RESEP MASAKAN ORIENTAL

I’m calling this “miracle fudge” for several reasons. First of all, the odds of me seeing a vegan fudge link on Twitter, and actually clicking on it, are roughly zero. That alone makes this video miraculous, but that cocoa, maple syrup, and coconut oil can combine to create something so pleasurable and fudge-like, also makes it worthy of the title. Michele actually discovered the link on Twitter, and called my attention to it since she recognized the Tweeter as my friend, Stephanie Stiavetti aka @sstiavetti . Nothing against Ms. Stiavetti, but this still usually wouldn’t have been enough to tempt me, except that I heard mention of coconut oil. This was significant because another friend, Ariyele Ressler, posted something called a "The Triple Luxe" on her YouTube channel (pictured here), which featured this fascinating fat. I was captivated by her delicious looking creation, and the coconut oil's butter-like properties, and told myself that I needed pick some up for expe...

A friend I met in Colorado sent me this video link showing Chef Ned Archibald's "Chocolateville." Ned's the pastry chef at Keystone Resort , and every year builds this town from thousands of pounds of chocolate. My father was a train conductor, and when I was a kid I always wanted to build a huge toy train set-up complete with little town and all the fixings. Of course, the fact that this one's made with chocolate, and lives in a resort surrounded by powdery snow sort of completes the fantasy for me. By the way, my mother Pauline is doing much better after her shoulder surgery, and I'll be heading back to San Francisco on Dec. 14th. Thanks to everyone who sent their regards and good wishes!

I don’t think I’ve ever been involved in a holiday cookies swap (apparently you need to have like-minded friends), but if I were, I’d bring these chocolate snowcap cookies. They just look so wintry, with their powdery-white tops, contrasted against those deep, dark cracks. They’re so captivating, that I find myself daydreaming about tiny Christmas elves skiing down them when no one is looking. I really should see someone about that. Anyway, the point is, if you’re looking for a holiday cookie so seasonally appropriate it hurts, this is the one for you. As I stated in the video, the only way to mess these up is to not use enough powdered sugar. The first batch I made looked like they had plenty, but that little bit I shook off before placing them on the pan made all the difference. You want to coat them, roll them, coat them again, and then, coat them again. You can’t put too much on. Also, the batch I made after letting the dough sit overnight didn’t spread out as much, which I thoug...

Despite the colloquial idiom, pies are not that easy, and in my opinion, it’s not the dough that separates the good from the great, it’s the fillings. With fresh fruit pies, you have to worry about too much or too little liquid. Custard-based fillings are texturally tricky; and don’t even get me started on lemon meringue. However, there’s one category of pie whose fillings are so easy, they’re nearly impossible to mess up. That would be the seasonally appropriate nut pie. If you can work a whisk, and set a timer, you have what it takes to excel in this genre. We added a handful of chocolate chips, but the recipe is based on this one from Allrecipes.com , which I came across looking for corn syrup free versions. By the way, it’s not that I think corn syrup is a “bad” ingredient, I just know that most people don’t have it on hand, and I’d hate for them to buy a whole bottle when a perfectly wonderful pie can be made without it. In fact, the filling is so deliciously decadent the crust is...

The biggest challenge with presenting this chocolate sea salt crostini recipe is getting people to stop thinking, "dessert," and start thinking, "great special occasion savory snack." Not that t here's anything wrong with this as a dessert (it's actually Michele's "favorite" dessert), but for my money it makes for a better, and very unique, hors d'oeuvre. Speaking of money, you're going to need a little bit extra to do this recipe right. For this to work as a savory bite, the chocolate must be very dark, bittersweet, and world-class. Look for names that are hard to pronounce, and labels with percentage symbols are always a good sign (the higher %, the better for this). For the bread, you're going to want to find your town's best baguette. The extra virgin olive oil should robust, peppery, and of the highest quality. Lastly, the salt must absolutely be the crystallized, flaky sea salt shown herein. Once all these ingredients are...

