SethG

Thanks Wendy, re: Payard. We've really liked the three or four things we've had from the book. And I'll definitely be doing so more stuff from it, now that I've been looking through it.

I looked through the Payard book a bit this evening, and while it has a lot of nice stuff, and beautiful pictures, I'm not sure it's the kind of fundamentals book we'd want to work through. It is intelligently organized into basic techniques, simpler soups and cakes, and then more complicated creations, but it's really a book of favorite recipes from Payard's shop. It doesn't attempt to cover all the classics. There ain't no creme brulee. I checked out a couple threads in the Pastry & Baking category here at the "G," and found no more than passing reference to the Payard book. But I did find numerous posts recommending Baking With Julia. I know a couple of you started working with it recently. Now I want it. Is it mostly bread, or does it cover lots of cakes, tarts and other desserts as well?

Okay, you sold me! Can you PM me?

Are they really that good? They've always seemed... expensive. But I've never tasted them. Wednesday: spaghetti with tomato, eggplant, and dried chile pepper sauce. I used Italian tomatoes. Next time I'll try the Muir Glen.

Gosh, I don't know, Heather. There's only so far I'm willing to go with this experimental cheesecake. Let's see how I like the pumpkin. Thanks, though.

Speaking of desserts: have any of you used Payard's Simply Sensational Desserts? We have it at home, and my wife has made a lemon tart from it several times that's really very nice.

You know, mags, I may end up agreeing with you. I'm generally a cheesecake purist. I like New York cheesecake, with none of that strawberry syrupy stuff. Any additions or gimmicks make me suspicious. But in the spirit of the holiday I thought I might give this a try.

I picked up the November issues of both Gourmet and Cook's Illustrated. In Gourmet, there's a bunch of Thanksgiving greatest hits. I made one of them a few days ago-- turnips braised in butter and stock, then topped with diced chives (or was it scallions) and parsley. I thought it was quite nice, but I don't know if it will make it to my table on Thanksgiving, since it can't be made ahead. Cook's Illustrated has a pumkin cheesecake I'll try soon and upon which I will report.

Hey, why don't we cook this: Sounds easy, right? Edited to add grin, in case anyone thought I might be serious.

You'll get no "Chad-enfreude" from me, dude. I looked it up too, and found that most Cotes du Rhone is Southern, not Northern Rhone, as I posited above. And, also news to me, Beaujolais apparently is Burgundy. There's nothing wrong with recommending good Cotes du Rhone-- I only wish other regions, like Burgundy and California, had such affordable good wines.

Is a Northern Rhone wine really considered Burgundy??? This is news to me, but I don't pretend to know. Chad may very well be right. Paging Craig Camp. Paging Craig Camp. I think I can say with some confidence, however, that when a recipe calls for Burgundy, Pinot Noir is what they're talking about. That's what I assume, anyway.

FoodMan, your Saturday "date" dinner looks spectacular. And congrats on the little FoodChild. Undaunted, I will continue to post. Monday night: Sauteed duck breast. I swear I planned to do this before I saw this thread from today. Served over greens with an oil/vinegar/duck fat vinagrette. And turnips, braised in butter and stock, from the November Gourmet. And I made the plum torte that Paula Wolfert somehow knew how to find. It's really a simple yellow cake with plums baked into it, but man. Seriously good stuff.

Really??!! Twelve dollars? I was going to say there's no way I'm buying a torch, but for twelve bucks....

I've also been meaning to add that the picture from J & J of Julia hammering that cleaver into a turkey (it's on the back of the dust jacket) cracks me up every time I see it.

Heather, that sounds great. I'm fine with a delay in the pate, and I need to learn more about vegetable dishes. I'd propose a dessert but I still don't have the damn book. I know, whose fault is that? I do want to say before we get much further that I'd like to see duck on our agenda soon. I've wanted to roast a whole duck for I don't know how long. I think I recall seeing such a recipe in Jules et Jim. I've sauteed duck breasts, which is too easy even to talk about, but nothing else. Before we do the beef, someone's got to tell me how to find a good, reasonably priced Burgundy! Craig Camp's recent thread on the subject was of no use, unless you have a secret producer friend near the Swiss border. If I got nothing else out of the G for the rest of my days, I would be more than satisfied if I could only drink good, reasonably priced Burgundy.

Akiko, I'm sorry to hear you had such a difficult and disappointing experience!

You guys move so fast! I quickly typed something, dashed off to court, and came back for lunch to find you discussing the next meal! I just wanted to say about our last meal that you're absolutely right, Dave, about the fricassee having a better shelf-life than a roast. I had some of my chicken the next day and I thought it was even better than it was when it came off the burner. As for the next meal, I've been wanting to make a pate. I never have. And beef is good for me too, and whenever you want is cool with me. Maybe we should let Julia have our attention this time?

Matthew, I always use shears to cut up chickens. I find it much easier to split the breastbone with shears than with a knife, although maybe that's because I'm not a good sharpener. You gotta be careful with shears, though, or you could snip off a bunch of meat from a thigh or breast unintentionally.

