Ling

^Thanks for the tip! I've never made madeleines before but they look so elegant.

And so the beauty of eGullet (and DOV) is revealed once again. Ducky, you may rue the day this forum "outed" one of your "under the radar" favorites. I've driven by this place for quite a while without thought of ever passing through its door. Nothing to do with trendy. Just too many other options. Don Francesco is an afterthought no more! A. ← Same here. I've seen their ads in the paper for years but I've never heard much else about the restaurant, so I've always passed it over on those rare occasions where I get to choose a nicer restaurant for dinner. Thanks for the recommendation. I've always noted that they seem to have quite a few game dishes on the menu, and that's another big draw for me.

Here are my brownies with ganache, fleur de sel, and a cocoa nibs

^You make me want to get one of those special pans and start making madeleines too! They're beautiful!

Glad you liked it! It is one of my favourites too and I'm not a coconut fan either! I like it a lot better with the fine coconut though, like I mentioned above. It's just the texture of the coarser coconut I can't stand.

A grater? Uh...you can use a fine-mesh sieve.

Hmm...no one else baking pound cakes? Today I made RLB's "Perfect Pound cake"... comments and picture here

Here's RLB's "Perfect Pound Cake"...yes, it's 1 p.m. and I'm already on my second dessert... This recipe differs from Becca's in that it uses cake flour, whole eggs, more butter, less sugar and a bit of milk instead of cream. I think I like Becca's recipe a bit more, except I would cut the sugar down just by a little next time I make that particular pound cake...and maybe use cake flour instead of AP flour. Becca's cake rose evenly with a slight dome, while this cake domed sharply in the middle and is not as attractive. I prefer the even brown on this crust (higher temperature), but the crust on Becca's cake is crisper and tastier.

Oh damn...I should start eating my vegetables.

there you go

Everything looks good! What sort of cheese blend does Chef Tony use in the mac and cheese?

I had my Scharffen Berger/Valrhona brownies today...they are so good, especially since I haven't made them in awhile. (SB is really expensive here.)

I made extra filling even when I was only splitting my two 9" cakes to make four layers, and I also reduced the amount of cake by about 1/4...I really prefer it with more filling, and less cake, as I found the cake quite dense. (I also like it made with unsweetened, fine coconut...I don't like the texture of the bigger pieces in the sweetened stuff I get here. Oh, and a bit of extra sour cream makes it taste better, I think!) The cake portion of the recipe is not my favourite recipe to use...I would use Sarah Phillip's butter cake recipe in the "Best Of" thread next time I do the cake, and use Darcie's suggestion of adding coconut milk + extract.

Hi...I use fancy molasses for the ginger cake recipes I've been testing, but blackstrap would work if you prefer a stronger molasses flavour. It won't be overpowering if you use blackstrap, obviously, b/c that's what Neil is using at the restaurant. Try some grated fresh ginger (perhaps 2 tbsp, without lessening the amount of ground ginger) in the batter, and a blend of spices...I like cinnamon, a bit of nutmeg, and cardamom in the ginger cake. I also like buttermilk instead of milk, as it tenderizes the crumb. There's nothing lost if you make the cakes beforehand, or even if you cube up frozen ginger cake and throw them in the custard...just bake the cake until you get the gooey consistency you like. I use only egg yolks and heavy cream in the custard base, but it's up to you. Any combination of milk/half-and-half/cream would would work, as would whole eggs + a few egg yolks to enrichen the base. If you're planning to serve them with the Dulce de Leche ice-cream (which is, btw, my favourite Haagen Daaz flavour ) I would definitely cut the amount of brown sugar in the caramel sauce by half. Actually, my "quick" caramel sauce is 1/2 cup brown sugar, 1/2 cup butter, and 1 cup whipping cream anyway, and it's sweet enough for me. The addition of perhaps 1/4 cup creme fraiche and a squeeze of lemon juice with also brighten your caramel and provide enough acidity to compound the straight-on sweetness...just whisk it in quickly when your caramel is finished. (That's a trick from Sherry Yard...Wolfgang Puck's pastry chef.)

