Busboy

Perfect expression of a sad syndrome. Vanilla lobster, anyone? ← Pick me! Restaurant Eve in Alexandria served me and a bunch of eGulleters lobster flan paired with a fennel "confit" (or whatever they called it) that had been spiked with vanilla and it was quite a good dish. I've cooked a Keller dish that features black bass and a vanilla/saffron cream that was spectacular. Subtly done, it appears that vanilla and fish can be a pretty dynamic duo. Though I, like you found the concept troubling, at first. (I actually only cooked the bass because the photograph was so cool -- and, also, if it was good enough for TK...).

Your mother was making clafoutis, therefore she wasn't taking out the pits. The lemon juice and lemon rind are just as strange. That must be very nice but that's not a clafoutis. As for the cunning tricks designed to replace flavour lost by pitting, why not just leave the pits in, the way the recipe was designed? Keep it simple. If some people have such poor mouth and palate sensitivity so as not to notice that they're eating a whole cherry in a clafoutis and swallow the pits, they probably shouldn't eat clafoutis in the first place. Clafoutis should be eaten slowly and leisurely, not devoured. ← Just finished up the rest of last night's clafoutis and the ice cream, with the leftover Sauternes (has any bunch of restes ever been so good?) and so am in a very good mood. I confess to being eager to launch a taste-test between pitted and non-pitted clafoutis. Until it is proved that the pits make the dish taste better, however, I'd rather get my work done up front, pitting the cherries in advance, and not have to worry about cracking a tooth while sitting on the front porch, eating dessert, and watching the fireflies spark and the moon rise. I promise, P'tit, that I do not devour. In fact, the best part of the clafouti may be the half-brown bits around the edge of the pan that you eat with your fingers (quelle horreur) after everyone else has had their share. I can work a clafouti and a bottle of sweet wine for an hour-and-a-half. And, you know, even insensitive thugs deserve a chance to have a taste of summer, even if they have a "poor mouth" and lack "palate sensitivity." I know that you know that the world would be a better place if even the most insensitive among us were eating fresh cherries the way God and French tradition meant us to eat them. PS: I don't know where you are in France, but when my daughter tasted this morning's batch of cherries she said, "they're almost as good as the ones we had in France," bought in Isle sur la Sorgue. I'm betting, despite philosophical differences on this, that either one of us could whip up a swell dessert on a beautiful night. Gotta run: more cherries to pit.

A clafouti Is a thing of beauty -- Racine I don't know what's going on where y'all are at but here in The Capitol of the Free World it's the second week of cherry season, and my second week at the clafouti stove, and I've accrued a soupçon of wisdom to add to this thread, so I thought I'd put it up. The scene: "Cooking for Dilettants" in the kitchen of a posh restaurant, chairs on risers, Famous Falstaiffian French Chef (aka Michel Richard) and Hunky Sous Chef (aka Cyril) (ladies and some of you gents...take this course) (the food's not that great but the sommelier makes it all worth while )behind the line demonstrating three courses, including dessert for myself and 30 other afficianadoes. (Americans: add a French accent to this dialogue as you read) Falstaff Richard: You know, when I was a kid, my mother used to make clafouti, but she was lazy, she never took the pits out of the cherries. Cyril Hunk: I thought it was for the flavor, Chef. FR: They always have an excuse. They were just lazy... On the other hand, Alice Waters, who is at times more French than the French, says that the pits add an almond flavor to the stuff, and so she puts a little almond extract into the mix to replace the pits. Alice also bakes the cherries for a bit first, dusts with cinnamon and lemon rind, and throws a little lemon juice into the mix. She and Richard both take a fashion-forward approach to the thing, separating the eggwhites from the yolks, and then whiping the whites before recombining the usual ingredients. Michel also Robo-Couped some almonds into flour, thus making up for the (alleged) loss of flavor due to pitting. When Michel Richard did it (in individual servings) it was wonderful. When I did it, is was...not so much. Worth taking another shot at when I'm actually paying attention to what I'm doing, though. So, last night, I retreated into Julia's Art for the basic approach, though with a bit of Alice's spice leanings, and served the result with some home-made buttermilk ice cream. My clafouti, was a thing of beauty. I'm having the leftovers for breakfast. Vive les cerises!

A modest waning: Had Fergus' brined pork belly the other day and it struck us significantly ovrsalted. Edible, but salty almost to the point of a proscuitto or Virginia ham -- more of a flavoring agent than something you'd necessarily want to eat big dollops of. And good enough that we'll likely try it again, with less salt in the brine this time.

