Improving my cooking skills (2003)

[MatthewB]

Chad,

You interested in a remainder copy of J&J for about $15? (No dust jacket though.)

[hjshorter]

Grrrr. I think someone else in Wichita is playing along . . . and not playing fairly.

I was at the library yesterday to check out J&J. I know they have it, I've borrowed it before.

Not there.

Check the computer -- the book has been reported as "lost." Hmmm

Check Torres' "Dessert Circus." Also "lost." And with the same checkout/return dates as J&J.

Bastard.

Bummer, Chad. If I can find either used I'd pick up a copy for you too.

[Chad]

Chad,

You interested in a remainder copy of J&J for about $15?  (No dust jacket though.)

Hey, that sounds great! Do you have a spare or just a friendly neighborhood black market cookbook dealer?

"Psssst, buddy, you wanna buy a cookbook?"

Chad

[MatthewB]

PM coming your way!

[edemuth]

Speaking of desserts:  have any of you used Payard's Simply Sensational Desserts?  We have it at home, and my wife has made a lemon tart from it several times that's really very  nice.

Looks like a worthy purchase, Seth, especially with your positive review (I think your opinion is the first I've heard either way). I love lemon desserts, mostly thanks to tasting one of Claudia Fleming's at GT.

Chad and Heather, I will look for Dessert Circus this weekend at our local secondhand bookstore and will pick it up if I see it at a reasonable price, either before or after my trip to Home Depot for that blowtorch!

[adoxograph]

I did my version of this week's menu last night, using the creme brulee from J & J. Will post results of my gratin and brulee in a bit..

[marie-louise]

Back to the braised chicken...

I made it, using my technique as posted above. When I make it for a crowd, I use a low saute pan, but for just the two of us, I've used a higher Le Creuset pan because I didn't have a low pan that was small enough. Today I bought a Le Creuset Tatin Pan at the outlet store. It was just the right size for 4 chicken thighs. The chicken was absolutely perfect (the chanterelles and cream didn't hurt) and the most interesting thing was that the sauce reduced down to almost nothing.

The pan does make a difference.

Served it w/ mashed Yukon Gold potatoes and sauteed baby braising greens w/ lots of garlic. Drank Williams Selyem Pinot. I'm a happy camper.

[SethG]

I looked through the Payard book a bit this evening, and while it has a lot of nice stuff, and beautiful pictures, I'm not sure it's the kind of fundamentals book we'd want to work through. It is intelligently organized into basic techniques, simpler soups and cakes, and then more complicated creations, but it's really a book of favorite recipes from Payard's shop. It doesn't attempt to cover all the classics. There ain't no creme brulee.

I checked out a couple threads in the Pastry & Baking category here at the "G," and found no more than passing reference to the Payard book. But I did find numerous posts recommending Baking With Julia. I know a couple of you started working with it recently. Now I want it. Is it mostly bread, or does it cover lots of cakes, tarts and other desserts as well?

[Wendy DeBord]

I'm sorry if I missed something since I just read this page....but Seth I highly reccomend working from Payards baking book. I've made many items from his book and all have had very above average to excellent results. No it's not a learning book but then Baking with Julia isn't totally a learning book either. But so far I think I use more recipes from Payards book then Julias.

He has really nice recipes in each catagory, although I don't recall any yeast breads.

My favorite recipes (with-out looking at his book to remember)

all of his tarts- but particularly his Caramel hazelnut tart is great.

his tuiles are excellent.

his fruit soups are good.

I use his semi freddo recipe, and I frequently changing out the flavor and it always works.

raspberry champange granita is terrific

his apple cake is good, but I cut back on the alchol quantity

I'm sure theres several more I'm forgetting. It's a terrific book.

[kjente2]

have you tried half.com? usually a good selection, reasonable, and they don't gouge you with

shipping

[SethG]

Thanks Wendy, re: Payard. We've really liked the three or four things we've had from the book. And I'll definitely be doing so more stuff from it, now that I've been looking through it.

