alanamoana

i recently ordered a lodge grill pan from amazon and the shipping department sent me the case (three pans instead of one). they also threw in a tape dispenser (well used) and some tissue paper from the women's clothing store "bebe" (two full packs...probably around 20 pounds worth). must have been going on break when my package came up. when i called amazon, they said they'd send me a return shipping label, but they never did. i ended up with three grill pans and all the extras for $17!

vanessa, is your bundt pan coated with teflon or another non-stick coating already? if so, you might not need to do the butter/flour thing. i've never seen that before. but it is beautiful regardless!!! edited to add: i just noticed the pan sitting behind the cake in the picture. i guess it isn't coated. but it is white, which i've never seen before...don't know if that affects the cake or not. wait to see if someone else who has a similar one replies

i think the grill pans are only enameled on the outside. it is probably just an aesthetic thing. lodge and other companies make MUCH cheaper grill pans, but most of them don't come with a lid like batali's which is meant to be a "panini press". you could always wrap a brick in foil to weight your sandwich! all cast iron cookware handles will get hot, enameled or not because the entire pot is meant to be able to be put into an oven. you just have to get used to using a pot holder or towel when using this type of cookware. i just bought a batali dutch oven and the quality seems very good. it is only half the price of le creuset and 1/3 the price of a staub. still expensive, but seems worth it. edited to add: remember that if your friend is using this grill pan for a panini press, they might have to season their pan to avoid sticking. there are a ton of panini presses being sold which are sort of like waffle irons that are non-stick and probably cheaper than some of the grill pans available. but of course it is just another appliance to find space for.

i thought about one of those molds for more liquid fillings and realized how much work they are! you have to fill two sides, stick them together, fill your truffles then top the mold and then coat them with chocolate. even though they are expensive, the amount of time you save by buying the pre-made shells might be worth it. the only real advantage i can see with making them yourself is that you can control (to some extent) the thickness of your shell. chefrubber also sells "chablon" mats which are rubber mats with circles or ovals cut out which you use as a template for the little circles onto which you can pipe your ganache and then dip. if you're doing truffles, you can coat them by hand with a very thin coating of chocolate before you dip them (this is what is mentioned above regarding double coating). you can control the thickness a little better this way. this should help with the cracking and with the sticking to the paper.

could it be something to do with your cream? it could be small fat particles that are causing the graininess so when it warms up, it melts away. maybe during cooking the fat in the cream/half & half breaks so when it cools you get the little fat granules. most pastry cream recipes i've used call only for milk as the liquid and then have butter stirred in at the end of cooking rather than starting with such a high fat liquid component.

most commercial fruit purees add sugar at approximately 5-10% of the weight of the puree. i'm sure this helps with consistency of flavor and preservation.

you can do them chinese style where you blanch in boiling water then toss in powdered sugar, let dry then deep fry. they'll be shiny and crunchy and won't pull out fillings. but some of the other suggestions upthread are very good as well. canadianbakin', the version you're doing is just covering them in clear caramelized sugar and that's the issue. it's a hard candy more than a glaze.

it is a form of toffee, which i think has been discussed. but the search engine is a bit difficult if you know what i mean. buttercrunch is another name for the same type of candy. then you just have to break it up, coat it with chocolate and roll it in chopped nuts for the roca effect. it is all good!

salt is used to help retard the yeast action and of course to add flavor. traditionally, italian breads from certain regions don't have salt included in them because the bread is used to sop up very flavorful (salty) sauces. so, you don't have to put salt in the bread, but you'll notice color differences in your finished loaves and of course they'll be extremely bland. i would try to find an authentic italian recipe that doesn't have salt in it so you have something to compare other breads to. also, see hathor's current foodblog in general food topics. she actually mentions how the bread in her adopted italian hometown has no salt in it.

should this be in baking & pastry? i think there are already a bunch of topics covering this idea with recipes and everything.

on top of the bookcase is periodicals top shelf is for savory cooking second shelf is savory and sweet reference (joy of cooking, etc.) third shelf is baking/pastry fourth shelf is dessert/chocolate bottom shelf is oversized (art culinaire) and all those damned expensive spanish pastry books but roles of books/definitions can change at any time for any reason and it is beginning to be a tight squeeze. i'm trying not to buy any more books at this time.

i find that the older i get, the less embarrassed i am about commenting about the food when asked. i tend to reply "everything's fine" when i'm eating at a chain or someplace like that because even though the food isn't great, it isn't as if there's a chef who can correct the problem...most of the food is probably already made and delivered in a truck from sysco. i'll be more honest at a restaurant where i know there is a chef or at least someone doing something more than throwing food in the general direction of a fryalator. often, even if you know you're right (like the above experience of Patricia Bon's friend) they don't do anything about it because they think it is just your "opinion"...you couldn't possibly understand what the chef was trying to do. this happened to me at a restaurant where the dessert was actually so bad i had to laugh about it. the waiter's response was "well, people either love it or hate it" and even though i pushed on with "no, actually it is inedible", he didn't do anything about it. then again, i once went to tgifriday's specificially to eat potato skins (don't ask ), they were so bad (from my memory...i hadn't had them in probably ten years) i mentioned it to the manager who stopped by to ask "and how is everything here?". he apologized, said they looked a bit off and took them off the check. that's what i expect from anyone and was pretty surprised to get the "right" response from a friday's. i guess it does pay to be honest. i try to do it in a positive way...being positive about a negative response?!

