Lunch 2025

[C. sapidus]

Leftover sorrel rice and green beans with feta. Sadly, none of Mrs. C's delicious halibut survived the meal.

 

[ElsieD]

Le Cordon Bleu here has special menu events from time to time which they hold in their Signatures Restaurant.  Tickets are pre-sold for these events;  today's was sold out, the capacity seemed to be about 40.  This event was called Boulangerie Delight and so it was.  Below is the menu and pictures of the courses.  The servers, cooks etc. were students in their final year with the head chef supervising.  There must have been 14 of them roaming the tables, but they were never obtrusive.  The food was mostly good, though the carb cakes could have been hotter.  The coffee was cold, but cheerfully replaced.  As you can see, the last picture is of the desserts, 5 each.   As we were leaving, take-away boxes in hand, one of the students came over to tell us that there was an extra box waiting for us.  That turned out to be a duplicate times two of the third course, so we came home with 18 assorted pastries!  John shared a brief memory with the head chef about his time at Cordon Bleu when he took Cuisine Basics.  They both lamented about banging their heads against the overheads above the work stations.  Not meant for tall people.  John is just over 6'3" and I'm guessing the head chef is the same.  A nice change of pace for us.

 

 

 

Edited 21 hours ago by ElsieD (log)

[Smithy]

@ElsieD - what an absolute delight! I could wish we had something like that nearby, but I'm pleased to read about your pleasures. I never knew John had culinary training.

[ElsieD]

12 hours ago, Smithy said:

@ElsieD - what an absolute delight! I could wish we had something like that nearby, but I'm pleased to read about your pleasures. I never knew John had culinary training.

Yes, he decided he wanted to do something after retiring, so this is what he chose to do.  The best part was that most nights he'd come home with dinner.  He doesn't cook much but when he does, it's usually delicious.  He makes a mean Navarin of lamb.

Edited 7 hours ago by ElsieD
Fixed typo (log)

[Smithy]

I want to follow up on this post and the preceding discussion. The stock I made In the Instant Pot, using a basket to hold the chicken carcass, was really too insipid. I especially convinced myself of that when I defrosted a chest freezer and noted the deep golden color of earlier stocks. So...should I just pitch this newer stuff? I came close, after using it in some stew and thinking it hadn't been much better than plain water. But then I decided to try reviving it with yet more bones from another rotisserie chicken. This time, I poured all the unused broth into a pot, added the new bones, brought to a boil, then simmered it. For hours. The kitchen smelled wonderful!

 

It's definitely richer and thicker than before, which looked like this:

 

 

I'm pleased with the "save". It hints at chicken "jello" now.

 

[rotuts]

@Smithy

 

outstanding work .

 

Ive learned that its so easy to make stock in the iPot :

 

1 ) add your items to the iPot .

 

2 ) use less water than you might , meeting the minimum of corse

 

3 ) save the seasoning for later , if you can .   if not , taste the V1, mostly for salt

 

and continue doing this w what you have , paying attention to salt , then other flavors

 

so both do not get too concentrated .

 

These days , I make  2 - 4 x stock the same day

 

as the iPot does the work , and its not time sensitive 

 

hopefully Stop&Shop will have CkDrums  @ $ 0.89 soon .

 

as its cooler , Im going into production  

 

w the assist of the IDS.

[Shel_B]

10 minutes ago, Smithy said:

[...] The stock I made In the Instant Pot, using a basket to hold the chicken carcass, was really too insipid. [...] I decided to try reviving it with yet more bones from another rotisserie chicken. This time, I poured all the unused broth into a pot, added the new bones, brought to a boil, then simmered it. For hours. The kitchen smelled wonderful!

 

It's definitely richer and thicker than before ...

 

Perhaps you already know this, but others may not: What you've done - using a weak(er) stock or broth as a base for making something stronger - is somewhat of a standard technique used when making stock. It's referred to as a double stock, fortified stock, or remouillage. Some folks I know make their chicken stock by using a boxed stock as a base instead of plain water.

[ElsieD]

Something I do is reduce it way, way down until, when well-chilled,  it is a very firm jelly and freeze it in ice cube trays (warmed enough to pour).  It's like having chicken boullion on hand.

[Shel_B]

12 minutes ago, ElsieD said:

Something I do is reduce it way, way down until, when well-chilled,  it is a very firm jelly and freeze it in ice cube trays (warmed enough to pour).  It's like having chicken boullion on hand.

Do you make your stock in an Instant Pot (or similar) or on the stovetop in a more traditional way?

[ElsieD]

33 minutes ago, Shel_B said:

Do you make your stock in an Instant Pot (or similar) or on the stovetop in a more traditional way?

No, i don't use my IP for this.  I do it on the stove.  I let it go for however long it takes at a bare simmer.  I just use the carcass and odds and sods of the trimmings.