FrogPrincesse

About your ganache idea, maybe you could infuse the botanicals that are used to make the gin directly into your cream/ganache, rather than the gin itself, for a more concentrated flavor. I am not a chocolate expert by any means, so this is just a thought! But it sounds quite delicious to have juniper & citrus peel - infused ganache chocolates!

Crystallized figs?

I also use jarred olives in my tapenade most of the time. The main reason is convenience, because that allows me to make tapenade on the spur of the moment with things I already have on hand. I use Greek kalamata olives from Trader Joe's which are decent, but nothing great. Black olives are more traditional and give you a very dark/almost black tapenade, which is what I am more accustomed to (rather than the dark purple tapenade you get with the kalamatas). The recipe I use actually calls for Nyons olives which are described as "mild, dry-cured, and not too salty". I've seen Nicoise olives used too. I honestly don't know what type of black olive is more traditional in France for tapenade. Green olive tapenade is nice too, but it's a completely different thing (and a more recent invention). Black olive tapenade is a lot more intense, a bit bitter, tannic. Made with good quality olives, it has a great depth of flavor and you only need to use a small amount on bread (too much and it'd be an overload of garlic & anchovies) . To me, it was something special/more or less a luxury item when growing up in France.

And here is my latest obsession - horchata with a shot of espresso (on the right; on the left is a regular ice latte).

Barrel aged or (Absolut) bottle aged?

I made another batch a few days ago; I was a bit short on almonds so I made up the difference with shredded coconut. Very tasty!

I am sure it does the job. The best I tried was House Spirits coffee liqueur. It's like drinking a shot of alcoholic espresso, which explains why my bottle disappeared so fast... Absolutely delicious. Now I have St. George NOLA coffee liqueur which is pretty good, and also some homemade stuff (plus some Kahlua still somewhere, I am sure...).

That looks interesting, Craig. What is your coffee liqueur of choice?

...and I already finished it! It is a quick & easy read. I was familiar with most of the material already, but I learned a few fun facts. eGullet is mentioned a few times, including its possible role in the spread of the Last Word's popularity across the US.

I feel that this is extremely subjective and my preferences seem different as well. I had the Damoiseau 55 and wasn't too devastated when that bottle was finished. It is solid, but wasn't anything special to me and I wasn't crazy about its specific flavor profile. My favorites white agricoles so far are Neisson, Clement Canne Bleue, and La Favorite. JM is good too, but I reserve final judgment until I try their higher proof expression.

That's not my experience. I grew up in France and still go there regularly. I was in Paris last year where this was still very common. David Lebovitz has plenty of examples on his blog... Olives in bulk, etc. http://www.davidlebovitz.com/marche-daligre-aligre-outdoor-market-paris/ http://www.davidlebovitz.com/the-barbes-market-paris-french-market/ Here is another picture from another blog with anchovies in bulk. http://eastsidefoodbites.com/2011/05/26/eatings-from-paris-anchovies-aplenty/

I doubt it's illegal. It a pretty common sight at farmers' markets (and specialized stores), for anchovies, olives, things of that sort...

I was wondering about that too. In my experience pâte brisée is standard for quiche. That's how I have always seen it or made it... Not saying it doesn't taste delicious too in puff pastry.

That one is on my list, and I just ordered Robert Simonson's A Proper Drink about the cocktail renaissance.

A Quill which is a Negroni variation with a dash of absinthe. 33 Portland dry gin, Campari, Cocchi vermouth di Torino, St. George absinthe. I put in a couple of sprays of absinthe but will have a heavier hand next time as you could barely detect it.

To drink with cake, yes. To use in cake, I don't think so. You need something with a more concentrated flavor since you are only using a tablespoon in that recipe.

Applejack or apple brandy would be the closest American equivalent.

@Thanks for the CrepesThanks for the reply! I didn't have much choice unfortunately. I contacted a few neighbors but the first ones haven't had a functioning oven for years (no idea how they survive - I use mine every day), and the others weren't home. So the unbaked cake went in the freezer and I am keeping my fingers crossed. There were egg whites but the batter was rather dense overall. Some people in this thread (for example the second post in the discussion) mentioned freezing molten chocolate cakes unbaked, so I remain hopeful for now... The uncooked batter tastes really good and my daughter was trying to convince me to eat it as is!!!

@BonVivantThese pastries do look tasty! 10 for 2 euros?! What a deal.

