lorea

Grilled cheese sandwiches are perfect with truffle cheese! Now that's heaven... The way I normally do it is butter both sides of the bread, then toast one side on the griddle until lightly toasted. Flip it over on the griddle, then add one slice of aged cheddar and one slice of American cheese to the warm side. Add freshly ground pepper. Close the sandwich, then toast both sides until lightly browned and the cheese is melted.

Whew...I thought I was crazy, or something was wrong with my taste buds! I have a question....is a salt grinder supposed to make food taste better than kosher salt?

Definitely kosher salt. I rarely have to worry about my salt level with kosher salt because it's so easy to pinch.

Speaking of Staub, I was going to ask if anybody had any personal experiences with Staub? Are those basting spikes worth the extra price? How's the lid fit compared to Le Creuset?

Ditto. I'm eating dessert right now, and after looking at your site, I'm hungry for something better. Gorgeous!

They taste like....chicken! I was surprised the first time I ate it, but if you closed your eyes, you would definitely think you were eating a regular chicken. And yes, they're definitely made for stewing.

What a kind shrink. Actually, I make it myself because I don't keep any Prego in the house, but I almost always have tomato sauce and paste on hand. I end up doctoring the Prego anyways with garlic, onions, fresh herbs, beef, and vegetables, so it takes the same amount of time for me to make imitation Prego as it does for me to make storebought Prego.

I have to confess a little secret....I love Prego Mushroom sauce. I know, it's tomato paste-y and has lots of sugar in it, but I think it's because I grow up with it. I typically make my sauce from canned whole tomatoes and fresh herbs, but sometimes I find myself guiltily cooking up a batch of Prego or find myself opening up cans of tomato paste/sauce and adding sugar and spices to make it taste more like Prego. It's sick, I know.

I cheated...I didn't want to make the challah ahead of time, so I made the brioche last weekend instead. Made a whole bunch of loaves, sticky buns, raisin bread. I had the BEST French toast ever the day after.

I've been making batches of rice wine and using them for sweet rice soup balls. I came upon Ed's recipe for Prawns with Chile Sauce and wow....that was good! I basically followed the recipe but made it less sweet (my rice wine has gotten much sweeter with age) and spicier. The rice wine added a lot of complexity to the dish. I think I'll definitely be using my rice wine in more savory dishes from now on! Thanks for posting the recipe! Please feel free to post some more.

I'm in for the challah too! So basically, we make the challah next Saturday, then come back and post our results and try to help each other out? Oooh...let's do brioche next, for an excuse to make the sticky buns. Yum!

What do you think your Le Creuset wok? Is it worth the price? Traditionally, both cast iron and carbon steel are used, to my understanding. But are they used for different applications, or for the same?

After reading this thread, I had to try Farallon....and I was very very impressed. For dessert, I think I had the same apple spice cake that bilrus had...I think they called it the 50-year old apple cake (or something like that). Does anybody know if that recipe is in any of Emily Luchetti's books? Or whether or not Farallon gives out their precious recipes? I'm dying to try recreating that at home.

Not sure about Irwin's recipe, but these are the proportions I use for Almond Jello: 3/4 cup Hot water 1/4 cup Sugar 1 packet of Gelatin 1 cup of Milk 1 teaspoon of Almond extract (Make this like you would any other jello dessert) To this, add 1/2 can - 1 full can of Fruit Cocktail or Lychees. Edited to add in the units!

How about sweet taro soup? Or sweet rice balls filled with black sesame (or red bean) in a sweetened wine rice soup? The almond jello is a good idea too....it's super-easy to make. But if the cooking level of your students is a little higher, they would probably feel cheated by the simplicity of that dessert. Or how about deep fried thousand layer cakes? Lightly sprinkled with granulated sugar and peanuts.

Just wanted to report back that I made the recipe that denise_jer posted above and used some of the tips mentioned...and it was very good! I brought it to a wine tasting party and received rave reviews. I'm not sure if I like the almonds in the cake part though - I didn't like the texture it gave the cake. If I were to make it again, I would probably make it with genoise. Thanks again!

Also, if the pleating is too much work, you can always press the edges of the dumpling together withOUT pleats....these are called "pig's ears." As kids, we were allowed to make it this way, since it still tastes the same. This is fine if you're going to just boil the dumplings. But for pot stickers and for steaming, you'll want the dumplings to stand up, so that's when the pleats need to come in.

Looks like the second recipe is just a recipe for plum sauce...which actually tastes pretty similar to hoisin sauce! My grandma used to make plum sauce all the time, and it was really good. We used it any time we wanted to use hoisin sauce.

I have a question...I have always made beef noodle soup the way my mom, grandmother, and relatives have always made it - first, blanch the meat, then drain it, then start the cooking process. However, the way I make European/American type stews is to brown the meat first, rather than blanching. Has anybody made it both ways? And if so, what way is better? Also, I was wondering if you guys have used the pre-made spice packets, and how they compare to your own recipes. I have both brisket and chuck...which cut would give me more tendon and more tender results? Thanks!!

Hmm....I stir mine with a whisk and I try not to incorporate air. And right before it goes into the bain marie, I slam the custards down on the countertop to force some of the air out. I normally end up with 2 or 3 bubbles when I do it this way. Maybe that will help?

Yeah, I thought I learned when I was 6 - "Gee, is this iron hot?" Yep, it was!

What a great teacher to learn from! So if it was invented at Dalloyau, then is the recipe in the link that denise_jer posted the "authentic" one? I'm assuming it's the same one as in Dorie Greenspan's Paris Sweets book. Extrait de Cafe from Vahine is what I bought (I can't read French! ). How would I substitute it in the recipe? Do I need to dilute, then use it one-to-one? I read that it was invented in 1954...it's not that old! I thought it would have been an older invention. Are there "traditional" ways to decorate? I looked around for pictures, but I mainly found it decorated for sale....and the designs were all over the place.

I did this one a couple of months ago....wonder if the serrated edge of my new cake server is actually SHARP. And run my fingers over it several times until the pain finally hits my slow brain (hey, I just woke up!). Ouch. Very deep multiple jagged wounds.

Add ground flax seeds and egg. That should give it a smooth texture, and make you regular too! :P (Sorry, I just had to put that in....after low-carbing it for 2 months, I got sick of eating flax seeds.)

Maybe when the recipe says to discard the rind, it actually means the rind of the entire lemon? It sounds like it'd be pretty bitter if you threw in the pith.