Favorite Dessert?


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Ladies & gents, this post was inspired by my dessert tonight while on vacation.  I’m a dessert junkie and often times it’s my favorite part of the meal.

Inquiring minds (and sweet tooths) want to know, what was your most memorable dessert and where did you have it?  Let’s make this a great reference for future travelers and inspiring diabetics.  

I had a bread pudding tonight at Halls Chophouse in Charleston, SC that was divine. The whiskey sauce was utterly fabulous.  I’m glad I still had a napkin in my lap to wipe the sole tear of joy that fell from my eye.  

I didn’t think to get a picture of it but found this one online.  Amazing. 

54941D76-CAEA-47D9-948D-CF01F7F317D1.jpeg

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first time i went to can roca in girona, before they got their third star and were named best in the world, they had a dessert called "havana dreams". i was taking the long way home from cuba and doing some wineries and restaurants in europe.

so i had to try this (i might add that this place - and the new location down the hill - had a brilliant walk-in humidor. had an SLR DC last time i was there, if i recall).

i do have photos of it but no idea where on the computer. 

out comes a small glass of a mojito sorbet which was amazing but the main part of the dessert is a marble cigar holder/dish. about 8 inches long with a groove for a single cigar and at the end, a hollow for the ash. there is a "cigar" there. an ice-cream with chocolate wrapping, and in the hollow, a little pile of "ash" which is actually various spices in which you dip the tip of the ice-cream/cigar. 

the ice-cream was amazing and i spoke to the brothers about it. it is made in a normal (well, whatever is normal for those brilliant spanish chefs) ice-cream maker but they attach the ice-cream maker to a vacuum machine and they suck into the ice-cream, as it is being whipped, the smoke from a partagas D4. so you get this amazingly subtle cigar note through the ice-cream. lets see them do that on masterchef! 

BEST DESSERT EVER! 

i have had it every visit there. and when they have not had it on the menu (although i think it is pretty close to one of those items they can't remove without causing a riot), i have begged them to make it. and they always do. 

BEST RESTAURANT EVER! 

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3 minutes ago, Ken Gargett said:

first time i went to can roca in girona, before they got their third star and were named best in the world, they had a dessert called "havana dreams". i was taking the long way home from cuba and doing some wineries and restaurants in europe.

so i had to try this (i might add that this place - and the new location down the hill - had a brilliant walk-in humidor. had an SLR DC last time i was there, if i recall).

i do have photos of it but no idea where on the computer. 

out comes a small glass of a mojito sorbet which was amazing but the main part of the dessert is a marble cigar holder/dish. about 8 inches long with a groove for a single cigar and at the end, a hollow for the ash. there is a "cigar" there. an ice-cream with chocolate wrapping, and in the hollow, a little pile of "ash" which is actually various spices in which you dip the tip of the ice-cream/cigar. 

the ice-cream was amazing and i spoke to the brothers about it. it is made in a normal (well, whatever is normal for those brilliant spanish chefs) ice-cream maker but they attach the ice-cream maker to a vacuum machine and they suck into the ice-cream, as it is being whipped, the smoke from a partagas D4. so you get this amazingly subtle cigar note through the ice-cream. lets see them do that on masterchef! 

BEST DESSERT EVER! 

i have had it every visit there. and when they have not had it on the menu (although i think it is pretty close to one of those items they can't remove without causing a riot), i have begged them to make it. and they always do. 

BEST RESTAURANT EVER! 

That sounds like a work of art!  I googled that restaurant and stumbled on this picture.  Is this the dessert?  The restaurant looks like a culinary experience.  

 

6C35021B-B84F-49DB-98FC-0BE37FAF9954.jpeg

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14 minutes ago, Thirds said:

That sounds like a work of art!  I googled that restaurant and stumbled on this picture.  Is this the dessert?  The restaurant looks like a culinary experience.  

 

6C35021B-B84F-49DB-98FC-0BE37FAF9954.jpeg

that is it!!

it really is my fave restaurant on the planet.

i often travel with a mate of mine - his wife does not like to travel and this bloke is also in the wine industry so we visit wineries and restaurants. we headed a long way out of our way to go to can roca and so i told him, rather than just go for dinner, we'll also do lunch there the next day day. 

we did the degustation dinner (about 20 brilliant small courses) the first night. i remember we looked in their brilliant and extraordinarily cheap winelist - at least it was then {had the de vogue musigny 2002 for under $400 one visit - the next day actually - and on the first visit, rousseau grand cru under $80} - as we decided we'd have a VP after lunch next day, with cigars. the winelist is actually three huge books - red, white and other - but there was not a single VP anywhere to be found. i asked and they said they had plenty but no one ever drank them so they did not include them. went away and came back with a long handwritten list. final port on the list was taylors 1977 for A$150!! they had some poor junior worker come in to the place at 6am next day to decant it for us - brilliant stuff. the degustation came with a series of fabulous wines but what staggered me was that every table having the degustation had a new bottle of each wine opened for them - can't be commercially sensible. 

next day, i told the waiter that i had loved the degustation so much that i would do it again (but we'd pick our own wines - the musigny was beckoning). he just looked at me, shook his head and said that would not be possible. i said that was what i wanted. he said that as i had it the night before, no. but they would make up an entirely new degustation menu for me. and they did. 

and i asked them to include the havana dreams dessert. and they did. 

i love it. 

