claire797
-
Posts
1,193 -
Joined
-
Last visited
Content Type
Profiles
Forums
Store
Help Articles
Posts posted by claire797
-
-
I personally think that the dissing of all American chardonnays as being of the same poor style is ridiculous and indicates an ignorance or snobbishness that is unbecoming of members of this site. Of course a lot of American chardonnay is plonk, but so is a lot of wine of all types including chardonnay from Burgundy, the rest ofFrance and elsewhere. The problem is not that oak is used, but how it is used and the fact that for whatever reason "oak wine" chardonnays from California became successful with a lot of stylistic copycats. Nevertheless, while I would even concede that a majority of California chard falls into that camp, not nearly all of it does. A lot of California chardonnay including those previously mentioned as well as others like Peter Michael use oak as a nuance and not as a sledgehammer.
Thank you.
-
Claire, I made the BCP from the Parker House, and it was eggy too. Probably just the way it's supposed to be? And waaaaay too much pastry creme too.
I googled up the Parker House Recipe and it appears to be even eggier than the Southern Living version! Still, I may try it because it's supposed to be the original Boston Cream Pie recipe.
And you are right about all that pastry cream. Sheesh! Could you actually fit it all into the cake?
At least the amount of chocolate glaze seems right.
One thing I forgot to mention about my Boston Cream Pie. As gangly as it appears in my picture, it was picture perfect when sliced. It's appearance and taste improved quite a bit after a day in the refrigerator.
Parker House Boston Cream Pie
For Sponge Cake:
7 eggs, separated
8 ounces sugar
1 cup flour
1 ounce melted butter
For Assembly:
4 ounces toasted almonds
For Sponge Cake: Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
In two bowls, separate egg yolks, and whites. Add 1/2 of the sugar to each bowl. Beat both until peaked. When stiff, fold the whites into the yolk mixture. Gradually add flour, mixing with a wooden spatula. Mix in the butter. Pour this mixture into a 10 inch greased cake pan. Bake for about 20 minutes, or until spongy and golden. Remove from oven and allow to cool firmly.
To Finish: Level the sponge cake off at the top using a slicing knife. Cut the cake into 2 layers. Spread the pastry cream over 1 layer. Top with the second cake layer. Reserve a small amount of the pastry cream to spread on sides, to let the almond stick. Spread a thin layer of chocolate fondant icing on the top of the cake. Follow immediately with spiral lines starting from the center of the cake, using the white fondant in the pastry bag. Score the white lines with the point of a paring knife, starting at the center and pulling outward to the edge. Spread sides of the cake with a thin coating of the reserved pastry cream. Press on toasted almonds.
For Pastry Cream:
1 tablespoon butter
2 cups milk
2 cups light cream
1/2 cup sugar
3 1/2 tablespoons cornstarch
6 eggs
1 teaspoon dark rum
For Pastry Cream: In a saucepan bring the butter, milk, and light cream to a boil. While this mixture is cooking, combine the sugar, cornstarch, and eggs in a bowl and whip until ribbons form.
When the cream, milk, butter mixture reaches the boiling point, whisk in the egg mixture and cook to boiling. Boil for 1 minute. Pour into a bowl and cover the surface with plastic warp. Chill overnight if possible. When chilled, whisk to smooth out and flavor with 1 teaspoon dark rum.
For Chocolate Fondant Icing:
6 ounces fondant
3 ounces semisweet chocolate, melted
For Chocolate Fondant Icing: Warm 6 ounces of fondant over boiling water to approximately 105 degrees. Add melted chocolate. Thin to spreading consistency with water.
For White Fondant Icing
5 ounces fondant
For White Fondant Icing: Warm 5 ounces of fondant over boiling water to approximately 105 degrees F. Thin with water if necessary. Place in a piping bag with a 1/8-inch tip.
Substitutions for Fondant Icing:
Chocolate Icing:
6 ounces semisweet chocolate, melted
2 ounces warm water
White Icing:
1 cup confectioners' sugar
1 teaspoon corn syrup
1 tablespoon water
Chocolate Icing: Melt chocolate. Combine with warm water.
White Icing: Combine ingredients and warm to approximately 105 degree F. Adjust the consistency with water. It should flow freely from the pastry bag.
