I'm not dead...I'm just in Minnesota

It's been a very long time since I last posted way back on March 13th, but I'm still here! As of late March, my wife and I decided to relocate to Minneapolis, where I took a position with a bank here. I haven't posted much as it's been big adjustment with moving, starting a new job, a new daily routine, and learning a new city.

While I'll certainly miss living in Chicago and all that it has to offer, I'm looking forward to living in and experiencing a new city. I also plan on continuing my culinary education at home once I get our kitchen up and running and am looking forward to embracing Minnesota's farmer friendly culture.

I've got some catching up to do with the blog, including posting about our trip to Seatlle in March, as well as a reviewing a few Minnesota restauarnts.

                 

Fine Dining in Minneapolis

Bouchon: Cauliflower Au Gratin

To go along with the simple roast chicken I decided to make Thomas Keller's Cauliflower Au Gratin from his Bouchon cookbook. The recipe calls for one head of cauliflower, but in retrospect two would probably be better. Once I cleaned the leaves off the head, I removed the florets and saved the stem.

First you caramelize minced onions:

After trimming the hard exterior of the stem, the recipe calls to put the soft interior in a food processor to mince and then add to the pot:

After adding some spices (including some spicy curry), heavy cream and while milk is added then reduced:

After the sauce has reduced, the florets are laid out in a pan and the sauce is spread over the florets. Before adding into the oven breadcrumbs are added to the top:

Here is the final product:

The Verdict

A very good side dish. Too often side dishes are made that could just as easily be a meal in itself. This dish is perfect as a side to a light protien, like the simple roast chicken.

Big & Little's Restaurant

Big & Little's Restaurant

939 N Orleans St # 1
Chicago, IL 60610-3001
(312) 943-0000

 

Big & Little's is new to the River North scene, but has made quite a big splash recently as it was the Chicago Tribune's Cheap Eater of the Year award winner. "Little" of Big & Little's was a contestant on Hell's Kitchen (he got kicked off quickly) but his only previous cooking experience was teaching classes at the local William's Sonoma. It may not look like much from the outside, but inside B&L is turning out great inexpensive twists on old favorites. Their menu consists mostly of seafood items like fish tacos, poboys, and fish sandwiches but also includes more traditional items like burgers and hotdogs. They've also become known for their "truffle fries" which are their normal fries topped and served with truffle salt (a simple addition but a big improvement that makes for tasty fries).

Here is the kitchen (that's "Little" on the left):

I went with one of their specials, the soft shell crab po'boy:

Overall Big & Little's is a great place for an inexpensive lunch (about $10pp) if you're in the River North area and you're in the mood for quality but casual seafood lunch items. The employees there (including "Big" and "Little") are alot of fun and are happy to chat...as long as you go somewhat early. Once noon rolls around the lunch crowd overtakes the restaurant forcing long lines and a lack of seats. My recommendation is to get there around 11:30 to make sure it's a stress free visit.

Bouchon: Simple Roast Chicken

A couple of weeks ago I received Thomas Keller's Bouchon cookbook. One of the first recipes that stood out to me was Keller's "Simple Roast Chicken," mostly because it was so simple. Keller calls for a "fresh farm raised chicken" so I made a trip to The Butcher & Larder (2323 N. Milwaukee Ave, Chicago, IL) to pick up a 3 pound chicken: 

After we trussed the bird, Keller calls for only salt and pepper for the bird, no butter as is traditionally used, as he claims that butter creates steam and that he wants a dry heat to cook the bird. So we didn't use any butter. Here's the bird before we put it in the oven:

And after only an hour of cooking at a high heat with no basting:

Before serving Keller recommends some thyme, and to "serve simply":

The Verdict:

A very tasty and moist chicken. The flavors are very simple, but with a high quality fresh bird I'm not sure you need a whole lot more than salt, pepper and thyme. We were surprised just how moist the meat was, despite not using any butter in the cooking process. I have to imagine that this is a very healthy dish. After we had our fill, I stripped all the meat I could find off the bird and saved it for later, when I made some great chicken salad by adding a little mayo and celery.

The Butcher & Larder: "The Untouchables" Sausage

Here is another glorious item from the team at The Butcher & Larder: "The Untouchables" sausage-green onion, bourbon and Great Lakes Eliot Ness beer. A fantastic beer sausage that features a wonderful spicy bite and a smooth beer and bourbon finish. Their sausage machine is constantly cranking out house creations that change almost daily. I would recommend heading down there and grabbing a sausage or two along with some pate as it makes for a great treat!

