@@EthanChlebowski I always liked the show Chopped, but I wanted it with a little more basic ingredients. I understand part of the difficulty was "Here's a weird/rare/strong tasting thing, now make it work!" But actually cooking with a regular human's pantry appeals to me more
@@matthewnelson5293 Whenever my wife and I don’t want to go to the grocery store but don’t have ingredients for a “normal” meal, we raid the pantry/fridge/freezer and call it “playing Chopped”.
This is the actual "reality" cooking show I've been wanting. It's a regular person making regular food with typical ingredients. I will definitely keep the sauce in mind for later. I have a lot of foods I can't eat, but that's something I think I can customize to my specifications. Also, this was great video to have going while I worked on a knitting project. Thank you!
It would be nice to see all the regular food that France is overflowing with rather than this quasi-American BS. Totally lost respect for Ethan over the course of this trip.
@@noktilux4052 I mean, as a Frenchman, Tacos are regular food. Just like Galettes or Croque Madame. That's the kind of food we eat regularly, not the fancy cooking you will see in Michelin starred restaurants
@@sailingsinbad7899 I feel a bit silly writing to a Frenchman about this, but surely there is more to your food tradition than Michelin restaurants. I am thinking of all the diverse regional traditions. The cheeses, breads, wines, for a start, if we want to stay simple. People eat all kinds of garbage regularly in the USA and that's not what I expect a cook/chef to teach me how to make.
@@noktilux4052 sure, but nobody eats the big and fancy dishes on the regular. If I am hosting family on Christmas? Then yeah I will whip up the Dutch oven for a beef bourguignon. During the year on a regular basis? Hell no, nice galettes, salads and grilled sandwiches are much more representative of the regular French diet than the complex traditional dishes that take ages to prepare.
@@sailingsinbad7899 Is buying cheese, bread and wine a big and fancy thing? That's what I wrote about in my last message, explicitly contrasting it to the the Michelin restaurant fare you brought up.
O'tacos is pretty average and depends on location, quality varies widely between locations and sadly the all around quality has gone down over the last few years. What you made is miles ahead of any fast food Tacos, but it's missing the ingredient that makes french tacos, french tacos, the weird sauce as you described in the video is the "sauce fromagère" aka cheese sauce, which is essentially macaroni and cheese sauce. Without the cheese sauce it's not really a French tacos, it's more of a grilled wrap with fries in it.
@@masterducasse06 when I said macaroni and cheese sauce (sauce made with American cheese) I was thinking of the fast food version, but if you were making it at home mornay's sauce would definitely be the way to go.
I actually like seeing the minor mistakes when you cook live. That helps me to know that it's normal to have things not go perfectly when cooking, and learn what an experienced cook will do to handle the slip-ups. It doesn't make me feel less confident in you, it makes me feel better about my own skills!
Me too. Nearly every time I cook, I make some sort of mistake or miscalculation. Tonight's: combining two pastas to use them up and adding the one with the longest cooking time last instead of first. 😅
For the *sauce algérienne* you can add garlic powder and something like diced onion or shallot to take it to another level (a lil bit of honey and ginger powder for a bitter sweet take) 😊
The fact you made your own O'Tacos and Algerian sauce is very much a testament to your commitment to immersion in French food culture. This Parisian tips his hat to you
@@Sniperboy5551I want to open a faux authentic quick service French restaurant in NYC called “Baguette About It!”. My plan is to become so successful that my chain becomes synonymous with the culture of the city. New York. The Big Apple. The Subway. Central Park. The Statue of Liberty. Baguette About It. The Yankees.
For those interested in learning of this French taco place: - O'Tacos is a French fast food chain founded in 2007. Headquartered in Montrouge near Paris, O'Tacos has restaurants all over France and has also expanded internationally: it is found in various cities of Belgium, Germany, Algiers in Algeria, Marrakesh and Agadir in Morocco, and Utrecht in the Netherlands. The chain specializes in "French tacos", a fast food dish that consists of a flour tortilla wrap with French fries, meat and cheese. - In 2007, Patrick Pelonero, Sliman Traoré, Samba Traoré and Sauroutou Diarra opened their first "French tacos" restaurant in Grenoble, in the Rhône-Alpes region where this French twist on a Mexican dish was pioneered. What are French tacos: - A French tacos[note 1] (French: tacos français [takos fʁɑ̃sɛ] or simply tacos[note 2]) also known as Lyon tacos (French: tacos lyonnais [takos ljɔnɛ]) or matelas[1] (French for "mattress") is a fast food dish which usually consists of a flour tortilla grilled and folded around a filling of French fries, cheese, and meat, among other deli ingredients. More similar to a burrito than to a taco, and claiming inspiration from Mexican cuisine, it originated from the region of Rhône-Alpes in France in the early 2000s, before becoming popular among teenagers and young adults in all of France and abroad. - Despite the name, the French tacos has little to do with tacos and is more similar to a burrito or quesadilla. French tacos have also been compared to the panini and the döner kebab sandwich, and is similar to the California burrito.
