FrogPrincesse

I also use Alton Brown's pancake mix recipe. Only need to add eggs, buttermilk, and butter. I'm not a morning person so it helps having everything pre-measured. It's a good recipe too. I have a post-it note with the mix recipe on the container's lid so I can refill without having to look for the recipe.

I concur completely. The cocoa nibs really make this cake special. Without their crunch it would not be as interesting.

Boeuf bourguignon would have to be my favorite. With carrots, lardons, and pearl onions. My mom used to make it often when I was little, so it's comfort food for me. My favorite version is Anne Willan's from The Country Cooking of France. For a quicker version I use the one from Anthony Bourdain's Les Halles, but make sure to add diced bacon. A close second is pot au feu, with slow-cooked beef tongue, carrots, potatoes, turnips, and leeks, served with the broth on the side and coarse salt, whole-grain mustard and cornichons as accompaniments to the meat.

Kneading and rolling pasta dough, stirring risotto, cutting vegetables, baking brioche (and baking in general) – all these tasks are relaxing as long as I can focus and have few interruptions which, as Kouign Aman just pointed out, is rarely possible with a young child around…

I'm intrigued. What is farmer's cheese? (and I'd be really curious to know what the French equivalent is). I've made flammenkueche/tarte flambee and used creme fraiche, or a mixture of ricotta (I used homemade which is delicious and easy to make) mixed with creme fraiche (Lucques' version). I've seen it made with fromage blanc as well. Is farmer's cheese similar to ricotta?

Moro blood oranges. Excellent in cocktails (blood orange cosmos for example). It looks like the Cara Cara are popular! I just got some in my farmer's market bag, but have not had a chance to try them yet. I plan to use them in cocktails as well.

Wow. The selection of vintage cocktail gear at Cocktail Kingdom looks fantastic!! I am so jealous. I've never seen anything like it. My vote goes to duck, just because it's my favorite protein.

I am happy to report that my second attempt at the Idiot/Orbit cake was a great success. Since I did not have time to look for a new springform pan, I decided to use a low temperature for baking and ended up skipping the water bath altogether. I have a pretty good oven and this technique has worked well for me in the past when baking custards. I ended up baking the cake at 212F for about 1.5 hours, and then another 30 min at 230F. The cake was wonderful. My husband said it was "a sort of lava cake on steroids". Here is link to a picture.

Metric weight measurements are also important for me because 1) that's how I learned to bake, 2) weights are much more accurate than volume and accuracy is important in baking, 3) scaling down/up recipes is much easier with the metric system, and 4) less stuff to clean when you weigh directly into mixing bowls.

Major disaster! Catastrophic failure! And huge embarrassment. Yes, I managed to mess up the Idiot Cake. Hard to find an easier recipe though with only 4 ingredients and 3 steps. But apparently my springform pan needs to be immediately replaced. Despite using aluminum foil to prevent potential leaks during cooking (bain marie-style), when I uncovered the cake at the end of the cooking time, its top was partially hydrolyzed. Unfortunately there was no way to salvage it so it ended in the trash. It did smell absolutely amazing though, and the texture seemed perfect inside, so I guess I need to find a better pan and try again soon. It's great to see David on this thread by the way. I love the sense of humor in his books.

Thanks for posting this. Although I am really not a picky eater (I pretty much eat everything), I had almost given up on broccoli due to lack of inspiration. This makes me want to give it another try.

I've been making a lot of pickled fennel recently. I use the recipe from Babbo - fennel cut into thin slices and boiled in white vinegar (diluted with water), salt, sugar, peppercorns, and fennel seeds for 5 minutes. It's wonderful on its own or as an accompaniment to charcuterie.

So far I've only made the Racines cakes. It's a flourless chocolate cake (with espresso and vanilla bean extract) that is sprinkled with cocoa nibs. It was a great ending to our Christmas meal this year and enjoyed by all. I served it with his Armagnac and prune ice cream (from The Perfect Scoop). I like the fact that the cake was intensely flavored while extremely light. I highly recommend it if you like chocolate.

Molly Stevens has a recipe for savoy cabbage and saint marcellin gratin in All About Braining that sounds divine; I have not tried it though. The only time I ever used it was in minestrone.