Hot Doug's

Hot Doug's

3324 North California

Chicago, IL 60618

The quote painted on the wall says everything about Hot Doug's: "There are no two finer words in the English language than 'encased meats,' my friend." No there isn't!

I made my way up from the city yesterday to take a long lunch, bringing a friend from out of town on his first visit to Hot Dougs. I've found that visiting on a Saturday can be a complete zoo...with lines at 11am snaking down the block and taking an hour to get your food. Going during the week is the way to go, as I've rarely seen the line longer than 15 people at noon on a weekday.

Anytime I come to Hot Doug's, I try to go light on the fries and enjoy a couple of sausages as they are so unique (and ever changing) I can't choose just one. Yesterday, I went with my all time favorite sausage: the Foie Gras and Sauternes Duck Sausage with Truffle Aioli, Foie Gras Mousse and Fleur de Sel, and the day's celebrity sausage: Saucisson Alsacienne: Bacon Sausage with Creme Fraiche, Caramelized Onions and Morbier cheese.

The duck sausage is heaven on a bun, as three of my favorite things to eat are foie gras, truffle, and duck. I even had my picky eater friend order it and he loved it. When I asked him if he liked the foie gras, he said yes and "what is foie gras? I hope it's not pork liver or something crazy like that."...I told him to google it when he got home.

The celebrity sausage exploded with bacon flavor, and I loved the morbier cheese coupled with the onions. Very good and an example of the sausage talents of Hot Doug's.

I also took a bite of my wife's order, which was the Traditional Irish Pork Banger with Guinness Stout Mustard and Cahill's Porter Cheese. This was pretty good, but in my opinion nothing special.

The only benefit to coming on a weekend and standing in line is that they have the duck fat fries, so we settled and had some of the standard fries.

All in all, Hot Doug's is a favorite and a place that everyone who comes to visit the city should try to see in order to experience the "real" Chicago.

Ad Hoc at Home: Vanilla Ice Cream

As I've been using Ad Hoc at Home as a springboard into the world of ice cream making, instead of skipping ahead to slightly more complicated recipes I decided to make what Keller calls the "base" for many of his ice creams and other desserts. Here are the ingredients needed for the basic vanilla ice cream (note the real vanilla beans):

After heating up the cream, milk, sugar, and eggs the main step in the recipe is removing the beans from the vanilla stalks and placing it in the mixture (along with the stalks as well) and allowing to sit at room temperature for a while to allow the mixture to absorb the vanilla flavor. Here is the mixture pre-trip to the fridge:

After letting the mixture sit in the fridge overnight, I mixed it in my Kitchen Aid ice cream maker/attachment and placed in the freezer to let sit and firm up. Here is the finished product:

The Verdict:

This was a very good ice cream. Like Ad Hoc's  other desserts, it is very rich and should be limited to 3 or 4 bites. The ice cream tasted the best for two days after I made it, after that it started to loose its texture and became a bit icy.

The Butcher & Larder: Pate

I just wanted to share a picture of the fantastic pork based pate that I picked up this past weekend from The Butcher & Larder (2323 N Milwaukee, Chicago). I stopped in looking for some of their "Country Pate," but Chris asked if I would like to try some of this instead. I'm glad I did as it is some of the best pate I've ever had. All of the pates are made from farm raised animals in house, the pate below is pork liver based. Even if you're not a big pate person, it's worth giving it a try at B&L. Serve it with some simple toast and enjoy!

Pork Belly Tacos

This past weekend I set out to recreate a great dish: the pork belly tacos at Big Star in Wicker Park. I went to the great butcher shop The Butcher & Larder to pick up about 3.25 pounds of pork belly:

I then cut the belly up into 12 squares and put a Mexican spice rub on them before letting them sit for about a half an hour to get to room temperature and absorb the spices a little bit: 

I chopped up some celery, carrots, and onions for my mirepoix: 

I then seared the pork belly in my clay pot: 

In the meantime, I started soaking some black beans that morning to be served as a side dish with the tacos: 

I then put the pork belly in the oven at 350* for about 3 hours, flipping and stirring the contents every half hour or so. After three hours it came out looking like the following: 

I removed the belly, then strained the braising liquid multiple times before reducing it for about 30-40 minutes: 

