Bread Pudding French Toast

I hope you guys had a great Memorial Day weekend! I just got back from a beautiful trip to Sonoma, California, which I'm going to do a whole wrap-up of food-and-drink-wise, but until then, I give you Matt's birthday breakfast: bread pudding French toast and bacon. Try it! It was delicious—both on the first day and then again on the second, heated up and sprinkled with some granulated sugar. 

Kenny Shopsin's version:

our version:

Bread Pudding French Toast  via Kenny Shopsin's Eat Me
6 extra-large eggs
¼ cup heavy cream
1 teaspoon Fox's U-bet Vanilla Syrup or 1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract. (I would recommend using the full teaspoon of vanilla extract.)
1 foot of baguette, roughly chopped into chunks (about 1¼ inches)
Peanut oil for the griddle
Butter for the griddle and for serving
Warm Grade B maple syrup for serving

NOTE: The below is straight from the book/Kenny. Enjoy!
Whisk the eggs, cream, and vanilla in a medium bowl. Add the bread chunks and use your fingers to macerate the chunks so you have atomic bread particles in with the egg. Continue adding the bread and macerating it, a handful at a time, until you have added it all. Prepare the griddle according to The Art of Griddling, dump the bread chunks on the griddle, and then pour the eggy stuff left in the bowl over the chunks, Leave it all to cook for 2 minutes to set. Take a large spatula, slide it under the bread-egg mound, and turn the thing over en masse, leaving it as intact as you can. Cook for a minute on the other side and then break it up with the spatula and toss the pieces around so the edges get cooked a bit. Get a wide-mouthed bowl (I put a little spinach in it because I like the color) and scoop the whole mess into the bowl. (I use a French fry scoop for this, but since you probably don't own one, use whatever you feel will work best.) Serve with butter and warm maple syrup.

Shopsin's Pumpkin Pancakes

I have been honest with you about my love for Kenny Shopsin. I've made his recipes, quoted him, dressed as him, and even pitched you culinary romantic comedies with him as the prideful protagonist. And all of this adoration has paid off in the form of friends sending me Shopsin-related articles, recipes, and thoughts (shopsinthoughts). This one for pumpkin pancakes came at me via my good friend Heather, via Saveur (Thank you, both!). Saveur had me at the photograph, but it wasn't until much later, until I began making the batter that I realized this recipe seemed very un-Shopsin-like. For starters, in his book Eat me: The Food and Philosophy of Kenny Shopsin, Mr. Shopsin admits that he doesn't like to make pancake batter, and in fact, uses frozen Aunt Jemima batter. It's been a while since I read Eat Me, but to make sure I was remembering correctly, I went back and re-enjoyed part of his explanation for using the frozen stuff:

"The only way I imagined I might be able to make a better pancakes [than the frozen stuff] was if I beat egg whites until stiff and then folded them into the batter, but the problem with this method is that the only thing I hate more than baking is beating f*cking egg whites. I go through so much batter that I knew if I did this, I was just going to be beating those egg whites for the rest of my life. So I cut bait and started using the frozen stuff instead."

This makes sense considering that 1.) Shopsin doesn't ef around doing things he doesn't like to do and 2.) for him, the pancake is all about equipment and technique anyway. He lays out his specifications for both in the subsequent section: The Art of Griddling. I know I mentioned this already in the mac 'n' cheese pancake post, but he goes into it with such conviction, I believe it deserves the double mention. There's much to take away from his notes on griddling, but what I believe is the most important is that the vast majority of us don't wait until the pan/griddle is hot enough. "Heat the griddle until a drop of water bounces off the surface. This is key," Shopsin writes. If you don't do this, to quote him yet again, but from another source: "different, bad things happen."

Thanks to his advice, with these pumpkin pancakes, similar, good things happened. I do wonder, though, if Shopsin makes his pumpkin pancakes from scratch or if he adjusts the Jemima batter accordingly. Either way, Matt and I enjoyed these and I think you will too.

