ludja

Nice idea, but I'm leaning more towards a 'Nutellato'- milkier w/ hazelnut paste. And definitely made by Haagen Daz. Most importantly, though, my 'Nutellato' would have no affiliation with the Winter Olympics for fear that it might be discontinued once the Olympics were over. This stuff better be around forever. ← Name change ok, but don't take away my dark chocolate! The flavor I'm thinking of is closer to an Italian Baci truffle rather than Nutella. ← A Baci truffle, huh? Hmmm... I like Baci truffles, but I much more partial to the smoother (and milkier) Godiva open oyster. I guess I could probably survive with a dark chocolate hazelnut ice cream as long as the hazelnuts were completely pulverized. The smallest piece of disernable hazelnut and I'd be out of there But, hey, if there's a market for Baci truffles AND Godiva open oysters, then a I'm sure there'd be a market for a milk AND a dark chocolate hazelnut ice cream. I can picture it now, the two flavors on the shelf, co-existing in harmony ← Sounds good to me... I just finished a box of Baci chocolates so the flavor is really in my mind. I agree wth you about the texture though, even for the dark chocolate version I would like it smooth using hazelnut paste rather than chopped nuts. (in case reps from Haagen Daz or Ben and Jerry's are reading this thread and care... )

Has anyone given the Baumkuchen a try yet? The photo is so beautiful and her description of the cake sounds very nice. I'm also interested in anyone's additional comments with another year gone by. I have the book out of the library and am looking ti over trying to decide whether to buy it or not.

Thank you for the information, helou. The pistachio semolina cake (karabij halab ) sounds really delicious. Saracasm on the thread is less tasty and more disappointingly, not enlightening.

I'm with you on this. I always love good peppermint ice cream, and as you say, no chocolate or artificial, gooey swirls of something red or green... Nice idea, but I'm leaning more towards a 'Nutellato'- milkier w/ hazelnut paste. And definitely made by Haagen Daz. Most importantly, though, my 'Nutellato' would have no affiliation with the Winter Olympics for fear that it might be discontinued once the Olympics were over. This stuff better be around forever. ← Name change ok, but don't take away my dark chocolate! The flavor I'm thinking of is closer to an Italian Baci truffle rather than Nutella. Another dark chocolate flavor I'd like to see: Smooth dark chocolate and orange studded with cacao nibs. Good butterscotch or dark caramel ice cream with chocolate nibs. (Dr Bob's handcrafted ice cream has some cacao nib ice creams and they are great.) I like the almond and cherry ideas... toasted almond with cherries. (no chocolate, please, for this version) A smooth key lime ice cream. A Meyer lemon ice cream. It would be great to have the scent of Meyer Lemons just a purchasable carton away, anywhere in the US... Like others, I would be really psyched to see variious high quality tea ice creams offered by HD or B&J's as well. Early Grey, Green Tea, Thai Ice Tea, etc. Most of these are more along the Haagen Daz style but the Toasted Almond and Cherry could be a Ben and Jerry's candidate.

This reminds me of an old TV commercial for some frozen breakfast "strudel" pastries that you were to heat and serve. They had some German/Austrian character who expresses disbelief at the concept and says, "Schhhrttoodel?? Zum Toasten???" We and my Austrian Mom would just crack up at that. It was the equivalent of the "Shake and Bake" commercial where the two kids say, "And, weeh hayelped!"...

Add a little fresh thyme and lemon juice to the roasted red peppers If good melon is hard to come by right now, you could also serve the serrano ham with persimmon slices/wedges Also: anchovy stuffed olives lemon garlic olives salted, toasted almonds (make yourself; they taste great) Mussels in vinaigrette

Thank you for the links and information, Hiro. I also started looking at the egullet thread on wagashi.

Isnt there some sort of dark hot chocolate drink in Torino with a shot of espresso in it? I thought they showed it in some of the clips on NBC. ← Yes, it's called an " il bicerin" and has layers of espresso, dark chocolate and frothed cream. Using dark chocolate might make a distinctive mocha ice cream... (Description and recipe on David Lebovitz' site: Il Bicerin) (cross post with Jason)

Chestnut ice cream with dark chocolate swirls or chips Torino Winter Olympic Giandujotto: Dark Chocolate and ground, roasted Hazelnuts Toasted Almond (hmmm. the almond macaroons and cherries sounds nice as well) edited to add: I wish Haagen Daz would bring back the Margarita Sorbet and maybe also create a Mojito Sorbet while they're at it... )

If you go to the end of entry, there is a live link called a "permalink" which should always bring you back to the given article. Here is the permalink for the nice resource you pointed out on Lebovitz's site: click

If you're not too shy to post a photo, it would be interesting to see what this looks like... I'm intrigued by Abra's hearty endorsement above.

I grew up with typical Austrian strudels, but a many of the ideas above sound very good! The two savory types my Mom makes are potato strudel and cabbage strudel. We eat them as a main course, a soup before, a salad with. We usually add some dollops of sour cream before rolling them up. If there are some grammeln (cracklings) to be had a few of those will go in as well. It's difficult for me to choose between the two; they are both so good. For sweet strudels we make apple or Topfen (Quark or Farmer's cheese). I love the apple but am a sucker for the Topfen. The end product is reminiscent but different from a blintz, which I also love. We always make the dough. My grandmother and Mom can make it in their sleep. I have made it a few times completely on my own, many times helping my Mom. This thread is a good kick in the pants to make some myself again to make sure I can still do it. Plus it would be fun to try some non-traditional fillings as well. My dining room table is not really big enough (even with the leaf added in) but I should give a try again anyway! Thanks for the walnut strudel recipe, Swisskaese. I love that filling and have had it in other baked goods like "Nussenkipfel" (nut crescents) or in yeast-based strudel dough but I can tell it would be great here as well. For this type of filling (ground walnuts cooked in milk and sugar with lemon) it can also be nice to add some rum for additional flavoring. The pear and ginger strudel sounds so good; I've made a good pear and ginger pie and the flavors are really exceptional.

