francois

Store bought and home made mayo are really 2 different things. Pretty much like a home baked pain au levain is different from a store bought sliced bread. It is hard to compare them.

I make mayo at least once a week. It is great with asparagus, cold meats, leftover fish, etc, etc. It is so easy and fast to make in small amounts by hand (1 egg yolk, 2/3 cups of oil), just a couple of minutes. Much faster than cleaning the blender. It lasts for several days, specially if made with grapeseed oil. Otherwise it tends to seperate when cold. Strange, I thought most people on eGullet would make there own mayo... In a tomato sandwich, I admit that I prefer Helman's.

I have the same problem. No matter how often I read and reread this thread, I just don't get the solution. Is it my recipe? (I use Hermé's). Is it something that I do wrong?

I would like to spend a week in southern Miane (near Ogunquit) in July with my wife and teenage daughter. Looking for a cottage with a decently equiped kitchen(I want to be able to cook some of the great seafood!), not far from the sea, with access to a pool if possible. Any suggestion?

I just love oysters. They are the essence of the sea, as Julia Child used to write. I can understand that some people can get turned off by the way they look but I don't. I must admit that I first had them to impress my friends. At the time I had a few dry martinis... After that I just did not mind their ooks. Actually, I rather like the way they look now. And their texture. Still, oysters just go with falltime (or early winter) and a good bottle of white wine. And yes, it is possible to get great oysters in the Ottawa region.

???? At the Vintage store in Ottawa, the service is usually very good. I have found their advice as sound as any from SAQ stores in Quebec.

I make my pannetone every year. The recipe I have been using these last few years is from Peter Reinhart's Crust & Crumb. Easy to do and much better then any that come in these little boxes. However I would like to try one made in a local bakery but I have never seen any.

I must admit my lack of culture...I dont know any of these names! Are any specially outstanding? Who should we not miss?

C.A. Paradis in Ottawa offers reall excellent service. They go to great lengh to please their costumers. It is well worth a detour.

I find this hard to believe...I always though Mollé's restaurant reviews were carefully made and a reference...but to confuse a poach egg with fruit chutney!!! I am loosing my illusions!

I have never seen a real salamander. How would it compare to the infrared broil in my gas oven (DCS)? Is it much more powerfull??

I want to make a recipe for Cannelés from Pierre Hermé's Secrets Gourmands. My wife recently gave me some nice canelés copper molds and I am looking for a good recipe, so I though Hermé would be a good source. (1/2 litre milk, vanilla, 50g. butter, 250 g. icing sugar, 2 eggs+ 2 egg yolks, 100g. type 45 flour) Can I use all purpose-flour or would I be better off with cake flour?

When a french cookbook calls for Type 45 flour, what kind of flour can I substitute for it?

My mother was a very good cook, and so was my father ( who mostly took over the cooking after he retired). One year, my mother was not feeling well, she was starting to get older. My father was worried about her, so he did not feel much like cooking either. It was close to X-mas. That's when I took over the cooking. After that, it just continued, for holidays, birthdays, etc. Usually, I bring the whole dinner to their place. That way they still feel like they are inviting us over...They set up the table, buy the wines, etc. If I don't have the time to prepare the whole meal, I make a few desserts, specially for birthdays, when it falls on a weekdays. If they would be younger, I don't think they would let me prepare the meals...

Percyn, I don't know which looks more fabulous, the steak or the crab! It all looks absolutely divine. ← Bonjour, I'm so impressed, you people all take great pictures... it makes me feel 'technologically challenged'... This is saturday night, so 'we' are having a nice dinner: Salmon tartare Shrimp sping rolls/small green salad Stuffed chicken/green peas/purée of jerusalem artichokes Chocolate tart/ frozen coffee hazelnut mousse A couple of dry martinis and a bottle of beaujolais Funny thing is that my wife has a gastro, so she is in bed while I had dinner all by myself...which is why I am here writing this... Francois

I greatly enjoy baking sourdough bread. There in a small mill close to where I spend my summer holidays. They make stone ground flour. I would like to make my bread from their flour but it is always heavy- event if they sell it as white flour. To have a nice bread, I have to use a large proportion of store bought white flour. Why is that? Can I do anything to make the bread lighter. I tried malt powder- it made only a small difference. Francois

This is my first post, so I feel a bit akward... I looked at LES CAPRICES web site. The site shows pictures of what I assume they serve at the restaurant. What an amazing coincidence... It looks exactly like the food at the French Laundry. Check out the French Laundry Cookbook, on page 2, 39, 52, 169. Every detail, even the necktie of the waiter is the same. Why go to the US to Thomas Keller's restaurant when you can have the same thing in Montreal? Am I just naive to think this is a coincidence? Francois