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Deconstructed Food...or, Lazy Chefs

It seems that "deconstructing" a dish has become quite the popular trend.  Apparently this is meant to showcase each ingredient so it can shine on its own.  I was at one of my favorite restaurants recently and came across the following: Now, although the "deconstructed crab cakes" sound incredible, it occurred to me that it is pretty much the ingredients of a crab cake NOT made into a crab cake.  Even I can do that.  (probably not)

This culinary "style" was clearly created by a hungover chef with not enough energy to actually make the dish but enough energy to pull the ingredients out of the fridge.

I do respect, however, still having enough wit in his most-likely-cloudy-from-the-hangover head to scheme us into believing we are experiencing a whole new level of food awareness. Tricky bastard.

To drive the point home, let's take a look at something a little more difficult to make than a crab cake.  Beef Wellington.

A dish with beef tenderloin covered in a mushroom ragout, wrapped in a delicate puff pastry and baked to a flaky crisp. Or, "deconstructed", you get this...

A Filet Mignon with some chips on top. (This is an actual picture from Yelp of a restaurants version of a deconstructed Beef Wellington. Thank you, Yelp)

Don't get me wrong, I am all for a Filet Mignon and some chips. In fact, I think it looks more appetizing.  But don't half ass my meal and try to pass it off as a sensory experience.  Make me a damn Beef Wellington and for the love of all that is holy, stop coming in hungover.

Posted by Jennifer Weeks at 12:27 PM Labels: beef wellington, crab cake, deconstructed, food, jen eats food, jennifer behling, jennifer weeks

