Text 19554, 199 rader
Skriven 2007-08-25 22:10:00 av MICHAEL LOO (1:123/140)
     Kommentar till en text av DAVE SACERDOTE
Ärende: rips and durgin-park 31
===============================
 DS> No - the first time I ever went to Durgin Park was in, oh, 1977 or
 DS> so.  My friends and I were in Boston for the day and went there
 DS> because we were told it was fairly cheap to eat lunch there.  It

There were cheaper. Mondo's, for example, or anything in
Chinatown. But you wouldn't get rooked at Durgin-Park, and
you'd have to try in order to be now (though $36.95 for the
2 lb bone-in cut of prime rib is a bit much).

 DS> wasn't expensive...but it wasn't completely cheap, either.  I guess
 DS> you could call it "filling and fairly priced." [g]  

If you had the lunch specials (when I first went, 99c, but probably
up to 1.99 in 1977 or so) you would get enough to keep you going
all day and then some. I have fond memories of the short ribs and
the "potted beef."

 DS> Wish I had kept one of the menus from back then.  You mentioned the
 DS> other day that it was a mimeo or photocopied sheet, and I think you're
 DS> right.

Pretty sure about that, but they did have some printed literature,
including the recipe for the coffee jelly (a great dish, by the way).

=

A note on Durgin-Park. We decided to go there, as it had been a long
time since Lynn had been. We showed up around 8 (the place stops
serving at 9:30), and it was not hopping but still reasonably well
filled. Started off on the wrong foot, when we asked what was on
draft, and they told us that the lines of the draft machines had all
been fouled. So what do they have? Amstel Light, Bud, Bud Light,
Coors Light, Heineken, whoops, we just ran out of Heineken ... Do you
have Sam Adams? No, we ran out of that yesterday. I ended up just
getting a double Johnnie Walker black, which came on the rocks, so
I sent it back. Eventually the right thing came. Dave, in protest,
just had water. The cornbread was a little on the stale side. I
guess this isn't the place to go on Sunday night near closing.
Lynn had fried shrimp, which were abundant and pretty good. I had
the broiled platter, which was bits of halibut, swordfish, salmon,
and schrod (probably haddock) along with four smallish shrimp and
a huge number of okay (that is to say better than average for today
but way worse than my lifetime average) scallops. The food was
pretty good, the service friendly enough although wonky. Plus,
they were bad at telling us what was out and what wasn't. Dave. in
protest, just had a bowl of chowder, which he pronounced excellent.
Dessert time: Dave ordered Indian pudding, which was the usual,
something you either love or hate (Dave and I love it; Lynnie hated
it). Lynn had strawberry shortcake, which was a leave it or leave
it proposition, so I scarfed down some, with the aid of some pills:
it was okay. I ordered a single Johnnie, and what came was a double.
The waiter, to whom this was pointed out, said that he had put in for
a single, so that was what would appear on the bill (he was right).
After dinner we got sort of silly, and Dave demonstrated ye olde
George Washington mushroom tricke, and I did ye olde spoone tricke,
and we all were roaring with laughter, which apparently annoyed one
of the other tables. The waiter opined that I must have been poured
a triple, but I assured him that I am always this way after supper.
I did one thing I'd never managed before - hung a spoon from my ear.
On the whole: "filling and fairly priced." Number of years before
I go back again: several.

=

 DS> The reason, of course, was kickbacks to the school on the inflated
 DS> prices of the uniforms.  Luckily, there were plenty of properly
 DS> monogrammed Cathedral High School shirts on the racks at the local
 DS> Salvation Army stores.  We bought very few new ones after that
 DS> revelation.

Thank heaven for recycles. I believe that there was a sort of
aftermarket for my high school girls' uniforms, but it was very
under the radar, and anyhow most of the kids were rich.

 ML> Anyhow, that's the last thing one had to worry about regarding
 ML> that school, whose charter stated that its endowment was "for
 ML> the use and benefit of the white race only"; how I managed to
 ML> get in is still a question open to debate. 
 DS> It's because you're secretly Italian. 

