Week 3: 8/30-9/5 Mousse A L'Orange (Orange Mousse -frozen dessert), pg 603 (MOM)

KPH: (left picture)
Today was the big Mousse A L'Orange baking day. I was very excited to try this dessert because I am a big fan of orange flavored dessert, and it really looked like a tasty treat!

I got out all of my ingredients and utensils. I followed the recipe step by step and everything looked and seemed to be exactly as it should be, which is what I like. It is hard when you have never made a dish and directions are not making sense. All of the directions made sense. I used fancy dessert dishes for my mousse.

So we (KPH, Hayley, Max) had a great lunch: Vidalia Onion and Beef Burgers on the grill, chips, and corn on the cob. I went down to the freezer and brought up the dessert and decorated it quickly with whip cream and mint leaves. We all took a bite at the same time. Well, it doesn't taste very good. I do not care for the frozen consistency, the orange zest makes it a little grainy, even though I grated using the smallest hole. It also tastes a little bit bitter. There is only 1/2 cup plus 1 tbsp. sugar in the recipe, so maybe more sugar would have helped . If I did something wrong, I have absolutely no idea what it was because everything seemed fine. None of us actually finished the whole dessert, which is highly unusual. I will be very curious to hear the reports from Mom and Sar on how their mousse turned out.

It does look beautiful, though.

Rating:
Taste: 1
Ease of preparation: 4 (seemed easy!)
Presentation: 4
Price: 2
Would I make it again? Absolutely not.


Sar: (right picture)

Photo caption added by Ed.

Rating:

Taste: <1

Ease of preparation: 3

Presentation: 3.5

Price: 3

Would I make it again? I will never make this dessert again.

It was a lot of work and dirty dishes for a less than delicious result. It was bitter. Maybe I should have used smaller oranges.

If it actually had some of the orange flesh in it instead of just zest, it would probably be better.

Mom: (no picture)

Taste wasn't bad, probably not worth the effort. If I made it again (which I probably won't) I would add more sugar and less zest.

Taste: 3

Ease of Preparation: 3-4

Presentation: 3 (didn't decorate it)

Price: 2

Would I make it again? Probably not

Week 2 [8/23-8/30] Reine De Saba (Chocolate and Almond Cake), pg. 677. Frosting is Glacage Au Chocolat (Chocolate Butter Icing), pg. 684

Sar: (Bottom picture)

The almond cake was a success. It did not take that long to make and it was good. As with Julia’s recipes so far, it did generate a lot of dirty dishes. I rate it as follows:

Taste – 4.8

Ease of preparation – 1-2

Presentation – 3.5

Price – 1

I definitely would make it again and maybe use rum next time instead of coffee.

Kimberley: (Top three pictures)

I made my cake the day after Sar, so I was able to call and check on what things should look like at different times. It is delicious, but unbelievably rich. I made two cakes and already froze one, but I think I will freeze most of the first one as well. A very little piece was enough for me. I agree with Sar about the dirty dishes; lots of dirty dishes! The frosting was very easy to do, and full of butter, of course!

My ratings are:

Taste: 4

Ease of Preparation: 3 (kind of fussy)

Presentation: 4

Price: 2

Would I make it again? Maybe. I have a lot of chocolate cake recipes that are not this fussy and are also delicious.

Mom: (no picture)

Delicious and very rich. It says it serves 6-8, but certainly could serve 12. I used a 9" pan so it did not come up in the pan as much. I would use an 8" pan next time. It was very tender and fell apart when I flipped it. Next time I would let it cool right on the serving plate.

Taste: 5

Ease of Preparation: 3

Presentation: 4

Price: 2-3

Would I make it again? Yes I would.

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Week 1 [8/16-8/22] : Boeuf Bourguinon pg. 315

We traveled to Boston on Wednesday, August 19th. We went out shopping for our ingredients that night at Roche Brothers, which is Wellesley Hills version of Wegmans. Shopping together was a lot of fun and we divided up the list and went searching. On Friday morning, which was the day we were making the beef, Dad went to the wine store for us to get the wine we needed.