-
Lesley,
You are right. That cake needed a lot more glaze. If I were planning on making that recipe again then I would double it, however, that recipe is a non-repeater. The cake was a bit dry and the filling tasted a little too "eggy" for me. We ate the cake and everyone said it was good, but I prefer my cakes to be STELLAR ;).
Trish,
I'm sure your BCP recipe is better than the one I used. If you have time, would you put your recipe in the archive or post it here? Maybe I will give it another try. Also, thanks for the tip on using a springform pan. Next time, I'll do that.
Those EZ cupcakes sound good -- very cute idea for a party.
-
Small salade frisee with double-smoked lardons and a small poached chicken egg.
Shattered chicken (skin and meat pulled from the bone) with a Chow Chiu chile and garlic glaze atop Japanese rice mixed with an equal quantity of wild mushrooms (morels in resplendent dominance).
Haricot verts sauteed with much butter and pepper, wrapped in bundles, tied with scallions with a lemon pesto dipping sauce.
Cube of hiyayako tofu with coffee essence and toasted walnuts.
Grilled cheese sandwich.
-
The cranberry bread recipe on the back of the cranberries.
Tollhouse cookies (until I started my quest for the perfect chocolate chip cookie -- no time for Tollhouse anymore)
The sausage lasagna recipe on the back of the Barilla pasta box.
Many more which I can't think of now.
-
I think I'll try Lane Cake first. Can any input, Alabamans?
oooh, let me know how it turns out maggie. I'm going to make the Lane Cake recipe that's in this month's Saveur this weekend.
Lotsa eggs: recipe calls for 12 yolks, 8 whites (I think, this is from memory). this recipe uses the filling as the frosting also.
Yes, Maggie. Do report back.
In light of this thread, I have decided to go on a quest for the perfect Red Velvet Cake. As I've mentioned, Red Velvet is one of my favorite cakes, but so many of them turn up either 1) too dry or 2) bastardized versions of chocolate cake. Red Velvet is not really a chocolate cake. It's a distinctly buttermilk/sour tasting cake with a hint of chocolate.
The standard recipe uses 1/2 cup shortening and 2 cups flour, but I've seen recipes with as much as 1 3/4 cup oil. {{ !!!!!!}} No doubt the version the second version is moist, but that's a ludicrous amount of oil. If anyone's interested, here's a link to a few red velvet recipes.
-
I was reading an old Southern cookbook the other day and came across an interesting recipe. I can't remember the name of it, but it sounded good. You take 6 baked potatoes and chill them in the refrigerator for a day -- this gives them a nutty a nutty flavor. Take the chilled baked potatoes, slice them thin, layer them in a casserole with butter (I think the recipe called for 6 tablespoons), salt to taste and bake for about 30 minutes at 350.
-
IThe Perfect Cake by Susan Purdy.
Amazon got it to my door yesterday, and I must say it appears to be all Nightscotsman says. I am terrifically excited about baking form this book.
The sections on fillling, icings, frostings looks especially useful.
There are several classic cakes here that a northerner like me has never heard of. I think I'll try Lane Cake first. Can any input, Alabamans?
Thanks, Nightscottie.
Maggie,
I've only seen pictures of Lane Cakes and they always look so beautiful. Can you take a picture of yours? Lane Cakes are the one that use a bunch of egg yolks, Right? I think I get Lane Cakes mixed up with Lord Baltimore Cakes -- never tried one of those either, but I do have a lot of Southern Living books.
-
Can't wait to hear your review on the soul food place.
As for the Citysearch reviews, does this strike you as odd?
Crimson -- been around for a month, has 16 glowing reviews.
Lamberts -- been around for a little over a year, only 12 reviews, mostly good
Castle Hill -- been around forever -- only 16 reviews
Vespaio -- been around over 3 years and has 25 mixed (mostly good) reviews
Eastside Cafe (great place -- been around forever) -- 22 reviews
Something's up.
I assume they just had several FOP's (Friends of the Program) or employees flood the review page.
Definitely something like that.
I wish one of you would try the place and let me know what you think.
-
Can't wait to hear your review on the soul food place.
As for the Citysearch reviews, does this strike you as odd?
Crimson -- been around for a month, has 16 glowing reviews.
