Recipe Finders

Need a recipe for something fairly ordinary (apple pie, roast chicken, lasagna) or for something more exotic (what to do with ostrich, dukkah, vadouvan, etc.), either because you don't have one or because you want to compare several in order, perhaps, to take points from more than one source?

The online resources to find these things are dazzling: fast and comprehensive.

I always start with www.foodnetwork.com, which has recipes by chefs I often know and trust, as well as many from Gourmet and Bon Appétit.

Other sites that are very comprehensive are www.epicurious.com, which picks up Gourmet and Bon Appétit, allrecipes.com and simplyrecipes.com.

Of course, the way to get the most recipes, without any filtering by content providers, is to use Google. That will often draw from one of the other sites mentioned above, but also displays results from many more, including newspapers and sources outside the US. You just have to be more discriminating in sifting through the volume of information.

In most cases the recipes are rated by readers, and it is often worth reading the comments where possible. The negative ones sometimes signal a bad recipe, but just as often give you pitfalls to avoid in using the recipe ("There's no way this can be done in 2 hours"). Even the favorable comments contain interesting insights ("I did it with milk instead of cream and it was still great").

I am sure there are many more general sites and of course there are specialized sites for various cuisines, pastry, chocolate, etc. Please share your favorites.

Bobby Jay

Sweet Corn -- One of Summer's Delights

I love summer for many reasons, but a number of them are gastronomic. Namely real tomatoes, especially heirlooms, local fruit and, best of all, local sweet corn. That's pretty much all you need to eat for a couple of months (although I am not so virtuous).

Last summer I developed a corn soup that is simple, virtuous (no cream) and delicious. I just served it the other night for the first time this year and it was a big hit. Click More below for the recipe. Enjoy!

Bobby Jay
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Bobby Jay’s Corn Soup

Ingredients:

• 5 ears of corn
• 1 medium onion, diced
• 1 jalapeño pepper, finely diced (seeds and interior membranes removed)
• 1 Tbs butter
• 3 C water
• 2 Tbs chives, finely chopped
• Best quality olive oil
• Salt and pepper

Directions:

1. Put the most delicate ear aside. Take kernels off remaining 4 ears of corn. Cut the cobs into thirds.

2. Sweat onion and jalapeño in butter with a little salt until soft. Add corn kernels and sauté another minute or so, just to warm through.

3. Add cobs and water. Bring to boil and simmer for 20-30 mins.

4. Remove cobs and puree the soup with a hand or standing blender. Taste and season with salt and pepper to taste. It may need salt to cut the natural corn sweetness.

5. Separately, bring a pot of water to a boil. Take off the heat, add the last cob of corn, cover and wait 7 minutes. Remove kernels.

6. Serve soup in individual bowls. Garnish with kernels from the last ear of corn, chives and a few drops of olive oil.

Can be served cold or hot. If cold, chill and garnish just before serving.

Serves 4

Move Over, Bánh Mì: Make Way for Porchetta

Since I have become a professional amateur foodie, I have spent a fair amount of time talking to the sellers of interesting foods. Yesterday I was discussing my bánh mì fetish with a cheesemonger at Saxelby's, who told me about Porchetta, at 110 East 7th Street. Needless to say, I went there today.
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I discovered porchetta (skin-on roast pork) in Italy about 10 years ago, travelling with friends on the road from Siena to Cortona. A truck alongside the road had a big banner announcing "Porcetta" and we stopped to have one of the great sandwiches of all time.


Fast forward 10 years, go West from Tuscany to the East Village and voilà: Porchetta. A wonderfully seasoned sandwich of roast pork, served on a roll with some crunchy skin (cracklin'), for $9. As you can see, the place is not prepossessing, but it is worth the trip for the sandwich. It turns out that New York Magazine has discovered it, too; Porchetta is mentioned in this week's "Eat Cheap '09" issue.

I am not sure if Porchetta's porchetta is authentic, like the one we had from the truck in Italy. Here is the Wikipedia definition:

Porchetta /por'ket:a/ is a savory, fatty, and moist boneless pork roast of Italian culinary tradition. The body of the pig is gutted, boned, arranged carefully with layers of stuffing, meat, fat, and skin, then rolled, spitted, and roasted, traditionally over wood. Porchetta is usually heavily salted in addition to being stuffed with garlic, rosemary, fennel, or other herbs, often wild.

