jturn00

I recently came back from france where I had the most delicious chocolate sauce on top of my profiteroles. I wanted to try to duplicate it here at home. Basically, the sauce was rich and velvety with a deep chocolate taste. It also didn't clump when placed on top of ice cream. (this sauce could be used for a coupe denmark or creme legiere). I have quite a few cookbooks at home (wybauw, torres, bo frieburg, chris felder, etc) but with all the different sauces and combinations for sauce in each of these books I was looking for opinions on where you found the best recipe or what you consider to be the best combination of ingredients for making a good sauce. I have very high end chocolate at home (becolade, felchlin with percentages of 65% to 72%). Jeff

I actually own a copy I just never got into foie gras.

I knew it was a steak. but didn't think about the foie part. I thought maybe some mushroom preparation. I liked how they prepared it though, the foie gras was very good.

I think that we lucked out only because we were staying at the Royal Automobile Club on Pall Mall which is located near these places.

Hi David, They had a nice wine list. I just ordered a glass of wine to go along with dinner. With that note, the bill (I think as my boss picked up the bill and reviewed it) came close to 150 GBP. I had a la carte and my boss had the 3 course price fixe menu.

Last wednesday I found out I had to fly to London for a meeting over this past Columbus Day weekend. I was traveling with my boss who isn't much into food as I am but he left many of the restaurant choices up to me knowing that I enjoy a good meal. Being short notice, I had no way to make any reservations (or do any research) beforehand and just relied on the concierge and book at the concierge to guide me. We went to the following places. Saturday Lunch The Dehli Brasserie in Soho. Saturday Dinner L'Oranger Sunday lunch (I went Patara on my own as I was walking around london). Sunday Dinner The Wolseley All were memorable. I really thought the food and atmosphere at L'Oranger was top notch. Having been in thailand before and have had great thai food, I thought that Patara was one of the best thai meals that I ever had. And while I was there alone, it seemed very comfortable. I took extensive pictures of the meals at L'Oranger and Patara. The Delhi Brasserie: I had Chicken Peri Peri which the menu said was a variation of Madras. I really enjoyed this meal for getting good indian food. While it is probably not the best, we were told to walk through soho to find a place for lunch. Having just arrived after getting off the plane and had to work after lunch, we couldn't do a lot of research. The Wolseley: On our client's recommendation we went to the Wolseley for dinner sunday night. It was packed. They have an ante room that is for walkins. The tables are like coffee tables but they were able to seat us right away and we were able to get anything off the menu..... sort of. Apparently, they had a very busy weekend. So they were out of half the items on the menu. (Including the wiener schnitzel I wanted). So I went with a steak. The food is really good and well prepared. I ordered dessert (a chocolate fondant) and was told that it would take 15 minutes. After 15 mintues, I was told that it fell and it would be another 10 minutes. I ordered a banana split. (It tasted like packaged ice cream.) L'Oranger This was fine dining in London. The food / service was all excellent. They recommended a great glass of wine to go with my meal. Appetizer Scallops with duck proscuitto and truffle mouse Main Course Steak Rossini (I would like to see how this was prepared as I started eating the top part and loved it only to find out it was Froie Gras (which I normally don't like). Dessert Creme Brule Dessert Chocolate mousse Petit Fours Patara I had been walking all over london. After walking for hours and heading down regent street, I was so tired that I was just looking for a place to relax and rest. I looked down Maddox street and saw patara. I walked there looked at the menu and decided to just try it since I was so tired. It turned out to be the best decision I made in london! I loved the food. Spicy, interesting, well presented and great and friendly service. I didn't buy much in london but I did leave with their cookbook! Restaurant Appetizer thai beef salad Main course ground chicken with ginger and basil ? Dessert Crepe with tropical fruit Jeff

I recently had a business trip to London and would recommend L'oranger. While I was there with my boss, it seemed very receptive to single diners. We also called the restaurant on a saturday night (this past saturday) 1 hour before we wanted to eat and had no problem getting in. We were the first people there for eating at 7pm. Not what time Londoners typically eat but when we tried to get into The Wolseley at the same time they were booked full. Jeff P.S. I am going to create a post on my dining experiences this past weekend with photos.