Lamberts -- been around for a little over a year, only 12 reviews, mostly good
Castle Hill -- been around forever -- only 16 reviews
Vespaio -- been around over 3 years and has 25 mixed (mostly good) reviews
Eastside Cafe (great place -- been around forever) -- 22 reviews
Something's up.
-
Further to my previous post. Why do restaurants, even the odd good one wrap their so called baked potatoes in foil? What good is doing that supposed to accomplish?
Porkpa
I bake my mine without foil then wrap it in foil just before plating. The foil helps the potato retain the heat while it's sitting on the plate. It's useless if you plan to dig into your potato right away. However, if you tend to eat one thing at a time, the foil is a good thing.
-
I use mine for chicken. A 4-5 pound roaster cooks in about 1 hour and 20 minutes at 475F. So far, I've had perfect results every time.
I do have problems with chicken skin sticking and have run my claypot through the dishwasher several times. It gets so dirty that I can't imagine NOT putting it in the washer. If this has any affect on taste, I sure haven't noticed it.
-
Just for fun, I went to Austin Citysearch to see what other people were saying about Crimson. Wow! It scored really high. The place has only been open for about a month and it already has 16 reviews!
http://austin.citysearch.com/review/357160...abs_user_review
-
Or maybe you'll go to Crimson and have a fabulous dish. I don't know. I really wish I could go back and try something else.
As for Zin, it's on my list of places to try. Unfortunately, I am afraid I'll like it and then it will close. Isn't it in one of those "doomed restaurant" spots?
-
Chipotle Bacon Cornbread
Serves 6 as Side.
This started out as just a scaled down version of Rachel Perlow's Skillet Cornbread With Bacon. I made a few changes along the way and the results are significantly different, hence the new recipe. This is for an 8 inch skillet. You could get away with using a 9 inch, but the bread will be thinner.
Note: This is VERY spicy. If you can't handle the heat, seed the peppers.
- 5 slices cooked bacon, chopped
- 3 chipotle peppers, chopped – seed for mild
- 3 T butter
- 2/3 c yellow cornmeal
- 2/3 c flour
- 1/2 tsp tsp baking soda
- 1-1/4 tsp tsp baking powder
- 1 tsp salt
- 1/4 tsp black pepper
- 1-1/2 T sugar
- 1 c buttermilk
- 1 egg
Mix peppers and bacon. Set aside. Put butter in 8 inch cast iron skillet and set skillet in oven. Preheat oven to 350. While oven is preheating and butter is melting, mix dry ingredients in a large bowl. In a separate bowl, mix buttermilk and eggs. Gently add buttermilk and egg mixture to dry ingredients. Stir only until moist. Batter will be lumpy. Stir in bacon and chipotle mixture. Remove hot skillet of melted butter from oven. Pour cornbread batter into hot butter. Bake for 20 minutes.
Keywords: Side, Hot and Spicy, Bread
( RG451 )
- 5 slices cooked bacon, chopped
-
No, but I met their pastry chef in a cooking class last week! First I'd heard of it. Do we have to go???
I don't know. It was good and I'd go back to try a few more things; however, there are too many other restaurants in town I'd rather visit. I hate to give the place a bad review because there was nothing *bad* about it -- it just didn't wow me.
The restaurant is in the old Gilligan's space. If you've never been to Gilligan's, just imagine yourself in a cavernous two-story warehouse with muted tones of crimson, brown and soft light. For a warehouse/loft, the acoustics were good and my friend and I had no trouble hearing each other. Then again, maybe that was because it was a Monday night and the crowd was sparse. I need to go back on a Friday or Saturday.
The menu had a lot of interesting dishes. To see more, click here http://www.crimson.austin.com. I ended up ordering a chicken breast breaded in soda crackers and covered with Tszaski sauce and my friend ordered Asian style fried chicken -- a rich piece of fried chicken bathed in a rich, dark, sweet oriental style sauce.
We put in our orders and the food appeared at our table in about 8 minutes. This was an omen.
My dish tasted okay, but I could have made it at home. The chicken was cooked perfectly, and the Tsasiki sauce was creative touch, but there was something missing in the taste -- probably all the fat that usually makes restaurant food so good. The side dish of couscous lacked flavor and was served luke-warm. It wasn't horrible, but I could have whipped up a better box of "Near East" myself. So while I enjoyed the dinner -- nice atmosphere, great conversation, good wine (glass of Philips Toasted Head Chardonnay -- $6), you could put me at the same table in the same restaurant with the same staff -- serve me a Lean Cuisine and I'd be just as happy.
