What's for pudding?

Oh my, I'm truly smitten by Smitten Kitchen. Some worthwhile wonder always wanders through there.

The recent addition to my culinary repertoire is her chocolate budino recipe. Honestly, there's no sense in copying it here. What I will give you is my ingredient list, with weights for pretty much everything:

• 5 large egg yolks
• 75g granulated sugar
• 2 cups (472g) heavy cream
• 232g Scharffen Berger 70% cacao (8 oz)
• 12g (2 tsp) unsalted butter
• 1/2 tsp grey salt
• tsp espresso powder
• 1/4 tsp vanilla
• 2 tsp Chambord

If you're among the kitchen cowards like me who are terrified of phrases like "coats back of spoon", know that I did a little research. The temp I raise the custard mixture to is 160˚F. I pulled it immediately and dumped it over the chocolate.

I use a paring knife and shave the chocolate from the block so it melts well.

The cups took the better part of 2 hours to set, so that's your lead time for the recipe.

Smitten Kitchen suggests a less in your face version, with a semi sweet chocolate rating in the 60% range and without the espresso powder boost. I actually gave it most of a tbsp of Chambord but it didn't come through. Maybe owing to the bumped chocolate. Next time, more!

Poured this into all of our espresso cups, 10 total, sizes vary. Whipped cream required. Raspberry and mint garnish optional.

Enjoy!

Travel tips for London and Cambridge

Some friends recently traveled to London and surveyed friends for ideas. This was my list.

If you're going to be spending a fair bit of time in London, get Oyster cards at the airport. That makes getting around pretty easy. And the tube from the airport is our preferred method.

You have to do tea. I suggest doing it more than once. Harrod's or Fortnum & Mason, then the other. If Prince Charles or the Queen is willing to have you over, you could go a third round. Two words for you: clotted cream.

Shakespeare was fun. Make time for whatever is playing in that teeny little theatre.

The Sky Garden requires careful planning but is worth it.

Those Brits make excellent (and a slightly different) greeting cards. I think we dropped in on a chain called Paperchase (near the Sky Garden).

A visit to Greenwich is cool. Allow a fair bit of time for the observatory. Wouldn’t hurt you to have read Dava Sobel’s Longitude.

Punting in Cambridge, but not Oxford, where they don’t do it right. The Eagle Pub in Cambridge where Watson & Crick drew DNA helixes on napkins. The Eagle and Child in Oxford, where Tolkien and Lewis drank. Who had the greater flight of fancy?

Pints and pies. Darts if you can find it. Rarer in London these days. I think they’re adopting the Irish perspective, which, according to my friend from Cork is that, “it gets in the way of the drinking.”

The British Museum! If you can stay near there, we'd suggest dropping in on your way out each day for one (or maybe two) things.

Evensong service at Westminster Abbey. They're very fussy. St Paul's is a bit more relaxed. But Westminster is better.

If you are at all interested in WWII, the Churchill War Rooms are fantastic.

If you like Indian food, London is the place for you. Dishoom is _the_ Indian place. Means "mojo" in Hindi. You'll want to get the Viceroy Old Fashioned. The black lentil dish was amazing. Nothing was bad, so go with your favorites.

The Grand Imperial London has hands down the best presentation of Peking Duck we've ever had. It's probably the traditional way, but it had never been done for me.

Out front of King's Cross station they sometimes have a market. Get a snack (or two). See if The Scottish Kitchen is there, and if it is, get the smoked clava and thank me later.

Beef Stew

When the Patriots are playing in the snow and a Nor'easter is blowing into to town and you finally capitulate to winter and turn on the heat, it's time to do some serious thinkin' about beef stew. It's always good, but a bit of a chore browning all that beef. Now, thanks to America's Test Kitchen, it's a little easier. This is an adaptation of their Guinness Beef Stew recipe, with some commentary.

Ingredients, in order of appearance:

• 3-4 lbs chuck eye roast
• 2 tblsp olive oil
• 2 good sized yellow onions
• rib of celery
• 4 garlic cloves
• 1-2 tblsp tomato paste
• 1/4 cup AP flour
• 1 cup chicken broth
• 3 cups apple cider
• 1 lg russet potato
• fresh thyme
• 1 1/2 lbs yukon gold potatoes
• 1 lb carrots

Don't buy so-called "stew meat". Get a good chuck roast and cut it up into 1 1/2 inch chunks yourself. It's like, what, two minutes? You can trim some fat but don't go crazy. It'll render given time. This makes sure you're chuck, which is what you want for stew, and not--as Mr. Kimball believes--floor scraps.

