Like bumble bees defying physics in order to fly, the Swiss have managed to disregard any health risks associated with eating high fat/sugar foods; they happily continue consuming desserts like gebrannte crème…a luscious soupy dessert made from caramelized sugar, milk, cream, eggs and a thickener – and amazingly garnished with…well yes, whipped cream.

Warning…you should proceed with caution if you are trying to lose weight or if you are concerned with your blood glucose level…oh, and gebrannte crème can be addictive!

Gebrannte crème is also called crème brûlée in the French-speaking side of the röstigraben but, please don’t confuse this Swiss classic with a baked custard.

My first encounter with gebrannte crème occurred while working at Kaiser’s Reblaube restaurant in Zürich during the late 1990s. It was a late evening on my very first day of work…Suddenly the chef yelled out for one ‘crème brûlée,’ and I immediately felt somehow relieved at recognizing a menu item. You see, I had just spent the last twelve hours trying to understand the strange German dialect everyone around me was speaking…Swiss German with a distinct Portuguese-, French-, Kosovan- or Swiss accent.   More...

One of the most intimidating recipes for aspiring cooks to attempt is making homemade puff pastry…but, in reality it is simply mixing flour, butter, water and a pinch of salt together to form a light dough. So, why does this recipe seem so unapproachable?

It is difficult to get a clear historical perspective on the origin of puff pastry. The French, of course, like to claim credit for this classical preparation…and there is no doubt the French have used puff pastry broadly in many sweet and savory dishes throughout the past few hundred years or so. It appears, however, that ancient documents mentioning puff pastry happily give credit to ancient Greece…far before the days of Carême.

Now…I make no claims on being an expert in ancient Greek puff pastry – something I am still trying to visualize – but, I do know traditional French puff pastry. And, I know from my days working in the Savoy the French take puff pastry very seriously indeed. Everything has to be just right…very fresh flour mixed together with very fresh lightly salted butter to produce layers upon layers of delicate and flaky pastry. In some ways…puff pastry seems to define French cooking and perhaps even explains why so many of us are just intimidated by the thought of making puff pastry.

The traditional method is a bit tricky and involves a bit of practice and patience – as well as using perfect ingredients and having the right atmospheric conditions. To produce a light and flaky product, everything must be done carefully and properly – start to finish – or the results may be disappointing. More...

Rhubarb has a flavor somewhere between apples and cherries, which is where I found inspiration to create my own version of rhubarb pie.

I generally avoid spending endless hours scouring the net looking for ideas, inspiration or recipes. Books still seem a better option when I need to research anything food-related, but I do enjoy following several food blogs…and I have noticed a developing theme this spring – rhubarb is in!

David Lebovitz, pastry chef and entertaining author, recently offered his version of rhubarb tart in his popular blog, which relied on a simple compote of rhubarb and strawberries. Meanwhile, Kerrin Rousset wrote about a rhubarb ‘fruit’ roll-up in her award-wining blog MyKugelhopf. Visit some of the other major foodie sites, and I guarantee you will find plenty more how-to-make rhubarb ideas for compote, pies, tarts, fools, crumbles…

So why write about something that is already getting enough attention in the internet food world?

Well…I’ve always enjoyed rhubarb, but somehow it’s been more of an acquaintance to me rather than a true culinary friend. So now I’m taking another look…and I like what I see.     More...

Bärlauch is everywhere in spring. The forest floor becomes an aromatic green carpet, filling the air with a familiar garlic-like scent…and just about every food you can image is enhanced with this lovely herb. Here are ten of our favorite ways to add a boost to some spring recipes.

One of spring’s defining moments in Switzerland is the emergence of bärlauch. Take a casual walk through most forested areas, and you will almost immediately encounter a beautiful green carpet…and a nose full of the unmistakable scent of garlic. You may even notice a few people wandering through this bed of greens pulling up fistfuls of the stuff…and wondering what exactly they may be doing with it.

Well…these foragers know how valuable a bit of bärlauch can be in the kitchen – and, it’s free for the taking.

Bärlauch also appears frequently in just about everything in restaurants, grocery stores and butchers. So, if you’re really not up for the experience of gathering, then simply hunt around and you won’t be far away from something with bärlauch in it.

The experience of bärlauch is at its best, however, when you do a bit of your own foraging...but, be aware – there are a few dangers you should familiarize yourself with before heading out into the wild. Bärlauch is often confused with two similar-looking plants, which are not so nice to your system if you mistakenly consume them. You can have a look at the pictures in the Tages-Anzeiger article from 2008 to get an idea of the similarities, or read a bit more about bärlauch dangers in our website.       More...

Rich and gooey brownies have a way of returning us to our memories, but re-creating this classic American cake can be challenging in a foreign context.

There are those times which occasional crop up when it is very easy to miss the little things you really enjoyed from an earlier time or different location. This doesn’t often happen to me, but I will admit…I do have an Achilles heel when it comes to brownies.

For some reason (a reason I’ve never really tried to figure out), I always seem to close my eyes as I prepare to take that first bite out of a rich and moist deep chocolate brownie. I simply savor the feeling of all that fat and chocolate oozing down my throat…and I don’t feel an ounce of guilt. I am, once again, that sneaky little child doing something that may get him in trouble.

It’s not surprising to me the brownie is much adored in the United States. After all, this very sweet and rich sponge cake with a crisp outside and fudgy inside has been known in America at least since Fannie Farmer first published her recipe in 1896 in the Boston Cooking School Cook Book. And even though this famous brownie recipe has undergone radical changes throughout the years, somehow good taste and sense eventually brings us back to the original.

Brownies are actually quite humble. They are simply made with eggs, flour, sugar, butter and chocolate, then cut into squares after they are baked. That’s it...except for the intermittent use of vanilla essence and walnuts. Simple...right?

Well…no actually! It’s just not that easy to successfully make a recipe from a source which has a different context. More...

It’s Fastnacht time in Switzerland…which, like in many countries, is a license to indulge – and what better way to indulge than eating your own freshly-made Beignets de Carnaval!

We came across the idea to make this version of beignets while flipping through our favorite 1940’s Zürich cookbook. We were actually searching for some kind of alternative to the popular Fastnachtschüechli (fun for foreigners to pronounce). The recipe we landed on was involved and included instructions on stretching the dough over your knee.

Hmm…there must be an easier way!

Fortunately, the Zürcher liked everything …well, easier and another condensed recipe followed. This version, however, involved an entirely different twist.

It seems they enjoyed putting the freshly fried dough into a clay container to keep them soft. The next day, they would season the beignets with salt and cumin, then roll them up like a…hmm…swiss roll.

Interesting, but not at all what we were looking for. We wanted something crisp and sweet – not soft, spiced and rolled up.

After some deliberation (ok…not really a lot), we decided to pursue the second method…sort of. We went ahead with the recipe and fried the dough, then simply dusted them with sugar. Abbreviated – but very good. No…they were really, really good! Very similar, in fact, to the famous New Orleans beignets – which brings us to Mardi Gras…and this recipe.    More...