Crack Pie anyone?
May 2, 2018 6:27 PM Subscribe
Christina Tosi makes yummy looking food. Including: Crack Pie, ice cream that tastes "just like the milk at the bottom of a bowl of cornflakes!", and "transparent" birthday cake (whose sides are not frosted so you can see inside). The always excellent Chef's Table opened their new season with a spotlight on Christina and her Brooklyn-based Momofuku Milk Bar.
You too can make crack pie using the mix they sell at Target. It is chess pie but with a better crust. When I made a chocolate chess pie once, someone said it tasted like a brownie in a pie shell.
posted by soelo at 6:54 PM on May 2, 2018 [6 favorites]
posted by soelo at 6:54 PM on May 2, 2018 [6 favorites]
I have the Milk Bar cook book and I've made a ton of recipes from it. Her chocolate chip, cornflake, and marshmallow cookies are wonderful as are the confetti cookies (which when I've given to my friends as raw dough they don't even bother baking any of them).
However, one thing I've done with all of her recipes is reduce the sugar by a third. With the full sugar hit every other comment I got was "this is so sweet, too sweet." Maybe that's just the people I've been around, but yeah, everything was super sweet. I think this is another reason for that wonderful no frosting on the side thing. You really don't need more of it.
Speaking of the frosting, she also makes this chocolate chip and passionfruit cake with a coffee frosting. The frosting takes about twenty minutes to make because you're blending together coffee/espresso into butter. Completely worth it though.
posted by Neronomius at 7:01 PM on May 2, 2018 [4 favorites]
However, one thing I've done with all of her recipes is reduce the sugar by a third. With the full sugar hit every other comment I got was "this is so sweet, too sweet." Maybe that's just the people I've been around, but yeah, everything was super sweet. I think this is another reason for that wonderful no frosting on the side thing. You really don't need more of it.
Speaking of the frosting, she also makes this chocolate chip and passionfruit cake with a coffee frosting. The frosting takes about twenty minutes to make because you're blending together coffee/espresso into butter. Completely worth it though.
posted by Neronomius at 7:01 PM on May 2, 2018 [4 favorites]
I know CT makes many very delicious things and is wildly successful but I wandered into the Milk Bar in Williamsburg one night years ago and a woman was with some friends of hers who were clearly much more excited to be there. I watched her squint at the menu for a minute then ask the counter person “What’s the difference between cereal milk and regular milk?” “We soak the milk with cereal” he said. “And what do you do with the cereal, just throw it out?” “Basically, yeah” After waiting a beat, she goes “That’s the stupidest thing I ever heard” and I think I fell in love a little bit.
posted by STFUDonnie at 7:04 PM on May 2, 2018 [49 favorites]
posted by STFUDonnie at 7:04 PM on May 2, 2018 [49 favorites]
All I know about Christina Tosi is that Masterchef Junior is one of my favorite shows on television. Gordon Ramsay lights up like the sun around kids, but he's sort of a goofy cartoon faux-bad-guy and she's just warm and respectful and treats the kids like adult students and you can see them respond to it. The grownup version is pretty good and she's great there too, but as a former kid who liked being talked to like a sorta grownup, she really nails it.
posted by Lyn Never at 7:07 PM on May 2, 2018 [11 favorites]
posted by Lyn Never at 7:07 PM on May 2, 2018 [11 favorites]
We hit up Milk Bar after eating at Momofuku in Toronto. It was very good, I think I loved the layout of the refrigerated room more than anything else. I'd recommend the cereal milk ice cream over the crack pie if you feel compelled to choose.
posted by furtive at 7:13 PM on May 2, 2018
posted by furtive at 7:13 PM on May 2, 2018
I love pretty much all Milk Bar’s cookies, even though I don’t share her love for soggy cereal flavors.
posted by GameDesignerBen at 7:27 PM on May 2, 2018
posted by GameDesignerBen at 7:27 PM on May 2, 2018
I had the Milk Bar birthday cake after having an excellent meal at Momofuku in Washington DC. I gotta say, as a parent of a 6 yr old who has been to several actual kid parties recently and eaten actual cheapo birthday cake -- the fancy cake is not worth it. It did indeed taste like supermarket birthday cake, but with better frosting. You could get about 80% of the way to the same result with a box mix and some homemade buttercream, and it would be cheaper.
I do like the concept of taking things that we may have loved as kids, reminding us how good they were and still are, and elevating them into a fine dining atmosphere so we can maybe still feel like adults. But I'd rather just go ahead and enjoy that stuff without the crutches of a fancy restaurant atmosphere and a high price tag.
posted by cubby at 7:40 PM on May 2, 2018 [2 favorites]
I do like the concept of taking things that we may have loved as kids, reminding us how good they were and still are, and elevating them into a fine dining atmosphere so we can maybe still feel like adults. But I'd rather just go ahead and enjoy that stuff without the crutches of a fancy restaurant atmosphere and a high price tag.
posted by cubby at 7:40 PM on May 2, 2018 [2 favorites]
I watched the Chef's Table episode and thought it pretty uninspiring and then… oh man, that last five minutes when she talks about generations continuing to do what has gone before and into the future… my partner and I are in tears and we get where she is coming from and it turns around our whole way of looking at her and her work.
