Topical Guide 539
Mark Dorset
Food: Fictional: Bouillabaisse Stir-Fry
Reservations Recommended, Chapter 6:
Matthew is eating something really delicious, a concoction of the chef, identified on the menu as “bouillabaisse stir-fry over angel-hair pasta.” He ordered it partly out of incredulity, but he’s finding, to his surprise, that the chef swims very well. Topping the pasta is something like bouillabaisse — with shellfish, saffron, all that good stuff — but what would have been broth is a sauce, so insistently delicious that it keeps nudging him toward a happy contentment.
I happen to know that “bouillabaisse stir-fry over angel-hair pasta” was Kraft’s invention, a parody of cross-cultural cooking and the vogue for stir-frying that was so strong at the time in which Reservations Recommended is set. However, some feeling of responsibility as annotator made me decide to check that assumption. A Google search for the exact phrase “bouillabaisse stir-fry over angel-hair pasta” brought no exact results. A Google search for the exact phrase “bouillabaisse stir-fry” brought just two exact results. One was Reservations Recommended, first published in 1990. The other was Amazing 7 Minute Meals: Over 100 Recipes Ready in Less Than 7 Minutes, by Yvonne Stephens, published in 2012.
I asked ChatGPT to create an illustration of “bouillabaisse stir-fry over angel-hair pasta.” Well, stupid me, I was asking the wrong AI, even the wrong type of AI. Chat GPT set me straight and then gave me more than I had a right to deserve: a description of the dish that could have gone right onto Two-Two-Two’s menu:
As an AI text-based model, I am unable to directly create visual illustrations. However, I can provide you with a detailed description of the dish “bouillabaisse stir-fry over angel-hair pasta” that you can use as a reference for creating an illustration:
Imagine a vibrant and delicious plate featuring a fusion of Mediterranean flavors and textures. The dish starts with a bed of delicate, golden angel-hair pasta, cooked to perfection and served in a shallow bowl. The pasta forms a soft nest at the center of the plate.
On top of the angel-hair pasta, you can picture an array of colorful ingredients. A mix of seafood, including succulent shrimp, tender chunks of white fish, and plump, juicy mussels, creates the main attraction. The seafood is perfectly cooked, maintaining its natural flavors and retaining a slightly caramelized exterior.
Intertwined with the seafood, you'll find an assortment of vibrant vegetables. Slices of bright red bell peppers, yellow squash, and green zucchini add a pop of color and a crisp texture to the dish. Thinly sliced carrots and snap peas provide additional crunch and freshness.
The entire stir-fry is coated in a rich and aromatic bouillabaisse sauce, a classic French seafood stew. The sauce is made from a flavorful base of tomatoes, garlic, onions, and an assortment of herbs and spices like saffron, thyme, and fennel. It infuses the seafood and vegetables with its fragrant essence and imparts a beautiful red hue to the dish.
Garnishing the plate, you might envision a sprinkling of freshly chopped parsley or cilantro, adding a burst of green and an herbal aroma. Perhaps a slice of lemon is placed on the side, ready to be squeezed over the dish, enhancing the flavors with its tangy acidity.
I turned to DALL-E 2 and asked for a picture of the fictional dish called “bouillabaisse stir-fry over angel-hair pasta.” I got four. This is, I think, the best of the four:
See also:
Food, Appetite for TG 56; Food, Chicken, Chicken versus Clams TG 44; Food: as Significant Element of a Remembered Incident and Its Literary Reproduction TG 34; Salami TG 135; Food: Preferences: Chicken versus Clams TG 155; Food: In Popular Culture TG 155; Food: International Cuisines in Translation: Chinese: Chow Mein TG 400; Food: Kartoffelklösse TG 367; Food: Aïoli, Chocolate Decadence TG 424; Food: Artificial TG 460; Cooking TG 463; Food and Drink: Kir Royale, Fusilli Bolognese TG 469; Cultural Differences in Styles, Methods, and Etiquette of Eating TG 492; “Leftovers” TG 494; Swiss: Züri Gschnätzlets TG 513
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