riboflavinjoe

pretty basic stuff, but it works: For my pancakes, I think of my pancakes as seven ingredients: 4 dry, 3 wet. the dry: all purpose white flour (about one and half cups) baking powder (about a teaspoon) salt (a pinch) sugar (two tablespoons) the wet: milk egg (1) melted unsalted butter (say, a good centimeter off a pound) the process: melt the butter, let it cool off in the meantime, combine the dry ingredients, and stir them up so everything gets evenly distributed. Then, add the milk and the egg, and beat it together with a whisk. I never put in a quantity of milk, because I never know how much goes into them. The thing is, I just go by eye, and you have to add enough milk to make the texture pourable. you can't have it too thick, you can't have it too thin. The batter should go into a pan and stay about 5-7mm thick, no more no less. you add the melted butter at the end, and make sure you make everything into a consistent batter, make sure there are no lumps of flour, and that the butter is well integrated into the rest of the mix. to cook them, get a good quality nonstick pan, or I have taken to using a cast iron pan with a minimal spraying of PAM, turn it up on medium heat, and when hot, put some batter in the pan, to make a nice big pancake. it should kind of go "tssssssss" when you put it in, this would be the premium temperature to cook it. the pancake is ready to turn over when all the bubbles form on the top of the pancake, and then burst, leaving the pancake looking like a crater filled disc. flip the pancake carefully, let it cook for a bit on the other side, and then eat it right away. you cannot let it sit for a while, it's nowhere near as good when it is a few minutes old. some factors to watch out for: flour/baking powder ratio. Baking powder makes the whole thing rise, and if you have too much of the powder in relation to the flour, then it will rise too much, if you have too little, it won’t rise enough. Like I said, the pancake should be about 5mm thick when it goes into the pan, the flour-baking powder ratio will be something you need to get the knack of. Thickness in relation to flour vs. milk. Again, if there is too little milk, it will be too thick, and possibly lumpy. You have to use enough milk to dilute the batter enough to get it to the proper consistency, to achieve 5-7mm thickness in the pan. Temperature of the pan. It is something you will have to play with, and you will have to adjust to your stove. The first pancake is usually hard to get perfect, but you make the pan-temperature & thickness adjustments after you see how the first one turns out.

I got mine at big fat giant obese desk, I mean, Bureau en Gros. it's a good machine... What about a 1/10 gram precision scale, though?

Yes, James Barber was a hero to me; I was grew up watching the Urban Peasant. I never really thought too much about the food, I just loved his attitude. After watching the show for a while, I thought, hey, I can do this! So I started playing around in the kitchen and eventually ended up going to cooking school. Mr. Barber, we will miss you. You taught us much more than just how to cook.

well, hull is right across the water from ottawa, which is a two hour drive to montreal. montebello is probably an hour and a half away from montreal. google earth can help you with the details. it's not exactly around the corner, but it's not impossible, either.

Yeah, I was going to say, when God invented the Scallop, I think God declared that they be seared. God was the first one doing it. God invented lots of things.

Or a few signature dishes and changing up the rest of the menu, as the scallop-risotto restaurant tends to do. As Adrian said, the rest of the dishes do tend to change regularly. If people demand it, and get upset with you when you take it off the menu, you best put it back, don't you think?

God bless Mose Persico. He's such a tool. ← ← I feel embarrassed for them. Mose Persico: tool extraordinaire indeed. How can they even have this on TV? "I forget her name already."

It may taste "tired" to YOU, but I doubt it does to the people who come in and order it night after night. If people stopped ordering it, maybe it would disappear from the menu. If it consistently sells, and is enjoyed by those who order it, well does it really matter what a professional critic thinks?

This was one of the weirdest posts I have ever read on eGullet.

I'm really glad to see Jeremy at the top of the list, he's a great guy! Congratulations, Mr. Charles!

The Results: I made one batch of Ravioli: and one batch of "cannelloni" or whatever you want to call it, I don't care what you call it, as long as it tastes good, and it sure did! Edit to add the right links to the cannelloni pix... and to add if you get the 2girls1cup reference clap your hands!