I love that series so much. It is so well made. The Jordi Roca episode in this season is particularly outstanding.
posted by unliteral at 7:43 PM on May 2, 2018 [5 favorites]
I love that series so much. It is so well made. The Jordi Roca episode in this season is particularly outstanding.
posted by unliteral at 7:43 PM on May 2, 2018 [5 favorites]
I am doing keto at the moment but yes I will have one of each of these things tnx.
posted by turbid dahlia at 7:43 PM on May 2, 2018 [2 favorites]
posted by turbid dahlia at 7:43 PM on May 2, 2018 [2 favorites]
$110 for a 10" cake?
posted by boo_radley at 7:43 PM on May 2, 2018 [19 favorites]
posted by boo_radley at 7:43 PM on May 2, 2018 [19 favorites]
IT'S AN INVISIBLE ICING CAKE BOO_RADLEY
posted by turbid dahlia at 7:48 PM on May 2, 2018 [6 favorites]
posted by turbid dahlia at 7:48 PM on May 2, 2018 [6 favorites]
I love crack pie.
posted by Grandysaur at 7:57 PM on May 2, 2018
posted by Grandysaur at 7:57 PM on May 2, 2018
The cake wears no clothes!
posted by Literaryhero at 8:03 PM on May 2, 2018 [7 favorites]
posted by Literaryhero at 8:03 PM on May 2, 2018 [7 favorites]
They have a video of her making the cake from Bon Appetit.
I tend to prefer box mix and have no qualms about whatever mystery ingredients may be in them. I made box mix funfetti cake with Cupcake Jemma's buttercream recipe and it was delicious.
posted by that girl at 8:27 PM on May 2, 2018
I tend to prefer box mix and have no qualms about whatever mystery ingredients may be in them. I made box mix funfetti cake with Cupcake Jemma's buttercream recipe and it was delicious.
posted by that girl at 8:27 PM on May 2, 2018
I like the cornflake cookie. But I agree that she can overdo it on sweetness.
a fancy restaurant atmosphere
Momofuku DC must be quite different from the mothership. I guess Chang's alleged to have grown up!
posted by praemunire at 8:29 PM on May 2, 2018
a fancy restaurant atmosphere
Momofuku DC must be quite different from the mothership. I guess Chang's alleged to have grown up!
posted by praemunire at 8:29 PM on May 2, 2018
The baklava milkshake that she and Action Bronson make in an episode of Fuck! That's Delicious looks incredible and I've wanted to have one for years now.
posted by gucci mane at 8:49 PM on May 2, 2018 [1 favorite]
posted by gucci mane at 8:49 PM on May 2, 2018 [1 favorite]
Momofuku is fucking gross. Like, there are actual food types beyond whatever weird empty carbs your stoner bros cooked up from your upper-middle-class cupboard in 1998. Also "crack pie" is . . . . problematic at best. Yuck pass.
posted by aspersioncast at 8:50 PM on May 2, 2018 [18 favorites]
posted by aspersioncast at 8:50 PM on May 2, 2018 [18 favorites]
Momofuku is fucking gross. Like, there are actual food types beyond whatever weird empty carbs your stoner bros cooked up from your upper-middle-class cupboard in 1998. Also "crack pie" is . . . . problematic at best. Yuck pass.
posted by aspersioncast at 22:50 on May 2 [+] [!]
Eponysterical
posted by jjray at 8:55 PM on May 2, 2018 [9 favorites]
posted by aspersioncast at 22:50 on May 2 [+] [!]
Eponysterical
posted by jjray at 8:55 PM on May 2, 2018 [9 favorites]
yeah Momofuku DC is more hip than fancy, and it's not more expensive than other restaurants in the same area. the dishes are interesting, with ingredients that you wouldn't think to put together but they figured it out. i like that they could do the typical ramen bowls everyone raves about (though i'm not a huge restaurant-style ramen fan) and they recommend their more ambitious dishes. i wouldn't call them empty carbs since they're actually like vegetables and protein and such.
crack pie is goddamn addictive though. i understand the name.
posted by numaner at 8:56 PM on May 2, 2018
crack pie is goddamn addictive though. i understand the name.
posted by numaner at 8:56 PM on May 2, 2018
"just like the milk at the bottom of a bowl of cornflakes!"
so. like. warm saliva-filled backwash milk flavored cake with slimy wet cornflake bits, then?
posted by poffin boffin at 9:09 PM on May 2, 2018 [8 favorites]
so. like. warm saliva-filled backwash milk flavored cake with slimy wet cornflake bits, then?
posted by poffin boffin at 9:09 PM on May 2, 2018 [8 favorites]
I made one of the Milk Bar cookie mixes from Target, I think it was the confetti kind. The cookies came out SO SALTY. It was weird. And salty. I’m thirsty just thinking about it.
posted by 41swans at 9:20 PM on May 2, 2018 [1 favorite]
posted by 41swans at 9:20 PM on May 2, 2018 [1 favorite]
This needs to be said again. THIS PERSON IS SELLING A $113 CAKE. I don't care how transparent, or even how good it is, that is outrageous.
posted by yhbc at 9:25 PM on May 2, 2018 [22 favorites]
posted by yhbc at 9:25 PM on May 2, 2018 [22 favorites]
My older sister and I are in firm agreement that the worst thing about visiting our grandmother as children was the fact that she forced us to drink the milk at the bottom of our cereal bowls. The lukewarm, overly sweet dregs studded with mushy bits of cereal were something which causes us both disgust to this day. So its charms are lost on me.
Crack pie? Clever name for something that’s been around forever (chess pie).
posted by kinnakeet at 9:26 PM on May 2, 2018
Crack pie? Clever name for something that’s been around forever (chess pie).
posted by kinnakeet at 9:26 PM on May 2, 2018
You're not supposed to serve huge slices--they say right there that it's 20-30 servings--so yeah, if you're having a party for two dozen of your closest friends and you're deliberately going to the Fancy Cake Place for your birthday cake, that works out to less than $5 a person and does not seem that crazy. Not college student budget, but totally 40th birthday budget for plenty of people. I almost certainly wouldn't get that $113 cake, but I can totally picture getting a $113 cake for a milestone birthday.
posted by Sequence at 9:44 PM on May 2, 2018 [14 favorites]
posted by Sequence at 9:44 PM on May 2, 2018 [14 favorites]
However, one thing I've done with all of her recipes is reduce the sugar by a third.