Great reply. I also know them as Lyon tacos but the MENA area influence is so obvious. Always a quick meal and everyone can change it to their likings/nutrition. I love to dip them in a birria consomme or flavourful tomato sugo 🙈😆
O'tacos quality tends to vary from acceptable to ew depending on the restaurant. So might as well hit a random kebab and ask for a "tacos" unless you've heard good review about the one you're going to
Isk if this is a thing, but I feel that europeans (both british isles and continental) put more fries in their sandwiches then americans. I like almost never see that here besides as a novelty. Something about the potato carbs inside of bread is weird to me. though I guess its not too different from using left over stuffing in sandwiches.
I think it's important to understand that fast food un general is badly viewed by a part of the french population. Specially kebabs and French Tacos (which are kind of a variationof the former). That and the fact that is something we eat mostly when we are out late at night when we are either very hungry and/or very drunk. That explains for me all the answers that you got. Honestly, it's just fast food, the younger generation seems to love it.
@@ericktellez7632 It's just inspired by burritos, no need to look too deep into it. Nobody associates French Tacos with Mexico, you are safe and everybody knows that your tacos are completely different
The reason there aren't any greens on the menu is that it's *supposed* to be dense af. There's a reason people sometimes call it a mattress or a brick. Also, tacos are typically more a lunch option, when you're on your lunch break from work or school, where you can't really cook instead. You get some otacos and then slump on your desk for the rest of the day. Good times!
I have been to Morocco twice where French Tacos are popular, and I have to say I love them, even from the chain stores. I have also made them myself, and I agree they are better homemade, but sometimes you can't compete with the convenience and price from the chains. In Morocco from Tacos de Lyon you can get 2 tacos, fries and soft drinks delivered for $7. Or going to a random food place I've see tacos and fries, for as little as $1.50, but generally in the $2.50-$3.50 range.
Nothing is perfect and when you show the "mistakes" that happen along the way it's much more relatable and in the end it's learning for yourself and the viewers as well. I really liked this style of video from you.
It's amazing to see how far this channel has come. I saw your channel in a comment on Pro Home Cooks almost 3 years ago and subbed when you had around 1k subs. It's a million now, time goes fast. Congrats man, you deserve it!
Hey man! American living here in Spain for around 7 years. I heard you mention the tortilla selection being bare in France. You should find cuisine specific stores that sell stuff like that. I bought my corn tortillas the other day at Latina/ African mini market. Same with things like garam masala, won’t find it in Carrefour but if you go to the shops in neighborhood with immigrants from those areas, you’ll find it. Been watching your videos for a while now and you’ve given me and my girlfriend so many great recipes. One of the best has been your halal kart kebab plate! Straight 🔥🔥
Mache is is called Feldsalat in Germany and is pretty popular in the fall or winter. Try to make a joghurt based dressing with fried onions and Speck, bacon works too. Pour your dressing into fried ingredients so it gets a little bit warm. Croutons on top are also great but not necessary. It's the best salat in my opinion for the colder season. Eventhough it's hot you should try it out at least once.
It apperently is also known as cornsalad or lamb's lettuce in english (at least that's what Wikipedia says), maybe you can find that stuff somewhere in the US or UK.
Traditionally it is a salad you are supposed to eat after it was freezing once, to make it even softer. Pretty sure it exists also in the northern parts of the US…
i love the live cooking format ethan, you should consider making more. definitley very different from what most cooking youtubers are doing today, could definitley help you stand out.
Most of the systems I use for cooking at home come from the videos I see, just having unfrozen meat out of the freezer a few days in advance or having some diced up scallions just make me want to cook more often, makes my life easier and helps at home with my work schedule.
