Loved this comment for both the arrogant brother and the Christmas goose, although I thought at first it was the Christmas Goose itself who was arrogant, which, tbh, makes sense as well.
Maybe do some canning? Salsa? Apple pie filling? Pepper jelly? Great way to spend the day and you'll have lots of treats to give away for the holidays.
I make a killer beef bourguignon. A combination of julia childs, ina gartens, and my moms. Pretty complicated but a great winter meal. Just tell me where to email it and its yours.
My late husband used to make beef bourguignon using Julia Child's recipe. My entire family loved it. Jenny, maybe you could publish Virginia's recipe if you like it?
Having just finished reading Sara B. Franklin's The Editor, about the legendary Judith Jones, I am dying to bust out one of my two (1) inherited copies of Mastering the Art of French Cooking and make Julia's beef bourguignon. Or maybe I should cook something from every Judith Jones-edited book I own, which turns out to be ... a lot. Anyway, maybe something complicated and French will scratch the itch for you.
Oh yes, definitely! I recently inherited (do you sense a theme here??) a copy of An Introduction to Indian Cooking and it makes for great reading as well as great cooking. I had also forgotten that Judith Jones found Anna Thomas, the vegetarian guru of my early university days -- it's fun to revisit that too!
Moussaka. I married into a Greek family and it’s the tastiest of dishes when done right. So many vegetables to be fried. A bechemel and a red sauce. It has it all.
Homemade mole! Love mixing all ingredients together and the result is so complex and delicious! And it freezes well and is great in chilaquiles too. In fact, I’ll make it this week while sending prayers of hope to all of our Mexican, Puerto Rican and other Hispanic friends after the recent horrendous comments made in this country. ❤️🙏🏼
We are hosting our annual cassoulet party this weekend, which means I salted the duck legs for confit before leaving for work and will be cooking components all week long. Our recipe started with a Bon Appetit article (https://www.bonappetit.com/story/cassoulet-recipe-plan) and has evolved quite a bit, but it's a wonderful way to tell your closest 8-10 friends who eat meat that you think they are worth the work. It's really 2 days, minimum, but the duck confit is quite hands off, so really it's just one day of head-down work. It's a favorite tradition in our house!
It's a little too early for this, but I love making a yule log in the lead-up to Christmas. The individual components aren't that complicated and many can be made in advance, but adding them all up and assembling the final product requires a decent amount of time and focus. The finished product is always impressive and, to me, is a great way to show my love for friends and family at the holidays. I almost never do this kind of project baking, so the labor involved makes it extra special.
Agreed! And you can make it an even more involved project by then turning around and using it to make her lasagne with bechamel sauce - the gold standard as far as I’m concerned (and I’m insufferably snooty about Italian food).
Melissa Clark's recipe for Chocolate babka is SO GOOD and SO MANY STEPS! Also Julia Child's Cassoulet is unbelievably good and takes a millennia. And the pies in Lauren Ko's Pieometry are genuinely delicious, humbling and make you feel like a patisserie chef.
In (the late)Queen Elizabeth's Jubilee year there was a competition for the most fantastic pomp-and-circumstance pudding (= British English for dessert). This trifle won. I made it. It took many hours. https://www.bbc.co.uk/food/recipes/lemon_swiss_roll_and_42467
My favorite all-day recipe is hummus. Soaking the beans in water and baking soda, boiling them, and then the meditative part -- removing chickpea hulls. Infinitely variable so you can put your own spin on it.
Cassoulet from Julia Child's Mastering the Art of French Cooking or other extremely vintage and many-steppy cookbook. Plenty has a complicated trifle recipe that nearly killed me one holiday. Anything from Fanny Singer's beautiful and tender memoir, Always Home.
Cook's Illustrated's Beef Wellington. Circa 2001-ish.
Takes days. Not only the best thing I've ever made, it was also the best thing I've ever eaten.
Plus, it completely outshined my arrogant brother's Christmas Goose, so the memory is sweet.
Loved this comment for both the arrogant brother and the Christmas goose, although I thought at first it was the Christmas Goose itself who was arrogant, which, tbh, makes sense as well.
I laughed. We all have that arrogant brother. Even if it's not necessarily a brother.
Maybe do some canning? Salsa? Apple pie filling? Pepper jelly? Great way to spend the day and you'll have lots of treats to give away for the holidays.
Yes! Canning seems intimidating but I’d love to know how.
