Category: Food

 

The Buche de Noel became a Christmas tradition when we moved to Nevada in 1976. It was our first Christmas. There was just the four of us. No tree. Nothing particularity festive. But we did have a gas fireplace at the apartment we were living in on Skyline Blvd. I picked up a few bottles of Robert Mondavi Cab. a hunk of English Stilton. a nice piece of  tenderloin for Beef Wellington and we set about creating our idea of an English Christmas with a French accent.

The Buche is a flourless cake that is actually easy to make but the ingredients require a lot of beating. I didn’t have a stand mixer so the next best thing is to have a stand-in mixer person. Both my sons, Ari and Kevin took turns beating the egg whites and egg yolks, for the chocolate sponge and helped with whipping the cream, but most of all licking the bowls.

After the chocolate sponge came out of the oven per instructions I covered it with a clean dish towel that was wet in very cold water and well wrung out. Once properly cooled I removed the dish towel, covered it with 2 overlapping sheets of waxed paper and flipped it on to the counter. I carefully peeled of the waxed paper from the baking process and spread on the whipping cream filling.  Then rolled it lengthwise with the wax paper to form a long log and placed it on the serving plater. The Buche then went into the frig while we whipped up the chocolate coffee cream for the frosting.  We decorated it with snipped holly leafs and berries from a holly bush that grew near our apartment door.

After dinner that Christmas  we were invited by the parents of one of Ari’s friends who had a home on Skyline not far from where we lived for drinks, coffee and desert. We brought the Buche to be part of the dessert table.  Our host was a pilot for Pam Am and most of the people there were also with the airline. Several were from Germany. They wanted to know what European Bakery I got the Buche at because as one guest said. “it certainly isn’t like the over sweet goop you get here”. Needless to say I felt very good about the way our dessert offering was received.

Since then the Buche has gotten a bit more elaborate. Filled and decorated with raspberries or cherries and dusted with ground pistachios. Once I did not have any good instant espresso coffee so I replaced it with Kahlúa and have made it that way ever since. The original recipe also called for dusting the sponge with powdered sugar before filling. I have never bothered with that, but by all means do it if you like.

The basic recipe came from Gourmet’s Cookbook Volume 2 I believe or maybe Volume 1. Books I was introduced to by my friend Joni Golden who was a fabulous cook. Our friendship began when our oldest sons were born hours apart and she was my roommate at Rush Presbyterian St. Luke’s in Chicago . She ask me “Do you put nutmeg in your spaghetti sauce”? Many of my best recipes started out in those books and as a matter of fact yes, I always put a dash or so of nutmeg in my spaghetti sauce.

I still do not have a stand mixer, but lucky me I have a stand-in mixer person. Each year since the Christmas of 1980 my Ever Love’n husband Ashton has taken over the duty of doing all of the mixing and since the boys are grown men on their own paths he gets to lick the bowl all by himself.  This cake is always on the table at Christmas at our home or taken to friends for Christmas dinner. It is also always on the table for Ashton’s Birthday on December 30.

I do not bother with meringue mushrooms that often decorate this type of cake. But by all means have at it if your heart so desires. I also do not bother with cutting off a piece and sticking it back at an angle as is often seen in other recipes for Buche. But again.. Feel free if you are so inclined.

Please note: you do need a good sheet pan, the best semisweet chocolate, I like Ghirardelli and you will need brandy, my preference is Korbel’s  and coffee liquor, my choice is Kahlúa. But if you can’t get or do not want any of that you can substitute the coffee liqueur with very strong coffee and just skip the brandy.  The cake can be made the day before serving. You do need good refrigerator space to store the cake.  Since we do not have an extra refrigerator and it is always quite cold in Reno at Christmas, I use the trunk of my car.

