Yule Log Madness - Folie de Bûche de Noël

Lorsque nos hôtesses pour ce défi des Pâtissiers Téméraires, pas moins que les fondatrices des Pâtissiers Téméraires Lis de La Mia Cucina et Ivonne de Cream Puffs in Venice elles-mêmes, nous ont annoncé que nous allions devoir faire une Bûche de Noël pour le mois de Décembre, je me suis dit qu'arrivait finalement le défi qui allait m'achever. En plus, non seulement je ne pensais pas arriver à la faire dans la cuisine à laquelle je suis habituée, mais je savais que je n'aurais pas le temps de la faire dans cette cuisine avant d'aller m'installer dans une nouvelle maison à Londres (temporaire, soit) avec une cuisine que je ne connaissais pas et qui, au final, s'est avérée être un peu moins adéquate que je ne l'espérais. Mais je dois dire que les dieux de la cuisine ont l'air d'avoir été de mon côté parce que je m'en suis sortie, et cela je le dois sûrtout au fait d'avoir fait le défi avec la charmante et très douée Meeta de What's For Lunch Honey? Sérieusement, sans elle à mes côtés (par message instantané), je suis sûre que j'aurais complètement saccagé le tout...*

En Inglés, Please: When our fabulous hostesses for this Daring Bakers Challenge, no less than the founding members of the Daring Bakers themselves Lis of La Mia Cucina and Ivonne of Cream Puffs in Venice, announced that we would be making a Yule Log for the December challenge, I figured that this would be the recipe that would be the end of me. Not only did I think I wouldn't be able to do it in the kitchen I was used to, but I knew that I would not have time to do it in that kitchen before moving to a new house in London (temporary, but still) with a kitchen that I didn't know and that ended up being just slightly less than adequate. But I have to say that the gods of baking appeared to be with me because I managed it, and this I owe mostly to the fact that I did the challenge with the lovely and very talented Meeta of What's For Lunch Honey? Seriously, without her by my side (by instant messenger), I'm sure that I would have butchered the lot...*

A savoir, la recette devait être une bûche au café avec de la crème au beurre au café. Comme je n'aime pas suffisamment le café pour manger une bûche entièrement au café, que nous pouvions changer le parfum à l'intérieur au choix et celui de la crème au beurre à l'extérieur du moment que la couleur serait proche d'un marron quelconque, j'ai choisi de faire une crème au beurre au chocolat avec des poires pour l'intérieur avec de la crème au beurre au chocolat pour l'extérieur aussi. Comme toujours, j'ai pu compter sur la grande gentillesse et sagesse de Tartelette pour m'aider à changer la recette, et en fin de compte Meeta a décider de faire la même chose.

En Inglés, Please: The recipe was supposed to be for a coffee-flavored yule log with coffee buttercream. Since I don't really like coffee enough to eat a whole coffee-flavored yule log, and as we were allowed to change the filling flavor as we wished and the flavor of the outside buttercream as long as the exterior color approximated brown of some sort, I chose to make chocolate buttercream with pears for the filling and chocolate buttercream for the exterior. As always, I was able to rely on Tartelette's infinite kindness and wisdom to change the recipe, and in the end Meeta chose the same flavors for her yule log.

Nous avons commencé à 10h du matin pour moi, 11h pour Meeta en Allemagne, et préparé le tout en à peu près 3h, avant de mettre la bûche au frigo pour ensuite la retirer plus tard et la glacer avec la crème au beurre. J'ai fait les champignons en meringue entre temps. Meeta était évidemment bien plus organisée que moi (j'espère que je ne l'ai pas trop ralenti), et comme je ne connaissais pas mon four, j'ai eu un accident en faisant cuire la génoise. Elle a cuit en la moitié du temps prévu (5mn au lieu de 10-12mn) et heureusement pour moi je l'ai retiré du four juste à temps quand je me suis rendue compte que l'odeur de brûlé venait du four! Je crois que ce qui m'a sauvé c'est justement le fait que le four était tellement plus chaud que je ne pensais que la génoise n'a même pas eu le temps de se dessécher avant de commencer à brûler, ce qui fait qu'un tout petit coin était brûlé quand je l'ai sorti du four, mais ça veut aussi dire qu'elle s'est partiellement déchirée quand je l'ai sorti du four parce que j'ai essayé de la retirer du moule rapidement pour qu'elle arrête de cuire, mais là encore j'ai eu de la chance, elle était tellement épaisse qu'elle ne s'est pas complètement déchirée et j'ai ensuite pu camoufler les problèmes avec la crème au beurre...