Authentic or not, though, it is definitely delicious.

Bobby Jay

Chocolate . . . Again

Having read about Taza Stone Ground Organic chocolate, I was happy to find it recently at Fairway, on New York's Upper West Side (at $5.99 per bar!). My French teacher Caroline (a chocolate expert) and I sampled their 60%, 70% and 80% bars in a recent tasting. She was skeptical because Taza is made by an American company in Massachusetts, not the normal pedigree for a great chocolate.

Our findings: All had an extraordinary granular mouth feel which made the flavor seem to pop more than in conventional chocolate, and also resulted in a very long after-taste. We both loved the 70%, which was beautifully balanced and lingered delightfully in the mouth. The 60% tasted very sweet. The 80% left a bitter after-taste, although the texture was surprisingly good for such a high cacao percentage chocolate.
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Taza chocolate does not taste like others. Here is the company's description of why:

"Our chocolate making process is unique. Taza chocolate is stone ground and minimally processed, and we do not conch [a fine grinding process]. We use authentic Oaxacan stone mills instead of steel refiners to grind our cacao. Due to the imperfect surface of a granite millstone, unrefined cacao particles and sugar granules remain in the finished chocolate. These pop with explosive flavor on the palette, lending our bars their distinctive granular texture."

Works for me. But not for everyone: my wife did not like any of the bars we sampled, finding all of them too sweet. Not surprisingly, she preferred the 80%, which I found to be bitter, over the others.

Bobby Jay

France - A Gastronomic Weekend in Talloires

Auberge du Père Bise and Lac d'Annecy

My wife and I recently spent a weekend with old friends at the famous Auberge du Père Bise in Talloires, on the beautiful Lac d'Annecy, which is near Geneva. The hotel, situated on a spit of land adjacent to the tiny port of Talloires, has views of the lake and surrounding Alps on all sides.

Talloires and neighboring Annecy (and Annecy-le-Vieux) also are home to a number of wonderful restaurants, and we did our best to sample them. The best of them is Marc Veyrat, which gets three stars from Michelin and the only 20/20 in France from Gault-Millau, is closed for the season due to the illness of its celebrated chef-owner. However, to say we ate well would be a serious understatement.
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Specifically, we dined in "downtown" Annecy at La Ciboulette (one Michelin star), whose 44-euro menu is one of the best buys in France. Simply excellent food prepared with wonderful ingredients, including a cheese platter specializing in local cheeses (the local tome crayeuse is a revelation).

Next was Clos des Sens, in Annecy-le-Vieux (two Michelin stars), where interesting molecular and other modern techniques are practiced. We found the decor to be a not very successful fusion of French and Japanese elements, and the food (and its presentation) to vary from excellent to over the top. See the pictures below of mushroom appetizer, tuna plat, foie gras and lime sorbet in a sugar bag.


















Another one-star restaurant that we tried was Le Belvédère, on a hill in Annecy with a lovely lake and mountain view. Here the food was a little less cerebral than at Clos des Sens, but still very imaginative and really delicious. See pictures below of asparagus and tomato appetizers.









Our last meal was at Père Bise itself, which is run by Sophie Bise, who has not changed since we ate there 30 years ago. She knows how to run a hotel and restaurant, to be sure, but we found the restaurant to be a little out of date and a mere shadow of the legendary three-star palace of the seventies (perhaps belied by the frogs' legs and lobster dishes pictured below). Still, if the weather is good (and ours was perfect), an elegant dinner with good friends on Père Bise's terrace is a memorable experience.









Bobby Jay

France - Perfect Goat Cheese

Tomorrow's Cheese Today

My wife and I recently stayed a couple of days with American friends who have a magnificent manoir about an hour west of Paris, near Dreux. One of the highlights of our stay was a visit to a nearby chèvrerie (goat farm), Bois du Louviers, in Marsauceux. All is open, and one can observe the happy goats as they chow down and make the milk that will become tomorrow's chèvre frais and subsequent days' crottins, pyramides, trèfles (four-leaf clover shape), tomes, etc.

Today's Cheese Today

At the small shop, the final products are for sale, and they are the best I have ever had, particularly the chèvre frais (mixed with fresh chives from our friends' garden) and the lightly ash-covered trèfle. You can do almost as well in Paris at a really fine fromagerie, or at a good open-air market, but there's something about seeing and buying it at the farm that makes the taste seem better.