Buche de Noel

For the Cake
9 eggs separated
3/4 cup sugar
9 oz semisweet chocolate
4 tbs coffee liqueur

For the Filling
2 cups whipped cream
sugar to taste
raspberries or other fruit
1 tbs Brandy

For the Frosting
1 cup whipped cream
1 tbs cocoa powder dark
1 tbs coffee liqueur
sugar to taste

1. Preheat oven to 350.F. Oil a jelly roll pan, line with wax paper and oil again. In a medium bowl beat 9 egg whites with 1/4 c. of sugar until stiff but not dry. In a large bowl, using the same beaters, beat 9 egg yolks with 1/2 c. sugar until thick. (They should form a ribbon when the beaters are lifted). Melt 9 oz. of dark semi-sweet or sweet chocolate with 4 tblsp. of coffee liquor or strong coffee. Stir into beaten egg yolks and finally fold in egg whites. Spread batter evenly in pan and bake for 20 min. (The cake is done when it has pulled slightly away from the side of the pan and the center springs back when lightly press. You have to be careful to not burn the edges.) Remove from oven and cover the cake with a damp towel and cool. Loosen the cake from the pan. and if you wish dust the surface with powdered sugar.

Take two sheets of waxed paper and overlap them on top of the pan then grabbing the pan with the wax paper in place turn the cake over onto the over lapping sheets of wax paper. Carefully peel off the wax paper from the bottom of the cake. Spread 2 c. of beaten whipped cream, sweetened to taste over the cake. Line the whipped cream with fresh raspberries (or sweet cherries, strawberries or peaches are nice too. Or what ever tickles your fancy.) and then roll the cake lengthwise into a long roll, by lifting the wax paper.

Now if you want to make a traditional Buche, frost the cake with a mocha butter cream frosting and meringue mushrooms. Or do what I do. Beat 1 cup of heavy whipping cream with 1 tablesp. of dark cocoa, 1 tblsp. coffee liquor and sugar to taste. Spread over roll making rough marks to resemble bark and decorate with raspberries or cherries and  sprinkle chopped pistachios on the the log.

You can forgo the frosting, dust with powdered sugar and serve slices of the cake on raspberry puree and swirl chocolate sauce around the edge, with a garnish of fresh mint leaf. Since it has no flower it is a wonderful roll to serve this way for Passover. You could hide a small candy Easter egg in the cake at Easter and decorate it for Easter by using orange liquor in place of the Kahlúa.  Just let your imagination take flight. The basic recipe lends it self to many variations.

Servings: 15
Yield: 15

Oven Temperature: 350°F

Cooking Times
Preparation Time: 20 minutes
Cooking Time: 20 minutes
Total Time: 60 minutes

Serving size: 1/15 of a recipe (2.7 ounces).

My Aunt Lu made the best coconut cream pies.  My mother made an amazing one as well and if I do say so myself my efforts for a from scratch coconut cream pie were also stellar though they never equaled my Aunt Lu’s. It might be that one of her secrets was making her pie dough with lard. My mother and I used butter and shortening.  I think that made the difference in mouth feel as well as taste.

A lot of effort goes into making a proper coconut cream pie. A great coconut cream depends on getting the custard just right. Custard from scratch requires a lot of stirring, temperature control and it is time consuming.  It requires patience and concentration and a good eye to know when the custard is right. You need to know what to look for.  It’s not really difficult but you do need to pay attention and focus on the task at hand.

A few years ago we were having company over for dinner and I thought the menu just begged for a coconut cream pie for dessert, but time was not on my side for making one from scratch and so I improvised.  That was the day the Great Almost Proper Coconut Cream Pie was born and that’s the way I have made it ever since.  So far I haven’t gotten any complaints and I’m sure Sandra Lee would approve and Anthony Bourdain would despise it.

I had on hand ready made pie crust,  instant vanilla pudding, coconut milk,  milk, sweetened coconut, unsweetened coconut and heavy whipping cream that was originally intended for another dessert. All in all, start to finish it took about 30 minutes with most of that time waiting for the pie crust to bake and cool. 

So.. if you find yourself in need for a fast dessert for company or for your family or just for yourself this is how to make the Great Almost Proper Coconut Cream Pie

About 1/2 cup unsweetened coconut flakes spread out in a frying pan carefully toasted in a 350 degree oven. Five to seven minutes. Watch it it can burn easily.

