In praise of poaching

Alright, people. I know what you’re thinking. Man, Molly’s sure been sucking down the butter these days. How about those fritters? Did Orangette get sponsored by a cardiologist or something? By all appearances, it’s been a regular fat fest at my place lately, with lipids on parade and Dessert Day everyday. But at the risk of silencing the ole Brown Butter Marching Band, I just want you to

Chinese New Year!

Hello / Ni Hao!

One more year has gone by and the year of the Ox is being walked into the scene!
So Xin Nian Hao le to all!

2004 Food Trends

New Year's Eve seems like the right time for a wrap up of the year in food. This past year saw lots of bad food news. There were mad cow scares, Martha Stewart eating prison food, fast food health scandals (including the death of McDonald's CEO) the death of Julia Child and all around low-carb craziness.



On the upside the restaurant scene in San Francisco seems to be coming back to life with the opening of some new high profile restaurants, such as Michael Mina. The other trend seemed to be towards lounge/nightclub restaurants like Lime, Frisson and Levende to name just a few. The trend towards "small-plates" has generally meant more creative menus and more choices at the dinner table.



The interest in local produce, farmers markets and organic food continued to grow this year. There was a huge resurgence in artisan chocolate, including those with untraditional flavorings such as curry or ginger and ultra traditional flavorings such as chili.



So what will the trends be for next year? As far as restaurants go, the Nuevo Latino movement may continue to build momentum. More regionally specific restaurants will also be in vogue (like A16). I think we'll see exotic ingredients such as pomegranates, unusual citrus fruits like bergamot and yuzu, and Middle Eastern spices and spice mixes (such as dukkah and ras el hanout) gaining in popularity. I also predict that we have barely scratched the surface of the cutting edge cuisine where dishes are deconstructed or ingredients are pushed to their limit (a la Ferran Adria of El Bulli).



For all my readers I predict a happy, and delicious new year!

A clear sign

I know I’m not supposed to say this, but I think fall may be coming soon. Also, and I know I’m really not supposed to say this, but I baked banana bread again. I’m so sorry, on both counts.Clearly, I have a problem. If my count is correct, this is the sixth, SIXTH, banana bread and/or cake recipe that I have written about here. Is there some sort of treatment facility for this? A Betty Ford

Fresh Ginger and Chocolate Gingerbread

This was my first gingerbread, and it's from Dorrie Greenspan's Baking from My Home to Yours.  Since I let my fiancé help choose the recipe, predictably it had chocolate.  I am what you might call a ginger fiend, so this was a good mix for the both of us.  Although traditionally associated with Christmas, gingerbread is, according to the Woman's Day Encyclopedia of Cookery, one of the oldest cakes dating all the way back to the Middle Ages when it was bestowed on dueling knights by the women they sought to impress and often decorated with gold leaf in the shape of a fleur-de-lys.  In English Food, Jane Grigson describes a recipe for gingerbread from 1430 which calls for warming a quart of honey, skimming it and coloring it with saffron or sanders before mixing in enough bread crumbs to shape it into a loaf without further cooking.

Spice breads appear throughout Europe, as in the pain d'épices in France, the lebkuchen in modern-day Germany, Switzerland and Austria (although traditionally this is flavored with honey, cinnamon, cloves, nutmeg and cardamon and not a trace of ginger) and the panforte in Italy.   Chocolate is not necessarily the traditional accompaniment, and Woman's Day offers recipes for lemon sauce and cream-cheese frosting, and breads baked with honey, spices and even blueberries. 

 

However, Greenspan's cake is very much like the traditional gingerbread given by Woman's Day (not to be confused with the Grasmere Gingerbread of England which Grisgon describes as a "crumbly biscuit" or the Julpepparkakor or gingersnaps of Scandinavia), which is described as "a flat, square, spicy bread-cake made with brown sugar or honey and molasses (or just molasses), leavened with baking powder...and heavily spiced with ground ginger and other spices."  

Fresh Ginger and Chocolate Gingerbread

For the Cake

2 tablespoons finely chopped, peeled fresh ginger

1 tablespoon sugar

2 cups flour

1 teaspoon baking soda

2 teaspoons ground ginger

1/3 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1/4 teaspoon ground cloves

1 stick plus 3 tablespoons unsalted butter, at room temperature

3/4 cup packed, light brown sugar

3 large eggs

1/2 cup molasses

6 oz bittersweet chocolate - 2 ounces melted, 4 ounces finely chopped

1 cup buttermilk

for the icing

3 ounces bittersweet chocolate, chopped

1 tablespoon strong coffee

3 tablespoons butter, at room temperature

3 tablespoons confectioner's sugar (it's a good idea to sift this, I found)

Cake

Oven preheated to 350, rack in center

Whisk flour, baking soda and spices and set aside. If you're using a stand mixer, fit it with the paddle attachment, set on medium, and cream the butter and brown sugar together until smooth, about 3 minutes.  Add the eggs in one at a time, beating for 1 minute after each addition. My mixture looked curdled at this stage, but Dorie says that's okay, so I believe her! Add the molasses and continue beating until the mixture is smooth.

