jaybee

I looked for it and could not find it. The counterman had not seen it in a while. It made great chocolate. But I think you can get the same with just melting the right stuff as in the recipe above.

Here's the recipe from Agelina's web site. It calls for water and chocolate or milk and chocolate. I think they are using a mix here. 140 G bag Boil 1/4 liter water.Slowly pour bag contents in the boiling water and stir.When the chocolate has the desired consistency, serve immediately.To obtain even creamier chocolate, boil the mixture a few seconds while constantly stirring.If you want less thick chocolate, add a bit of boiling water.(If you prefer, you may also use milk instead of water to make your hot chocolate.) For a single cup of hot chocolate PBoil 13 cl water. Add 70 g of chocolate to the boiling water and stir.When the chocolate has the desired consistency, serve immediately.To obtain even creamier chocolate, boil the mixture a few seconds while constantly stirring.If you want less thick chocolate, add a bit of boiling water.(If you prefer, you may also use milk instead of water to make your hot chocolate.)

OK Ben, I found the recipe for a hot chocolate that is based on Angelina's. I always have at least one cup when I go to Paris. This variation on hot chocolate is based on the one served in Paris at the famed Angelina's on the Rue de Rivoli. 1 cup whole milk 1/3 cup heavy cream 1/4 cup sugar 5 ounces bittersweet or semisweet chocolate, coarsely chopped Garnish: Sweetened cream, softly whipped Ground cinnamon, optional 1. In a small saucepan set over medium-high heat, bring the milk, cream, and sugar to a simmer together, heating just until bubbles appear around the edges of the liquid. 2. Remove the pan from the heat and add the coarsely chopped bittersweet chocolate, stirring to melt it completely. If necessary return the pan to low heat while stirring constantly with a wooden spoon until the chocolate is melted. The mixture should appear smooth, evenly colored and very warm. 3. Serve warm in demitasse or espresso coffee cups with softly whipped cream and a shake of cinnamon if desired. Serves 4. City Bakery in NYC serves a hot chocolate that is compared with this. So, as I noted earlier, does Scott Campbell at SQC and Avenue Restaurant bith on Columbus Ave. Here'sa Angelina's web site: Angelina's

Angelina's Tea Room on the Rue Royale has been famous for its melted chocolate served with thick whipped cream. I found an envelope with Angelina's mix once at Dean & Deluca and since found several other prepared mixes that produce a thick almost pudding like consistency of rich bitter sweet chocolate. Here in New York, Avenue and SQC serve a cup very much like this. I agree, once you drink that stuff, it's good bye to the rest.

I'm planning to bring butter. I hope someone brings good bread so we can have a butter taste-off.

What an innovative thread. Got me thinking about the messages I want to hear. Might be fun to make up messages that lure one in, and how these differe depending on circumstances. Hmmm... this project calls for Ardbeg, and plenty of it.

Your quest for knives and kitchen equipment might be best served by asking the staff at Troigros. They should know the best non-tourist outlets for this stuff.

Nina, it is hard to give you a recipe without knowing your beau's tastes for martinis. Gin Gin Gin for me. I make a 4:1 drink that the people I serve it to love. (some people like it less sharp so they make 3:1. I couldn't drink 2:1). I use either Bombay or Beefeaters. I find Saphire and the other real fancy gins have so many botanicals they lose that feeling of a cold blade across your throat, which is what I love in this drink. Keep the gin in freezer. I like oversized classic martini glasses, but with very thin glass. A good shaker is necessary. Measure your gin and vermouth. I prefer Noilly Pratt dry, but Martinin and Rossi dry is good also. Chill the glasses in the freezer an hour before use. Put the ocntents in the shaker with six or eight ice cubes, and shake vigorously until the contentds look cloudy. Take the glasses out of the freezer, put two to three green olives in them (on a toothpick if you want), and pour. Don't fill the glass to the rim, becuae it makes it hard to get it to your mouth for that important first sip without spilling some, which I hate. I love to have chunks of parmesan cheese and chorizo to munch on with a martini plus some very good chips (Cape Cod).

Much better approach.

Not a chance. I don't want to get him pissed at me.

My tripe has been braised for a while. I'm seeing the proctologist next week. Oh and the dinner was an eGulleter's affair, since I was there.