Are there huts that allow access to cooking facilities? During my days as a Youth Hostel-er I whipped up some pretty good meals in common kitchen areas, and if you don't need to carry a tent and other camping equipment, the backpack lightens up pretty fast. Course, if they won't lend you a pan your back to sausage and gorp.

I, sadly, haven't eaten there in a while, but I'd be eager to eat the regular fare at Cafe Atlantico. I enjoyed the Mini-Bar a great deal (order the New Mexico sparkling wine as the best accompaniement) but would just as soon order a regular meal there. I second Marcel's, and the best "fusion-y" thing I've eaten lately was actually a duck-breast that Chef Richard had cunningly dusted with Asian spices and served with trompe de l'oil "fried rice." Specatcular, but may be a bit out of your range (my dinner for 2 was a little over $300 with tip and more wine by the glass than was strictly necessary). I've always thought 1789 -- because of its decor and location -- to be the best "nice place to take mom and dad," in town. I ate there not long ago and the food was generally excellent and more adventurous than I'd expected: "Though rooted in the hearty cooking that goes well with antiques and equestrian prints, Chef Ris Lacoste integrates a wide variety of cuisines into her menu – including Indian, Caribbean, Southern and New England – with excellent results." And, since I keep seeing Ris at the farmers markets weekend mornings, you know your greens are going to be fresh that night.

I'm wondering if anybody has thought to call the restaurant and ask? Seems more effective than speculating on-line.

This thread seems to be about Canada. ← Canada..it's just a few stops up the Yellow Line... I think this is the right link.

Just to be clear, we had a very bad night, but I'm sure I'll give it another try. If past visits hadn't been so wonderful, we wouldn't have been so disappointed with that one. I am eager to have someone prove me wrong on this. Busy Friday night, random service -- you had to tackle your waiter to get a martini, you never quite knew whan anything was going to show up and in the end it all kind of showed up at once -- and curiously bland food. No zing. I need my zing, man.

detlechef, I roast beets and have never found them particularly "arousing" so, if I might inquire, are you using some sort of seductive sauce? Serving them in some erotic manner? ← Well, for starters, I did say "when served by a man to woman", so I can't speak of the effect in your case. I'll also say that I have eaten roasted beets on plenty of occasions that didn't result in any hanky panky. Certainly the intention to seduce must accompany the preparation, but the I think the basal and earthy richness helps remind us of our true instincts and purpose on this world. It reminds us that we are animals and, thus... ← I'm totally not buying this. I don't think think any woman ever, who was not born in Russia or the Ukraine, slept with a man because he cooked her beets. Never, never, never. The one time I ever tried to seduce a woman through dinner, she broke off the drunken kiss and said "I just can't explain." I'll never know if the steak with red wine pan sauce almost got a lesbian into my bed, or if my bad cooking sent her over the other team for good.

Our last experience at Indique was brutally unfortunate. I like Indique enough -- from previous visits -- to give it a a bit of slack. But, boy, just thinking about it now makes me think of how bad a place can be. I'm looking forward to a post that tells me that I just hit it at a bad moment. Until then, there are other places to go.

I've little to add except that dinner for $40 -- especially if that includes tax, tip and booze -- is going to be tough to find in DC; and that I'd go to AV Ristorante, but not for the food,. For your more flexible moments, this thread has a lot of good information on it. And, just for the hell of it, you might consider Bistro du Coin. Three subway stops from the convention center and they seem to open the upstairs section -- on a balcony, overlooking the main dining room -- to private parties. Sure, you could have an asshole waiter that tells the president of your firm to kiss off. But the odds of this happening have been greatly exagerated. Much more likely, you could have a loud, rowdy and very French meal with crispy frites, great mussels, a bit of onglet and a lot of wine for something within shouting distance of your price range.

I'm quite the little chocolate slut for the stuff made from Todd English's Olives dessert cookbook. He uses brown sugar, which gives it a great richness and a pretty much undeniable mouthfeel. Use with caution.

Martini Bloody Mary Pastisse

I'm with doc, I don't see any point in hewing puritanically to "authenticity," especially as -- with all due respect to the former Mayor of Nice -- there are undoubtedly dozens of "authentic" recipes out there, anyway. Poach away! Though, personally, I grill for this.

The worst of the 50s meets the worst of the 00s to produce previously unimagined bastard offspring.

For some time now, my goal has been to cook a meal so extraordinary that my guests are compelled to rush outside, hold hands and sing beneath the stars. Of course, I don't have too many Puritans together so they may have other ways of expressing their delight, even if they aren't doing it in my front yard... Merci pour les recettes, Daniel.

I'm not entirely sure of the recipe, as someone has swiped my Inn at Little Washington cookbook. But, for those of us living between the Chesapeake and the Blue Ridge, pureed peaches chilled and diluted with a little Riesling seems to work pretty well.

