I am working on expanding my selection of recipes that have made it to the “epic” category and are still simple enough to cook more than once a year. Many Hazan recipes and Ottolenghi recipes fit into that category for me.
One of the greatest gifts I can give and receive are tried and true recipes, and I really feel motivated to share with you all, especially considering that for me, I have very few family recipes and there’s a sadness and emptiness there that I’d like to fill. It would mean so much to receive some of those recipes from ex-Chowhounders, as I have so much respect for you all and the wisdom you have to share. I am filled with gratitude already, it’s like I’m reaching out to my Nonna!
I’ll throw a few out there to start:
Hazan’s Hunter’s Wife’s Chicken (Pollo alla Cacciatora) and Osso Buco
I don’t know if they are “epic” but Julia Child onion soup and boeuf bourguignon were fascinating projects on their own:
I made my own vegetable stock for the onion soup and used “Gruyère de grotte” (Cave Gruyère in english?)
Ingredients (makes approx 3 litres)
1 pound onions, keep the skin
1 pound leeks
1 pound carrots
½ pound fennel (the bulb)
½ pound mushrooms (white or Portobello without the gills)
4 tablespoon tomato paste
24 cups water
2 bunches of parsley
2 bunches of thyme
2 bay leaves
Salt
Whole spices (To taste I used star anise, mustard seed, allspice, coriander seeds, 1 cinnamon stick, whole pepper, cloves)
Stockpot
Cheese Cloth
Strainer
Wooden spoon or potato masher
Method
Chop all the vegetables roughly and put them in the stockpot
Cover with water
Put your herbs and spices in
Bring the water to 180F (less important in case of vegetables because there is no animal fat to emulsify)
Simmer for 1 to 2 hours (2 is better for me)
Strain the result and press on the vegetables to get all the flavor out
Salt to taste (it will need a lot of salt)
Other interesting challenges were (some videos are not in english, I could translate from french in needed. I can’t understand portuguese but I could get the gist of it from the video)
Paris Brest (be carefull, it takes 31/2 american eggs to get the result they have from 4 french eggs)
St-Honoré cake
The video I used got taken down but that one looks ok?
Flemish Carbonnade
Pasteis de nata
Beef wellington
Rhum baba
Gâteau marjolaine
Coq au vin
Bolognaise sauce:
Key lime pie (easy easy recipe!)
You take your egg whites and make italian meringue to go for the key lime pie!
1 cup sugar
1/2 cup water
4 egg whites
1/2 teaspoon tartar cream or the juice of 1 lemon
Put water and sugar in your saucepan
Heat it up until it boils, get it to approx 240F (big bubbles)
Start the egg whites with the tartar cream in a mixer, get it to soft peak (shaving cream stage)
Add the boiling sugar drip by drip while still mixing
Put the meringue on the pie
Burn it with a torch or under an oven at broil (careful with the oven, it burns fast, I prefer a torch)
See Gordon Ramsay
Kouaig Amann
The recipe I’ve tried:
The one I want to try, if I had the balls one day:
Hanoi fish with dill looks awesome! I’ve never had it, but am crazy for dill. Thank you for the recommendation–is there a particular source for that recipe you recommend?
The chili sounds very interesting, too–I personally would skip it because of a chocolate allergy, but if you are in the mood to share it, please do!
Wow, thank you so very much for taking the time to do this. These all do look epic, like, just, I want to eat every bite of them all! I’ll definitely be adding these to the list…
Caneles are definitely on my list of epic desserts, though I’ve never attempted them myself. Looks like you might be a fan, too, based on your recommendations.
Hazan’s bolognese is in our rotation already, good choice.
The beef bourguignon, onion soup and coq au vin are a bit long but not that hard.
The stock is pretty easy, its just a question of finding a recipe you enjoy because it makes a lot.
Beef wellington is pretty easy if you buy the flaky pastry and use a thermometer for the meat. At first I made my flaky pastry by hand but now I just buy one or two sheets of it at my baker.
Paris brest and st-honoré’s most difficult thing is the choux pastry. The recipe in the paris brest video is now my standard whenever I need to use choux pastry. The only thing you need to remember is that not all eggs size are the same.
Rhum baba is pretty easy.
Gâteau marjolaine is very involved and long. There are a lot of elements to do separately. The buttercream can be a challenge if you are new to it.
Flemish carbonnade is similar to boeuf bourguignon but with beer. It didn’t come out like I wanted and its on my list to do again because I believe I know what I did wrong.
Pasteis de nata is probably the toughest pastry to try with the kouaig amann. I’m still working on it.
Key lime pie is the easiest dessert you’ll make. I’m almost ashamed on how easy it is. Turns our fantastic.
Kouaig amann is hard because you have to work the butter pretty fast. I guess its difficulty level is similar to the flaky pastry and I still have to do some practice to get there. David Lebovitz’s recipe is pretty safe and forgiving, making you use the fridge between layers to make sure you don’t mess up but something tells me the true bakers makes it like the second video.
I forgot another recipe I have in my sleeve. I love this shahi paneer:
I also like manjula’s kitchen. Its interesting to me to see someone cook in a regular kitchen:
Great, thanks for the more in-depth review. I’ve definitely wanted to try many of the things listed, this is the push I needed. The names make them sound intimidating!
Thanks for the tip on eggs, I knew there were different sizes here but didn’t realize how it could vary between countries.
Just curious, what went wrong with the Flemish carbonnade?
The Shahi paneer looks great, and reminds me of a Persian chicken recipe I really enjoy, Fesenjan. It’s basically walnuts, pomegranate molasses, and chicken. The combination is so easy and so addictively good.
The chef used a bigger dutch oven than me. My beef got a bit too crowded and lost a lot of moisture while it was browning. I tried to make it in a couple batches but it didn’t brown as well as I wanted it to. It also took a solid 3 hours plus to get it where I wanted.
I’ve looked around and will make the following adjustment for my recipe:
I won’t marinade the meat. I’ll just use room temperature stewing beef cubes.
I’ll make it in my dutch oven but ill do less at a time or will do in batches
I will keep the step where they introduce the onion and the flour after the beef
I will introduce the mustard spiced bread at the same time
I will eyeball the beer to make sure the beef is covered “à fleur” (just barely)
I’ll keep the seasonings but will add them after the beer (bay leaf, thyme, genever berries, salt, pepper)
I will give myself at least 3 hours covered (I could even borrow julia child’s technique for boeuf bourguignon and finish it in a 325 oven for 3 hours!
Got it, the beef didn’t brown as well in the smaller Dutch oven. As for everything else, I like your style! You are quite the perfectionist, quite methodical in thinking through the execution of the Flemish carbonnade. I will double check your notes before making it. Thanks for the tips, they are much appreciated.