ChrisTaylor

Spaghetti a la ligurienne. Basically, spaghetti (or spaghettini in my case) with a freshly made pesto sauce.

http://www.eatshowandtell.com/2009/07/27/adriano-zumbo-chocolate-mousse-cake-recipe/ http://www.masterchef.com.au/media/Chocolate_Mousse_Cake.pdf

A substantial lunch. A club sandwich with home made mayonnaise. Everything a la Larousse, of course.

Coq au vin Hashed potatoes

A master craftsman. I am impressed with every one of those posts, Baron d'Apcher. Your blog is now on my list of worthy reads.

HowardLi, you are a dangerous man. I'm thinking of just getting a whetstone for the day-to-day touchups and getting the knife professionally done every 6 months or so. I can get it done for free or cheap at some of the big kitchenware/gourmet shops in Melbourne (which have pretty good reputations for that sort of thing).

Oh man, I can't possibly pick one place. I had so many good meals. I can do dishes instead, right? Like an ultimate degustation. If I could, you know, bring all this stuff together into one meal. Kind of like all that fantasy football shit. What: duck breast, duck confit, apple, beetroot & celery; steak; salmon confit Where: The Press Club, New Year's Eve special degustation menu Why: Until that point, the dinner at The Press Club had just been a nice meal. Everything was good to varying degrees. The service was excellent. The best I've had, I suppose. And then out came the duck. The second to last savoury course. Holy shit. Instantly it earned a place on my 'death row degustation menu'. The breast cooked rare and sliced thick: the perfect balance of tender and chewy (I like meat to have texture). The confit rich and just awesome. The accompanying vegetables just ... perfect, perfect, perfect. And the salmon confit? I'd love a big jar of that stuff to eat for breakfast. What:house-cured meats; braised horse shanks with orecchiette; steak (aged on site) Where: La Luna Why: I have a love for good quality cured pork products. Chef Adrian Richardson makes his own and they're very good. The cured cheek and lardo were my favourite. The horse was an off-the-menu special, offered to us on the quiet, and was just wonderful. Comforting. Happy food. What: veal; pork belly and asparagus; aligot; interesting selection of breads; medley of seasonsal vegetables; sweetbreads Where: Embrasse Why: I've had better individual dishes but there's something about Embrasse that I just love, love, love. The service. The atmosphere: classy and fine and romantic but still casual and comforting. The food: half way between modern and classic, rustic French fare. What: pig tails with snails and watercress; foie gras parfait (matched with gin and tonic, of course) Where: Cumulus Inc Why: The pig tails were beautiful. Soft. Greasy. A crispy, but not too thick, coating of crumbs. A hint of mustard. Lovely fat snails harvested locally. Wow. And the foie gras parfait? First time I'd had foie gras. The first of the big name luxury ingredients I thought to be truly special. Eat them both at lunch, by yourself, and you'll feel awesome. Then soon you'll want to die. But after that you'll want to keep on living so you can go back for more. What: Ox tongue and cheek with horseradish-laced mashed potato; roast venison; steamed kingfish Where: Maze Melbourne Why: The service and atmosphere kind of sucked but fuck it, there were a couple of standout dishes. Perhaps I can request them to go and eat them somewhere nicer. What: braised pig ears with much chilli and grease Where: Dainty Sichuan Why: Never thought I'd top the pork belly and mushrooms or the classic gong bao chicken. Never. But I did. Those ears are lovely. Would be nicer to have beer that's better than Tsing Tao, tho'. I'll have to see if I can BYO something next time. What: pork belly Where: Bistro Guillaume Why: Choosing perfect roast kurobuta pork belly does not need justification.

In 2011, I will eat at 10 well-regarded restaurants in Sydney in the space of a couple of weeks. At the moment the list includes: Aria Becasse Flying Fish Four in Hand Guillaume at Bennelong Marque Pier Quay Sake Tetsuya's I will make many, many, many Larousse Gastronomique recipes. Aiming to reach #900 by year's end. I will learn, hopefully, many things from the above. I will read Larousse Gastronomique. >_>

What about mole poblano?