En Inglés, Please: We started at 10am for me, 11am for Meeta in Germany, and the majority of it took us about 3 hours to prepare, before putting the log into the refrigerator to firm up without icing it yet that is. I made the meringue mushrooms in the meantime. Meeta was clearly much better organized than I (I hope I didn't slow her down too much), and since I didn't know my oven at all, I had an accident while cooking the genoise biscuit. It cooked in about half the time it should have (5mn instead of the 10-12mn) and luckily for me I pulled it out of the oven just in time when I realized that the burning smell in the kitchen was coming from the oven! I think what saved me was the oven was so much hotter than I thought it was that the biscuit didn't even have time to dry out before it started burning, resulting in only a tiny corner being burnt when I got it out of the oven, although it also means that it partially tore because I tried to pull it out and remove it from the pan as fast as possible so that it would stop cooking, though I was lucky there too in that it was so thick that it didn't tear all the way through and I was able to cover it up with the buttercream later...

Ne maîtrisant pas mon four, j'ai fait quatre fournées de champignons en meringue pour en obtenir une dizaine dont j'étais satisfaite, et finalement j'en ai utilisé quatre. D'autre part, en dépit du fait que j'ai ajouté ce qui était sensé être la quantité maximum de chocolat pour la crème au beurre, j'ai trouvé qu'elle était vraiment trop claire, donc j'ai saupoudré la bûche de cacao avant de mettre les décorations finales. Les petites décorations sont en sucre et viennent d'une pâtisserie "Française" nommée Pâtisserie Valérie ici à Londres.
Vous pouvez trouver la recette complète de Nick Malgieri sur les blogs de Lis et Ivonne, et toutes les autres bûches de Noël des autres Pâtissiers Téméraires (dont Marion! Youpie!) ici.

P.S.: J'en fais une autre demain pour le réveillon Lundi soir.

*Cette bûche n'aurait pas existé non plus sans les secours indispensables de mon Kitchen Aid. Je le remercie.

En Inglés, Please: Since I was not in control of my oven, I had to make four batches of meringue mushrooms before I had about ten of them that I was happy with, and in the end I only used four of those. Also, in spite of my adding what should have been the maximum quantity of chocolate to the buttercream, it still came out really light, so I sifted cocoa powder over the whole thing before I put the final decorations on it. The little decorations on it are made out of sugar and come from a pastry shop here in London named Patisserie Valerie.
You can find Nick Malgieri's complete recipe on Lis and Ivonne's blogs, and all the other glorious Daring Bakers' yule logs here.

P.S.: I'm making another one for Christmas eve dinner on Monday night.

*This Yule Log would not have been possible either without the invaluable assistance of my Kitchen Aid mixer. My sincere thanks.

Mes Premiers Macarons - My First Macarons

En fait ce serait plutôt les résultats de mes deuxièmes et troisièmes tentatives de macarons... et en réalité c'était il y bien des mois, mais je n'ai pas trouvé le bon moment pour vous les présenter, et comme c'est le temps des fêtes en ce moment, je me suis dit que le moment était venu. Alors voici donc ci-dessus des macarons au chocolat (enfin les coques de macarons au chocolat) selon la recette de Guillemette pour ma deuxième tentative (la première ayant été un désastre total), qui ont été promptement dévoré avant que je les garnisse de ganache, et ci-dessous la troisième tentative, une combinaison de la méthode de Christophe Felder sur le blog de Fofil et de la méthode de la reine des macarons, la grande Mercotte. J'aime bien l'aspect différent des deux genres de macarons, ceux de Guillemette étant plus rustiques et sympathiques, les autres plus lisses et élégants.

