alanamoana

according to my mom, toasting and grinding doesn't really do much damage to flavor and numbing effect. so we should be okay. we'll just see if the chinese (or other sources) will sell it like that. i would think though, that it would lose some of its integrity over time like other ground spices.

wow, talk about coincidence. i'm in hawaii on vacation and i'm volunteering at a local restaurant. they have a dish called "10,000 chile fried Moi. Moi is a local ocean farm raised fish. they deep fry the fish which has been breaded in a mixture of panko and a WHOLE MESS of whole szechuan peppercorns! i was dubious and when i bit into it i was proven correct! my whole mouth went numb and then sort of like when i eat artichoke, cool (temperature feeling in my mouth, that is). when i ask about using whole szechuan peppercorns like that, the chef tells me about them being illegal, but they have their sources in chinatown here in honolulu . by the way, it is my mother's favorite spice (she was born in szechuan province). she makes a very interesting condiment (i think her own invention as she's prone to throw a lot of things together when we have too much food in the house )...she chops up tons of cilantro, grinds a ton of szechuan peppercorns, and dumps them all together and then heats up some vegetable oil, pours it on top of the whole mess and uses it VERY SPARINGLY on top of whatever she's eating. sort of a bizarre novacaine(sp?) pesto...she's a little crazy, but i love her .

just because there are three thousand chinese restaurants to one of any other asian restaurant doesn't mean it should be ignored. where do you think all those other cultures' cooking originated? (well, i'm just telling you what my chinese mother tells me ) but really, if jean georges can't get it right at 66, it must be challenging enough. he had the cojones(sp) to say that the chinese have been doing it the same for 3,000 years and now it is his turn to make it better...well, after eating there i can tell you that my mother's (and my own crappy version) of chinese is a thousand times better than jean georges can ever produce...particularly since i don't think he's even present at any of his restaurants anymore. but that digressed...you should try to master some basics and i agree 100% with the charcuterie. particularly if you're working on it during the winter. can you imagine how much fat you can store?! i know how much i did this past winter

"Frozen Desserts" by Caroline Liddell and Robin Weir. This book is great and filled not only with recipes but with science and history. A very fun read and a great reference.

roasted, peeled, wedges, chopped fresh herbs, salt, pepper, olive oil (evoo) the simpler the better

thanks for the great replies! foodzealot, your bio is great. maybe it will inspire me to go ahead and post mine. i'll think about it. this brings me to another point...with hawaii home to at least three james beard award winners for best chef...and with such an ethnic diversity which includes culinary diversity, why is there such a lack of really good moderate restaurants on the islands? i think that most of us would like to be able to go out and NOT eat at tony roma's or some other corporate chain...also, to not bust the wallet and go to a hotel/resort restaurant. there's so little in the middle! maybe one day when i move back, that will be my niche and i'll have to open a place. for now, i'll stick with rainbow drive inn...i used to work graveyard shift at a hotel. in the morning, i'd go surf (i'm not good, it was more to get outside) then go to rainbows. they have what they call a "slush float"...it's like a slush puppy or slurpy type beverage and they'd throw in a couple of scoops of white ice cream. i call it white because i don't think using the term vanilla would be legal . anyway after ingesting a huge plate of rice, mac salad and fried meat and a gargantuan slush float, my mouth would be bright red (including my teeth) and i'd be completely sated. what a life!!!!!!!!!!!!!

with some prodding from "fifi" i'm starting a thread here in cooking regarding "local foods" from hawaii to see what people think...i'm a little disappointed with the geographic subsections of the forums because there seem to be few, if any, eGulleteers in Hawaii (barring KarenS in Hawaii and Kimo living on the mainland)... fifi suggested mac salad. well, i'm not a huge fan mostly because the mac salad in hawaii tends to be made with macaroni and mayonnaise on a 1:1 ratio. bleahhhh...so if anyone has good recipes, feel free to post them! remember, this qualifies as a vegetable on a "plate lunch" (rice, some form of meat and mac salad...usually for about $5). spam is another subject altogether and it may have been addressed somewhere else on eGullet, but i haven't bothered to search... my favorite is spam "musubi". musubi are japanese rice balls usually with a pickled plum in the center (umeboshi) usually in triangular form. in hawaii it is made with a slice of fried spam, a block of rice in the same shape as the spam and the whole thing is held together with a strip if sushi nori (seaweed). i like to make a variation with sushi rice and furikake (rice seasonings which come in a multitude of flavors but usually have seaweed, sesame seeds and "stuff"). the spam has to be fried crispy!!! they actually make plastic molds expressly for this purpose! you'd be surprised. anyone care to comment? will this flush other eGulleteers to admit their geographical locale? if you've visited hawaii or lived there at some point do you miss any of these foods? questions about other local foods? feel free to ask and ALOHA

hey, as much as i love bacon, i never thought of that! i'll have to tell my dad!!! p.s. sometimes i replace ketchup with sriracha (the thai/vietnamese chili version of ketchup)...think peanut sauce on bread

here in hawaii when the lychees are overwhelming you from your tree...we peel them and throw them in the freezer. eating them is like eating sorbet! with a lot less work. same principle as the frozen grapes. i can say the same about our mangoes as well.