Saveur's version:

our version:

Maybe it's the fact that only last week, LA was experiencing 100+ degree weather, but I feel like I've never been more excited about fall and fall cooking. The clove and cinnamon coming off these pancakes as they cooked on the stovetop with my bare feet gripping the cold kitchen tiles and a chilly, autumnal breeze blowing in through the windows placed me firmly within a Ruth Reichl tweet. Far too dreamy for real life. I had been running around all day, but it was one of those moments where I had to stop and say aloud: "I love coooking!!" Here's a Bon Appetempt suggestion: Buy the ingredients for these pancakes (they all keep), wait for that perfect fall day to make them, then (and, this is key) turn up a few songs in the realm of, or specifically, Mumford & Sons' The Cave, and love life.

Kenny Shopsin's Recipe via Saveur Magazine:

1 3⁄4 cups flour

3 tbsp. sugar

1 tbsp. ground cinnamon

2 tsp. baking powder

1 tsp. ground cloves

1 tsp. ground ginger

1⁄2 tsp. kosher salt

1⁄4 tsp. ground allspice

1 cup canned pumpkin purée

1 cup heavy cream

1⁄2 cup milk

2 eggs, lightly beaten

6 tbsp. canola oil

Butter and maple syrup, for serving

1. In a bowl, whisk together flour, sugar, cinnamon, baking powder, cloves, ginger, salt, and allspice. Add pumpkin, cream, milk, and eggs; whisk until smooth.

2. Heat 1 tbsp. oil in a 12" nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Using a 1⁄4-cup measuring cup, pour batter into skillet to make three 3" pancakes. Cook until bubbles begin to form on the edges, 1–2 minutes. Flip and cook until done, 1–2 minutes more. Repeat with remaining oil and pancake batter. Serve pancakes hot with butter and syrup.

Meyer Lemon Tortilla-Crepe Cake

This was an exciting week. For the first time (I think?) I was able to manipulate my scant but growing culinary knowledge and successfully alter a recipe to suit my skill level. Do you remember Kenny Shopsin and the mac 'n' cheese pancakes? Well, after my failed Easter eggs, I really wanted this crepe cake to turn out, and I remembered reading his trick for crepes in Eat Me. How does Kenny Shopsin make a crepe? He uses flour tortillas. Have you ever heard of doing this? He dips one side of the tortilla in a mixture of eggs and cream, fries it in a buttered pan, waits until that side gets nice and mottled with brown spots, coats the other side with the egg and cream mixture, browns that side and voila, he's got himself a crepe.

Could you imagine stranger bedfellows than Martha Stewart and Kenny Shopsin?

With that, I give you Martha's version:

And here's our version:

The first step, making the lemon curd mousse, is all Martha.

Candying the meyer lemons? This has Martha written all over it.

When you pull out flour tortillas for a dessert this gorgeous and WASPy, you kind of know you are in Shopsin territory.

The result of this crazy amalgam of these two food-making superheroes on opposite spectrums of the urf?

Crazy deliciousness. The buttery chewiness of the tortilla-crepes and the sweet, slightly sour yet creamy lemon mousse curd with the uber-tart bite of the candied lemon was superb. Super superb.

But why stop there? Can I take this Martha/Kenny combination even further? Let me try:

Possibly my favorite story of all time is that of Elizabeth Bennet and Fitzwilliam Darcy from Pride and Prejudice, which I just recently pulled off my shelf and reread. Consequently, this week I've been seeing the world with Jane-Austen glasses.

Can you deny that there is nothing more romantic, more pre-Victorian and Pride and Prejudice-y than this meyer lemon crepe cake? And even though meyer lemons weren't discovered until the 1900s, couldn't you just picture this cake at Pemberley?

And by this thought-process, can we not jump to the next conclusion: a modern day version of Pride and Prejudice set firmly within the Manhattan foodie scene? Shopsin though, with his wit and "inferior connections" would have to play the role of Elizabeth, and Martha with her immaculate breeding and cold demeanor would fall perfectly in line with a Mr. Darcy rendition. Am I right on track or what, P&P fans?

Meyer Lemon Crepe Cake (adapted from Martha Stewart)

Ingredients
15-20 flour tortillas
3 large eggs
1 cup heavy cream
butter for the pan
Meyer Lemon Curd Mousse
1/4 cup heavy cream, whipped
Candied Meyer Lemons, optional

Directions
Make Meyer Lemon Curd Mousse and Candied Meyer Lemons. Whip some heavy cream while you're at it. All that's left are your tortilla-crepes and some mild assembly!

