ludja

Wow. Friends whose judgement I trust very well had a very good (in a solid comfort food type of way) if not amazing meal there about nine months ago. They consider returning to the restaurant, I think. I wonder if the restaurant is inconsistent or if the explanation is in the expectations, which I agree should be high given Tracy des Jardin's involvment and the prices. I'm going to check back with them this weekend re: their experience.

Thank you for sharing. This sounds great little ms foodie. A keeper sweet potato side dish recipe for me has been roasted sweet potatoes, split and topped with a compound butter made with black pepper, lemon zest and lemon juice and then a little brown sugar sprinkled over the top before glazing under the broiler. It's not too sweet and the the black pepper and lemon add a surprisingly great and slightly unique flavor.

I ended up being able to get some very clean white fatback and leaf lard from my German butcher. It cost $1.50/lb. I noticed that he was selling his chicken wings for $0.79 /lb and asked the owner why the pork fat cost twice the price. He said they actually don't get as much fat with the leaner pigs and that the fat is relatively precious for them in making their sausages. (makes sense). He said he also sells quite a bit of rendered lard (schmaltz). I wanted my own cracklings (grammeln) though, so that is one reason why I sought it out. I managed to horrify a another shopper there. She heard me speaking with the butcher and asked me afterwards "what" I was rendering. Her mouth gaped when I said 'pork fat'. With the good white fat, I got about 3 cups of white baking lard and 1 cup of cracklings from $2.6 lbs of starting material. edited to add: I'll need to try the pig skin from the Chinese market another time.

There is a lof ot information on quince cookery in this thread, inlcluding a link to an eCGI course on quince paste and other fall jams by jackal10.

I would have been surprised to hear of fresh lignonberries down there, but IKEA is a great idea. All the stores in the US have a small food section and they have various lignonberry products.

Coconut water (the liquid inside the coconut) or coconut milk would a good substitute. The latter is made by soaking fresh or dried (unsweetend) coconut with hot water and then pressing the liquid through cheesecloth. Lots of coconut cake recipes moisten the baked layers in this way. Coconut water does not have much flavor, maybe this could be doctored with a few drops of coconut extract and some suga syrup.. (I've not used coconut extract so I don't really know if the flavor would be good in this context). Other ideas would be a sugar syrup or one of the coconut liquids above scented with some rose or orange water. There are some old Southern recipes similar to this. Lastly you could use a citrus syrup (orange, lemon, lime, tangerine). These flavors go well with coconut. I'm almost set on making a fresh coconut cake for T-day. The recipe I'm eyeing has coconut milk in the batter. The layers are not soaked afterwards.

Not sure if you thought of this, but a similar item to look out for might be lignonberries which are related to cranberries but are grown in Northern Europe. If not fresh lignonberries, dried berries/compote/preserves might serve... The German name for these types of berries is "Preiselbeern". Good luck!

Hi Jesse A! I haven't tried this but Paula Wolfert just mentioned a very delicious recipe in her "Spotlight Conversation" that is going this week. Look here. The stuffing includes: wild mushrooms (preferably Cepes/Porcini), butter, proscuitto, walnuts, shallots, garlic, onions, white-meat sausage (i.e. veal or pork/veal), parsley, thyme, Cognac, white bread, milk and eggs. It is a French recipe from Auvergne. The recipe is in "Paula Wolfert's World of Food" which is unfortunately out of print but it should be availabe at some libraries. It is an involved recipe but does sound like one worthy of porcini! The recipe also includes a simpler, complementary stuffing to cook with roasted onions to be served alongside. I use regualr button or cremini mushrooms in my 'standard' sausage-mushroom stuffing described by me and othes above. I think the specialness of porcini would be lost in this context. (I really want to try the recipe above sometime though!)

Hello Paula. Thank you again for your generous replies to our questions. “Paula Wolfert’s World of Food” has come up a few times in people's questions and your answers and it has been one of my very favorite cookbooks for a long time. I realize that some of the recipes from Southwest France have been rightfully brought ‘home’ to be added into “The Cooking of Southwest France” but there are so many other interesting recipes in there from all over the Mediterranean.. I’m lucky to have a copy, but do you think there is any possibility it will be reprinted? I love the story behind the Walnut Roll and this dessert has also become one of my “go to” desserts; easy and delicious. You describe the recipe as bringing back memories of one of your first professional cooking experiences (a catering job for a fancy private dinner party for 150 people in CT). I always think of that story each time I make the cake!