1 9″ blind baked pie crust cooled. (If using a ready made one I like the one from Trader Joe’s in the frozen food section)

2 (3.5 ounce) packages instant vanilla pudding mix (regular or sugar free)

1 1/4 c. milk (any kind but 1% or fat free)

1 1/2 c. coconut milk

1 1/2 c sweetened coconut

1/2 pint heavy whipping cream

Put the pudding mix in a bowl add the milks and beat until smooth. Fold in the sweetened coconut. Pour into the pie shell and refrigerate about 10 minutes. This stuff sets up quickly.  Beat the whipping cream and sweeten it to your taste.  Spoon the whipped cream on top of the coconut custard and sprinkle the toasted coconut on top.  Keep refrigerated until ready to serve.  That’s it.

Yes you should know how to make a proper pie crust and a proper custard. You should take the time and focus on the task at hand needed to making each element just so.  If possible you should have children by your side to help and observe and taste the custard remains from the pot. You should share the great experience of real food from scratch cooking. But if time does not permit you can still share and come up with a pretty good reasonable facsimile there off.

Several years ago I decided I just could not face shopping and spending three days cooking another Thanksgiving dinner. It has been been our habit to go to Napa, stay at the Silverado and have our Thanksgiving meal at the wonderful spread they put out.

Initially I thought that this  year because of another trip we have planned close to Thanksgiving we should have a quiet little Thanksgiving for a few friends at home so I set out looking for a Heritage Turkey. Our friend Charlie Abowd of Adele’s in Carson City messaged me that he could get one.

Somehow I completely forgot about the original plan and instead we made reservation to go to the Club for dinner. That is until Charlie once again messaged me the week before Thanksgiving that the turkey was landing. It also turned out that the friends we thought who might join us at the Club had made other plans leaving Ashton and I to celebrate quietly at home with a 10 pound bird that I soon learned was very different from any turkey I had ever tackled before.

After considerable research I decided that the best line of attack would be to Spatchcock this baby make a dry rub and roast it up at the suggested high heat recommended by many that do their birds in this manner.

Now I have deboned chicken and removed the breast bones of up to a 25 lb turkey and never have broken a sweat. I have all the instruments of deconstruction necessary for the task.. but I never have dealt with a bird like this.  First off a Heritage is one tough cookie. The bones and sinew are very strong. Cutting out the backbone proved to be much harder then I anticipated. Fortunately I had Ashton to help and we managed to get that part of the job done with the aid of a hammer and chisel when poultry sheers and knives failed.   Finding and removing the wish bone proved to be another challenge. The anatomy of this bird was significantly different than a Butterball.  Despite the challenges we managed to get it properly flatted and dry rubbed down.  I made a bed of chopped carrots, celery, onion, fennel and apple, popped it into a 450 0ven and in one hour the bird was ready. Beautifully browned, perfectly cooked. Once properly rested I carved it up. This took some effort as well because as I said these birds are strong and require a bit of a learning curve. The carving wasn’t as beautiful as I would have liked, however the the end results more then made up for the lack of precision knife work.

So we feasted on this delicious, fabulous if somewhat frustrating bird, mushroom gravy, simple baked sweet potato with cinnamon and butter, orange cranberry sauce and Brussels Sprouts roasted with shallots and bacon, a fine bottle of Migration Pinot Noir and of course Pecan Pumpkin Pie.

It was a very special beautiful dinner and one that will be longed remembered.

One other thing of note. Even though this was a very striped down Thanksgiving i.e. I did not make stuffing or cornmeal muffins or fresh string bean casserole or sweet potato souffle, mashed potatoes, apple pie or a salad and coconut curry squash soup as I have when I was really into Thanksgiving the various components still took three days.

Of course one of the advantages of making Thanksgiving is the left overs. Today I will make Ashton’s favorite hot turkey sandwich. Now I am off to get the gravy for the sandwich started, put up a big pot of turkey soup plus bake another pumpkin pie.

I do love to cook and to entertain but all things considered I think we’ll go back to Napa next year. That being said the next time I roast up a chicken it will differently be spatchcocked and if I so decide to get in the mood for another Thanksgiving at home I will do the same with the turkey. It’s the only way to go.