After the mixture reduced, I cut away some of the very fatty parts of the pork, and pulled out the flavorful meat and placed it back in the pot. I cooked/fried the pork in the reduced liquid which really crisped up the meat: 

Meanwhile, I put the black beans in the oven for about 2 hours to cook: 

I put the pulled pork on a fresh Whole Foods bakery tortilla and served it with queso fresco and cilantro, with the black beans on the side: 

The Verdict:

These where some great tacos. They didn't turn out the same as Big Star, whose belly comes out essentially in cubes and more fried. That doesn't mean these weren't good...in fact the pork belly meat was incredible and very tender and you don't really need to put too much in toppings on it as the meat is really the "star" of the show. A possible idea for next time though would be to put some grilled pineapple on it like another one of Big Star's tacos. I also want to experiment more with Pork Belly and make a few other recipes with it. 

Kendall College welcomes Grant Achatz (March 11th)

Here's a very neat event coming up next week at Kendall College on March 11th:

Founders of Alinea, in Conversation with School of Culinary Arts Dean Christopher Koetke

 They will discuss their new book Life, On the Line: A Chef’s Story of Chasing Greatness, Facing Death, and Redefining the Way We Eat.

 Friday, March 11, 2:00 – 4:00 p

Wood-Mode Auditorium at Kendall College

2:00 pm Reception

2:30 pm Presentation/Q&A

3:30 pm Booksigning/Reception

Cost: $45 includes reception (beer, wine and hors d’oeuvres) and a signed book

View the event's website here.

I think I'm going to try to make this as it looks to be very entertaining.  I can't wait to read this book!

The Ultimate in Sustainable Eating? Scrapple.

This past weekend while visiting The Butcher & Larder to pick up a few night's worth of meat, I spotted something you don't see very often in Chicago:

Beautiful, isn't it? It's called scrapple, and it's a fantastic breakfast snack. Very popular in Pennsylvania, scrapple is traditionally a mush of pork scraps (hence the name) and trimmings combined with cornmeal, flour, and spices. The mush is formed into a loaf and served pan fried with eggs. 

So what are the "scraps" in the scrapple? Traditionally it's made of hog offal, like the head, heart, liver, and other parts. The meat and bones are boiled to make a stock/broth. Once the meat is cooked, it's removed from the bones and cornmeal is added to broth to make a mush. The meat is minced and returned to the mush before making a loaf. At The Butcher & Larder...it's only $4 a pound! 

While it doesn't look particularly yummy sitting on the butchers paper, once fried and served with eggs and ketchup...it's really good. It has the consistency of a hash, but there is a great sausage/meat flavor that goes perfectly with the yolk of the egg. 

Here it is cooked up: 

If this isn't a perfect example of sustainable eating I don't know what is. The butcher takes the meat that is many times thrown away, and finds a vehicle for them. In the end almost all of the animal is used. Considering the quality of the meat sold at Butcher & Larder, if you're going to eat the "questionable" meat from a pig, I would much rather it be from a high quality local sustainable farm.

Next time you're at your local butcher, ask if they have any scrapple. You might be surprised how much you enjoy it. If you don't? You're only out a couple dollars.

Thanks T.K.!

When reading Ad Hoc at Home, Thomas Keller tells you not to use tongs recently made popular by the Food Network TV chef corps hawking them at Target. TK claims that they squeeze and damage the food and in one article even tells the author to flip scallops with your hand. Anyway, I've been trying to hold back on using tongs as much as I can. What do I get for my loyalty to Keller's school of thought?:

A gigantic burn welt on my hand! I was frying the beef for last week's beef stroganoff when the hot oil popped and nailed my hand. At first it didn't hurt really at all. But over two days the skin burnt off and formed a literal hole in my hand. It was so bad someone at the office blurted out "Oh my God! What happened?" I walked over to the office first aid kit and threw a large bandage on it.

Thanks T.K.! 

Culinary Road Trip: 2011 South Beach Food & Wine Festival's Burger Bash

After a LONG winter this was a sight for sore eyes:

85*, Sunny, with a nice ocean breeze was exactly what the doctor ordered after the long Chicago winter.  I haven't been to the city of Miami for years, and I have never been to South Beach so I was excited to make it there later that night to attend the 2011 South Beach Food & Wine Festival's Amstel Light Burger Bash hosted by Rachael Ray presented by Allen Brothers Steaks...yes, that was the official title of the event. I'll just call it the "Burger Bash" for short. 

