FoodMan

well, if you are not too concerned about loosing the shine from the ganache, maybe try dusting it with cocoa or powdered sugar then putting the marshmallow topping on.

hmm...mine, from a local Texas store chain, only has skim milk and cream. I guess they control the fat levels using the skim milk? oh! and it has the serious warning: CONTAINS MILK. You know, in case some lactose intolerant customer does not know that cream that has skim milk contains milk.

Storing them in the pantry is no problem. Now, if one of them starts bulging or swelling for some reason, then throw it away immediatly. I have never had a problem and neither should you.

So, shouldn't we really draw a distinction between the process of producing Foie Gras istelf (ie force feeding) and the "cruel" domestication of animals in general? If the geese or ducks live a good life, with low mortalitly rates and in spacious coops and produce a fine piece of liver why would someone attack their production as opposed to a piece of $0.99/lb of Tyson chicken? What I am trying to say is, foie gras in itself is not the problem here. It's the way the animal is raised, whether it is a goose for foie, a chicken for chicken fingers or a pig for bacon. The only reason as far as I could tell Foie Gras is under attack has already been pointed out. They are small producers, catering to a small part of the market, with not enough resources for their own defense like a chicken producing conglomerate would have.

Doc- I agree with you all the way. how many restaurant meals have you had that you still talk/think about years later? It's been almost a year since my El Bulli visit and whenever I see fava beans, the first thing that comes to mind is my meal there! Manipulated though it might be, it is still all about the food. The fava bean dish alone highlights the line I quoted above and this excerpt in general. It had fava beans in four or five different permutations, all served together and all unforgetable.

Yes it did. It defintily takes longer to cook than when I made it in a ceramic or glass baking dish. maybe twice as long. The eggplant was meltingly tender but kept its shape. More importantly the cooking was very even, usually the cirumference of the dish gets crusty crispy and sticks to the edge of the baking dish. Not this time, it was cooked perfectly from edge to center. So by the end of cooking time, instead of it bubbling furiously around the edges, it was slowly simmering. I cannot wait to try it with more challenging stuff, like mac and cheese, and gratins . Also the dish itself never got too hot, but stayed warm for quiet a while after leaving the oven.

That was a fun and informative read. Thanks for sharing it. What fascinates me most when reading this is the amount of thought that goes into every dish, well actually every ingredient. It illustrates that what Adria et al are doing is not simply to wow the diners or to just use new techniques for the sake of novelty, as their critics usually say. There is an actual philosophy behind it and to me it can be summed by

Yeah, a hearty ragu should work fine, but my first impulse was to treat them like pizzocheri, sort of like this recipe. I said that because of the shape, they look flat, short and wide even though they do not seem to be made from buckwheat. And Jason, if you do that you can post about them in the Lombardy thread .

If you are really concerned about the cans blowing up, then try this. It is a method I picked up from the "Pastry Queen" book. Basically puncture two holes in the lids and stand the cans upright, 3/4 covered with water, in a pot. Boil them till the bubbling milk from the cans (and it will bubble through the holes) is dark caramel color. Works fine but you see the downside, right? No way to store the cans in your pantry for later use...you know with holes and all. I like the boiling method much better if you have no time for the time consuming but oh so good real stuff.

So, I am tired of looking for the stuff! Every so often I run into a recipe that specifies to use pasteurized heavy cream (NOT ULTRA-PASTEURIZED). I know this supposedly whips better then the ultra stuff that has been heated to a much higher degree. It also is supposed to taste better, right? My questions are, is it worth searching for? And where the heck do you buy it? I looked everywhere from local stores to supermarkets to high end fancy gourmet stores where I buy stuff like goose fat, and amazing Irish butter among other things. No one carries anything but ultra pasteurized. Sure that latest store might have 6 or 7 different brands of it but no none-ultra pasteurized.

Thanks Ling. I have not tried the Baking with Julia recipe, I do not have the book. The ones I've tried include a couple from Peter Reinhart and one from Jacque Pepin's Complete Technique. Not to slight either master, but the Keller recipe, that he claims he got from Jean Louis Palladin, is the best. I still have 1/2 a loaf in the fridge, well wrapped in foil, and I plan on keeping slicing toasting and munching on preferably with a good smear of Seville orange marmalade for the rest of the week. That's what I had for breakfast today actually.

