In praise of ginger
Winter has officially arrived in San Fran. I was tricked into thinking it would never come, because last week it was consistently 68 degrees. I felt extremely smug about my decision to move to California and traipse around in a t-shirt in December when the rest of the country is huddled indoors.
Then it started to rain, and it pretty much hasn't stopped yet. So now I've reverted to my cozy winter recipe rotation, which includes boeuf bourguignon, various soups, roast chickens, and Gramercy Tavern Gingerbread Cake.
I'm a giant fan of anything starring ginger. In Paris I ordered ginger chicken at a Chinese restaurant (Passy Mandarin, I believe), and the plate arrived with a few chunks of chicken completely obscured by approximately half a pound of sliced ginger. What happens when humans consume that much ginger? I didn't know, but I plowed ahead and finished the whole thing. I felt freaking great afterwards, that's what happened. I fervently believe in such a thing as the ginger buzz. Seattleites can get a similar fix at Malay Satay Hut; the ginger chicken there is slightly less terrifyingly intense than Passy Mandarin's.
Ginger is a crucial member of a holy quinity of spices--cardamon, cinnamon, cloves, and nutmeg are the others--that make gingerbread cake so delicious. (Yes, I made up the word "quinity". It's good though, right? Better than quintet.) Gingerbread cake is never exactly wimpy, but this one is extraordinarily muscular, amped up and darkened by the addition of Guinness. I like to throw in some candied ginger as well. It's very easy to make, although this time around I had a bit of trouble encouraging it to leave the pan as it was cooling and was left with fist-sized hunks of cake that weren't particularly attractive. That's when a light dusting of powdered sugar comes in handy.
Wikipedia tells me, "Ground and fresh ginger taste quite different and ground ginger is a particularly poor substitute for fresh ginger." Ouch. Ground ginger does have a duskier, less tingly flavor than fresh, but let's not write it off just yet. I wonder what this cake would be like if I tried adding in some fresh ginger, very finely grated? It just might blow my mind.
Then it started to rain, and it pretty much hasn't stopped yet. So now I've reverted to my cozy winter recipe rotation, which includes boeuf bourguignon, various soups, roast chickens, and Gramercy Tavern Gingerbread Cake.
Ginger is a crucial member of a holy quinity of spices--cardamon, cinnamon, cloves, and nutmeg are the others--that make gingerbread cake so delicious. (Yes, I made up the word "quinity". It's good though, right? Better than quintet.) Gingerbread cake is never exactly wimpy, but this one is extraordinarily muscular, amped up and darkened by the addition of Guinness. I like to throw in some candied ginger as well. It's very easy to make, although this time around I had a bit of trouble encouraging it to leave the pan as it was cooling and was left with fist-sized hunks of cake that weren't particularly attractive. That's when a light dusting of powdered sugar comes in handy.
Wikipedia tells me, "Ground and fresh ginger taste quite different and ground ginger is a particularly poor substitute for fresh ginger." Ouch. Ground ginger does have a duskier, less tingly flavor than fresh, but let's not write it off just yet. I wonder what this cake would be like if I tried adding in some fresh ginger, very finely grated? It just might blow my mind.
Labels: recipes, restaurants - Paris, sweets
posted by cindym at 2:19 PM
7 Comments:
That sounds amazing! I was looking forward to visiting my parents next week in hopes that they would have the gingerbread my dad bakes every year, but now I think I might have to make this recipe for him. Thanks for posting it!
Wow, I didn't really know one could eat the piles of cooked ginger slices that come in those super ginger-heavy Chinese-food dishes. Like, you can, and everything (and evidently, as you report, feel great afterwards!) but for me, that's part of what appeals to me about cooking with large pieces of ginger (and extremeley hot whole chilis, bay leaves, and cinnamon sticks, among other things) - they're very food-LIKE, and they impart the dish its flavor, but then, it's a trick! - it is not exactly food-STUFF. All the more fun!
Yum--dark, rich, delicious! Love the addition of stout beer. Thanks for sharing and I look forward to giving this recipe at try!
Oooh, I've made this cake, and it is fantastic!
(The first time I was so involved in getting the beer I forgot to add ginger, if you can believe it, and had this dense, rich, rather flavourless cake. I set it anonymously by the coffee machine at work, and it was gone soon enough.)
Ginger tea is great, and very inexpensive - ginger powder dissolved in water.
Yum. I love a good ginger cake. I think I am going to make this this weekend and try running some lines of melted dark chocolate through it.
We did a ginger cake for a final project in my pastry class, and I was skeptical about the substitution of grated fresh for ground ginger, but it turned out phenomenal! (We subbed equal amounts.) Cheers and Happy Holidays!!
This looks incredible, although I love anything with ginger, fresh or otherwise.
Have a very happy New Year!
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