Wednesday 1 February 2023

Nestle Toulouse

FRIENDS Series 7: Episode 3. The One with Phoebe's Cookies

As their engagement present, Monica asks Phoebe for her grandmother's secret chocolate chip cookie recipe.

Unfortunately, the recipe did not survive the fire in Phoebe's apartment. Instead, Phoebe gives Monica the last cookie from the last batch she made and froze.

Monica and Phoebe start by tasting small pieces of the last cookie to try and figure out the ingredients.

Joey returns home from his sailing lesson with Rachel and grabs the last morsel of the last cookie and eats it leaving behind a tiny crumb of Phoebe's grandmother's legacy.

Monica, Phoebe and Ross spend the next two days attempting to recreate the recipe and made at least 22 batches. They concluded that batch 17 tasted the best, but still doesn't quite taste like the cookies made by Phoebe's grandmother.

After exhausting all possible combinations, Monica gives up and asks Phoebe whether any other friends and family members would have the recipe.

Phoebe: Well, y’know I may have relatives in France who would know. My grandmother said she got the recipe from her grandmother, Nestle Toulouse.

Monica: What was her name?

Phoebe: Nestle Toulouse.

Monica: Nestle Tollhouse?!

Phoebe: Oh, you Americans always butcher the French language.

As it turns out, Monica had the recipe the whole time printed on the back of the packet of Nestle Tollhouse chocolate chip cookies in her kitchen.

Click here to watch the scene on YouTube.





Turns out, there is no nutmeg and no orange peel...



Chung King Forest

In the 1994 film 'Chung King Express / 重慶森林' (directed by Wong Kar-Wai), there is a scene in which Faye lets herself into Cop 663's apartment and removes the labels off his many cans of 'Fried Dace with salted black bean' (豆豉鯪魚) and replaces them with 'sardines in tomato sauce' labels.

Cop 663 returns home and is enjoying a meal of instant soup noodles and what he believes to be sardines in tomato sauce. He wonders if it's the change of season which has contributed towards his increased powers of observation.

In the original Cantonese, he says: "連茄汁沙甸魚都有豆豉味". In the English subtitles, this sentence is mistranslated as "even sardines taste different". The actual translation/meaning is: even sardines with tomato sauce have a black bean flavour.








To be continued...

Best Condiments

Salt: Cornish Sea Salt Flakes

Gochujang: (hot pepper paste): Daesang Sunchang

Chiu Chow Crispy Chilli Oil: Lee Kum Kee

Apple cider vinegar: Braggs

Kimchi: Jongga  

Mayonnaise: Any full fat version with 78% rapeseed oil

Jam: Wilkin & Sons Ltd Tiptree (Apricot, Black Cherry, Greengage)

Peanut butter: Whole Earth Crunchy

Cocoa and hazelnut spread: Islands Chocolate

Mustard: Maille (Dijon, Wholegrain)

Taiwanese soy sauce: Kim Ve Wong 

Chinese soy sauce: Pearl River Bridge Superior


* This list is not exhaustive *