Bobby Jay

Paris -- Restaurants Revisited

Accompanied by my wife, I have had recently been able to revisit a number of restaurants that I have written up in the past. You can find my earlier descriptions, together with addresses and phone numbers, by clicking on the topic "Paris" or "Restaurants" at right.

Beaujolais d'Auteil and its pissaladière with escargots.

We went to Beaujolais d'Auteil with four friends, and can report, now based on a bigger sampling of their offerings, that this remains an excellent bistro and a great value (30-euro menu). The food is delicious and attractively presented in a classic bistro. We enjoyed this place so much that we returned twice during our stay, working our way through a good part of the menu.

We returned to Rôtisserie du Beaujolais, which we felt had been falling off a bit, and found it had returned to its former luster. Our favorite confit de canard aux pommes sarladaises was not on the summer menu, but a roast duck for two was fantastic. The girolle salad was excellent, as was my wife's pigeon rôti.
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Le Hide: St-Pierre with Risotto and Feuilleté au Chocolat.

Another restaurant that really stood up was Le Hide, which purports to serve classical French food but really has modern interpretations of French favorites. We both had fish -- bar over smashed potatoes for my wife and St-Pierre over saffron risotto for me -- and were more than satisfied. We also loved our shared dessert of feuilleté with very dark chocolate mousse and chocolate ice cream. At 22 euros for a two-course menu and 29 for a three-course, this remains one of the best buys in Paris.

Kunitoraya

I finally was able to introduce my wife to Kunitoraya, an udon restaurant near the Opéra. This is a branch of a restaurant in Shikoku, known throughout Japan for its udon, and would be an excellent find even in Tokyo. I had cold noodles with a rare natto (fermented soy bean) sauce; my wife had hot noodles with tempura. We returned later in our stay for cold tempura udon (tenzaru), and it, too, was superb.

We also went to Timgad, a Moroccan restaurant in a well-to-do neighborhood in the 17th, with friends who didn't know Moroccan food. As good as ever and a big hit with our friends. Timgad is expensive for a Moroccan restaurant.

With a foodie friend, I finally introduced my wife to Au Trouquet, an inexpensive, family-run bistro in the 15th that serves Basque food. The food was delicious, but it was hot and not air conditioned. Definitely worth visiting, but not on a hot summer's night.

Finally, we went to Accolade, which I had visited a few times on my own. While my meal was really excellent, my wife's was only good. Still, it's a pleasant, inexpensive place and I would try it again.

Bobby Jay

Paris -- Food Isn't Everything . . .

. . . at Paris food markets. Look at these magnificent roses and peonies, available last Saturday at the wonderful open air market on the Avenue de Président Wilson, between Place de l'Alma and Place de Iéna.













Bobby Jay

Checking Out "Our" Farm

My friend Piglet and I share a share in Roxbury Farm, an organic community-supported farm in Kinderhook, New York. A share entitles the holder to 26 food drops per year, from early June through November, of whatever the farm produces. Like other farms, Roxbury has several dropoff points in New York City. It is a fun challenge to try to find things to do with the surprise package (often including things you've never seen before) before the following week's drop.
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A share also entitles the holder to visit the farm and make a pest of oneself, since the folks on the farm are generally working hard. But part of the local food movement is to know who is growing your food, so we drove the 120 or so miles to the farm on a lovely spring day last week, where we walked around and talked to Jody Bolluyt, who, together with Jean-Paul Courtens, runs the place.

It is still early in the season, but we enjoyed looking around and looking at the next six months' bounty in its earliest state. It's pretty amazing that the trays of 1/2-inch seedlings we looked at will turn into an array of beautiful lettuces and greens! Even if you can't join a community supported farm, you can have fantastic produce and support the local food movement (and, not incidentally, save the earth) by buying as much as possible at your nearest greenmarket. Not only for organic vegetables, but also for fantastic artisanal cheeses and pastured, ethically raised meats and poultry.