We started at 2:00 p.m. I started by boiling the bacon and Mom and Sar started on some prep work, cutting the beef, mushrooms, carrots, onions, and peeling the pearl onions. They also washed and dried the beef, which is all very time consuming. After the bacon was boiled, it needed to be browned. Everything needed to be browned, separately, in small batches. This, again, is very time consuming. It is also a little dangerous and I got grease splatters a couple of times.

By 3:30 we had all of the initial work done and added the wine, ready for the dish to go into the oven. My dad came back with two different Bordeaux wines, so part of our decision making process was sampling them both to decide which went into the stew and which one we would drink with the dinner. We all agreed that one of the Bordeaux was smoother than the other so we wanted to drink that one with dinner.

While the stew was in the oven, I finished the mushrooms and the onions which were actually two separate recipes: Oignons Glaces A Brun (Brown-braised Onions), on pg. 483, and Champignons Sautes Au Beurre (Sauteed Mushrooms), on pg. 513. Both were very easy recipes.
The stew was ready at around 6:15 and we were ready to eat at around 6:30. Our complete menu was: Beef Bourguinon served over buttered noodles, Fresh Broccoli, French Bread, and Bordeaux wine.

The meal was absolutely, completely delicious. It was a gourmet treat. There were no leftovers, which is what I predicted. Eating our meal were: Mom, Dad, Sar, Ed, Kimberley, Hayley, Max, and Connor.

We came up with a rating scale for our dishes:

1) Taste: 5
2) Ease of preparation: 2-3
3) Presentation: 5
4) Price: 4-5 (Pretty pricey ingredients)
5) Would we make it again: Mom and Sar said "No", I said "Yes"

This was a great experience, made better by the fact that we were together. We talked a lot about how to do various things listed in the recipe. Our confidence might not have been as strong if we had not been together. If I make this dish again I would do a lot of the prep work the day before and break it up as it is a lot of work.

The First 10 Weeks

Week 1: August 16-22, Boeuf Bourguinon, pg. 315 (KPH) [Review will be posted soon!]

Week 2: August 23-29, Reine De Saba (Chocolate and Almond Cake), pg. 677 (SAR)

Week 3: August 30-September 5, Mousse A L'Orange (Orange Mousse- frozen dessert), pg. 603 (MOM)

Week 4: September 6-12,Tarte Aux Abricots or Peches (Apricot or Peach Tart), pg. 639 (KPH)

Week 5 September 13-19, Potage Parmentier (Onion and Potato Soup), pg. 37 (SAR)

Week 6: September 20-26, Biscuits A La Cuiller (Ladyfingers), pg. 667 (MOM)

Week 7: September 27-10/3, Supremes de Volaille aux Champignons (Chicken Breasts with
Mushrooms and Cream), pg. 269 (KPH)

Week 8: October 4-10, Souffle Aux Epinards (Spinach Souffle), pg. 165 (SAR)

Week 9: October 11-17, Roti de Porc Grand' Mere (Casserole-roasted Pork with Potatoes and Onions), pg. 382 (MOM)

Week 10: October 18-24, Souffle A La Vanille (Vanilla Souffle), pg. 614 (KPH)

Week 11: October 25-31, TBD

How it Began

We went to see Julie/Julia on Friday, August 14th. We loved it! About halfway through the movie we started to get inspired and started to conspire. After the movie, we went to Barnes and Noble and purchased "Mastering the Art of French Cooking." On the way home, we came up with our own version of a cooking club.

So far, the participants are Sar, Kimberley, and Felicia - two sisters and their mom. We will cook one recipe each week in our own homes and then write about the recipe. We will rotate who gets to pick the recipe for the next week. The weeks will run from Sunday to Saturday. Pretty simple rules. We are going to try to establish the first six weeks of recipes within this next week so we can stay organized. I like to stay organized! I also think it will be fun to have something to look forward to.

I am Kimberley and it is my turn to pick the first recipe. I picked Boeuf Bourguignon, on page 315.

The three of us will be together in Boston this week so we are going to complete this recipe together. The plan is to get the ingredients this week and prepare the recipe on Friday August 21st.

So, with nothing to lose, and everything to gain (pun intended), here we go!