Hey, I have a batch of braised beef I want to turn into Cannelloni (making them into ravioli is more work than I'm willing to put in this weekend). For cannelloni from fresh pasta: Do I wrap the meat in the uncooked pasta square? How thick should the pasta be, ie to which notch on the pasta roller should I go? Cooking it: I won't drown it in tomato sauce, how do I make it warm? I figure: wrap in aluminum foil, and throw in the oven. Thanks, all.

do you know about vrbo.com?

Sounds fun, just don't call it a turd-duck-ken.

I'm with you on that once, I loved those sandwiches. I'd love to see her resurface. I tried the place across the street and north a little (the really cramped place), but it's just not as good, and sometimes the service is so long that you wait 15 minutes to get one sandwich. Sigh...

These places are very comfortable, easy going, and have great food: Pied de Cochon, Le Club Chasse et Peche, poutine at La Banquise, burgers at La Paryse (very close to your hotel). Indian food at Indian Curry House on Jean Talon near Acadie (extremely un-glamourous). Bottega for pizza, 65 St Zotique East, I believe. Beijing for Chinese, on de la Gauchetiere near corner of St Urbain.

After a honeymoon in NYC, and being underwhelmed at several places (although I must say, Per Se was quite a treat, everything was outstanding!) it was good to come home and eat Montreal food again. Here are a few pictures from our meal the other night. It's really quite eye opening to see that Montreal has restaurants that surpass in quality of food and attention to service those that are hyped up to be so outstanding in other places.

sure would, but you have to be living in a utopia to realistically expect that to happen in every restaurant you go to. i mean, if you know that thousands of people are going to read about the foie gras you just cooked because this woman who is eating it will write a widely published article on it and the rest of the food you cooked, then the foie gras has to be perfect. wherever i worked, i tried my best to do everything as well as i could, but something kicks in when you know it's going to a critic, or a former chef, or your mom & dad or sister, or coworker. it's just the way it is, and it won't change any time soon.

"outing" Lesley seems a bit of a stretch. Most places I worked at before, people all knew what she looked like and when she was sitting in the dining room, the kitchen was all "hey, this table is Lesley C, make sure it's perfect". Sure the principle behind "outing" her is really sick, but it probably doesn't do too much that wasn't done already, at least for a large number of restauranteurs.

While the food at this restaurant was good (nothing great, but it was good enough), the service was absolutely terrible. We planned on going to Café Boulud as a special supper for our last night on our honeymoon, but they treated us terribly. We didn't mind waiting in the entrance for a little bit while our table was being prepared, but when we sat down at the tables near the entrance, we were not greeted with any warmth, nor did anyone bring us any drinks list. We managed to get a drink list from another couple that was there waiting, too. Once their table was ready, the hostess came to take them to their table, and left their glasses of champagne on the tables near the entrance. My wife saw that one glass was missed by the hostess who was then bringing the glasses to the first guests, and so she said "excuse me..." and was cut off by the hostess with "YOUR TABLE WILL BE READY SOON!" My wife then said "no, I just wanted to say, this glass is theirs too" and the hostess said a cold "I know" and ran off with it to give to the first table. We basically had no attention from our sommelier, I ordered the foie gras and wanted a glass of the Sauternes, but had to order it AFTER my foie had arrived, while my wife ordered her glass of albarino with the tuna tartare AFTER it had already arrived. The timing of whatever service was provided was atrocious. I made sure to ask for the sommelier when my foie plate was finished to ensure I would get a glass of wine to go with my pork loin. At the beginning of the meal, we saw there was a cherry souffle on the specials menu, so my wife got excited and asked the waiter "should I reserve one of these now in order to ensure I get one at the end of our meal?" and our waiter assured us there would be no problem and that we would not have to reserve one. When it came time to order dessert, she asked for the souffle, but it was no longer available! We expressed our disappointment, and they arranged to scrounge up a souffle with a few scraps of cherry at the bottom, but calling a cherry souffle is a fairly heavy stretch. When the bill came, they charged us for a glass of wine we didn’t even drink, but after I pointed out their mistake, they removed it without any hassle, but not very much of an apology either. They delivered my main course while I was away in the restroom, and served my wife's dessert in a chipped bowl. While we were being a bit picky on these last two points, there were so many things about this meal that were completely unacceptable, and we wouldn’t recommend it to anyone going to a city with so many other great places to eat.