This bean dish sounds very good although I'm not sure if they would work into your final meal you're planning right now. chocolate calypso beans The beans are in a mole type sauce. I think they would be great with some simply grilled meat or as a filling for vegetarian burrittos. It seems like one could also convert this recipe to a bean dip (for an appetizer) or into a bean soup, as well.

I'm a big fan of RanchoGordo's beans (and corn tortillas!) as well. Another very good online source that carries a wide selection of beans (and also grains) is Phipp's Country Store. They are located in Pescardero in the Santa Cruz Mountains south of SF; it's a fun place to visit if you are in the area. Many of the beans they sell are grown right there at the ranch.

Good point, for certain applications, one might want fatback specifically. One example would be it use in lining a terrine. A German butcher/deli and some Chinese markets in my area sell fatback.

Sausage casings aren't too heavy, but I wonder if you still might have some luck finding the fat locally to avoid shipping. Do you have any markets/grocery stores that cater to ethnic groups that might use pork fat on a regular basis? Any hispanic or asian markets, german or polish butchers? For instance, out here, the easiest general supermarket for me to find pork fat in is at the "least' upscale one. I also happen to have options at other ethnic butchers or markets, but I know that it is still possible to get pork fat at some supermarkets if you ask. The latter option might requre some arrangement ahead of time with the market butchers. I wonder if Whole Foods will ever get enough requests to add it to their stock or at least make it available upon request.

I agree; I had a very nice meal there about a month ago. The menu is quite extensive and the ambience in the restaurant is elegant and comfortable. They also offer wine. I can't remember all that we ate, but there was a very good Aushak (sic) as one of the appetizers, spiced and slightly sweet pumpkin as a sidedish and I had a flavorful lamb stew. They have a sister restaurant by the same name in San Francisco which is also very good.

Thanks Suzisushi. Fascinating to know about the Portuguese connection that far back. I knew the Portuguese "got around" back then but I didn't know about their intersection with Japan. Thanks also for the tidbit on Portuguese pastry producer in Hawaii and Japan. Any further comments from anyone on when and how Pierre Herme-style (high end French) pastries and their variants took off in Japan?

Great thread everyone; I really appreciate the contributions so far. Not to take the thread too far off the course of comparing and contrasting French and Japanese pastries, but when did French or western-style pastries and the variants thereof start making their appearance in Japan? I would guess that it would be sometime after WWII. Are there any particular events or influences that can be pointed to as starting the trend in Japan? When and how did it reallly take off?

Informative and interesting posts, thanks all. I'd just add as an aside that for some additional information on the adaptation of Scottish, and also in general, British, baking in the US South, "Biscuits, Spoonbread and Sweet Potato Pie" by Bill Neal may be an interesting book to look at. I've cooked alot out of the book and have mentioned it many times on egullet, but for this thread I'd point out that in this scholarly work he documents many Southern baking recipes with Scottish and English roots. There is a chapter on "From our British Heritage" which has sub-groupings like Manchets, Cracknels and Southern Baps, Bannocks Crumpets. Rusks and Scones. In general, many of the traditional recipes were "enriched" in various ways sometime after their migration to the South. Often in the recipes he discusses the similarities and differences between the versions of the item in both places and over time. He does mention one book that was used a source for some of the recipes, "Scottish Cookery" (Andre Deutsch, 1956).

Sounds like pretty good news, as far as I can tell. For posterity, if article access changes:

So cool, sazji! Congratulations on your progress and thanks for taking the time to document and post your adventures. It puts me to shame that I haven't practiced using my pasta machine enough to guarantee sucess there yet... And yes; for me too, it is always a thrill when I've mastered some new technique in the kitchen.

The sponge is one I often make, the curd is Delia Smiths recipe. I just thought of combining them, and adding the mix of mascarpone and joghurt, and the raspberries (a layer of raspberry preserve between the cakes and fresh berries on top). I think this would also be great with strawberries! ← Looks and sounds just great! I've noted this combination down in my "cake idea" file. I should call it "Chufi's Lemon Raspberry Cream Cake"...

A beautiful meal, annecros; my mouth is watering and it is a very nice tribute. I need an occasion with more people to make this big cake, but I found a link to "Esther's Orange Marmalade Cake" on line that has been on my serious to-bake list. It's from Lewis' and Scott's joint cookbook Esther's Orange Marmalade Cake (may need free subscription to Atlanta Journal Constitution) It's a 3 layer buttermilk cake flavored with orange zest and peel. The cake layers are moistened with an orange syrup, filled with orange marmalade and covered with a whipped cream/sour cream frosting.

As an outsider to this thread, I was still interested to hear more about the vinegar. Can you shed more light on this, Nicolai, regarding the type of vinegar and also, if the use of it in this dish is relatively unique to Egypt or other areas? As an aside, I'm somewhat surprised at the turn this thread quickly took. It initiallly seemed like people were offering their best faith information and educated guesses based on their experience and background. It didn't seem like anyone was claiming to be an expert on Eygptian cuisine. Further, it's great and should only be a win-win situation when someone else has more first hand knowledge or experience to share in a particular area or cuisine. I think contributions of this kind are warmly welcomed by all here.