Palladion

The scale bit is from 目盛り付, which Google translates as "with scale." But 目盛り can also mean gradations or measurements, so this probably means that there are some measurements on the ladle, so you can see how much liquid is in the ladle. But yeah, definitely frustrating! ------- Alex Parker

I completely agree. I've glanced through Essentials of Cooking a few time, but Cooking is far more comprehensive. I'm with Maggie: I think it's the best general-purpose cookbook around.

I made the Riviera from the Desserts book for a friend's birthday party. I don't have a picture, but the cake mostly turned out great. I didn't have a problem with the mouse (which was utterly delicious) or the lemon cream (which I've made before). One of the people that tried the cake said "Wow. It has something like 13 different flavors!" I did have a problem with the thin flourless chocolate cake layers. The first time I made a batch, I burned the bottoms of the layers. The second time, I used two baking sheets for extra insulation on the bottom. That turned out much better, but I still had problems removing the layers from the parchment paper without breaking them. With one of the layers I experimented by spraying the parchment with baking spray first; that seemed to aid in the release. I think the parchment + spray + double baking pans + added time in the oven seemed to give me the most success, but it still wasn't perfect. Anyone have any tips on those layers? I notice that they're completely absent from the chocolate desserts book...

I hope I can make it. I'll be working in San Francisco next summer, and I'm still unsure how my schedule's going to work out, but I'm definitely going to try my darnedest to get back to Chicago for the Gathering. Sounds like it might end up being a mega-event. ------- Alex Parker

A few people asked for the recipe for the fruit and basmati rice salad that I made on Saturday. It's Pierre Herme / Dorie Greenspan's recipe (from Desserts by Piere Herme), slightly modified. It has three components: Syrup: 1-1/2 cups water 1/2 cup sugar zest of 1/3 orange and 1/3 lime 3 1/3 inch thick rounds of ginger 1 vanilla bean, split and scraped 1/3 cup + 1 tablespoon apricot nectar 3 tablespoons freshly squeezed lemon juice 3 fresh basil leaves Combine all ingredients except basil in a pan and boil. Remove from heat. Add basil. Steep 30 minutes. Strain. Chill. Rice: 1 cup basmati rice 4-3/4 cups water 2-1/2 T sugar 1/2 t salt Wash the rice. Bring other ingredients to a boil. Add rice. Add rice, simmer for 10-13 minutes until the rice is nicely cooked. Drain and rinse with cold water. Drain well. Chill. Fruit: 4 cups of assorted fresh fruit, cut in chunks aprox. 1/4 inch on a side. Mix together and chill. Assembly: Juice of 1 lemon 2 T sugar Freshly ground pepper 4 basil leaves, chiffonade Mix rice in with fruit. Start out with 3/4, then gradually add in more if you feel you need it. I prefer the rice accent the fruit than for them to share equal billing. Your own tastes, of course, dictate. Add the syrup, and the above ingredients. Serve immediately and enjoy.

Oh, ok. So the blade is only three inches long. When I read your original post, I also thought that you were talking about a knife with a blade 6 inches long. I think Japanese petty knives tend to be a little longer than Western paring knives, say, 4.5 to 5.5 inches or so.

Ah, I see. My recollection was that the shop I went to had a wide range of knives, from specialty custom knives (including custom Kappabashi-branded knives) to all or most of the major Japanese brands, including Misono, Global, Masamoto, and the like. Heck, they even carried Henckels and Wustoff. But yes, Japanese knives can be more expensive than Western knives -- they tend to use better, harder steel. Also, Henckels and Wustoff have created lower-priced lines of knives which aren't necessarily up to the same quality as their normal product lines. I don't remember if the shop carried mid-price Japanese knives, though (say, under ￥6000 for a gyutou). For those knives, a department store might be a better option. ←