After an exciting first day in NYC, we took a quick trip back to the hotel to get ready for our supper, where my new wife changed into a simple and beautiful mauve dress, while I ironed my shirt and got into my suit and tie, and we went for a walk up Broadway past the David Letterman Show studio to Columbus Circle and into the Time Warner Centre, fourth floor, destination: Per Se restaurant. I remember my wife telling me in our first few encounters that she would never eat brains unless Thomas Keller cooked it for her. Now, we didn’t eat brains that night, but I remember when she told me that a few years ago that here was a woman who had the same interests as me, and maybe there was a potential for something! Well, now we found ourselves at the door of a restaurant we had both dreamed of eating at since we first heard of it, and we were welcomed into their restaurant. The waiter asked us if we wanted something to drink, and I said, “Well, we just got married 27 hours ago, so champagne is in order!” They congratulated us on our wedding, and brought us over our first glass of champagne on that trip. When they arrived with the menu, they had printed off a special copy for us that included the words “congratulations” at the top. Clearly these people go to great lengths to give the best possible service they can give. We were impressed with their attention to all the details. I guess once we told them we were newly weds, they treated us as VIPs, because the wine and the food just didn’t stop coming. We ordered the chef’s tasting menus and they not only gave us all 9 or 10 courses that were written on menu, but they sent us a number of extra items that were heavenly. A few classics that I had only read about in the French Laundry cookbook, like the Oyster and Pearls, the Salmon Tartare on sesame tuile, and the Truffled Egg with potato-chive chip. We ate foie gras, mine torchon, hers seared. With my torchon of foie gras came a selection of 10 salts from around the world and a warm toasted brioche. They replaced it with a new piece after two minutes to ensure my brioche was still warm while I ate my foie gras. They served us a lovely Kabinett Riesling and then followed up with a Hestan Chardonnay from California that accompanied our Chatham Cod with corn, razor clams and thyme, and the butter poached lobster with fennel chip and noilly prat sauce. The lobster was very good, and everything was appropriately seasoned. Next up, my wife was getting a little overwhelmed with wine, so I had a glass of Pauillac that went with our seared Peking duck with figs and turnips, and the Wagyu beef with matsutakes, bordelaise, crispy marrow, and pommes parisiennes rissoles, while my wife ate her lamb. At this point in the evening, the moon was starting to come up over Central Park, and our waiter came by to point it out to us, saying “we had this specially ordered for you on your special day”, and gave us a good laugh. It was just a little detail that made us feel that much more special. A beautiful Gewurztraminer was with us for our cheese and sorbet, and when it came time for dessert, they brought us not only those that we had ordered, but also the famous “coffee and doughnuts”: semifreddo and housemade fresh doughnuts, which was THEN! followed by a few more complimentary desserts of mini crème brulee and a strawberry pot de crème and short bread cookies and finally mignardises: chocolate truffles and chocolates and chocolate covered almonds and caramels and pistachio nougatines. With our bill (which is most likely the most expensive meal we will ever have in our lives!) came a little bag of perfect macaroons, which we enjoyed the next morning. A quick tour of the kitchen was great, the kitchen was beautifully laid out, and all the cooks in the back looked very busy, so we didn’t want to get in their way, so we left as quickly as we came in. Very clean, very efficient, very impressive. We left full as we had ever been in our lives, and blissfully wandered back down Broadway to settle in for another solid night’s sleep. Edit: Photos

we had reservations about 20 minutes after the phone lines opened. we got it for 545. while 545 is a bit early, any reservation at per se is one i will gladly take. looking forward to it!

thanks, doc! we'll report back in a few weeks. can you get a vegetable tasting and a non-veg tasting at the same table?

okay, so the 250 price tag, does it include the service already (and tax, i doubt it)? i'm going in 10 days, and i'm very excited, but i'd like to have the price tag right in order to budget for the rest of the trip.

jessejesse, i just went to pied de cochon the other day, for the first time in a year or so, and it was out of control! wow! you're gonna love it! dessert was a frozen maple sugar pie dipped in hot chocolate served on a stick, like a popsicle. it was absolutely sick. the foie gras poutine was a winner, so were the bison bbq ribs. i saw some stuff coming out of the kitchen that was completely sick: 3 inch thick pork chops, heaps of vegetables, it was just sick sick sick. enjoy...