smokey

We made three kinds of ravioli (cappelletti are beyond our fine motor skills!) and ended up serving them with butter on top. I really wanted to try a broth (thanks again, porcupine, for posting your recipe), but realized upon reading it that it was going to be beyond my time and energy abilities. We did a mushroom filling that is largely a riff on ushka, a traditional Ukrainian mushroom filled dumpling served in borscht on xmas eve. We also did a sweet potato filling that was my mom's riff on a Marcella recipe for a squash filled dumpling. Although most sweet potato recipes go the sweet direction in some way, this is decidedly savory with a generous helping of parmesan. Finally, we used the recipe from marcella's first classic book for a spinach/ricotta filling meant to be used in a dish that is a sheet of pasta, filled with the spinach filling, rolled up, wrapped in cheesecloth, boiled, slice then topped with a red/white sauce mixed together and baked. It's a GREAT dish. Each ravioli was cooked and served as a bit of a separate 'course.' Although a fair amount of work (and almost certainly not traditional), it was a wonderful way to celebrate xmas eve.

I agree with Heather. I've been disappointed enough on those evenings (whether restaurants taking advantage, being absolutely swamped, or just happenstance, who knows), that I won't eat out on those 'high pressure' holidays. On that topic, I've got a babysitter lined up for the 17th of February (long story why so far out, but bottom line, it's a Saturday). Do ya'll think it's safe to assume that the V-D revelers will have had their fill on the 14th (a Wednesday)?

For xmas morn, I defrosted one of my MS chocolate babka loaves. I was struck by how much chocolate there is (and insisted that there was surely less in the first loaf I made--the +1 says I'm wrong!) and how rich it is.

MK, you and Fannie Farmer are da bomb (collectively!). I made the apple pie for our xmas dinner with this recipe (50/50 by volume crisco/butter split) and it was *great*. My only complaint is that I think there was too much shortening vs. butter, and in future versions will try skewing the ratio more towards butter. Otherwise, no leaking problems, dough easy enough to handle, came together nicely.Thank you!

This is a kind of funny thread, having morphed from the search for the 1789 recipe to general comments on home cooking and local restaurant preparations of bread pudding. So, let me throw in my two cents. I saw a great looking recipe in the new Dorie Greenspan baking book for a chocolate bread pudding. The bread was brioche/challah type, with your basic custard and melted chocolate added in. I don't much care for bread pudding but am quite tempted by the recipe and accompanying photo.

Now don't I feel like a boob? I've never even heard a tines up/down rule. I just do the 4 o'clock placement and say a little prayer!

Ok, in an effort to acquaint myself with various recipes and techniques for biscuits, I've now read thoroughly through this thread (ththththth). And, I've noticed one glaring absence--Heather's biscuit recipe. Heather, I can only assume that is a purposeful omission on your part? Any chance you're willing to part with it?

Ilaine--thanks for the link to baking 911. I have to admit, I find that site so annoying and poorly organized, I rarely go there, although she clearly has some helpful information. I'm surprised that cake flour can be substituted 1:1 for AP in biscuits. Although I suggested it as a possibility, my intuition was that it wouldn't work (for the reasons that mktye suggests). If you look at her table on the relative protein content, she says (IIRC) that cake flour ranges in protein content from 7-9%, while White Lily type flours are 9% protein. It makes me think that it really would depend on the specific cake flour. If I were going to call all geek on this, I would (well, if I were going to go all geek, I would just flippin' get in my care and drive to D&D, but never mind that!) try to determine the % protein in my cake flour and come up with an ideal ratio to make an approximation of WL from my KA AP and the cake flour I have. I think I'll just do the eyeball estimation. [mktye, I'm not totally disregarding your suggestion, I'm trying to limit the number of special purpose flours I have in my pantry. And, i surely know that WL is probably more special purpose than bleached AP, but I think I would rather work with 2 flours I routinely have in the pantry rather than get another 5# bag of flour.] Thanks for the feedback, and now I just need to figure out how to make biscuits. Rumour has it that santa is bringing me a set of biscuit cutters and I'm planning my xmas morning bake off now!