"Le macaron gerbet est rond, lisse, composé de deux macarons accolés et garni de confiture, de crème ou de ganache. Sa création est revendiquée par le pâtissier Pierre Desfontaines, petit-fils de Louis Ernest Ladurée au début du XXe siècle."

Je voulais essayer de faire des macarons et en sachant que mes parents les préféreraient au chocolat, j'ai donc commencé par les macarons que (je ne l'ai découvert que plus tard) on dit être les plus difficiles à faire. Après une première tentative qui ne mérite pas de récit, j'ai réussi à faire des coques, mais cela m'avait tellement stressé que j'avais laissé la ganache à faire pour plus tard (je préfère faire de la ganache plutôt que la traditionelle crème au beurre) et entre temps les coques ont disparu...dans plusieurs estomacs passant par la cuisine. J'ai donc recommencé en essayant une recette différente pour voir si ça me réussirait mieux, mais comme j'avais près d'une centaine de coques, j'ai décidé d'en faire la moitié au chocolat tout simple, et l'autre moitié chocolat-violette, ayant goûté des chocolats à la violette délicieux chez Pierre Marcolini. Ils sont partis très vite, et maintenant il me faut juste la patience de m'y remettre. Je crois que la prochaine fois je vais tenter la méthode de Mingoumango en zappant les blancs d'oeufs au micro-ondes plutot que de les laisser au frigo plusieurs jours. Ca m'évitera de planifier de faire mes macarons une semaine à l'avance.



Say What? In English please...


Actually, it's more like the results of my second and third attempts at macarons... and truth be told, it was several months ago, but I couldn't find the right time to present them to you, and since it is the holidays, I thought now might be a good time. So above are chocolate macarons (well really just the chocolate shells) according to Guillemette's recipe on my second attempt (the first having been a total disaster) which were promptly devoured before I put any ganache on them, and below the third attempts, a combination between Christopher Felder's method as seen on Fofil's blog and that of the indisputable queen of macarons, the great Mercotte. I like the different aspects of the two kinds of macarons, Guillemette's being more rustic and friendly, the others smoother and more elegant.

"Translated: The gerbet macaron gerbet is round, smooth, made up of two macarons slathered with jam, cream or ganache and sandwiched together. It is claimed to have been created at the beginning of the 20th century by the pastry chef Pierre Desfontaines, grandson of Louis Ernest Ladurée."

I wanted to try to make macarons and knowing that my parents would prefer chocolate ones, I naturally started with chocolate macarons which (I only later found out) are said to be the hardest kind to make. After a first attempt which merits no explanation, I managed to make shells, but I was so stressed out by the whole process that I left making the ganache til later (I prefer filling them with ganache rather than the traditional buttercream), and they disappeared in the meantime... into several stomachs which happened to be passing through the kitchen. So I tried again using a different recipe to see if I might have a higher success ratio (say 1 for 1 instead of 1 out of 2), and when I ended up with nearly a hundred shells, I decided to put regular chocolate ganache on half of them, and chocolate and violet ganache on the other half, having just tasted some delicious violet-infused chocolates from Pierre Marcolini. They were disposed of very quickly, and now I just need the patience to make them again. I think next time I'm going to try Mingoumango's method of putting the egg whites through a seconds-only sojourn in the microwave rather than having to leave them in the refrigerator for several days beforehand. It will spare me having to plan on making macarons a week in advance.

The French Laundry aka the reason you go spend Thanksgiving in San Francisco...

well ok, the real reason for your (or my in this case) trip to San Francisco may be to visit a dear friend and take her to The French Laundry for lunch as a long overdue birthday gift... But what is the French Laundry some of you may ask, the answer being that it's Thomas Keller's three Michelin star restaurant in Yountville, CA (that would be in the Napa Valley). And the earliest day you can make a reservation is exactly 60 days before you want to go, and believe me, in order to get a reservation, you'd better call on the dot 60 days before you want to go, preferably starting your dialing before 10AM and just redialing until you get through, because if you start at 10:03 or 10:12 or any other time during the day, you'd better believe that those tables will be gone. This is how we did it, on September 25th for November 25th.

