chezcherie

the first time i ever purchased duck fat, it came in a little container with a fancy logo and the words "Duck Fat--Better than Butter!" My kids latched onto that, big time, and if you wave a container of duck fat in any of their general directions, they will reflexively and gleefully announce "Better than Butter!" ....makes me smile.

we use these frozen garlic cubes almost exclusively in my cooking classes. (we get them from trader joes---ours threatened to discontinue them for a while, but a student-led protest won them over. i bet your joe's can get them, if mine can....rise up!) what i tell student is that even if they love to chop garlic...even if chopping garlic is their zen-like, centering device, after a hard day at work...sometimes you think you have garlic, and you have a sprouting houseplant...and other times, you think you have garlic, but it turns out to be just the "garlic paper"--no actual cloves remaining. so the frozen cubes are the back-up plan (or in my case, the whole plan, these days). i stress that if they are going to be sauteed, or otherwise subjected to direct heat, i like to keep them frozen until the second they get popped out of the tray and into the saute pan. if they sit out on the counter (or the mise en place tray---hey! we're a cooking school!) for more than a couple minutes, they defrost, and they are so finely minced that they will burn reallly fast. but popping them into that pan frozen gives you a minute or two to get the aroma going before they burn. i find they have a true garlic flavor, unlike the minced stuff in jars, which, to me, tastes like bad soybean oil and citric acid. i love the frozen garlic! (haven't found much use for the frozen cilantro, though i might try it in guacamole...the frozen parsley, in my opinion, is useless---good only for sticking to one's teeth embarrassingly.) the stuff in tubes has a weird texture to me. the flavors of the two i tried--lemongrass and another one? were okay, but the thick gumminess freaked me out too much.

costco where? thanks

i have the books and the mags...."i'm cherie and i am a cook addict." the mags are BIG...like mini-editions of the books. i think they run about $10 an issue on the stand, but i succumb each time. i keep thinking i should subscribe, but then i don't. (btw, that price seems lower than i think it actually is...that may be australian dollars or something...still, i think it might be worth it.)

^^ what a fabulous collection! and great souvenirs of travels. very nice!

i'm also a donna fan. have you seen her magazine? i get it from barnes and noble. it comes out every other month, and, as it's australian, the seasons are reversed, but it's really a quality publication, and i save every issue.

pork and apple....mmmm. especially if you simmer the filling in pear cider. put me down for one of those.

my 15 yr old daughter and i dined there (thanks to her benevolent uncle) on thursday evening (april 12, 2007). she had just purchased an adorable little black dress at the rue monge marche and was excited to wear it to the jules verne. we were horrified to find fellow diners queuing up for the private elevator ride, wearing all manner of casual wear, including jeans (and not fancy-schmancy ones, either) and tennis shoes. quelle horreur! our corner window seat afforded a spectacular view of the seine, and we sipped kir royales as we watched the bateaux mouches leave the docks, and the sun disappear. the view was really tremendous, and frequent trips to the ladies room provided views from the piano bar side, which overlooks the champs de mars side of things. (don't get me started on the view in the ladies room....lordy! i understand the need for an airplane toilette, but who thought it would be a good idea to place a full length mirror INSIDE the stall!!!??????) sadly, our dainty evening bags had no room for pen and paper, and despite repeated requests, we could not sweet talk a copy of the menu out of any of our many charming waiters, so i rely on memory for this. we ordered a la carte, as the princess daughter, while working on the "picky eater" issue, was just not up to the challenge of the tasting menu. i dunno what happened to the photo, but there were adorably tiny gougeres offered first, along with a bread selection of white, buckwheat or whole wheat. we tried all in the course of the meal, and all were quite nice, if not amazing. amuse of poached quail egg in !spinach cream sauce. i was afraid the p.d wouldn't eat it but she did, so i only got my own. tasty, if tiny morsels. shellfish veloute was my starter. if i recall correctly, this was about 42 euros...making it a $50+ bowl o soup. worth that? i don't think so...but deeply flavorful, with a two bite lobster hunk. no starter for the p.d--she was thinkin' maybe two desserts, instead, and i did not say no. my spring lamb. very tender, and mildly flavorful--meaning not overly lamb-y. the portion size seemed well suited for a tasting menu, but small for a main course. her milk-fed veal. tender, tasty and a perfect portion size. sorry for the bad quality. it was getting quite dark by this point, and the little lamp on the table was realllly bright. this was my dessert--a strawberry croquante (?) that was lovely. in the background, petits fours included financiers, little chocolate sandwich cookies and pistachio macarons with fleur de sel caramel filling (awoon...) and the p.d had: i can't recall the description of this, but it was chocolate wafers with an oragey-passion fruity creme and sauce. the photo quality declined even further after this. the final sweets were a china box with lemon marshmallows (fab) and red fruit pate de fruits, and a silver box of tiny chocolate truffles. (at some point, the p.d. wisely decided to forego the second dessert.) we had a wonderful evening. the wait staff could not have been more attentive, but in a charming, not smothering way...each of our servers seemed to delight in the jeune fille experiencing the atmosphere and fine dining they had to offer. would i go again? probably not. it's a once-in-a-lifetime thing, i think. would i go on my own dime? maybe not...i have had much better high-end meals for less money. am i glad we went? hell, yes. we had a terrific evening together, and she will always remember her first visit to paris! thanks, uncle dave!