Bobby Jay

Cooking by Hand -- Paul Bertolli's Excellent Book

I first heard of Paul Bertolli's marvelous Cooking by Hand from an article in Edward Behr's The Art of Eating, in which Behr lists it as one of the nine cookbooks that he would keep on his shelf if he had to give up all his hundreds of others. Bertolli's book has many recipes, true, but really it is more a series of essays on Italian food than it is a cookbook. This is evident from the chapter headings -- "Ripeness," "Twelve Ways at Looking at a Tomato" and "Aceto Balsamico," for example, rather than meat, fish, pasta, etc. It is a splendid read, although you might want to skim through the very long chapter on charcuterie if, like me, there is no chance that you will put it to practical use. But even this chapter is full of interesting lore and information that will make you a more thoughtful cook and shopper.
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Cooking by Hand can at times be quite moving. I actually cried when I read this passage from a letter Bertolli wrote to his newborn son Antonio, which serves as the introduction to the chapter on Aceto Balsamico:

It is two months now that you have been alive and I have decided not to wait to tell you about a special gift we have received in honor of your birth. Your gift came in six separate boxes from our friends in Italy, Francesco, an artisan barrel maker, and his wife, Maura, whom you will soon meet and visit. Francesco has built for you six beautiful casks, Antonio's batteria he calls it, for making aceto balsamico, no ordinary vinegar, as you will see. When Francesco's sons were born he built barrels for them as well and if you were to climb to the very top floor of his house, there under the roof you would see them lined up in rows, one slightly bigger than the next, his sons' names . . . burned into the head of each. Next to these are casks that Francesco's father filled for him nearly 50 years ago! You would also smell something extraordinary as you approach the low door that leads into this room, called the acetaia, the place where vinegar ages -- an aroma that is dense and pungent and like no other that has passed under your nose. . . . Francesco has given to you, but also to our family, a rare gift and the wish of continuity.

By the time you are old enough to read this, the vinegar that I will soon start for you will have aged enough to draw. In it you will taste the years it has marked since you were born. It will grow sappy as you move into your teens, then deepen and thicken as you become a man. In your twenties its dark obscurity will mirror the complexities of life that dawn on you; in middle age balsamico may help you remember who you are and with whom you have belonged. When you grow old, it will be the nectar that you have waited all your life to sip, by then a kind of magic elixir. Like you, it will have become everything it has ever been for better or worse, an embrace of the "sweet and sour" that is life, a family keepsake to pass along to loved ones of your own. . . .

Wow! I still get misty-eyed just typing this, and I am not really a huge fan of balsamic vinegar.

Bobby Jay

Wonderful Vietnamese Sandwiches -- Bánh Mì

Baoguette's bánh mì

There have been a number of articles recently, including a major spread in the New York Times, extolling the virtues of, bánh mì, Vietnamese pork sandwiches served on a baguette. While it has been reported that they were invented by Vietnamese immigrants to the US for local consumption, one of my readers (see comments below) informs me that this is false; in fact they existed in Vietnam and were brought to the US by immigrants after the war.

In response to the publicity, my friend Piglet and I went to one of the best bánh mì places, Baoguette, at 61 Lexington Avenue (between 25th and 26th Streets), which has received awards from New York Magazine and Time Out New York. Our conclusion: the fuss is justified. Five dollars will buy you a sandwich consisting of pork, pork pate, pork terrine and pickled vegetables (including daikon and carrots) and cilantro with hot (or less hot) sauce. The flavors are just sensational! On a subsequent visit I tried a similar sandwich, but made with chicken; excellent, but doesn't match the layered complexity of the pork version. There is also a beef version (Sloppy Bao) which I have't tried. Baoguette also has branches at 37 St. Mark's Place and 120 Christopher Street.

There are other places to find bánh mì, and I hope to try as many of them as possible. Click more for the list compiled by the New York Times.

Bobby Jay

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AN CHOI 85 Orchard Street (Broome Street); (212) 226-3700.
BANH MI SAIGON BAKERY 138 Mott Street (Grand Street); (212) 941-1541.
BAOGUETTE 61 Lexington Avenue (25th Street); (212) 518-4089.
BAOGUETTE CAFE 37 St. Marks Place (Second Avenue); (347) 892-2614.
BA XUYEN 4222 Eighth Avenue (42nd Street), Sunset Park, Brooklyn; (718) 633-6601.
NHA TOI 160 Havemeyer Street (South Second Street), Williamsburg, Brooklyn; (718) 599-1820.
NUM PANG 21 East 12th Street (University Place); (212) 255-3271.
PARIS SANDWICH BAKERY CAFE 113 Mott Street (Hester Street); (212) 226-7221.
SAU VOI CORP. 101 Lafayette Street (Walker Street); (212) 226-8184.
SILENT H 79 Berry Street (North Ninth Street), Williamsburg, Brooklyn; (718) 218-7063.
THANH DA I 6008 Seventh Avenue (60th Street), Sunset Park, Brooklyn; (718) 492-3253.
THANH DA II 5624B Eighth Avenue (56th Street), Sunset Park, Brooklyn; (718) 492-3760.

