Ya know, j, it’s funny. Almost everyone talks about the smoke but I’ve never found it to be a particular problem. But it’s worth it IMneverHO 
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Great post, thank you for starting this!
Garlic Studded Butter Baked Chicken
This is a baked chicken recipe from Gayle Pirie of Foreign Cinema in San Francisco. It is spectacularly delicious. I love garlic and the indulgent richness that this dish creates. It’s good after resting from the oven as well as cold the next day, if there’s any left. The accompanying article speaks of how this is one of her family’s heirloom recipes so I highly suggest you co-opt this and make it your own!
Double Chocolate Raspberry Pavlova by Katie Quinn Davies
I have a tremendously generous friend who often entertains at her wine country home. Her parties are always carefree, sun-soaked, rose-champagne-fueled gatherings. To contribute to the decadence, I always try to bring something spectacular to their table. This summer, I brought this confection to them and it was demolished in about 5 minutes by 20 people. There are a few components to it but this is such a simple recipe and will require more time vs actual effort. Let me forewarn you: The combo of crunchy, gooey, sticky, marshmallow-y textures against the softness of the hand whipped cream (stiff peak) with the flavor duo of chocolate and raspberry will bring any party to a halt, complete with silence, as people eat devour this.
http://www.whatkatieate.com/double-chocolate-raspberry-pavlova/
I hope you give these a try and enjoy them as much as I have.
When it’s time for an ‘epic’ recipe, I usually fall back on the Momofuku Ssam Bar recipe for Bo Ssam. It’s easy to find, ridiculously easy to make, and super impressive.
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Thanks!! There you go 
My one caveat is the inclusion of the raw oysters. I love them, myself, but as most of my friends hate oysters, I don’t usually bother with them when I make this recipe for a group; they double the cost and hassle of the meal. I also use store-bought kimchi rather than make my own.
I do the same as you for both the oysters and the kimchi.
Had another go at the flemish carbonnade yesterday. Turned out much better! I eye-balled everything to make sure I had the space to make adjustments.
Method
- Cut the onions
- Smear mustard on spiced bread (use prepared mustard, not old style because you want it to dissolve.) I used store bought european spiced bread.
- Put half olive oil and half butter in the bottom of a hot dutch oven
- At medium-high heat (7/10).Brown your beef (I used cubed stew beef). Make sure you develop a nice dark brown crust. Caramelised meat sticking is ok and encouraged. The onions added later will melt and deglaze it.
- Reduce your heat to medium (5/10) add the onions and cook 5-10 minutes until they are soft. Ideally, you’ll cook them until golden so they concentrate the sugars but soft is the most important.
- Add flour and cook 2-3 minutes. Add a bit of butter if there is not enough liquid (there should be). You are looking to make a roux so it will be thick.
- Add the spiced bread on top of the meat, mustard down. I used about 2 regular slices (mine were small so I put 4). The bread will dissolve in the stew, give flavour and body so don’t be scared to be generous with it.
- Add 1 bay leaf, a couple of cloves and a few crushed juniper berries (this step is optional, some recipes don’t do it)
- Salt and pepper
- Add beer “à fleur” (just so it almost cover the meat but not exactly). Make sure to pour the beer along the sides of the dutch oven if its cold not to shock the meat (I don’t know how important it is but its a trick I saw and it doesn’t ask for too much extra effort so I just did it). I used brown beer but you could substitute a red if it comes to that I guess. I used a spare sleeman honey brown that was in the fridge.
- Bring to a boil and cook uncovered until the alcohol vapours are gone (your nose will stop itching with you smell the stew, its pretty easy to gauge)
- Reduce the heat and simmer for 3 hours (careful, the dutch oven keeps a lot of heat so make sure you check 30 minutes in to see if the simmer is gentle enough)
Optional: Its not traditional you could add your starch by adding a diced uncooked potato 1 hour before the end. The potato will cook in the delicious stew and will result in a fuller meal.
Observations:
- Next time I need to work with higher heat to make sure the beef browns properly (I used less beef but I was on medium-high (6/10) and it really need to be at high (at least 7/10, I almost never work at 8-9-10). The liquid the beef made in my initial test was probably a result of the heat being not high enough so the meat stewed instead of being seared… the crowding might not have been the cause.
