Lesley C
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Posts posted by Lesley C
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Yes, I'm afraid so. The Terr store is quite dark with neon lights and a black tile floor. The chocolates are pre-boxed by sort and the central tables sells chocolates in individual lime green and brown packages. Oh brother, no wonder you weren't impressed.
All these changes are quite recent. Hevin's website doesn't mention any of this, not even the new Terr store. You'll have to go back. I only came upon the glitzy upscale store because I walked there from the other direction, near Suffren, and passed the it by chance.
Bux, I know all about Espai Sucre and will be sampling Mr. Butron's desserts when he comes to Montreal for the Highlights Festival in March. When I worked at Thuriès in 1990 we often made dessert-only menus for visiting chefs. And one of the most popular menus included seven courses, four of them desserts.
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Wait a minute! Were you two at the new Terr store in his old store at the 16 avenue de la Motte Picquet? Accross the street is his new upscale store where all the chocolates are displayed and can be purchased individually. The Terr store is meant to be his second "bis" line of classics, especially truffles. The good stuff is at the new store accross the street up the block. Please don't tell me you missed it.
What I found interesting at the Terr store is the frozen macaron boxes. They claim these macarons can be kept fresh for up to a week.
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Thanks for the report Patrice! What did you eat? And can you tell us a bit more about the menu.
Also, was it crowded on a Monday night? And what about our favourite subject, desserts!
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Well, to make up for Cabrales' dessert boycott, I vow in 2003 to order two desserts in all top restaurants I frequent. I fact, I might consider JUST ordering dessert, thus starting a world-wide dessert-only trend. And I might just open up a chocolaterie specializing in mendiants made with plenty of dark chocolate and nuts!
So there Cab
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Fauchon just bought out the Flo Traiteur shops. So now Steve, not only will Fauchon be a shell of its former self, but with so many stores to run, the quality and style is sure to be watered down further.
My sources tell me the bistros and restos owned by Flo have not been sold. -
I think Mulot is amazing. Technically, his entremets are some of the best in Paris.
Hevin is my favourite chocolatier in Paris and I think his new Terra store -- located in his original shop -- is lovely. His other new store accross the street is also awesome.
Another superb new patisserie of note is patisserie Sadaharu AOKI at 35, rue Vaugirard. It's quite close to Herme's store.
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Steve, don't the better bistros fill that void? Places like Benoit and the Fontaine de Mars. God I'd take the Fontaine de Mars over Union Square Cafe any day. What about that great meal you had a Chez Georges? Was that too formal? Or is that waiter in a Ralph Lauren button down shirt saying " Hi my name is Bruce and I'll be your waiter this evening" absolutely essential?
I, for one, dread the day I dine out in France and there are only guys in shirts and no tuxedos. Actually, I hope and pray this type of restaurant you're looking for doesn't make its way to France.
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I'm a huge Martha fan and have been since day 1 -- or maybe day 2. She works at getting things right instead of wasting people's time with half-assed interpretations. The only part of the Martha enterprise I'm disappointed in are those Weddings magazines, which have become an elitist bore. The rest is still terrific. I look forward to this fun little magazine.
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Wow Patrice great news...that's an up-and-coming neighborhood, and right near Chistophe! I was sorry to see Mykonos go though.
I look forward to such interesting restaurant openings this year. 2002 was a bit disappointing.
Let me guess about the chef...is he the fellow whose name was misspelt in a recently published French restaurant guide.
Hee Hee
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In an effort to delete a double post, I accidently wiped out the thread regarding Rosalie restaurant. I know SteveW had asked Rosalie's chef David McMillan to tell us more about the restaurant and David was nice enough to post his reply (before I accidently erased it).
Here's what David had to say:
Posted: Dec 17 2002, 05:08 PM
hello everybody,well i think were opening on the 27th,the restaurant is two floors with a lounge bar upstairs with a cozy fireplace and couches,downstairs there are 160 seats abit art nouveau bistro design,the menu is fairly large and very french in style (acceptable french for montreal)whatever that means,we have beautiful wooden tables that are made from recycled lumber from the old angus yards,they used to be the ceiling planks,there also is a large terrase in summer,i apologize the web site is not online yet ,later this week i hope,i will also post menu soon,on gullet,i hope the restaurant is true to downtown montreal,i sincerly hope (although i might dismally fail)that the restaurant is an acurate portrayal of a good montreal restaurant,any way thats what im workin towards,la cuisine montrealaise ,my mom told me that there should be a good montreal restaurant downtown.....it took me a few months to figure it out............please wish me luck,we have spent alot of moolah renovating that hole......see you soon
Sound good to me!