I always do that when baking American recipes. I don't know if it's a cultural difference or maybe US sugar is literally less sweet than European sugar?
I'm okay with transparent cake being a thing. Frosting the sides nicely is the most annoying part!
posted by Vesihiisi at 9:47 PM on May 2, 2018 [1 favorite]
I always do that when baking American recipes. I don't know if it's a cultural difference or maybe US sugar is literally less sweet than European sugar?
I'm okay with transparent cake being a thing. Frosting the sides nicely is the most annoying part!
posted by Vesihiisi at 9:47 PM on May 2, 2018 [1 favorite]
Seriously? VERY disappointed in you, Metafilter. For shame, for shame.
All this Milk Bar talk and no one mentioning a little drencrom or knives moloko.
Sad, people, sad.
(Seriously getting a drool on on that Bagel Bomb. REALLY frustrated at my inability to find savory bagels locally or savory, carnivore friendly cream cheese.)
posted by Samizdata at 9:52 PM on May 2, 2018 [2 favorites]
All this Milk Bar talk and no one mentioning a little drencrom or knives moloko.
Sad, people, sad.
(Seriously getting a drool on on that Bagel Bomb. REALLY frustrated at my inability to find savory bagels locally or savory, carnivore friendly cream cheese.)
posted by Samizdata at 9:52 PM on May 2, 2018 [2 favorites]
I ... have issues with anything being named “crack”. It, um, seems sorta disrespectful to people whose lives have been ruined because they were in possession of “the brown person form” of a drug, rather than the “white person form”.
Alternatively, why do we never see “black tar heroin cake”? Sandoz morphine cake? Fentanyl cookies? Oxycodone milkshakes? Why is crack the acceptable adjective?
...just kinda seems wrong.
posted by aramaic at 10:18 PM on May 2, 2018 [42 favorites]
Alternatively, why do we never see “black tar heroin cake”? Sandoz morphine cake? Fentanyl cookies? Oxycodone milkshakes? Why is crack the acceptable adjective?
...just kinda seems wrong.
posted by aramaic at 10:18 PM on May 2, 2018 [42 favorites]
Momofuku is fucking gross. Like, there are actual food types beyond whatever weird empty carbs your stoner bros cooked up from your upper-middle-class cupboard in 1998.
Yeah, and Chang cooked plenty of them. There are definitely reasonable critiques of Momofuku style, but this is one of the weirdest, most off-base ones you could come up with. I won't use Ko, that would just be unfair, but, I mean, your 1998 upper-middle-class cupboard had honeycrisp apple, kimchi, labneh, and Benton's to serve together? Spicy pork sausage and rice cakes? Fried brussels sprouts with fish sauce? Where did your stoner bros live?
posted by praemunire at 10:25 PM on May 2, 2018 [11 favorites]
Yeah, and Chang cooked plenty of them. There are definitely reasonable critiques of Momofuku style, but this is one of the weirdest, most off-base ones you could come up with. I won't use Ko, that would just be unfair, but, I mean, your 1998 upper-middle-class cupboard had honeycrisp apple, kimchi, labneh, and Benton's to serve together? Spicy pork sausage and rice cakes? Fried brussels sprouts with fish sauce? Where did your stoner bros live?
posted by praemunire at 10:25 PM on May 2, 2018 [11 favorites]
...ironically, speaking of the sweetness, one of the most delicious desserts I ever had was Tosi's rhubarb shortcake with creme fraiche, which was anything but sweet. Damn. I still think about it sometimes. But it is not on-brand for the Milk Bar.
posted by praemunire at 10:26 PM on May 2, 2018 [2 favorites]
posted by praemunire at 10:26 PM on May 2, 2018 [2 favorites]
Alternatively, why do we never see “black tar heroin cake”?
brb off to the kitchen
posted by lalochezia at 10:43 PM on May 2, 2018 [11 favorites]
Milk Bar was great when it was Tosi making everything (including egg sandwiches, which were awesome) in that space on 13th St. Then Anderson Cooper ran his mouth about how great it was on national television. All of a sudden there were like 20 Milk Bars and nothing is made on site, all the cookies are shipped in from who knows where in plastic bags and are mere shadows of their former selves.
We passed Cooper on the street one time and my wife very uncharacteristically shouted “THANKS FOR RUINING MILK BAR ANDERSON” after him when he was maybe 20 yards away.
posted by lackutrol at 10:55 PM on May 2, 2018 [26 favorites]
We passed Cooper on the street one time and my wife very uncharacteristically shouted “THANKS FOR RUINING MILK BAR ANDERSON” after him when he was maybe 20 yards away.
posted by lackutrol at 10:55 PM on May 2, 2018 [26 favorites]
Also, Noodle Bar did these wonderful little prix fire dinners for thirtyish bucks for a year or two and it was awesome. Oh well.
posted by lackutrol at 10:57 PM on May 2, 2018
posted by lackutrol at 10:57 PM on May 2, 2018
Maybe it's the result of living in relatively expensive cities for a while or having a dessert caterer for a mother, but I find myself mildly irritated by the outrage in the comments over a three-tiered 10" cake daring to cost $113. Yes it's expensive, and but these people (and other, smaller food service providers) have overhead, and hey, cakes are allowed to be expensive.