aside from scrounging up a grand for the paco jet, you'd then have to scrounge up money for a freezer that will stay at -10 degrees fahrenheit or colder (reliably) in order to freeze your bases cold enough to even consider using the pacojet. so consider it a good thing to not have right now

tupac, awesome report on your visit! with only the glaring omission of your dinner at manresa, i have to give you props for the amount of detail in the descriptions and the quantity of food consumed on such a short trip! we hope to see you here in cali for grad school!

new, more sympathetic husband? i think the trifle sounds great. especially if you have a beautiful trifle dish. you can make it with apples to keep the theme of the cake going. toasted nuts, etc. also, since it is practically autumn, you can (instead of whipped cream) use a combo of creme fraiche/sour cream and mascarpone or cream cheese all whipped as the creamy part to give it a richness that suits the weather. maybe a caramel based sauce to cook the apples in which will soak into the cake? it will come close to a bread pudding without having to bake the whole thing! a cool, rich, creamy trifle/pudding...?! edited to add: sorry for the stream of consciousness writing style. i just jotted things down as they came to mind.

i think dessert only restaurants are a great idea. i don't see there being a problem with the business side of it if the owners are creative. for example, they can sell desserts to other restaurants that don't have a pastry chef, they can sell to-go items, etc. i feel that r4d is doing what i wish chikalicious would do. i was very underwhelmed by chikalicious. r4d on the other hand offers great cocktails and desserts which change often enough to warrant return visits (which is what you want in any restaurant...regular diners to pay the bills).

you might want to do a quick search here on eGullet. if the images are still available, former member wendy debord posted photos of some of the dessert buffets she produced while working as a pastry chef at a country club. it can give you some ideas. they might even be in her food blog and there's an index for those. if i find a link, i'll add it. here is her food blog. only nine pages to go through! there are some great pictures of buffet tables (themed) if i remember correctly.

my first reaction would be culinary abomination...but you can probably do something with mushrooms (duxelles) and a very strong mushroom broth. you'll have to get a bit creative with binding it all together, but it will probably taste pretty good! edited to add: i looked online for some sites that have demos and recipes and there was one that included a couple of variations with mostly vegetables (there was probably still pork to bind though). there was tofu, and a chinese type of sauerkraut...among other things.

i love eating them, but i've never tried to make them. of course my mother says she makes good ones...but has she ever actually made them for me? i also once got sick from eating too many of them in shanghai! count me in. i'd like to try this for my husband. we miss nyc and "new green bo" the new york restaurant that has (imho) the best "little dragon buns"

i think this is what is being referred to. i've seen them, but don't have a strong opinion of whether they're good or not.

at one point, he did do some consulting or was the chef at a restaurant named "cafeteria" in nyc. as a matter of fact, when i was in nyc last week, he was at the time warner center doing a book signing at williams sonoma... but ted, you're right, other than that, who is he? i know he's a bit of a wanna-be (overheard a conversation he was having with his girlfriend after tom colicchio won best chef james beard award), so this is his way of making money because i honestly don't think he would survive opening a restaurant of his own. i remember having a crush on him about 8 years ago...but when i met him, all of that melted away really quickly!

gfron1, i get the idea that the amygdalota are very similar to mexican wedding cookies? we used to make a mexican wedding cookie recipe and dip them in orange blossom water and then vanilla sugar...looks similar... very cute, by the way! did you use whole cloves as the stems? edited to add: scratch what i just posted...i checked the other thread on amygdalota and you mention they are chewy, not crumbly...which is what a mexican wedding cookie is.

Kerry, Thanks so much for taking the time to do this course! After reading your food blog, we all know what a busy life you have already...so this is much appreciated. I do have a question regarding brown sugar. You seem to use demerara (or "sugar in the raw" which is a brand name, I think). The usual brown sugar we have available is the moist stuff in boxes. Is there a specific reason you're using the loose demerara? Are the sugars interchangeable? Sorry if this was already answered. Thanks again, Alana

another note on chef's who have left, although this happened a while back: andrew carmellini, who many would argue was the heart behind "cafe boulud" opened his own place "a voce". i've seen a couple of posts in the cafe boulud thread noting some difference in the food since he left.

i recently used a viking stand mixer for the first time and don't like it very much. it may be a question of the condition of this particular one, but none of the attachments reach the bottom of the bowl unless you release the bowl from the base and hold it up against the attachment. or if you push down on the part that tilts. the motor itself and the attachments themselves don't seem bad. i have two kitchenaids (a 5qt and a 5+quart which have different shaped bowls and different sized motors). i prefer the original 5qt more than the newer 5+