I'm tagging this on here, because I think it's fundamentally the most useful here. Anybody know a local source (not internet-based) for White Lily flour in MoCo? I'm thinking about trying the new Harris Teeter up Darnestown way (rte. 28?), but if would prefer a sure bet over a long drive that may leave me empty-handed. If no known source, is it better to use cake flour in place of KA unbleached AP flour when making biscuits, a mix of the two? Any feedback appreciated. Thanks.

I'm with DLB on this; I disagree. I'm struck by the language you use on this. "A few dollars out of some consumer's pocket. Not a big deal." vs. "attacking the livelihood of the restaurant owner and employees." Whoah--attacking the livelihood? And, if one's overall experience at a restaurant was negative (not simply an appetizer that one didn't like), that's more than "a few dollars out of some consumer's pocket." That might be closer to $80-100 for a couple. And, let's not forget, that couple may themselves (or one of them) be a restaurant employee. Just like the restaurant employee whose livelihood we're concerned about in the other case. I don't think an unequal burden of proof is appropriate for negative vs positive reviews. I think, in fact, that burden of proof is off language to use here, because it's pretty hard to 'prove' anything about our experiences at restaurants. I think that all of our posts (positive and negative) will be more enlightening when they are accompanied by greater detail explaining what we liked/didn't like, what our expectations were, etc. My reply is longer than yours, but is no more meant as a sermon, merely a different opinion.

Thanks for the feedback on this recipe. I was half considering making it. However, I agree with you--the fruit/chocolate combo is just weird to me (in a rugelach).

Cheezpowder--I'm sorry, I don't know how I missed your query before. Apologies. Although I don't have the book in front of me, I read over the ingredients and instructions in the link, and that definitely looks identical to the babka recipe I made. I didn't bother with the streusel topping (just wasn't appealing to me). I liked how chocolatey it was (that was something I was looking for in a recipe). If anything, I might consider cutting back on the butter in the dough. In retrospect, it is a *really* rich bread. And, I would definitely cut back on the whole recipe. I didn't have anybody in mind to give them to when I made them, so froze up three of the 4 I made (I didn't have the pan sized she called for, so just purchased a couple of those cheapie-disposable ones at the grocery store). Unfortunately, I wasn't really thinking when I did it (moving on auto-pilot, I suppose), and I put the egg wash on two of the three I froze before freezing them, so I'm not really comfortable giving them away frozen ("Here's a gift you can bake for yourself, but I would be really careful about letting it get to room temperature because of the salmonella risk. Enjoy!") Yes, I am actually willing to eat it myself, but not give it away. I'm well aware I'm probably being beyond anal.Oh, and if you do the MS recipe and have a 4.5qt. mixer, word up--that dough will just crawl right up your dough hook into the 'planetary action' area, necessitating a visit with the mixer doctor. It's a drag to be without your mixer during the baking season!

That's an interesting question. I had always simply assumed that the pastry chef in any restaurant worked exclusively on desserts (although I recognize that baked items come in both sweet and savoury). I had never made the connection that the sausage biscuits might be the brain child of the pastry chef. Anybody who knows more than me about the role of pastry chef care to comment?

I took one offered through that cooking store (name suddenly escapes me) in Alexandria, VA. It was taught by our own RoboJoe (right before he left the Majestic Cafe). It was roughly a 3-4 hour class, and was really, really great. (I think the cost included sharpening for something like 5 knives or some such.) He was a good teacher and came well prepared to class (lots of carrots, onions, peppers, for us to chop!). He handled questions very smoothly, and the vast majority of the class was hands on. I thoroughly enjoyed it and would recommend it.

