Diners at Benu, the widely celebrated fine-dining restaurant inSan Francisco, are confronted with a polarizing first course:half of a preserved quail egg, in which the firm white is actually translucent brown, and the pudding-like yolk is a greenish-black. It's Benu's take on the thousand-year-old eggfor millions of people across Asia, a classic comfort food.
For any food that comes from a particular culture, so much of what determines if its comforting or not is your experience and reference point for that dish, says Corey Lee, Benus chef.
Even people who are familiar with the eggs intense smell of ammoniawhich Lees Benu cookbook promises gives way to a deep savoriness when eaten are given a new experience by the fact that its made from a quail egg. Our collective sense of comfort food has quickly evolved in recent years.
At no other point in history has our sense of com-fort been more global than it is today, says Lee, whose restau-rant has the highest possible Michelin ranking3 stars.
Comfort foods are redefining fine dining, a departure from the more traditional model that relies on the chefs purchasing power and ability to gather the most luxurious ingredients, Lee suggests:
Its being able to enjoy something youve had before but in a new context, and that makes you feel appreciation for your own cultures cuisine or the flavors you grew up with, he says. Theres a lot of value in that.
Lee, 40, who grew up with Korean food, finds comfort in rice and intensely flavored preserved vegetables. Thats the basis of Korean cuisine, he says. You spend a lot of time making a batch of kimchi, or fermenting vegetables. At mealtime, you serve a big bowl of rice, and then you have a huge spread of different dishes. The chef says that he appreciates all the different ways of enjoy-ing rice, including Chinese-style fried rice, congee (a type of rice porridge popular in East Asian countries), and Italian-style risotto.Guests at Benu have said the marinated mussels stuffed with noo-dles are quite comforting. Served without the shells, the mussels make for a visually striking presentation, with stripes made from egg whites, carrots, cucumbers, and braised kombu seaweed. Youre experiencing something youve had a thousand times, in the simplest, most humble way, but in a way that you dont associate with a gastronomic experience, Lee says
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