It's funny because the building is a lot less imposing and big than it appears to be in the picture on their website. But I suppose that makes sense if you consider that there are only 16 tables in the restaurant seating 60 or so people for each service. Overall it was just about the kind of experience you would expect in such a highly rated restaurant, except for the fact that it was overly austere. Everyone seemed to be whispering, I think we may have been the loudest table and we're not exactly rowdy gals, and it was much more formal overall than I expected it to be, given that it is California and the Napa Valley. Judging from others' experiences at FL, it may also have been due to the nature of the people at the tables around us. The clothespin holds the napkins folded together and the restaurant is named so because the building used to house a French Laundry.

The menu was a nine-course tasting menu of course, although you could actually choose between two different tasting menus, one traditional and the other vegetarian, and if there was something you really didn't care for in one menu, you could ask for a substitution from the other menu. Since I wasn't crazy about eating panna cotta as a mandatory first course (and since Chlöe and I had already agreed that when there were two options we wouldn't get the same thing so we could taste each other's and therefore taste the whole menu), I asked for a substitution from the vegetarian menu which came in the form of Valley Oak Acorn "Flan" with Compressed Fuyu Persimmons and Black Truffles. It was quite unusual and apparently takes about three days to make because you have to roast the acorns and blanch them and then do other things to them and so on and so forth...

Thomas Keller wasn't there that day because he'd gone to the "Relais et Châteaux" annual big dinner in Washington, D.C., so his sous-chef was presiding. I had a long chat with my father later about how tasting menus are actually a cheaper alternative to à la carte menus for restaurants like this because the kitchen essentially becomes an assembly line, albeit, a delicious one. Everything was very good, although I'm not sure I agree with giving guests brioche as their first piece of bread because it is filling. We started with amuse-bouche of cheese gougères and the salmon and crème fraîche cornets for which Thomas Keller is famous and they were both lovely, especially the cornets which I would love to make at home (guess I might have to snag that recipe from the FL cookbook). The dishes were balanced and dosed such that we did not feel full until it came time for the desserts, but I do think that after the desserts the mignardises became too much as we were both feeling a little overwhelmed with how full we suddenly felt. In addition to the desserts we were offered a mini crème brulée and lemon crème, coffee, almonds covered in chocolate and perhaps coconut (I don't remember exactly), and then a platter of freshly made chocolates in various flavors (I could only take one banana-cream filled chocolate to taste as I couldn't possibly eat anything else). The blue ribbon in the top picture was tied around four butter cookies which they gift you as you leave. We shared a half bottle of white wine and then a half bottle of red wine. The only other thing to note is that some of their wines are incredibly marked up, I don't think I've seen such high mark-ups before.

If you go make sure to leave yourself plenty of time, it takes about 3 hours to go through the entire meal. Apparently, we could have taken a break in the middle of the meal to walk around the garden but the weather wasn't very nice so it didn't occur to us, and we could have asked to take a tour of the kitchen at the end of our meal, but I didn't know that was possible, which I would have loved to do, so maybe next time...
Here is the menu as I'm not sure you would be able to read it from the pictures (stars denote my preferences since I tasted everything):

The Amuses-bouche are not listed on the menu but again, were the
Cheese Gougères and the Salmon Crème Fraîche Cornets

