As the costs of dining out continue to give us pause, it’s worth reminding ourselves of the wonderful things that restaurants can do that we can’t.
Certain things should not be done at home. I’m not talking about naughty activities but nice ones, like cooking. Quite simply, some dishes are better outsourced. Crisp, flaky croissants. Peking duck. Charcuterie platters.
If you’re craving a little creamy, rich, chicken-liver parfait to spread on sourdough toast, for instance, consider this. You can make the toast at home in 25 seconds.
The chicken-liver parfait, however, will require sweating shallots and garlic, adding cognac and reducing by four-fifths. You then mix that with chicken livers and leave for 24 hours, then puree with eggs, salt, pepper and melted butter until smooth. Then you force the puree through a conical sieve into a terrine, cook it in a bain-marie until set and cool and refrigerate overnight. There’s more mucking around than that, but you get the picture.
It helps put the restaurant price into perspective, whether it’s $29 for duck liver and foie gras parfait with sauternes and rhubarb at Melbourne’s Reine & La Rue or $26 for Loulou Bistro’s chicken-liver parfait and brioche in Sydney.
If your barbecue is a bit dodgy or your kitchen smoke alarm is sensitive, then going out for your grilled steak and chips is a better bet than staying in.
Likewise, if you suffer from arthritis, you’ll happily order half a dozen oysters in a restaurant because you haven’t had to open them yourself.
And even if you adore cheffy desserts, you’re not going to make your own shortbread, passionfruit jelly, vanilla meringue, cultured cream and praline crumble and assemble it on a plate as if you’re Kandinsky. You’re just not.
It’s empowering to cook ambitiously and learn new skills, and there are so many things we cook at home that are better than their dining-out equivalents – including toast, at which we (mostly) excel.
But let’s not forget that chefs are trained professionals, with more particular skills, specific equipment and dedicated time than we have. Not only that, they provide an inviting environment in which to relax and enjoy the fruits of their labours.
As the costs of dining out continue to give us pause, it’s worth reminding ourselves of the wonderful things that restaurants can do that we can’t.
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Terry Durack is the chief restaurant critic for The Sydney Morning Herald and Good Food.