Whisk together eggs and heavy cream in a medium bowl. Dip one side of the tortilla in the egg and cream mixture, fry it in a hot, buttered pan until the side gets nice and mottled with brown spots. Coat the other side with the egg and cream mixture and brown that side as well. Congratulate yourself as you slide your tortilla-crepe a la Shopsin onto a plate. Repeat with remaining tortillas. Let cool.

Place 1 tortilla-crepe on a flat serving dish. Spread about 1/4 cup lemon curd mousse onto tortilla-crepe. Top with 1 tortilla-crepe. Continue layering tortilla-crepes and mousse. (Use 15-20 tortilla crepes, ending with a tortilla-crepe on top.) Refrigerate until firm, about 1 hour.

Top tortilla-crepe cake with whipped cream and 3 or 4 candied lemon slices.

Kenny Shopsin's Chicken Tortilla Avocado Soup

Due to popular requests, we did another Kenny Shopsin attempt.

In case you're out of the Kenny-Shopsin-Soup-Philosophy-loop, he believes that "taking two or four hours to make a soup just because the broth takes two to four hours to cook makes no sense whatsoever." So at Shopsin's General Store, he makes each soup to order, by scratch, with the stock being the only element made ahead of time. Wrap your head around that, and then wrap your head around this: In it's heyday, Shopsin's menu had close to 300 soups on it.

So for this attempt, we tried our hand at preparing the most popular soup on Shopsin's menu in the style of Kenny Shopsin.

Shopsin's version:

our version:

Kenny on making soup: "When I'm making soup, I always add the vegetables to the pan as I chop them, so the soup and I are working simultaneously toward the same end." In this soup in particular, he's keen on making sure the cabbage gets nice and brown before you add the prepared stock.

Cooking in the style of Kenny Shopsin definitely pushed me to the limits of my comfort zone in that I tend to pre-chop everything and am all about organization in the kitchen. But I was going Shopsin style, so while the cabbage browned, I started chopping the onions and jalapeno.

OH and all the while, the chicken was grilling.

With chopping, grilling and sauteing all going on, my head was close to exploding, but I also felt like a real cook in some hectic commercial kitchen, which was kind of cool?

Kenny Shopsin's Mac 'n' Cheese Pancakes

Shopsin's version (above)

and here's (part of) mine:

(apologies for the overall jenky quality.)

Have you ever heard of Kenny Shopsin? I hope so. Matt and I are big fans and became even bigger fans after watching the above video (the one above mine, obvi) on the NY Times online Sunday magazine section.

Then, we got his book, Eat Me: The Food and Philosophy of Kenny Shopsin.
If you've now watched the video and/or are familiar with the book or (thanks doug d. for the reminder) the documentary on him I Like Killing Flies, I think you'll understand. If you have lived on the lower east side and visited his restaurant, Shopsin's General Store (check out the menu), I think you'll really understand. Now for... Mac 'n' Cheese pancakes!

There are three major components to mac 'n' cheese pancakes. Here are two of them.

The only other thing you need is pancake batter. Oh and a griddle/pan at the right temperature. This is important. Kenny dedicates a chapter to Pancakes and the Lost Art of Griddling and, as he would say, if it's not in the right range of temperature, "different, bad things happen."

The actual mechanics of the dish are simple: Pancake batter on the hot griddle. Drop on some elbow macaroni. Drop on some shredded cheddar cheese. Make sure your cell phone is on a string around your neck. Flip.

The pancakes were awesome, and surprisingly there's nothing strange about the way they taste. They're simply really really good, especially the ones where the cheese has become crispy on the outside but remains molteny on the inside, though we only got a few with this perfect textural combo.

Flippin' pancakes in full Shopsin regalia:

"Most of the times when a customer makes a special request, it's not about the food, but rather his own desire to be in control and to establish his own specialness. Making people feel special through this kind of ass-kissing is one of the services that a restaurant can provide to people who need it, but it's not a service that I want to provide... Some people tell me that they're deathly allergic to something and that I have to make sure it's not in their food. I kick them out. I don't want to be responsible for anyone's life-or-death situation. I tell them they should go eat at a hospital." - Kenny Shopsin