How Do You Gild the Lily?

[M.X.Hassett]

I can not believe I am publicly admiting this but white truffle butter in Rice-a-Roni anyone.

[eJulia]

Some of your ideas had me thinking "huh" - you call that gulding the lily? I call that "normal"!

My favorites:

Bagel + butter + cream cheese + jelly/jam

Scrambled eggs, done soft with at least three cheeses, one must be cream cheese and of course plenty of butter (add bacon, italian ham, jalapenos, whatever looks good in the fridge!)

Pastries with butter

Nachos extraordinaire - beans, meat, onion, tomatoes, chilis, bacon, cheese (lots), etc.

Pizza with everthing, and I mean everything (except pineapple)

Polenta with parm, cream cheese, butter, proscuitto

I'm so hungry now I could eat shoe leather right now as long as I could gild it!

Edited October 6, 2005 by eJulia (log)

[ghostrider]

I used to butter my french fries, one by one. (Or, if they were large steak fries, bite by bite.) The trick is to slap a properly sized dab of butter onto the end of the fry & then eat it while the butter is only partially melted, so that you get that little spectrum of melted-thru-unmelted butter texture with each bite.

I eventually outgrew this as a regular habit. But sometimes, when I have fries and there's an unfinished pat or crock of butter on the table, I'll revisit this little ritual for nostalgia's sake. And dagnabbit but it's still good!

[divalasvegas]

I remembered a recipe I saw demonstrated by David Rosengarten. He was the guest chef on Sara Moulton's long gone (and very missed) Cooking Live show. Essentially it's eggs that are beaten with cream and a bit of salt--fresh pepper is added when plated--poured into a metal bowl over boiling water in which butter has been melted first. And then you gently stir and stir and stir in a back and forth and folding type motion until the eggs become luscious and curd-like. He gave the name for these eggs but I can't remember it. Anyway before doing the eggs I got everything else ready: sliced the tomatoes and onions, sprinkled them with some capers since they looked a little "naked" and set them aside, plated the fish with the cream cheese. Moved on to the eggs. I'm doing all of this from memory so maybe that's why the cooking process for three eggs took ALMOST 20 MINUTES!  I'm sure they weren't as good as David Rosengarten's but they were damned good, all curdy and rich and kind of pretty, too.

I'm calling on all gilders to please provide information on the egg dish I made above. I winged it, actually. As I said, they were good, but I was doing this from memory and would really like a proper recipe and the name of this dish. I know it's supposed to take a long time to prepare, at least much longer than regular scrambled eggs, but 20 minutes did seem too long.

Thanks. And keep lily gilding.

[judiu]

I remembered a recipe I saw demonstrated by David Rosengarten. He was the guest chef on Sara Moulton's long gone (and very missed) Cooking Live show. Essentially it's eggs that are beaten with cream and a bit of salt--fresh pepper is added when plated--poured into a metal bowl over boiling water in which butter has been melted first. And then you gently stir and stir and stir in a back and forth and folding type motion until the eggs become luscious and curd-like. He gave the name for these eggs but I can't remember it. Anyway before doing the eggs I got everything else ready: sliced the tomatoes and onions, sprinkled them with some capers since they looked a little "naked" and set them aside, plated the fish with the cream cheese. Moved on to the eggs. I'm doing all of this from memory so maybe that's why the cooking process for three eggs took ALMOST 20 MINUTES!  I'm sure they weren't as good as David Rosengarten's but they were damned good, all curdy and rich and kind of pretty, too.

I'm calling on all gilders to please provide information on the egg dish I made above. I winged it, actually. As I said, they were good, but I was doing this from memory and would really like a proper recipe and the name of this dish. I know it's supposed to take a long time to prepare, at least much longer than regular scrambled eggs, but 20 minutes did seem too long.

Thanks. And keep lily gilding.

←

IIRC, they're called Buttered Eggs and there was a recipe for them in The Nero Wolf Cook Book. I belive they were supposed to cook for 45 min. in a double boiler over low-ish heat. My copy of the book was lost in a house fire last year or I'd pm you the recipe.

[Megan Blocker]

I remembered a recipe I saw demonstrated by David Rosengarten.  He was the guest chef on Sara Moulton's long gone (and very missed) Cooking Live show.  Essentially it's eggs that are beaten with cream and a bit of salt--fresh pepper is added when plated--poured into a metal bowl over boiling water in which butter has been melted first.  And then you gently stir and stir and stir in a back and forth and folding type motion until the eggs become luscious and curd-like. 

←

This is one of my favorite ways to make eggs - top them with a little caviar and creme fraiche, and you're in business. I serve it as a first course sometimes, a la Jean-Georges (inside the washed-out egg shell). YUM.