- I need to put less spices. Went a bit to hard on the juniper berries (2-3 beans and cloves are enough)
- Tried adding carrots but it clashed and didn’t mesh well. Next time maybe adding mushrooms along with the potato? I could see button mushrooms or cremini working well… ?
Agree! tried it once and it was very good!
Will do a day of cooking this saturday with friends. Well be two cooks in a great kitchen so we’ll be inviting friends, cook for them and we’ll all split the bill. I’m still in my “Marcella Hazan” phase and he wants to try a classic from his native region (pâté lorrain). We’ll be doing “russian service” to have a better harmony with the italian dishes even if we start the meal with a classic french dish. I had fun with naming the sequences and claim no authenticity (I’m not italian and can’t exactly remember where I saw “primi” and “secondo” to indicate the sequences but it just made sense… it was mostly for flair and for fun 
)
I actually proposed 10 variations with what I found interesting in Hazan’s book and my colleague chose #7 
.
Antipasti
Paté Lorrain
Meat pâté in a puff pastry
Insalata
Small salad to clean the palate
Primo
Risotto with its spring vegetables
Risotto with zuchini, onions, carrots, celery, green peas, tomato and basilic prepared with a homemade meat broth.
Secundo
Roast beef braised in red wine with its mushrooms
Roast beef braised in red wine with mushrooms prepared in olive oil, garlic and parsley.
Dessert
Mystery dessert by our friend’s sister (she has carte blanche)
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I looked at the video, though my French is quite limited. I gather that genever beans = juniper berries, spiced bread = gingerbread, and, of course, laurel = bay. So this is very similar to typical sauerbraten. Mustard bread atop the meat is something I haven’t seen before but it’s a good idea. You could put a slice of your preferred bread in any braise, to help give body to the sauce as it develops.,
Ha! Sorry, my french is sometimes getting the better of me.
- genever beans = juniper berries (yep!), laurel = bay. Thanks for the note! I made the changes!
- Strangely enough, “pain d’épice” is gingerbread’s cousin. In france its made with honey and has the “christmas spices” (cloves, cinnamon, aniseed and nutmeg) where in the english world its sometimes made with molasses and can be a bit heavier on the ginger. My guess is that it has the same initial root and evolved with the cultures.
Agree with the bread idea. Same thing with beer! I even wondered about the result if you switched spiced bread with pumpernickel and changed the dark beer with porter or stout. I guess you’ll have to caramelize the onions a lot to add a bit of sweetness.
I’m not aware of sauerbraten! Making a note to check!
Sauerbraten is a Christmas tradition in my German-ish family and I often make it for friends. I don’t really have a recipe to offer as I sort of “wing it” from a combination of my mom’s and grandmother’s recipes, but it’s the only meat dish I know of with a gravy that features crumbled gingersnap cookies.
Another semi-epic recipe to look into, though not exactly an eye-pleasing centerpiece, is traditional Polish bigos. It’s one of those dishes that has a thousand variations, but it’s basically a sauerkraut, cabbage, sausage, and venison (or pork, or beef, or whatever) stew. Takes at least a day to cook but the flavor is intensely savory and wonderful.
Thanks! Will do look into polish bigos!
They are on the menu of my favorite polish restaurant too!
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Oh man! That sounds great! I was just in Longueuil this fall and had no idea.
“My one caveat is the inclusion of the raw oysters. I love them, myself, but as most of my friends hate oysters, I don’t usually bother with them when I make this recipe for a group; they double the cost and hassle of the meal. I also use store-bought kimchi rather than make my own.”
I’ve found the inclusion of oysters work best when you use a thin lettuce. I tried them with iceberg once and the textural and moisture effect was lost. A shame given the cost!
Its not haute cuisine but polish is pretty rare in my neck of the woods and they do it pretty well! They are located in old montreal.
Not much in the way of epic< Iguess, but I enjoy baking and one of my absolute favs has to be Key lime pie by Sweet and Savory.
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