The event was held on the Ritz-Carlton, South Beach's beach in a massive 250-300 yard long tent. When checking in for the event, they gave us a pair of flip flops (and told me I could check my loafers at the "shoe check" and gave us a map/menu of the different vendors. The unique portion of the event is that every attendee gets a small cork chip that represents his or her vote for their favorite burger of the night. Every competitor/vendor was really putting the sell on to attendees to get those chips! 

Here is the front of the tent as you're walking in:

The 26 vendors offered some sort of burger, and if they were feeling ambitious, a side. The burgers were really slider size, of which I limited myself to two bites of each to prevent getting too stuffed too soon. I felt like a Top Chef judge! 

We had "VIP" access which got us in about an hour earlier than the rest of the attendees. It was a lot like going to Six Flags Great America and not having to wait in line for any of the rides! I tried quite a few of the burgers (8-10 of the 26, I believe) in that hour. All the vendors were on the outside of the tent, and there were many table tops, tables, couches (burgers Miami lounge-style!) in the middle where you could take your burger and hang out. Here is a photo of the tent during the calm VIP hour:

And here is was once it got more crowded:

There were some great burgers here to taste. My plan of attack was to visit the vendors who had previously won awards first, and then visit some of the "celebrity" chefs and their creations, followed by any other vendors that had interesting offerings. Here are some of the notable burgers: 

Shake Shack (Miami Beach, FL)

*2007 People's Choice Award Winner

Shack Burger - American Cheese, Lettuce, Tomato, and Shack Sauce w/ a side of frozen custard and fries.

These guys were the first ones I saw when I walked through the door. It was a fine, traditional burger, but compared to most other's burgers...it tasted bland and was a bit boring.

Landmarc (New York, NY)

The Big Marc- All beef hamburger on a homemade black pepper and cheddar bun with spiked ketchup and house made pickles w/ a side of jalapeno tater tots.

This was a nice burger that on the outside looked traditional, but had some really complex flavors and was really good with the spicy tots on the side.

Morimoto (Boca Raton, FL)

Nikomi Burger - Wagyu beef patty stewed in Morimoto sauce and topped with a fried egg and a side of pickles. 

Straight out of Iron Chef, this vendor had a huge line, even during the VIP hour so I had high expectations. However, I actually thought this was my least favorite burger of the night. It was dry, didn't taste like much, and overall blah.

B Spot (Cleveland, OH)

*2010 People's Choice Winner

Yo! Burger - Burger with fried salami, provolone, shasha sauce and pickled onion served with a nutella and hazelnut liqueur milkshake.

Wow...this was a great burger. The fried salami and picked onion did it for me. The shake on the side was pretty good, but very rich. Michael Symon was really cool and was introducing himself to everyone in line, really working the crowd for votes. 

Love Shack (Fort Worth, TX)

Wild Love - Elk, foie gras, arugula & huckleberry jam w/ a manchego-serrano tater tot. 

This was very unique and very tasty. The elk meat was incredible and the jam made the burger really tasty. Tim Love was up front talking about his burger and was happy to talk up Elk meat as a really unique burger meat and I told him there was a place in Chicago that pairs Elk Meat in a hot dog and serves it with similar jam.

Good Stuff Eatery (Washington D.C.)

*2009 People's Choice Winner

Colletti Smokehouse Burger - Beef burger topped with applewood smoked bacon, cheddar cheese, beer battered onion rings, chipotle BBQ sauce on a potato bun served with a toasted marshmallow milkshake. 

This was my favorite burger of the night. TONS of flavor while unique, it was still a somewhat traditional burger. The shake it came with was a perfect compliment as well. Spike Mendelsohn from Top Chef All-Stars (dressed as the "hamburgler") was nice enough to talk about his burger and introduce himself to people in line.

Bobby's Burger Palace (Paramus, NJ)

Napa Valley Burger Crunchified - Fresh goat cheese, watercress, meyer lemon honey mustard, potato chips. 

Bobby Flay has entered into the competition for the past 5+ years and hasn't yet sniffed the people's choice award. I'm not sure why, as this year's burger was very good, even if it was a little simple. The goat cheese was great on the burger, and the chips were actually pretty tasty. No idea why is was called the "Napa Valley" burger.

Village Whiskey (Philadelphia, PA)

Village Burger - Sesame roll, house made thousand island dressing, tomato, Boston bibb served with a side of Yellow Finn Poutineconfit and farmer's cheese.

