Shiny!

My big gift from M for the holidays this year was this gorgeous copper bain-marie:

The one in this picture arrived dented, so we took some pictures to document the damage, then returned it. The replacement arrived this week. It’s not just shiny, it’s gorgeous. The copper is beautifully dimpled. The porcelain insert is smooth, heavy, and flawless.

The first thing we did with it was melt some semi-sweet chocolate chips so we could dip bananas, strawberries, and cake in it. The second thing we did (last night) was melt unsweetened and bittersweet chocolate to make Julia Child’s Best Ever Brownies, which is, hand’s down, our favorite brownie recipe. (If you don’t own the Baking with Julia book already, you must go get it. The pie dough and berry galette recipes alone are worth the price, though the sticky bun recipe is guaranteed to induce a heart attack.)

The bain-marie melted the chocolate and butter oh so gently and beautifully. And did I mention how beautiful and shiny the pan is? If Oyster-the-magpie had the muscles for it, he would steal it and drag it to his basement lair.

I know we can use the bain-marie to gently melt and cook all sorts of things, including sauces, but, honestly, the only things I have on my mind involve chocolate. What else is new?