Really? I thought that the knife stores in Kappabashi offered a discount off of retail price. Kappabashi has a couple of specialty knife stores, though they're off one of the side streets -- they're not on the main street. My favorite was Union Commerce. It's not a large shop, but it's full of knives, and almost all of them are sitting there where you can pick them up and see how they feel in your hand (or at least that's how the shop was set up when I was there from 2003-2005). I'd likely return there if I wanted to buy another knife in Japan. Admittedly, I didn't look at any of the knife displays in the large department stores. Those might be a better option if you don't speak Japanese. At the time, I didn't know all that much about Japanese knives, their uses, or how they differ from Western knives. I recommend learning all of this, so that you can appreciate the differences between the various knives that you'll see. Korin is a good place to start, if you don't already know a lot about Japanese knives. There are also numerous threads here on eGullet. Alex

Thanks! I must have washed my hands 50 times on Saturday. I'd touch food, so I'd have to wash my hands before touching my camera, then because I touched my camera, I'd have to wash my hands before touching any food.

The watermelon salad was fun, and it was really simple. Steven (Fat Guy) and I originally whipped up a vinaigrette of 1:1 olive oil and balsamic. We added it to the watermelon and stirred. The vast quantity of watermelon that we had swallowed all the vinaigrette without blinking. Steven noticed that there was a lot watermelon liquid at the bottom of the mixing bowl. We dumped the liquid out, as it was overpowering all of the balsamic we were adding. This time, we added just balsamic, omitting the olive oil. We wanted to cut through the strong, sweet watermelon flavor. Mixed again. Added more sea salt, lots of black pepper and scallions. More seasoning (we had a lot of watermelon). Things that would have made it better: smaller batches. The mass quantity of watermelon was probably squeezing the watermelon at the bottom of the bowl, extracting more watermelon juice, which was diluting the balsamic. Fat Guy though about reducing the watermelon juice and balsamic and adding both to the watermelon. Sounds good to me, though I'd be careful of using too much watermelon juice -- we needed a lot of additional flavor and acidity from the vinegar to cut through all of the watermelon's sugar. It's definitely something I want to play around with. Edit: Also, stir the watermelon with your hands to avoid denting the crisp edges and to avoid (again) squeezing out more watermelon juice.

I made it back to Chicago safe and sound. And still full. I couldn't believe the sheer amount of wonderful food that Dominic put out for the group -- I didn't manage to eat any, except for a bowl of blue egg-yolk gelato, but I was very envious of the people that managed to eat and take home leftovers. Here are the highlights of the pictures I took during the festivities on Saturday: Edsel prepping the goat: The goat itself: Dance cooking the eggplant: Ronnie, the charcuterie master: Ronnie's pastrami: Tomato soup shooters: Randi's incredible cherry pies: Plating: Soup and sandwich: The appetizer, glamour shot: Shrimp and risotto: Fat Guy dishing out the watermelon salad: Men at work, getting the goat (ready): Saucing the goat. Behold the power of the Gary Kunz Saucing Spoon: A single perfect block of ganache: Basmati Rice and Fruit Salad: A few people collapsing at the end of a long, awesome, tiring, unforgettable day:

Checking in before running off (late) to the lunch. I probably won't be able to eat anything -- maybe I'll have some gelato. Maybe. I just walked 6 miles, haven't eaten a thing at all today, and I'm still not hungry. The food last night was glorious. I'll have a lot more to say about it later. My pictures won't be ready until tomorrow (monday). My laptop doesn't have enough free hard drive space to be able to process the raw camera files that I've been shooting into normal jpegs. I'll be heading back to Chicago tomorrow, where I can do the processing on my desktop. Alex

