ludja

What about Schaller and Weber? (I've not had their goods but have known and read about them.) http://www.schallerweber.com/

We always make meringues each year at Christmas--not because they are low cal but b/c they are good. You can flavor them with lemon, lemon and almond, grated chocolate, grated chocolate and chopped hazelnuts, etc. The nuts will of course up the calories...

grapefruit supremes w/pomegranate seeds and campari apple pie cardamom buttermilk pie from Nov 2007 Saveur (this was very good; the sour cream makes it quite rich and the cardamom is an interesting twist on the usual nutmeg. I"ll make this again. I didn't try the all butter pie crust in the recipe and used my part lard/part butter recipe instead.) What did others end up making? Successes, failures?

So glad to hear that your dinner went swimmingly Verjuice! The menu looks incredible and it's neat that you used so many eGullet member's recipes! Your guests must have been blown away. I have a few questions after looking over your amazing menu: Any comments on the kabocha squash and sweet potatoe recipes? They look like an interesting way to add these items to the menu but without too much overt sweetness. (a good thing for me!) How is the goat cheese incorporated into the braised red cabbage recipe? Also any comments on the trockenbeerenauslese vinegar? Is it some type of special wine vinegar from Germany or Austria? Were you able to buy it here? Did you like the cider/calvados turkey and gravy from Saveur? I looked at that recipe for a long time but ended up going w/my tradtional prep. (As an aside, I made the cardamom buttermilk pie recipe from the same article and it was very good. I used my own pie crust recipe.)

Also, I use a ratio of 1:1 or 2:1 mayonnaise to unflavored yogurt for making tuna or egg salad. I also usually add chopped celery or carrots to the mix and lemon juice. Another great idea I got from someone on eGullet is to add cooked chickpeas to tuna salad--it "stretches" the calories and is a very nice tasting addition!

Thanks for posting this; I'd like to visit some of these cheesemakers during a visit home. Has anyone tasted any of these cheeses?

On a visit to Brittany I had sea snails for the first time that we picked with our host. I think these may have been bigorneau (sp?). I am not sure if these are the same as periwinkles.

Can you share details on this dish? It sounds like a more interesting option than my tact of adding sauteed mushrooms to the peas... Thanks in advance! (sorry you forgot to serve the dish!)

I forgot about the nutmeg-- just a hint!

My mom always has creamed onions for Thanksgiving and I've continued the tradition when I cook the dinner. Her standard version uses frozen or jarred onions which are just heat in cream, butter, salt and pepper with a little flour to thicken. I've made them with fresh pearl onions a few times and I do think it is worth the effort. You can peel the onions the day before. I may try the bechamel sauce and some of the other ideas here as well. We also have creamed onions with the rib roast and Yorkshire pudding on Christmas Day. The creamed onions would be missed in both meals by everyone in our family!

This was the classic "forgotton dish" in our family growing up. Hope you were still able to finish baking the rolls later!

It has been succeeded by the seared scallop?

A very popular appetizer in SF for the last few years is seared ahi tuna in many different guises. Has that also been the case in Montreal? Besides the great taste, both dishes have the advantage that you can use many different flavors and styles with them.

Here is a picture of a crockery pudding basin. No lid. To close it you put a couple of layers of parchment, a topping of tinfoil then you tie string under the rim. I've been thinking about those silicone straps you can buy for trussing roasts (I seem to recall that Marlene has some) and wondering if they could replace the string. ← Thank you. Does the pudding basin have any wholes on the bottom to aid in the steaming process or is it a solid piece? So when it is time to cook the pudding do you put the covered dish into a larger pot of simmering water? (Sorry for the elementary questions! I looked back at a couple of older eGullet threads on steamed puddings, including jackal10's wonderful course, but was not 100% clear on this...) I don't want to distract from the main cook-off topic so if I'm still confused I'll start a separate thread if you like!

Is it this dish with Kabocha and pine nuts? click (I searched "kabocha salad", all forums, poster = 'torakris' and report search 'as posts'.) It sounds tasty!

Can anyone give a brief overview of the type of dish needed to steam the puddings in? Do you need a special metal lidded steam pudding pan? Is this best? Are there substitutes? Thanks, uncertainty over the type of equipment needed to make a steamed pudding has kept me from trying one so far... Thanks in advance!

I also like the flavors and memories that go along with the meal very much--but also--just once a year for me!

On the other hand, you can get pretty good results on reheating mashed potatoes. The easiest way to avoid burning is to reheat them in a double boiler with some extra milk, butter, etc.

Sounds good; I'm looking forward to the complete index being made available. It would certainly help me to maintain my subscription as the lack of an index (either online or printed yearly in the Jan or Dec issue) has been a major drawback for me with respect to this magazine. ← Any update on providing an online index for locating recipes in back issues of Saveur? It is so frustrating to remember that there is a great recipe that one has seen or already made and not have an index to track the recipe down. Right now I'd like to repeat a carbonnade stew recipe I made awhile back but I have no idea how to find it again without skimming through years of issues...

I'm pretty sure the search engine doesn't handle three letter words like "gin". Besides the info you'll likely get in this thread though, you can search by the names of different gin brands in the body of the threads and then have the search report by thread. In this way you'll find many other interesting discussions on gin. Good luck on developing your taste for gin! It is fun to experiment with the different styles of gins in different cocktails and drinks.

yes, filled with whipped ceam, from rlb's templates in the cake bible. offscreen is a pitcher of chocolate rum sauce. i think chestnuts & rum is the most divine combination since pineapple & kirsch. ← Can you provide a little tutorial on your bavarian? I've tried it only once in my life and wasn't particularly pleased with my results. Not sure what I did wrong. ← I would enjoy this as well. I love making Kastanienreis (Mont Blanc) which I also flavor with rum so the flavors are similar to your bavarian. I'd love to get an idea on how to approach this even more elegant preparation and achieve similar flavors...

Here's another good thread started by Abra regarding an all chocolate Valentine's Day Dinner click

Three recent acquisitions for me: "The Classic Art of Viennese Pastry" by Christine Berl "The Baker's Dozen Cookbook" edited by Rick Rodgers and "The Lee Bros. Southern Cookbook" by Matt Lee and Ted Lee

Thanks for the clarification re: the location of the restaurants, julot-les-pinceaux... I missed seeing Saarbrucken in the original listing and certainly recognize Baden-Baden, Koeln, Frankfurt, etc. How interesting that Berlin has no two or three stars. edited to add: Thanks, ameiden, for posting the Michelin updates for Germany.

It's interesting that the restaurants appear to *not* be located in large ciites. I guess with Germany's smaller geographical size (with respect to the U.S.) fine dining need not be in large ciites as it typically is in the U.S. Are many of these restaurants part of a hotel or inn or are the restaurants close enough to large ciites to drive there and back for an evening dinner? Any comments on why none of the restaurants are located in large cities? (I guess there is one establishment mentioned on the outskirts of Frankfurt but the others are not located in whar are recognizalbly larger towns to me.) Does France have a larger proportion of its three star restaurants in larger ciites or is it similar to Germany in that respect? Thanks!