Q&A with Lauraine-deer Jacobs - Food writer for The Listener
1. Recount your most forgettable dish or cooking moment
Scrubbing out pots when I have put beetroot or other slow cooking vegies on to simmer, forgotten to turn the gas flame down, and then have been distracted so that a hideous burning smell pervades the house. That’s my bête noire.
2. Your 3 favorite recording artists are….
Lisa Ekdahl, Laura Fygi, Dixie Chicks.
3. Name your ultimate car and denim brand
I loved my old Cayenne, but admit my Skoda Superb is really superb. As for denim? Blue?
4. What’s your favourite cut of meat (and why)
Rack of lamb (perfect for entertaining as it is so easy to cook quickly and get right).
5. Your best holiday destination ever was….? Because….?
Oaxaca in Mexico, because I went there with almost every Mexican food expert on the planet. Days of eating moles with Diana Kennedy, discovering huitlacoche and Mexican herbs and spices, being introduced to tequila by Mark Miller, the pervading smell of cooked masa harina and falling in love with the charm of the Mexicans. (The goat stomach filled with blood and cooked in a barbacoa was not great).
6. Confess your guiltiest indulgence
Vietnamese steamed buns made by Phuong Graham at the Matakana Market on Saturday mornings. Oh, and Dom Perignon.
7. What’s in your fridge NOW
Josh Emmet’s Spiced Roast Duck with Soy and Orange and some fresh Jerusalem artichokes I’m going to roast for the accompaniment for dinner tonight. Plus loads of greens vegies from the market this morning.
8. If you weren’t doing what you’re doing now you’d be….
Prime Minister.
9. Tell us what food or food media trend you despise the most
Garlic. Actually it doesn’t like me. And media trends I despise? This is not the place to list those.
10. Describe, in 140 characters or less, your favourite day-off diversion
Stuff’s Daily Quiz, the Herald’s Codecracker, Twitter, Facebook and sitting on the deck at Omaha in the sun – all at once. And News on TV7 at 8pm.
11. Who would you most like to dine with and why. Preferably pick a dead person. (We’re into resurrection).
Nora Ephron (alive) and MFK Fisher (dead.) There’s gotta be another movie script in that for Nora (she wrote and produced Julie & Julia and When Harry Met Sally.) But I hear Mary Frances was pretty grumpy towards the end of her life, and I really think she should have told her own daughter who the poor girl’s father was. That’s a mystery that will never be solved.
12. What is the most influential book you ever read
Poisonwood Bible as it made me understand Africa, and why I never want to go back there.
13. If you ruled the world, the first 3 things you would change/do would be….
i) Ensure everyone learned to cook as well as they could read.
ii) Ban smoking, margarine, lo-fat food and anything with artificial flavours added.
iii) I’m serious about this! Completely change the corporate structure so there was no 90 day reporting of profit AND growth and pass legislation so that CEOs came from a background gave them knowledge and understanding about how to manage people, not profits.
