John DePaula

Are they not on the web site? Couldn't find 'em.

Le Mimosa

Love the look of their little melters that hold 3 different chocolates. Oh, yeah, I didn't see those before - very slick! Esp. like the one that has 4 bins with individual controls.

Thanks for the link, Luis. But I think I prefer the more traditional guitar design of the Dedy.

I use lid on when melting overnight. If your chocolate is at room temperature when you begin, there won't be any condensation. At the end of the work day, I pour out my remaining chocolate into a spare melter pan lined with parchment and chill. The resulting block of chocolate fits perfectly into the melter next time I need it.

Lior, it looks like it's about a 2.5 hour drive to Chicago from Madison. Might be worth looking at French Pastry School - they're top notch. Good luck and Welcome to the USA!

Well depending on the other replies you get, I can recommend this one by John Besh: Drew's Chicken and Sausage Gumbo. (By the way, I love Besh's book My New Orleans, and I highly recommend it.) I think the hardest part might be to locate good sausage. It might be worth it to mail order some from a good shop in S. Louisiana/New Orleans.

If Papa's doesn't work out, you could give Broder a call. If they don't make one, they might be able to tell you who can.

Jeanne, I haven't used this product but it sure shouldn't be caramelizing... I'm wondering if they're reformulated recently, since you have good experience using the product before. So I'm wondering if you could heat very very gently in the microwave on defrost, say 30 seconds at at time, or even put it in a chocolate melter to make sure there's no spot heating.

Wow, that looks really great, Kerry! Congrats!

I, for one, love the book and it's one of my favorites; but I haven't seen many of the shows. Could you elaborate on the differences you've found?

Thanks, All. Was hoping that I had narrowed down the list of places to stay but now I see I'll have to take a fresh look at St. Antonin Noble Val and environs. One of the main reasons that I had chosen Uzès was the relative proximity to Parc National des Cévennes and the Parc Naturel Régional de Camargue - all in our group like to hike. Also I'd read that the area around Uzès is quite photogenic - we're all big on photography, too. Compared to the others in our group, I'm the one that obsesses the most about food and I definitely get cranky when there's not much good to eat. My friends have said that a simple bistro or whatnot will be fine with them, so I think the threshold is going to be considerably lower than what you cook at home, Abra! My other two candidates were Collioure, where I've never been, and the Dordogne area, which I visited in 2003 and had a really wonderful time. My friends Marie & Jean-Claude fixed me some Confit de Canard with Pommes Sarladais - it was love at first bite. And a bit later in the trip, I that Sarlat was a town I would love to see again when I had more time. Also in Dordogne: La Roque St. Christophe, lots of caves to see, interesting gastronomically, lots of natural beauty, folks are pretty friendly. Rocamadour, not so much due to being overrun with tourists and the leech-like commerces that have invaded since, oh, that 1500s? - but very pretty at night from across the valley... On va voir... more later, but now I must finish up some chocolate work for the next, ugg, 8 hours or so...

On & off, I’ve been planning a trip to France with some dear college friends. They would like to experience the not-very-touristy side of life in France (don’t we all…) and have left it up to me to put something together. Monuments, museums and Michelin stars are not of interest; good wine, picnics and simple bistros – yes. I decided to go with a base-camp approach: pick a town, install ourselves for 7 to 14 days and do day trips out from there, cooking for ourselves much of the time. I won’t go into all of the details but the planning has “evolved” over the last few months, inching up the coast from Collioure to Montpellier and finally to Uzès as our base. Uzès sounds like a good choice and there are some nice rental options available, and it looks like the town has a pretty nice market on Saturdays and Wednesdays. I’m hoping that Uzès won’t be too difficult to navigate by car or, for that matter, to park a car. In September 2008, I went to Pyla-sur-mer and although the place we rented was quite nice, the area was definitely winding down for the season: no local bakery was open and not much of a grocery store nearby. We’ll be going in early September 2010. Am I correct in assuming this won’t be a problem in Uzès? I don’t want to feel too isolated and hope that there may even be the possibility to meet some locals pour prendre un petit verre. Any and all recommendations (eat/shop/see/rent) are most welcome!

