French chef Michel Guérard invented a "Confit Bayaldi" as early as 1976, replacing ratatouille's traditional rough-cut vegetables with thinly sliced rounds.
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Invention of the dish
The name is a play on the Turkish dish, "Imam bayildi", which is more of a stuffed eggplant.[1][2] The dish has appeared sporadically on menus in France and the United States ever since.
American celebrity chef Thomas Keller first wrote about a dish he called "byaldi" in his 1999 cookbook, The French Laundry Cookbook.[3] Beginning in mid-2000, he served as food consultant to the Pixar film, Ratatouille, allowing its producer, Brad Lewis, to intern for two days in the kitchen of his restaurant, French Laundry. Lewis asked Keller how he would cook ratatouille if the most famous food critic in the world were to visit his restaurant.[1] Keller decided he would fan the vegetables in a high sculptural form with a palette knife.[4] The dish became the focus of the climactic scene in the film, and its depiction was so appealing that Keller exclaimed that watching it made him hungry.[citation needed]
Preparation and serving
A pipérade is made of peeled, finely chopped, and reduced bell peppers, yellow onions, tomatoes, garlic, and herbs. The piperade is spread thin in a baking tray or casserole dish, then layered on top with evenly-sized thinly-sliced rounds of zucchini, yellow squash, Japanese eggplant, and roma tomatoes, covered in parchment paper, then baked slowly for several hours to steam the vegetables. The parchment is removed so that the vegetables may be roasted. To serve, the piperade is formed into a small mound, and the rounds arranged in a fanned-out pattern to cover the piperade base. A balsamic vinaigrette is drizzled on the plate, which may be garnished.[4][5]
Despite the delicate preparation and presentation, like most ratatouilles, confit biyaldi improves with age overnight in the refrigerator.[6] Some cooks, however, tend to think of the delicate vegetables involved in confit biyaldi as at their peak after their steaming, roasting and immediate presentation. The melding of flavors after overnight refrigeration tends to destroy the individual character of the ingredients.
References
- ^ a b Stacy Finz (2007-06-28). "Bay Area flavors food tale: For its new film 'Ratatouille,' Pixar explored our obsession with cuisine". San Francisco Chronicle. http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2007/06/28/MNGGIQNA7M1.DTL.
- ^ Robin Garr (2007-06-19). "Wine Advisor FoodLetter: Rat-atouille". Wine lovers page. http://www.wineloverspage.com/wineadvisor2/food/tsfl20070719.php. Retrieved on 2007-08-05.
- ^ Thomas Keller (1999). "The French Laundry Cookbook". Artisan; 2 edition (November 1, 1999). http://www.frenchlaundry.com/store/cookbook.htm. Retrieved on 2007-08-11.
- ^ a b Kim Severenson (2007-06-27). "A rat with chef's credentials". the New York Times. http://www.austin360.com/food_drink/content/food_drink/stories/2007/06/0627ratatouille.html. Retrieved on 2007-08-05.
- ^ Gay Lyons. "Ratatouille, for real". Metro Pulse. http://www.metropulse.com/articles/2007/17_31/kitchen.html. Retrieved on 2007-08-05.
- ^ The French Laundry Cookbook, page 178.
External links
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