Give us gringos a hint at what the more exotic ingredients are, will ya? I have to get out to a Korean neighborhood on a non-related errand, this might be doable. On the other hand, apple season is long over and the plums are still a moment or two away. Please advise.

yeah--poach for about 2 minutes, shock in ice water. to hard boil takes about four or five minutes i think. rachel perlow started a thread on them a while ago but i can't find it now... you have to be a little careful not to break the yolk when you open them; the membrane inside the shell is really thick. ← the couple of times we've served them, we always get a couple extra "test" eggs if we're cooking them in the shell. Poaching is a bit surreal, but the vinegar in the water trick keeps them relatively compact.

Tuna has been packed in olive oil before the 300 Spartans held Thermopylae against the Persians. There are truly excellent Greek, Italian, and even Korean tinned tunas. And I would never poach tuna. It would make me cry. If I don't use tinned tuna for a standard nicoise, I'll sear a block of tuna and serve a few thin slices atop a mound of fingerlings and haricot verts mixed with anchovy aoli and topped with tomato concasse and a quail egg or two. ← With all due respect to the Spartans -- barbarians though they were -- I'm relatively certain that Salad Nicoise is a recent recipe, perhaps from the last decades of the 19th century, perhaps even after that. The story I recall is that it was the product of a grand hotel catering to the then-nascent tourist trade on the Cote d'Azur.

Read this before you eat any fruits and vegetables again! full data set ... now I am really beginning to feel nauseous ... ← Or, simply get down to your farmers market in search of low- and no-pesticide produce.

What do you mean by a "parallel argument"? Junk food will still be cheaper and easier to procure and carry, require no storage or preparation. ← Junk food accrues the same advantages in terms of price and convenience whether you buy it in the outer suburbs or the inner city. Your public transport point is well taken, but families everywhere face the similar time pressures when it comes to preparing meals. And I don't know where you shop, but junk food is rarely, if ever, cheaper than non-prepared food. The relative cost of healthy and unhealthy food simply isn't the reason diets are poorer in poor neighborhoods. On the other hand (the parallel argument part) food, and other goods, is often more expensive in poor neighborhoods. This is a significant and long-running sore point -- if you read Martin Luther King speeches from 40 years ago, it shows up in the litany of grievances he was working to have redressed. This is a valid concern, but not, to my mind, an explanation for the relatively unhealthy eating that are far too common in poor communities. Given the health problems in poor neighborhoods, looking for real underlying causes -- lack of consumer savvy, poor cooking skills, poor nutritional information, traditional diets that are heavy on starches and fried food -- seems more effective than throwing up your hands and saying "what can you expect, have you seen their grocery stores?"

On the other hand, I doubt very much whether people are buying junk food because they are so ignorant that they have no idea apples would be healthier. I mean, Americans eat like crap for all kinds of reasons. But it becomes a lot harder to eat healthy if you are (for instance) a working poor single mother with no transportation and-- as study after study of poor and/or nonwhite neighborhoods has shown-- fewer and more expensive shopping options. You can't get in the car and go to Costco and take advantage of economies of scale. Even your toilet paper is going to cost a lot. And then your income is low; your hours are often awkward with a long commute on public transportation of top of that, and then you're supposed to do creative cooking and shopping? Maybe some people can, but not being able to does not mean you are dumb. ← You're wandering into a parallel argument here. Yes, things are often more expensive in poor neighborhoods (though prices in my local merkados, which cater to a largely low-income immigrant population, compare favorably to the Safeway). But the added expense applies equally to healthy food and to junk, there is no economic advantage to buying high-fat foods, so other factors must be involved.

New York is a big place, and I'll concede it's possible that in the time I've spent there, I've managed to miss the mountains of farm-fresh vegetables for sale on every corner of poor neighborhoods. But for any other city in America, this is transparent bullshit. Decades of research have demonstrated that poorer sections of cities are underserved by supermarkets: people who live there have less access to fresh foods, and hence don't have the chance to make healthy choices. Come to Philadelphia; I'll give you a tour of North Philly and you can see just what choices are available for people who live there. Again, I'm not saying that demonizing food companies is the solution. But neither is living in a fantasyland about the limitless choices available to poor folks. ← I've spent most of my adult life living in "inner city" neighborhoods, often shopping for food there. Certainly the choices available -- for fresh fruit and for junk food -- are restricted compared to suburban stores and affluent urban neighborhoods. But there is more than enough reasonable food available to construct a varied and healthy diet. I'd suggest that the bigger problem is nutritional ignorance. Nobody's buying junk food because apples aren't available.