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We'll definitely miss you. Best of luck as you begin your new position.

Sounds like I'll have to check out Kee's. 1- Patrice Chapon...for their ganache pieces but not their "pure-origin" chocolates. 2- Francois Pralus for their single-origin dark chocolates. 3- Green & Black's for their Mayan Gold. :: Chapon: Two stores in Paris, one in Chelles. The basil ganache and pistachio ganache aren't bad. I've made my pilgrimage to both stores in Paris last year, but the one I remember had the walls covered in vintage chocolate molds. In NYC, Zabar's did sell boxes of Chapon chocolates once -- during the winter holidays; we'll see about this year. There was also a Chapon booth at the city's annual chocolate show maybe two or three years back. They were noticeably absent from the 2005 event, but maybe they'll be back for the one coming up in November. Counting down the days. :: Francois Pralus: Sold by various online vendors; based in Roanne. Attention all you eG readers who don't want another ganache place! We first encountered Pralus at the 2005 chocolate show, but we're hoping they'll give us another reason to attend this year's chocolate show. Their "Pyramide" collection of ten single-origin bars (75% cocoa content) -- "single origin" is sometimes misleading, but it's what they claim on their advertising -- with each bar representing varieties from Jamaica, Indonesia, Sao Tome, Trinidad, Venezuela, Vanuatu, Ghana, Madagascar, Colombia, and Equador. In our chocolate blind-taste-test-game (we don't have a TV, can you tell?), we sample these chocolates and then try to articulate the taste and texture of each sample to match the corresponding description on the package. Really, this is more fun than watching TV! :: Green & Black's: Maybe you can get their chocolates anywhere now. I first got the Maya Gold chocolate bars as a Christmas present in England. I bought a few more soon after at an Oxfam shop, but my supply didn't last long enough across the Atlantic. Fortunately, Green & Black's is sold at Fairway, Zabar's and even the nearby Italian supermarket, and of course they made a couple of appearances at the NY chocolate show. What's curious to me is that some people swear the Maya Gold chocolate bought in England tastes spicier than the ones bought in New York. Anyone want to confirm/refute?

Many thanks to the eGCI for organizing this course. Even though I could only conduct Labs 1 and 2, "cooking" vicariously through the eGCI community (Labs 3 and 4) has been a good learning experience. It's given me something to look forward to every morning (besides graduate school). I hope that Steven can put together another course soon!

Based on my Corningware success in Lab #1, I wanted to use similar ceramic vessels for Lab #2. Since I only have one 1.75-quart Corningware pot, I used oven-safe pasta bowls with oven-safe plates as lids. Vessels: 3 ceramic pasta bowls (9" diameter x 3"H) 3 ceramic plates (10" diameter) Meat: 3 pieces of beef short ribs (approx. 0.5" x 0.25" x 2.25") Braising solutions: Canyon Road cabernet sauvignon (1 cup) Frozen homemade beef stock (5 cubes = 1 cup) Water plus 2 carrots, 2 celery stalks, large onion half I didn't do the submerged-in-stock experiment. Oven preheated and kept at 350 degrees. Browned three samples in iron skillet in Chinese soupspoonful of Spanish olive oil (5 min.) Put one sample in each ceramic bowl. But only two bowls would fit in my oven - darn! So I braised (1) meat in cabernet and (2) meat in beef stock first. Observations for (1) and (2): * 20 min. (1) 105 degrees; (2) 95 degrees * 55 min. (1) 135 degrees; (2) 150 degrees * 105 min. (done) (1) 150 degrees; (2) 150 degrees Observations for (3) meat in mirepoix: * 20 min. 130 degrees * 50 min. 145 degrees * 80 min. (done) 150 degrees Conclusions on taste/texture: Cabernet sample was very fruity/winey. I felt like adding salt. Succulent morsel though. Stock sample was less tasty/beefy than cabernet sample. Tiny bit drier than cabernet sample but still good. Mirepoix sample was practically tasteless. It was also too tough to chew. Braising solutions for (1) and (2) were reduced to a couple of tablespoons of syrupy sauce. I didn't have time to reduce the braising solution for (3). I added two pinches of ground rock salt as each solution was being reduced. Post-reduction observations: Cabernet sample still tasted too strongly of fruit/wine. At least the texture was still good. Stock sample was perfect: taste and texture. I wonder if I should've used a different wine. The label says, "This Cabernet reveals ripe plum and berry fruit flavors with hints of sweet vanillin American oak. Accompanied best by barbequed meats and hearty pasta dishes." Also, I wonder if I used too many pieces of celery and carrot, or if 350 degrees was too high for this. Eating the mirepoix sample was like eating meat with the flavor boiled out of it...like the meat leftover from making the beef stock -- flavorless. As for the stock sample, I am so glad I reduced the stock. The syrupy version with a bit of salt added intensified the flavor of an otherwise well-textured piece of meat.

Here's my report (a day late). 3 vessels were tested: - Nonstick aluminum mini loaf pan (3"W x 6"L x 2"D) with makeshift foil cover - Corningware (1.75 QT) with not-so-snug-fitting pyrex lid - LeCreuset dutch/french oven (1.75 QT) with snug-fitting lid Meat: 3 pieces of beef short ribs approx. 1"W x 3"L x 1"D (I don't have a food scale, so no weights were measured.) Stock: Frozen homemade beef stock (following eGCI recipe) Oven was preheated at 350 degrees. My oven temperature always has to be set a little higher than what my recipes call for. Besides, I have more heat than I have time. Meat was browned in a few tablespoons of Spanish olive oil for 4 minutes all at the same time, and then dished out into the loaf pan, corningware, and LC. A 0.25" level of the stock was put into each vessel. All three vessels fit onto one oven rack. Temperature readings and other observations (oven still at 350 degrees): * 20 min. Loaf pan - 105 (stock was warming up) Corningware - 140 (stock was simmering) LeCreuset - 120 (stock was simmering) * 55 min. Loaf pan - 138 Corningware - 140 LeCreuset - 150 * 70 min. (done/overdone) Loaf pan - 150 (some stock left) Corningware - 155 (a little stock juice left) LeCreuset - 160 (stock looked glued to the bottom) Flavor/texture conclusions: The loaf pan piece was less flavorful/meaty than the corningware and LC pieces. Both the corningware and LC pieces were tender, falling off the bone. The caramelization of the corningware piece, plus its moist quality, made it my favorite over the LC piece. It took a lot of self-discipline to not eat the whole thing right there and then and instead, wrap it up for the upcoming reheating experiments. However, I think I should've taken the LC piece out sooner. It was tougher and drier than the corningware piece. Maybe it would've tied for first place in my experiment had I taken it out earlier. The loaf pan piece was least enjoyable even though I was secretly rooting for it. The meat was cooked, but it was a little too chewy and slightly less flavorful than the other two pieces. Other notes: Manhattan 99-cent stores sometimes sell aluminum trays that come with fitted aluminum lids. I bought a two-pack 10.5"W x 13"L x 2.5"D trays with accompanying lids for this lab (all for 99 cents!), and then realized when I came home that they were too big for Lab #1.

For Lab #2, does the initial browning of the short ribs involve both oil and stock, or the oil only? BTW, I had to gorge myself on V-Day chocolates to avoid devouring my entire lab experiment from yesterday.