I really like this place. When I have out of town visitors who want to experience Chinatown, I bring them here. It used to be located at 20? Mott Street under the name Shanghai Gourmet but it moved and changed its name to Shanghai Cafe. Same great food though! Jeff

I think jdm some very good points. I want to add: I think recipes can be patented but then they become public knowledge when you submit them to the patent office. Also, it is probably best to keep them as trade secrets but that mean not sharing them like coke does with its secret formula. If you share the recipes there is nothing stopping anyone from using them. Following jgm's advice, the next time you enter a place create a contract to formalize the relationship with your "created" capital. You can then charge a fee for access to your trade secret, otherwise just choose a simple recipe knowing that they did not pay for the specialized knowledge capital but just plain ordinary recipe.

Cite has a price fix with out the wine that includes three courses and might fit the price range. Cite Grill (I think it is different from Cite) might be a more cost effective solution and the could always order a la carte. Jeff

While good, those places aren't an american steak house.

Just came up with this but make some sort of dessert using a sandwich maker or use the ravioli sealer device. (Like an empinada) Cut the crusts and brush the brioche with a simple syrup using kirsch. Fill the brioche with chocolate and cherry jam (like a black forest cake). Decorate the plate using chcolate and cherry sauces. (Cherries?)

I never tried this but how about using a pastry bag with a small tip? Just use a knife to cut the stream of Spaetzle when you get the desired lenght. In fact, I guess you could vary the tip sizes to create different widths of spaetzle. Jeff

Thank you for all the places. This is going to be a fun food shopping weekend! Jeff

Thanks for all the places. I didn't try whole foods yet and I will be near trader joes this weekend. (I can't wait to see the new store!). Todd36, I was recently in Fairway but it was so crowded that there wasn't room to hunt around with out getting run over by a shopping cart. I will go back and check when it is less crowded. Thanks Again, Jeff Jeff

That was one of the first places I looked. The retail store doesn't exsist anymore it is now a penzeys.

I would like to make a mole poblano recipe over the weekend but I am having some difficulty find some of the chiles here in NY. (I am on the upper west side). The recipe calls for whole Mulato, ancho, pasilla chiles. I think I found the ancho chiles but the pasilla and mulato chiles are giving me some problems. Any ideas where I can find these? Do people call the mulato and pasilla chiles by other names? Note I work by Grand Central Terminal and I think the Penzey's store might carry some chiles but not the mulato and pasilla. Any ideas without going to mail order? Jeff

I keep telling my girlfriend that I want to go there. I think there is a garden in the back. Now that the weather is nice, hopefully I can convince her to go! Jeff

I really liked belcolade. I tried it at the chocolate show and really liked it. I do think it has a "smokey" taste or more acidic than Callebaut. It seems similar to El Rey but for a lot less money. I think I orded mine from www.chefswarehouse.com (search for belcolade). I did a tasting with my family and friends (blind tasting) using felchlin 64%, becolade 70%, and E Guittard "Lever du Soleil" 61%. My family liked the becolade the best but they (and me) really like dark bitter chocolate. Jeff {edited to fix grammar}

I will be going to the Basque region at the end of September and will be staying in Biarritz. I noticed that the restuarants Arzak or Mugaritz are located near to Biarritz. Should I go through the effort to make a reservation for these two restuarants or should I just wait to see if I can get a reservation when I get there. Are there any other restaurants (or Michelin start restaurants) worth visiting or eating at instead of these? We probably will not venture far from the northern Basque region (I only want to drive about 1 to 1.5 hours in any direction from Biarritz. Also what are the major differences between Arzak and Mugaritz? Thanks, Jeff

You could try using a banana liquor to flavor a ganache (maybe a white chocolate ganache?). Jeff

Thanks for all the ideas! Some great suggestions! Jeff

Hi, I bought a larger chunk of Italian Fontina Cheese than I needed for putting on some homemade pizza I made yesterday. What are some other good uses for this cheese? Thanks, Jeff

That makes sense. So when the chocolate is tempered it would mean that the temperature of the chocolate should be around 89 degrees instead of 85-87. (My chocolate was tempered throughout the process but cooled as I worked with it and filled and covered molds.) So next time I work with the chocolate I would fill and work with the transfer sheets first then molds, then fill and close the molds. Thanks Again, Jeff

alanamoana, I am curious as to what PCB responded to you about having problems with their transfer sheets. Did they explain what went wrong? Jeff