this is something my dad and i love, but i'm sure will gross everyone else out... peanut butter and ketchup sandwiches, or on crackers. anyone ill yet?

don't forget the salt! (when boiling that is) also, some restaurants are using soy beans as fillings for ravioli and that type of thing. just open the pods, use the beans pureed and flavored as a filling. they're pretty neutral tasting so you can flavor them with most anything. i would think fresh herbs would be great, mint and such. very fresh and light!

well said!

i always hope that karma (or just dues or whatever you believe in) somehow lets these people know that what they're doing is wrong. i don't necessarily think it is our job to tell them or badmouth them or whatever (i know i'd be singing a different tune if i were in your shoes bripastryguy!!!). it doesn't do us any good to stoop to their level. besides, people would just think we're jealous of them because they're doing so well?!!! i remember going to a book store and browsing through the cookbook/baking section. there was a girl there thumbing through some books which i thought weren't the best of the selection. i asked if she was buying them for herself or for a friend and said i might be able to help her pick something out. she responded "oh, i'm a pastry chef", i replied that i was a cook (i was a pastry chef at the time, but i usually don't say this) too...i asked her where she worked to which she replied "oh, i'm at the california culinary academy right now, but i'm almost done". whereupon, i walked away without saying anything else. this gets my goat as well!!! you go to school to get the very basics...you don't come out of school as an executive chef or executive pastry chef, but some people think this is a given! some of these people "know everything" already and aren't able to hear anything else that is said to them. they'll figure it out sooner or later when they fail miserably in trying to lead a department of employees just like themselves! this person you dealt with bripastryguy, sounds just like this. he knows everthing (my mom calls me "kia" for know it all)...and seems to be great at self promotion. as much as i'd like to know his name and where he works, i'm sure if i came across him i'd figure it out without knowing! put someone in a kitchen for an hour and have them separate eggs. you can tell right away who has skills and who doesn't! yeah, it pisses me off!

and you're forgetting about the 11-20qt hobart table-top model that you'll need for large batches of dough and buttercream

my favorite brand of creme fraiche is from california "kendall farms", rich creamy and delicious. when i make creme fraiche, i do the buttermilk method (48 hours with cheesecloth on top...i don't have the ratio in front of me right now)... it comes close!

what is pepper jack cheese?! jack is a california cheese i guess (monterey jack)...the really good stuff that is dry aged (a great cheese name is VELLA brand dry aged jack) is almost as good as parmigiano reggiano for grating, flavoring stuff, etc. most of the stuff in the store is sort of like a cross between the sharpness of white cheddar with the texture of mozzarella (not the fresh stuff, but the stuff for pizza)...semi-soft?! pepper-jack is full of little pieces of jalapenos and that type of thing for a little extra kick... now you can look up the real definition on the web and can expose all my b.s. i agree! it is wonderful, especially in quesadillas...

okay everybodyALANA HENNING you read it here first!!! i'm not shy....and steve you're right...if we're all bitching about recognition, the first thing to do is post using our real names. most of us don't even live in the same state so no need to worry about pastry stalkers steve, your points are all great as tan and sinclair both agreed...at the very least, i'm a good schmoozer. i guess the reason i place some of my value/worth with the restaurant i'm affiliated with is because i find that these restaurants are my stepping stones. if i play my cards right and hook up with the right name during an opening (when a restaurant gets the most press), the pr is paid for! this is the beginning i'm looking for. we do a lot of charity, etc. (usually the chef is the only one invited, but i would always ask to tag along). it worked really well in san francisco and by the time i left the city, i was the one being called to do charity gigs. unfortunately, that was when i decided to leave the city...but that's okay! i can continue to do the same things in new york... i didn't want to start a whiny thread, and i have to admit that i'm very lucky. i moved up quickly in this business and definitely got recognition that i probably didn't deserve at the time...but i save those 2 seconds of fame (in a scrapbook for my parents...all the money wasn't wasted ), because i know i'm due a few more at least! i know that i can only improve...if i push myself like you say. i just have to decide in what capacity and at what level! we'll all get there...we'll find our niche and make a comfy little nest there! i just hope that everyone found some of this information useful! i'm thankful that eGullet is here for all of us!

