriminating palate had NO IDEA that they were eating potted meat product.

You can only blaim the US importer for that and it's stupid US clients since the brand is the brand of a US importer and not the one of a french exporter. Only a US southern snob can be so foolish to buy foie grass at 4 times the price :rolleyes: East coast guys know better :p But we all know your political extreme Fox agenda, busted btw :D :upyours:

bTW, the added wine "La Tour Carelot" does not evben exist in the Haut Médoc appelation. Even the 5th growth La Tour Carnet in Haut Médoc does not rach that price.

Nice try kiddo but your post is a lie or a hoax, some US extremists hate towards the uncencured free world is getting way out of the line. They are even catched daily with lies :D

You can only blaim the US importer for that and it's stupid US clients since the brand is the brand of a US importer and not the one of a french exporter. Only a US southern snob can be so foolish to buy foie grass at 4 times the price :rolleyes: East coast guys know better :p But we all know your political extreme Fox agenda, busted btw :D :upyours:

bTW, the added wine "La Tour Carelot" does not evben exist in the Haut Médoc appelation. Even the 5th growth La Tour Carnet in Haut Médoc does not rach that price.

Nice try kiddo but your post is a lie or a hoax, some US extremists hate towards the uncencured free world is getting way out of the line. They are even catched daily with lies :D
There is absolutely NO reason for you to take this thread as lightly as we all did!

Well, they also sold the world on the idea of eating snails and moldy cheese

Snails I'm not so sure about, but moldy cheese is great. Bleu Cheese anyone?

But in Spain... even in large cities, people seem to eat in a more healthy way. They make wonderful dry sausage, cured ham, paella rice, fried or roasted seafood, and an infinite number of different appetizers called "tapas".

Lived there for three years. Oh, how I long for Mr. Kikos roast chicken, or some great rabbit fried in olive oil and garlic, or ... (just gained 5 lbs) Great food.

[QUOTE=Bunnyducks'Fish eggs' are quite tasty too. I just can't wait for the Chinese to sell the fried crickets to us westerners (yeah, tried 'em once...interesting experience. On so many levels).[/QUOTE]

How about live rice bugs (baht bugs) in Thialand? Never knowingly ate any of them but caught a lot to give to the house girl.

Here's a reality check.

I went to France in 2000.
Most people live in big cities, shop in supermarkets and eat crap.
Some of their crap is better than our crap, but it's industrial crap anyway.
Their culinary traditions are going down the drain as fast as you can say "corporations"!

:large gasp: My French teacher, those textbooks, they've led me on! Va a la boulangerie my ass. ><"
And on the general subject of the strange things the French eat...they'd shoot me because I'm a vegetarian.

Food must be the best arbitrator in the world. i don't find you yanks as great assholes at all, as long as we are speking food (just kidding, btw).

"just kidding btw"

... so I find you great assholes...or not... quite a conundrum.

Bad quote. Good food. From Usa. Like the Roast salt chicken.

"just kidding btw"

... so I find you great assholes...or not... quite a conundrum.

Bad quote. Good food. From Usa. Like the Roast salt chicken.
Just so you can think we're as unsophisticated as hammers, I'll start in.

So what food is popular in Finland? That nasty herring stuff that's cured in lye? What's it called? Lutefisk? Or is that just a Norwegian delicacy?

Food must be the best arbitrator in the world. i don't find you yanks as great assholes at all, as long as we are speking food (just kidding, btw).

Food is much better than politics any day. Oh, don't forget the wine to go with the food.

Just so you can think we're as unsophisticated as hammers, I'll start in.

So what food is popular in Finland? That nasty herring stuff that's cured in lye? What's it called? Lutefisk? Or is that just a Norwegian delicacy?
I think lutefisk is Swedish dish... could be Norrsk too. Not too popular here. And before you even start, I'm the first to admit our food culture leaves room for improvement. But hey! That's why we let the other nations prosper (*we could have crushed them too, you know!*), give us snails!

So what food is popular in there
Oh, sorry, forgot that. Pizza, kebab, Chinese and Thai. The usual combo. :)

Oh, sorry, forgot that. Pizza, kebab, Chinese and Thai. The usual combo. :)

Hum... interesting, a Chinese and Thai pizza kebab is a popular food in Finland. :D

Don't throw pearls before swine. If you do, they eat them, then shit them out. The now worthless pearls take seed in the fecund condiotions of pig manure and grow up to Whispering Legs. Once released form captivity, they claim to show knowlewdge about things they've had no experience with.

