This recipe for Heavenly French Toast was originally posted in May of 2014 but it is the perfect brunch dish for the first of January. When I was recently in Chicago, my family took me to Heaven on Seven for a get together with some friends. I’d heard about this restaurant for years – especially from my son Dirk – who loves it. In fact, I was given their cookbook as a gift. As we approached an office building, I thought perhaps we were making a quick stop, but as we entered the elevator I watched as the number seven was punched. As we exited the elevator, I still had no clue. A few steps later, we entered Heaven on Seven and I was awestruck by the hundreds and hundreds of hot sauce bottles from ceiling to floor covering wall after wall. There couldn’t be a better wall covering for one of the countries premier Cajun restaurants, Continue reading
Tag Archives: Sauce
Crème Anglaise – A Classic Dessert Sauce
Well, Crème Anglaise has certainly been an interesting trip through the internet as well as books (remember those?). While everyone seems to agree that this “English Cream” or custard sauce contains some kind of cream or milk, egg yolks, sugar and flavoring – no one seems to agree on the amounts.
Custards, including crème brulee are nothing more than variations of the amount of ingredients used in crème anglaise. While custards are baked in an oven with a water bath to prevent curdling, crème anglaise is referred to as a stirred custard and is cooked on top of the stove. A water bath may be used here also to prevent overcooking. Continue reading
27 Layer Tuile Torte
A variation of this magnificently layered Tuile Torte appeared in my first book, “The New Pastry Cook”. It is actually easy to make but it is time consuming. The fact that most of it can be done ahead makes it very possible. Fourteen layers of tuile and 13 layers of mousse are a show stopper any way you look at it. There is another view of a slice of the torte in the slide show above on my banner.
A series of tulle layers made on the bottom of an upside down 9″ round cake pan is the time consuming part. How fast it goes depends upon how many pans you have and how fast you can spread the batter.
When I first went into business, there was one caterer who loved this so much, he served it at every upscale party they had. When I had to make 20 of them, I pulled this from the list of available desserts. I heard about it to the day I closed. But 280 layers isn’t fast no matter how many pans you have or how fast you are. Continue reading