It's not hard to get downtown if you have some time. I tend to use the #6 bus, but there are various other options, including the Metra (which only runs frequently during rushhour). Going north from downtime is more time-consuming, but is also definitely doable. In Hyde Park proper, options are somewhat limited. The grocery store in the area, the Coop Market, tends to be universally hated by the students here. There's a small produce shop called Hyde Park Produce that is cheaper and better (for produce). HPP also carries Boar's Head products. There's another small place called the University Mart (or somesuch) which also sells Boar's Head stuff, but I've never been inside. I tend to shop at HPP in Hyde Park and travel downtown for Trader Joe's and Fox and Obel (small upscale grocery store with very nice bakery). There are two bakeries in Hyde Park: the Bonjour Bakery, which produces some decent pastries (and also sells sandwiches and the like). The Medici Bakery sells bread and pastries. Their bread is good, their pastries... not so much. The Thai places aren't great. You can get much better food, for a similar price, downtown. My favorite restaurants in the area are the two Middle-Eastern places: Cedar's and The Nile. The BBQ place, Ribs-n-Bibs is supposed to be decent. There's a couple Mexican places, a southern food restaurant (Dixie Kitchen), and one weird place that serves American southern food and Indian food (Ragun' Cajun). For any kind of real variety, you really do need to head out of Hyde Park, unfortunately. Let me know if you have any questions ------ Alex Parker

It seems the brownies' texture has come together somewhat over the past few hours. They seem even fudgier and richer than when I tried them earlier. I think the extra time has really improved them. They're incredibly rich (how could they not, with those ingredients: Valhrona chocolate, Plugra butter, a little flour and a little sugar and a couple of eggs); I can only eat a tiny piece at a time. We'll see how they fare tomorrow. I've also frozen 1/4 of it and will see how well it stands up to the freezing. Dorie notes that it should stay good for 2 months, This book is a ton of fun! ------- Alex Parker

I had a hankering for brownies, and since I don't actually have an 8" square pan (the size seems to be fairly rare), I made the "bittersweet brownies." I used the Le Noir Valhrona chocolate that's cheap at Trader Joe's: some 71% and some 85%. It turned out well, though I Like Dorie says, it makes a thin, very fudgy, brownie. It really is almost like a thick, solid mouse. Only thing I'd change in the future would be to cut back on the amount of instant espresso. I'm using the King Arthur powder, and the tablespoon called for in the recipe was too much, for my tastes. I'll try a teaspoon or a teaspoon and a half the next time round. I need to get my hands on an 8" square pan. Just need to find one that's not non-stick... ------- Alex Parker

After seeing all the fun that everyone's been having with this book (thanks Dorie!) I ran out and bought a copy this past weekend. Since then I've made two of the simpler recipes, the pound cake and the peanut butter cookies. First off, everything in the book looks great! There's hardly a recipe in there that I don't want to try. The cake has incredible flavor! I baked it a tad too long, probably because I only have dark, non-stick loaf pans; the sides ended up darker than the top, and I didn't use a foil tent. I'll have to experiment with turning the oven down a few degrees next time. Any ideas about where to start? I just finished baking the peanut butter cookies a few hours ago. After the first couple trays, I shortened the time down to 10 minutes from 12; after 12 minutes, the cookies were fairly crispy coming out of the oven, and had a dryer texture than I wanted. The recipe also says that they should be just colored and still soft; mine were not. I haven't had a chance to try to the 10-minute cookies yet (I'm full!), but they're softer in the middle but still plenty firm, so I think they'll be good. I use a separate thermometer in my oven, so I don't think it's running hot. While I was baking the cookies I once opened it up and read the thermometer at 10 or 15 degrees over, but that sounds fairly reasonable. Other times I've checked and the temperature has been right on. I wonder what recipe I'll do next. It sounds like everyone loves the apple spice bars... ------- Alex Parker

Just a few more pictures after this small set. Bottles from the tasting Nancy, Bob, and the double magnum Ric opening a bottle of wine Edsel had the misfortune of taking a shot of cherry juice to the chest Pour

It's couscous! I didn't try any of it; I think we all gorged ourselves on fries and the fresh, fresh fish. ------- Alex Parker

