"It’s something special. I go out of my way to make that." In his new book A Year in Chocolate, Jacques Torres claims that the "bûche de Noël, a classic dessert of the French Christmas season, is quickly becoming an American tradition." Torres has a history nearly as illustrious as the chocolate that is his medium. When asked to describe chocolate, he waxes didactic: it was traded as currency, used as an aphrodisiac, exalted as a food of the gods, and served as a royal exclusive. In his more than a decade as pastry chef at Le Cirque, Jacques created aphrodisiac desserts for royalty, that certainly traded for a lot of currency. In 2000, Jacques opened his own chocolate factory...
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When I saw Jane Spice's blog post about a goat cheese spread with mint and cumin seeds my brain did a double take. "Wait," I thought, "This is not the processed, wine-saturated cheese dip that graces my parent's Christmas table." No, this dip is made with fresh mint and cumin, which helps counter the bite of the tangy goat cheese. As much as I kind of love cheese log and beef stick, this dish has me salivating. And the best part, all you have to do is throw some crackers and maybe a handful of cut vegetables and you've got a quick and easy appetizer....
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Photograph from Maitri on Flickr When your house or apartment is filled with people this season, and everyone’s trying to snag an hors d’oeuvre, find or avoid the mistletoe and, above all, grab a drink, the last thing you want them to do is wait for you to pour glasses for the crowd. Fortunately, there’s punch. In this month’s Saveur, wine and spirits editor David Wondrich gives a brief history of the flowing bowl. Punch originated centuries ago as a simple and straightforward mixture of citrus juice, sugar, water, spice and, of course, liquor. Today, the model is still essentially the same, although the basic formula has been tinkered with to make room for richly flavored liqueurs, tea, champagne,...
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The winter holidays are about a lot of things. Not unimportant among these many meaningful sentiments are two predominant aspects of the holiday season: staying warm and getting drunk. Ursula of Jane Spice, Mulled Wine combines the garnet Christmas red of Burgundy wine with the tart spike of Thanksgiving's cranberry juice, dressed up with the spices of the season. It looks, and must smell, like December in a glass. Plus, it delivers the warm and drunk part with a single punch. Just be sure not to serve Santa—he may be old enough, but a reindeer DUI would seriously interfere with presents....
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"This would be a great cheese to pick up for last-minute, run-to-the-supermarket-before-it-closes style of entertaining." Photograph by Jamie Forrest Président Cheese, makers of the ubiquitous wheels of "deli" brie, have released a new cheese they're calling the "Brie Log." They claim it has the same taste as their normal brie but comes in a convenient log shape with a 1-inch diameter, which means that its slices fit perfectly on crackers or bread rounds. A cool and interesting twist on an old classic, but how does it stack up? The folks from Président sent me a log last week, just before Thanksgiving. It arrived at my office frozen in a cooler pack and enclosed in a sealed wrapper. The whole thing...
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