Not saying everyone in the comments thinks like this, but a lot of people seem to think that cakes just materialize inside an oven, fully decorated and ready to go. So many of my mother's customers seem really shocked that a mid-sized cake can easily go over $100, but ingredients add up, and if you want someone to provide the time and expertise for a dessert that won't ruin your birthday party or whatever, that's worth money too.
posted by wakannai at 11:43 PM on May 2, 2018 [28 favorites]
Not saying everyone in the comments thinks like this, but a lot of people seem to think that cakes just materialize inside an oven, fully decorated and ready to go. So many of my mother's customers seem really shocked that a mid-sized cake can easily go over $100, but ingredients add up, and if you want someone to provide the time and expertise for a dessert that won't ruin your birthday party or whatever, that's worth money too.
posted by wakannai at 11:43 PM on May 2, 2018 [28 favorites]
I find Momofuku in Toronto to be poor value. The noodles are fine, but I can get a bigger portion for half the price at Sansotei ramen, and the flavour is so much better. I guess we’re spoiled for choice when it comes to Asian food. Similarly the desserts are too pricey for what they are when Fugo and Sweet Jesus are so close by.
I have tasted that passion fruit cake when made by a friend, and it was to die for. Maybe the empire is too big at this point and Chang needs to work on making the existing restaurants better as opposed to expanding. I really did enjoy going to Ssam bar in NYC about 5 yrs ago, if he can bring the Toronto restaurant up to that level I would go more often.
posted by sid at 12:08 AM on May 3, 2018
I have tasted that passion fruit cake when made by a friend, and it was to die for. Maybe the empire is too big at this point and Chang needs to work on making the existing restaurants better as opposed to expanding. I really did enjoy going to Ssam bar in NYC about 5 yrs ago, if he can bring the Toronto restaurant up to that level I would go more often.
posted by sid at 12:08 AM on May 3, 2018
No disrespect intended, but I take issue with the description "yummy looking". I don't find any of these appetising looking. Those weird lumps at the top of the transparent cake look like uncooked cookie dough plopped on top? I have no opinion on the price, but it looks very mediocre to me.
And problematic name aside, the crack pie just looks like... some sort of brown pie with powdered sugar? And the soft serve cereal milk... it looks like soft serve with crushed cereal. I'm not really jazzed or salivating here...
Am I being really thick? What am I not getting?
posted by like_neon at 1:44 AM on May 3, 2018 [6 favorites]
And problematic name aside, the crack pie just looks like... some sort of brown pie with powdered sugar? And the soft serve cereal milk... it looks like soft serve with crushed cereal. I'm not really jazzed or salivating here...
Am I being really thick? What am I not getting?
posted by like_neon at 1:44 AM on May 3, 2018 [6 favorites]
I am from flyover, but went to a very hipster Brooklyn wedding last year where the cake was from Milk Bar and it was goddamn delicious. I went to the East Village Milk Bar the next day and bought a half dozen cake pops.
posted by soren_lorensen at 3:40 AM on May 3, 2018 [2 favorites]
posted by soren_lorensen at 3:40 AM on May 3, 2018 [2 favorites]
What am I not getting?
Whatever it is, I'm not getting it either. That $113 cake is particularly not yummy-looking.
posted by Kirth Gerson at 3:51 AM on May 3, 2018 [1 favorite]
Whatever it is, I'm not getting it either. That $113 cake is particularly not yummy-looking.
posted by Kirth Gerson at 3:51 AM on May 3, 2018 [1 favorite]
That transparent cake is just the "naked" cake everyone is doing for weddings now, which I have always found underwhelming. I thought it was going to be literally transparent in some way. Disappointed.
posted by stillnocturnal at 4:37 AM on May 3, 2018 [3 favorites]
posted by stillnocturnal at 4:37 AM on May 3, 2018 [3 favorites]
What am I not getting?
A cut of the profits?
posted by Thorzdad at 4:38 AM on May 3, 2018 [3 favorites]
A cut of the profits?
posted by Thorzdad at 4:38 AM on May 3, 2018 [3 favorites]
All I know about Christina Tosi is that Masterchef Junior is one of my favorite shows on television.
So much this. Love that show, lover her in that show. I'm not sold on Joe this season, but Gordon and Christina are just a delight to watch with the kids.
posted by solotoro at 4:51 AM on May 3, 2018 [1 favorite]
So much this. Love that show, lover her in that show. I'm not sold on Joe this season, but Gordon and Christina are just a delight to watch with the kids.
posted by solotoro at 4:51 AM on May 3, 2018 [1 favorite]
While I'll never flush enough to afford a $113 cake even for milestone birthdays, the disdain for what Tosi does is starting to look like, "Ugh, people spend too much money at nice restaurants! How dare!" Even if what she does is not to your taste, not to your price point, being a pastry chef---especially in a very macho industry--is damn hard work. It takes a lot of skill and talent to be amazing at it.
posted by Kitteh at 5:07 AM on May 3, 2018 [10 favorites]
posted by Kitteh at 5:07 AM on May 3, 2018 [10 favorites]
"Crack pie" is messed up. I thought, "In the year 2018 surely that 'joke' isn't still around, the pie must have a notably crackly surface", but no.
However, I will say that a 10" three-layer cake with additional cake chunks on top is more cake than it looks. It would not serve twenty to thirty midwesterners unless you had a LOT of other food, because we don't go for 'here is a paper thin sliver of cake', but you'd get 16 large slices out of it, no problem. I think the first picture does not convey well how tall the cake is.
I was disappointed that it was "transparent" only in the sense that my cakes are "transparent" when I don't really want to deal with that much frosting, but she chose a nice style of cake for it, and I admire the evenness of her layers.