I hope someone took a picture or two of the finished product. My camera battery died by that point, and I had forgotten my second battery in Cleveland. The dough is potato based. I was originally worried because the recipe didn't call for any sugar in the filling or in the dough; the only sugar was simply poured on at the end, after frying some bread crumbs in butter, adding the dumplings and toasting them just a touch, and then removing them from the frying pan. The bread crumbs, butter, and sugar all combined together to make the dessert work. Very comforting food. Earlier, the dough wasn't working out for me (I was unused to working with that type of dough and I didn't put in enough flour; I think by the end I had added about 3 or 4 times what the recipe called for), and had become quite frustrated, when someone's Eastern European mother showed up to the event and helped me make a couple dumplings. She told me that I was just worrying to much and they'd turn out ok. She was right, on both counts. By the end, I was turning out a few dumplings a minute. I'll have to make them again sometime. Sometimes all it takes is a lot encouragement. ------- Alex Parker

After buying our fruits and vegetables in the farmer's market, we decided to go to Monahan's (the best seafood restaurant in Ann Arbor, says Tammy, and I think we all agreed) for lunch. Monahan's is a small shop, located inside the Kerrytown building right next to the market. It's a seafood restaurant and a fish counter, and they'll cook any of the fish that you can buy right there. In addition to their standard fried fare, they also run daily specials. Very limited seating, so we split into two groups of four or so people each. Tammy took charge and ordered one fried calamari, one fried fish, and one special, swordfish with mango chutney, for each group. We also ordered a quart of chowder to share. Here's the fish and chips: The fries were incredible. They're tossed in herbed butter after frying, but that treatment wouldn't help a bad fry... these are great fries, and the herbed butter just pushes them over the edge. And the swordfish with mango chutney: I didn't get a shot of the calamari, which is unfortunate, because it was great, too. I was too busy eating. ------- Alex Parker

Judy, I hope someone is able to find and return your knife to you! We were scheduled to meet at the farmer's market at 10:00 on Saturday morning so we could organize and money could be dispersed to chefs who were purchasing items for the dinner. Here's Nancy during the meeting: We enjoyed great weather on Sunday. I know we were all thankful that the temperature and humidity were not nearly as high as they had been earlier in the week. The market itself was great; we all saw some awesome produce. Lots of fabulous-looking squash, plums, blueberries, tomatoes, and nectarines. Ann Arbor is blessed with some wonderful food. I ran into Scott (sweintraub) and Deborah in the market and accompanied them to Zingerman's Deli to pick out cheese for the evening. The place was packed, but we received some very enthusiastic and knowledgeable service. Scott and Deborah chose a goat cheese, a cheddar, a soft cheese, a blue, and one other that I can't recall at the moment. Here's Scott eyeing the cheeses: And some of the cheeses themselves: If I hadn't already been to the Cowgirl Creamery in San Francisco, this would have been my great cheese experience for the summer. I headed back to the market, where I wandered around snapping a few more pictures. I couldn't resist the rows and rows of tomatoes: And a shot of some of the plums that I bought. I brought Micol Negrin's Rustico: Regional Italian Country Cooking up to Ann Arbor for inspiration, if I needed it. I paged through the book the precious night and had come upon a recipe for plum stuffed dumplings. Negrin says that in Italy very small plums are used, and a single plum is encased in each dumpling. In the cookbook, the recipe is modified to use plum quarters. I spied the tiny (almost cherry sized) plums at the market and immediately thought back to that recipe. The farmer described the smaller plums as having stronger flavors. I tried one and found it to be tart, but quite flavorful. I figured the tartness would be tamed by the cooking and the sugar. I asked about the other, yellow/white plums too; I was intrigued because "Shiro" means white (白) in Japanese (which the farmer didn't know). I bought some of each, with the plan to use one red plum and one white plum quarter in each dumpling. It didn't quite work out that way, but more on that later. ------- Alex Parker

The amount of food consumed was obscene, even by eGullet Society members' standards.... Wish you had been there. ← I'm not sure I would have made it back home! Ohmygosh - did you all hire wheelchair service after the dinner? ← I wish. I still feel full. I ate a light dinner today, and I think I should have eaten an even lighter one. I thought the dinner itself went amazingly well, especially considering all of the a la minute prep that had to be done (searing the foie, cooking the fish, the pasta, etc.) ------- Alex Parker

