After a couple of either horrendous disasters or "eh" meals, over the last few Cordon Bleu meals, this week's Trout Almondine was pretty fabulous. Proof: even the Texan, an avowed non-fish-eater, ate a full serving, and was picking crunchy bits off the plate when carrying it back into the kitchen. Very very tasty.My presentation leaves something to be desired, I know. In the case of the trout, none of us were looking forward to it -- the onion soup filled us up. So I just left it on the warming plate and threw the almonds, parsley and lemons on top of the fishy pile.
The potatoes, too, were a surprise. We had not expected to like them, plain boiled potatoes. But they were just right with the fish (and perhaps the parsley helped more than we realized).About turning: It seems a waste of time and potato to me. I did clean them up a little bit -- and indeed they looked better. We fried up the bits in peanut oil, as chips for the children, and tha worked pretty well.
The Onion Soup was less successful. Not bad, just a little bland. We were surprised how sweet it was (used yellow onions). I was low on cheese (thought I had more on hand) so perhaps if I had just slathered the cheese on, it would have been tastier.
Finally, the Snow Eggs. I am going to ask a friend who reputedly graduated from the actual Cordon Bleu about making Crème Anglaise. This time round, I strained it twice and used constarch (too much) and the crème was like a thick pudding instead of a crème. None of the versions I've made have had any flavor -- next time I will double the amount of vanilla in it. 
My Snow Eggs looked fabulous in the pan, but were flat and gelatinous, tasting bland and eggy on the plate. I don't think I cooked them too long, nor not long enough (the recipe made two dozen or more "eggs" so I had lots of opportunities to experiment. Possibly the whites were over-whipped and dry, but I don't think so. In addition, my inexpertise with caramel led it to be a beautiful color, but it tasted bitter almost-burnt. I actually liked the bitter opposing the bland, but none of us liked the dish.
5 comments:
The secret of the potatoes is good quality potatoes- which you obviously had. I learned that in England, where farm stands actually tell you which farm they came from and you can taste the difference. It's the English terroir.
I'm so surprised you didn't enjoy the meringues and caramel and custard. I loved it. I expect that I didn't do anything different, but it's just a matter of taste. It might have been quite nice to sprinkle some toasted almond on it, though.
I haven't liked *any* of the crème anglaise, except for the first Bavarois (with raspberry puree). I don't think it's that I don't like the (intended) flavor -- I do like Crème Brulée, which should taste similar.
I can only imagine I'm making it wrong. It has occurred to me (too late for this batch) that I may need more vanilla than is called for.
We drink very strong coffee, and I wonder if my tastebuds are shot, so I need a lot more flavor? Then again, the meringues were eggy, and I don't think I'd taste that. [sigh in frustrated confusion]
Black coffee and sweet custard should be a wonderful combo. The custard is quite sweet, perhaps a tad less sugar - 1/4 cup instead of 1/3 cup - and a tad more vanilla?
BTW I've been using 1% milk for the custard. That should only make it worse, not better.
I've found that I need to stop cooking it much sooner than I think. It still seems runny to me when I stop. Jacques and Julia say that it's done when you run your finger down the back of the spoon and it makes a clear channel. So that's when I stop, even if it seems too runny.
But I still think it might just be taste. Remember I've had decades of Bird's Custard, which is mostly cornstarch, sugar and yellow coloring. The real thing just seems decadent by comparison.
I've been using 2% milk, and trying to get it to about the consistency of slightly runny homemade mayonnaise. In the picture, the finger-channel is shown between two thick yellow creamy waves of custard, and I've never gotten that consistency. On the other hand, I reach a "finger-channel" within a minute or two of reheating the milk-egg mixture, but the "waves of custard" are milky thin.
Next time I will use whole milk, and follow the recipe again word for word, and see if that works better. (And add more vanilla and reduce sugar.)
Thanks for the recipe and the trial, Blithe. I will probably quote this in a higher-level entry (if you don't mind) next time we have a Creme Anglaise dessert on the menu (I think there's one next week, but soon in any case).
"Thick silk" -- sounds delicious. Oliver's recipe uses a lot more fat than what I've used -- no cream, and I've been using 2% milk. And he's got 8 egg yolks -- ours calls for 4. I wonder if it's a double recipe? I will have to look up the "ml" to "cup" -- no, 1.065 liters (which I believe is the same as 1065 ml) is 4.5 cups, so it's about the same amount of liquid.
I wonder how many variations of creme anglaise there are?
Post a Comment