The recent post which featured Denise from ChezUs ' beautiful dark chocolate macarons with bittersweet ancho chili ganache reminded my wife Michele that it'd been a while since she'd whipped up a batch of her famous chili chocolate cookies. These dense, dark, and dangerously addictive cookies feature a dose of black pepper and cayenne, which to some may seem like an odd addition. But one taste and you'll understand the method to this madness. Ju st like adding a pinch of salt to dessert recipes makes them even sweeter and more delicious, the addition of pepper in this cookie really makes the chocolate even more chocolaty. The cookies aren't really "spicy," but you can definitely tell something strange and wonderful is happening. I'm terrible with keeping my secret ingredients, secret. As soon as someone says, "Hey, what's in these?" I spill the beans. However, if you're one of those sadistic cooks that loves tormenting your foodie fr...

According to Twitter, today is National Chocolate Day, and to celebrate I'm re-posting one of my all-time favorite ways to enjoy this ancient pleasure, the Savory Chocolate Sea Salt Crostini . You can read the original post here , but to summarize, these are awesome. Enjoy!

This chocolate egg cream video was inspired by our recent trip to New York City , where my wife Michele and I enjoyed them on several occasions. As I watched the expression on her face while she sipped this unique treat, I knew I had to film a quick how-to as soon as we returned. Contrary to the name of this New York City soda fountain classic, chocolate egg creams do not contain any eggs or cream. What is does contain is Fox's "U-bet" chocolate "flavor" syrup. This uniquely American ingredient hails from Brooklyn, New York, and despite the picture of the woman on the label (why is she looking at me like that?), I love the flavor of this syrup. If you can't find it, I'm sure a certain brand from Pennsylvania will do just fine. Along with the chocolate come the simple additions of milk and seltzer water. The magic of this d rink is how the minimalist design produces such a rich, yet refreshing chocolate beverage. In fact, one of the reasons the beverage ...

I don’t make a lot of cupcakes, but since I’ve always been fascinated by the red velvet cake, I decided to try a version based on this venerable American classic.  I’ve gotten so many requests for cupcakes and red velvet cakes that I figured I’d kill two food wishes with one video. They came out really well, and as I tasted, I actually caught myself daydreaming about being on Top Chef Just Desserts . I imagined I’d furiously finished frosting these red velvet cupcakes just as time expired (I think the faux-hawked prima donna with the Jacques Torres tattoo next to me hid the cream cheese to screw me over). I bring them up to the judge’s table, and watch as the lovely Gail Simmons takes a big bite. She swallows, smiles, and then says, “Really not that bad for a food blogger.” Okay, so she’s too classy to ever say that, but still, it would be pretty cool. Anyway, back to reality. I will also post the cream cheese frosting recipe next week, just in case you’re wondering. I joke about t...

This three-part video blog chronicles an ep ic, 24-item tast ing menu, done for Foodbuzz's "24 Meals, 24 H ou rs , 24 Blog Posts" global “live blogging” even t. The story behin d this is…well, why don’t I let my friends at Foodbuzz explain. "The idea for the "24 Meals , 24 Hou r s, 24 B logs," w as born out of our goal in w anting to c reate a global "blogging" event tha t wou ld celebrate the scope, diversity and qu ality of our Featured Publisher C ommunity . The "24, 24, 24" captures the cultural diversity and unique local perspective of our Featured Publishers: it's real food, experi enced by real people shared real-time. " I'd planned for my "Found on Foodbu zz" me nu to be inspired by mindlessly surfing the s ite - look ing at photos, scan ning restaurant reviews, browsing blog posts, and reading recip es. I wan ted the meal to be an ed ible steam of culina ry conscio usness. The deliciously diabolical fe...

