Lesley C

I use the Food Lover's Companion by Sharon Tyler Hearst every day. Funny, I have most of the books mentioned, but this is the one I use most. The Larousse would come second. I hardly ever refer to the Oxford Companion to Food. Besides fish and seafood, I find the information is quite limited.

Yes, of course. I'm not a beer drinker myself but Quebec beers such as La Maudite and Blanche de Chambly are renowned -- certainly far more than Quebec wines (which BTW are getting better and better).

Er...did I miss something or is Alaska now in Canada? Not to be a fuss ass here but more people might see all this nice information about Alaska if it were in the Pacific Northwest board no?

those little white-powdered doughnuts

You can freeze ganache, but keep in mind that when you defrost it you want to avoid over whipping. It could separate. Also, in my chocolate making books, a truffle should be coated in chocolate. In fact, I coat them in two, thin layers of chocolate before rolling them in cocoa. I put the rolled balls of ganache in the fridge to chill, then roll them (about four at a time, between chocolate-covered hands) in untempered chocolate. I then roll the once-coated truffles in chocolate again then directly onto a baking sheet covered in sifted cocoa. Drop them in the center of the tray, let them sit a couple of seconds, and roll them to the edge end with the back of a fork. Let them pile up on each side before transferring to a plate or box and voila! professional-style truffles.

Again, thank you all for the recommendations. I know we're booked at La Beaugraviere (it's a Cotes du Rhone wine tasting trip so unfortunately the Luberon is out). I'll report back on any new discoveries.

The best Tarte Tatin I've evr tasted by far, far, far was at Ducasse's La Bastide des Moutiers in Provence. If they serve Tarte Tatin at the Plaza Athenée I'm sure it would be out of this world.

A friend once made saltimbocca for 50 using toothpicks -- mint-flavoured toothpicks! You can't imagine how awful it tasted. Some idiots actually came back for seconds.

Cabrales, did you have a chance to taste any Canadian cheeses in Vancouver? Wait... I'll start a new thread on this one.

I want to see Tony B. naked with a blender.

As Steve mentioned, I dislike Art Culinaire because I've seen too many chefs copy directly from those pages instead of spending time to come up with ideas of their own (I once watched a chef reproduce a dish from AC right down to the angle of the chive blossom, with all behind him oohing and aahing). Copying is OK every once and a while, but more than that, it's just lazy. Why not discover your own creativity instead of profiting from someone else's. :confused:

Angrychef, you left out some pretty big names: North 44, Susur, Centro, Canoe. Any reason? I've heard great things about Didier LeRoy for years now. He can be seen on Canadian TV promoting the upcoming Coupe du Monde (he looks a bit like a long-haired Raymond Blanc).

For creamier ice cream, consider replacing about 10% of the milk with powdered milk. A favourite flavour of mine is plombière, which is Kirsch ice cream with bits of candied fruit in it. Grand-Marnier ice cream is also pretty wicked. For a different granité, try grapefruit with Suze (gentiane liqueur). Amazing. I'll try to track down an exact recipe. Andy, you won't need a machine for this one.

Thanks Steve and Bux. I'll report back with details.

I'll soon be in Avignon for a few days and was looking into good restaurants in the area. I've come accross four that look interesting: Brunel, Christian Etienne, La Mirande and La Vielle Fontaine. Has anyone dined at these restaurants? I'm not really interested in the Pourcel Brasserie (though I quite like their cuisine).

Please allow me to take back the comment about the restaurant scene. Of course you have a restaurant scene. But when I think of Toronto I think pro sports and big business, not food. Now when I think of Montreal, I think of food -- certainly not sports or big business! In a way, it has nothing to do with individual restaurants but an overall food scene (off the top of my head, I can't think of one dish or ingredient associated with Toronto). But I'm just talking about a general impression I have of the city. Feel free to put me in my place if I'm mistaken.

Mr Vernon, Toronto Life is a magazine no? I'm sorry I haven't heard of you either. You probably haven't heard of me. I just listed the Toronto writers I either know or have read. Honestly, no harm meant. If you want to discuss Toronto vs. New York, Montreal or Chicago feel free to start a new thread. I will be happy to participate. But I'm not going to be the one get that touchy subject off and running.

Of that list, only Kates is a restaurant critic.

OK you guys I'm totally blushing here... When it comes to Mr. Chatto, I have to admit I've never heard of him. I just can't trust a restaurant critic who writes for a magazine (all fluff, little honesty). Also, Toronto may now have a Williams Sonoma, but, considering the size of the city, it doesn't have much of a restaurant scene (I look forward to Steven Shaw's upcoming report to see if things have evolved). I think it's fair to say that Joanne Kates, Lucy Waverman, Bonnie Stern, Cynthia David, Elizabeth Baird, and the wonderful Anne Lindsay are the big names in food writing in Toronto. To Steven's list of Canadian writers I'd include Julian Armstrong, the Food Editor of the Montreal Gazette.

I really enjoyed Bishop's when I was in Vancouver about five years ago. The food was simple, everything was annoyingly perfect, and the ingredients were first-rate. Sad to hear things may have changed. Cabrales was this your first visit?

Make it small, don't put it in the refrigerator for too long, and pray it doesn't rain. If it's raining the day you plan on making it, consider filling the choux with vanilla ice cream, making a chocolate sauce, and serving profiteroles instead. They're also quite nice filled with pastry cream. Good luck, and be careful (don't get the kids involved with this one). One of the first times I made a croquembouche at cooking school, I accidently dropped a caramel-covered choux onto my hand, flicked it onto my face, and ended up with a second degree burn on my forehead. Not pretty. Be afraid, be very afraid! :wow:

The best place to taste Bernachon chocolates is after dessert, with coffee, at Bocuse. Isn't Bocuse's son married to Bernachon's daughter?

I would add to the list of great European chocolatiers Wittamer in Brussels and would highly recommend them to anyone who prefers milk chocolate and -- especially -- pralines. They also have a nice line of cream chocolates that must be eaten within days of purchase (otherwise they turn to blue cheese). Their ballotins include a variety of shapes, sizes, flavours and mouthfeels. Wittamer is one amazing pastry shop. Belin is interesting but less fun in that respect as all the chocolates are the same shape and size with a ganache base (at least that's what they were like when I was there in the early 90's). Belin also make excellent pates de fruits. I agree 100% with Steve's comments and also love all types of couverture (not brands) when well exploited -- especially white chocolate ganache with passion fruit (boy, is passion fruit ever making a comeback!). My real weakness though is for the heads of milk chocolate rabbits Michel Chaudun's shop is at 149, rue de l'Universite in the 7th.

I made a special trip to Constant last year and was extremely disappointed. The chocolates and cakes were less than perfect (French pastry chefs are the masters of perfection, next to the Japanese of course). In fact, I'd go a step further to rate the work sloppy. The store was dull, the floor was dirty, and the people who worked there were rude. It was the first time I had ever encountered such awful Parisians. There was one pimply faced little apprentice who I actually considered punching. Everything we tasted was overpriced and ordinary. I will never set foot in that place again. Anyway, I'm a Hévin, Chaudun and La Maison du Chocolat fan.

I'm with Andy on this one: morels, cepes and girolles. At home I quite like portobellinis, oyster mushrooms and shiitake. And when in France, those Parisian mushrooms (sometimes called petits roses) can be quite good as well. Here, they usually taste like nothing.