Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP Posting-Version: version B 2.10.2 9/5/84; site magic.ARPA Path: utzoo!watmath!clyde!burl!ulysses!allegra!oliveb!Glacier!decwrl!magic!broder From: broder@magic.ARPA Newsgroups: net.singles,net.cooks Subject: Re: My Favorite Subject... Message-ID: <177@magic.ARPA> Date: Tue, 19-Nov-85 18:57:35 EST Article-I.D.: magic.177 Posted: Tue Nov 19 18:57:35 1985 Date-Received: Sat, 23-Nov-85 00:28:42 EST References: <993@lll-crg.ARpA> Reply-To: broder@magic.UUCP (Andrei Broder) Organization: DEC Systems Research, Palo Alto Lines: 179 Xref: watmath net.singles:9742 net.cooks:5446 Summary: In article <993@lll-crg.ARpA> booter@lll-crg.ARpA (Elaine Richards) writes: >So, folks... I put the question to you. What would you cook for a new >lover, date, honey or whatchamacallit ? I don't think the *same* dinner can be used for all the above classifications. (They are different, aren't they?) Different circumstances require different menus. For more on this topic, anyone seriously interested in both culinary and amorous pursuits should carefully read "The Seducer's Cookbook" by Mimi Sheraton, the former New York Times restaurant critic. - It is a delightful book, very amusing and quite daring even for today, but unfortunately out of print (last published by Random House in 1962 ?). The recipes in it are the least interesting part. Here is a quote: "Ever since I was fifteen and was persuaded to neck with a boy who gave me a frozen Milky Way, I have been aware of the seductive powers of food. It was, of course, too heady a combination to resist - a double portion of forbidden fruit - since my mother had forbidden candy because it would ruin my teeth, and necking because it would, sooner or later, ruin everything else." Back to the challenge. Here is a French autumn dinner to convince someone that she made the right choice three weeks ago (i.e. this is a trifle too heavy for what Mimi Sheraton calls "the seduction dinner," and also involves too much work for uncertain results :-) Mushroom tartlets (Croutes de Champignons) Roast Duck with Caramel and Vinegared Currants (Canard au Caramel Vinaigre) Sauteed Pears (Poires-legumes) Cardamom and Bourbon Ice Cream (Cr`eme glac'ee a la cardamome) For wine, if just drunk your last 1919 La Tache, a nice California Pinot Noir (say, Trefethen) will go pretty well with both the mushrooms and the duck. You might want to have maybe some goat cheese after the duck to finish the wine, or a small but fairly flagrant salad (suitable are any of spinach, dandelion greens, or rockette) in which case you must finish the wine before the salad. Serve the ice cream by itself and have some thin cookies and calvados with the coffee if you decide to have coffee. The mushroom recipe is a based on an idea from the Chez Panisse cookbook. All the other are based on Madeleine Kamman's cookbook "In Madeleine's Kitchen". Recipes ------- Mushroom tartlets (Croutes de Champignons) (Adapted from the Chez Panisse cookbook) 1/2 oz dried wild mushrooms (cepes, chanterelles, or morels) 1/4 pound fresh mushrooms 1 shallot 2T unsalted butter 4 2in or 2 4in baked tart shells or 4 slices of French bread, crust removed Soak the wild mushrooms in 1/4 cup hot water for 1/2 hour. Strain (triple cheesecloth) and keep the liquid. Rinse the mushrooms well. Mince the fresh mushrooms, the wild mushrooms, and the shallot. Season them with salt and pepper and saute them in butter for 20 min on medium heat. Add all the mushrooms liqour in small amounts during the cooking. The mixture should not be too juicy when done. Brush the shell (or the bread) with melted butter. Fill them and bake in a 350 oven for about 10 min. (Your oven will be on anyway for the duck.) Roast Duck with Caramel and Vinegared Currants (Canard au Caramel Vinaigre) 2T currants 1T Aceto Balsamico 1 5 lbs. duck, preferably fresh, or defrosted Salt, pepper, Szechuan pepper (optional) 1 strip of orange rind (1in by 2in) 1t honey 1T dark soy sauce 1T olive oil 1 1/4 cups stock. 2T sugar 1T toasted pignoli nuts Chopped parsley Macerate the currants overnight in the vinegar. Remove the neck and wing tips of the duck and chop them into 1in chunks. Season the cavity with the salt and the peppers, and put the rind inside. Truss the bird. Mix the honey with the soy sauce and brush the bird with it. Roast the duck for 2 1/2 hours at 325F. After 45 min prick the skin below the breast to release the fat. Remove fat regularly (with a baster) and evry time you do it, tilt the duck to get the juices out of the cavity in the roasting pan. Brown the wings and necks in olive oil. Discard oil. Build an essence by adding the stock in four addition. Reduce well to about 1/4 cup. Strain into a clean saucepan and add the currants and their vinegar. Cook the sugar to the dark (almost bitter) stage and disolve it with the remaining 1/4 cup stock. Discard half of the mixture. (It's very difficult to make less caramel than that without burning it.) When the duck is done, set it aside and keep it hot. Discard all fat from roasting pan and deglaze well with the caramel-stock mixture. Strain the deglazing into the currant-vinegar-essence mixture and simmer together 5 min to mix flavors. Present the whole duck to the table, then go back and cut it in two portions of one breast and one leg each topped with the sauce, toasted pignoli nuts, and chopped parsley. Serve with the pears on the same plate. Sauteed Pears (Poires-legumes) 2 firm Bosc pears 1 T butter ground ginger or ground cloves salt and pepper scallion rings Peel, halve and core the pears. (It doesn't matter if they brown) Brown well the pears in butter first the flat side and then the round one. Remove from heat and season with ginger or cloves, salt, and pepper and let stand covered for 5 min. To serve cut each half on the in 1/4 in slices almost to the top and flatten each half to fan out the slices. Dot with scallion rings. Cardamom and Bourbon Ice Cream (Cr`eme glac'ee a la cardamome) (Serves up to 6) This must be started four days in advance!! 1 slice dried pineapple with no artificial anything (get it from a helath food store) cut in small bits. 3T Jack Daniels 6 egg yolks 1/4 cup sugar half pinch salt 1T pure vanilla extract 3/4 T cardamom powder 1 cup heavy cream 1 cup light cream or half and half. 2T sour cream. Macerate the pineapple bits in bourbon for two days. Mix well the yolks, the sugar and and the salt, but without making much foam. Add the vanilla and the cardamom. Scald the heavy and light cream together and gradually stir them into the yolk mixture. Thicken over medium heat, whisk well till cool, add the sour cream, mix well, and strain over the pineapple. Chill overnight. Process in an ice cream maker and let ripen for 24 hours. Serve in nice glasses by itself. (It is very soft!) - Andrei