Monday, September 03, 2007

Movie Review

Movie Review – Ratatouille

Ratatouille (Rat/a/Too/ee) is a vegetable stew that originated from Nice, France. The key ingredients are tomatoes, with garlic, onions, zucchini, eggplant and basil, all marinated lightly in olive oil. It is served as a meal on its own or as a filling for crepes or an omelette.

I must get this off my chest - Ratatouille is the best CGI animation movie involving a rodent. No disrespect to “An American Tail” and “Stuart Little” but I was charmed by Remy, the little chef. The setting is Paris, France where miles of sewer tunnels ran underneath a cosmopolitan city, a city of great culinary history and fine gourmet restaurants. However, the underground sewers gave birth to a huge rat population and this is where we have a rat that harbors a dream of becoming a Chef one day. Academy Award winning director Brad Bird [who brought you “The Incredibles”] of Pixar animation studios takes us on a culinary journey through the eyes and ears of a rat who finds his way into the famous Chef Auguste Gusteau’s French restaurant led by the ghost of the late chef when Remy got separated from the colony while on the run. I loved the scenes where we see Remy’s point-of-view manoeuvring through the maze of pipes, cracks and sewers. The great chef was famous for his motto of “Anyone can cook” but little does he knows a RAT would become a master chef. The opening was great, I was drawn immediately to Remy (voiced by Patton Oswalt), a suburban rat who enjoys gourmet food. His sense of taste are refined and impeccable, a connoisseur of food and its ingredients that made it so appealing. A nose for freshness resulted in a refusal to eat garbage but eventually, forced by his father to use Remy's gift as a "poison detector". A hidden desire to become a chef like his hero, Gusteau comes in the form of Linguini (Lou Romano), a newly hired garbage boy cum kitchen cleaner at a Gusteau’s Paris restaurant. He forms an unusual partnership with the Remy, working together in funny circumstances, hiding under Linguini's chef's hat. Soon, Remy started to create dishes of culinary delight by manipulating Linguini, like pulling strings on a puppet. His culinary adventure is lived through Linguini and as word of mouth spreads, Gusteau's Restaurant is the talk of Paris again. Skinner, the Head Chef is jealous of Linguini’s newfound fame tried his best to discredit him but was ousted from the restaurant when the truth surfaced, Linguini is Gusteau’s son. Linguini not only gets ownership of the restaurant and in the process, wins the heart of the only female chef Colette (Janeane Garofalo). Skinner vows revenge and rats to the health department on the rodent infestation at Gusteau’s.
The real test comes when France’s most feared food critic Anton Ego (Peter O'Toole) decided to revisit Gusteau's having earlier given the restaurant a death sentence [review] that caused the death of a broken hearted Chef. When Linguini comes clean on the secret of his success and reveal the origins of his remarkable talent, the entire kitchen and waiting staff walked out on him. Faced with a disaster, Remy took over the reins of the kitchen with the help of his rat colony and dished out his version of the Ratatouille [vegetable stew] to the absolute surprise and utter delight of Ego. The scenes in the kitchen were extensively researched by the team of animators who spend time at “The French Laundry” [The French-based Michelin Guide bestowed “Three Stars” to The French Laundry] helmed by famous Executive Chef, Thomas Keller who served as a consultant for the movie. Everything you see in the movie mimics a professional kitchen/ restaurant setup, down to the recipes, ingredients and terms used are real, to its very last detail. The animators got all the cutting, chopping, knife work, ingredient preparation, cooking sequence, various cooking stations and kitchen equipments as close to reality as possible, making the action in "Ratatouille" truly exceptional.
There are times that even I, forgot that Remy is a rat! The seemingly conflict is between rats and humans, but in fact, members of each species get to learn a little about the other, in terms of racism and tolerance. To quote from Anton Ego: "Not everyone can be a great artist, but a great artist can come from anywhere." "Ratatouille" is very entertaining from start to finish and heart-warming in the closing moments, suitable for both the young and the old. A totally delightful meal, five out of five!
Extra: The various titles used in a professional kitchen of a French restaurant.

Executive Chef - In charge of everything related to the kitchen, including menu creation, staff management and business aspects. While the position requires extensive cooking experience and often involves actively cooking, it is not necessarily very hands-on. They can also be referred to as the "chef" or even "head chef".
Chef de Cuisine - This is a synonym for the title executive chef. This is the traditional French phrase where the title chef comes from and is more common in European or American kitchens with a classical French brigade system. In some establishments this title is used to designate a chef who is the head chef at one location of an operation that has multiple locations where the corporate chef has the title executive chef.
Sous Chef - The direct assistant of the executive chef and is second in command. He or she may be responsible for scheduling, filling in for the executive chef when he is off-duty. He or she also will fill in or assist the chef de partie (or line cooks) when needed. Smaller operations may not have a sous chef, while larger operations may have multiple.
Expediter or Announcer (Aboyeur) - The expediter takes the orders from the dining room and relays them to the stations in the kitchen. This person also often puts the finishing touches on the dish before it goes to the dining room. In some operations this task may be done by either the executive chef or the sous chef.
Chef de Partie - A chef de partie, also known as a "station chef" or "line cook", is in charge of a particular area of production. In large kitchens, each station chef might have several cooks and/or assistants. In most kitchens however, the station chef is the only worker in that department. Line cooks are often divided into a hierarchy of their own, starting with "First Cook", then "Second Cook", and so on as needed.
Station Chef titles which are part of the brigade system includes -
1. Sauté Chef (Saucier) - Responsible for all sautéed items and their sauce. This is usually the highest position of all the stations.
2. Fish Chef (Poissonier) - Prepares fish dishes and often does all fish butchering as well as appropriate sauce. This station may be combined with the saucier position.
3. Roast Chef (Rotisseur) - Prepares roasted and braised meats and their appropriate sauce.
4. Grill Chef (Grillardin) - Prepares all grilled foods, this position may be combined with the rotisseur.
5. Fry Chef (Friturier) - Prepares all fried items, position may be combined with the rotisseur position.
6. Vegetable Chef (Entremetier) - Prepares hot appetizers and often prepares the soups, vegetables, pastas and starches. In a full brigade system a potager would prepare soups and a legumier would prepare vegetables.
7. Roundsman (Tournant) - Also referred to as a swing cook, fills in as needed on station in kitchen.
8. Cold-Foods Chef (Garde Manger) - May also be referred to as the pantry chef, they are responsible for preparing cold foods, including salads, cold appetizers, pâtés and other charcuterie items.
9. Butcher (Boucher) - Butchers meats, poultry and sometimes fish. May also be responsible for breading meats and fish.
10. Pastry Chef (Pâtissier) - Prepare baked goods, pastries and desserts. The pastry chef often supervises a separate team in their own kitchen or separate shop in larger operations. Some kitchens may have an executive pastry chef.


[Source of Extra: Wikipedia.org]

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