That grilling instead of shallow frying really high lights the benefits of home cooking over going to a fast food resturant: you are not limited on as short a list of things, just your ingrediants and imagination.
Hey Ethan, Since you are using "mache" or we call it Semiz otu in Turkey, I suggest you to try a very well known Turkish salad recipe out of it. Since you love greens, I think you will like this salad recipe. It is hard to find mache in the states but because you found one, I wanted to share my favorite all time salad recipe with you. There are two versions of it, one with yogurt and one without and they are both super simple. Yogurt version: Mix yogurt, garlic, salt, olive oil to make a sauce and toss the mache in it. Plain version: Mix mache, tomatoes, cucumbers and onions with olive oil and salt. Add olives and feta cheese if you like. Hope you will like it! Enjoy.
In Switzerland we call this Nüssli-Salat. That basically translates to Nut-Salad. It is so awesome how different cultures use the same things in different recipes. In Switzerland we tippically would eat this salad with some hard-boiled eggs, some crispy bacon and what we call french Sauce.
You've left out the ingredient that really makes a French tacos a French tacos, and that is the sauce fromagère, basically a béchamel with molten emmenthaler or comté, which ofc replaces the grated comté. also, yeah, litteraly zero fresh ingredients in French tacos, sometimes feels like eating concrete honestly.
The good part about the french taco is that you can mix multiple meats together in the same taco like breaded chicken, sausage and grounded beaf. Also the cheese is not put just like this, it is melted in a cheese sauce that match well with the algerian sauce. Great video but this time I don't think it's the same food.
The greens look a lot like something we call lambs lettuce in the UK, your description of its flavour matches up too. I also buy it a lot. Edit: Just looked it up. It is in fact the same thing
In my city there is this place called French Tacos & Burgers, with a stunningly identical meny graphic. They too don't offer any fresh components by default, but for an extra charge you can get a modest addition of pico de gallo or roasted peppers. It's expensive as all hell, but it tastes great
Yeah highly interested in a leftover ingredients video. As someone who watches and follows lots of recipe videos, I always have a very clear plan in the kitchen, and I don't feel super confident improvising with random ingredients. But that's a great skill to have!
As someone living in France, I'm sorry you had to experience French Tacos... It's great as a hangover cure, absorbing all the alcohol in your system at 2 in the morning. Nothing beats Mexican tacos, burritos and cuisine in general. It's too bad it's not so common to find some spicy (hot) food in France I think it's much more fun to try to recreate a kebab or better yet Big Fernand if you're looking for other fast food joints.
@@noktilux4052 This is kind of the pilot for the international content for sure it was going to lack so much until they figure out the process to its most efficiency, plus this is in fact exploration on culinary things plus is not the obvious, I would never know French people ate this, but it makes sense even more sense as a hungover food, I mean you can live in France and not eat exclusively french style food everyday, I wonder what they like besides their own.
@@jamesnikki5 Oh come on. He's been in France for weeks and this is really the best he can come up with? Maybe he can mention silly stuff like this fast/junk food as anecdote, but it's absurd as principal content of a video.
"See how much you could save on car insurance with Geico." Ethan, I'm gonna level with you. I think everyone in the world has the line "15 minutes could save you 50% or more on car insurance" memorized.
We had a delivery Otacos in our city for like a couple of months, a German chain (Nordsee) that is owned by the same guys that own Otaco made some. While certainly excessive, especially if you order the variants where there is just all kinds of fried food in there, they are super fun. My buddy and I were super sad to see it isnt available anymore. This is great motivation, Ill try to recreate them as soon as possible! Oh and the only thing I think was missing in the video was browning the sides after assembly.
I love the addition of the on-screen informational text added during dead screen time. Such a simple and subtle way to enhance the quality and educational density of the video.
As a "Bordelais" myself it feels weird to see my city represented in one of your videos. I hope you enjoyed your stay and you tried other things than o'tacos ! (bordeaux has a lot of wonderful restaurants, and the wine is really good and very cheap (especially in grocery stores)) By the way the best tacos is "cordon bleu" nuggets tenders sauce blanche/algérienne dont at me
OMG! Finally, French Tacos! I have been waiting to see a good video on these since discovering them in Morocco several years ago. Thank you Ethan! You come through again.
Mache is lamb's lettuce. It's part of the Honeysuckle family of greens. It's actually rather common but invasive on the Eastern and Western Seaboards (otherwise known as escaped cultivation).