Maple Bacon Cannolis Wrap bacon strips around cannoli forms and cook. (Deep or shallow fry? The trick would be to get the bacon to stay on the tube; maybe a little dab of flour paste or maybe just some paperclips?) Slide bacon off tubes and fill with a maple-ricotta cream. Bacon could be glazed with a brown sugar mixture; I'm not sure. Baked stuffed apples; use crumbled bacon, brown sugar, dried bread crumbs, butter and some spices as the filling. An apple-bacon charlotte. Glazed Indian pudding studded with cooked bacon bits Sweet raisin tamale with bacon and served with a cajeta sauce. A variation on the Indian Bread Pudding, Capirotada. (toasted bread, sugar, salt, cinnamon, raisins, cheddar cheese) -- add cooked bacon to it. Serve with some heavy cream or a caramel sauce. Somemores with a bacon layer (graham cracker, marshmellow, dark chocolate, bacon) (??? I'm not sure about this one; maybe the saltiness would be an interesting contrast.) Peanut Butter Chiffon Pie with a graham cracker-crumbled bacon crust. (I'm thinking Payday candiy bars here...) Crepes filled with candied pumpkin cubes, crumbled bacon and walnuts. Coffee ice craem sundaes with bittersweet choclate sauce and crumbled candied bacon Dark chocolate mocha truffles rolled in candied bacon crumbles or goat cheese-fig truffles rolled in the same. Pretty fun to think about, I wonder if any of these would actually be any good?

~ 454 g per lb so 200 g is ~ 7 oz. (If you don't feel comfortable w/the calculation there are many "online calculaters" for grams to ounces.) It is best to weigh out stuff like flour if the recipe is given by weight, but I did find an online site that estimated that 1 cup of All Purpose flour is about 4 oz. food weight volume conversion 7 oz would then be approximately 1 3/4 cups flour.

You need to set up an egullet pot luck! We've had a few killer potlucks out here in the SF area. But yeah, a general office potluck can be a mixed bag. That being said, at a former company I worked at the potlucks were quite good. We had a pretty diverse workforce and people would often bring homemade dishes from their own cultures or backgrounds.

Thank you for showing the two lovely examples of cheese, Chufi. I really like the Leiden cheese with Cumin. In fact wtih this reminder I may serve it before Thanksgving dinner... I've not had the "Friese nagelkaas", with cumin and/or cloves Does anyone know if this cheese is available in the US, and if so, how it would typically be named?

Three additional restaurant books: From Austin, Fonda San Miguel: Thirty Years of Food and Art, by Ravago, Gilliland and Wood This book also sound intriguing and there is an egullet discussion here. link From The Boulevard and Nancy Oakes in San Francisco: Boulevard: The Cookbook (Hardcover) by Nancy Oakes, Pamela Mazzola, Lisa Weiss link From Suzanne Goin at Lucques in LA Sunday Suppers at Lucques : Seasonal Recipes from Market to Table (Hardcover) by Suzanne Goin, Teri Gelber link Has anyone checked out the Lucques or Boulevard Book?

Thanks for the Nigel Slater recommendation, Richard_D. I've known of his cookbooks for awhile but have yet to check them out. Here are some other 2005 books: Giving Thanks : Thanksgiving Recipes and History, from Pilgrims to Pumpkin Pie (Hardcover) by Kathleen Curtin, Sandra L. Oliver Here's an egullet discussion. A new book by noted culinary author and egullet member, Clifford A. Wright (archestratus) Some Like It Hot: Spicy Favorites from the World's Hot Zones (Hardcover) link

Thank you very much Paula! I look forward to trying these and will let you know how it goes.

I would love to see you cook Italian. Since I'm planning a trip to your part of the world (not until next September - but hey, I like the planning part ) anything scenic is of interest to me. Bring on the Kitsap Peninsula! I would also love a cyberdinner, if it weren't for the fact that I'm having dinner with friends both on Tursday and Saturday. Maybe that's something we could do one day outside of BlogUniverse? ← I'm busy readying for Thanksgiving and also tyring tu make meals that free up more freezer and fridge space so cyber dinner would be tough for me to do now. Kitsap Peninsula would be interesting to see if it fits in your schedule...

