tammylc

I'm a bacon bar naysayer. I didn't like it, neither did my husband. My parents did, so maybe it's one of those "love it or hate it" creations. I love bacon, I love chocolate (although dark more than milk), and I love salty and sweet things together, but I didn't like this.

I'm having dinner with some friends in Denver and have reservation for Fruition. But I've just discovered that least one of said friends was hoping for a full-on tasting menu extravaganza. Will/does Fruition do any sort of tasting menu for a special request? While I was looking around I came across a review of Restaurant Kevin Taylor, and it seems like it might fit the bill. Anyone have an experience there to share, or any other suggestions? Thanks!

In one of the recipes, he suggests using dark rum as a replacement if you can't find the Mojito liqueurs. Mojitos have lime, rum and mint, so coconut rum wouldn't be an equivalent replacement, although it might still taste good!

Might i recommend http://www.meetomatic.com/ as a simple way to start getting consensus on potential attendee availability? It's simple and easy to use, and much more "at a glance" than a bunch of replies in an eGullet post.

I don't have a guitar either. When I do my slabbed pieces, I basically pre-score them - I have a ruler that's 1 inch wide, and I lay it on top of the ganache, mark it, then move it one spot over, mark again, etc. Rotate the sheet, do it again. I don't try to cut against the straight edge/ruler, i just score. I'm usually working with an 8 inch square of ganache, and I'll cut it in half, and then work on the smaller sections, so i'm not making really long cuts - that's what always causes my cuts to go askew. I've been pretty happy with the consistency of my pieces since I started using this method. (Although I still covet a guitar.) I think you'll like the disher - it works well and gives you consistent sizing. My forearm muscles get pretty sore after about the first hundred though... Good luck!

Really great pictures - thanks! That is sad. I was just there a month ago when i was traveling in Atlanta, and had a great meal. I'm very bummed to hear that they've closed.

Another option is to do a slabbed ganache instead of balls. I find it much easier and more consistent to cut instead of roll. There's still all that dipping, though. I turned most of my production over to filled chocolates rather than dipping centers, and that makes me a much happier camper. Which is basically what you'll be doing with premade shells.

I've never tried this, but it seems like a nice flavorful sourdough might at help offset the reduced flavor from the salt.

Any updates on this thread? I'll be in Denver in November, with some friends who are always jealous of my molecular gastronomy excursions in other cities - I'd love to know if there's anywhere particular I should take them...

I think you'll find if you go to only 238 or so you'll have a much more workable consistency and still a good result.

David - what temperature are you cooking the sugar to? The only time i got a very stiff marshmallow was when i thought i might have overheated my sugar. The other times i got to only 136 or 138, and that gave me a very pourable marshmallow. Those were also fruit puree marshmallows, which might make a difference in consistency.

Oh, and I thought I should note that espresso marshmallows made the best smores. As soon as I tasted the marshmallows, I said "these will be really good with chocolate" and I was right. I know a bunch of people have talked about coffee marshmallows in this thread, but I didn't see any details. I substituted freshly brewed espresso for all the liquid in the gelatin step. My husband the coffee geek warned me that the espresso would get bitter if I let it stand to cool down, so I threw an ice cube in to cool it faster - meaning the resulting liquid was slightly watered down espresso. The bitterness of the coffee offsets the sweet marshmallow very nicely - definitely a grown-up flavor. My husband also makes cold-filtered coffee, and I'm going to try making marshmallows from that next time he has some around.

I usually whip mine to ~ 10 - 12 minutes. When i pour it in the pan it is very stiff and sets up very quickly. In fact, the word pour has nothing to do with it- very much a scrap and cajole process. The longer you whip it, the more air you incorporate, the more chance you give the syrup to cool and stiffen the mix. I think your flavors (passion fruit!!) are begging for colored swirls . ← It was your 1/4 recipe that came out so stiff, whereas my full recipes made from nightscotsman's recipe came out softer. Are there any other differences between the two recipes, or is yours really just 1/4 of his? The fruit ones were definitely warmer when I put them into the pan, so it's likely I just needed to let them whip longer to cool and stiffen - they were very soft and pourable, not really sticky at all like the espresso one was. What temperature do you cook the syrup to? I definitely want to try the colored swirls. Next time. (I sense much marshmallow making in my future.) Lemon is high on the list. Thanks!

