I’m in an extremely good mood today — more on this later — and am celebrating with a book giveaway.
The good people at Whitecap Books have generously provided me with a copy of Dominique & Cindy Duby’s wonderful book, Crème Brûlée: More than 50 Decadent Recipes. This is the book I used to conquer my culinary nemesis Classic Vanilla Brulee. Earlier attempts had been embarrassing, but with the Duby’s help, my results were perfect. Dangerously so.
While the photography is stunning, bordering on art, the recipes are equally impressive and surprisingly easy to make. The Duby’s cover classic and unusual flavour combinations, both sweet and savory. They give tips to ensure your dish turns out perfectly and even provide guidelines so you can create your own variations. The adventurous will want to try their hand at the caramel art. The hungry will want to dig right in.
So, how to win?
- Due to outrageous postal rates, the winner will have to live in Canada (or, have a Canadian mailing address. This could be a way to reconnect with long-lost Canadian relatives…)
- In the comments section, tell me about a dish that stumps you. Be sure to give a few details about what goes wrong. Does it burn, get too runny, fall flat, turn rubbery…
- Leave your name and the city you live in.
- Do this by Feb 28th.
On March 1st, I’ll draw a name and post the winner in the comments section. Be sure to check back since it’s my only way of contacting you.
How will I draw the name? If all goes to plan, I’ll use a decision-making widget on my new laptop. My current computer doesn’t have enough juice to handle my demands, and so I got a new one yesterday. Hence the good mood, which will likely evaporate as I attack the steep learning curve of my Mac’s OS, new mail software, new backup system …
Good luck to us all.
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{ 11 comments… read them below or add one }
I’ve always had trouble with pie crust. I just can’t do it. It always turns out tough or wet.
I just buy the frozen crust now and it always tastes great.
(My entry for the Creme Brulee book giveaway)
P.S. I really want to win this one.
I can’t make a god 7 minute frosting and I love the stuff!
If I make a layer cake, it dissapears completely! I’m also on a quest to make the perfect cème brulée. I made it for the first time a couple of weeks ago and didn’t cook it long enough and didn’t have a torch. Broil made is soupy..
Anne in Ottawa.
It’s a toss up between anything that has to do with eggs whites, and caramel.
Egg whites- angel food cakes are flat, meringues are either too crisp or not crisp enough, macaroons never have feet, cakes with egg whites folded in are a disaster.
Caramel- lumpy, burnt, not enough colour, too much colour, too stiff, too runny.
Brilynn
GTA
Cake in any form. Plain cake. Flat. Everytime. I can actually hear the air escape as it deflates. pffffffff. I adjust temperature, pans, overmix, undermix. I can’t find the magic formula.
–Jill (jj) in Markham
I had a recipe for a molasses “fudge” that my mother had clipped from a magazine along time ago, and no matter how carefully I followed that recipe i always ended up with molasses taffy.
Norma in New Brunswick
Pies. Crusts, middles, the whole thing. They’re just all a mystery to me.
Gina Roberts-Grey
Baldwinsville, NY
For me, it’s lemon-roasted potatoes. I’ve tried at least a dozen recipes, and while they’re all tasty enough in their own way none of them taste much like lemon.
Nicole
rural North Okanagan
I live in the USA, but I suck at cooking meat. Like big roasts and whole chickens, they are either raw or dry as a bone.
I can’t for the life of me make Kraft Dinner…I think I try too hard. Anything in a package …I can make Mac’n cheese with a beautiful bechamel tho…
Lynda in Chester
OK, I just scored a creme brulee book elsewhere so don’t put my name in the widget, but I would like to admit, publicly for the very first time, that I am incompetent at cooking pork chops. Bone in, boneless, it makes no difference. They end up the texture of tires.
Charmian knows me already, but to the rest, I say, “Hello!”
My stumper, is the real mystery of too many of us. How can I copy my mother-in-law’s cooking? The chemistry stuff I do all day usually gets me out of most binds, or at least lets me make logical excuses for my failures. Getting the twinkle in my darling’s eye on a consistent basis is another story. I am afraid it will only come from either a permanent relocation to his homeland, or divine intervention. God help us all!!