Aix

Thanks for the input. I can't imagine that cooking for 20 minutes at 200 would do it.. In fact, just last week I tried cooking for 40 minutes at 275'F (five minutes and 5 degrees less than usual) because my livers were smaller, and I ended up ruining the terrine as it was underdone. FYI: I use 2 whole livers per terrine, seasoned and pressed whole. How do you cook the terrine without reaching what you call the melting point? The flash freezing comment is interesting. There is a lot of badly frozen livers out there that taste like soap... Perhaps they were not frozen quickly enough?

What is the oven temperature? 280 How long are you cooking it? 45 What is the temperature of the water in the bain marie? Just under 212 I suppose What temperature are you cooking the terrine to? We don't take it. What else is in the dish? Spices only. Did it ever turn out correctly? If yes, what has changed? Yes. It just renders more fat and the shrinkage causes it to be a tad overseasoned. I was offered one potential explanation in that summer and winter livers will not cook the same. I'm just not sure how to adjust the cooking parameters around that...

I'm responsible for making foie gras terrine at the restaurant. We cook it in a bain marie, the usual way. For some reason, instead of the 35% shrinkage expected, I've been getting close to 45%. My seasoning ratio is now off because of the shrinkage. What can be done to remedy this? What is causing it? Is the oven too hot? not hot enough? Is it the quality oif the liver that might have changed? (We don't use grade A for terrine) My latest one was actually undercooked and still quite shrunken. What gives??!?

JELLIES!

Wilfrid, I'm not familiar with it but the country is peppers with such places. You may be right about the place not surviving her passing. About the cute and cudly factor: these particular horses are fat and ugly. ;)

Horse meat is amazing.... In Belgium we cure it and slice it like prociutto. It has a distinct salty sweeet flavour. Until recently there were still a few boucheries chevalines in Montreal. Restaurants like Le Witloof served tartare de cheval and bavette de cheval. Interestingly, (now that we all eat or pork medium), someone died of trichinosis in the 90's from eating raw horse in Paris. The horse came from Canada.

Brown butter hollandaise!

How long do you usually knead the dough for?

I rubbed the shortening into the flour quite thoroughly. Or at least, I think I did. There were no lumps of fat left to be seen. Could it be a temperature problem? I was frying around 350'.

Small bubbles. Exactly! I was quite inspired by some of your past posts on samosas, Suvir. You mentioned that samosas was about the crust more than the filling. I feel the same way. I won't rest until I get them right!

The first time I made it, the dough was quite comfortable to work with. In hindsight, I think it was too wet. When I tried it again, I cut back on the water and kneaded it to death to make a firmer dough. The end product wasn't flaky in either case. In fact there was almost no difference. Is there any reason to put yogurt in the dough? I suppose it makes it more tender as vinegar in a pie crust. Am I imagining this? Shouldn't the exterior be slightly blistery? Suvir, how would you describe the perfect samosa skin? If anyone has pictures, it would probably help.

I've been trying to make samosas from scratch, with pretty good results so far. Julie Sahni's recipe for samosa skins came highly recommended. It contains flour, shortening, yogurt, water and salt. My problem is that it doesn't come out blistered and super crispy. It's as smooth as a sheet of paper and only slightly crunchy. I tried kneading more, I tried kneading less. No difference. Any advice or better recipe?

I've tried Les Fougères. I can't say exactly why but it left me lukewarm. There were service flaws etc. It's been a while. I keep meaning to try Domus but I'm not usually in town long enough to visit all the spots that I want to check out. Plus the weather in Ottawa will deter me from doing just about anything... Jin, I guess it must be Rodriguez, thanks. From what I hear, he's the only one in the city who dares to venture outside of the typical bistro and cheap fusion fare that is so prevalent in the city at the moment. I'd love to hear from anyone who's dined there and who might remember the menu.

Most "recommended" restaurants I've been to in Ottawa were of school-project caliber, that is, they try very hard and you really want to encourage them but they don't quite pull it off. The exception: L'Orée du Bois which is 20 minutes out of town. Many years ago, Le Métro was excellent. But then something went wrong when the owner decided to pay more attention to his ventures in Cuba... not too sure about the story there. Chez Jean-Pierre and Henri Burger are both closed. A Food TV exec was telling me about an up and coming new Mexican chef at some new hotel restaurant. Jinmyo, do you know anything about that?

