jmacnaughtan

I'd love to hear more about Xingguo hare. I don't think I've ever seen any non-European hare dishes.

I did an early Valentine's dinner, so oysters were a given. These were grilled with black pepper, blood orange zest and crème fraîche. No more photos, but they were followed by a whole brill with sauce maltaise, a piece of Etivaz and a chocolate and blood orange soufflé.

Sounds like a pretty well-balanced breakfast to me

I really like the smell of burning rosemary. Maybe barbecue over it?

Thanks @minas6907 I spread this one out over two weeks. The peels are pretty thin, so I didn't think they'd need too long and just gave them a day or two between each 3° increase. I've seen that whole clementines normally take around a month, but that may just be for the very small ones. How do you approach the blanching step? The recipes I've read call for them to be brought to the boil, but all of the professionals I've seen (only via YouTube, sadly) have their fruit in water that isn't even simmering. I've browsed the various topics here, and collapse seems to be an issue - maybe the fruit loses too much of its structural integrity, either when blanching or overheating in the syrup?

Not entirely sure if this is the right place to post it, but my candied bergamot is finally ready. While I bow to @andiesenji's wealth of expertise in the matter and various priceless tutorials and tips, I wanted a less "cooked" product so took the peels at no more than 65°C (a circulator was handy for the blanching step). They're much stronger in flavour than traditional candied peel (although not bitter) and they stayed firmer than I expected, so probably better as an ingredient than for straight eating or dipping. I'm tempted to move on to whole clementines or mandarins next.

For the first time in a year, I relented and made plov. Non-traditional, with pork shoulder, but still very much plov. I love it, probably my favourite rice dish of all time (who doesn't like a greasy rice dish?), but it is not possible to make it in small quantities... This was dinner for two, but will last for days. It's excellent in a tortilla wrap, too.

A little late to the party, my apologies Does anyone do rabbit low-temp? The problem I've had with it is incurable dryness, so I've all but given up. Hare, on the other hand, is magical. And pungent. When I worked at Pignol, they'd hang and cook a dozen hares around October or November - in a 300m² site with partitions and industrial air conditioning, you could still smell hare everywhere. A couple of times, as a project, I've made Lièvre à la royale. It's a beast of a dish, and wonderful to eat when done well. It does take a good four days to fully prep though, and requires some slightly specialised ingredients and equipment. Has anyone else tried it? Here's my first (worse) effort: I'd love to make it again, but it'll be challenging to get a dozen people around the table for some time.

If you don't have any holes, you're likely to get a more unsightly eruption somewhere else. I'd recommend docking it all over with a fork. I'll give you a perfectly even bake, and it'll stop it from puffing up too much too.

Potentially - you'd have to play around with it. In a bonbon, I'm not sure how much texture (apart from generic crunch) would actually come through...

@Jim D. Would it be worth blitzing them and reconstituting them (melted butter or cocoa butter, baked or unbaked) then rolling that out? I get the feeling you'd have more control, and it may have more structural integrity inside the bonbon.

Would it make much of a difference to the final texture if you brought it to a boil before pouring it into the pastry? I suppose you'd be going more towards a tart than a pie, though...

Probably a good idea. Maybe freezing it before baking would let it hold a delicate pattern better, too. It's a bit of a shame when the raw preparation looks perfect and you have so little control over the final product.

It's very impressive. Is there no way of protecting it from the juices during baking? I'd have loved to see the pattern in full after baking.

If you've got a Russian or Eastern European shop around, that's the best bet. They seem to pop up everywhere, in Europe at least.

@Kerry Beal Have you ever had a go with Russian style Halva? I'm pretty sure it's made from sunflower seeds, and is a lot drier and crumblier than Middle Eastern. It's also excellent covered in chocolate.

Does anyone warm their CC cookies up before eating them? I have fond memories of Smarties cookies from a café at university, where they'd either be warm out the oven or reheated so the chocolate oozed.

I hear that chocolate chip cookies are good frozen, too.

My apologies for veering wildly off-topic, I was just reminded of this.

I've always thought that the only difference between a sweet Pithiviers and a Galette des Rois was the fève... Interestingly, I was in the village of Pithiviers this summer. Turns out they are immensely proud of both the classic Pithiviers and this, the Pithiviers fondant: Disappointingly, it's just an almond cake. Tasty, but nothing particularly special.

Great choice, I love Pépin's technique. For me, at the moment it's poulet au vin jaune: a quartered chicken, browned off with mushrooms (morels if you're lucky) and simmered for 45 minutes in 50/50 vin jaune (or dry sherry) and cream. This gets reduced down after the chicken is done. It's really good, and I don't even miss crispy skin.

Last night I pan-roasted halved sprouts in butter, then added amontillado sherry to reduce and glaze. It worked very well. They were then tossed with mushrooms, chestnuts, garlic and thyme.

The ones with the rolled edges tend to be stronger and less likely to deform if you drop them or step on them. ETA: Great tarts, by the way. I love a classic Bourdaloue.

I'll give that a go. Thanks for the idea