There’s a lively debate about Molecular Gastronomy in the culinary community. For the most part, from what I’ve heard, it’s all rather derisive. Just like Matisse was widely-panned for painting a woman’s face with a green stripe down the middle, I think we’re going to have to let time tell us if this is just a passing fancy or if it’s something that’s here to…
I was having dinner at Racines a few weeks ago, and excused myself during the meal to run upstairs and use the facilities. While up there, I had a few minutes to stare at the wall in front of me, which was covered with pictures and pages of text from various books. One page stopped me mid-moment, it was are recipe for something called Gâteau…
Today is World Nutella Day, and I’m caught with my trousers down. I prepared a dish (well..sort of) but didn’t get around to writing up something unusually profound to say, so a picture of it is going to have to do for now. I got sidetracked by a whole bunch of stuff, and had a lot of things I was going to post about this…
The pastry department is always the most popular part of the kitchen amongst the rest of the staff in a restaurant. For one thing, anytime there is a staff birthday, you’re called into service to make the cake for the party. And since everyone has a birthday, everyone has to be nice to you the other 364 days of the year. Another thing is that regular…
I’m not sure if there’s a French term that’s the equivalent of “phone tag.” I’m pretty sure there isn’t one for “internet tag”, but I can say with relative certainty that there isn’t one in English. At least I think there isn’t. I’d met Frédéric Chambeau’s father about five years ago and he graciously invited me to visit their laboratoire in Paris, but hadn’t heard…
When I was writing and churning up recipes for my ice cream book, I heard through the transatlantic wind that another ice cream book was coming out. It’s hard not to be influenced by others when writing and creating recipes, and even though I was sent a copy, I didn’t want to look through it, so I gave it a cursory glance, then shelved it…
Les Cocottes often gets described as a local version of an American-style diner. I don’t know if that’s true. For one thing, everyone speaks French. And for another, there were no snappy apron-clad waitresses pouring bottomless cups of coffee, no trucks parked outside, and no plumber-cracks hanging over the backside of the stools. After all, this is Paris, ya’ know. In fact, Les Cocottes sits…
Links Page There’s a splashy new look to my Links page. Voted off the island is the long list of blogs with annotations, and now you’ll find an ever-changing feed of blogs and websites I read and find interesting. It will change as the various sites update, all by its lonesome, so you can check in there as frequently as you can (well, when the…
[Note/update: Due to requests for my Bûche de Noël recipe, above, I’ve included it in my book, My Paris Kitchen.] I couldn’t let the year end without a little reportage about Christmas this year. You heard about my last-minute scramble to find the World’s Most Expensive Pastry Bag, which is now safely stored away in my Safe Deposit Box for next year. There’s a joke…
Join me on my Spring 2026 book tour for my latest book, The Great Book of Chocolate
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