I enjoyed the prologue to your section on the homey skillet desserts of southwest France in the cookbook. They remind me of the sweet omelets, crepes and pancakes of Austria, Hungary and Bohemia which constitute part of the category called “Mehlspeisen”,literally “dishes made with flour”, but which are also sweet and usually contain eggs and butter and are cooked on the stovetop. Mehlspeisen are sometimes eaten as a lighter meatless dinner or lunch. I’ve read that the penchant for sweet omelet type dishes in Austria and surrounding areas was actually strengthened by exchanges between French and Austrian cuisine in the early 18th century and later. Do you know if there are traditions in SW France of using these dishes for meatless meals during lean times or during Lenten fasting? Two dishes that you describe in that section also caught my eye. One is the ‘Pescajoun aux fruits’ which you describe as “crepe batter made with buckwheat and wheat flour and lightened with beaten egg whites, served with fresh diced fruits soaked in liqueur”. I’d like to try and recreate this and would be grateful to hear any other details you might recall regarding the types of fruit and liqueur typically used. I looked on the net a bit for pescajoun recipes but the ones I found do not use buckwheat flour although perhaps substituting half of the regular flour with buckwheat would work Also, are the fruits cooked into the batter or is the finished ‘crepe” rolled around the fruit? . The clafoutis variation with sugared pumpkin also sounds wonderful. As a starting point, would you recommend trying the recipe you give for Limousin cherry clafoutis and substituting in sugared cubes of pumpkin? Thank you very much for your comments. I realize that you might not have this information at your fingertips but thought I would ask in case you did. I really enjoy dishes like this for light dinners, perhaps just preceded by a soup and salad.

When Riley gets to 'pick' which food he likes at the store does he always pick the same kind? (I also wonder what type of breed or mix he is; he's beautiful!) Hope you're having a wonderful time at your dinner!

I was just happily perusing through Paula Wolferts newly reissued, "Cooking of Southwest France" and got reminded of a neat frozen bombe recipe. (This recipe is also in "Paula Wolfert's World of Food") It is from a famous chef (Michael Bras) from the region: "Lemon Meriingue Bombe with a Bitters Mousse and Black Currant Sauce". (I've always been intrigued with this recipe.)

Let me add my thanks also, Oli. I will try this recipe the next time I make a Dobos Torte. The cream is an interesting component. Growing up my Mom made a cake that used whipped cream rather than butter for the cake layers and that was truly deliciious.

What is snail porridge? I'm hoping it's not snails and farina or oatmeal... edited to add: I found this article on snail porridge in the Guardian here and found out it is a signature dish at Blumenthal's Fat Duck restaraunt. So I guess my question is ammended to whether this is a classic older dish he resurrected or updated or is it something he created? Thanks.

Thanks for moving the thread over to "Cooking", and nice to post Fifi's link for rendering lard. Yeah, this is my challenge as well which was why I was kind of excited to see the slabs of pigskin sans lean at the chinese market. I'm going to check back there and look at the skin more closely to see how much fat is on it and then also swing by my German butcher and see if I can cajole some pork fat out ot them. (I think they themselves use quite a bit of fat to make their own sausages). If I get the skin I may render some with and without the skin and make up some chicharrones.

Are sweet tamales part of the tradition as well? If so, what types?

Thank you, PPPans. It is good to know the difference in using higher or lower heat and also that I don't need to separate the skin from the fat. As I mentioned above, the fat I have usually rendered for lard has not included "skin" but rather fat more interiour to the pig. I have not salted fat prior to rendering in the past. I'm not sure if this is true or not, but I have heard that salting decreases the lifetime of the lard. Maybe what I see being sold is what is called fresh "fatback" in English: link The Filipino applications sound very nice, and interesting that lard influences there come from both Spain and Asia. I'm whipping up a batch of lard right now to use in pie crusts for the upcoming Thanksgiving holiday here. Lard was the frying/sauteeing medium of choice in our family while growing up due to my parent's Austrian background. (They now use it more sparingly). An Austrian sweet that is/was typically fried in lard are "krapfen" or light, yeast-raised donuts that are flavored with rum and lemon and showered w/powdered sugar. I love the slight counterpoint in taste of lard with certain sweet goods. I really want to make homemade cannolis so that I can have them fried in lard and then fill them with sheep's milk ricotta!