pAitch

The livers are indeed not bona fide "foie gras" but late harvest livers from older birds. I suppose the mousse or "farce a gratin" would be the best avenue to pursue however, the ratios you suggest are a bit surprising to me. I'm sure that two pounds of shallots will reduce significantly once sweated and cooked dry. Thanks for the detail.

Having recently acquired 4 lbs of late season, fatty goose livers and a couple pounds of goose fat, I've been thinking of combining the two to create a terrine that would approximate a foie gras terrine. Several questions come to mind. The approach I'm considering is to soak the livers (2 lbs) in milk or port, drain, season with kosher salt, white pepper, Prague powder (pink salt) and sugar. After rinsing, I'm thinking of combining the livers with an undetermined amount of goose fat and SV'ing at 68 C for 20 minutes or so then running it through a tamis. Then into the terrine, cover, add a little weight and refrigerate. Is it reasonable to assume that by running the livers through a tamis I can eliminate the deveining step? Please point out the flaws in my process/thinking.

I don't know the details of the event, I've just been asked to do a dessert using my friends coffee.<br />The weather is typically mild in NW AR in May, but I'm tending to think I've been over complicating this.<br />I just want to compliment the coffee flavor in the most exciting way I can.<br />

In In Keller's technique the pineapple is seared in a vanilla caramel, then the white wine poaching liquid is added to the caramel. After the pineapple has taken on the caramel, it is cooled, bagged with the caramel poaching liquid then into the bath for an hour. The event that I'm preparing for is in May so I have time to play with some different combinations. I appreciate the good input.

Thanks, I've been all over the place with this. What do you think about balsamic macerated strawberries and a pistachio or almond tuile? Or, Keller's Savignon Blanc "braised" sous vide pineapple.

I'm making a mascarpone coffee sherbet/sorbet with some of my friends custom roast coffee. I've gone through quite a list of possible accompanyments but have not settled on one that I think is quite right. I want the coffee flavor to be the star and I want to compliment it the best I can. So I'm looking for parings to serve with the rich coffee sherbet.

Decided making my own mascarpone was the only way to go so made a quite successful batch using organic pasturized HWC @ 40% BF. This was using lemon juice. I'll do a second batch this weekend using a lower BF mix. I will also use tartaric acid on this one to compare the differences. I suppose I'm changing two variables. judiu, I've not seen any dairy products at my local farmers markets but there is a dairy not too far away I can check with. annabelle, I'd have to drive 25 miles to get to Harps but I did find mascarpone in a Holiday Island store. But I doubt I'll ever buy mascarpone again

. I finally found mascarpone at the fifth store I went to. I'm located in NW Arkansas and there is not a Trader Joe's or WF here. Closest WF is in Tulsa. That being said, the mascarpone (@ 48% BF) made an amazing sherbet served with a poached peach half and a garnish of fresh raspberry's and a raspberry coulis. A very satisfying finish to a great meal. Tim, Making my own mascarpone is the only way to go, thanks for your recipe. I have tartaric acid on the way and will try both tartaric acid and lemon juice. All I am finding so far is ultra pasteurized which I doubt will result in a good product. I'm a little unclear about the butter fat content. A lot of recipes recommend ~25% BF. Thanks to all.

I want to make mascarpone sorbet or sherbet (a la Thomas Keller and others) but cannot find mascarpone. Is there a reasonable substitute for this application? I've seen several variations, all including cream cheese, heavy cream and either sour cream, butter or creme fraiche. Pretty sure these would be acceptable in a savory dish but I'm not sure about a frozen dessert. Your experience is appreciated.

Ptipois, good comments, well put. I decided to do the classic "a la Parisienne" and it was just fine with asparagus flan with sauce mousseline and a pea shoot salad.

Thanks for the resounding vote for a la Parisienne. And ChrisZ, thanks for the good ideas for lightening the dish. I think I may sous vide the scallops. I'm using bay scallops so time and temp should be OK at 55C for 30 minutes. Hoping to get as much prep work done the day before as possible. Parm crisps is a good idea.

I'm cooking for a group of 20 soon and planning to do Coquille St. Jacques. After looking through dozens of recipes, I'm still torn between the a la Parisienne and Provencale styles. Serving with a crustless asparagus quiche and pea shoot salad. As a spring event I want the scallops to be somewhat light and fresh. Your comments and suggestions please.