WOW, retired at 48 and in the restaurant business...what numbers did you pick in the lottery?!!!!!! that's amazing luck for a person working in restaurants...i'm very jealous. you did make some good points oreganaught...as has everyone else who has posted over the last day or so. these are all things i have done over the years...obsess over sales, blaming the waitstaff, bitching, moaning, blaming MYSELF...my desserts suck, why aren't they selling, etc, etc, ad nauseum!!! luckily i've let that go (for the most part). sinclair, you're right about the honey...i definitely talk to the waitstaff and foh management just to keep a good relationship going. i type up an ingredient/description list of all the desserts on the menu and update it when i make changes. i go to lineup and talk to people. here's something i do that i know a lot of places don't do because if the chef knew we were giving away so much chocolate, they'd kill us (except mine, 'cause he has a huge sweet tooth)...i make dessert for family meal as often as i can!!!! mostly i use things that have to be tossed or overripe fruit, that type of thing...but sometimes on a whim, i make the triple chocolate chip decadence cookies or the hershey's kiss peanut blossom cookies (yes, i buy the kisses myself), or whatever i know the staff enjoys...they do appreciate it! sinclair, let me demonstrate the demoralizing aspect of the economy and its effect on restaurants...here in nyc... i moved to new york to work with my mentor in february of 2002. the company was supposed to open their second restaurant in the spring. after much delay, the new restaurant opened in august of 2002. remember, the economy is in the shits and most high-end ("elite") restaurants were barely doing respectable numbers particularly in the summer, particularly one year after 09/11. well, on the menu, there wasn't one entree priced below $30!!! so, after the initial opening hype, business started to slow down. we started our pastry department with my boss, myself as a sous chef, one other sous chef (total salaries for the three of us totalling $165,000) and four other employees...all for a ninety seat restaurant. needless to say, my boss was used to getting her way (when i first worked for her in san francisco, her pastry department was about 10-11 people for a 200 seat restaurant). gradually we had to let go of our staff....then, there were disagreements between herself and the chef which were left to fester rather than discussed which led to my boss being fired in february 2003. the chef and my boss were friends at one point in life. i was asked to replace the pastry chef which i did with reluctance as i could see where business was headed. by the time i left the restaurant on the 4th of july weekend, the department was myself and one other person!!! the numbers were so low and we did such poor dessert sales, that it only took two of us where there were 7! and i still did reasonable amounts of sugar work/tuiles/chocolate work/petit fours/ice creams/sorbets/breads/etc. talk about depressing. a week and a half after i left the restaurant (knowing that it would close sooner or later, but with promises from the owner that he wouldn't do it without warning the staff...) i called one day to see how things were and i was told that the restaurant had closed that day without any warning. cooks left on the street with nothing to do and no safety net at all!!! all less than a year from open to close (i think the construction and anticipation lasted longer than a year!!!) i guess the point of this story is that...wait, did i have a point?!!!! oh yeah...be happy you have a job (it seems that most of you are), always have a safety net, pastry isn't everything when you don't have a restaurant in which to make your desserts. unfortunately, i found i was most creative right before i left this job. i felt numbers were so low that i had nothing to lose by trying interesting combinations and changing the menu often...i was motivated by boredom to try new things! ugh, i'll never understand my own phyche!

michael, i'd like to thank you for such a great response to this thread. you took all the "negative" points and turned them 180 degrees to positive for everyone to learn from. i couldn't have said it better. you're absolutely right when it comes to pr. it does take self promotion as it is rare that the chef will give an inch of his own pr and share it with the pc. i look back on my first pc job though and realize all the advantages i was given and now i'm tempted to write to my old chef and beg his forgiveness for being such a stubborn and arrogant bitch! hindsight is 20/20 and whenever i felt that he and the chef de cuisine were getting all the kudos, he would pass the photographer to my end of the kitchen to make sure i got some notice. a better guy than i realized at the time. as some people are saying on this thread, we wonder why we do this. i'm still in a transitional period with regard to what i'll end up doing when i finally return to nyc...i hope some of the new restaurant openings inspire me to get back into it in some aspect or another. again, i'd like to propose a nyc dessert tasting for this fall for eGulleteers...anyone in the city interested? i'll try to post again on a new thread to see if there's any interest in this.

for $100+ I'msurprised no one has mentioned La Folie. I haven't eaten there, but I've gone to sit at the bar and had a couple of appetizers. It is among Masa's and Fleur de Lys and the Dining Room (at the Ritz Carleton) in quality/reputation. Besides, Polk Street is my old hood and you can skip the gelatinized frenchy desserts and go to 24hour Bob's Donuts (further south on polk) for great donuts (the later the better/fresher).