Dice your onions and celery and then fry them, with the barest dash of salt, until they are deep, deep brown. Julie Sahni discusses this technique at length, probably in most of her Indian cookbooks. Essentially, it's a long process (20 minutes) with increasing focus on stirring to keep them from burning. I think of this technique as the Indian equivalent of making a roux. She calls it, I think, "brown-frying" and it's really not as hard as a roux if you pay attention.

At the very end of that process, add the garlic and tomato paste and begin salting. Get that nice rust color going. Then add the flour. The pot is going to look very dry and crusty and wrong, but stir stir stir. When you just can't stand how wrong it looks, gradually add the chicken stock, stirring and deglazing the pan. Once the lumps are out, add the cider, the beef and a diced russet potato.

I like a nice thick gravy in my beef stew. I used to cut my potatoes into wedges, so some of the edge would go into the sauce, but now I just sacrifice one whole potato to that task. Dice that puppy into 1/4" or less and a couple of hours later that starchy goodness will be liquid. Add a bundle of three-four sprigs of fresh thyme, because stews need thyme.

Here's the real ATK trick: pop that uncovered pot into a 325˚F oven for at least 3.5 hours. The meat that's exposed will brown in the oven, and the subsequent stirs while cooking will get that flavor into the sauce.

As for the veggies, ATK wants you to add them the last hour of cooking. Twice through with this variation, and I think that's a little al dente for me. Next time, I'll add them after the first hour. I've also found that an extra 30-45 minutes gets it to the right place for me in terms of texture. But it's a great trick, since it gets rid of what for me is at least an hour of prep.

Seasoning is a very personal thing. I tend to salt very lightly in the beginning, but continually through the process, so I don't overdo it. I usually dose the pepper once, with the meat. Pepper is the only think that I'm liberal with...

Did this Sunday without cider and it was still good. I did replace with homemade chicken broth, though. Sometimes I wonder what the difference would be if I browned the onions in bacon drippings... 

LMAO: Tuesday 6 September 2011

So I'm zipping through the light at the end of Belmont Ave right past Mount Auburn Cemetery, heading into class, when a Tim McGraw song on the radio has me doing a serious belly laugh. You can listen for yourself as long as the YouTube link works, but the short story is this guy who's actually dying is running through the things he's checked off his bucket list, and one of them is "I went 2.7 seconds on a bull named Fumanchu."

I'm pretty sure the belly laugh went the full eight seconds and it was loud enough that some folks in other cars were looking at me and smiling politely.

Dunno. It made me laugh. Of course, strangers look at me funny and smile politely, so your mileage may vary...

Makes me think of yesterday, when what made me laugh was the admonition on the Mike's Hard Lemonade: "Mike's is hard. So is prison. Don't drink and drive." So I think you're all stuck with a semi-regular column here, unless things that make me laugh stop showing up in my life.

The Mosquito Post

Everyone experiences mosquitos in Italy. They’re actually worse than the tour groups. Resign yourself now to the fact that while you’ll eat very well, you’ll give back via those vile little bloodsuckers. If it is any consolation, your blood will spawn the next wave that will plague the tourists that follow you, and some Italians too.

Why are they suck a problem? Well, for one thing, window and door screens are a rarity. And it’s hot. So you have some choices to make. Open windows with the chance of some air and the certainty of mosquitos--or a bedroom sauna.

That said, there are some things you can do to help yourself. Italian supermarkets sell little devices you can plug into the wall. They take little tabs that are good for most of the night and seem to help a lot. Get one and a box of refills. I have not been able to find the new Off! Clip-On refills in Italy.

It seems the mosquitos know where all the best restauranti and gelaterie are, so you’re going to get bit. I’ve found that Off! AfterBite works well, as does their Italian product, Dopopuntura. The American product is basically ammonia, which also works well if you’re in a pinch. The Italian product is more of a gel that has other active ingredients. If you’re like me, with that sangue-dolce, then bring some of the American product and get some of the Italian while you’re here.

The Tomato Connection

I love Tuscany by train. For one thing—and this makes no sense—I find myself listening to Little Feat when I’m on the train. Little Feat. The beautiful Italian countryside with vineyards and olive orchards and walled cities. Does it really surprise me that there’s a Ben & Jerry’s within the shadow of the Duomo in Florence?

Coca-Cola in Italy

Coca-Cola is my guilty pleasure. But I’ve noticed several places charging upwards of €3 for a 500ml bottle, and as high as €3.80… Crazy. Wine is cheaper by far—it’s possible to get a decent bottle of Vin Santo at the Consorzio Agrario Siena for less than that. Of course, the Consorzio will sell you a bottle of coke for €0.85, so another lesson learned is: look for such things in the little supermarkets you’ll come across.

Another (less American) option is Lemon-soda. It’s like carbonated lemonade. Just as good but without the caffeine, I tend to drink a little more of this and a little less of coke as our vacations progress. But no one ever mistakes me for an Italian…