I should have tried my friend's chicken dish, but it looked kind of greasy, I was getting full and just sort of blew it off. She said it was great and I took her word for it. She didn't rave, but she never really does. We both saved room for dessert
We did not get a dessert menu. Instead, the waitress announced the choices. I hate it when they do this, as half the fun of dessert is perusing the menu and making a decision. At any rate, I nearly fell out of my chair when she said one of the desserts was red velvet cake -- my favorite. Sadly, it was a let-down. Instead of a big slice of cream cheese frosted layers, the cake was a tiny mini-bundt size cake covered in some sort of sugary, tasteless icing/sauce. I guess it was cream cheese -- I couldn't even tell. Whatever it was, the cake needed it because it was dry. The red velvet cake was not nearly as good as the kind you buy at H.E.B. bakery nor the red velvet cake recipe I make from The Cake Mix Doctor book.
I really wanted to love this place. The atmospere was perfect, the staff was very nice, but the food was mediocre. The dishes sounded so good, but were disappointing in the end.
-
Here's what I -- wait, I mean Jimmyo -- had last night.
Cheap French wine (Vin De Pas) called Le Carre. Wasn't awful, wasn't great
Orange/Asian chicken from January Food and Wine Magazine
Baked Potato
Broccoli
Blue Bell Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Ice Cream (not pictured)
-
I was perusing Citysearch this morning and stumbled across this place. I've never heard of it, but it sounds great! Has anyone tried it?
-
Pay attention:
Chicken-fried steak: Bluebonnet Cafe in Burnet, Tx
Seafood: Nowhere
Yessir. I did pay attention. Close attention.
First: No good seafood? You obviously haven't tried T&S Seafood Restaurant on North Lamar.
Second: Bluebonnet Cafe in "Burnet, Texas"???
You sure about that, Big Fella?
Yeah. Wouldn't that be Marble Falls?
-
Chicken grilled over mesquite
Roast potatoes
Cornbread with bacon and chipotles
Salad
a really nice little Spanish wine from Tarragona
Boston Cream Pie (homemade)
-
Here's the pie I just made. Not quite picture perfect, but it will do.
Next to the pie is the book where I found the recipe. Usually Southern Living recipes work, but I have reservations about this one. The recipe made too much filling. And based on the small spoonful of pastry cream I sampled, it seems a bit yolky. Maybe 4 egg yolks *is* a bit much
.I'll wait to try a piece before putting it in the archive.
-
I am sure I have a homemade version of it as well. I have a decent size collection of fundraiser cookbooks (I even edited one for my church many moons ago). Pulling one out at random, oh looook ...."Wacky Cake," "Mississippi Mud Cake," "Banana Split Cake..."
One of the very few things I have from my grandmother (my Dad's mom) is a handwritten recipe for Mississippi Mud cake. She was a fine down-home cook from Oklahoma. I wish I had more of her recipes.
What's in the Banana Split Cake?
My grandmother used to make banana split cake. From what I remember, it was a thin yellow sheet cake with a fluffy/creamy topping cream cheese, pineapples, bananas and maraschino cherries. I think I've seen it with graham cracker crumbs instead of cake too.
-
Grilled Cheese Sandwich (Me)
Bacon Lettuce & Tomato Sandwich (Spouse)
Pringles Chips
Steamed Vegetables
Caffeine Free Diet Dr. Pepper
Blue Bell Cookies and Cream Ice Cream
Let's hope tonight is more interesting....
-
Turtle Creek..that sounds far away...this is a UK Restaurant
uh, joke...
I thought it was funny.
Dinner! 2003
in Cooking
Posted
DH had a green salad, grilled steak, homemade fries, Jones Green Apple Soda and a tiny piece of homemade red velvet cake.
I opted for a grilled ham and swiss cheese sandwich, steamed vegetables and some Glenny's barbecue flavor soy chips. For dessert, Blue Bell Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Ice Cream mixed with Homemade Butterfinger Ice Cream.
No wine was served.