My 83rd and 84th Larousse Gastronomique recipes. The first two for 2011. Supremes of chicken a blanc: (NOTE FROM MANAGEMENT: This topic is a continuation of Dinner! 2010)

http://www.thepressclub.com.au/ New Years Eve Menu On Arrival: Ocean Eight Cuvee ‘The Press Club’ 2 gr Dosage NV Mornington Peninsula, Vic “Snacks”: Steamed egg krema with salmon rillette; Kalamaki of yellowfin tuna, watermelon and sesame Cantina di Monteforte Garganega 2006 Soave Classico Superiore D.O.C.G. Veneto, Italy Crayfish tsoureki toastaki, heirloom tomato, pipperi, tarragon Marc Bredif Chenin Blanc 1996, Vouvray A.O.C. Loire Valley, France Kritharaki of perigord black truffles, cepe veloute Barbeito Sercial 10 Y.O. Madeira Snapper, sardines, calamari, pipperi, melitzana, parsley Philipponnat Brut Reserve 2000, Mareuil sur Aÿ, Champagne, France Duck breast, apple and celery horiatiki, beetroot Evesham Wood Pinot Noir 2009, Willamette Valley Oregon, U.S.A. Beef scotch, mushrooms, cauliflower, patata Yarra Yering ‘Gruyere’ Shiraz 2008, Yarra Valley, Vic “Stelios Parliaros” olive oil and sokolata, banana, pine nuts Argyros Vinsanto Mezzo Assyrtiko Blend 2002, Santorini, Hellenic Republic

Now that is art.

More Larousse. My last couple of efforts for 2010. The marinade comes from Larousse. Awesome, awesome, awesome wings. http://cookingthroughlarousse.blogspot.com/2010/12/happiness-is-bowl-of-greasy-salty.html Pizza. The base was good. The topping not so much. http://cookingthroughlarousse.blogspot.com/2010/12/to-sting-or-to-season.html

I'd like a copy of Apicius. I'd like an English translation and I'd prefer--really prefer--it to have no substitutes for ingredients. Or, if it does include substitutes, to also mention what the original ingredient was. I've looked at a couple of online versions and found it doesn't tell you what the original item was. What's the best and most reliable hardcopy translation?

Was given a butane torch--hoping to use it to perfect pork crackling. Not for Christmas, but for my birthday, was is but a week after, I'm getting a 20 cm Wusthof-Trident. Picked it myself. Considered going longer, as there were times when I wished my 20 cm Global was longer, but no, after playing with a couple in store I think the 20 is a nice size. Looked at a few different knives too. The Henckells. Had the store people try and push me on Anolon and Scanpan (used one of their choppers before--I thought it was shit, even tho' I like their pans). A lot of those knives have really uncomfortable handles and just didn't have the kind of weight I wanted.

Larousse Gastronomique's lasagne. http://cookingthroughlarousse.blogspot.com/2010/12/of-childhood-memories-vegemite-and.html

Too, if you're skint, dried lentils and etc are good. Filling and very cheap.

http://www.kitchenwaredirect.com.au/Knives/Whetstone/Shun-Whetstone-6000-1000 Thoughts?

See I like the sound of the EdgePro but to get it shopped from overseas would be stupidly--and I mean stupidly--expensive. Sounds like it's a fairly big (heavy too?) case. I don't see anyone stocking it locally. And yeah, I looked up the Gatco and saw reviews that were all positive except for one very significant point: the clamping mechanism. With whetstones should I be looking at fine, medium or coarse whetstones?

Marble cake from Larousse Gastronomique.

Boeuf Bourguignon http://cookingthroughlarousse.blogspot.com/2010/12/amy-adams-is-pretty-but-meryl-streep-is.html

I've just upgraded from a Global 20cm cook's knife to a Wusthoff-Trident of the same length. When I bought the Global years ago I was recommended the Minosharp Global sharpener. And it's ... not very good. I don't want to fuck up my new knife with it. And so I'm looking at whetstones. So ... * The brand doesn't matter as such, right? A Global-branded whetstone is okay with a Wusthoff knife, right? * Are edge guides worthwhile? Granted, the only edge guides I've seen avaliable locally are for Globals--which, iirc, have a different blade angle to Wusthoffs. * Are systems like the Furi Edge Tech good? Better than a whetstone?

Tonight I'm making Larousse Gastronomique's version using chuck steak instead of the prescribed rump and a heavily reduced, freshly made beef stock. I'll let you know how it goes.

Salad nicoise (Larousse #65)

My mum is taking care of Christmas day but tonight will be the second of my Christmas dinners The first: Roast turkey Roast potatoes (using duck fat, of course) Sauteed mushrooms Dessert: biscuits and etc, store bought Tonight: Loin of pork with pineapple and apple Duck fat roast potatoes Mushroom salad Chocolate chantilly--if it works Leckerli biscuits Beer Cider Armagnac