You really have no clue what yopu're talking about do you? The difference between Spam and genuine Pate De Fois Gras is as great as the space between your ears.

Hum... interesting, a Chinese and Thai pizza kebab is a popular food in Finland. :D
After a few weeks of vegetarian pizza and chicken this and that during a trip to India, I was delighted to see a pizza parlor near the hotel in New Delhi. I went over for lunch and ordered a pepperoni pizza. That's just what it said on the menu. When the pizza showed up it was covered in crushed pepper. I asked the waiter what the heck this was and he told me, in that peculiar way Indians pronounce English words, that this was a pepper-on-a-pizza.

Oh well, I was in Paris the next day. No pizza there. Just some pate.

Hum... interesting, a Chinese and Thai pizza kebab is a popular food in Finland. :D
Yeah, well, half way from both foie gras and caviar as we are...

I don't want to gross you out with the local delicacies. Let's call it a night.

Well, I'm already sold on them (damn those French), but think about it.

You don't see the Americans canning "chitterlings" and selling it as an expensive delicacy in Europe.

http://www.foodreference.com/html/fchitterlings.html

No, but McDonald's and KFC are trying to take over the world. ;)

Don't throw pearls before swine. If you do, they eat them, then shit them out. The now worthless pearls take seed in the fecund condiotions of pig manure and grow up to Whispering Legs. Once released form captivity, they claim to show knowlewdge about things they've had no experience with.

You really have no clue what yopu're talking about do you? The difference between Spam and genuine Pate De Fois Gras is as great as the space between your ears.

I'm so glad that you still don't have a sense of humor like the rest of us... :rolleyes:

Don't throw pearls before swine. If you do, they eat them, then shit them out. The now worthless pearls take seed in the fecund condiotions of pig manure and grow up to Whispering Legs. Once released form captivity, they claim to show knowlewdge about things they've had no experience with.

You really have no clue what yopu're talking about do you? The difference between Spam and genuine Pate De Fois Gras is as great as the space between your ears.


How bitter. I never expected to see someone defending trash cuisine with such gusto.

It just goes to show that if you take any product and give it a French name, people will think it's some kind of delicacy (the French probably planned this in advance...)

How else do you think they managed to get people to eat snails?

How else do you think they managed to get people to eat snails?
What's wrong with snails?

I've eaten foods from all around the world. I've tried many, many things.
I'm well aware that things being described as "exquisite" usually indicate you're being ripped off.
I'm not impressed or attracted by miniscule servings of anything. Or anything where there is a larger quantity of sauce or spices than the featured item. There is no artful preparation or presentation that impresses me our clouds my better judgement.
Jacking up the price of an item doesnt trick me into a special feeling either.
I've enjoyed very cheap meals, prepared simply with fresh ingredients that far surpassed some of the fancy meals I've paid way too much for.

I've eaten foods from all around the world. I've tried many, many things.
I'm well aware that things being described as "exquisite" usually indicate you're being ripped off.
I'm not impressed or attracted by miniscule servings of anything. Or anything where there is a larger quantity of sauce or spices than the featured item. There is no artful preparation or presentation that impresses me our clouds my better judgement.
Jacking up the price of an item doesnt trick me into a special feeling either.
I've enjoyed very cheap meals, prepared simply with fresh ingredients that far surpassed some of the fancy meals I've paid way too much for.

well then, you've been eating at the wrong places

well then, you've been eating at the wrong places


Nope-I've eaten at some of the famous places that Zagats and food critics gush over . I just happen to prefer simpler fare.

Yes, I've deliberately served the potted meat product (remolded) as pate - and people who claim to have a discriminating palate had NO IDEA that they were eating potted meat product.

Maybe they were being polite. Or had never had a decent pate.

Anyway, you can't just lay this at the feet of the french. People have been serving up ground offal since forever. Be it the germans with their liverwurst, or the scots with haggis, the english with brawn, jews with chopped chicken liver.

About the only people I know who don't seem to eat lots of offal are asians. And who really knows what's in chinese "sausage".

(And it is possible to tell the difference between potted meat product and pate, unless the pate is really crap.)