Michael Ruhlman's "Ratio"

I have just finished reading Michael Ruhlman's fine new book, Ratio, which was inspired by what he learned during his studies at the Culinary Institute of America, chronicled in his excellent The Making of a Chef. Ruhlman became fascinated by the basic ratios that good chefs know by heart, which enable them to improvise with confidence rather than follow recipes. The book contains basic ratios for doughs and batters; stocks (and roux and beurre manié used to thicken them); farces, mousselines and other meat-related items; fat-based sauces; and custards.

The point of the book is not so much to provide recipes (although there are many) but to show how recipes are created and to give the reader the means and courage to make up his or her own in the same way that chefs do. For example, after giving the basic ratio for pie dough and then a recipe for tart dough using that ratio, he tosses off dozens of variations that can be made without significantly deviating from the basic ratio -- caramelized onion and compté tart, leek and walnut tart, potato and leek tart, tomato tart, peach and prosciutto tart, various sweet tarts and a number of fruit tarts, among others. This is really a new kind of cookbook!
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Another thing I love about this book is how Ruhlman's love affair with food and cooking comes through in his simple unadorned prose. Here is my favorite excerpt from the book, in which he is discussing batters:

. . . people who are gifted pastry chefs have simply seen the crepe-cake continuum more clearly for longer, rather than seeing crepe equaling one set of instructions, cake another, and so hav been able to improvise; they understand how small adjustments in fat, flour, egg and sugar can result in satisfying nuances of lightness and delicacy or richness in flavor and texture. It's all one thing.

Which is why I love cooking. It's all one thing.

I do have some gripes about this book, primarily the way in which Ruhlman switches back and forth between volume measures, counts and weights, which makes it difficult to follow the ratios and, more important, has led to a number of errors and inconsistencies. In the section of crème anglaise, for example, one recipe converts 4 ounces of egg yolks to 7 large yolks while two other convert the same 4 ounces into 8 yolks, and another converts 6 ounces into 9 yolks. I usually cook by weight, but often will use eggs by count; what am I supposed to do here?

This is more than a quibble, but there is so much great stuff in the book that I can forgive it.

If you love food, Ratio is worth reading.

Bobby Jay

Foolproof Baby Back Ribs

My friend Mark has a simple and foolproof method of making great baby back ribs, and he has graciously authorized me to share it.

Cap'n Mark's Baby Back Ribs

1. Preheat oven to 250º-270º F.
2. Rub each rack of ribs with about 1 TBS of your favorite rub. There are a million rub recipes available on the Internet, but it's hard to beat Cap'n Mark's Rib Rub. See below.
3. Heat rack on a pan in the middle of the oven. If using an outdoor grill, keep the ribs away from direct heat.
4. Cook for 3-4 hours.
5. Cut the rack(s) in half, wrap in tin foil, two or three racks together. Then place the foil-wrapped ribs in a paper bag, roll the top down tightly, then place the bag in another paper bag, roll the top down tightly.
6. Rest at least an hour.
7. Heat up some BBQ sauce. Cap'n Mark likes bone-sucking sauce, but whatever brand you like (or, better yet, whatever you make).
8. Open packages, cut ribs into one- or two-rib pieces, and drizzle with hot BBQ sauce.
9. Optional side: sprinkle cut vegetables with the rib rub, drizzle with olive oil and roast at 400º until done.

Bobby Jay

For Cap'n Mark's Rib Rub recipe, click on More.
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Cap'n Mark's Rib Rub

Mix together

1 tablespoon black pepper
1 tablespoon white pepper
2 tablespoons cayenne pepper
2 tablespoon mild chili powder
2 tablespoons cumin
4 tablespoons paprika
3 tablespoons garlic powder
2 tablespoons dark brown sugar
1 tablespoon white sugar
1 tablespoons salt
3 tablespoons celery salt
1 tablespoon ground oregano

Food Movie -- La Grande Bouffe

La Grande Bouffe, one of the best-known movies about food, has recently become available in the US on DVD, so I watched it again for the first time in many years.

