FlourPower

I'll make one more attempt to clarify this. I am white and my wife is black, so I have a different perspective on racism in this country. A lot of people are of the opinion that since there are no longer seperate drinking fountains that racism is gone. This is not the case. Everyday, casual racism is alive and well. When my wife is in a business suit, she gets waited on in stores. When she's in sweats and a baseball hat she gets followed around. When we're shopping together -- whether it's the deli or the women's fragrance department in a department store, clerks will ask me if I need help and ignore her. We get glares. I could go on but you get the point and I'm not looking for sympathy. I'd like to think that this is a community that doesn't act that way; that we all interact with people of other races, nationalities and religions on an everyday basis and that we have real, lasting friendships with people of all backgrounds. But that's still the exception for a great many people in this country. They're probably not burning crosses on anyone's lawn or taking notes from The Turner Diaries but they've had very limited interaction with people of another race. So they can't help but get their views and opionions from the media. The Bobby Brown and Whitney show. Flavor of Love. I Love New York. Virtually every rapper on MTV Cribs. The moron on The View who admitted that the world could indeed be flat. We all know better when we see these things. We realize not every African American talks or acts that way. But for a lot of people, their first reaction when they see that crap is to say "See? I knew it." It subconsciously reinforces negative stereotypes. I can't speak for Diva, but I think that's what she was getting at when she said the Neelys should know better. My wife was very excited about the Neely's show when she heard about it and was looking forward to seeing it. She sat down to watch the first episode with a hopeful smile on her face. But after it became apparent they were going the googly-eyed, sho-nuff route her reaction was "here we go" and she immediately turned it off. Sure, they're probably doing it for the money. But what's your self-respect worth? How much would someone have to pay you to sell out in a high-profile, very public way?

According to Follow Productions, who produce the show, Down Home With the Neelys was the highest rated debut daytime show for Food Network "in the five year history of Food Network's popular 'In the Kitchen' weekend block.'" I'd like to know how many of those viewers came back. My wife and I were among those anxiously awaiting it only to see, as Diva put it, 'the new minstrel show.' The Food Network is entirely too white, representing neither the racial makeup of the country or that of commercial kitchens. We had high hopes that this was a step in the right direction. Guess we'll have to keep hoping.

You'll never even mention Krispy Kreme again. There's no comparison, especially if you get the doughnuts when they're hot and fresh. Transcendent.

Who the hell greenlighted this? My wife and I literally cannot stand to watch this due to all the shuckin' and jivin' going on. I'd love to know how many black viewers see this and say "Great. Thanks a lot." It is unbelievable how crass and stereotypical this show is. Words fail me. The wife's frequent 'shut yo mouf' type of exclamations, thinly veiled sexual innuendoes and literal ass shaking on camera makes Amos and Andy look like My Dinner with Andre. Is anyone else gobsmacked that this steamer of a show made it on the air or is it just me?

I once dated a girl that didn't like garlic or onions. That didn't last long.

Just finished "Gumbo Tales" by Sara Roahen. Terrific overview of New Orleans cuisine.

From the St. Petersburg Times: Celebrity chef Robert Irvine blew into town two years ago with the panache of royalty, the ego of a TV star and a plan to turn St. Petersburg into "the next Monaco." He was about to launch a show on the Food Network, Dinner: Impossible, and was writing a cookbook. Soon the muscle-bound Brit was downing oysters, clinking glasses and telling incredible tales. He was a knight. He owned a castle in Scotland. He had cooked for presidents and royalty and was pals with Prince Charles. Robert Irvine's magnum opus - side-by-side restaurants called Ooze and Schmooze - was supposed to redefine upscale dining. The restaurants would open with 7,000 square feet at the base of a sparkling condominium tower at 400 Beach Drive, a crepe toss from sailboats lolling on Vinoy Basin. He promised chef's tasting menus, polished personal service and 100 wines. Everyone bought it. The whole article.