I'm calling on all gilders to please provide information on the egg dish I made above. I winged it, actually. As I said, they were good, but I was doing this from memory and would really like a proper recipe and the name of this dish. I know it's supposed to take a long time to prepare, at least much longer than regular scrambled eggs, but 20 minutes did seem too long.

There are lots of recipes for this. As I mentioned above, one can be found in Simple to Spectacular , by Jean-Georges Vongerichten and Mark Bittman. Ina Garten also has a similar recipe, which is available online: click!

Edited October 6, 2005 by Megan Blocker (log)

[divalasvegas]

IIRC, they're called Buttered Eggs and there was a recipe for them in The Nero Wolf Cook Book. I belive they were supposed to cook for 45 min. in a double boiler over low-ish heat. My copy of the book was lost in a house fire last year or I'd pm you the recipe.

←

Thanks so much judiu. First of all, so sorry to hear about your house fire. It's terrible to lose things precious to us.

And thanks for giving me a name for this dish. 45 minutes? Wow. I guess I shouldn't complain about my 20 minute prep.

Megan thank you for the recipe sources. I really want to do this dish justice and you've made that possible.

Take care.

[jgm]

When I was a child, my mother, every now and then, would procure heavy, unpasteurized cream from a local farm. This stuff was the consistency of sour cream. Incredible on a bowl of cornflakes, with milk. Amazing in coffee.

Speaking of sour cream, I'll eat it on just about anything. A friend's husband asked me if I'd eat it on cow patties, and I refused to answer.

A favorite restaurant takes large cinnamon pecan rolls, splits them in half horizontally, and makes them into French toast. Served with a pecan sauce. When I'm bored, I like to think about other sauces to serve with this. Mmmmm, peach preserves, melted, with amaretto? Strawberry preserves, melted, with orange liqueur?

I once ordered, for takeout, bread pudding with a bourbon sauce. Once home, I gave the bread pudding to the dog and ate the sauce, by dipping my tongue directly into the container. That's not really gilding the lily, but it feels like it. But the next time, I requested and received two containers of bourbon sauce.

BLT: Homemade bread. Lettuce, homegrown tomatoes, bacon, swiss cheese, and avocado; lots of mayo. Grill, like a grilled cheese sandwich. (The lettuce goes on after grilling. It needs to be cold and crisp, in contrast to other hot ingredients.)

Hot chocolate: Bensdorp cocoa from Dean & Deluca, stirred into whole milk; topped with butterscotch schnapps. Also good made the other decadent way, by melting a high-quality chocolate bar into half and half. Butterscotch schnapps are not optional.

I'm sure I'll think of more in a few minutes.

[WHS]

Each bite of steak dipped in melted butter, sprinkled with salt and washed down with a shot of scotch. Meat, butter, salt, booze, again. Meat, butter... 

←

Make that truffle butter!

[judiu]

IIRC, they're called Buttered Eggs and there was a recipe for them in The Nero Wolf Cook Book. I belive they were supposed to cook for 45 min. in a double boiler over low-ish heat. My copy of the book was lost in a house fire last year or I'd pm you the recipe.

←

Thanks so much judiu. First of all, so sorry to hear about your house fire. It's terrible to lose things precious to us.

And thanks for giving me a name for this dish. 45 minutes? Wow. I guess I shouldn't complain about my 20 minute prep.

Megan thank you for the recipe sources. I really want to do this dish justice and you've made that possible.

Take care.

←

First, you're very welcome. Second, YEHAW! Amazon actually has the Nero Wolfe Cook Book and will be sending it out shortly. Shoulda looked ther in the first place. When I receive it I'll make a point of p.m.ing you that recipe;watch the How Many Cookbooks thread for more info.

[divalasvegas]

IIRC, they're called Buttered Eggs and there was a recipe for them in The Nero Wolf Cook Book. I belive they were supposed to cook for 45 min. in a double boiler over low-ish heat. My copy of the book was lost in a house fire last year or I'd pm you the recipe.

←

Thanks so much judiu. First of all, so sorry to hear about your house fire. It's terrible to lose things precious to us.

And thanks for giving me a name for this dish. 45 minutes? Wow. I guess I shouldn't complain about my 20 minute prep.

Megan thank you for the recipe sources. I really want to do this dish justice and you've made that possible.

Take care.

←

First, you're very welcome. Second, YEHAW! Amazon actually has the Nero Wolfe Cook Book and will be sending it out shortly. Shoulda looked ther in the first place. When I receive it I'll make a point of p.m.ing you that recipe;watch the How Many Cookbooks thread for more info.

←

Thanks a bunch judiu and I'm glad you'll at least be able to replace the book you lost. Yum. I can't wait.

[Lori in PA]

At this time of year, when the air is chilled, my bedtime snack thoughts turn to oatmeal:

Steel-cut oats simmered with cream; stir in pure maple syrup (more than is strictly necessary) and lumps of butter (more than is reasonable)

After I eat a bowl of that, it's all I can do to stay awake long enough to get my contacts out.

