man vs. food VS. Us

My uncle was telling me about some television show where a man goes around to different restaurants and enters challenges that the restaurant is known for. An example would be that he had to eat 6 of these atomic wings in order to have his picture placed on the 'wall of flame.'

While in Los Angeles he visited Orochon Ramen in Little Tokyo (downtown LA). They have a dish there that (on the show) claim thousands of people of tried to finish, but only a few have succeeded. It's called the "Special #2." Their ramen dishes set up like this:
1. Choose a broth (salt, miso or soy sauce)
2. Choose a heat level (1-7; 7 being the mildest and 1 is "Extreme)
3. Choose extra fillings (i.e. egg, extra noodles, green onions, etc.)

In addition to the 7 heat levels there are 2 SPECIAL heat levels. Both are compared to 'the surface of the sun,' #2 being the hotest of the two.

So last night we to see what the place was all about, and if it lived up to it's hype.
I got a #2 (not the special)

Kristen got a #4 (punk)

Lil Chris got teriyaki chicken.....

and my husband... he attempted the Special #1 (yowwwzaaaa!)


We started off with some beers (yum) and then it was on to the dumplings (yum x2).
Finally the main dishes....

Let's just say that our noses were sweating, it got REALLY hot in that place, and most of us paid for that experience later.

Great place.... you should check it out.

"The Amber"

Another fine, elegant Geneva creation is The Amber. The cake itself is composed of (from the top to bottom) carmel glaze, carmel mousse, chocolate decoration, sponge cake, pears in syrup wiht hazelnut nougatine and lastly pear mousse. YUM!

Making the cake was fun, decorating it was even better. Enjoy.... be prepared to wait AT LEAST 24 hours before you can enjoy this masterpiece. (Sorry for the pictures, but all I have is my iphone during class)

Pain de Gene Sponge (sponge cake from Geneva):
(yield 2 disks 14-16cm of diameter - we cut the recipe in 1/2 yielded 1 ring)

400g almond paste
3g salt
400g eggs, room temp
75g a/p flour
5g baking powder
125g butter, melted

Directions: Beat almond paste and salt with paddle attachment until creamy. Slowly add eggs, 1 at a time, scrap in between each addition. Sift flour and baking powder together first, then add to mixture. Add in melted butter, do not over mix. Pour mixter into a lined ring, filled (no more than) 2/3 full; bake at 325 for 15 minutes. Cool completely.



Pears and pear syrup
500g pears, drained with syrup reserved.

Set aside.

Hazelnut Nougatine (we made 1/3 of recipe)
140g butter
60g glucose
175g sugar
2g pectine NH
250g hazelnut, chopped
3g cinnamon powder

Directions: Bring butter and glucose to a boil in saucepan. Add sugar and pectine, reboil. Keep mixture in a warm place until just about to use. When ready, add chopped nuts to mixture. Spread mixture on a baking sheet and cook until hardened and browned, approximately 8-12 minutes. Cool then break apart into small pieces.

Carmel Mousse (we made 1/3 of recipe)
100g pear syrup (reserved from above)
20g milk powder 0% fat
100g egg yolk
20g glucose
10g gelatin 180 bloom
50g water
100g sugar
70g glucose
1 vanilla bean
300g warmed heavy cream
350g whipped cream

Direction: cook pear syrup, milk powder, yolks and glucose in a saucepan. Meanwhile bloom gelatin sheets in water. In another pan cook sugar, glucose and vanilla bean to a amber/carmel color. Add in warmed cream and bring back to a boil. Add gelatin sheet to egg mixture and then combine egg mixture with carmel mixture. Fold in whipped cream, set aside.

Pear Mousse (we made 1/3 recipe):
90g pear syrup (reserved from above)
20g milk powder 0% fat
100g egg yolk
20g glucose
50g trimoline
16g gelatine 180 bloom
80g water
450g pear puree
40g pear alcohol
165g whipped cream

Directions: Repeat exact instruction from carmel mousse, except ADD TRIMOLINE to egg mixture. Set aside.

Carmel Glaze:
(Note: this makes almost 4 gallons of liquid - we made an entire recipe for the class)
400g apricot glaze
1qt water
80g gelatine
150g sugar

Directions: In a LARGE and WIDE pan, cook sugar until it is a dark amber color (this will take a while and the sugar will clump together - be patient and create a liquid); it should boil roughly. Add water to stop the boiling process. The water will again make the sugar clump together.... just keep stirring. Add apricot glaze to mixture, stirring constantly. Lastly add gelatine bloom. Mixture will be extremely hot and need to cool down considerably. The mixture should be hotter than warm when using, but not this hot.


Assembling the cake:

Once the cake is cooled, cut in half. Working from the bottom up, and using the same sized ring used for cooking the cake, place ring on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper. Fill bottom of ring with carmel mousse, paying attention to allow some mousse to come up the sides (we want the exterior of the cake to have this mouse around it). Sprinkle some chocolate decoration on the mousse now (optional - we did not do this step). Place 1 layer of cake on top of the mouse. Fill the top of the cake with pear mousse (careful to all the 'carmel' mouse to still occupy the outside area). Chop and sprinkle the reserved pears on top of the mousse followed by sprinkles of the nougatine. Cover the top of the pears and nougatine with more pear mousse followed by the last layer of cake.





Cover and freeze the cake for at least 8 hours so that it's completely frozen.

Unmold the cake and place on a cooling rack (placed inside of a plastic wrapped lined baking sheet). Laddle the syrup over the cake completely making sure to work from the top of the cake to the sides. Shock the pan to make sure the syrup coats the cake, return to the freezer until ready to decorate (3-5 minutes). Keep cold until ready to serve.




Enjoy!