Side dish of the night! Whoa mama those fries were amazing! 

Bistro One LR at The Ritz-Carlton, South Beach (Miami Beach, FL)

Bistro Burger - Beef patty, leeks, Hobb's bacon, and foie gras torchon on a potato bun w/ a side of a truffle tater tot.

The Ritz tried to out-class the rest by combining foie gras and a truffled tater tot. While the burger was fine, I have to admit the tater tot was incredible. 

Here is RR and some other of the Food Network-types on stage talking about the event and their respecting charities. When they weren't there talking they had a great band playing some very fun but loud music:

A funny story from the night. During the VIP hour I was having a burger and talking to two nice Starcom employees when this guy who looks like a football player walks up and says hello to the table and introducing himself. I shake his hand and say "Hi, I'm P. Channon", and he goes, "Todd, nice to meet you." After some small talk one of the girls asked to have his picture taken with him. I was a little confused, and later asked the two ladies who he was "Todd English"..."ok...who is that?" I say to which a get in a DUH voice "a huge celebrity chef." This was later confirmed after I texted my foodie friend Nick asking who Todd English is and getting a response: "The Man!" After I turned around I noticed he was a judge (he's on the right), Art Smith (of Table 52 in Chicago) is on the left:

I snapped a picture of Bobby Flay, this was ironically one of the few times he wasn't standing in the corner fingering his blackberry. He didn't work the crowd at all:

Here is our host, walking around trying burgers with a legit 8-man security detail (that's the back of her head). I will admit she's pretty attractive in person: 

The Verdict

A very fun event. Only in Miami can they turn a burger tasting into an "event!" The only downside to the event was that the only beer to drink was Amstel Light. I will say I don't plan on eating a burger for a couple weeks...

Off to Miami...

I'm heading down to Miami for a couple days for business, but while I'm down there I'm planning on attending a really neat food event called the Burger Bash which is a part of the South Beach Food & Wine Festival and hosted by Rachael Ray. Essentially, it's a big tent on the beach filled with different stations with Chefs cooking what they think is the best burger. At the end of the night, there is a vote as to which is the best. There are some pretty neat Chefs lined up for the event (Spike from Top Chef! & Bobby Flay!). I bolded the ones I'm planning on scouting out to see what they have prepared

• Ai Fiori (Michael White)
• Allen Brothers (Samir Dhurandhar)
• Amstel Light (Jonathon Sawyer) Food & Wine Magazine Best New Chef Winner
• B Spot (Michael Symon)
• Bistro one LR at The Ritz-Carlton, South Beach
• BLT Steak Miami (Laurent Tourondel) Food & Wine Magazine Best New Chef Winner
• Bobby's Burger Palace (Bobby Flay)
• Bulldog Burger (Howie Kleinberg)
• Burger & Beer Joint
• Charm City Burger
• Ciao Bella Gelato
• El Mago de las Fritas
• Every Day with Rachael Ray  (Paul Malvone, Boston Burger Company)
• Good Stuff Eatery (Spike Mendelsohn)
• Fireman Derek's Pies
• Ingrid Hoffman
• Jacques Torres
• Landmarc (Marc Murphy)
• Lonesome Dove Cafe (Tim Love)
• Michael’s Genuine Food & Drink (Michael Schwartz)
• Morimoto (Masaharu Morimoto)
• Qsine by JVS from Celebrity Cruises (Jacques Van Staden)
• Radius (Michael Schlow)
• Shake Shack
• Town Kitchen & Bar
• The National (Geoffrey Zakarian)
• Umami Burger
• Village Whiskey (Jose Garces)

Needless to say, I'm pretty excited! Like any red blooded half American man I love a good beer and burger. The only downside to this event is that I'm stuck drinking Amstel Light the whole night...

You can read more about the event here:
http://2011.sobefest.com/e/amstel_light_burger_bash_presented_by_allen_brothers_hosted_by_rachael_ray-3

Ad Hoc at Home: Caramel Ice Cream

To go along with the beef stroganoff we made this past weekend, we also thought it would be fun to make one of the ice cream recipes from Ad Hoc at Home for dessert. We decided on the Caramel Ice Cream recipe because it sounded interesting and actually pretty simple.