I'll be there -- with bells on -- in January! Again my apologies to all concerned. David please post the menu as soon as possible. -
I toured Wittamer's chocolate-making facilities (behind the store) and I can assure you they make all their chocolates in-house.
I think they're the best, certainly better than Neuhaus and Godiva (yuck!).
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I wonder if the dinner was better on the tuesday night? My mesclun was Mr. Daignault's best. And I thought the squab was surprisingly lovely.
Let's not forget the price here either. $110 wouldn't get you past two courses in most three-star restos.
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At the Montreal Highlights Festival, Le Lutétia at the Hotel de la Montagne have invited Laurent Gras on February 24 and 25 (four-course menu $95). The next night you could hop over to Michel DelBurgo's menu at the Montreal Casino ($150 with wine). And the night after that, you could head over to Toque! for Barcelona chef Xavier Pellicer's dinner. BTW, these are all Cnd $$$
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Dear Chef Ripert,
While New York is often being touted as the world’s most innovative restaurant city, French cities like Paris and Lyon are being branded “démodé.” Yet when you look at most of New York’s top chefs, you find a bunch of Frenchmen. So in a sense, New York’s success is just an extension – or proof – of the French dominance of haute cuisine. True or false?
Which of today’s French chefs (cooking in France) do you find interesting? And what aspect of the dining experience – technique, service, setting, quality of ingredients -- do you think the French still do better than anyone else?
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If your buttercream wasn't originally grainy, it shouldn't be grainy when reconstituted. You should actually be melting about 1/4 of the mass of buttercream, then beating it on high speed for a long time with the paddle to reach the right consistency. The French call this consistency "pommade" like face cream. With a whisk, you'll never achieve a pommade consistency. It's just too fluffy, and fluffy icing doesn't work well for icing. Try the paddle next time and see what you think.
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Malawry, I just read something that made my hair stand up on end. Did you say you whip up reconstituted buttercream with a whisk? If that's what they taught you, I'm sorry to say it's wrong. You always reconstitute buttercream -- room temp, refrigerated, or frozen -- with the paddle attachment. With the whisk you incorporate too much air, which ruins the consistency. You should also be using a blow torch when mixing.
What kind of buttercream is this? Meringue-based, pate a bombe-based (yolks), or fondant-based?
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No Suvir, only because it's quite difficult to track down superb chestnuts --especially Italian -- around here.
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Les Marrons Confits et Glacés
(translated from a recipe by Jacques Noeninger)
The process for making candied chestnuts is similar to that of candied fruit. The preparation, however, is different in that the chestnuts are blanched twice.
1) Remove the outer shell of the chestnut, being careful to keep them whole
2) Plunge the nuts in simmering water for 5 minutes then peel by rubbing them one by one in a clean dish cloth. Then, using a small knife, remove the skin between the “veins” of the chestnut.
Cooking the chestnuts:
3) Once the nuts are perfectly cleaned, place them on a thick layer of cheesecloth, folding it over to cover. Transfer this “package” to a round, footed grill and place it in the bottom of a deep saucepan.
4) Pour in enough cold water to generously cover the chestnuts and heat until the water just comes to a boil. Reduce the heat, and let barely simmer 30-45 minutes depending on the size of the nuts (be sure the water never reaches a rolling boil).
5) Using a long pin, spear a chestnuts from end to end. You should be able to puncture the nut meat through without any resistance. Be careful not to overcook the chestnuts or they will be too fragile; keep in mind, they will cook further in the upcoming “confisage” step.
6) Carefully lift the grill out of the water, remove the cheesecloth, then rinse the nuts thoroughly in warm water. Let the nuts drain, on the grill, about 15 minutes.
7) Meanwhile, prepare a glucose syrup at 20˚ baumé (or 1160 on a densimeter) with the following ingredients:
1 liter water, 700 gr. white sugar cubes, 100 gr. Liquid glucose, 2 vanilla beans, split and scraped.
Heat together the ingredients and bring slowly to a boil. Off heat, carefully plunge each chestnut into the hot syrup, one by one. It is necessary to have a generous amount of syrup so that the chestnuts are well-covered.
Place the pot back on low heat, being sure the syrup never comes to a boil (a heat diffuser works well here). The syrup will become more and more concentrated, reaching 32˚baumé (or 1285 on a densimeter) when hot. This will take a long time – between 24-48 hrs to reach the proper sugar concentration. Check after 24 hours by removing a chestnut from the syrup and cutting it into pieces to see if the syrup has penetrated the middle of the nut.
When the chestnuts are sufficiently candied, remove from heat and let them cool in the syrup, then carefully transfer them into sterilized containers or Mason jars.