Cauliflower "Panna Cotta"
with Beau Soleil Oyster Glaze
and Sterling White Sturgeon Caviar
--------------------
*French Laundry Garden Tokyo Turnips
Jacobsen's Farm Flowering Quince Purée, Toasted Marcona Almonds,
Dijon Mustard and Watercress
OR
Moulard Duck "Foie Gras au Torchon"
Satsuma Mandarins, Sunchokes, Shaved Burgundy Truffles
and Mâche (his was accompanied by 3 kinds of salt to sprinkle on the foie gras)
--------------------
Sautéed Atlantic Striped Bass
Swiss Chard Ribs "en Ravigote," Niçoise Olive Emulsion
and San Marzano Tomato Compote
OR
*Summer Flounder "Carpaccio" and Santa Barbara Sea Urchin
Broccolini, Fennel Bulb, Pickled Pearl Onions
and Juniper Berry-Tynant Water "Mousse" (which I actually think should have been called foam)
--------------------
Sweet Butter-Poached Maine Lobster Tail
"Matignon" of Sweet Carrots, Salsify, Chestnuts and Celery Branch
with Tahitian Vanilla and Diane St. Claire Butter (which is actually the butter we were served as table butter and which was probably the best butter I've tasted in the US)
--------------------
Four Story Hill Farm "Poularde"
Marble Potatoes, Black Trumpet Mushrooms,
Savoyard Spinach and Madra Curry "Jus"
OR
*Corned Marcho Farm Veal Tongue
Musquée de Provence Pumpkin, Roasted Cipollini Onion,
Bacon "Lardons" and Blis Maple Syrup-Aged Sherry Vinegar Sauce
--------------------
Bouillon-Poached Elysian Fields Farm Lamb Ribeye
Crispy Golden Polenta, Baby Globe Artichokes,
Piquillo Peppers and Caramelized Garlic
--------------------
Andante Dairy "Acapella" (we were served a goat cheese)
Fuyu Persimmon Pudding Cake, Toasted Pecans,
Ceylon Cinnamon and Frisée
--------------------
Feijoa Sorbet
with Maui Pineapple Relish and Angel Cake
--------------------
"S'Mores"
Cashew Nut "Parfait," Caramel "Délice"
and "Sauce à la Guimauve Flambée"
OR
*"Charlotte aux Poires et aux Dattes"
Bartlett Pear Sorbet, "Japonais," Candied Hazelnuts
and Pear Coulis
--------------------
"Mignardises"

Thanksgiving in San Francisco - Part 2

Those of you who have been here before will easily recognize it... Where am I?

FR: Ceux d'entre vous qui y ont déjà été le reconnaîtreront facilement... Où suis-je?

From beautiful fresh shallots to totally vegan sushi, you can find most anything at San Francisco's Ferry Plaza Farmers' Market...

FR: De belles échalotes fraîches à du sushi complètement vegan, on peut trouver de tout au Marché du Ferry Plaza de San Francisco...

Amazingly, all the totally vegan offerings we tasted were wonderful, particularly the drinks purveyed by the people (not pictured) who make the happy wraps pictured in the middle below.

FR: Incroyablement, toutes les choses entièrement vegan que nous avons goûté étaient délicieuses, en particulier les boissons offertes par les gens (pas photographié) qui font les happy wraps dans la photo du milieu.

If I weren't going to leave two days later, I would have purchased various foods such as the prepared vegetarian dips below and a lovely bouquet of flowers...

FR: Si je n'allais pas m'en aller deux jours plus tard, j'aurai acheté des aliments variés tel que les caviars d'aubergines et autres proposé ci-dessous et un beau bouquet de fleurs...

I leave you with this parting thought...

FR: Je vous laisse avec cette pensée - en voyant la statue de Gandhi au milieu du marché, on pourrait penser que la bonne nourriture engendre la paix parmi les hommes... Enfin... parmi les femmes en tout cas.

Thanksgiving in San Francisco - Part 1

This haven-of-peace-looking-place is my friend Chlöe's house in San Francisco where I had the great pleasure of spending Thanksgiving. And the gorgeous young woman holding the sweet Italian greyhound below is Chlöe and her dog Harper. This is by way of introductions you understand...

FR: Cet endroit aux airs idylliques est la maison de mon amie Chlöe à San Francisco où j'ai eu le grand plaisir de passer les fêtes de Thanksgiving. Et la ravissante jeune femme tenant l'adorable lévrier Italien ci-dessous est Chlöe et son chien Harper. Je vous les présente voyez-vous...
So to Thanksgiving: there was the setting of the table, the wonderful vegetarian celery, walnut, green apple, feta? in a lemon vinaigrette salad brought by friends, and the cranberry sauce made from scratch with all sorts of things (we started with one recipe, then Chlöe switched to another recipe and improvised from there so I'm not quite sure what was in it, but it was delicious)...