Reduce speed to low and the melted chocolate and the sugared ginger.  Then add the dry ingredients in three stages, alternating with the buttermilk.  Begin and end with the dry ingredients.  Do not over mix the batter.  Fold in the chopped chocolate and pour the batter into your 9-in square baking pan.

Bake for 40 minutes until the sides start to pull away from the pan. My cake was domed, but it settled after a few minutes of cooling. Cool in the pan on a rack for 10 minutes, then take it out of the pan and cool to room temperature before icing.

Icing

Melt the chocolate together with the coffee in a double boiler.  Once the chocolate is melted, remove it from the heat and stir in the butter one tablespoon at a time.  Sift the confectioner's sugar over the mixture and stir it in.  Transfer the mixture to a bowl and let it set for 10 minutes.  

Pour the icing over the center of the cake and spread it to the sides.  Let the iced cake sit for 30 minutes before cutting into 9 pieces. 

Setting Up House

When I was getting married I indulged in the pornography of bridal magazines. All those glossy photos, fluff and titillation designed to arouse an intense longing and euphoria. Well I thought it was part of the whole wedding experience anyway.



One of the features, in almost every bridal magazine is a piece on what you need to set up your household. Often this is in the form of a "Registry Checklist". On the surface this seems very useful. Unfortunately these lists are often straight out of the 1950's. Anyone you know use warming trays? Cordial glasses? Place card holders? Checklists designed to help typically range from the ridiculous to the absurd. In any case, most people are not moving out of their parents home and into their married home, there is usually some single time in there. So how do you figure out what you need when setting up a kitchen at any stage of life?



Jerry Gagnon has written a wonderful article in this past Saturday's San Francisco Chronicle about just what you do need to get your kitchen in working order. We're talking about basic things not fancy shmancy. Depending upon how ambitious you plan on being in the kitchen, there are some further options--but no warming trays! I concur with the recommendations but would suggest adding a heat-resistant plastic spatula, a cookie sheet, a cast iron pan for grilling and using in the broiler, and a big heavy dutch oven or covered pot for slow roasting, stews and soups.



Not only do I appreciate the article, but also the plug for my blog at the conclusion of the piece. Take a look at the article, Must-have gear for any kitchen Stocking up on good, durable cookware for under $150.



As previously mentioned, this blog was chosen by Forbes magazine as one of the best food blogs. While number 4 on Forbes list I am currently at number 2 in the readers poll. If you haven't had a chance to vote or just want to check out the latest results, click here to get to the poll.

Rheingold: no Wagner but food!

This post is not about Wagner's music but about food!
When in Montevideo, Uruguay, I rush to the Confiteria Oro del Rhin, an old styled pastry and tea shop, located in calle Colonia and calle Convencion, which has managed to survive the economic turmoil of this little South American republic.

It was founded by German immigrants and used to offer first quality select pastries to go, and had on the other side of the shop a large room with tables and chairs to sit and enjoy the food served.
Though quality has faded a bit with time and economic distress, it still offers in the same old styled large room good quick meals and pastries.

If you go for breakfast (it opens at 8:30), you have a choice of brioche toasts and butter and/or peach jam, medialunas (local croissant) plain or with ham and cheese, and any pastry you like, with tea, coffee, chocolate, or the local cortado (like a machiato). I regret the orange juice is bottled in a country known for the quality of its oranges and citrus and where ANY cafe serves a large glass of delicious fresh orange juice for a few pesos!

If you go for lunch, the large room is very animated and full of men and women of all ages in business geer, who are having one of the many quiches and tarts with a salad, or "croquetas de arroz" with a salad, or hot sandwiches. The most common drink on the tables of the healthy conscious clients is Agua Salus, a local mineral water. This very good spring water comes from the hills of Lvalleja and is bottled near Minas in the so called Puma's Fountain.

Tea time is my favorite! The broad array of home made pastries makes my choice a very difficult one! Mil hojas, bombitas with custard, chocolate or "dulce de leche" filling, palmitas with iced sugar, and the cake the shop is famous for, the Tree Cake or Torta Arbol (top picture) a cake built in extra thin layers over a pastry cylinder with its very particular shape similar to a tree trunk, hence its name.

Enjoy!