Directed in 1973 by Marco Ferreri, La Grande Bouffe is a French black comedy about four men -- a pilot (Marcello Mastroianni), a chef (Ugo Tognazzi), a television host (Michel Piccoli), and a judge (Philippe Noiret, one of my all-time favorites) -- who go to a villa in France with the goal of eating themselves to death. What follows is an orgy of lavish food and sex (added to the festivities almost as an after-thought).

I found the movie to be black, indeed, but not comic. Indeed, it is profoundly sad and a reminder that food is not the be-all and end-all of life. Worth seeing, as any film with these four great actors would be, but not if you're expecting to laugh.

Bobby Jay

Paris -- Flan Nature

L'Autre Boulange's Flan Nature

Figaroscope, the culture magazine published by Le Figaro, recently conducted a study to find the best flan nature in Paris (table of results set forth below). Flan is not something I eat often, but I was intrigued and determined to try some of the flans that Figaroscope considered the best. Besides, someone has to keep Le Figaro honest, however unpleasant the job.

I started with the winning flan, from l'Autre Boulange (pictured above), located in a working class neighborhood in the eleventh arrondissement, and it really is sensational. The dark color, thick, almost-but-not-quite-too-gelatinous texture and almost-too-strong vanilla flavor are extraordinary. This is a hearty flan, not to be confused with what we get in Mexican restaurants, which is much lighter (more like a panna cotta) and usually topped with a caramel sauce. (French flan is baked in a hot oven, not surrounded by a bain marie as is the lighter Spanish type flan.)
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Second stop was the runner-up, Poilane. Also delicious and quite similar. Perhaps a touch less vanilla and a touch less color on the top, but really the equal of l'Autre Boulange's flan, and in a neighborhood where you are much more likely to find yourself.

Next was a deviation from the published order, Gérard Mulot (ranked sixth). This had the best crust so far, was very dark (but a little too uniformly so) and somewhat less aggressively unctuous and vanilla-y than l'Autre Boulange's. Close call.

After this I tried Gosselin (ranked third), whose flan is very light-colored and more lightly (and pleasantly) flavored. However, I thought it had a really weak crust, flat and thin.

Tied for sixth with Gérard Mulot is Cohier, which also only had cherry flan when I visited. I tried this and found the taste and texture to be satisfactory, but the crust to be nearly tasteless. I presume the crust for the nature is similar.

Next, the Juliens. First, I then strayed from the list to try the flan of the excellent boulangerie/pâtisserie Julien at St-Philippe-du-Roule, which is not on Figaroscope's list. This had a mild taste but excellent crust, important because it is served in individual round tart crusts rather than in slices. Then the Julien that is on Figaroscope's list (ranked ninth), which was very light in color, delicious in taste but with a thin cardboard-like crust.

Julien's Flan Nature

Finally, I got to Dalloyau (ranked fifth), one of my favorite pâtisseries in Paris and one that, like Gérard Mulot, is good in all domaines of the field, including tarts; financiers, pâtes de fruit, chocolates, croissants. I was optimistic based on past experience, but was disappointed in the end. Dalloyau's is an individual flan in what I think is a puff pastry crust. It lacks the intense flavor and unctuous texture that most of the others displayed and would not make my list.

So, having tried seven of Figaroscope's top ten and one additional one, I have reached some conclusions. I agree that l'Autre Boulange sets the standard for flan nature; it is as near to perfect as I found. After that, I give more weight to the pastry than the Figaroscope judges; thus my second choice was Gérard Mulot on the strength of their excellent pâte brisée and fine classic custard.

In addition to being quite delicious, flan is a real deal. Seven of the ten top-ranked were 2.10 euros or less for a big slice. Only Gérard Mulot (2.70 euros) and Dalloyau (3.70 euros but for a whole individual flan) were more than 2.50 euros. So trying a bunch of flans (even eating less than half of most of them, as I did) is a good way to find a reason to go into those tempting little bakeries that you see all the time as you walk around Paris.

