Lesley C

Jinmyo, do you ever get to Montreal?

I find warm bread in restaurants tacky -- unless it's those Parker House rolls or biscuits. Sliced brioche should be served warm or toasted and must be wrapped in a napkin to keep warm. And baguette should never be reheated, unless toasted. If you reheat it, the crust gets even harder and the center dries out. Baguette is all about the contrast between crisp crust and slightly chewy (never fluffy) soft center. That's why it must be sliced at the very last minute. Butter must be room temperature. Cold butter is silly. Worse is the hotel practice of serving butter shapes on a tray of ice with parsley scattered on top. For the cheese course, there must be an assortment of breads, including a levain-type bread and a nut or raisin bread.

Dear Amanda, Welcome to eGullet. Has there ever been a moment (or several) when you found yourself admiring the person you were interviewing for their expertise or artistry in a way that made you regret becoming a food writer rather than say a top notch baker (à la Nancy Silverton) or brilliant chef (like Jean-Georges Vongerichten)? In other words, do you sometimes find the switch from hot topic to hot topic frustrating enough to make you envy people who have chosen to explore one facet of the food world to the extreme? Or is reporting on them more fulfilling than being them?

Steve's right. Also, it comes in rounds as opposed to rectangular sheets. You usually use two layers for a beggar's purse type thingy.

Great Steve, just great! Thanks for that. I worked in a patisserie in Lyon on the Rue de Brest in the summer of 1989. Your lunch makes me yearn to go back. I love Lyon. The people are amazing.

I find Food and Wine a complete bore. That magazine has no soul. And I agree with the people who said Saveur has gotten dull. I still find lots to like about Gourmet, but no, it isn't at all as good as it used to be (I have hundreds of back issues, which I refer back to constantly for recipes and info). I can't pinpoint exactly what it is about that magazine that I find disappointing. I think it has lost its elegance. I used to be thrilled when it arrived. But this year, I too have dropped my subscription. There are still some excellent food articles in Martha Stewart Living and the recipes are quite good. Anyone who shuns that magazine is missing out, I think. For pastry, it's very, very good (or as Martha would say "very very excellent").

Steve, a magimix is what we call a cuisinart or robocoupe. I've been making doughs this week and I find them all too dry. But I'm up in cold, dry Canada so I need to add a bit more water. If you're making a pate sucree like this, it should smear together nicely before refrigeration ( a technique called "fraser" or "fraiser"). If not, turn the dough out onto to counter and sprinkle over a tablespoon (or 1 1/2) of cold water. But be careful, too much water will toughen the dough.

I found out about 12 hours after my deadline . Hi Stelio. Can you give us an idea of the restaurant's goal. And Patrice, I noticed there's an empty locale net door. Might make a nice pastry shop.

This is the page on APDC straight out of my dining out book. Au Pied de Cochon (Reviewed 01/02) SNAPSHOT Au Pied de Cochon is a restaurant with few pretensions. Artistic-plate-presentation seekers, “heart smart” eaters, and vegetarians be damned. This is a place for pork, duck, venison, even poutine, and the kind of hearty French fare that chefs themselves enjoy after an early-morning excursion to the market, when a bowl of steaming onion soup and a glass of inky Crozes-Hermitage hit the spot better than a croissant and a café au lait. This exciting new bistro/brasserie, like its owner (and the crowd consisting of the Plateau’s hippest thirty-and-fortysomethings), has character—a quality all too rare on today’s restaurant scene. THE BIG PICTURE Restaurant critics receive plenty of letters. They come mostly from readers recommending restaurants they would like to see reviewed. Others, from both restaurant patrons and restaurateurs, offer comments—either glowing or critical—about reviews that run counter to the reader’s experience. Once in a while I receive mail questioning the whereabouts of a favourite chef. Recently, several have started with, “Could you tell me what has become of Martin Picard?” Besides learning that he was giving the occasional cooking class, I’d heard little about Picard’s whereabouts since he left Le Club des Pins in the summer of 2000. Rumours later began circulating that he planned to open a bistro-and-brasserie-style restaurant, on Avenue Duluth, appropriately named Au Pied de Cochon. Like his local English counterpart, Globe chef David McMillan, Martin Picard is often considered a culinary enfant terrible: a passionate and opinionated young chef who likes things done his way, favouring artisanal meats and produce over standard ingredients and injecting a large dose of personality into every dish. During his three years at Le Club des Pins, he was acclaimed for his bold take on southern French cuisine, serving whole fish and chickens baked in a salt crust, lamb shanks slow-cooked in fat (confit), and duck magrets piled high with wild mushrooms. Hot foie gras enhanced with lavender honey or chocolate was considered his signature dish. You’ll find such unusual dishes, and plenty of new ones, at his new restaurant—all reasonably priced under $20. A recent meal here started with “oreilles de crisse,” half-moon-shaped slices of deep-fried lard that were dry, supercrisp, and cut into bite-size pieces far more appealing than the large cabane-à-sucre variety. Following that bit of indulgence came a superb onion soup filled with just the right amount of cheese, croutons, and caramelized onions, everything suspended in a robust of beef broth. A plate of “cochonailles” included a fine assortment of pork charcuterie made in-house. My preferred starter was a simple plate of gently flavoured, thinly sliced smoked ham (credited to a certain Marcel Picard, a farmer from L’Estrie and no relation to the chef) served with croutons doused with peppery virgin olive oil. Main courses included a delicious Alsatian choucroute consisting of tangy fermented cabbage, Strasbourg sausage, baked ham, and salt pork. The ragout de pattes de cochon is not the usual sauce-heavy stew but an assembly of small meatballs and vegetables topped with a crisp square of breaded, deep-fried—fatty and gelatinous—pig’s feet meat. As one can expect with any new restaurant, there were a few disappointments. The duck magret was overcooked and tough, and the sliced potatoes served underneath were greasy. Fortunately, the dish was topped with a generous mound of delicious wild mushrooms. Some dishes could use more seasoning. The foie gras flan served with a purée of figs and croutons is a case in point; it had a smooth texture and pleasant flavour but grew dreary after the first few bites. Although the cassoulet was presented in a beautiful earthenware casserole filled with tender braised lamb and duck confit, its white beans and sauce were simply crying out for salt (I also prefer cassoulet topped with a bread-crumb crust, but that’s a personal preference). As for dessert, the lemon tart sampled was no more than run-of-the-mill. Far better were the crème caramel, and the velvety baked apple served atop a butter-soaked slice of pain rustique. DECOR, DRESS, AMBIENCE Au Pied de Cochon’s original decor is one of its strengths. Napkin rings, menus, and business cards are all emblazoned with an amusing cartoon of the chef, frying pan in hand, riding a smiling pig. Picard was lucky enough to score a locale on one of the city’s most popular restaurant strips that once housed a pizzeria, and he puts its wood-burning oven to good use. Large loaves of country bread are sliced on a butcher’s block next to a refrigerated takeout counter filled with duck confit, tourtières, and foie gras terrines. Other original touches include numbered wood tables, mirrored walls, and an open kitchen filled with chefs wearing funky floppy hats and T-shirts. WINE LIST The wine list is filled with a smartly chosen selection of international wines priced between $28 and $167, with two-thirds of the bottles costing less than $55. Au Pied de Cochon may be Avenue Duluth’s only licensed restaurant, but with prices like these, you won’t miss bringing your own. DON’T MISS The “oreilles de crisse,” the “cochonailles” plate, the smoked ham plate, the choucroute, the ragout de pattes de cochon, the crème caramel, and the baked apple. WORDS TO THE WISE Forget working up an appetite by spending an hour hunting for that elusive parking spot on the Plateau. Taking a cab or walking is your best bet. Au Pied de Cochon is a nonsmoking restaurant. As it says on the menu, “The only smoking permitted here is that of the salmon and ham.” Au Pied de Cochon 536 Avenue Duluth West (near Berri) Telephone: (514) 281-1114 Open: 5 P.M.-midnight, Tuesday to Sunday Wheelchair access: Yes Reservations: Recommended; nonsmoking environment Cards: Major cards Price range: Starters, $5-$18; main courses, $11.50-$20; desserts, $4.75-$8

