Hi everyone, welcome to potluck food talks. Today we're going to talk about marjoram, our favorite herb. So what can you tell us about marjoram? I mean, what is that to say, you know? That is one of those herbs that I've never used in my life. And in the times I see it, like in a home kitchen, like in a corner, marjoram next to oregano and other herbs. I'm like, why, why, why does people, what's the use of this herb?
Because you know, like then you use it and it doesn't make like a real difference. I don't know. What are you doing in my house? Yeah. It's like you use it and everything tastes like pizza sauce. No, let's talk about desserts. Uh, like quick ideas on desserts. Do you have like a, like a favorite quick dessert that you make at home or even if you have like a, an emergency in a restaurant, you know, like a battle horse. Oh, uh, an emergency desserts. I don't think I don't know. Actually I do.
I do have, um, but I wouldn't call it emergency dessert because it's actually a really, really nice dessert, but it's like, sorry, chocolate cologne. No, no, no, no. I never made chocolate cologne actually. Never ever. Not since many, many years ago. Although you know, I don't actually hate chocolate colognes. I think like when the, like how we were making them in my go, they were very tasty. You know, how could you hate chocolate cologne? Why would you? What's wrong with chocolate colognes?
But let's explain quickly what it is and how it's made. Yeah. Basically it's like a, well, you melt chocolate and butter, you mix it with eggs and you add a little bit of flour and then there is some sugar around as well. And this is those kinds of things that is actually hard to get them wrong.
Like even if you don't have a recipe, if you've done it already, you already know a little bit of the ratios, the proportions, and you can just do it with, with your gut feeling, your eye and it will come out. Okay. You know, like you just put it in a, you can microwave it or make it in the oven and you have like this, how could I describe it? It's like this molten cake that is liquid in the inside. And yeah, it's like a super famous and popular dessert and it's super easy to do.
Impressively easy. Yeah. I mean, there's a version also where you put like a little, you make a little ganache and you freeze it and you put it in the center and then you bake it, you know. Yeah, exactly. Like the original dessert was created by Michel Bras and I think it's actually the only food that I know that it got patented. This was like in the seventies.
So he got a patent for that dessert, which demonstrates that patents and food are worthless because anybody can copy that and he can do anything about it. And then there is this story that, what's the name of this? Jan George von Gerichten, a chef from New York. He claims that he was sending this dessert like in a big banquet for 300 people and he made this chocolate cake, but the ovens went off. And when he sent it off, he was like, what happened? You idiots. He wanted to fire everybody.
And when he got out to the kitchen, he got like a standing ovation because such a wonderful dessert, but it was just basically a raw cake. But I saw also an interview with Alain Ducasse where he said like, that's bullshit. Like that dessert was invented by Michel Bras, period. I think I believe Michel. I don't think that, I think George is full of shit. He's been in America too long. You know, he just, it's not European anymore. Yeah. But yeah.
So the dessert that I like, if I, for example, I'm at a small restaurant, I need to come up with a quick dessert. I will do a set buttermilk. So I'll do like a, like a panna cotta, but with buttermilk with like a little bit of vanilla and some lemon and stuff like that. And it's just super like, if you make it right, it's just super delicious. You know, super, super tasty, like a buttermilk panna cotta. It's amazing. And then usually I do like some like coached apricots with it or something.
That's just like a quick and easy fix. But at home, what the only dessert I ever really do at home, this too, is either I do a tiramisu or I will do an eaten mess. Eaten mess. I don't know that one. Yeah. I don't know what that is, but it's like eat and, but like eat and, E-T-O-N. So it's a place in the UK.
It's a British dessert, which is basically like a big bowl full of like whipped cream with vanilla fruits, like stone fruit and not stone fruit berries, sorry, like raspberries, usually raspberries, you know, but I often use like a mix and meringue, crispy meringue. So you have this like layered sort of bowl and you like take it out and it's like crispy, fruity. It's like messy, but it's just kind of nice, you know?
Okay. Okay. Nice. Another one that I do, which is usually when I have like vegan or vegetarian friends is also, again, stupidly easy. I don't remember the proportions, but basically you find like a good silken tofu and you mix a, you can do chocolate or fruit puree and the result will be like a creamy something like kind of like a pudding slash panna cotta, something like in that direction. It sets like a custard, but it's vegan and it's something super nice, you know?
Like, and also it's just like a two step dessert. You just mix two things and then you have it. You just mix it together? Yeah. You just blitz it, you blend it and then you pour it on cups or whatever and you let it set in the fridge. That's it. You know? Three step dessert. You know, we had a guest chef the other day and what she did, I thought was really cool. She made a sorbet, a grapefruit sorbet and she stabilized it using bananas. Oh yeah. Yeah. I've seen those kind of things.
And I like the texture was like, it wasn't like a, you know, like a, like a Pacojet sorbet or anything. It was like a little bit more rustic, but like, first of all, the banana flavor together with the grapefruit. It's very, very nice. And second of all, like it was just super easy. And I was like, man, you could just easily, easily do that at home, you know? Yeah. Nice. Nice. Yeah. The other one that I tried, I think we mentioned this already is making an ice cafe.