But I have very, very rarely had a bakery cake that I preferred to a good home-made cake. I'm not saying this couldn't be that cake, but I come from a family of bakers and while bakery cakes often have techniques and ingredients that I can't/don't use, that's not the same as being more delicious than a good homemade one.
posted by Frowner at 5:19 AM on May 3, 2018
However, I will say that a 10" three-layer cake with additional cake chunks on top is more cake than it looks. It would not serve twenty to thirty midwesterners unless you had a LOT of other food, because we don't go for 'here is a paper thin sliver of cake', but you'd get 16 large slices out of it, no problem. I think the first picture does not convey well how tall the cake is.
I was disappointed that it was "transparent" only in the sense that my cakes are "transparent" when I don't really want to deal with that much frosting, but she chose a nice style of cake for it, and I admire the evenness of her layers.
But I have very, very rarely had a bakery cake that I preferred to a good home-made cake. I'm not saying this couldn't be that cake, but I come from a family of bakers and while bakery cakes often have techniques and ingredients that I can't/don't use, that's not the same as being more delicious than a good homemade one.
posted by Frowner at 5:19 AM on May 3, 2018
I think the drug reference pretty aptly describes the MO behind this dessert trend, of selling overpriced, addictive consumables with negative nutritional value. (The bonus of focusing on a legal substance is that it can be shipped nationwide!) I’ve been putting a huge amount of effort into unlearning my attraction to “food” like this, yet here it is being waved under our noses on Masterchef, and now Chef’s Table. I get that it sells, but it kinda grosses me out. I would have liked to think we’d be beyond glorifying addictive desserts on television in 2018, no matter how sweet Tosi is as a person. And sugary food really is addictive, to some people at least.
posted by mantecol at 5:27 AM on May 3, 2018 [1 favorite]
posted by mantecol at 5:27 AM on May 3, 2018 [1 favorite]
God (or whoever) save us from the unbearable middle-aged Midwestern whiteness of using "crack" as the all-purpose adjective for otherwise unexceptional desserts.
posted by Strange Interlude at 6:12 AM on May 3, 2018 [2 favorites]
posted by Strange Interlude at 6:12 AM on May 3, 2018 [2 favorites]
Maybe it's the result of living in relatively expensive cities for a while or having a dessert caterer for a mother, but I find myself mildly irritated by the outrage in the comments over a three-tiered 10" cake daring to cost $113. Yes it's expensive, and but these people (and other, smaller food service providers) have overhead, and hey, cakes are allowed to be expensive.
Especially because they've made the recipes for their most famous goods so easily accessible, so, like, if you don't want to pay for the cake? Make it yourself! It's completely possible! They've made it so easy for you!
posted by mosst at 6:13 AM on May 3, 2018 [3 favorites]
Especially because they've made the recipes for their most famous goods so easily accessible, so, like, if you don't want to pay for the cake? Make it yourself! It's completely possible! They've made it so easy for you!
posted by mosst at 6:13 AM on May 3, 2018 [3 favorites]
My spouse just got home from NYC last night and brought me a bunch of Milk Bar cookies and a piece of crack pie and it's all really good and it was a sweet thing for him to do and I don't really care if y'all judge me or not.
posted by hydropsyche at 6:16 AM on May 3, 2018 [15 favorites]
posted by hydropsyche at 6:16 AM on May 3, 2018 [15 favorites]
The attraction of spending a hundred bucks on a small cake is that it gives you and your guests permission to enjoy the absurd amount of sugar and fat in such a product. You sure could make one for ten bucks and eat it every day but would you feel bad about it? Should you? The price makes it rare and special and decadent and memorable. It’s a wierd psychological thing and I don’t agree with it wholeheartedly, but when I want to eat 900 calories of fat and sugar I probably will go up to Bunners for a $5 Josephine Louise (a Jos Louis simulacrum that is gluten free and has better chocolate) rather than make something at home. Bunners sells their cookbook and I could just make the darn things for a dollar but I don’t need them in the house.
posted by seanmpuckett at 6:23 AM on May 3, 2018 [3 favorites]
posted by seanmpuckett at 6:23 AM on May 3, 2018 [3 favorites]
God we are fucked up around food.
posted by seanmpuckett at 6:24 AM on May 3, 2018 [6 favorites]
posted by seanmpuckett at 6:24 AM on May 3, 2018 [6 favorites]
If you don't want a piece of $113 cake, then don't have a piece of $113 cake. This is a solved problem.
posted by soren_lorensen at 6:28 AM on May 3, 2018 [13 favorites]
posted by soren_lorensen at 6:28 AM on May 3, 2018 [13 favorites]
"Crack pie" is messed up. I thought, "In the year 2018 surely that 'joke' isn't still around, the pie must have a notably crackly surface", but no.
I think this is one issue where this isn't a criticism, but Metafilter's sensibilities are like... far, far ahead of the general population, even far ahead of most people who try to be conscientious about this kind of thing. I'm totally fine with examining why this is a problem, but we're years from the point where I think "surely everybody knows why this is a problem," because they don't.
posted by Sequence at 6:28 AM on May 3, 2018 [11 favorites]
I think this is one issue where this isn't a criticism, but Metafilter's sensibilities are like... far, far ahead of the general population, even far ahead of most people who try to be conscientious about this kind of thing. I'm totally fine with examining why this is a problem, but we're years from the point where I think "surely everybody knows why this is a problem," because they don't.
posted by Sequence at 6:28 AM on May 3, 2018 [11 favorites]
I was all ready to be annoyed at all the hate for incentive creative sweets... But then I watched one of the videos above, and I saw the incredibly thin Tosi eat a bite of her cake while proclaiming, "fat girl moment!!!" and laughing and laughing.