Earl's, Milestone's, and Cactus Club were part of my regular dining rotation back when I was in grade 8-10. After grade 10, I've only been into each of those restaurants a handful of times, always at the suggestion of friends. I've noticed that the menu has become a bit more "upscale" and there are definitely more Asian influences in the dishes. Nonetheless, like many others have noted, I find the menu choices pretty boring. I've had some pretty bad meals at Earl's (e.g. charred chicken and spices dumped on the ribs rendering them inedible.) And if the meal I order is "not bad", then it's not "great" either. I would much rather save my money to spend at a restaurant where I'm quite sure I can get something better. I'm familiar with the type of training the cooks at Cactus Club go through because my sister's bf is a manager at one of the locations. I'm sure that many of the cooks can produce food that is much better if they were free from time constraints and other restrictions (i.e. if they were given better ingredients, or more interesting recipes to follow). But as it stands, I've yet to have a meal at a chain restaurant that really wowed me, so why would I pay for mediocrity when I can buy better ingredients and make something at home? Cactus Club and restaurants of that ilk are, for me, places to socialize. The food is secondary to company. They are "default" restaurant--there are locations scattered around the city, so my friends and I can always find somewhere to go for a quick bite. (And yes, many of them do like the dry ribs and the chicken fingers...so the food does appeal to some. Just not me.) The difference between a restaurant like Aurora and Milestone's is that I pore over the menu longer at the former because I have to narrow down my choices--many of the dishes look good, and I want to make the "right" decision. At Milestone's--which I haven't been in 5+ years, because I've never had anything really good there--I take a long time to order because I'm searching for the one item that sounds like it would be remotely interesting. And that's not really a great feeling to have when I know I'm paying about the same that I would for something at Aurora.

The Only? A bunch of the diners have been around for 20+ years, I'm sure.

I was at my friend's house yesterday and he made 7-layer dip...a big bowl of it. My favourite layer is the layer with the taco mix/sour cream/mayo. I must've eaten like 2 cups worth of dip at least!!! with most of a bag of those Hint-of-Lime tortilla chips (pretty much the only tortilla chips I really like.) OMIGOD that hit the spot. And then I dove into my Valrhona stash...

^Damn. That's obscene. In a very good way. Best thing I had yesterday was the brownie batter I made with Scharffen Berger and Valrhona chocolate. The baked brownies are in the freezer now, awaiting a bath in Pierre Herme's caramel ganache, and a sprinkle of fleur de sel tomorrow. Most delicious thing I had today was Poplar Grove Tiger Blue cheese. Mmmm...

^I'm more of a fan of the olive oil they use...I wonder if it's still the Eleni Golden Olive? Anyway, it is great...very fruity. The friend I was dining with on Friday went again on Sunday with a few of his friends, and everyone enjoyed the food immensely. This time, my friend had the sable fish and he said it was incredible. I can't imagine a better DOV deal than West, and that's saying quite a lot considering all the other excellent DOV menus other restaurants are putting out. How is it possible to offer so much for $35?!!

Agreed. Pino`s book of kitchen insults and put downs. I`d buy it . ← I'm not familiar with the industry, but if the cookbook was peppered with insults and put-downs directed at the reader and his/her general incompetence in the kitchen, I'm sure it'd still sell. Channeling Tony Bourdain...?

^I have the book, but I haven't made the lemon tart yet. The pine nut crust sounds really good! How did you like it? Becca's pound cake is indeed very good! I think I mentioned in another thread that I made pound cakes all the time a few years ago, but then I went onto different things and forgot which pound cake recipe I liked the best. It may have been a cream cheese pound cake recipe. Anyhow, Becca's recipe is definitely a contender...it would be great with a lemon glaze or lemon curd! I followed her suggestion of using 5 eggs + 2 yolks for two loaf cakes.

Thomas Haas tops my list for sure. The other chefs I would be interested in seeing cookbooks from have already been mentioned, and I'd like to nominate the chef at Cioppino's as well. I haven't had a chance to eat there yet, but I've only read good things.

I made your cake this afternoon, Becca. I did like it a lot more than the Elvis Presley pound cake...it's amazing what a little less egg and a little leavening can do! It is much lighter. However, I don't think I beat the EP cake long enough when I made it on Monday, b/c I was in a big rush. So perhaps the comparison isn't 100% fair, but I do like your pound cake recipe a lot. It would be great with a tart lemon glaze! link to a photo of Becca's cake

^Mmm...I bet that tasted good! Happy Chinese New Year! I made Becca Porter's pound cake today. Her recipe is in Recipe Gullet. I liked this cake a lot more than the Elvis Presley pound cake, but I think I didn't beat the EP cake long enough. I zoomed in on this picture to show the crumb.

No cilantro? No ginger? Are you sure you're Chinese? We had the lamb and couscous at the Waiterblog dinner back in April, and it was great. I love all the fruit in the couscous, and the spices in the lamb.