Yep, metric, US ounces and percentage are given for all recipes. I use the metric, myself.

I think I've seen this referenced in several of Marcella's recipes but this one for sure: Celery and Tomato Pasta Sauce in her book Marcella Cucina p. 133.

I agree. See review here: French Professional Pastry Series

Candied Kumquats, perhaps. Candied Quince? Marcona Almonds with Sea Salt What about reduced spicy red wine pear poaching liquid.

I agree completely: it's a travesty that foreign lands are trending toward global homogeneity. Stepping out of the beautiful Gothic cathedral, the Duomo, of Milan, you're standing practically right in front of McDonalds - gag! And the neighborhood boulangerie in France is in danger of being lost forever thanks to 'pain industriel.' I think you’d be shocked at how many boulangeries have closed in France since the 50s. Whom do we have to blame? No one but ourselves if we allow convenience and/or consistency to replace the things that make us unique. The quote below actually made me a bit angry: .So your solution would be to NOT support the little guy in favor of the industrially produced characterless products? I’d suggest that a better alternative would be to skip shopping with the ‘sly gouger’ in favor of a merchant who provides a good quality product. Get to know the folks where you shop and you’re far less likely to be ‘gouged.’

Is this it? Italian Rum Cake at Vaccaro's ETA: If so, then how about this: Italian Rum Cake at Recipezaar . ETA2: Be sure that you read the comments on the recipe specified above. Some folks had great success and many did not. At least now, you know the components and can piece together a good recipe on your own. Hope this helps.

I made some marzipan today, à la Greweling, and it came out well. I think I stopped processing it just in time because just as I stopped, I noticed very slight wisps of smoke coming from my commercial grade food processor! Very fine texture; possibly finer, in fact, than any I’ve had before. It looked just like the pictures in Greweling – sort of like bread dough. It’s not quite sweet enough, in my opinion, which I think can be corrected with confectioners sugar when I roll it out. These California almonds, although of excellent quality, do not seem to have as much flavor as European almonds. Does the flavor intensify after a few days, or should I correct this by adding some drops of bitter almond oil?

NOTE: I referred to one dish above as "The Salt-Cod of my Future [sic]" and realized (or it was pointed out to me) that it may have caused some confusion. It was supposed to be somewhat 'tongue-in-cheek' (not intended literally/seriously). It was a joke that might not have come across if a) you are not a native speaker of English or b) you didn't know that the actual name of the dish is "The Salt-Cod of my Childhood." I meant it as a compliment to the recipe that it looked so good I can clearly see it in my future. Sorry for the confusion.

I just received The New Portuguese Table by David Leite for Christmas (I had it on my Amazon wish list), and it's got me very excited about getting to know Portuguese cuisine. The book seems to be very well written. It's great that he has included alternatives to ingredients which may be difficult for some to find e.g. in the recipe for Cheese-Stuffed Pork Tenderloin, he specifies for cheese 'Nisa, São Jorge, or Pecorino Romano' cheese. I've never heard of the first two but I'll sure look for them the next time I'm at the market. (always nice to learn about a new-to-me cheese) Some have complained that the recipes are not the classic Portuguese recipes. Personally I prefer modern interpretations of classic cuisine which can often be too heavy for today's palate. As for the recipes being updated from the original versions, well it *is* called 'The New Portuguese Table,' after all. At any rate, he does include classical as well of alternative preparations for many, which I find to be a nice touch. I think he has included quite a good variety of recipes here; just can't decide where to get started: The Salt-Cod of my Future [sic] or Cheese-Stuffed Pork Tenderloin. It all looks just delicious! By the way, lots of nice attention to detail in the beautiful photos, as well. Hat tip to Nuno Correia. In my estimation, a fine piece of work. Bravo! So do you have this book and if so, what have you cooked from it?

I just unwrapped this one and am looking forward to cooking from it. First impressions are good, interesting recipes, not too complicated, fairly healthy yet tasty fare, great photography.

I don't have any creme de violette so I've been using a Violette essence, just a drop or two, and it yields a very nice just perceptible floral note to the Aviation. I think it's quite good.

World Chocolate Championship on TLC