http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cgLmx_FcWPs

And the drink in the glass is vodka, not water! :) (seriously)

LH F is a very nice way to spend UA miles...

Commercial aircraft galleys don't use microwaves. There are ovens - real ovens.

But yes, you should have politely asked the FA to put it back in the oven a bit longer. It's not a big deal.

:) :)

It is indeed a pity she has her name on DL BE food. I've had brilliant meals at Azul, Michy's and Sra Martinez. When I used to fly Delta I was mystified at how her food could be so badly botched - but then I looked around and realized I was in an ancient DL BE cradle seat.

Had great western and Asian food on Singapore in business last week, and the week before. It can be done.

And for the caviar question, Cathay first has a smoked salmon and caviar cart, with a choice of vintage champagne or vodka. It does make the day go better.

Oh, you can get microwaves, special inductions ovens and all sorts of fancy stuff. DL is just too cheap to pay for it. I always have the FA on JL nuke my sushi for me.

There is IIRC one manafacturer that makes microwaves for airline use - but they are not really practical for any kind of significant volume, they are apparently insanely expensive, are only used by a handful of airlines (SQ, JL, Eva Air come to mind) on a limited number of aircraft, and are not used for mass meal cooking. It is a neat concept however, and I understand their use is quite a bit more widespread in Executive / Private Jet flying. It'd be nice to have something quickly "zapped" without it requiring a whole convection oven to heat up and cycle for 20 minutes.

I was part of the longhaul product design team for a major airline in a previous life, and there is indeed all sorts of fancy stuff.

The work however, to get a skillet pan apparatus designed for the J galley (fried eggs cooked to order anyone?) through the mountain of regulatory approvals was a Herculean effort. ;)

Sadly, I wouldn't plan on anything other than the bog standard convection ovens (or in-cart-type ovens) anytime soon for the major carriers.

The irony did not escape me :D

In France to get a medium done steak, you have to ask for it to be very well done. "A la Anglaise" they call it.

Thanks for the tip, but from now on I'll make sure to ask for my steak tartars WELL DONE thank you very much.

The only improvement that I think might be practical given the constraints of an airline would be to cook sous vide.

Which is actually very doable, and there is no risk of overcooking the foods (I think, TG in F still has a "personal chef/hire a chef" option with Tommy Tang's food, among which is duck cooked sous-vide, but probably on the ground and only finished in the air). Even though it is simple to implement, I suspect airlines would stay away from it because of the food safety issues -- easy to undercook (and also proteins need to be expertly seasoned to appeal to most palates at 30k feet).

I'm extremely surprised you were offered a Steak Tartare on AF! I've certainly never seen any and wouldn't have thought it was doable given French food safety regulations. Can I ask what it was offered at? Was it in J? One of the two starters on the mixed plate or one of the mains?? And yes of course, Steak tartare is raw so if it was only 'almost raw' then there was definitely something wrong! :)

This being said, I'd have happily swapped with you as every single time I have ordered steak on AF it was as vastly overcooked as it always is on BA, DL and the rest. The only people capable of doing my steak rare (which is already a bit more cooked than the extra rare that I like) are Korean Airlines bless them! ^

Terrible Business Elite Food
 

Can we see a change-up in the BusinessElite meal service. I've flow 5 trips this year and the food just keeps getting worse!

Any idea if any changes are coming? We should start a hashtag to fire Michelle Bernstein.