Thanks for the kind words, Edsel, but I love seeing your (and everyone else's) pictures, too. Please don't hesitate to post. I'm so glad we had many people taking pictures there. ...And, my camera battery ran out before dinner was ready (which I expected), and then I found that I had left my second battery at home! I was really so disappointed; I love taking pictures, and this was such a great oppurtunity; so many people cooking and having a great time. Still kicking myself about that: my second battery is fully charged sitting in its charger, right where I put it on Thursday. ------- Alex Parker

Well, I'm safely back home. I had an absolutely wonderful time, though I still feel incredibly full. I ate no breakfast and had a single, unadorned bagel for lunch. There was no way I was going to be able to eat brunch at 10:00 this morning. But, because I've heard so much about the grits from Zingerman's on this board, I bought a can of it Friday night and brought it back home to try for myself. Dinner at Bella Ciao was great. After dinner, a group of us went to Zingerman's Deli so we'd be able to browse the store while it relatively empty (there were still many more customers than I expected for 9:45 at night). It was packed during the farmer's market the next day. That little manuever was a wonderful plan, Tammy; it was so much nicer to be able to wander around inside the deli. They were giving out their old bread and bagels for free, and many of us snagged some for breakfast or for the dinner the next day. They also had a bunch of condiments, oils, and vinegars for available for sample. In addition to the grits (which I've been thinking about for quite some time), I also bought a bottle of vinegar. I was in the right place at the right time and somehow lucked into getting to taste one of Zingerman's old balsamics (they're out of stock on their less-pricey balsamics). A tiny dab was laid on the top of my fist with a straw. A dab was all I needed. It tasted wonderfully complex, musty, and had just the right sweetness. And now, more pictures. We left off with the 1st course, the caprese. Next came the prawn and arugula salad: The salad was dressed in an orange vinagrette that Destroit said was Asian-inspired, if I remember correctly. Next came the entrees, of which there were four choices. Striped sea bass with Peruvian purple mashed potatoes: Scallops with smoked sea salt: Beef of some sort: A very similar yellow squash showed up in our dinner the next day. And the dish that I (and more than half of my table) chose, the stuffed quail: Stuffed with sauteed greens, pancetta (or a differnt Italian meet), garlic. This was my first quail, and it was quite good. Not something to order during a business meal, but tastey. People: Check out the stack of plates at the bar. We really made our servers work, carrying heavy loads up and down the stairs. Desserts, ready to go: Dessert: The planned dessert was canolli, but the freezer broke, forcing Destroit to improvise. He called this chocolate pate, and it was chocolate, with nuts and caramel. Very delicious and rich, so the small portion was the perfect size to top off the night (for us lightweights who didn't journey off to Tammy's for additional conversation, food, and drink). Destroit, the waitstaff that attended our group, and the rest of the crew at Bella Ciao really put together a fun evening for us. Next up, the farmer's market and lunch at Monahan's. ------- Alex Parker

Well, I've got a few pictures of the evening's events. I begged off the continued festivities at Tammy's house so I could hit the hotel gym for a while. I ate a lot of excellent food at the Bella Ciao dinner today, and felt I either had to move or burst. But, we got kicked out of the gym fairly early on, and my loss is your gain, as I have time to go through a few of my pictures tonight. Just a few, as I need to get to sleep. Also, I need to check with a few people (Jan Longone, our wonderful host at the Longone Cullinary Archive, and Destroit, eGullet member and chef at Bella Ciao) about posting their pictures online. First, the culinary archive: Next, scenes from dinner (up through the first course, anyway): Table Setting Wine List Prosecco Caprese Commentary and more pictures will certainly follow. I'm going to hit my 10 meg picture limit this week, I think... Next up, farmers' market at 10:00 in the morning. I hope there are still some of Tammy's fleur de sel caramels left by tomorrow. ------- Alex Parker Early morning edit: I somehow managed to type "fleur de lis caramels" last night.