You're a pastry chef who is rich from making cakes and cookies and ice cream. What the hell?
posted by meese at 6:40 AM on May 3, 2018 [23 favorites]
You're a pastry chef who is rich from making cakes and cookies and ice cream. What the hell?
posted by meese at 6:40 AM on May 3, 2018 [23 favorites]
I saw the incredibly thin Tosi eat a bite of her cake while proclaiming, "fat girl moment!!!" and laughing and laughing.
Ugh, that's such a downer. Can't just enjoy a bite of cake without reinforcing the fucked up beauty standards for women!
posted by everybody had matching towels at 6:54 AM on May 3, 2018 [19 favorites]
Ugh, that's such a downer. Can't just enjoy a bite of cake without reinforcing the fucked up beauty standards for women!
posted by everybody had matching towels at 6:54 AM on May 3, 2018 [19 favorites]
You're a pastry chef who is rich from making cakes and cookies and ice cream. What the hell?
Oh but that's part of the whole transgressive/special aura of expensive treats - the weird, weird relationship that thin rich people have to fat people, which is sort of a mix of hatred/envy, weird sexual stuff and projection. And of course, there's buying expensive food because it is pretty and then not eating it because it will "make you fat", even though one slice of cake will not "make you fat" under any circumstances.
If you want to talk about how Metafilter is ahead of the curve...well, I notice that everyone who is talking about all this is talking about actually eating the food. Love it, hate it, $113 cake or home-made, $5 artisanal pastry or $1 grocery store donut, we're all talking about food we actually want to eat, not food we're considering as a status symbol.
posted by Frowner at 6:59 AM on May 3, 2018 [13 favorites]
Oh but that's part of the whole transgressive/special aura of expensive treats - the weird, weird relationship that thin rich people have to fat people, which is sort of a mix of hatred/envy, weird sexual stuff and projection. And of course, there's buying expensive food because it is pretty and then not eating it because it will "make you fat", even though one slice of cake will not "make you fat" under any circumstances.
If you want to talk about how Metafilter is ahead of the curve...well, I notice that everyone who is talking about all this is talking about actually eating the food. Love it, hate it, $113 cake or home-made, $5 artisanal pastry or $1 grocery store donut, we're all talking about food we actually want to eat, not food we're considering as a status symbol.
posted by Frowner at 6:59 AM on May 3, 2018 [13 favorites]
Surely even people who use food as a status symbol still consciously think of it in terms of eating the food? This isn't some kind of enlightened attitude, it's just... we are animals. Food is very deep-down, lizard-brain, straight-up instinct that's ingrained. Right?
posted by inconstant at 7:04 AM on May 3, 2018
posted by inconstant at 7:04 AM on May 3, 2018
Zingerman's cakes also run $100 (shipping included, which is expensive because they have to be kept cold, so maybe take that down to $80 or so, based on their shipping charges on similar goods). I've never had their cake (cake is not my favorite dessert), but, based on my experience with their other pastries and baked goods, I'm sure I will one of these days. They use high-end ingredients, so, between that and the labor involved, I'm not sure it's an irrational price. Especially since it's hard to sell by the slice, which means that you can't adjust the supply very precisely.
posted by praemunire at 7:34 AM on May 3, 2018
posted by praemunire at 7:34 AM on May 3, 2018
When I first heard about Momofuku Milk Bar I was working in a coffee shop, and I decided to see if I could make my own version of ‘cereal milk’ with the ingredients on hand (having never tried Milk Bar’s version.) Eventually I hit on an iced chai (ie milk, ice, and a full portion of chai syrup) plus half portions each of cinnamon syrup and marshmallow syrup. It was popular enough that people kept ordering it after it came off the “employee drinks” board.
posted by showbiz_liz at 8:27 AM on May 3, 2018 [4 favorites]
posted by showbiz_liz at 8:27 AM on May 3, 2018 [4 favorites]
I'm assuming that can be washed down with a $70 glass of milk.
posted by davelog at 8:41 AM on May 3, 2018 [1 favorite]
posted by davelog at 8:41 AM on May 3, 2018 [1 favorite]
Where did your stoner bros live?
Oakland, natch.
posted by aspersioncast at 9:06 AM on May 3, 2018 [1 favorite]
Oakland, natch.
posted by aspersioncast at 9:06 AM on May 3, 2018 [1 favorite]
But yeah, sorry; all my grar is actually just at Milk Bar in Nolita, which is the only one I've been to. I'm assured David Chang's other restaurants do serve actual somewhat fusion-y food, but boy did Milk Bar put me right off.
posted by aspersioncast at 9:18 AM on May 3, 2018
posted by aspersioncast at 9:18 AM on May 3, 2018
stillnocturnal, perhaps you were hoping for transparent desserts from Vietnam, Japan, or even shiny beautiful cakes from Russia?
posted by olopua at 11:16 AM on May 3, 2018 [4 favorites]
posted by olopua at 11:16 AM on May 3, 2018 [4 favorites]
Pretty!
posted by praemunire at 11:19 AM on May 3, 2018
posted by praemunire at 11:19 AM on May 3, 2018
oh my aunt makes those for special occasions for my whole family, she likes to do the ones with animals. they're one of my favorite desserts in the world.
posted by numaner at 11:54 AM on May 3, 2018 [1 favorite]
posted by numaner at 11:54 AM on May 3, 2018 [1 favorite]
I like Milk Bar, and I like Christina Tosi (and her Chef's Table episode, which was great, loved the scenes with her mom, grandma and kids all baking together) despite "Crack Pie" and some of the other comments she's made being totally clueless/offensive. I am having a Big Birthday soon and I'll probably get my dessert from Milk Bar. This thread is pretty much how I imagined it would be.
