Ingredient Alert: Dark Chocolate

I have been very fortunate to have had the circle of friends which I’ve had over the years. One of them introduced the Lake Champlain chocolates to me about 2 years after the company was founded in Burlington, VT. Since then, this maker has been my preferred source for chocolate. Yes, I have used other […]

Kikunoi’s Duck Hotpot (Kamo Nabe)

Previously, on tastingmenu.wordpress.com –* https://tastingmenu.wordpress.com/2010/11/10/on-dashi/* https://tastingmenu.wordpress.com/2015/10/22/burger-wars-the-patties-strike-back/* https://tastingmenu.wordpress.com/2024/02/17/the-yolks-on-me/ The meal we had for Thanksgiving for 2023 was a nice one. There was something that I was reminded about life and that fact is that we all age. That being said, my parent turned out to have some difficulty in swallowing the sliced pan roasted duck. While […]

“The Yolks On Me”

Lately, I’ve been making a study of 2 disparate recipes – Chef Thomas Keller’s Bouchon recipe for creme anglaise and Chef Yoshihiro Murata’s Kikunoi recipe for Kamo Nabe (duck hotpot). The point of all this being was to understand how far down I could scale/microbatch the recipe. In the case of the creme anglaise, I […]

Nishino Fruit Gratin With Umeshu Sabayon

Previously, on tastingmenu.wordpress.com –* https://tastingmenu.wordpress.com/2014/04/15/scrambled-eggs-aka-les-oeufs-brouilles/ Seeing how my family liked desserts that had an oven component to them, I decided to think about what to make for next holiday season. It then occurred to me that there had been a dessert I had been looking at for a long time but never had the nerve to […]