[MatthewB]

To recap:  this week, Beef Bourgonionne (or however it's spelled  ), mashers, green veggie of your choice, and creme brulee.  Sound good?

Green veggie of choice?

I thought we were doing the glazed carrots & turnips.

[Dave the Cook]

I thought we were doing the glazed carrots & turnips. 

Me, too.

[edemuth]

I thought we were doing the glazed carrots & turnips. 

Me too... although IIRC the beef bourguignon recipe calls for carrots already, so maybe we should do a green veggie instead for contrast/variety?

[MatthewB]

Shall we do a common veggie dish? I'd like to.

Suggestions?

[MatthewB]

FWIW, I just spoke with my wine guy.

For the wine in the stew, he recommends Seventh Moon Pinot Noir. Most of the grapes are from Monterey. Under $8/bottle.

I'm going to pick up a couple of bottles.

[hjshorter]

To recap:  this week, Beef Bourgonionne (or however it's spelled   ), mashers, green veggie of your choice, and creme brulee.  Sound good?

Green veggie of choice?

I thought we were doing the glazed carrots & turnips.

I thought that might be too starchy, and we did a green salad last week. The dessert and stew will be time consuming, so I was going for simplicity in the sides.

Edited October 30, 2003 by hjshorter (log)

[MatthewB]

To recap:  this week, Beef Bourgonionne (or however it's spelled   ), mashers, green veggie of your choice, and creme brulee.  Sound good?

Green veggie of choice?

I thought we were doing the glazed carrots & turnips.

I thought that might be too starchy, and we did a green salad last week. The dessert and stew will be time consuming, so I was going for simplicity in the sides.

No problem.

What would you suggest instead? (I don't have the J&J book with me.)

[Dave the Cook]

Well, here's what's at my local farmer's market:

asparagus

cabbage

yellow squash

green beans

red leaf lettuce

greens: lettuce, arugula, Swiss chard, mizuna and baby collards

bell peppers

yellow beans

I keep coming back to asparagus -- $2 a pound

[edemuth]

I vote for swiss chard, which will contrast nicely with the richness of the stew and mashers. Is there a recipe including them in J&J? If nobody's got it to hand, I can look late tonight when I get home.

Thanks for the wine info, Matthew!

[hjshorter]

No chard recipe in J&J, but you're right Erin, it would be good with the rest of the menu.

[Malawry]

There was a biref article on chard in this week's WashPost food section. Includes a recipe. Get the bright lights if you want the pretty colors.

[hjshorter]

Roasted chard (from the article) sounds pretty good, and I won't be using the oven for anything else. There was gorgeous rainbow chard at the market the other day.

[SethG]

I've never cooked with chard, and would like to give it a try. I looked thru Jules et Jim and didn't see anything more appealing, although maybe braised red cabbage would be nice.

After giving this book a thorough once-over, I'm pretty excited about the duck, all the fish, several of the potato dishes, and that turky galantine. Not to mention the eggs and the artichokes.

When are we making the menu? I'm not sure I can commit to a specific day, but I'm probably good for some day within the next week.

And yes, I finally got the book... from the library! I'm sick of waiting for my purchased copy to arrive. (By the way, I love NYC. I looked the book up in the on-line catalog, which is available on the web, and found out that the book was checked in at the Chatham Square branch, which is quite close to the Manhattan courthouses, and today at lunchtime I just zipped over there and checked it out. So easy. Who knew?)

[edemuth]

I've never roasted chard before, so this should be fun. Has anyone had it with grapes, as in the recipe? (Thanks Malawry!) I'm looking forward to tasting this combination.

I'll check the Penn Quarter farmers' market shortly and pick up some chard there if they have it. (Bright lights, big city...)

Seth, I assumed we'd make this on Saturday like last week's menu; at least that's what I'm planning on.

I love the fact that library catalogs/databases are online now. This saves you so much time, and you can do the lion's share of research from the comfort of your own home... then just swing by the library to run off copies and check out what you need. (The first time I was in college, they still had card catalogs and the databases were all on CD! )