In Germany we call this salad Feldsalat ("Field salat") and we love it especially in fall and winter because it's (unlike other salat greens) quite hardy and cold resistent.
I've seen the sauce called "Andalouse" (which is in Spain, it seems it's supposed to broadly be "Moorish" cuisine inspired) too. It's usually mayo-based and some combination of onion, garlic (fresh if you're lucky, but usually the powders or the pre-minced stuff that's just The Worst), ketchup/tomato paste, some sort of hot chili paste and (only if you're very lucky) some herbs and spices. It's popular in fastfood joints (particularly in urban areas with lots of muslim immigrants) in Belgium, the Netherlands and France, but seems to have little basis in the actual North African fastfood scene (where you get garlic yoghurt/mayo and some form of hot sauce, like with shoarma) beyond kinda having the same flavour profile.
Anything that interests you Ethan, we will enjoy because it’s your passion and approach that keeps us coming back. Also, I can definitely tell y’all are brothers with you simultaneously take those monster bites lol
I love this live uncut cooking you're doing. It's fun seeing the full process rather than quick cuts. Sometimes when you watch other cooking videos it almost makes you feel a little inferior when you try to replicate the process. You show that it does take time and nothing is perfect. Love this.
Have you tried merguez yet? It's a maghrebi sausage made out of beef or mutton and I'm pretty sure it's popular in France. All I know is it's delicious
As a french dude, I'bve been craving real mexican food for years, but can't find any because as soon as you search anything tacos related you end up o nthis type of thing. Sigh. Good video as always tho, keep up the good work
I feel like you took notice of my carbonara comment when you included the spicy recipe in that video. You're doing amazing, entertaining, smooth and easy work for anyone to enjoy and learn from. Keep it up, don't worry too much and experiment way more! Best of luck, much love ✨
dude... I love your stuff and I get your audience is mostly people from the US, but you're in the country with arguably the most influential cuisine in the world... and there's a reason why you went there! I want to see your take on Coq au vin, filet mignon, escargot, chicken cordon bleu, french onion soup, the baked goods..... the list is endless
So basically French Tacos came to answer the need for a fat and unhealthy meal (being unhealthy kinda is in the marketing), because more and more fast food went for healthier items, menus etc. There was this kinda hypocritical feeling created by fast food giants (McDonalds, BurgerKing...) where you went for a fast food to blast your guts with fat, fried stuff but you were faced with "healthier appearing burgers etc". French Tacos focus on customers who know they are going to destroy their guts with the meal and are looking for it.
Yeah that's basically right. Most people that eat them are either younger men in lycée/ university, or drunk/stoned people. I would never eat a tacos sober, but have definitely eaten them after a few pintes. Although, to be honest, they really aren't great when drunk, especially if your stomach isn't feeling so great from the alcohol...
I think it’s more than that because sandwich grec already filled that niche. I think it’s about a new generation needing their own drunk food. I think older folks like me mostly stick with the grec.
@@SunnyCarnaval I am still skeptical that French tacos are a success because un grec is too healthy :) . And any place you get a grec you specify what you want on it, (complet is the the standard) like at O’Tacos so lettuce or tomatoes are frequently not put on depending on customer choice. You can also pick your meat (chicken, hamburger, falafel, etc), cheese or not, sauce, fries in the sandwich. I think o tacos doesn’t have tomatoes or lettuce not because it’s too healthy, but because it doesn’t do well when grilled. As an example, if panini have lettuce or tomatoes, they are added after grilling the sandwich. Also, o’tacos does have poivronnade, a veggie which does well when heated.
@@marmotsongs I believe grecs are meant to be a balanced meal, typically for a construction worker etc, who doesn't want to bring his own meal. All these infos come from documentaries I believe, I kinda just transmitted the information, but I can totally see how kebab and such filled this need.
In Switzerland they call them Swiss tacos. It’s the same thing when I came back to the states raving about them people just couldn’t comprehend how delicious and cheap they were
I would've toast the finished tortilla on a little bit of olive oil to finish it off. Another crispy layer, its delicious and it wont fall apart. I will try this combination, if I find Harissa somewhere in Czechia :) Thanks Ethan
Harissa could be subsituted by any other chilli sauce , I also like to add paprika in my Algerian sauce and parsley and instead of ketchup I put tomato paste
You literally killed me when you complained about the lack of fresh greens (lettuce) etc. or tomatoes!!!! I with my family have been here (France) since 2020 and are always bewildered constantly when we order burgers etc. and they have NO, ZERO lettuce, tomatoes or pickles and sometimes no sauce and dry as hell! Glad to know we aren't the only ones asking this question! 🤣
Glad you said it's a French take and a burrito. I grew up with Mexican food (sonoran) but my Dad is Scotts/German and I accept their foods without changing them to what I'm used to.
