Luscious Chocolate Cake Recipe

Resistance is futile! It is indeed hard to resist the sweet smell of chocolate cake, especially when the aroma is linked with nice memories.

My mom is a very open person, and always willing to share. Not only is she generous with her advice, but she will share with you all the things that she experienced. she is always willing to explain sewing, cooking, or advanced mathematics. There is one thing, however, that she guards jealously. It is her biggest secret, and she had promises that she will carry to the grave. And that is her chocolate cake recipe. So far, we tried everything to to get it from her.

This is not just a normal chocolate mix cake recipe. This is seriously gourmet. It is not a simple chocolate cake recipe, either. Chocolate cake is normally very easy to make, but hers demands all day and all night. She is literally in there for 12 hours at a time, slaving away on the perfect chocolate cake. But it is wonderful. It is priceless. It is the most delicious cake that I have ever ate. I could do anything to get that chocolate cake recipe.

The thing is, my mother isn't all that into chocolate in general. She never makes chocolate brownies. When she goes to a restaurant she won't even order a chocolate brownie. But that chocolate cake recipe is her favourite thing in the world. Every holiday she cooks it, and each time we ask for more. Nobody ever gets sick of it. Even my friends, strict vegetarians who will only eat vegan chocolate cake recipes usually, will make an exception for her delectable chocolate cake. It really is that good.

The truly sad part is that, since I first tasted that chocolate cake, I will not eat any other sort of chocolate desert. Even the finest German chocolate cake recipe leaves me unsatisfied. Part of it is that my dear mother made it. She spends so much time on it, and clearly wants us to like it so much, that it is hard to resist. I don't know if I would like it quite as much if it were someone else who made it, but even so I would like it still. After all, she has won several cooking contests with her chocolate cake recipe. She has only participated a handful of times, but every time she has entered the same recipe, and every time she has won. It was no use to try to sneak in the kitchen. Until I left the room, she just refused to go on with her cooking. I hope some day she will share the recipe with us.

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Gourmet cooking from Milan

Osso buco (or ossobuco alla milanese) is a dish that comes from Milan, Italy. The veal literally melts in your mouth after cooking for 2 ½ hours. In an article on spaghetti and meatballs, I mentioned that Italians usually do not mix pasta (or other starches like rice) with meat in the same course. But osso buco is almost always served with a special rice recipe called risotto alla milaneses. I might also add that osso buco is frequently topped with gremolata which is a mixture of garlic, lemon peel, and Italian parsley (see below).

Ingredients (serves 6):

    * 6 – veal shanks about 2 inches thick and crosscut (i.e., cut across the bone)
    * ½ cup – all purpose flour
    * Salt and pepper
    * 8 tablespoons – butter
    * 2 tablespoons - extra virgin olive oil
    * 1 – onion, finely chopped
    * 3 – celery stalks, finely chopped
    * 2 – carrots, finely chopped
    * 2 cloves – garlic, minced
    * ½ bottle – dry white wine (e.g., chardonnay)
    * 1 can (14.5 ounces) – diced tomatoes (e.g., Hunts brand)

Gremolata:

    * 2 lemons – remove the peel from the lemons in long strips with a vegetable peeler and then mince
    * 3 cloves – garlic, minced
    * ¼ cup – finely chopped Italian parsley

Preparation:

Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F. Rinse the shanks (to remove any small bone particles) and then salt and pepper each side.

Veal shanks crosscut.

In a large frying pan, melt 4 tablespoons of butter on medium to medium high heat and then add the olive oil. Dip each shank in the flour to cover, shaking excess off, and place in the pan. Once the veal has browned well on both sides, remove and place in a baking dish (the dish I use is about 10 x 14 inches and 2.5 inches deep).

Browned veal shanks.

Pour off any excess fat or oil in the pan and then add 4 tablespoons butter along with the onion, celery, carrots and garlic. Sauté until the vegetables are soft and tender. Add the wine and make sure you scrape the browned particles off the bottom of the pan while you are waiting for the wine to boil. They should come off easily. Once the wine boils, reduce the heat, add the tomatoes, and mix well. Pour the contents in the pan over the shanks in the baking dish. Spread the vegetables over and between the shanks, cover with aluminum foil, and bake for 2 ½ hours.