1. Potatoes I'm so glad I'm not the only one who disliked the potato dish. I'm afraid I'm a potato ignoramus-- I knew that Yukon golds are for boiling and Idahos are for baking, but russets? They looked more like boilers than bakers to me. but putting the mushiness aside, I thought the dish had a harsh and unpleasantly garlicky flavor (and I love garlic). Did anyone else have this experience? I note that I sliced the garlic, as instructed. What did you all do? I find that recipes often tell you to slice onions and garlic when they really want you to dice, chop, or mince instead. Do you guys think the slicing affected my results? (I sliced very thin, like the mobsters in prison in Goodfellas.) I also wonder if the soaking time for the whole potatoes could have increased/decreased the mushiness factor. I understand that putting the whole potatoes into a bowl of cold water leaches starch out of them, but that's as far as my understanding goes. Mine were in the water for maybe 10 minutes. I don't think I'd make this dish again, but it did make me want to try other gratins, with milk or cheese or whatever. 2. Chicken I thought the chicken dish was very tasty, although like Heather I thought the sauce was rather alcoholic. I wondered afterward if this quality would have changed if we'd cooked it not completely covered but instead with the cover somewhat askew, as Marcella Hazan always has you do it. The educational part of the dish for me was in the sauteeing, not the chopping. I wasn't really interested in Jacques' cutting instructions, although I did look at the book to make sure I'd get the same pieces he wants us to get. I too thought he wanted the breasts removed completely from the bone, which I think Julia also advises in Mastering the Art..., to insure the breast cooks evenly. Did you guys cut off the tips of the drumsticks? Does anyone besides me think this is just stupid? I think it improves neither the look nor the taste of the chicken, so why do it? I also didn't like way he had us cut the wings off at the joint. When I cut a chicken into serving pieces, I usually cut the wings so that there's a small chunk of the breast meat taken on a diagonal across the joint-- this way you get four pieces with breast meat (six if you cut the breasts in half). I didn't make this up-- I thought it was the trad French thing to do. But I was amazed at the short cooking time, especially for the breasts. The other fricassees I've cooked a lot, from Marcella and Julia, require a much longer cooking time (with all the pieces cooked together for the same length of time), and I now wonder if this amount of time is, like, twice as long as it needs to be. I had to throw the breasts back in the pan for a couple minutes at the end-- I cut them in half to serve them and found them to be just a touch underdone. But that's okay, right? In the end, I had breasts that were done just enough, which is way better than overdone. My last question about the chicken was why? Why do we sautee/fricassee this way, when we can roast? Roasting produces a superior texture in the meat and crispy, tasty skin. The only advantage produced by the fricassee that I can think of is the sauce, which I'm guessing has a richer, more stock-like quality than a quick sauce made from deglazing a roasting pan would have. And the whole chicken gets infused with the flavor of the sauce, as well, which you could never do with a roasted bird. What do you guys think? Is that flavor difference worth the other disadvantages?

Erin? [silence] Did you make the menu? [Tumbleweeds roll by.] I guess I can wait until morning.

Heather, assuming your issues are small enough that you'll be back at the stove tomorrow (and I hope they are), I'd advise you to replace those russets. I made the same mistake and I had a very mushy gratin.

I saw some buttercup squash today, and bought them with your post in mind, Nick, but I'm not sure I understand your directions. You halve the squash in order to seed it, yes? And the make, what, several 1/2" cuts around the perimiter of each half? And then I presume you place them in the pan with the cut side up? Do you like to top them with anything in particular? Thanks.

Friday night: We had a friend over, and made a menu from Julia & Jacques Cooking at Home: simple salad with lemon-oil dressing, Jacques' Pommes de Terre Boulangere, and Jacques' Sauteed Chicken "Maison" I also thought it would be nice to put out before dinner a crudite plate with homemade Aioli-- which I'd never made before. I prinetd out Jackal10's eGCI course, and got to work. And I failed, at least at first. I think my egg yolk was too cold. The stuff seemed to be well mixed, but it just wouldn't thicken. So I pulled Mastering the Art... off the shelf, and implemented Julia's fix. I put a little mustard in a warmed bowl and beat my egg/oil mixture into it slowly. It thickened right up. Then I finished the mayonnaise by Julie Powell's method. I poured the rest of the olive oil into the white plastic pusher from my Cuisinart and let the oil drizzle into the bowl through the small hole in the bottom as I beat with a wisk. It was great. Tasted good on blanched asparagus, raw baby baby carrots and mushrooms. But the addition of mustard made its flavor profile a little closer to that of the salad dressing than I would've wanted. Oh well. Tonight we're having a couple surprise guests from my hometown, and I plan on keeping it simple. I picked up some monkfish, which I think I'll roast with herbs (courtesy Mark Bittman), and serve with rice, some broccoli, and .this squash dish, thanks to MatthewB.

I'd probably have done the same thing. But for the record, it was eight large cloves, peeled. Really. Between the chicken and the potatoes, that's a lot of garlic for a French meal!

I just looked at the front page, and whoa, I won something! Thank you very much, Maggie. See, first you get some turkey, the kind you just can't resist when it's coated in paste and basted.... Sorry. I thought I was Rick Bayless for a second. Seriously, thanks. After reading Al Dente's and Snowangel's posts I think I'm seriously unworthy, but I'm flattered nonetheless.