@@EkimGram I'll be in Belgium again soon for a day, I will avoid O Tacos (used to be in Belgium quite often when I lived in The Netherlands, but since I moved to Asia, its kinda out of the way)
Congratulations on the Geico sponsorship! It's been so awesome to witness your growth from a few thousand followers to 1 million. Your content is so refreshing, accessible, mature, concise, well executed, and straight up entertaining. Keep crushing it :)
Funny how in France it's genuinely difficult to find a single half-decent fast food store. Genuinely wish we had more legit burger or fried chicken joints or whatever else you guys have going on your side of the Atlantic. But I guess what we lack in burgers we make up in croissants and pastries so I can't complain that much
Fried chicken is one of the good fast foods. Burgers are hit or miss depending on the brand. Shake shack is the best in my opinion (although there is no shake shacks where I live, I’ve been to some locations). The better one here is Wendy’s they use locally produced meat and has better flavor than McD’s and BK.
A cool video series could be if you would stop over at a friend's house and make them dinner with whatever they had in the house. No pre planning or anything. A realistic version of "I have nothing in the house, what can I make"
I like the demonstration of cooking time vs the time to go get fast food. I would love to see your take on whipping up a quick meal for 4 or 5 people. It is definitely more difficult to cook for a family, of whom eat A LOT than to whip up something for one or two people. How do you scale up the principles you use?
Actualy,. it is not,... making meal for two takes less time, but not that much. You just need bigger pan,.. actualy making bigger meals makes seasonning whole lot of easier,... its way easier to oversalt 1l soup, than 10l. also whit more peaple to cook for, more peaple to lent the hand to help....
@@ericktellez7632 No, not really. There are very very very few Latin Americans here at all. I have to import ingredients from an e-shop in the Netherlands, and even that is pretty scarce. It's a bummer.
Can you put together a list for dishes people for people with RA or Rheumatoid arthritis can eat? My brother has it. It's hard for him to go out and eat. Really love your channel it's my goto when looking up a recipe.
I can follow a recipe, am even 'loose' with things like spices etc. But this kind of video inspires because you show us we can do better than the lowest common denominator for the same or even less effort and get a better meal out of it. Best of all, you show what matters, where you can deviate and how. And of course it taste like *I* want it to, not what a 100 million others think it should taste, blended and pureed and then served to us.
Really nice to have another perspective on my countries' worst food ! :D I believe there's more to the algerian sauce, like red bell pepper. Might be worth the research.
If you've been to Spain (and if you haven't wtf are you waiting for) the patatas bravas sauce is so good. It's not ketchup and mayo though, it's some sort of rue mixed with paprika/pimento or such, can't remember exactly. The Germans also have currywurst, and the sauces would be delicious for this French taco!
I have seen a few of your videos lately and got inspired, today's work-at-home lunch was stir fried beef with garlic and ginger, 40 minutes for a meal that honestly was on par with a decent Asian lunch restaurant (except much more garlic and ginger than I would ever get going out). Thanks for reigniting my interest in cooking.
One of my favourite cooking stories is when I wanted to do a complex Australian BBQ sauce with some 15 ingredients, and realized I had all of them at home already.
Here in Germany we call those greens feldsalat - "field salad". I eat probably kilos of it a week. Going to have my first harvest of it from the garden in a couple of weeks and I can't wait. 😀
when I make salads with the petite tomatoes, I use a serrated knife and cut it crosswise and thin to get tomato ring looking things and they have a nice skin to insides ratio
I love cooking with leftovers. Yes to that series! Wasting food is a habit we need to break and perhaps folks need some encouragement to make use of leftovers. Especially with the cost of food going up!
hey ethan, can u explain why dont wash your greens when taking them out of the bag? also raw garlic into hot oil for longer than 30 sec? youre a ballsy man
I never thought I would see an American cooking youtuber make a video about French tacos one day, that's amazing. Tacos really are THE hungover/drunk in the middle of the night food, along with doner kebabs in France, I'm so glad you made this video
There's this fast food chain here in Canada called Mont Tacos that sells these and I was under the impression that it was a bit unfortunate that a place has Tacos in it's name does not have tacos in the menu. Good to know that what they meant was this thing. Still, like your French subscribers, I don't like these. I've had the Algerian sauce from 2 fast food places and have never liked them because they were too sweet. I will try your recipe though...I don't want to make a judgement on a sauce based on just a few bad experiences.