To make the gremolata, simply mix the ingredients together. I usually serve each person a shank topped with the vegetables and juices and sprinkled with the gremolata. I recommend that you serve risotto alla milanese along with the shanks. Enjoy.

serve with rice and topped with gremolata

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The Origins And Influences Of Traditional Gourmet French Foods

Traditional French food has a global reputation for being both extremely palatable and highly distinctive. The French have always been known for their attention to detail and the care taken over even relatively basic recipes. The very words 'French' and 'cuisine' seem to be paired up as beautifully as 'duck and 'confit'. Indeed. Even the word 'gourmet' is French for 'wine taster', and if there is one thing the French do superbly besides creating a good meal it is to create a fine wine to go with it.

Whether it is the association between the French language and the richness of French cuisine I'm not sure, but even the names of some of the more traditional gourmet French foods are enough to make the mouth salivate in anticipation - just try rolling the sound of a fine French goose and duck foie gras or a cassoulet perhaps and you'll almost be ready to choose your complimentary wine.

But although it's easy to lump all French cuisine into the same pot, as it were, there are in fact very distinct areas of France, each of which has contributed its own distinctive tastes, and cooking methods. France is a large country, and one would hardly expect the culinary and gourmet influences to be uniform throughout. Indeed, it is not just geography which has had an influence on French cooking methods, but modern restaurant requirements have also made their mark. Many French recipes require slow cooking or laborious preparation - neither of which proves terribly convenient in the heat and steam of a frenetic Parisian kitchen during the peak season.

The areas of France, and the distinct branches of what we would term traditional French food include the north west and south east regions, and the southern and south western regions. Although there are general similarities and shared characteristics, what we might refer to as gourmet French foods are more likely to originate from a distinct area of France. For example, one of the more distinctive aspects of the French cooking in the north eastern vicinity is the high use of milk, cream and butter. Many of the traditional French food originated here tends to butter ingredients quite heavily, and so this can have the effect of creating a rather rich meal. It is also quite noticeable that apples often feature quite prominently as a major ingredient in recipes from this area.

It would only be natural for France's gourmet foods to be heavily influenced by its neighbours, and this is certainly true for the south eastern regions of France, which border Germany. There are clear Germanic influences in the styles of food and choice of ingredients around this whole area, including the generous use of lard as well as foods more commonly associated with German cooking such as sauerkraut and pork sausages.

When one thinks of traditional French food and gourmet French foods one tends to consider those meals more traditionally served in French restaurants, and these recipes generally originate from the south of France. Such recipes tend to be much lighter, with much less use of butter and lard, and easier on less accustomed palates. Think of a traditional French meal which one might enjoy at a restaurant and the chances are high that it originated in the southern region.

Travel further towards the west and you will encounter yet another traditional style of French cooking, almost Spanish in its influence, with a higher use of light oils such as olive oil as well as a much more widespread use of herbs. It is also noticeable in this region that tomatoes and tomato based products are used much more. These traditional French foods tend to be lighter, and again receive more widespread popularity.

But although the regions of France all have played their part in developing recipes and styles of cooking, there has been another influence which has affected what we tend to view as traditional gourmet French food today. The usual methods of cooking meals in France takes time, and in busy restaurants this just isn't possible. This has given rise to a new style of cooking which relies on much quicker cooking methods, and this has become known as cuisine nouvelle - literally new cooking. This style of cooking is not only quicker, but it generally is served in much smaller portions, as well as incorporating plate decoration and dressing of the meal for presentation.

Today, what we might refer to as traditional French foods are more than likely either recipes which originate from a very distinctive region of France, or have been borne out of the newer style of cooking which has surfaced in the last four decades. But whether the style of cooking is traditional or modern, and whether the ingredients are regional or more widely accepted, there can be little doubt that gourmet French foods have had a major influence on the way much of the world views fine food and quality cooking.

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If You're Looking To Buy French Food, Here's A Fun(gus) Idea

Have you considered going online to buy French food this winter to spice up your traditional festive feasts? If you've not really considered going out to buy French food or gourmet ingredients then the reason may be either because your local supermarket simply doesn't stock such food or ingredients, which is of no surprise, or perhaps you're not too sure which gourmet ingredients you should be looking for, and what you can do with them.