Walk in dinner with two companions tonight. Excellent and super-sized Bombay martini straight up. Ordered Squad with foies gras agnolotti. A two star dish at the least. Medium rare slices of squab succulent and flavorful, little drum sticks and wings all crunchy, with a nice livery, gamey taste, all swimming in a light creamy leek sauce surrounded by pillowy soft pasta filled with foies gras that set off the gamey taste of the squab. A few chanterelles scattered about for punctuation. I sopped my plate dry with the best ficelles I've ever had. Dessert was a pistachio-fig tart covered with cirtus creme frais with chopped pistachio nuts in little piles at the sides of the plate. The "cookie" was a warm soft, sort of oatmeal and walnut shortbread. This was like Fig Newton died and went to heaven. A glass of sweet cold Gewurztramminer was ambrosia with this tartlet. Everything tasted great all the way. Tablemates had roasted sturgeon with a chantarelle risotto and sweet peas (great) and roast ginea hen (also great). I am very happy this place is three blocks from my apartment and now accessible for walk in at 6:30. Maybe Aix up the block will make it even more accessible. Tom Valente was sitting at the table next to us doing an interview and said he hoped it didn't make us nervous to see him there and not downstairs cooking our food. By the time we ordered he was. Service was always there and invisible.

Interesting. I thought Pommerey was his partner and backer.We were treated to a very personal and interesting tour of the Pommerey cellars across the street. We stayed in a similar room and enjoyed the whole experience. At that time, Boyer's wife was a most charming hostess, he was visible but seemed uncomfortable trying to relate to people who spoke only English. It is quite a contrast to the original Boyer's country restaurant where he made his reputation. Did you breakfast at the hotel as well? It is a wonderful place, isn't it?

Thank you for that report Lizziee. I've always wanted to eat there, and now I have a reason other than the building. Isn't this the place with the movable roof? It seems like such a cool place to have a great meal in the heart of Paris yet in the park. Is the lunch reservation a hard get? As for frogs legs, one of the best preparations I've tasted was at a 2 star restaurant in Maisons Lafitte, La Vielle something. That was years ago, but the taste lingers on in memory.

And where, Mr. P does one buy such haute cuisine in a can? They sound good. Does Eli sell this stuff?

That's like saying bespoke suits are expensive, or handmade, artisan furniture is expensive; it has to be, unless the owner/chef is a philathropist and a very rich eccentric.

Just kidding. The result of a rained out weekend.... The essentials for me are a 14" chef's knife, 6" chef's knife, 4" paring knife, small, large and balloon whisks, 1/2 and 1/4 cup ladles, set of measuring spoons and cups, zester, peeler, serrated bread knife, 16" smoked salmon/ham slicer, diamond steel, large fish spatula, heavy steel griddle spatula, long and short tongs.

Winter Prey by John Sandford Night Prey by John Sandford The Insidious Dr. Fu Manchu by Sax Roehmer

1 Beretta Model FS92 Elite (for people who don't like my food)

I am trying to think of another field where the distinctions between "haute" and the rest are analogous to cuisine. Perhaps fashion or couture works if you combine the originality of design, innovative use of materials and add extreme craftsmanship in the making. It seems that these three must be present to define haute couture and perhaps the same goes for haute cuisine. Absent any one in a restaurant and you have fine dining, perhaps gourmet food but not haute cuisine.

Occasionally a dinner guest will compliment me by saying "this is very gourmet" or this is a real "gourmet" meal. How would you distinguish the descriptor "gourmet" from "haute cuisine?" Gourmet, it seems to me, expresses food that meets the highest standards of taste, presentation, culinary skill and art. I agree with CathyL as far as complexity goes. I posted several times about a lobster consomme made by Rostang Senior down on the Riviera that was nothing more than a bowl of slightly golden clear liquid and exploded with all the tastes of great lobster. Undoubdetdly a complicated preparation and the simplest of presentations. Very gourmet, indeed.

In a way, this discussion reminds me of an experience we had in a small Pennsylvania town where we were attending a large antiques fair. We asked someone at the motel for suggestions for restaurants, and he began to describe the options (Chilis, Steak & Brew etc.), all of which we rejected. He asked what we were looking for and we said a place that serves really good French, "continental" or Italian food or had a very good chef. He then brightened and said "Oh, you want fine dining, and sent us to a place that came as close to what one would call haute cuisine as was available in the town. The meal was excellent. "Fine dining" was a new appellation for us, but I guess it is the operative way to say Haute Cuisine or expensive.

I wonder at the relevance of the answer to this question? As Bux said, I doubt that anyone says "I think we'll eat Haute Cuisine tonight," nor do I think any chef's say, "I think I'll cook Haute Cuisine." If it is meant as a means of grading quality of the food or it's characteristics, it probably lacks universal agreement of definition, so it isn't too useful a term. There was probably a time in history where the distinction between "haute" and "bas" or non-haute was useful to diners. But no longer. My guess is when most people hear the term in relation to a restaurant, they think "expensive." When they hear it in relation to a recipe, they think "complicated."

Shells. Works fine for me. One two three it's done.

Is that the brand name. Were can they be had?