What! No lunch on weekends! That's a bit of a pisser. Hey boys, you're downtown, people shop on weekends. Sheesh...

I just e-mailed Rosalie's chef David McMillan, who told me the restaurant is open from 11:30 am to midnight seven days a week, except Dec. 25 and Jan. 1.

Suvir, you ate powdered milk! Do you mean evaporated milk? Preferably sweetened.

I have two words for anyone interesting in creamier ice cream: powdered milk. It increases the dry matter content of the ice cream and decreases the liquid, thus making for a creamier ice cream than one made with milk alone. Ice creams and sorbets are all about the balance between dry matter (extrait sec) content and liquid.

Trust me, there's a store accross the street. I wasn't dreaming

Patrice, I drove past last night and saw your baby goat poster. How did you come up with the name? Will there be goat's cheese dishes on the menu?

Tell them you're Canadian! Even better, French Canadian. You're sure to get a table

Did he have a breakdown or something? His brother is a pastry chef who works in Florida and often does demos for Valrhona.

I read all those books and still like her. She has a wicked staff to back up her style and ideas (and vice versa) and she's out there on all fronts at all times. Howard88, if Martha were a man, would you hate her as much? Bet not.

Degustation, where is Didier Leroy now?

Sabayon with cornstarch! Yuck! I make sabayon by first poaching the mix over a bain-marie to 85 degrees C then whipping it in the Kitchen Aid at high speed until it doubles in volume -- like a pate a bombe (which is is). Bripastryguy, why would you want to put gelatin in a sabayon? How are you serving it?

I'm with Suzanne here, if the dessert is not made in-house I probably won't have dessert. If I'm reviewing a restaurant that buys its desserts, I see no reason to review that part of the meal, or I'll cover it just in passing. When ordering, I tend to go for lemon desserts (I like acidic) and if the meal so far has been exceptional, I'll opt for a chocolate dessert. If the dinner has been pretty simple, I'll opt for a creme caramel or something plain (though a good creme caramel is hard to find). I'll rarely eat out and not order dessert. As a former pastry chef, I feel I have to support a course that seems to have fallen out of favour. Sometimes I'm surprised to find a good dessert at mediocre places (especially sushi restaurants) and weak desserts in really sharp restaurants. I love a good dessert at the end of a meal -- even creme brulee, but NOT tiramisu (ek! too rich).

Brownies, but only the brownies from the Baking with Julia cookbook

Place the vanilla beans in an airtight container, such as a Mason jar, with about a half inch of white alcohol such as vodka or rum at the bottom. The booze keeps them moist.

Golden and only Golden Pineapple but never cooked, then raspberries...but they have to be fantastic raspberries.

Forget any machine with a bowl that screws into the base, the screws eventually wear out and you'll never be able to get a bowl of ice underneath the mixing bowl if you want to cool something down while whisking (such as Chantilly or ganache). Also, the Kenwood has a tunnel-like bowl and mixtures like Italian meringue take forever to cool down. Go for the Kitchen Aid with the up-and-down bowl. And BTW, you should always knead bread dough by hand; it's good exercise and gets out all your frustrations