If you’re my age, you can’t hear the word “chia” without thinking of the famous 1980’s commercial, and its “cha cha cha chia” jingle. That did make it a little tougher taking this seed seriously as a legitimate recipe ingredient, but as long as you manage expectations, it proved its worth beyond a gardening option for lazy people. If you’re looking for a rich and decadent chocolate pudding then keep moving. As nutritious as this “superfood” is supposed to be, you can’t expect the same results substituting bird seeds for eggs, butter, and cream. That said, if you’re craving something sweet, relatively chocolately, and comparatively healthful, then chia seeds may be a good option. Chia seeds are all the rage right now, and are usually seen in breakfast pudding form. In fact, I learned about them after seeing this on my friend Elizabeth’s blog, Saffron Lane . I’ve never been a big breakfast pudding guy, so I decide to do a dessert for my first attempt. Plus, I needed an excuse to use cho...

In yesterday’s Halibut and Bacon post I mentioned a woman who had combined bacon with chocolate. I discovered her on a fellow foodie’s blog, Catherine’s “Chocolate and Sage.” Her name is Katrina Markoff, and she is the Owner and Founder of Vosges Haut-Chocolat. This video is a lecture she gave at the TASTE3 conference which was presented at the Robert Mondavi Winery in Napa . In it, she explains the four step process she uses to create these very unusual chocolate collections. Yesterday I said I found the lecture both inspirational and ridiculous. After watching it for a second time, I changed the word “ridiculous” to “perplexing.” Ridiculous sounded too negative, which wasn’t my intention. While I was truly inspired by her passion and obvious love for what she does and creates, I was sometimes lost during parts of her explanation of the process. It’s probably because I have no intentional or formal thought process with my cooking, and actually try NOT to think about what I’m d...

No, it actually takes 45 seconds! Turns out I was wrong about mug cakes. I’ve had the belief over the past few decades, that a decent mini chocolate cake from a microwave was impossible. I based this on the fact that every example I’d come across had the texture of a hockey puck. I assumed the cause was the microwave’s ultra-violent thermodynamics, and that there was nothing anyone could do about it, but then I got to thinking. Maybe there was a way to tweak the existing recipes out there to minimize this problem. Long story short, I tweaked an existing recipe, which minimized the problem. The secrets were using smaller amounts of batter, and cooking for way less time than has been suggested by others. Once you’ve boiled off all the water in the batter, you are totally screwed, so the idea here is to just barely get to the point of doneness, and stop. For me that was exactly 45 seconds. I’ve included the power data here, so you can compare it to your microwave. Apparently, I have a 1...

The only thing better than eating artisan chocolate, is eating it while lis tening to the person that made it. That's exactly what I got to do Wedn esday when Michael Recchiuti , San Francisco's preeminent chocol atier, hosted a media-on ly event to announce The Taste Project. The Taste Project is a series of multi-sensory chocolate pairings bringing toge ther Recchiuti's confections with savory ingredients like salt, olive oil, beer, mushrooms, along with the people that produce them. While listening to Michael explain his concept, it was clear how much he enjoys bringing together these kindred foodie souls. More t han pairing products, he's pairing people, and that's what promises to makes these tastings unique. The evening began with a brief tour of his kitchen. A large, bubbling kettle of candied citrus p eel was steaming away, scenting the entire floor of the building. Against another wall, molten white chocolate poured from a spigot into a churning vat. He sh...

This short and simple clip may seem a bit strange. The thought of topping a warm, olive oil soaked Crustini with chocolate and sea salt does take an open mind to contemplate. The first time I came across this combo, I too was understandable skeptical, but one bite and I was convinced. It worked. Not only did it work, it rocked! The blending of the fruity/peppery olive oil, bittersweet dark chocolate, the warm crispy-edged bread, and the tiny crunch of briny sea salt crystals is quite the epicurean experience. Most good cooks know that a pinch of salt in a dessert recipe is a must to bring out the sweetness of whatever you’re making. So topping the chocolate with flakes of the Maldon sea salt is really not that crazy. I guess it’s the fact that it’s served on top of warm Crustini that makes it seem so unusual. To me this is a savory recipe, not a dessert. I think these are perfect with a nice glass of red wine or port. It would make for a very unique passed Hors D’ouvre. This is not a s...