You know, I've heard many folks rave about the nuts at TJ's, but I haven't been impressed with them. I admit, this is a one off experience, but based on all the raves, I decided to pick up a bag of pistachios at TJ's (it was, IIRC, a one pound bag of CA pistachios). I thought they were neither very fresh nor very good. I know, one type of nut, one experience, but for all the raves I had heard about the nuts there, I figured they must all be winners. Generally, I've had good experiences with the bulk nuts at Whole Foods. When I can plan ahead, I try to get walnuts at Yekta, because they seem to have a high turnover.

Personnally, I wouldn't do another dish, but would just be sure to have lots of salad on hand. Some of that, however, is based on the fact that it's a weeknight dinner, which I interpret as more casual. In that vein, I would consider doing brownies with cinnamon spicing (somehow, making them 'mexican' brownies). I get pumpkin-ed out at this time of year, so vote against a pumpkin-type dessert. I might try to combine dessert with some other baking goal (e.g. do I need to produce baked goods for some holiday affair at school/work/something else?). But, maybe I'm just lazy

Interesting. A friend told me recently that she heard (can't remember where) that an "Urban Hampburger Joint" (I've surely got the name wrong, but it starts with Urban) is going into the stripmall on 28 south of GA/Bel Pre, just north of Baltimore Rd. where there is a Safeway (I have no idea what the development/strip mall is called--sorry). When I said, "huh?" She claimed it was being opened by the same folks who own urban bbq. Keep your eyes peeled, daniel!

I think we all agree that part of what pulls extraordinary service away from the merely good is the ability to read the table. It's what I found particularly good about the service at Charlie Trotter's. Our server rapidly and accurately assessed our mood and what we wanted from the service that evening. She provided (what appeared to be) good service to the table next to ours, yet their needs definitely appeared different (e.g. more formal, less chatty). I certainly wasn't a regular at Trotters, so I think this *can* be accomplished at a restaurant where one is not a regular. The service at Tony's (the restaurant in STL to which I alluded earlier) is very different. As noted by eating out, they don't match your mood at all--they're always very formal. But, it's quite professional and clearly better than what lackadasai, and others, described at the Inn. Maybe this is splitting hairs, or maybe it's a matter of you say tomayto I say tomahto, but I don't think the service gaffes described here are a result of one size fits all service. At the prices they charge, one size fits all needs to be at a far higher level then what they're offering and I think that is not too high a bar to set.

I suppose in a way it comes down to how forgiving you are or what standards you expect the Inn to attain. For the money I assume you paid (comparable to lackadasai), quite frankly, I'm pretty unforgiving about service issues. The problems you describe with receiving the champagne only after multiple requests and receiving the wine pairing for certain courses late are pretty unforgivable at the prices they charge. Of course, this is just my opinion. Count me among the people who have been been unimpressed with the IALW. I'll grant you, they handled what I think was a snafu on their part INCREDIBLY graciously. I think there had been some error regarding our reservation, because when we arrived (a party of 4), we were offered the chef's table (on a Saturday night) without any premium. We accepted their invitation. I can't imagine paying a premium to sit at the Chef's table. The experience was far more like simply eating at a table in the kitchen. There was no effort to engage us in the process of cooking, no special asides about an item they were trying out, nothing. I've never been at the chef's table at other restaurants (of any caliber), but my impression has always been that those sorts of things (e.g. special tastings, etc.) are part of the experience. As a more general comment, I found the food to be just fine. Probably better than fine, but really, not worth the price. It's hard to know what would make food worth the price they charge, but i think part of what I expect is creativity in addition to flawless execution. The execution was good, but the creativity wasn't there. They were touting their molten chocolate cake like they had invented the thing. I'm a big chocolate fan, and I couldn't care less about molten chocolate cakes--I think they're tired and trite. Apparently, not at the Inn. Of course, the other side of the equation, particularly at a restaurant at this price point, is the service. I agree with JoeH. At this level, you should totter back to your nursing home (thanks, Don!) with nothing but raves. Not just how they were nice, but how they seemed to anticipate your needs before you did, how they were always available but never intrusive, how they made the evening special. I thought the service was good at IALW, but it certainly didn't rise to that level. I know that Charlie Trotters is not roundly loved, and I was last there roughly 7 years ago, so clearly lots could have changed, but I found our server at CT to be just that. She perfectly matched our mood and desires for level of formality. When we envied the deserts another table received, she simply brought us 'some of what they had' without even blinking or us asking. Another restaurant that has impeccable service (albeit more formal) is Tony's in St. Louis. It's almost certainly the most expensive restaurant in St. Louis and is, like many of 'the most expensive' restaurant in any given city, not roundly loved. But the service there is provided by professionals. Servers whose career is waiting on tables, and they are professionals. It's a unique experience, and one that IALW should also provide its customers at the prices they charge.