Pork tenderloin, stuffed with a tight pear chutney, wrapped in prosciutto, garlic truffle mash, asparagus "noodles" and a gorgonzola drizzle. Easy to prepare but looks like a million bucks!

It's more herby than juniper-y. Quite pleasant actually. As for substitutions, that's a tough one. Chartreuse , maybe but it's quite different. What would you be using it for?

For mayonnaise I always scoop out yolks by thoroughly washed or gloved hand. Salmonella lives on the shell of the egg, and it is important to reduce the contact time between the content of the egg and the outside of it.

Whichever way you like your potato salad (vinaigrette-based or mayo), they should always be tossed in a good quality vinegar when they are warm. A little white wine doesn't hurt either. In both styles, I use Dijon or grainy mustard. My fave: lots of shallots and fresh tarragon.

Our taste buds work differently with cold foods. Everything has to be more flavourful and sweeter if served cold. Personally I like my iced tea quite strong and tart. I take it Fatguy likes the taste of cold tea. Myself, I believe that's a good way to convince the Brits that Americans are whacky for loving the stuff. I like adding ginger, lemongrass or dried mint (for some reason it works better than fresh)and always using a good quality tea (larger leaves - less bitterness). I steep it 8-10 minutes, sometimes with a bit of lemon or lime zest if I don't have lemongrass handy. I never dilute with water. A sugar syrup will help avoid the problems associated with granulated sugar in cold liquids, although honey tastes so much better.

Trust me: use a food mill. The texture come out infinitely better. Straining helps too if you're too lazy to use/wash your food mill (as I often am).

A quick FYI on French terms. Cote (pronounced "cut") = quote (as in stocks, taxes etc.) Côte ("coat") = Rib = Slope along the side of a hill = Coast Côté ("Cotay") = Side On this thread, we're interested in the "côte de boeuf".

It's really too bad you are restricted to Brussels. If you have a bit of time, you should take a quick (and I mean QUICK) train to Gent or to Ostande, the latter which is right on the beach and has the best seafood restaurants around. In Gent, there is a restaurant in a church basement (the big church a few steps from St-Nicholas Cathedral) that looks like a great set for a Medieval Times commercial. It's a huge place where they serve all the quintessentially Belgian dishes like Waterzooi and Anguille au Vert (Eel in green sauce) - best I ever had. Worth the trip. And contrary to popular belief, it IS very possible to have a bad meal in Brussels. Personally, I can't stand the city. If you want to learn about the true heart of the Belgian people, get thee out of the capital!

I have a bottle of HC7 right now, with regret. I'd prefer a Jamaican rum any day as I find HC quite harsh. I once had an unbelievable rum in a restaurant, upon the sommelier's recommendation. It was an El Dorado special reserve, 12 year old I believe. Forget about Cognac. This baby was smooth as silk and had all the age and grace of Catherine Deneuve. I highly recommend it.

A few years ago, we had an excellent meal at Le Café Amadéeus. It was a beautiful little bistro, and though I remember having a fabulous time there, I don't remember what we ordered... Maybe a good spot for a late evening dessert!

Let's be honest: in a professional kitchen, five minutes is NOTHING! How many times have you gone the sink to find it cluttered with vegetables that have been left there to soak for an hour or more because the prep cook got called on the line or whatever other reason? Oh, and spin drying? Many kitchens don't even OWN a spin dryer. I think the myth safeguards us against oversoaking all mushroom. Imagine what would happen if cooks got into the habit of soaking chanterelles or other delicate wild mushroom? Quote: "But here is the key question: do chefs really know that searing does not seal in the juices? Do they really know that dropping a potato into a too-salty pot of soup will do nothing to reduce the saltyness? Or are they themselves tremendously uninformed? My understanding of modern culinary education is that basic food science is an integral part of the curriculum. Am I wrong?" I didn't want to alienate the chefs here with my first few posts, but yes, chefs are often uninformed, and these culinary myths ARE TAUGHT IN SCHOOLS. Food science is the last thing on teachers' minds; for two years during my culinary education, I've been fighting with teachers who didn't know better and were too lazy to look it up. Many cooks seem to think that because they are tradesmen, this somehow shields them from the responsibility of educating themselves in a sound and scientificic manner. By and large, myths today have lost their function. We are no longer 'largely uneducated masses', and the responsibility now is to seek and respect the sound advice that food science (now very accessible) teaches us.