We celebrated Valentine's day early this year (not enought free time on Teusday). For breakfast I made the most fantastic French toast I've ever had. Rich, tender and very lightly crisped. I used the recipe from Keller's Bouchon cookbook and made the brioche the night before. BTW I've made several different brioche recipes, but this has to be my favorite so far. I also prepared the Creme Anglaise the night before. Saturday morning I prepared the strawberry puree and cooked up the toast and served it topped with fresh strawberries. The recipe uses apricots actually but my wife loves strawberries and it is Valentine's day after all. Even if I wanted to use apricots, I have honestly never ever eaten an apricot here that tasted like anything, let alone in the middle of February. Here is the finished dish Percyn- These buns look decadent! I need to bake me up a batch....SOON.

Here you go Smithy, the first dish cooked in the little piggy Eggplant a la Parmigianna

Funny story about the wines...a little embarassing actually. Well, the recipe is from Marcella's Essentials of Classic Italian Cooking, the recipe is labeled as "Pork Chops Braised in Two wines" I believe. For the wines she says to use 1/2 cup Marsala and 1/2 dry good red like a Valpolicella. So, being in Lombardy and all I wanted to use a Lambrusco for the red. For some reason, instead of Lambrusco, the Valpolicella is the one that stuck in my head and that is what I bought. I did not notice it till I was ready to use it . So the two wines ended up being a Marsala and the Valpolicella, which BTW was very good for cooking and drinking (Allegrini Classico 2002 I think, the bottle is at home and I can check for sure if anyone is interested). Actually I had no casualties for the Malfatti, I just had to handle them with extreme care and all was well. They were very tasty, but did not make for an ideal "pasta" course. I actually think they might work better if a little sausage ragu is tossed in with them for a meal.

This Saturday was our Lombardy-inspired Valentines's dinner. A couple of days early, but Teusday is not a good time for a three course meal. We started with the scallops. I decide to go with a light breading of Wondra flour and pan frying them like a scallopini till nice an crisp. I then made a simple pan sauce with lemon juice and butter. I served them on top of a loose and creamy polenta. The dish woked out great and tasted excellent. Scallops Scallopini Second course was the Malfatti, following the recipe from Claudia Roden. She does roll them in flour before boiling, but I would prefer to add some flour to the dough next time becuase they were very delicate. I served them with some lemon zest and oregano melted butter. Malfatti Main course was pork. More specifically pork chops braised in two wines from Marcella Hazan's book. I served two contorni with it, braised fennel and sauteed mushrooms with porcini, rosemary and tomatoes. Pork and sides Since Mascarpone is one of Lombardy's prized dairy products we had Tiramisu for dessert with homemade lady fingers and, due to the lack of the Lombardy stuff, Vermont Mascarpone. Too bad the picture does not do this dish justice, it was very good.

Quick question: I am planning to serve the Malfatti (Ricotta dumplings) as a primo. I've never had those before, would they work like that? Or are they more of a stand alone snack? The main reason I ask is that the recipe I intend to use from Claudia Roden's book uses no flour at all in the dough, so I was not sure if they should be served as a primo.

Lucy- Stay away from acid in the gelatin! That's a bad idea and it will probably not set right. That is the reason fruits like Kiwi and Pineapple should not be put in gelatin dessert. I am looking forward to see how this turns out.

Thank God for Google, Poire William

what's "Poire William"?

anyone?....anyone?

oooh, vinegar in Tahina sauce saounds very odd to me. Only lemon juice goes in it. But for all I know things in Egypt could be different.

I just use a very sharp knife. It is still not as thin as a deli slicer would make it but thin enough. Lardo! Oh yes, for that I need some very good pork. the only source for that is to get it online. It is in my future right after Pancetta.

It is actually home-cured (I posted about it on the previous page), so I would like to claim it is artisanal : . Simple seared scallops with lemon butter sounds good as well, thanks for the suggestion. I really like the malfatti as a primo also.

I am planning on a mostly Lombardian meal for Valentine's dinner. Scallops are one of my wife's favorite foods and I always have at least one scallop dish on Valentine's. How would these be cooked in Lombardy? Any ideas? I am thinking a simple sear with maybe some crisped Bresaola and sage an serve as a first course. Is that total heresy? Dessert will of course be Tiramisu, the rest of the menu is still being decided on.

I picked up one of these at Sur La Table a couple of days ago on sale. I am getting ready to cure it but according to the brochure that came with it, to do so all I need to do is pour BOILING water in it and let it sit for a while. I am a bit skeptical about pouring boiling anything in a clay pot! Does anyone have any experience with this type of clay? I am used to just soaking terracotta cookware in cold water for several hours before first use but never do I pour hot liquid in them. Any advice is appreciated before I thermally shock my new cool looking pot. BTW I also picked up a nice large clay cazuela (from Portugal) for a very good price of 5.99 because they have been discontinued. So if you are interested in one of those chek out if your local SLT has any. Now for this the instructions say what I would expect, soak for 12 hours in cold water.