Metafilter: "Your favorite bakery sucks".
posted by colorblock sock at 12:31 PM on May 3, 2018 [3 favorites]
Metafilter: "Your favorite bakery sucks".
posted by colorblock sock at 12:31 PM on May 3, 2018 [3 favorites]
Yep, I expected actual see-through cake, like this pumpkin pie and not something I've seen before that was named "naked cake". I generally prefer frosting to cake anyway, so the naked cake trend does not really appeal to me.
posted by soelo at 1:10 PM on May 3, 2018 [1 favorite]
posted by soelo at 1:10 PM on May 3, 2018 [1 favorite]
Same, soelo. Though I was actually kind of mad at that "transparent pumpkin pie" because it wasn't a pumpkin pie made transparent so much as it was, by all accounts, a pumpkin-spice-flavored jello in a pie crust...
posted by inconstant at 1:13 PM on May 3, 2018 [1 favorite]
posted by inconstant at 1:13 PM on May 3, 2018 [1 favorite]
I would have liked to think we’d be beyond glorifying addictive desserts on television in 2018
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posted by 41swans at 3:53 PM on May 3, 2018 [5 favorites]
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posted by 41swans at 3:53 PM on May 3, 2018 [5 favorites]
About a year ago, I went to Youtube to see what all the fuss was over Momofuku Milk Bar. I came across that video where she is making a birthday cake with a host from Bon Appetit. And, like other people have commented on, I get to that point where totally hawt Christina Tosi pops some cake in her mouth, says "FAT GIRL MOMENT!" and then she and the host laugh hysterically. I realized, having my own fat girl moment, that I am not invited to this party, mostly because I can't fit into the Lululemon dress code. I wanted to call her up at home and tell her to take her overpriced bullshit sugar tower and shove it up her ass and I, a usually tolerant and understanding person, always bring up this video when people talk about this place because I want them to know that she is a piece of shit.
posted by Foam Pants at 6:27 PM on May 3, 2018 [3 favorites]
posted by Foam Pants at 6:27 PM on May 3, 2018 [3 favorites]
All of a sudden there were like 20 Milk Bars and nothing is made on site, all the cookies are shipped in from who knows where in plastic bags and are mere shadows of their former selves.
There is a big Milk Bar bakery in Williamsburg; I took a cake decorating classes there. It was really fun and I brought the cake to Thanksgiving and everyone still talks about it because it was so different from their idea of a traditional cake.
But the NYC bakery I'm really obsessed with is Baked.
posted by armacy at 6:56 PM on May 3, 2018 [1 favorite]
There is a big Milk Bar bakery in Williamsburg; I took a cake decorating classes there. It was really fun and I brought the cake to Thanksgiving and everyone still talks about it because it was so different from their idea of a traditional cake.
But the NYC bakery I'm really obsessed with is Baked.
posted by armacy at 6:56 PM on May 3, 2018 [1 favorite]
> Foam Pants:
"I get to that point where totally hawt Christina Tosi pops some cake in her mouth, says "FAT GIRL MOMENT!" and then she and the host laugh hysterically. I realized, having my own fat girl moment, that I am not invited to this party, mostly because I can't fit into the Lululemon dress code."
She is untrustworthily slim. I am a firm believer (as an ex cook/dietary cook and still stout lad) you NEVER trust a skinny cook. 'S not bodyshaming. A GOOD cook tastes their creations, and all those tastes add up/
posted by Samizdata at 3:20 AM on May 4, 2018
"I get to that point where totally hawt Christina Tosi pops some cake in her mouth, says "FAT GIRL MOMENT!" and then she and the host laugh hysterically. I realized, having my own fat girl moment, that I am not invited to this party, mostly because I can't fit into the Lululemon dress code."
She is untrustworthily slim. I am a firm believer (as an ex cook/dietary cook and still stout lad) you NEVER trust a skinny cook. 'S not bodyshaming. A GOOD cook tastes their creations, and all those tastes add up/
posted by Samizdata at 3:20 AM on May 4, 2018
She is untrustworthily slim
Eh, let's not police women's bodies like this. It's lousy that she says stuff like "fat girl moment," we can talk about that without contributing to the idea that a woman's appearance is the most important thing about her.
posted by everybody had matching towels at 4:12 AM on May 4, 2018 [7 favorites]
Eh, let's not police women's bodies like this. It's lousy that she says stuff like "fat girl moment," we can talk about that without contributing to the idea that a woman's appearance is the most important thing about her.
posted by everybody had matching towels at 4:12 AM on May 4, 2018 [7 favorites]
It seems like there's a lot of pressure on celebrity women chefs to be thin - not that there are literally no fat women chefs, but there's definitely a social pressure to show that you are not like those other indisciplined women who are gluttons. When grandma cooks, she eats, and she's chubby; part of what elevates you to "not like other women" status is that you master the food and your body by staying thin even though surrounded by fattening foods.
There's this whole Cathy narrative that women can't control themselves around sweets - not that humans have trouble controlling themselves around sweets - that hinges on all these ideas about the unacceptable female body, the unacceptable idea that women might pay attention to their own desires, etc.
On the one hand, doing that whole "ha, I'm eating cake like a fat girl, everyone knows good women don't even really like cake!" thing is fucked up, on the other hand, it's also probably a response to really huge corporate and social pressures.
I love baking. For a midwestern adult, I'm not especially big, but I'm not thin - and in vegan activist rooms I'm always the fat one. I'm pretty aware of the whole issue of being a non-thin person who is a good baker or a good cook. Now that I think about it, I rarely eat any of what I bake for parties or events except a bite to make sure it turned out okay....and on the one hand, I am really more of a savory dishes person even though I love making sweet ones, but on the other I wonder how much of that is "bad enough being the fattie who brought the cake, how much worse to be the fattie who brought the cake and who is sitting there eating sweets".
posted by Frowner at 6:19 AM on May 4, 2018 [2 favorites]
There's this whole Cathy narrative that women can't control themselves around sweets - not that humans have trouble controlling themselves around sweets - that hinges on all these ideas about the unacceptable female body, the unacceptable idea that women might pay attention to their own desires, etc.
