It's hot. I'm sticking to everything, and I don't mean that in a good way. It's August 1st. It's the dead of a New York Summer, and everyone looks like they've been punched in the head with 12 rounds of heat.
Broad-ish women, sit on the F train, wiping down their brows. Mad. And yet resigned. As if Summer were a big fiesty gorilla, with gloves. Punching them repeatedly, profoundly, with the slow smack of Summer heat—burnishing them right on their shiny kisser. (Who can actually talk in this heat?)
So David Chang launched a quarterly food magazine. Anyone who launches a magazine, right now, in this climate, in this world, should be sainted, receive a medal, or one thousand Hawaiian leis, or, (I don't know) a necklace made out of the meek sugary tears of shepherds who herd milk-fed baby yaks? I'm kidding... but only sort of. Bravo to a new food magazine. It's truly wonderful to hear of a new magazine launching!
It's on Ramen. The entire issue. Do you really need to read 174 pages just on Ramen? Possibly not, but to devote a whole magazine to one dish is really ballsy, because he then gets to cover the topic completely, from every single angle.
There is a quote in Lucky Peach, by David Chang that seems to sum up the philosophy of the magazine:
"One thing you need to understand about Japanese food culture is that you do one thing, in any given type of cuisine, and that's all you do. If you try and do anything else you're just a poser. Which is sometimes how I feel about myself"
I give him kudos; a new magazine; that aims to focus on just one thing. Go! David Chang!
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I love this chart, (p.136). It shows a "Sous vide adaptation" that Dave Arnold (Director of Technology at the French Culinary Institute, in NY) and others, assembled for their students at the school. (Being totally obsessed with runny eggs, this inspires me beyond belief).
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The photograph (above) is something I shot last weekend, it's not in the magazine. It's a picture of the Dip recipe that appears on p.78. That's where you use a packet of Ramen seasoning, and mix it into Sour Cream. Very much like the French Onion Soup Dip we scoffed as kids. (Delicious and addictive).
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To read more about Lucky Peach magazine, check here.
To find out where you can purchase the first issue of Lucky Peach, anywhere in the country; check here.
To know more about Chef David Chang, check here.