Here is Figaroscope's top 10 list (based on appearance, texture, taste, and value):

1. L'Autre Boulange, 43, rue de Montreuil, 75011
2. Poilane, 8, rue du Cherche-Midi, 75006
3. Gosselin, 125, rue Saint-Honoré, 75001
4. Carette, 4, place du Trocadéro, 75016
5. Dalloyau, 101, rue du Faubourg-Saint-Honoré, 75008
6. Gérard Mulot, 76, rue de Seine, 75006
Cohier, 270, rue du Faubourg-Saint-Honoré, 75008
8. Jacques Bazin, 85 bis, rue de Charenton, 75012
9. Julien, 75, rue Saint-Honoré, 75001
Blé Sucré, 7, rue Vollon, 75012

Bobby Jay

Paris -- Le Hide ("Koba's Bistro")

Talk about screaming bargains! I dined tonight at Le Hide, a small restaurant near the Etoile that is Pudlo's Rapport Qualité-Prix de l'Année for 2009. The food is excellent and at 29 euros for the three-course menu (or 22 for the two-course formule) is one of the best deals in Paris.

The chef-owner, Hide Kobayashi, trained with Jean-Pierre Vigato (Apicius), Dominique Bouchet, Joel Robuchon and at Taillevent, and this shows in his cooking. There is nothing Japanese about the well-prepared cuisine, which is French French French.

I tried to stay light -- everything is relative -- so went with the white asparagus starter and roasted chicken breast on risotto finished with truffled olive oil. Both were perfectly cooked, although the accompanying risotto evinced the normal lack of understanding of the Italian technique that bedevils even good French chefs. For dessert I had the "café gourmand," coffee served with a mini-crème brûlée, a mini-chocolate pot de crème and a little ball of caramel ice cream. There is a small but nice list of wines served by the glass or in 50 or 75 cl. carafes; I had the Chinon recommended by Pudlo and was not disappointed.

My neighbors had the very tempting foie gras poelé sur haricots verts and the rack of lamb and were very happy. I saw and heard oohs and ahs for the more substantial desserts. And a number of tables were filled with regulars who were greeted with kisses at the door. From all this, I am pretty sure that my own good experience is typical and therefore am comfortable recommending le Hide based on just one visit.

Le Hide, 10, rue du Général Lanrezac, 75017 Paris (Métro Etoile), 01 45 74 15 81.

Bobby Jay

Paris -- Authentic Japanese Udon

The best udon noodles I have found outside Japan are at Kunitoraya, 39 rue Ste-Anne, in Paris. A Japanese friend who spends several months a year in Paris told me about this place a couple of years ago, and I try to get there once each time I am in Paris to enjoy the totally authentic kitsune udon. There is nearly always a line, but if you go after 1:45 you probably won't wait more than a couple of minutes.

Rue Ste-Anne, near Opéra, is home to dozens of Japanese restaurants, including the best ramen place I have found in Paris -- Sapporo -- which has a branch next door to Kunitoraya at number 37.

Bobby Jay

Paris -- Caméléon

Upon the recommendation of a good friend, I went to the highly regarded Caméléon tonight and had a really good meal. This is a very classy Montparnasse bistro run by the chic Jean-Paul Arabian. The food is classic but yet new: imaginatively prepared and presented. Prices are high at dinner for this type of food (38 euros for my main course), although there are a 25-euro formule and 30-euro menu at lunch that are real bargains.

I had the signature pavé de foie de veau with gratin de macaronis au parmesan (calf's liver with macaroni and cheese), and it is a triumph. The pavé is an enormous piece of liver, about 2" by 2" by 4", that is perfectly caramelized on the outside and tender pink within. The mac and cheese, served in a piping hot Staub casserole, is also fantastic and would make a fine meal by itself. Knowing how huge the pavé would be, I had no starter, but for dessert I had the nougat glacé maison, served with a mixed berry coulis, which also was delicious. My friend had the pain perdu with bananas and caramel and reports that it, too, was excellent. Although I have only been there once, my friend is reliable and so are Pudlo and Lebey, both of which give Caméléon excellent reviews, so I am comfortable recommending it. Especially for lunch as long as you don't need to do too much in the afternoon.

Caméléon, 6 rue de Chevreuse, 75006 Paris (Métro Vavin), Tel 01 43 27 43 27.

Bobby Jay

Paris -- Itinéraires

I have heard from a number of sources about Itinéraires, a relatively new "gastro-bistro" in the fifth arrondissement. It is a "coup de coeur" in the new Pudlo, which I believe is the best Paris restaurant guide. Also, a recent post by Barbra, of the excellent blog Serve It Forth (www.serveitforth.com), made it sound tempting. Based on these and other reviews, I went at the earliest possible time, which was last night.

