gfron1

I'll step in and defend my spouse (a bit). The premise is that that "traditional" TGiving meal as our generation knows it (30s-40s) was created by the boomers who had access to products, or uses of products, not previously available, and not the prior or latter "traditions" that you all are talking about. And in my opinion, not my spouses, that is the "traditional meal" that is assumed by much of our modern society.

This is The Spouse, responding on Gfron's account with his permission: I admit I'm probably wrong about the Thanksgiving turkey requiring factory farms and electric ovens, but I stand by the rest of it being a 1950s Donna Reed-style fantasy meal. You don't see any Funyuns, gelled cranberries, or mini-marshmallows in Norman Rockwell's paintings from the thirties -- and, of course, nary a Jell-O salad in sight. All that stuff is pure 1950s kitsch. Now, as to why I call that the Baby Boomer period: What we think of as the 1950s really covers the period from mid-fifties to mid-sixties, and I don't think one can underestimate how much that period influenced the Baby Boomer mindset. Many of them have spent their lives reacting against the fifties, and the rest (my parents included) have spent their lives trying to get back to that period.

I'd like to carve that bird! (oops! is it okay to say I want to kill and eat your daughter's creation?) How about...I'd like to take that turkey out in the woods and let it run around free and happy (then gobble it up like a wolf).

Well, my spouse has corrected me via HIS BLOG. Apparently this is the quintessential baby boomer experience.

That's cool and technical enough for me - thanks!

So beautiful! I was going to make the tear drop caramel for a project I'm working on. What was your technique (temps, proportions, etc)?

Here is the document that we started with... I share this with my eGullet family for anyone to use. Its a very rough document so there's nothing valuable in my opinion. I'd appreciate feedback.

Why yes, yes there has... The more I've learned about this guy, the more red flags there are. But then the chef who teaches many of my cooking classes approached me about a gourmet-to-go operation out of our kitchen, and we know her, trust her, and she can handle me. We've even done some meals together...so we're talking down that route right now. We haven't given up on the previous partner because his concept would be a better deal for us. I'll post the very rough BA that we wrote up. Its not really a BA so much as talking points.

Any updates to these recs. I'll be at the Marriott Resort and Spa for a week starting next weekend. No steakhouses, but we're all adventurous eaters.

I love the meal and not the experience (I hope mom isn't reading this). Its one of two days a year (barring any deaths or weddings) when we're all together dealing with the underlying family differences. Actually we have a great, loving family, but everyone besides me in the family is just plain nuts! But back to the food. I love how my family tradition is 300 White Castles (13 siblings on my dad's side), mounds and mounds of liver spaetzle with brown gravy (my mom's German side), Aunt Betty's cranberry sauce of the year that is always nasty but adventurously tantalizing, and Uncle Joe's bacon stuffed anything. All of that washed down with more wine than any of should consume at our increasing ages. And yes, we always have a couple of turkeys that are a tad bit dry, green bean casserole that we all laugh at but leave not a drop, sweet potatoes with bagged marshmallows, and on and on. So what a great day and a great meal. For those of you who live outside of the US...you're not missing anything, and yet you're missing the quintessential US experience. I can't wait

Its a rolled dough

Here's one that I've done with hazelnuts...should be adaptable: 227 g. hazelnuts with skins 567 g. AP flour 1/4 t. salt 85 g. chilled butter, cut into small pieces, more for pan 350 F degrees Roast nuts on a baking sheet until browned and fragrant. Pulse in food processor to make a coarse meal. Transfer to a large bowl. Add flour and salt. Add butter; use two knives or a pastry cutter to cut into mixture until it resembles coarse crumbs. Stir with a fork, and gradually add 1/2 cup cold water, or more as needed, until dough is cohesive. Shape into 2 balls. Chill until ready to use.

Sorry...been baking and missed your question. A soil is basically (in this instance) flour, cocoa, butter, salt and sugar. Bake it, then break it into a crumbly mess. The well plated version without the exploded chocolate tumor actually looked nice. You can see the non-regrettable version HERE.

All of the recipes in this topic are from Ann Amernick's The Art of the Dessert. And I squeeze these in in between my two full time jobs and eG time Sugar keeps me going!

Amernick's Chocolate Babka - very light coffeecake dough with apricot and chocolate filling.

Chocolate Babka A very light coffeecake-like bread swirled with apricot jam, cake crumbs, chocolate shavings and topped with struesel. I thought for sure that this recipe wasn't going to work. When I made the dough it was so wet and sticky - I had no idea how I was going to roll it out. But Amernick said to make it like thick ice cream and I did, so I ploughed ahead. And what do you know...it worked perfectly! I loved the texture of this but would have added more filling to satisfy my sweettooth. Of course, that meant that my spouse thought it was perfect. Amernick calls for this as a dessert with ice cream, but we both agreed that it was best left as a decadent breakfast or brunch item.

We needed some last minute cornbread to go with chili last night, but I didn't have any corn meal. I did have my favorite artisenal finely ground polenta (same thing right?). I added 5 year Gouda and wow did it turn out well. Because the corn was artisenally ground it had small chunks among the powder which unlike the chunks in store bought corn meal, didn't have that grittiness.

That is a chocolate soil...which by the way was salty. And the half-fork is lovingly called a spork in the US, and this one is my prized bamboo sporks.

How well does it work...well, for me I've had it for over 5 years and this is the first time that it did what I wanted. But I've always assumed it was my skills or my baking, not the tool itself. No matter how many times I've tried, I can not make a horizontal cut on my own - frozen, not frozen - that is truly horizontal. As I've said, this not my strongpoint. It works by gently sawing back and forth with the serrated wire. I think that once it breaks the crust, it works much better.

Emma - I must have missed this in any previous topic! You can incorporate butter into marshmallow? I'm fascinated...What does it do to it texturally?

Its THIS thing. A thick wire handle with a couple of thin, serrated wires running between the ends.

Its not often that I get to post here...not because I don't have messes and mistakes, but because its hard to find a photogenic one. But, I offer to the judges, tonight's dessert: Fried cajeta and ganache with lemon zest served on a chocolate soil. As my spouse and I like to say with dishes like this, "Bon Appeshit"

For those of you who were following the cajeta topic, I was going to be making the dessert for an Argentinian fundraiser dinner. The dinner was cancelled but my creation had to be made! The original idea was a chinese soup spoon with cajeta soup, with the tip of the spoon dipped in chocolate and then a bit of Murray River salt. Next to it was this creation. Its a cajeta and 75% chocolate ganache ball with lemon zest, fried, served on chocolate soil (think slightly salty, very cocoa-ey). I wanted to serve the ganache ball in an inverted glass filled with lemon smoke, but I couldn't get it to smell like lemon...and that would have been a bit over the top anyway. So the chef who was going to make the meal had my spouse and I over and I brought dessert.

I would go cream like since my recollection is that is what Ho Hos are. Now you're making me want SuzyQs.

I'm not sure about temp or time, but I would cover the 4 corners with foil to protect them since they will bake a bit quicker. Does this mean you found your pie plate?