i am far from a pastry person. but i do address "piping bag issues" in many of my cooking classses. take control. one of the worst pastry bag fears is that the "stuff" will come out the tip before the bag is filled, or before you are ready to start piping. solve this issue easily: after the bag is fitted with the tip, but before you fill it with anything remotely runny, twist the bag at the tip end, just above the tip, then stuff that twisted fabric (or plastic) down into the tip. you have thus created a "cork", which will prevent the contents from running all over creation until you, with a very professional-feeling flick of the wrist, pull the cork loose, and start the flow. next place that unfilled bag into a drinking glass or measuring cup ('cuz doing that means you have two free hands to work with, rather than holding the bag in one, and filling with the other..) fold down a cuff, and fill the bag, as suggested above, about half-way. as i explain it in class, the goal is for all the stuff to come out the tip end, and none of the stuff to come out the top end, all over your hand and sleeve. the more cuff you leave yourself, the more chance you have of achieving that goal. once the bag is filled, unfold the cuff, and twist that part once or twice, releasing as much air as you can as you do that. take it out of the glass, and do a few practice squeezes, putting light pressure with your top hand (i'm left-handed...my left hand squeezes the top, my right guides the tip end) and no pressure at the bottom. it takes practice, but it is kinda thrilling for a non-pastry person to see that such satisfying results can be achieved with a little effort. (another tip is to use something fairly cheap to practice with, like whipped cream or even whipped Crisco, to practice with, on the back of a sheet pan. fill the surface area with squiggles, scrape it off and re-pipe it all. after a couple demo sheets, you won't be remotely tempted to eat the stuff, and will be focused on perfecting your technique. free yourself of fear of the piping bag!

got no help about the late or inconsiderate guests---except to invite better friends! for clean-up--beget a teenager...or better yet, hire someone else's. it takes a few times to get 'em trained up, but they can then handle most clean up chores, and maybe even plate a dessert for you while you are with your guests. and they can do doing dishes while you relax over port. if you have a culinary program in your school district, that's a good place to start, if you haven't planned far enough ahead to have one of your own around. (even if you have, one of their friends will be less snarky and happier about the cash than your own offspring.) we had a big party the other night, and i hired the lad for the next morning...off i went to bed, and slept right through the clean up the next morning. (husband was kind enough to take the morning shift!)

i use a 25 yr old waffle maker that makes conjoined heart-shaped waffles. my favorite thing to do with them is to make a standard waffle batter (or the wonderful yeast waffles ala cunningham), and embed bacon strips in them. i recipe-tested the bacon half-cooked, fully cooked and raw, and raw won...i didn't think it would cook all the way through, but it does...bacon and waffle in one nifly, crispy, heart shaped package...dip 'em in maple syrup (grade b for me...) that's my favorite waffle application.