I think that's much better to making an ice cream at home because ice creams at home are always full of ice crystals. It's never right. I've never seen a, even in small restaurants that have a cheap ice cream machine, you will see shitty ice creams. But a parfait, if you do it right, it's always right. And it's much easier and cleaner to pull it off, I think. For sure. I actually never make parfaits, but like I think a parfait, I think parfait is going to have a comeback, you know? Yeah, I do.
I think they're timeless. They're like jeans, you know? You've been always there. You just don't see them. Hey, one of my, one of my all-time favorite desserts for, you know, where you are in the world at the moment is a, is a really nicely made torija. Oh, nice. Yeah. Yeah. That's actually, I had that, I was in charge of that dessert in my time in Mugaritz, which is actually the torija that became popular because it's a torija.
If I'm not wrong, this torija was imported from the French by Martin Verasategui and he made it really popular here in the region. You will find it in many, many restaurants and they always do this. So torija is basically a French toast. And the one they do here is soak a mixture of cream, sugar, and eggs. That's it. And you let it soak for overnight, let's say. And then most people do it on the oven.
The way it was done in Mugaritz, it was roasted on butter on a pan, pan roasted, and then it was caramelized like a creme brulee. But I mean, doing this at home, again, this is just soaking brioche. It's important that the brioche is kind of thick, you know, not, not, not like a sandwich slice of bread, like something like at least three sandwich slices of bread. You soak it in this mixture of cream, eggs, and sugar, and then it's just over. And that's it with a nice ice cream.
That's a super dessert and super easy to do at home. Yeah, for sure. Yeah, super nice. Also, what I think is really underrated is like a nice tart, you know, like making a good tart. I feel like, like whether it's like a lemon tart, like a custard tart, you know, I feel like whenever you like go to a cafe and you get a tart, it's always like super disappointing, you know. But if you get it right and you cook it nicely, you know, it's just so nice.
I like a tart, you know, like when was the last time you had a nice tart, but if you do it right, it's amazing. Yeah, right. And that that's another dessert that is super easy to do at home. Well, I've seen it was once invited to a dinner party and there was this tartatan that was not flipped, you know, it was like on the form with the, how do you say, with the cookie on top with the tartlet. So the idea is you flip it around so you have like the form of the apples on top.
But I remember my host didn't like at all me commenting on that, like, it's wrong. Get out of my house. So let's make a top five of desserts if we had to do it together. I actually would put the chocolate coulant there somewhere because I've done it so many times. It's so easy to do. I've served it like in different contexts, like at home or in top restaurants and it has always worked nice. I'm finding this very difficult. I'm finding it very difficult to decide.
But it doesn't have to be like your five favorites in history. Okay, I have another one. Like a nice, extremely buttery lemon or lime pie. That's you know, there's nothing wrong about it. Okay, you know, one of my all time favorite desserts, also super easy to do is but like only when it's made really, really well is a good creme brulee like a crema catalana. Right, I agree. When it's like intensely yellow and like caramel just perfect, it's one of the nicest desserts ever.
But you know, you said something there like creme brulee and crema catalana have slight differences. Like the creme brulee is usually the custard is steamed in the oven, right? Well the crema catalana you do like a pastry cream and you pour it on the forms and then it settles. A crema catalana basically is a pastry cream that you burn and the other one is like a steamed custard. And usually the creme brulee, you usually use vanilla and the crema catalana has a mixture of lemon peel and cinnamon.
I actually like the crema catalana better. That's really interesting. I knew about the lemon peel and cinnamon part is like this. This is this really Spanish flavor combination. Yeah and when it's on right, like you know, like the right amount because a lot of people put too much and that's not the idea. When it's really balanced, it's super nice. Yeah, that's really nice. But I didn't actually know they don't set it because I've never actually made it. That's a terrible chef.
You know, one other thing that's like I will always love is a good rice pudding. Oh nice. Yeah. Like milk rice, you know, it's just like, but again, it's like, you know, if it's shit, it's shit. But if you make it right, it's like so nice. How is a good rice pudding for you? Because there are big variations. I like the way it's done here that it's super liquid. Yeah, I think like the first time I had it in Spain, I was like surprised, but I also really liked that.
Especially if you add like what we just said, I talked about the cinnamon, a little bit of lemon zest, you know. I like rice pudding like a little bit thicker, but I eat it cold. Right? Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Because for example, if we talk about like rice pudding in the UK, it's often baked and they eat it warm. The nicest rice puddings I had in Le Paratin in Paris, they just served rice pudding in a little glass as a dessert with like some Mirabelle plums on top.
And it was just like super delicious. Super nice. Nice. Nice. Nice. So, the top five could be the Basque cheesecake that could be there. I saw a post of your version with miso. How was it? It was nice. Yeah. It was good. Like just with some miso into the mix, some like dark miso that you like, you can like bake it in the oven and just like caramelize it a little bit. It's good. It works really well with the cream cheese, the miso, you know. Yeah. I can imagine. It's nice.
Yeah. Here in Spain, it has become like a trend of doing cheesecakes with anything, you know, like pistachios, this or that, different nuts, different colors, black sesame, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. Ah, no. Baked charcoal, matcha, beetroot powder. Yeah. I hate when they put stupid fucking bullshit on desserts for no reason, you know. A good dessert has to be simple and well executed. That's it. That's it for this week's episode of Potluck Food Talks.
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