Your videos are an absolute game changer! Could you please do a video showing like, cooking with pre-prepped leftovers? So if you were to cook up a big batch of chicken breasts, vegetables or anything on a Monday, show how you would actually use those throughout the week?
Ironically, croissant is also a cultural appropriation that was inspired by an Austrian pastry, although not made with the same dough. Cultural appropriation is not only very common in food, but also very old.
If you ever need 4 flour tortillas. 80g - Flour (AP or Bread): 6g Salt: 4g Sugar: 7g neutral oil: 40g HOT water. Mix in that order, but make sure the oil is fully dispersed before adding water. Rest for 30 mins before dividing and rolling out on a floured surface before cooking for a 30 seconds to a minute per side on a ripping hot cast iron.
WELL, Ethan, I must say I am a bit disappointed. I am a New Yorker living in Paris for 7 years. I was quite excited to see what you would get out of your 3 months in France, especially your time in Paris. It is, after all, a food capital and the root of classic western cooking. So, after 3 months, we have 2 videos specific to the cuisine here: crepe (which, makes sense) and... FAST FOOD TACOS? Really? No one I know over 20 eats these. There are so many food treasures here; so much exciting and interesting food. Perhaps the language got in your way. I was just hoping for so much more here. For others not familiar with French food, this is not it.
Mache is called Lamb's Lettuce in English and Canónigos in Spanish. Try making a salad with it and some apple, smoked salmon and a simple vinaigrette, it's delicious! Greetings from Barcelona!
NO FUCKING WAY Ethan is doing a french tacos lmao edit : oh god you used fresh veggies 2nd edit : only one type of meat is actually pretty depressing, you're supposed to throw in cordon bleu, nuggets, beef or even merguez for the full experience :') also you forgot about the cheese sauce, an essential part of the tacos
Frenchie here (late to the party). I've never had this from O'Tacos BUT there's plenty of döner kebab shops that make these and you'll get the typical döner kebab veggies in your french taco. So lettuce, onion, tomato, sometimes others (shredded cabbage, shredded carrot, peppers... depends on the shop). Also in France/Belgium/now western Europe in general we have plenty of variations of these so-called "cocktail sauces" (don't ask me why they're called that) that are essentially some form of mayo + tomato + spicy thing but in kebab shops you're *usually* better off with the traditional yogurt-based sauce they put into döner kebabs (tzatziki adjacent stuff). It's kinda like kebab meets american fastfood inside a tortilla, the ultimate greasy fusion cuisine delight.
This is probably gonna get buried, but for anyone wondering, sauce algérienne as it's known today became popular in Belgian fast food joints, based on mayo+harissa+onion. Similar Belgian fast food sauces include sauce samouraï (mayo+ketchup+harissa or sambal oelek), and sauce Andalouse (mayo, tomato, peppers, aromatics and hot pepper). In case you haven't noticed, they really like their spiced up mayo. Oh and what Ethan made is a hybrid between samouraï and algérienne.
It would be very interesting if you gave us short daily insights on how you're using leftovers, or maybe a compilation of what you did throughout the week
Here in Saxony, "Mache" is a very well known salad green named "Rapunzeln", because it is said that the girl Rapunzel from the fairy tale was kidnapped by a witch and Rapunzels mother craved the Rapunzeln from the garden of the witch while she was pregnant, so her husband stole some for her and the witch took the daughter as revange. Very tasty salad, though :D
a leftover video or series of videos would be fantastic! one thing i’m learning a lot from your videos is how to use things lying around to improvise in cooking rather than always having the ideal ingredients
One of my fav parts of cooking is that exactly - having a completely empty fridge before I hit the grocery store again (minus the condiments and drinks haha).
Honestly, you burning the garlic is just real life. As a (retired) pro cook, I believe Julia Child’s philosophy, no matter what happens in the kitchen, present the dish as the best thing ever 😉