True? Well, this is the Mexican forum so it's going to be rice-based, right? From my understanding, it's Spanish horchata that uses tiger nuts (this was discussed upthread).

Can you freeze a cake before baking it? I had a cake all ready to go, and then my Miele oven decided to... do a little impromptu fireworks show... !!! This is a basic marble cake with baking powder in it.

Putting it all together... Here is my current favorite recipe. Technique Blend rice and almonds Add water, sugar, cinnamon, and blend again Let sit overnight at room temperature Fine strain into a nut milk bag Ratios 100% water (no milk) (4 cups) 2:1 rice to almonds (1 cup rice and 1/2 cup almonds) 2.7:1 liquid to solids ratio (by volume) 67 g/L sugar (1/3 cup sugar for 4 cups of liquid) 1/2 tsp cinnamon This is a bit concentrated but this amount fits in my blender exactly. I feel that 1 to 2 more cups of water could be added. One solution is to add it when the final drink is dispensed and store the "concentrated" horchata in the fridge. This is what it looks like after sitting on the counter all night...

Another side note. The horchata at the farmers' market seems to be mysteriously stable, whereas mine always settles with the fine solids migrating to the bottom of the bottle (or glass) over time. A quick shake fixes the issue, but I am very curious as to how you can avoid this sedimentation. I am wondering if it's because the solids are significantly smaller in size (because they use a finer filter for example), or because they add something to keep everything suspended. I wonder what happens if you use rice flour instead of rice to make horchata? Maybe that's the secret! ("Instant horchata" is what seems to happen based on a quick search. Is that considered cheating? I have to try this!)

After this of course I had to go in the opposite direction. I picked a recipe that seemed quite rich with both milk and almonds! This is the recipe from Kenji López-Alt in Serious Eats, so I knew this would be a reliable/tested method. Recipe highlights Grind rice and almonds in blender Add sugar, vanilla extract, cinnamon, water and milk and blend again Let sit in the fridge overnight Strain Ratios 2:1 water to milk (1 quart water and 2 cups milk) 1:1 rice to almonds (1 cup rice and 1 cup almonds) 3:1 liquid to solids ratio (by volume) 100 g/L sugar (2/3 cup sugar for 6 cups of liquid) With the almonds, the recipe just specifies blanched almonds. Other recipes toast them first. I used roasted blanched & sliced almonds from TJ's that are a little more flavorful/nutty than regular blanched almonds. It's all a matter of personal preference/mood. By then I had finally acquired a nut bag (about $10 on amazon). And I have to say, the stuff really changed my life. Not only does it make the straining process so much easier (the bag has a little drawstring so you close it once everything has been poured inside, and then you can press without worrying that things are going to fall out of the cheesecloth. Also it's fabulous for making cheese!) Impressions This is a very creamy very rich horchata. Honestly I am not crazy about the milk in it. There is just too much of it, it practically tastes like almond-flavored milk. However the allmonds are great. Of course with the almonds, the drink is very reminiscent of one of my favorite things, orgeat.

Here is Morgenthaler's no-nonsense back-to-basics horchata. Recipe highlights Pre-soak rice (California long grain rice) and cinnamon* stick broken into pieces in hot water Let sit overnight at room temperature Blend until smooth, or as smooth as possible (ie, for a rather long time if you are using a regular house Hamilton old blender like me) Fine strain** And... done!!! Can it be that simple?! (It is) Ratios 100% water (no milk) ratio (3 cups = 24 ounces) 3:1 liquid to rice ratio (by volume) (1 cup rice) 133 g/L sugar (1/2 cup sugar for 3 cups of liquid)*** *He says to use the softer Ceylon cinnamon and not the super hard cassia bark that you see everywhere. I think that's a very handy tip. It tastes a lot fresher when you grind your own of course but almost all the recipes call for already ground cinnamon. **Here he specifies to use a "nut milk bag". I remembered another one of my virtual cocktail friends mentioning such a contraption. The thing always sounded super weird to me and I never researched it. Anyway, when I made Morgenthaler's recipe I didn't have a nut bag and used the same metal strainer + nylon cheesecloth combination I had used before. But I decided to investigate the mysterious nut bag everyone seemed to rave about for future experiments. ***The dude seems to have somewhat of a sweet tooth. I can't say I am shocked because his cocktail recipes tend to be on the sweet side. I reduced the amount to about half, The result was good but a bit basic (haha). I thought it was somewhat lacking in richness, but it was solid, and I liked how easy it was to make (except for the straining which is messy when you don't have the famous nut bag!).