On the one hand, doing that whole "ha, I'm eating cake like a fat girl, everyone knows good women don't even really like cake!" thing is fucked up, on the other hand, it's also probably a response to really huge corporate and social pressures.
I love baking. For a midwestern adult, I'm not especially big, but I'm not thin - and in vegan activist rooms I'm always the fat one. I'm pretty aware of the whole issue of being a non-thin person who is a good baker or a good cook. Now that I think about it, I rarely eat any of what I bake for parties or events except a bite to make sure it turned out okay....and on the one hand, I am really more of a savory dishes person even though I love making sweet ones, but on the other I wonder how much of that is "bad enough being the fattie who brought the cake, how much worse to be the fattie who brought the cake and who is sitting there eating sweets".
posted by Frowner at 6:19 AM on May 4, 2018 [2 favorites]
There's a lot of thin male chefs. I have known several personally. Let's please not equate fatness or thinness with any personal quality or talent, please. FAT GIRL MOMENT is not a good look, but let's not buy into that same line of thinking in an effort to condemn it.
posted by soren_lorensen at 6:21 AM on May 4, 2018 [6 favorites]
posted by soren_lorensen at 6:21 AM on May 4, 2018 [6 favorites]
So I feel like there may be at least some miscommunication going on here that might not happen if we were talking.
I would find it astonishing if a field that involves making sweet food was not even more rife than most with corporate and social pressure on women participants to be thin and to avoid the appearance of gluttony. Women in every field, but especially publicly visible ones, are hugely pressured to do those things and it's much harder for non-thin women to succeed. I can't imagine that this is not true in a field that involves actual food, or that a woman who is a star in a posh-food milieu has never thought "gee, if I were fatter it would be harder to succeed".
I don't think this is at all the same as "if you have a healthy relationship with baking, you are probably not thin" or "people who are thin and bake a lot obviously are doing something wrong".
Thin people aren't immune from social pressure to stay thin, to perform thinness correctly or to revile fatness! You can be a thin person who eats in whatever way that comes naturally to you and still be very conscious of pressure to be thin or still say weird things about fat people - those things are not the result of disordered eating, they're the result of culture.
My surmise is that this chef's "far girl moment" bit isn't because of however she chooses to eat, but is related to the pressures on women in the public eye to perform thinness correctly, and the pressure to excuse seeming to enjoy sweets, and the contradiction between being famous for making sweets and the fact that "lol the ladies looooooooove chocolate amirite" culture stuff is constantly aimed at women.
posted by Frowner at 6:58 AM on May 4, 2018
I would find it astonishing if a field that involves making sweet food was not even more rife than most with corporate and social pressure on women participants to be thin and to avoid the appearance of gluttony. Women in every field, but especially publicly visible ones, are hugely pressured to do those things and it's much harder for non-thin women to succeed. I can't imagine that this is not true in a field that involves actual food, or that a woman who is a star in a posh-food milieu has never thought "gee, if I were fatter it would be harder to succeed".
I don't think this is at all the same as "if you have a healthy relationship with baking, you are probably not thin" or "people who are thin and bake a lot obviously are doing something wrong".
Thin people aren't immune from social pressure to stay thin, to perform thinness correctly or to revile fatness! You can be a thin person who eats in whatever way that comes naturally to you and still be very conscious of pressure to be thin or still say weird things about fat people - those things are not the result of disordered eating, they're the result of culture.
My surmise is that this chef's "far girl moment" bit isn't because of however she chooses to eat, but is related to the pressures on women in the public eye to perform thinness correctly, and the pressure to excuse seeming to enjoy sweets, and the contradiction between being famous for making sweets and the fact that "lol the ladies looooooooove chocolate amirite" culture stuff is constantly aimed at women.
posted by Frowner at 6:58 AM on May 4, 2018
But then I watched one of the videos above, and I saw the incredibly thin Tosi eat a bite of her cake while proclaiming, "fat girl moment!!!" and laughing and laughing.
Yep. I watched that video awhile ago because the cake looked neat and I wanted to see how it was made aaaand now I see no reason to ever buy or support this woman's work ever again. I will happily pay a fair price for a gourmet cake from someone who doesn't, like, openly scorn a big ol' sector of the population.
I shall be delighted to follow Foam Pants' example, and bring this up. Yes, there is a cultural imperative to perform thinness. There's also plenty of resources and examples and precedence for not being terrible about sugary foods.
posted by kalimac at 8:20 AM on May 4, 2018 [2 favorites]
Yep. I watched that video awhile ago because the cake looked neat and I wanted to see how it was made aaaand now I see no reason to ever buy or support this woman's work ever again. I will happily pay a fair price for a gourmet cake from someone who doesn't, like, openly scorn a big ol' sector of the population.
I shall be delighted to follow Foam Pants' example, and bring this up. Yes, there is a cultural imperative to perform thinness. There's also plenty of resources and examples and precedence for not being terrible about sugary foods.
posted by kalimac at 8:20 AM on May 4, 2018 [2 favorites]
I don’t care if she’s thin or fat herself, but when I saw her say “fat girl moment” in that video a few years ago, it completely changed my view of her and her food. What had originally seemed joyful, “let’s create and eat ridiculous, fantastical desserts because it’s fun and delicious” now just feels weird and twisted. I feel sad for her.
posted by exceptinsects at 8:20 AM on May 4, 2018 [6 favorites]
posted by exceptinsects at 8:20 AM on May 4, 2018 [6 favorites]
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