Chocolate Mousse Cream Puffs, Mazzotta’s-Style

Previously, on tastingmenu.wordpress.com – * https://tastingmenu.wordpress.com/2021/01/10/bouchon-pate-a-choux/ So I remade these goodies this weekend based on my adventures with the Bouchon Pâte à Choux effort. Waiting for the choux mixture to cool to 145 degrees F before adding the eggs really helped.  Unlike before, I carefully divided the ‘dough’ into 4 parts, carefully scooped each part […]

Inspired by a Ron Siegel dish

Previously, on tastingmenu.wordpress.com – * https://tastingmenu.wordpress.com/2012/07/30/ron-siegels-black-codchilean-seabass-daikon-shimeji-tatsoi-and-dashi/ * https://tastingmenu.wordpress.com/2012/10/31/dashi-soy/ * https://tastingmenu.wordpress.com/2012/12/27/piri-piri-soy-sauce-revisited/ I originally was going to make a poached fish with sauce zugoise this weekend. Unfortunately, I didn’t have all the ingredients and it was suggested I NOT do a dish with a cream-based sauce post-holidays.  What to do? I then came across a dish listed […]

Learning to make Champong / Jjamppong / Jampong

Previously, on tastingmenu.wordpress.com – * https://tastingmenu.wordpress.com/2020/12/05/reproducing-michibas-korean-style-monkfish-stew-pot/ In continuing my exploration of Korean cuisine, to understand the perspective of Iron Chefs Michiba and Morimoto, I thought about the spicy seafood noodle item called, variously, Champong/Jjamppong/Jampong.  As I searched around for a recipe, I did come across https://futuredish.com/jjamppong-spicy-korean-seafood-noodles/ which claimed to have a jampong recipe from Chef […]

Blue Ginger Sesame Tofu Caesar Dressing From Simply Ming

My niece has been after me about making this recipe so that she can get a handle on making it herself. The online recipe can be found here: https://www.mingspantry.com/caestofsal.html .  Interestingly, the online recipe OR the Simply Ming recipe (p.130) which has a potential typo.  A minibatch of the Simply Ming variant would be: 1 […]

Bouchon Pâte à Choux

Previously, on tastingmenu.wordpress.com – * https://tastingmenu.wordpress.com/2020/12/19/a-french-laundry-style-chocolate-mousse/ A long time ago, at a university far far away….. …there used to be an Italian eatery/bakery called Mazzotta’s corner of College and Broad Street in Middletown, CT. They’ve since relocated to the outskirts of the city (see: https://www.middletownpress.com/news/article/Mazzotta-s-closes-after-23-years-11901747.php). One of the food memories that left quite an impression […]

Curating the 2020 New Year’s Eve Dinner

Normally, I would have been going out to dinner for New Years Eve (aka “NYE”).  This is probably the first time in years that I’ve had to make this holiday meal. I think one of the things that went well was preparing the dessert cake the morning of the dinner and then getting it into […]