Sorry, no answers capital icebox, just a seconding of this request. A stick blender is about the only thing on my list for santa claus. In my experience, santa works best when he's got a specific brand and product code, so I would love specific recs to pass on.

Porcupine--merry xmas! I'm glad to hear you got such a great gift and are having fun! (and thanks for posting the broth recipe) Smokey

What do you use for broth? I'm planning on making raviolo for xmas eve dinner and would love to serve them in a broth. however, this has always been the weakest link in my plan. Do you have a recipe, tips, anything?

That's my take on it as well. I've read (since my semolina experiment) that semolina is traditionally only used in pasta that is going to be dried. I wondered if this wasn't part of the reason why, because I found my semolina-based fresh pasta to be QUITE toothsome.

Porcupine--when you use an atlas to roll it out, you don't really need to knead it a lot, because some of that comes from the process of rolling out progressively thinner sheets. I take it you don't have an Atlas (or some other brand?). If I could, I would just loan you mine for the holidays, but I already know we'll be using it for at least one meal. Do you happen to know anybody who has one? Smokey

IIRC, I use a recipe of 3/4c AP flour, 1 egg, 1tsp. water. I mix it with a fork on a cutting board (make well in center of flour, add lightly beaten egg/water mix to well, kinda sorta mix it in [don't know how to explain this, I think I'm being really dumb here]). It will be tacky and you'll add more flour as you knead it to a loosely even looking, coherent dough. Wrap in saran wrap and let rest in fridge (umm, until you're ready to go back to it? No clear rules on that one for me, but I've certainly left it in overnight). One 'ball' will serve, IIRC, two adults small dinner sized portions of pasta (assuming you're forming linguine or something similar). Bigger than a 'side portion', but probably small as an entire entree. I've never tried to make it in kitchenaid, I have used a food processor and that works pretty well. Although, if you have a large capacity bowl you'll probably need to double or triple recipe to get decent integration of ingredients. When I do it by hand I've never made more than one formula's worth at a time. It doesn't really take much time. I have one of those Atlas pasta machines, so that's how I roll it out. It is possible to over work the dough, so it's sort of this balancing act between getting the dough to look even and golden while getting it thin, but not taking too long to do either. When I once tried to show a friend how to do it, I realized how much I had learned simply by watching my mother do it over the years. I tried once to use all (whoah, big mistake!) semolina and once part semolina with AP. Maybe it's because it simply wasn't the pasta I grew up with, but I didn't like it as much as straight up AP. I've never bothered to try and find 00 or anything. In the '70's, all we had was AP and while i know there are a lot of other options now, AP flour creates the pasta that I grew up with, so it's what I want and use. I don't want to be negative about your ability to produce good pasta on your own, but I do think it's something where taking a class might be beneficial (does L'Academie teach one?). As I said, I think there's a lot of 'by touch and appearance' to the process that I'm leaving out (just because of spaciness, not trying to sabotage you!) and that is best learned from another human by doing, not be reading Marcella or others. Oh, I have made spinach pasta, definitely used the food processor for that. The product is a beautiful green color, but Marcella was right--it doesn't really add much in the way of flavor (which isn't what you expect). Sorry, in re-reading your post, I'm not sure this really gets at your questions...