Like everybody else on this thread, it seems, once I tried this I just couldn't stop! Saturday was passion fruit, Sunday was strawberry and today was espresso. My texture got better as the weekend went on. The passion fruit (in the front) are pretty flat. The strawberry (on the right) fluffed up a little more. With the espresso ones (in the back - they're not actually as dark as they look), I thought that I had overheated the sugar syrup, but now I'm wondering if I actually underheated the syrup on the fruit batches, because i think the texture of the espresso is probably more what I'm supposed to be going for. I did a 1/4 batch of the espresso, and after only 6 minutes of whipping it was very stiff, so I stopped. It was also much stickier than the others. The strawberry and passionfruit ones feel kind of moist on your tongue when you eat them, the espresso ones less so. Any comments on that distinction? How sticky and stiff should the finished marshmallow be when you pour it into the tray?

i agree that you don't want to substitute shortening. How much cocoa butter is there relative to other ingredients? That will help us know what role it is playing in the recipe.

I think the big thing we're going to have to worry about for this meal is having too many people to do much of anything as a whole group! There are a lot more local eGulleteers in Chicago, and lots of people who want to visit. So this could get really big, really fast.

Karen - that tomato soup was amazing. Do you think you could post the recipe? Or Edsel, I think you said you had it? I'd like to make it for the dinner I'm doing for my cohousing community tonight. I found one version of it online, but I'm not sure it's the right one. Thanks!

There's no secret list. When Ronnie has some details in order, he'll start a planing topic (or revive this one, I suppose) and ask for people to speak up if they want to attend. Everyone is welcome. But it's a year away, so it'll take him some time to figure it out!

Thank you, Nancy, for taking on the mantle of "in charge." You did an amazing job, and we all greatly appreciated your (months of) hard work. Having done this myself, I know exactly how many pieces you end up having to juggle, but you pulled together a most excellent gathering. I only wish I could have participated in more bits of it.

I can't believe I'm the first person to post pictures from Saturday. I guess that's the prize for missing most of the weekend! I only got pictures of the actual courses we ate at dinner, not the huge spread of cheese and charcuterie and salmon and eggplant dip that went out before dinner... Our menu was a little light on vegetables, but for the most part people did much better on portion sizes right this year - it's hard to adjust to tasting menu size, but we outdid ourselves! And everything tasted absolutely amazing! Soup and Sandwiches. The soup was a creamy tomato soup with chunks of blue cheese. Made by Karen from a Michael Symon recipe. Amazing. The sandwiches were from Ronnie - a mini BLT on (Tom's) brioche, and amazing lox with a schmear on (Tom's) black bread. Man, that lox was sooo buttery. Both the bacon and lox were Ronnie's own, of course. I appear to have missed taking a picture of the third course, which was a Thai Beef Salad. Thai Beef Salad is one of my favorite foods, and Diane and Steve's was a great example of it - the flavors were fabulous and perfectly balanced. CaliPoutine's risotto. Asparagus, parsley, basil, and one perfectly cooked jumbo shrimp. The rice was perfect as well - still just the tiniest bit toothsome. Schweintraub's cassoulet (I'll let him relate the story of its inspiration. If he hadn't told me, I never would have guessed this was his first time making cassoulet. It was remarkable. Served family style, this is actually a tiny portion on a small plate - it just looks bigger in the picture. There was garlic sausage and duck confit and some sort of smoked turkey. I wish I'd scarfed some of the leftovers - I'm sure it would be even better today. After all that meat (every course so far - bacon&lox, beef, shrimp, duck/pork), it was time for something lighter! Torakris made this watermelon salad, and it was an inspiration! Just watermelon, scallions, and a dressing of olive oil, balsamic, pepper and salt. Bob and Edsel's offering of braised Jamaican-jerk inspired goat, with caramelized shallots and au jus, plus some tempura okra from Kris. Even with our better portion sizes, we were all pretty full by this point, but this was tasty enough to make it worth forcing those last few bites down. I've got dessert pics too, but I won't have time to post those until later. Thanks to everyone for putting together such a great meal! It had a blast, and ate very well.

