mashed potato covered in browned cheese must be one of the original comfort foods. warm, moist, crunchy and soft at once, and milky on the tongue, yet with the complex flavours that browning gives. for these flavours, born from the interaction of amino acids and reducing sugars in the presence of heat, we have the maillard reaction to thank. no-name stuffed this into balsamic-marinated baby portabella mushrooms and they were really good.
the pastry chef at charlie's reached a new state of divinity today with a caramel chestnut marjolaine. seeing it on the menu, i stopped by on my way to an afternoon meeting and it was, verily, a dacquoise -- two layers of surprisingly stable meringue sandwiching a filling of heavy cream, chestnuts, and hazelnut. also, the whipper of the cream in the no-name creme chantilly bowl struck today, for the first time in weeks, that happy medium of a slightly-sweetened, soft, unctuous colloidal suspension of air in fat. the two went very well together.
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