Ravioli First, I had to teach myself how to make fresh pasta dough, which took a relatively large number of attempts. I did not have a good feel for what the dough was supposed to be like, and how thin it needed to be rolled, so my first 1/2 dozen attempts resulted in thick, rubber-band like pasta (not good!). Also storing the rolled dough so it did not completely stick onto itself was a problem. Using a manual machine was a challenge at first (controlling both the input and output, so the dough would feed properly into the machine and come out without making a mess - all without an assistant). Filling the ravioli was not too difficult but very time-consuming. Then finding a proper way to store the ravioli frozen without damage so I could cook them later. But after persisting, I finally managed to pull it off. Now I have developed a technique so it is much more straightforward. I make fresh pasta about once a week now, ravioli not very often because it is a little too labor-intensive. Foie gras au torchon I was nervous mostly because of the deveining step, although it was rather straightforward in the end. Also poaching in duck fat, and not being sure what the result would be like. Properly filling my glass containers to avoid gaps/air pockets, and finding a way to get it out of these containers intact to serve as slices. Overall, this was all fairly easy even though the whole process was quite intimidating at first. This is not an ingredient that you would want to waste because of poor technique. The result was great in the end, so I was glad that I tried! I would definitely make this again.

Cocoa nibs - I discovered these recently and used them sprinkled on a chocolate cake. I loved their crunch. It was David Lebovitz's Racines cake recipe, and a big hit at our Christmas dinner. Guava - I am a huge fan of the guava jelly that a colleague makes with fruit from her yard. Winter squash is great (especially kabocha) so I would not give up! I love it roasted first in the oven with some olive oil, salt and pepper, and then converted into soup or risotto.

In Corsica France, chestnut flour is a traditional ingredient used in crepes, cakes, tarts, beignets, and also souffles and flans. I don't have a specific recipe but would just try to replace some of the wheat flour in your normal recipes with chestnut flour, taking into account that chestnut flour does not contain gluten. That just reminded me that I had bought buckwheat flour on a whim a few weeks ago (I've never used it before) and was going to use it for traditional Brittany-style galettes aka savory crepes.

I had one for the first time last week. It was a little hard and green when I bought it at the farmers market. I let it ripen at room temperature for a few days until it was soft. It's pretty good as is, eaten with a spoon. Just make sure that you don't eat the seeds, which I was told were toxic if crushed. New ingredients for me: various spices including zahtar (plan to use on flatbreat), sumac (to be used for a bell pepper soup recipe) ras el hanout (use TBD, probably a braise, I picked it because I just liked the name), smoked paprika (plan to use in a goat cheese appetizer), pink salt (will obviously use to make some kind of charcuterie) veggies including kale (made chips with it and used in a mussel, clam and white bean stew), kohlrabi (just liked the name and how strange it looks, I used it raw and shredded in a salad but I thought it was not that great, I much prefer celery root in that type of application) squid that I used in a mediterranean shrimp and squid stew. I had never cooked squid before, I could not believe how easy it was. It had been cleaned already, just needed to be sliced and cooked. citric acid to make ricotta A few weeks ago I started buying a new random ingredient every week, based on what seemed fresh and intriguing, just to keep challenging myself in the kitchen. It's been quite fun.

Traditionally, once it's been thoroughly admired, you eventually have to disassemble it with a knife and serve a few choux/puffs by plate. And it's delicious so it would be a shame not to eat it.

You may want to try Costco. That's where I bought mine a few years ago (Kirkland brand) and it was very reasonable (under $50). It's quite large and heavy, and came with a rack.

Grinding your own spices is definitely worth the effort. I do it all the time for Indian dishes or for gingerbread. Just make sure to not grind cloves in your electric coffee or spice grinder. They damage plastic. My grinder's lid (Braun) is now opaque and covered in clove oil residue which does not come off.

+ 4 since September The Spice Necklace: My Adventures in Caribbean Cooking, Eating, and Island Life - Ann Vanderhoof The Cooking of Southwest France - Paula Wolfert Punch: The Delights (and Dangers) of the Flowing Bowl - David Wondrich Best Food Writing 2010

This link includes additional information about the BF 15 which was created in France. It's a firm potato with a low starch content.

In 2011, I will eat more seasonal, local veggies I will make my own bacon I will learn how to use the barbecue (from last year's list) I will read MFK Fisher In 2010 I learned to make bread (using the techniques from 5 minutes a day), ravioli, and ricotta.

I bought cavolo nero (tuscan kale) a few days ago and was not sure what to do with it. My husband suggested kale chips (he had them at a restaurant) so I tried this recipe too. It's delicious and very easy to make. Great little snack for a cocktail party.