just to move further off topic...does the protein in egg whites denature or coagulate?! i think there needs to be much more bacon cooking in order to observe what exactly is going on... someone please keep supply of tomato, avocado and lettuce nearby!

there's something to be said about just going into business for yourself. there's nobody to compromise with, no one to steal your spatulas, etc. options: 1) teach classes at people's homes...you know there are still yuppies out there who love to have a glass of wine and think they're learning something 2) translate the connections you make teaching classes into catering opportunities...make desserts for people's cocktail parties, wedding cakes, ice cream to-go, cakes, cookies, anything 3) translate all the involvement you have with these people as market research into opening your own version of Chickilicious (nyc restaurant serving only desserts...tastings of desserts, prix fixe dessert menus, etc) 4) make the desserts that you want to make!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 5) become a dessert mogul and make millions and millions of dollars now that's a win-win situation all around. as my mom tells me every day, you aren't really doing anything unless you're working for yourself!

bripastryguy...i know who you're talking about and have read about their expansion. if you're in new york, we should start an eGullet dessert tasting tour of manhattan. that would be interesting. maybe we can involve fat guy to do some writing about it?! actually, fat guy, i'd love to talk to you about writing. not that my skills here are in any way highlighted to my advantage... sinclair, don't be discouraged. it seems to me from what i can infer from your posts that your geography has you a little defeated. don't feel alone, even in new york, a supposed food center, it is difficult to get new and different dessert ideas across to the customer. you'd be surprised. but you have the right attitude in a lot of ways. i wish i could be as dedicated as you. i feel lazy...too lazy to try new things sometimes...too lazy to argue anymore...too lazy to try, period! but you give me inspiration to try harder when i get back to new york! i have to do better. i've seriously considered getting into teaching in order to give people a better idea of what's going on. schools are good and people who choose to go to them have the right idea, however, they're a little unrealistic. i don't want to scare people, but i'd like to give them a little dose of reality (and i don't mean the kind you find on t.v.). i guess what i'm trying to say, yet again, is that there are so many facets to our business and i know that we can be a little self-centered...but this is what we know, what we love and what we live every day. more of us need to be a little bit of an overachiever like steve klc and get into as many aspects of the business as we can in order to push the limits. use the internet to get/spread information, write about our experiences, make great desserts, support our peers, anything to make us feel we made the right choice . also, i think it was sinclair who wrote that she's getting private messages from other eGulleteers who feel they can't write on the open forum, please, please, please, everyone whether professional or not, please write with your ideas and opinions and questions. that is what this forum is for. i don't think we'll ever reach an "end" so to speak, but we're definitely getting some really great, albeit emotional posts which are opening my eyes!

"kitchen arts and letters" in new york. they don't have a web-site, yet (it's under construction). but i think they're happy to help people out over the phone. a little expensive, but i guess one should support the mom and pop stores nowadays. "jessica's biscuit" which is the same as ecookbooks.com has the grand finales (probably for much cheaper than anywhere else). actually, i check their prices before i buy from anywhere because they are so cheap. you'd be surprised at the selection they have. also, check jb prince. they are on-line and have a lot of stuff with sugar and chocolate (a lot of european titles). i just got a great all around reference book on swiss confectionary (there are two books in this series, one is mostly molded/dipped chocolate the other is petit fours) through albert uster (also on-line). unfortunately, they are the only ones who carry this book (good chocolate recipes, very professional and almost scientific in approach) and it is $125...ugh! p.s. i usually only get books with pictures as this is what inspires me. i'm sure the notters (or ewald) has some great books out there as he has a school...he's supposedly the expert in this field (pulled sugar).

i guess i'm posting a little too much on a topic i started (i feel as if i should baby it )...but it is interesting to read everyone's opinions... fat guy, thanks for being so eloquent. i do know what you mean. in choosing to work with pastry, one of my goals was to try to match the dessert to the savory menu. i always feel strange going to an asian inspired restaurant and getting what amounted to an ice cream sundae (albeit using green tea ice cream), or the ubiquitous ginger creme brulee (not that it's bad, just that it's tired). matching the desserts can be a rather difficult road to follow over the long haul...to be innovative, etc. i was just working in a "mediterranean" themed restaurant (think moroccan, southern france, italy, etc) and there were only so many variations of baklava i could do (just kidding...sort of). but to stick to it and keep the flavors fresh and interesting is definitely a goal i have. but if you read the last post i wrote, i do give up a little easier than others (call me spoiled). right now i'm in hawaii for seven weeks (recovering...sure). oh, but do i love a good antenna!!!!!!!!!!!!!