"Made this last night. It was VERY tasty, although maybe a little bland, but I fixed this with about 1/4 tsp of cayenne pepper in the sauce (and serving with a sprinkle of hot sauce). The roasted garlic & shallots were fantastic in the bechamel sauce! I especially liked the panko mixture sprinkled on top, although I would make more of it next time,""

"Made this for Thanksgiving. It's obviously a lot more work that the usual rubbery frozen french beans and can of mushroom soup that we all grew up on, but it's worth it.

I made the onions the night before, when I had time to baby sit them and things weren't so hectic in the kitchen. I sliced my onions about 1/4" thick, tossed them in the flour/pa""

"We made this yesterday, it came out much better than I expected, it was excellent. I pretty much followed the recipe exactly, except that I only make half a batch (brisket is expensive! if it was a flop, I didn't want to risk it), and I cut the cayenne pepper by half. When I first added the meat and tomatoes, I was afraid that there wasn't enough base liquid, it looked like a stew. But the tomatoes really reduced down well over the 2-3 hours of simmering, and the spice of the peppers got knocked down some with the coffee. We have the same porcelain glazed cast iron pot (Lodge), it works perfectly for this recipe!

Very very good, I especially liked the coffee, and the basil was a nice flavor touch at the end. The only changes I will probably make in future batches is I will cut the meat in slightly smaller pieces, and a little bit more cayenne. Toss a handful of shredded cheese and a dollop of sour cream on top... corn bread on the side... cold beer to wash it down... perfection!"