(here's how i remember the answer to your original question: the pestle is NOT the vessel. the little rhyme helps me, and if the pestle is not the vessel, it must be--and is--the pounder goodie.)

my philosophy is that you can always put less stuff in a bigger thing (food processor, saute pan, etc.) but you can't put more stuff in a smaller one. i think you should go for the bigger one....you will have it for a long time, and it may get you cooking more, so bigger is probably better.

i like glass lids in theory. but in practice, the one i have gets so fogged with steam that i can't see in the pan anyway...perhaps this is why? just thinkin'...

ding, ding, ding--i think we have a winner...dystopiandreamgirl, those are so gorgeous! i'm really not a baker, tho i dabble, and those have inspired me nearly as much as dorie greenspan's baking book....well played, indeed!

funny, i use either an emile henry clay casserole, or a cheap-ass glass oval baking dish...neither conduct nearly as much heat as the vessels described above. (is "conduct" the right word here...i am having an old-timer's moment, along with being scientifically challenged on my best day!) in any case, those both work wonderfully...and now i can't imagine why they do. i did melt the butter in them both while the oven preheated, so both the dish and the butter were nice and hot when the batter went in. hmm.....

this used to be my kids' favorite sleep over breakfast...they would watch it rise into "hills and valleys" through the oven window. then we served it with whatever fruit was gorgeous, berries preferred, and a choking cloud of powdered sugar. my middle baby turned 20 yesterday, and is off at college...sniff. but spring break is upon us---i believe i will make an "auf lauf" for his weekend at home.! (auf lauf was the name given the version of dutch baby i used---the long-gone cookbook translated that as "very quick" or something similar, and the name is fun to say, so it stuck at our house!)

siracha tabasco (i like the chipotle one) crystal (cuz you can't get too much nola on your shelf these days) cholula you can pick your own fifth...i'm good with those, although i'd also want a batch of pureed chipotles in adobo in my freezer.

smoked paprika

i know there are several in los angeles' chinatown. asi we have chickens as pets, it's a little too "close to home" for me to point out a flapping bird and then take it home for dinner. (somehow, the pre-plastic wrapped bird doesn't bother me, although when we first got chickens, i could only cook chicken parts for a while, not whole birds) . but i'm so curious about the difference in flavor...might have to give it a try next time.

i use bonne maman raspberry jam for raspberry macs...i'm sure that other jams would work.

merci, clothilde! your website was one of the first places i looked, but couldn't find anything there. (i am a big admirer of your blog, and i'm looking forward to the book!)

sometimes i have good piping mojo, sometimes not. if i get the little pointy peak on top, i barely dampen my finger in water and ever so gently pat the point away. then i let them sit at room temp an extra few minutes to get that matte finish, or "skin" on them.

we have chickens as pets. they have names. their beautiful eggs (see my icon) are a bonus for us. we don't eat our pets. we do eat chicken, just not OUR chickens. that may be a cop out (or a coop out...) , but that's just us. our chickens live waaaayy beyond their egg-laying years, in fact, i just laid to rest the oldest chicken i've ever heard of...i had her 9 years, and i got her "used" when i started up with chicken keeping, so who knows how old she actually was. at the point of death, i'm not sure that that would be good eatin', anyhoo!

a student of mine is spending half her year in california and half her year in france, poor girl. she was telling me that she is having trouble finding the right cream for different applications, one of them being her coffee. i opined that perhaps that particular difficulty is because they use milk in coffee, rather than cream, but anyway...) is there an easy comparision i could provide? _____ equals whipping cream, ____ equals cream for "coffee", etc? thanks et merci! also, she can't seem to locate premade chicken or beef stock. i thought picard might have it, and also told her to look for powdered versions, if it seems that boxed stock is not available. (i had a wonderful barge cruise through burgundy some years back, and at that time, the chef was telling me that, due to mad cow fears, restaurants were not permitted to make their own stock using bones any longer. but, he said, because of that, there had been increasingly good commercially made stocks available. i don't know if that's still the case?)