I'll be in San Antonio for dinner tomorrow night. Usually when I travel for work I've done a ton of research and have a clearly defined plan a week or more in advance. Not so, this time. Anyone have a recommendation for me? I'll be staying by the airport, but will have a rental car, and with a free afternoon was thinking about checking out the Riverwalk et al. So something around there would be convenient, but since I have a car, I could go elsewhere. I like all kinds of food, from great ethnic to haute cuisine. Thanks in advance!

Short version: I went in with the same fears as jesteinf, and was also pleasantly surprised. Everything tasted great, and the gimmicks were used to further that, not distract from it. The wine pairings were spectacular. Long version: Our (customized) menu was printed on a cracker that was flavored like foccacia - sundried tomatoes, parmesan, etc. That was on top of a lovely salad with fennel and kumquat. We ordered the 10 course menu, then got to eat our crackers - yum. SALMON & sesame: raw salmon, dusted with the Japanese spice mixture of a name I can't remember or spell (something -rashi), and topped with a crispy yuba skin. Our server held a copper pot of bubbling liquid nitrogen and scooped from it some freeze dried sesame oil (which became a powder) to top off the salmon. Yum. Wine: Ruinart Blanc de Blanc, Reims, Brut, NV BEET with bacon: Okay, you'd really have to love beets to like this one, but luckily we all did. This looked like a piece of yellow cake, but was actually a frozen aerated beet concoction - it was surprisingly cold, and had a texture that reminded me of semi-freddo. It was topped with some little bacon bits, and surrounded by a beautifully plated goat cheese sauce and swirls of red and yellow beet sauce as well as bits of beets. Wine: C. Schmitt-Wagner, Longuichen Maximiner Herrenberg Spatlese, Riesling, M-S-R, 2005 SKATE & popcorn: the popcorn was in the form of a lovely yellow sauce that did indeed taste kind of like popcorn if you thought about it. There was also a bright green shiso mint sauce, some absolutely fabulous passion fruit noodles and quite a bit of coconut powder. And a little piece of seared skate wing. Beautifully plated, and best when you mixed all the bits together - this was definitely a "sum of the parts" dish. Wine: Stone Paddock, Sauvignon Blanc, Hawkes Bay, 2005 (the passion fruit in the nose was spot on with those passion fruit noodles - excellent pairing) CUCUMBER with lemon & basil: A palate cleanser of some picked cucumber and a shot of cucumber/basil/lemon juice. Tasty, and certainly palate cleans-y. SMOKED PORK with frozen fried rice: Wow. Just wow. Even jesteinf's fiance (who doesn't particularly like pork) liked this. This was a piece of pork shoulder dusted with Thai spices and smoked. It was perfectly cooked, with lovely unctuous melting fat. It was served with some kind of sauteed green and some frozen noodles that, yes, tasted like fried rice. Wine: Barboursville, Reserve, Cabernet Franc, Virginia 2005 (Yes, that's the US state of Virginia. It was great, and another amazing pairing.) PASTA & quail: Introduced to us as "chicken-fried quail," this was a very twisty twist on mac and cheese. The pasta had been freeze dried or something, so it was crunchy. Meanwhile, the quail managed to have exactly the texture one would expect from pasta. And it was all topped with an amazing white truffle cheese sauce. Someone at the table christened it "haute trash." But man, I'd totally eat that again. Wine: Betts & Scholl, The Chronique, Grenache, Barossa, 2005 FRUIT & bubbles: Ah, at last I get to try the famous carbonated fruit! We had two pieces of carbonated watermelon, served on either side of what we heard as "white chocolate and exploratory cheese sauce." We were wondering what was exploratory about it, but then someone told us no, it was "explorateur cheese sauce". Whatever it was, it was amazing. Also on the plate were some granulated black walnuts, a rice puff cracker thing flavored like strawberry daiquiri, and some cinnamon apples. From the texture and flavor, I believe the apples had been cooked sous vide or something unusual. This was just so tasty - we were all oohing and ahhing over that cheese sauce, and now I'm pondering incorporating it into a white chocolate truffle sometime, it was such and intriguing combination. Wine: Meinklang, Ice Wine, Pinot Blanc, Burgenland, 2003. 