--mm
Tiramisu
cat: mine, dessert, Italian, French, Chinese
servings: 6

3 Tb Sam Choy's Kona Blend coffee
9 oz water
1 oz Gosling's Black Seal rum FDM*
2/3 pk (16) Trader Joe's soft ladyfingers FDM
1 oz Ghirardelli semi-sweet chocolate FDM
2 Tb Hershey's cocoa FDM
1 oz additional Gosling's Black Seal rum FDM
The zabaglione
3 lg egg yolks
2 Tb Realemon FDM
2 1/2 Tb water
1/4 ts Nordstrom's vanilla powder FDM
2 Tb sugar
3 oz cream
1/2 oz Gosling's Black Seal rum FDM
The mascarpone filling
5 oz Garelick heavy cream
3 Tb sugar
7 oz Bel Gioioso mascarpone
1/2 ts Nordstrom's vanilla powder
1/2 oz Gosling's Black Seal rum FDM

*FDM = "faute de mieux"
For the rum I'd have used Cruzan Black, but I enjoy
drinking that and do not enjoy drinking Gosling's but
have had some success cooking with the latter. The
reviews all say that Gosling's is great and Cruzan is
not, but they lie.

The ladyfingers were anything but soft - they were in
fact almost crunchy. This is fine for a dish that
requires them to be sprinkled with liquid, but otherwise,
I'd have said "non" (they are made in France) and had
them sent back.

At TJ's I'd looked for bittersweet; the only one
available was Scharffen Berger at 3 oz for $3-something.
Carol said, why not get the Ghirardelli semisweet in
bulk at $3.49 a pound? So I got nearly half a pound of
Ghirardelli for the price of an ounce of Scharffen Berger,
figuring that with all the other sweet ingredients, the
difference would be unnoticeable, and then I could sneak
the rest in little increments.

Hershey's cocoa is okay, but I'd prefer something else
if that were available at reasonable cost. Bear in mind
too that Scharffen Berger is now owned by Hershey. But
a nice rich Droste might go well here.

Realemon, it was there, what can I say?

Nordstrom's vanilla powder - again, it was there. Kind
of old, but that lent a subtlety to the vanilla presence.
I tend to like a strong, woody, bourbony vanilla presence
that gives the lie to the term "plain vanilla," but for
this dish, this stuff was fine.

Procedure.
Brew coffee double strength - I made just over 1 cup.
Combine 3 oz of this with 1 oz rum. Save the rest of
the coffee to correct textures of other ingredients.
Drizzle the ladyfingers with this liquid, making sure
the whole length of each is treated, but the ladyfingers
are not soaked.

Grate or shave the chocolate and set aside.

For the zabaglione. I used Harold McGee's microwave
pasteurization method as described by Barrie Lax.
Beat egg yolks well. Add lemon juice and beat well.
Add water and beat well. Transfer to microwave
container; cover and microwave 8 sec. (Using Carol's
antiquated machine, I did 16 sec.) Beat well again;
cover and return to microwave 8 sec. (Using Carol's
antiquated machine, I did 16 sec.) Beat again. Over
simmering water, combine egg yolks, vanilla, sugar,
cream, and a splash (say 3 Tb) of coffee. Beat and cook
until the mixture coats a spoon thickly. Off heat, beat
a bit longer. Refrigerate.

For the filling. Beat cream with sugar until the peaks
just begin to form. Beat in the cheese, vanilla, and rum.

Assembly. Drizzle bottom of a 1 1/2 qt square pan with
rum. Arrange half the ladyfingers in a single layer on
the bottom. Spoon 2/3 of the mascarpone filling over.
Sprinkle half the chocolate shavings over this, Arrange
the other half of the ladyfingers in another layer; pour
the zabaglione over this; smooth nicely. Sprinkle the
remaining chocolate shavings over. Spoon the rest of the
filling over and smooth. Sprinkle with the cocoa. Let
sit covered in the fridge until serving time, which
should be within 24 hours.

Other notes.
Sam Choy's blend may be only 10% Kona, but it is a nice
coffee. And Ghirardelli semi-sweet is only a little too
sweet (but way not bitter enough). On the other hand, it's
very smooth. I know it's bad for me, but I couldn't
resist continually shaving more bits off for me to taste.

This should have, given the ingredients, been one of the
best tiramisu ever made. It was I think not aged enough -
I made it between 2 and 2:30, and we ate it at 10. So the
hard "soft ladyfingers" hadn't quite melded enough. The
people we made it for did say it was the best tiramisu
they'd ever had. That's a small exaggeration but perhaps
not much of one.

Source: Carol's kitchen, me, chef
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