Here are the ingredients, a pretty basic ice cream collection of egg yolks, milk and cream, sugar, and salt:

First off, you make the caramel by putting the sugar in a pot with some water and bringing to a simmer. It doesn't look like much now:

But after a while it starts to look familiar!:

After adding and mixing in the cream and milk, you strain and place the mixture in an ice bath:

After cooling in the fridge for some time. We ran our ice cream through our Kitchen Aid mixer attachment, then we put it in the freezer to firm up before serving. When we tasted it we were shocked how rich it was, and decided to balance it with something else...in this case a brownie. Here's the finished product:

Verdict

Very tasty but also very rich. Anymore than a scoop and the flavor becomes a bit too much in my opinion. It did taste great with the brownie (just a mix, not the Ad Hoc recipe) though. We also thought this would go great with apple pie instead of the traditional vanilla.

Ad Hoc at Home: Beef Stroganoff (includes Braised Short Ribs)

This past weekend our trip to the Twin Cities was cut short after we decided to skip town early before blizzard hit the area on Sunday. We got home on Saturday night and with no plans at all for Sunday I popped open Ad Hoc at Home to look for ideas for the next night's dinner when I came across a recipe for Beef Stroganoff, which my wife and I have made many times prior in the "classic" Cambell's Cream of Mushroom soup style. I started reading the full recipe and taking notes on things I would need at the store. As I was reading I said a couple of times "this seems too easy" and sure enough....sub-recipe!!

Keller's recipe calls for the braised short rib recipe from the previous two pages. I have never braised anything, but Keller notes that "it's a very rewarding process for the chef." I've learned quickly that when TK says rewarding he means "this is going to take a long time...I hope you have comfortable shoes."

After getting back from an early dawn trip to Whole Foods in Lincoln Park where I've never bought more produce in one trip to the store in my entire life, I started on the recipe. The first part of creating the braise is making a red wine reduction, which when done resembles a glaze. This required a whole lot of chopping of carrots, leeks, shallots, thyme, button mushrooms, and onions. You then let it simmer and shake for about 45-50 min before adding the beef and starting the braise.

After the reduction becomes a glaze, Keller tells you to add even more carrots, leeks, onions, and shallots, and to start on the meat. The recipe calls for short ribs, with the bone cut out. The "butcher" at Whole Foods who clearly didn't feel like deboning short ribs at 8am on a Sunday sold me on buying short rib chuck cut in the shape of short ribs. I was tired as well and agreed and took a shortcut which in the end was probably stupid. He claimed for that cut he would charge $3 more a pound, but when I thought about it later that probably isn't too mad of a deal considering otherwise you're paying for the bone weight that you don't eat. If the Butcher & Larder opened before 10:00am or I had more than a day's notice I would of gone there.

Anyway...I digress.

You then dredge the salt and pepper seasoned meat through flour before browing it in a frying pan:

Browning the meat in some very hot canola oil:

After you brown the meat, you wrap it in cheesecloth, add in the newly chopped veggies, and cover with beef broth and let it cook in the oven low and slow for about 2 hours. After it's done, you remove the meat, strain the contents of the pot to separate the braising liquid, and place the meat back in the liquid to cool and soak up the liquid for flavor and tenderness. Before serving the dish, you cut the meat into small bite sized pieces and reheat it by carmalizing it in a pan and placing it in the oven for a short period of time.

TK makes an interesting comment in the beginning of the recipe and states that this beef stroganoff is just as much about the mushrooms as it is the beef, and he's right there are a ton (actually 2 pounds) of Crimini mushrooms in this! In order to make the sauce, you place 1 pound of the mushrooms in a food processor and something that looks like this:

After adding about 3 cups of heavy cream and mixing in the above mixture you get this:

As for the remaining pound of mushrooms, the recipe calls for them to be sauteed and placed on top of the dish. Pre-saute:

Post Saute:

Like much of the other recipes in Ad Hoc, this beef stroganoff is really a sum of parts. When plating, you assemble the beef, pappardelle egg noodles (Keller tell you to make from scratch in a sub recipe, but I had no time for that), mushrooms, and parsley for some color.

Verdict

This is one good Stroganoff and Keller was right, it's all about the mushrooms here. While the beef had a good amount of flavor, the egg noodles covered in the cream and mushrooms were my favorite part. Our friends, Joanie and Ryan, who (unknown to me) hate mushrooms came over for dinner and both of them cleaned their plates and loved it. While very time consuming to make, this was a winner in my book.