I am sorry to say that I was quite disappointed. I started with asparagus with hollandaise "revisitée," served with some small slices of prosciutto di parma. I was excited at the prospect of my first white asparagus of the season, but they were seriously undercooked, and the very light and, I think, parmesan-flavored hollandaise (presumably this was what "revisitée" meant) didn't coat the asparagus; the prosciutto seemed to be an afterthought. In short, the whole didn't hang together due, I believe, to the hardness of the asparagus.

For my main course I had suckling pig (cochon de lait) rolled up, roasted to perfection and served with pureed potatoes in two textures. Perfectly prepared and delicious!

Dessert was a green chartreuse soufflé which tasted fine but had so much residual alcohol that it caught in the throat.

The place is nice and reasonable (36 euros for a three-course meal), and also creative and ambitious -- nearly everything on the menu sounded really good. However, based on my meal, consisting of one good dish, one bad and one near-miss, I really can't recommend this restaurant. I plan to try it again, though, on the theory that I just had bad luck, and hope to be able to report a better experience.

Itinéraires, 5 rue de Pontoise, 75005 Paris (Métro Maubert-Mutualité), 01 46 33 60 11.

Bobby Jay

Red Wattle Pig

My food friend Piglet and I recently ordered a quarter of a Red Wattle pig from Heritage Foods USA, a company that sells meat and poultry on behalf of small, independent farms and "exists to promote independent family farms, humane production, genetic diversity and traceability." (Piglet has bought turkeys through this company and has been very pleased with them.)

When I told people that I had ordered an eighth of a pig, they inevitably asked, "which eighth?" It was a little sad to explain that it was all butchered and packed in freezer ready heavy plastic bags. The quarter that came weighed in at about 40 pounds, more than the 35-pound estimate, and consisted of a leg, a shoulder roast, some ribs, pork chops, bacon, breakfast sausage, pork osso bucco, ground pork, etc. No exotic cuts or organ meats were included.

What attracted us to the Red Wattle pig was in part this description on Heritage Foods' web site:

Red Wattle meat tends to be a little darker than most other pork and is very tender. The variety boasts wonderful hams and sirloin steaks and a juicy and flavorful taste even though the meat is lean. The Red Wattle is perhaps the most severely at risk variety of pork in the United States. This pig, which gets its name from its red color and the wattles that hang under the chin, originated in New Caledonia, came to New Orleans in the 18th century and lingered in the forests of Texas. Larry and Madonna Sorell of Glasco, Kansas [whence our pig], lead a network of four families who are among the last in the world raising the Red Wattle."

In short, we were getting a pedigreed, appropriately raised and delicious pig.

So, what did we do with it and how was it?

I invited some friends to share a meal featuring this pig. We were nine. After hors d'oevres and guava/peach bellinis, we started with delicious fennel sausages that I made from the ground pork, following a recipe from Wolfgang Puck. I then cut the sausages into bite-sized bits, browned them, added 8 ounces of balsamic vinegar of not great quality and boiled it down to a dense syrupy sauce (recipe from Michael Chiarello). Served over v e r y slow-cooked polenta (recipe from Paul Bertolli), this was a nice start.









For the main course, I made Pernil, a Puerto Rican preparation (recipe from Ingrid Hoffman), accompanied by red quinoa and chopped collard greens. I marinated the pork overnight in a garlicky, citrusy adobo marinade that included Goya brand Mojo sauce, made with bitter oranges. Then I roasted the pork for 5 1/2 hours: 450º for 1 hour and 350º for the remaining 4 1/2. The sauce was delicious, but I found the pork a bit -- certainly not falling off the bone as advertised -- so the natural goodness of the pork was less evident than in the sausages. Next time, lower and slower after the first hour. The meal was completed by a wonderful flourless chocolate cake baked by one of the guests.

Piglet made pork chops and also found them a touch too dry. She tried again and was much happier. She also made some of the bacon and it was great.

So, the bottom line on the Red Wattle pig is that it can taste great, but one must be careful to avoid overcooking the leaner cuts. The description says this breed is naturally lean, and it's true. And in any event, it feels good to eat pork from a pig that is raised the way it should be.

If we ever get to the bottom of the freezer full of Red Wattle pork (now down to 10 pounds), I'd like to try again. Next time, though, Piglet and I have agreed to try to a fattier Berkshire or Duroc.

Bobby Jay