FR: Donc pour Thanksgiving il y a eu les choses suivantes, d'abord mettre la table, ensuite l'excellente salade, amenée par des amis, de celeri, noix, pommes vertes, et feta? avec une vinaigrette au citron, et la sauce aux canneberges fait maison avec des tas de choses dedans (nous avons débuté avec une recette, puis Chlöe a choisi une autre recette et improvisé à partir de là donc je ne sais pas ce qu'il y avait dedans au juste, mais c'était délicieux)...
And a red cabbage and pink lady apple salad with a dressing of Chlöe's making, and parsnips and a hint of potato puree, and the carving of the turkey....

FR: Et une salade de choux rouge et pomme pink lady avec une vinaigrette inventé par Chlöe, et une purée de navets longs avec une touche de pomme de terre, et le découpage de la dinde...
Now, in terms of the turkey carving, we had a zen master who had never done it before, but being a zen master and having a step-by-step picture explanation of the carving process courtesy of the NY Times, he did a fabulous job with it, it really could not have been neater. Notice a couple of ears belonging to an interested party at the bottom of the right picture...

FR: Alors, pour le découpage de la dinde, nous avions l'homme le plus zen de la planète qui n'avait jamais fait cela avant, mais étant aussi zen qu'il l'est et avec une explication en photos grâce aux NY Times, il a fait du boulot spectaculaire, ça n'aurait pas pu être mieux coupé.
Comme vous pouvez le constater, il y a une paire d'oreilles appartenant à un personnage intéressé en bas de la photo de droite...
And there were other dishes to accompany the turkey such as traditional stuffing, courtesy of my friend Sarah's Grandma Koetter's recipe (you gotta love those), and a sophisticated version of yams à la Chlöe which means sweet potato puree with goat cheese and white truffle oil. I made gravy with the plentiful juices of the turkey which was organic and "self-actualized" (don't you just love California?) but it's not very photogenic, so no picture here...

FR: Et il y eut d'autres plats pour accompagner la dinde comme le "stuffing" traditionel (cad le "bourrage" car traditionellement on le fait cuire dans la dinde, mais j'ai choisi de le cuire séparément ici) venant de la recette de la Grand-Mère Koetter de mon amie Sarah (qui n'aime pas les recettes venant de nos grand-mères?), et une version sophistiquée des patates douces à la Chlöe c'est a dire une purée de patates douces avec du fromage de chèvre et de l'huile de truffe blanche. J'ai fait du "gravy" (ou réduction de jus) avec les jus abondants de la dinde qui était bio, mais ce n'est pas très photogénique, donc pas de photo ici...
I didn't do justice to the desserts by taking pictures of them (to be fair, I don't think I had enough brain cells left to focus on mental activities since they were all concentrating on my digestion), but just so you know, we had a wonderful pumpkin flan with a date and pecan nut crust prepared by friends, a chocolate mousse (a command performance on my part being the Frenchy), and the best pecan pie ever which I made with Elise's recipe at Simply Recipes (not cloyingly sweet which was fantastic, it's a keeper) with this rice flour and almond meal crust.

FR: Je n'avais plus suffisamment de cellules grises pour pouvoir penser à prendre des photos des desserts étant donné qu'elles étaient toutes occupées à digérer, mais juste pour vous en informer, nous avons mangé un succulent flan au potimarron sur une couche de noix de pécans et de dattes, une mousse au chocolat (que j'ai préparé en tant que Française), et la meilleure tarte aux noix de pécans que j'ai jamais mangé préparé selon la recette de Elise de Simply Recipes (pas horriblement sucrée et donc vraiment fantastique, je la garde) avec une pâte fait de farine de riz brun et poudre d'amandes selon cette recette.

We went to bed stuffed and woke up the next morning to more of this pleasant haven-ish environment...
FR: Nous nous sommes couchées repues et réveillées le lendemain dans cet environnement idyllique...