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15 minutes ago, Ken Gargett said:

but there was not a single VP anywhere to be found. i asked and they said they had plenty but no one ever drank them so they did not include them

This reminds me of a scene from the American movie, The Jerk.  If you haven’t seen it, Steve Martin stumbles in to wealth and this is him exploring an entirely new world to him...

Ah, the finer things in life...

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3 minutes ago, Thirds said:

This reminds me of a scene from the American movie, The Jerk.  If you haven’t seen it, Steve Martin stumbles in to wealth and this is him exploring an entirely new world to him...

Ah, the finer things in life...

big steve martin fan. seen the jerk and pretty much all of them several times. 

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I love chocolate cake and coffee. The cake must be heavily soaked to be juicy. I can not say that it was a specific dessert struck me on the spot, but this photo from the capital of Udmurtia - Izhevsk.

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Scottish 'Cranachan' is a favourite of mine. A really simple dessert that lets the ingredients shine.

-take about 2 large cups of Scottish oats, and drench is in a good strong flavourful whisky,  about 1 cup, and let it soak up in the fridge, under cling film, so the whisky doesnt evaporate

-take some heather honey, about 3-4 large table spoons , and mix with some high quality thick sour cream cheese (2 cups), then add the whisky soaked oats

-taste the mix, if at this point it, the whisky can not be strongly tasted over the honey,  add a slug more whisky until its sweetness is balanced out, and the whisky it the main flavour

-fold in some whipped double cream (about 220ml),

-layer up, in a glass dish with lots of fresh raspberries, or individual glasses, and top with a few mint leaves.   allow to sit either over night, or at least an hour or two in the fridge

 

 

 

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  • 3 weeks later...

A traditional Italian Tiramisu has to be it for me.  

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Creme brûlée pound for pound anytime anywhere. If it’s good it always good. Just plain though none of this add flavor x or splash of y. Straight up standard. Love it. 

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In the States, I love me some Lemon Icebox pie.

In Italy, tiramisu.  It's like heaven in a bowl.

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1 minute ago, Andy04 said:

Any suggestions for healthy deserts? 

Diabetes is a massive problem in my part of the world.

Swerve sweetener and heavy cream make for some great whipped cream.  Put it over some fresh cut strawberries, or other low glycemic fruits.

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25 minutes ago, Andy04 said:

Any suggestions for healthy deserts? 

Diabetes is a massive problem in my part of the world.

Big fan of farm (raw yogurt) with a splash of maple syrup (very light), raspberries, blackberries, blueberries and then I put a splash of orange extract.  When I’m shedding weight that’s my go to for snack craving 

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Mom’s strawberry shortcake. NOTHING like it.  Not that spongy, Angelfood Cake kind of shortbread either.  Amazing....   

 As kids Mom and Dad would take us to Plant City in Florida and we would pick strawberries until the trunk of the 1970 cutlass holiday coupe was completely full. We’d get home and spend the second half of the day cleaning and cutting strawberries, bagging and freezing them.

Dinner that night was always strawberry shortcake. Nothing else… Just strawberry shortcake. 

 

Gawd, I miss my childhood....

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19 minutes ago, mbflash80 said:

I love desert...my wife spoils me with some really great stuff...but if I had to choose just one I may go with the Coconut Cream Tart from Tartine in San Francisco...

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That looks delicious!  I had a great dessert at Nob Hill Cafe in San Fran but can’t rememmber what it was...just have this memory of really liking it.  

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15 hours ago, BuzzArd said:

Mom’s strawberry shortcake. NOTHING like it.  Not that spongy, Angelfood Cake kind of shortbread either.  Amazing....   

 As kids Mom and Dad would take us to Plant City in Florida and we would pick strawberries until the trunk of the 1970 cutlass holiday coupe was completely full. We’d get home and spend the second half of the day cleaning and cutting strawberries, bagging and freezing them.

Dinner that night was always strawberry shortcake. Nothing else… Just strawberry shortcake. 

 

Gawd, I miss my childhood....

I grew up with the spongy store bought junk you speak of but my wife introduced me to homemade...what a difference!  You had a great experience back in the day (and it tasted better because you had to work for it but got rewarded after your hard work). Thanks, buzz. 

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2 hours ago, Thirds said:

That looks delicious!  I had a great dessert at Nob Hill Cafe in San Fran but can’t rememmber what it was...just have this memory of really liking it.  

We go to Nob Hill Cafe every Christmas season for dinner...what a great little neighborhood spot...especially when you stay at the Fairmont...the food is very good and very reasonable for SF

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