chiantiglace

Shut up, thats not a cooks trick, thats a cooks secret.

Second that one. I definately think trying to make those shrimp as naturaly sweet as you can get them is the way too go. Because even though a little makes an interesting tast profile on some naturally sweet things, on shrimp it would seem too savory. How about instead of parsnip puree a fig compote. I like figs with with duck. And maybe you could use a little "spanish wine" (as mentioned earlier) in the mix with all that.

very strange. And for some reason I dont feel an urge to taste it. not to be negative.

"Blanch in the fryolator." Now that's a phrase to conjure with. Nice one. ← Thats not even uncommon to me. We use to pull this trick several times a night at my first line job.

I have actually been considering a barley pudding - when the kids were very young we used to make porridge out of barley flakes - it doesn't taste like much, and I really abhorr the texture, so I've left this track. ← Flakes = babyfood. I'm with you on the yuck. I was thinking more of pearl barley or a more substantial cousin. Varmint's idea of a barley cake has some appeal. However this one goes, its a fun process so far. hmmmm - can one pop barley the way one pops corn? That could give a foamy appearance to the final dessert. ← Maybe pearl barley will puff if deep fried - I feel an experiment coming on (where does one get pearl barley at 9:30 at night in the suburbs) - this would add a nice crispy someting ← Mette, do you have a pressure cooker? I think the barely would possibly act more on the lines of rice (as in rice crispies) than like popcorn.

blood orange hefeweizen

Not to be difficult, but I would be dissapointed if this dessert was with chocolate. Chocolate with beer is a little too easy in my opinion. But please dont let me hold it against you, if thats what you want to do, do it. I think a Kolsch would do very well with a mellow nut, or fall fruit dessert. IPA is too strong in my opinion. The hopps are a little much for dessert. Smoked porter, or a smoked Bock would be awesome. I love the taste of chocolate with these. But of course, back to chocolate so easily. A brewery I use to work for had, hands down, the best beer I have ever tasted and I think anyone will ever taste. The beer was a Lemongrass Wheat. Utterly amazing beer that I could honestly drink all day every day, and I only drink beer once a week if I am lucky. I have always wanted to put this beer with ginger or asian pear. Red Lager could prove well for dark nuts and stone fruits. Pale Ale is a definate citrus goer to me.

Oh this is a great one. Just before I left school for extern I, and a very good friend of mine who was the president of the Brew Club were collaborating to put together a pastry and beer tasting. I had lists and lists of things we had put together. We hadnt even gotten half way through our research (which was getting heavy, especially on my end) before troubled stirred in the student government inableing us to go through with the event and eventually canceling Brooklynn Brewers from comming up. It was sad but hopefully we will get another shot at it. I dont want to say much more until mette has joined the thread, but I will say this: This topic is almost, if not as hard as the animal topic. The biggest problem is you can not reduce or heat (too much) beer like you can other liquids, like wine. The more heat introduce the more bitter it gets, resulting in a very unpleasant and unusable product. But I have researched ways around the heat. This should get interesting. And too all you wine lovers, mark my words, the truth is beer will always go better with food than wine. Give me any flavor or combination that is, and I can find a beer that will taste better with it than ANY wine.

Killer gfron1(you should be glad, because thats the first time I have used the term "killer" on egullet), I did not expect much quite honestly. It is a tough, tough topic, no doubt. I have to say, the plating makes it. I think so much of this particular one came down to the plating. The length is wonderful, if it was short and all together with only a small bit of sauce, it would have resembled an appetizer too much. Well done.

I totally know what you mean. Its hard to to explain it to friends too when you try to ask them over to eat it. The give you the 21 questions as if you are trying to get something from them. "All this dessert, that took you four days to make, and all you want me to do is drive over and eat it".

Wheres my ANIMAL DESSERT?