[Chef Shogun]

"I'll have your finest food, stuffed with your second finest!"

[Ling]

^ Where is that quote from?

[francie]

Homer J. Simpson, per chance?

[M.X.Hassett]

Just found this:

Fowl De'Couchon

De-Boned Pig stuffed with a

De-Boned Turkey, a De-Boned Duck, De-boned Chicken,

and De-Boned Quail

with two dressings of your choice $300.00

http://www.crawfish.cc/specialtymeats.htm

and this:

Stuffed Camel

1 whole camel, medium size

1 whole lamb, large size

20 whole chickens, medium size

60 eggs

12 kilos rice

http://www.snopes.com/food/prepare/camel.asp

[JenBrava]

I'll blend a bulb of roasted garlic (the oven is hot anyway..) and a package of softened cream cheese into a batch of mashed potatoes on holidays. My Grandmother who "hates" garlic with a passion (her words, not mine) can't figure out why my mashed potatoes are better then her's. I just smile and shrug.

[racheld]

My husband puts petrified candied fruit, dates, nuts and brown sugar on pie.

←

Could you clarify please? Haunted with visions of digging dead orange segments, stiff pineapple slices, and shriveled grapes from under couch cushions.

And what kind of pie?

[racheld]

Dear Daughter brought home a gorgeous round challah this p.m. from her bakery. We intended to have it with dinner, but went on several errands near Chris' favorite catfish place, so we stopped there for dinner.

We'll have challah French toast for breakfast tomorrow. Maple syrup is great, but not quite ALL that a bread of this perfection deserves. So, I just hit the fridge and made:

1/2 block cream cheese, stirred with brown sugar

Ditto, with powdered sugar and vanilla; another with sugar and orange zest

Can you stand another one? One of the little "soft cheese" tubs, contents almost all used up, of cinnamon/brown sugar, into which I put a little more cheese and some more sugar. What the heck, they'll last for DAYS.

Fresh strawberries to slice and macerate in the morning. Thick-cut country bacon. Two immense ruby-red tomatoes, picked in the dark as we got home, to slice as a little side dish.

French roast in the pot.

Now I lay me down to sleep. May I live past breakfast.

[daniellewiley]

I'll blend a bulb of roasted garlic (the oven is hot anyway..) and a package of softened cream cheese into a batch of mashed potatoes on holidays.  My Grandmother who "hates" garlic with a passion (her words, not mine) can't figure out why my mashed potatoes are better then her's.  I just smile and shrug.

←

Yum, that sounds good. We do "cheesy potatoes" for every holiday. Five pounds of potatoes, mashed with one stick of butter, one package of Philly cream cheese. Put in a pyrex, top with dots of butter (yes, more butter), and cover with sliced or shredded cheddar.

Heat to melt cheese.

[Chezkaren]

Well, I just read through this entire thread and couldn't find my favorite so here goes:

pancakes and/or waffles, butter, creamy peanut butter, maple syrup and powdered sugar.

and I've always got to put butter in my chili.

[Verjuice]

I prefer to view butter as a kind of mild, creamy cheese, therefore I apply accordingly. Always lots more than the amount that can be absorobed. These days, butter is more of a main feature than background music.

[M.X.Hassett]

I prefer to view butter as a kind of mild, creamy cheese, therefore I apply accordingly. Always lots more than the amount that can be absorobed. These days, butter is more of a main feature than background music.

←

It is good all by itself also plus its great on "mild,creamy cheese" mmmmm....buttered cheese. Someone around here has a sig that is something along the lines of buttering butter between two layers of butter or something along those lines.

[divalasvegas]

While trying to decide what to have for a late afternoon snack I remembered that I had some cherry vanilla ice cream with two kinds of cherries. Yum. So dished up some and, well, it just looked kind of nekkid so I added some chocolate sauce. Then I remembered that I had some slivered almonds in the pantry; I mean almonds and cherries, perfect match right? And then I remembered someone at eG mentioning that he adds cream to his ice cream, so since I had a small carton of table cream in the fridge I figured why not so I drizzled some of that over my treat as well. Wow, double cherry ice cream, chocolate sauce, almonds, drizzle of cream. Excellent. Finally, I remembered where I saw that: right here on this very topic. After glancing through it I was reminded of all of the delicious excesses, but noticed that the last posts were made in the fall hence all of the gilding of things like oatmeal, mashed potatoes, and chili. So, now as the we're in the warmer months of the year, I thought I'd ask about everyone's summertime lily gilding. Now, back to mine............................

[jsolomon]

"I'll have your finest food, stuffed with your second finest!"

←

I betting on Zaphod Beeblebrox, the President of the Galaxy.