In a previous article I suggested one or two things that can be done with goose fat, which is really one of the most incredible ingredients that you can introduce into a whole variety of traditional meals which we all do throughout the winter season. But today I want to introduce another gourmet ingredient which can also be used in a whole heap of feasts in a multitude of ways that can really take an old, slightly dull meal and totally transform it into something which will really get you noticed.

When you go to the supermarket to buy mushrooms you generally find that you have two or three varieties. The only particularly clear way of identifying which variety is which is that the button mushrooms are about the size of buttons, and the big mushrooms are, well, bigger. But they all really taste the same don't they? In fact most of the time I use supermarket mushrooms in recipes I can barely taste mushroom at all.

That's the problem with using supermarket ingredients, because most of us use the same ingredients in our recipes, completely oblivious to the fact that we are actually well aware that those ingredients made little difference as far as the flavour is concerned, and largely seem to end up only as adding texture. If you head over to France to buy French food or to eat at a French restaurant you will almost certainly notice that the flavours are very much more distinct, rich, and delicious.

Often you can tend to assume that it's a gourmet chef who has done something magical and horrendously difficult to the ingredients in order to rustle up something so monumentally fabulous. Rubbish. In most cases the only real difference is that they been able to buy French food. Proper French food, not just the stuff in your supermarket that begins with 'le' or 'la'.

You could easily do just the same with your own recipes this winter, and so the gourmet ingredient I would strongly recommend to you today is to buy a jar of dried porcini mushrooms. You don't actually need a great many dried porcini mushrooms because they have a very intense flavour, and used sparingly can be used in a whole variety of recipes.

For almost any stock, source or risotto in which you will usually include mushrooms, use dried porcini mushrooms instead and you'll find that the flavour is unbelievable. You'll need to soak the mushrooms in warm water for about half an hour before you need to use them, but here's a good tip: many people just throw the remaining liquid away, but this is an appalling waste. If you're going to use porcini mushrooms in a stock, source or risotto, then after you have finished soaking the mushrooms strain be liquid and add this to the recipe wherever possible in place of water.

For some meals such as casseroles, or meals including rice, add the dried porcini mushrooms right at the beginning. Just remember that porcini mushrooms have a very strong flavour, unlike the British mushrooms sold in supermarkets. For this reason it is important to make sure that when you are replacing the cardboard mushrooms from your supermarket with gourmet ingredients such as dried porcini mushrooms from France, reduce the number of mushrooms you use, otherwise the flavour can become overpowering.

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What are Some Easy Italian Recipes?

A lot of the cuisine of Italy can be intimidating, with multiple techniques used to produce a dish, expensive ingredients and complex construction. Many new cooks take a look at some of the more classic "gourmet" Italian recipes and decide such cooking is better left to Olive Garden or Macaroni Grill. This is a mistake, as there are plenty of easy Italian recipes around.

In every ethnic cuisine, the basic cooking is simple. Remember that for most of human history cooking tools were very simple and the availability of complex cooking tools was unknown. There was only heat, a simple pan or two and some basic ingredients.

Take, for example, Shrimp Scampi, one of the most popular Italian restaurant dishes. Done right, it is a marvel of balance, with the richness of butter and the taste of garlic, green onions and white wine. Actually, it's a very, very simple dish! You just sauté the garlic and onions in olive oil; add the wine, then the butter, then and the shrimp. It's not hard at all, and the results are fantastic.

Lasagna, believe it or not, is another amazingly simple dish. The layers can look intimidating in the finished product, but it's basically just a matter of making simple meat and cheese mixtures, then ladling them into a dish in layers separated by noodles. The great thing about lasagna is that it's fairly foolproof. Get your layers out of order? Forget to put the cheese in one layer? It really won't matter all that much once everything's baked together.

And, for dessert, don't forget the cannoli (hey, it was good enough for "The Godfather," right?) You can buy cannoli shells at most bakeries, which removes what for most people is the tough part. The filling is simply a mixture of cheeses and flavorings, which is then piped into the shells and decorated. You won't believe how simple it can be!

There are hundreds of easy Italian recipes out there. All you have to do is get cooking.

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