You need to get a small piece of pulled sugar nice and hot. Pinch off a small piece and carefully drag it away from the sugar using your first two fingers from your other hand to gentle rub underneath the "thread" or "ribbon" helping to release more from the block. Once you sucsessfully made a long enough thread, take the thread and wave it infront of a hot oven or surface to make it malleable. Once the sugar starts to drupe andsoften start to corkscrew it with your fingers. You can also wrap it around a dowel or similar cylinder and let it harden like that.

just so you know, Sam isn't opening a dessert themed restaurant. Some people gave me this preminission and when I went to go talk to him about it he immediately corrected me. He enjoys savory too and has been wanting to do both for a long time. He is opening a tapas themed restaurant utilizing his talents in already pastry field. But he will also be doing a tapas menu as well. Who knows what else he has up his sleeve, because he seems to be very vague on the subject to everyone. I hope we can all see his creation(s) soon.

It sounds more like people are trying to convert pastry ideals to the savory side. I think some of you are a little confused. The idea is not to make a pastry thing savory, its to make a savory thing pastry. It's really not even that, its specifically taking something that we all have confined in our mind as a staple substance of protein from living interactive creatures that has, over time, become a necsessity to our mind and body. Dessert is an off breed to the dinner meal, something that doesn't contain the bulk of our nutrition. Even vegetables are a little wierd in dessert because we think of them as a need, not a desire. Fruit is gods candy that has been given to us, so it makes sense why its is used predominately in dessert. To accomplish this goal/challenge we have to think of the flesh of an animal not as sustinence or a provision but as an under appreciated, less-consumed entity to our bodies and minds. If everyone can focus on finding a way to turn delicious, rewarding, and fullfilling flesh into provocative, exotic, out-of-reach attraction, then maybe we can find a way to turn this into a dessert. Sorry if my statement seems a bit promiscuous.

Very interesting. I wonder what seal tastes like.

]]Puke[[ oh man that hurt. Though I do like the breakfast sausage idea, maybe not like that though.

Yes definately praline paste. Too me, anything nougat has to have egg whites. You could just make the nougat and process it into a paste.

Milk and honey are both bi-products of animals. Though it would be a great idea to incorporate such things in the whole scheme of things to really liven up the dish, but if all it contains (pertaining to animal products) is sheeps, goats, llama's milk or cheeses and honey (a product made by insects) I think it will be off target. Quite honestly that would be too easy, because I can take just about any dessert ever made and replace one or more of items with the compositions of others, and I am sure gfron1 could too. Thats not a challenge. I say lets stick to closely knit animal products, instead of bi-products.

its about time someone should come up with a cake sized melon baller

also wanted to add, it is a chocolate bavarian cream, it is a chocolate sabayon, it is a chocolate bombe, etc, etc, etc. But mousse is the mother name like a mother sauce. Bechamel-Bavarian Cream; Veloute - Diplomat Cream; Marinara - Sabayonl; Demi-Glace - Pate a Bombe. Does that help?

Yes you are. A mousse is a generic term to describe a temporary or stable aerated multi-component substance. You can easily have savory mousses, such as salmon mousse. Also, once you incorporate (homogenously) a product with fat (ie chocolate) into the meringue, it is by far not a "meringue" any more. This is not like adding tarragon to a hollandaise and calling it a tarragon hollandaise instead of bernaise. This is like adding oil and emulisifier to vinegar and calling it a dressing or vinaigrette rather than a blasamic flavor olive oil.

new mexico eh? How about lizard pie. By the way, bison goes great with cinnamon.....

I love duck, anything duck really. Its a fascinating creature. Hell I have made bitter curry chocolate sauces with duck, does anything not pair well with duck? I enjoy poaching pears in duck fat as well, its just the season for it too.

I always wanted to use duck fat and utilize it in each piece of one dish. Also, are eggs an option, other than chicken of course, or are they too close to a necsesity and not different enoug? Because quail, duck, and turtle eggs could all be an interesting motive.

first of all, meringue made with sugar and egg whites cooked over a bain-marie is a Swiss Meringue, whoever told you it was Italian needs to do some more research. Italian Meringue is a cooked syrup to softball stage in which is poured into whipping egg whites. I have a feeling, because it was "chewy" that the whites were brought up too high (over 160). Though any added fat will result in a smoother mouth feel, hence your appreciationg for whipped cream. Yolks give a nice medium between richness and stability. With the whites, the objective is aretion of mouthfeel, have the lease density as possible. It's easier to fold warm chocolate into whites and keep aeration than it is into cream, since the fat is lining the air in the cream as opposed to the sugar in the whites. It all depends on what you want, when you want it.