8) Glazing the chestnuts: To proceed with this step, the candied chestnuts must be drained at least 2 days in advance. Prepare a glace a l’eau (sugar/water glaze) by combining:
850 gr. icing sugar, 150 gr. water, and 10 gr. vanilla extract
Heat in a large pot to 45˚C. The consistency should be similar to fluid fondant used to glaze a cake.
9) Using a fork, dip each candied chestnut in the glaze, placing them carefully side by side onto a rack set on a baking sheet to drip dry.
10) When all the chestnuts are glazed, place the whole tray in a hot oven (200˚C) for a few seconds to set the glaze and make them shine.
11) Let them cool and dry on the surface, then wrap each chestnut in a small square of gold paper.
12) Crack open a bottle of Champagne and start eating!
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I made these at school years ago. I pulled out my recipe. It takes 48 hours and it's very complicated.
You'll need a densimeter.
Still interested?
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Gee that sounds great but it seems like a lot of food. Are both meat courses really necessary?
I guess if the portions are small...
Do you have to take care of the wine as well?
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Whoa! Morimoto (March 1 at Soto) and Vancouver's Hidekasu Tojo (20-21 at the Mikado) will be there as well!
Regis Marcon will be at the ITHQ Feb. 20-23. Santamaria will be doing the Relais & Chateau dinner on Feb 18th.
For the final line up go to:
http://www.montrealenlumiere.com/pdf/FML-t...presse-1202.pdf
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I think he'll be in charge of the opening night gala. But I'll get back to you on that.
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SteveW, unfortunately word gets around and rumors travel fast. Cabrales, I hear Gagnaire wil be coming later with Herve This.
While I'm waiting for exact information (I couldn't go to the press conference because there were many chefs present) here are a few names and where they'll be guesting (by the way, this horrible English translation is not mine!):
FROM SPAIN
Catalan chef Santi Santamaria, whose restaurant, El Raco de Can Fabes de
Sant Celoni, has been awarded three stars by the Michelin guide and who is
the international president of Relais gourmands des Relais et Châteaux, and
a member of Les Grandes Tables du Monde, has kindly agreed to serve as
Honorary President of The SAQ Dining Experience.
The talented Xavier
Pellicer of Barcelona's Abac restaurant, will be paired with chef Normand
Laprise of restaurant Le Toqué.
Jordi Butron of Espai Sucre, a dessert restaurant unique in its field, will be
at L'Épicier.
Angel Pascual of Restaurant Llucanès will officiate at the
Queen Elizabeth Hotel's Salle Le Montréalais, where he will prepare the
Catalan convivial meal.
Chef Rafael De Valicourt of Relais et Châteaux Torre
del Remei will be invited at Chez Alexandre
Pep Palau will represent the Osona Cuina collective and the Forum gastronomique de Vic.
FROM USA
Chef Laurent Gras, of the highly praised Fifth Floor Restaurant, paired with colleague Éric
Gonzalez of Lutétia
Nancy Oakes, who will leave Le Boulevard for Le Leméac
and chefs Bastien and Perombelon
Élisabeth Daniel chef Daniel Patterson, paired for the occasion with fellow chef Racha Bassoul of Anise.
FROM FRANCE
Europe will offer the rare pleasure of savouring the creations of Michel Del
Burgo, formerly of Bristol and Taillevent de Paris, who will be at
Restaurant Nuances at the Casino de Montréal
Régis Marcon of Auberge et Clos des Cimes will be at the
Institut de tourisme et d'hôtellerie du Québec
Éric Coisel of Chiberta and Christophe Michalak, pastry chef at Plaza Athénée, will be
respectively visiting at La Chronique and Le Lutétia.
Franck Subileau, of La Bastide des Senteurs en Provence, will put all his savoir-faire to work in
the service of La Maîtresse.
Francis Marin, from Domaine de Fompeyre, will officiate at Café Cherrier.
The French Basque country will be honoured at Restaurant Au Petit Extra with Anxtion Amilia,
who will harmonize his menu with the exquisite selections of his wine-growing compatriots Michel and
Thérèse Riouspeyrous.
FROM CANADA
Mark Picone, of the Niagara region's Vineland vineyard, at Restaurant La Chronique, along with
three Renaud-Cyr award winners: Anne Desjardins, chef emeritus of L'Eau à la
Bouche, in Sainte-Adèle, at Salle Gérard-Delage, Éric Bertrand, from Auberge
des 3 Canards in Charlevoix and Daniel Vézina, of Laurie Raphaël in Quebec
City, to be invited at Les Continents.
MORE TO COME ....
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You call the individual restaurants, and get this, some of the dinners are already sold out!
Stand Mixers 2002 – 2011
in Kitchen Consumer
Posted
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