2 & 3 dimensional truffle: The three dimensional truffle was a white chocolate truffle filled with a completely liquid cotton candy flavored center. The 2 dimensional version was a piece of rice paper that was flavored like cotton candy and printed with a cartoon drawing of a cone of cotton candy. A very familiar flavor in a new and (for me anyway) preferable form. GRAHAM CRACKER & blueberry: My note taking fell to pieces on this one, as there was just too much. The twist on this one was that the graham cracker component was as a smooth mousse, with blueberry "dots" and ginger "dots" adding some crunchy texture. There was some strawberry sorbet in there too. Tasty. KIWI, mint & maize: This looked for all the world like a plate of nachos. There were sweetened corn chips. There was ground beef made out of chocolate (but looking exactly like ground beef). There was a green salsa of kiwis. Then shaved mango sorbet that looked exactly like cheese. And a little pile of lime cream in the corner as the sour cream. The illusion was impeccable. So impeccable in fact, that I had to close my eyes to taste it properly. If I had my eyes open I just couldn't make my tastebuds cooperate. Awesome. Wine: Elio Perrone, Sourgal, Moscato d'Asti, Italy 2006 (this might have come out with the previous course, I can't remember) STRAWBERRY shortcake: Edible packing peanuts flavored with strawberry and sandwiching some sort of cream. After we'd finished up and were chatting about what a lovely meal it had been, a waiter walked by with the cart they used to prepare a course on the GTM at tableside. Seeing that he had a little bit of batter left in his syringe, I called out "Hey, do you have enough there to make us some?" "I'll see what I can do." And sure enough, a few minutes later out he came, wheeling the cart again for: FLAPJACKS prepared tableside: A metal sheet is frozen in liquid nitrogen. Pancakes are cooked, then turned back into a batter, and that batter is "cooked" into pancakes on the anti-griddle, and served in a spoon with some BLiS bourbon-barrel-aged maple syrup. Man, that was good. And then we were really done. And it was a great meal, and a lot of fun. Josh and Marisa were great company. I would absolutely go back. Some additional comments: Service: Service was really quite good and friendly. They made a couple of mistakes, the biggest of which was ignoring our telling them that Marisa didn't like dark chocolate (they could easily have left it off her "nachos"). I had requested a short pour for the wine pairings, which they said they were happy to do, but then my pours were pretty much the same size as Josh and Marisa's. BUT, they only charged me for the half pour, so I'm not actually complaining. Lastly, they made a mistake handling the gratuity on our split bill (charging me 1/2 instead of 1/3 of the total 18% service charge) but we just dealt with it between ourselves rather than making them run it again. Freezing: Cantu definitely likes his freezer! 6 out of what ended up being 12 courses had something frozen about them. Plating: The Beet and Skate courses had some of the best plating I've had in a restaurant meal in recent memory. Just gorgeous to look at. Different menu, different name: Looking at the three menus, you would assume that there was no overlap across them. But in fact, as we discovered by carefully observing and talking to the the GTM-eating couple beside us, it's just that they use a different description depending on the menu. BEET with bacon = RED/YELLOW beet cake CUCUMBER with lemon & basil = LEMON, basil & pickled cucumber SMOKED PORK with frozen fried rice = BBQ PORK with the fixin's PASTA & quail = CHICKEN FRIED mac-n-cheese FRUIT & bubbles = C O-two fruit 2 & 3 dimensional truffle = 3 COTTON candy stages (they got one more than we did) KIWI, mint & maize = CHILI-CHEESE nachos

Yeah, I didn't know that's what I was smelling either until I read the thread. Very cool thing to find out!

Kerry, if you ever get to Michigan, Meijer store-brand sugar is labeled as beet sugar.

I have exactly the truffle problems you describe. Cracks and bottom leaks can be caused by the truffle center being too cold relative to the chocolate you are dipping in, so yes, if your room temperature was especially cold, that could be part of the problem. Softer ganache centers are more prone to leaking than stiffer ones. I also think that truffles are just prone to the bottom "plug" problem, because the entire weight of the truffle is on a small area, so it pushes down and thins out the chocolate in that area. If I make the same ganache formula and do it as a slab instead of balls, I almost never have those problems. Also, chocolate that is at the top of it's working temperature will make a thinner shell, and that will be more prone to cracking. Did you find that ones you did later were less likely to crack, as the chocolate was cooling down? Another culprit can be the actual couverture - if it's a very fluid couverture, that contributes to the same thin shell problem. I'm sure others will have some good troubleshooting tips. As far as shelf life, ff you keep them in a cool place and a covered container, I think they'll be just fine for a week without refrigeration. Congrats on the successes this time around!