I make a killer beef bourguignon. A combination of julia childs, ina gartens, and my moms. Pretty complicated but a great winter meal. Just tell me where to email it and its yours.
you had me at KILLER
Jenny AT dinneralovestory DOT com
My late husband used to make beef bourguignon using Julia Child's recipe. My entire family loved it. Jenny, maybe you could publish Virginia's recipe if you like it?
I’m making that tomorrow with the NYT recipe.
Having just finished reading Sara B. Franklin's The Editor, about the legendary Judith Jones, I am dying to bust out one of my two (1) inherited copies of Mastering the Art of French Cooking and make Julia's beef bourguignon. Or maybe I should cook something from every Judith Jones-edited book I own, which turns out to be ... a lot. Anyway, maybe something complicated and French will scratch the itch for you.
I had the same thought when I finished that book. I especially felt like I needed to take a deep dive back into Madhur Jaffrey's books.
Oh yes, definitely! I recently inherited (do you sense a theme here??) a copy of An Introduction to Indian Cooking and it makes for great reading as well as great cooking. I had also forgotten that Judith Jones found Anna Thomas, the vegetarian guru of my early university days -- it's fun to revisit that too!
Ha, I love that I'm like the third or fourth person to say JULIA CHILD has what you seek: a Project!
Moussaka. I married into a Greek family and it’s the tastiest of dishes when done right. So many vegetables to be fried. A bechemel and a red sauce. It has it all.
Homemade mole! Love mixing all ingredients together and the result is so complex and delicious! And it freezes well and is great in chilaquiles too. In fact, I’ll make it this week while sending prayers of hope to all of our Mexican, Puerto Rican and other Hispanic friends after the recent horrendous comments made in this country. ❤️🙏🏼
We are hosting our annual cassoulet party this weekend, which means I salted the duck legs for confit before leaving for work and will be cooking components all week long. Our recipe started with a Bon Appetit article (https://www.bonappetit.com/story/cassoulet-recipe-plan) and has evolved quite a bit, but it's a wonderful way to tell your closest 8-10 friends who eat meat that you think they are worth the work. It's really 2 days, minimum, but the duck confit is quite hands off, so really it's just one day of head-down work. It's a favorite tradition in our house!
It's a little too early for this, but I love making a yule log in the lead-up to Christmas. The individual components aren't that complicated and many can be made in advance, but adding them all up and assembling the final product requires a decent amount of time and focus. The finished product is always impressive and, to me, is a great way to show my love for friends and family at the holidays. I almost never do this kind of project baking, so the labor involved makes it extra special.
I love devoting a weekend day to making Marcella Hazan's bolognese! Another fave is the Sunday Sauce from Frankies: https://www.seriouseats.com/frankies-tomato-sauce-recipe
Agreed! And you can make it an even more involved project by then turning around and using it to make her lasagne with bechamel sauce - the gold standard as far as I’m concerned (and I’m insufferably snooty about Italian food).
Ha, just posted the same thing above. And handmade lasagne noodles to put it over the top!
oh wow, hadn’t thought of that, but YES!
Melissa Clark's recipe for Chocolate babka is SO GOOD and SO MANY STEPS! Also Julia Child's Cassoulet is unbelievably good and takes a millennia. And the pies in Lauren Ko's Pieometry are genuinely delicious, humbling and make you feel like a patisserie chef.
In (the late)Queen Elizabeth's Jubilee year there was a competition for the most fantastic pomp-and-circumstance pudding (= British English for dessert). This trifle won. I made it. It took many hours. https://www.bbc.co.uk/food/recipes/lemon_swiss_roll_and_42467
Timpano ala Big Night is such a fun project dinner but invite lots of people over because it's huge.
I also came to recommend Timpano. Stanley Tucci’s recipe (what else??): https://cooking.nytimes.com/recipes/12799-timpano-alla-big-night?unlocked_article_code=1.V04.Aubs.hkPE-1Oq9qGF&smid=ck-recipe-iOS-share
Anything from Mastering the Art of French Cooking. Samin Nosrat’s NYT lasagna. Serious Eats Awesome Black Bean Burgers with all the fixings and sides.
Second Samin Nosrat’s Lasagna! It was our NYE project during COVID, and so so good.
My favorite all-day recipe is hummus. Soaking the beans in water and baking soda, boiling them, and then the meditative part -- removing chickpea hulls. Infinitely variable so you can put your own spin on it.
Cassoulet from Julia Child's Mastering the Art of French Cooking or other extremely vintage and many-steppy cookbook. Plenty has a complicated trifle recipe that nearly killed me one holiday. Anything from Fanny Singer's beautiful and tender memoir, Always Home.
Is Kouign Amann sufficiently complex? Maybe not, but the end result is delicious.