When we started up we got some pricing software...I think it was from Resort. You have to enter everything, which is a real pain, but it gives you an idea of how much each cookie costs. Again, add in overhead. As for retail pricing, it's what the market will bear. If a cake costs you $5 to make but comparable cakes sell for $30, by all means sell yours for the same price. Broadly speaking, you can compete based on quality, convenience or price. Personally, that would be my preferred order. Competing solely on price is never fun and can eat into profits quickly. Go around to your competitors and see what they charge. Understand that even if you're making high-end cakes, you're still competing with the local grocery store or whoever sells baked goods in your vicinity. They're still your competitors, but with a lower case 'c.' As for wholesaling, determine what is and isn't worth your while. If it's great exposure and it'll be a consistent source of income, great. If they're just going to be a pain in the ass don't do it. And be sure to draw up a contract. How long can your items sit in their display case? Will they agree to a fixed amount each week? How much notice will you get for orders? Most importantly, are you gonna get paid? How often? Cash or check? All those are important to consider.

Are you a Metafilter person? I could have sworn I saw this exact question there. At any rate, it's a bitch to find a reliable accountant/lawyer/anything. We had a different accountant each year until we found one we liked. I've found that the best source for finding reliable people is through word of mouth. More specifically other business owners. That's how we found a great electrician, plumber and accountant. It takes time to find people. Don't be afraid to ask questions and get references. And if they're not working out don't be afraid to fire them. Don't let your feelings get in the way -- it's only business. Nothing personal.

I think it's a great idea. As for the dust, you'll get much more of it on the fans than you will on the ceiling itself.

Have you tried the Grapefruit Chipotle sauce out of that book yet? I make that every summer at least once. Nth-ing the Paul Kirk recommendation. I've seen the Extreme Barbecue book. It's half narrative and half recipes. Some of the contraptions are pretty amazing. It'll appeal to barbecuers but I wouldn't make it the first book I buy on the topic. I'd get Paul Kirk or the Jameson's first.

Never stop learning, accept compliments but don't let them go to your head and remember that the customer is not always right.

I really liked Yan Kit-So's Classic Chinese Cooking. It's from DK publishing and is loaded with pictures, including how to correctly chop vegetables and other prep tasks. Great book.

I wish I led a life so charmed that an allegedly soggy ham sandwich could ruin my day. Not only that, but that it could affect me so deeply that only a total reimbursement for the whole meal would even come close to making it right. People pull this shit with regularity. Whenever they'd call us I would apologize profusely and politely inform them that I'd be more than happy to refund the item or give them a new one (same for same) the next time they came in. They never did. Not once. We were once featured on TV and the very next day someone called in claiming they 'got sick off the brownies.' I had been making brownies in the story. My wife asked the person what type of illness they had. Nonspecific reply. Were they allergic to nuts? She didn't know. Were there nuts in the brownie she ate? Yes! Yes there were! At that point my wife informed her that the brownies that were for sale on the day in question didn't have any nuts in them (truly) because we had run out of walnuts. The lady hung up abruptly and we never heard from her again.

I just finished an advance of Trevor Corson's "The Zen of Fish," (he also did "Secret Life of Lobsters") which is about the evolution of sushi, and he spends some time on that very topic but it's got more of a California slant to it. I don't remember much attention (if any) paid to Maine in that regard. It's a solid book. Divided roughly into thirds, he follows a class of budding sushi chefs a la Ruhlman, talks about various species of fish as well as history. He covers a lot of ground. I won't be surprised if it ends up on some short lists at the end of the year. It comes out in June.

A few that I've seen recently: Barbecue Nation -- yeah, I know, there's a thousand barbecue books out there. This one isn't fundamentally that much different, but the guy went around the country (gaining 20 pounds in the process) and includes recipes from cooks from all over. It's got a nice mix of barbecue and grilling. Not essential, but not bad. The Deen Brothers -- this surprised the hell out of me. It's a compilation of recipes from their Road Tasted show. They adapted recipes for signature dishes from featured restaurants. At least they give the restaurants prominent credit. Discovering Korean Cuisine - there might be better Korean cookbooks out there, but I thought this was a great introduction. Lots of photos. The New York Times Country Weekend Cookbook -- some of it's a little precious (truffle mashed potatoes) for summer cooking at the cabin, but it's a solid compilation of summer-themed recipes.

We gave stuff from our bakery to a number of bands (the Melvins, the Bronx, others) but the most notable was probably the Foo Fighters. Taylor Hawkins, the drummer, specifically requested bran muffins. Guess you gotta stay regular on the road. They were great and shared the food with their crew and everyone working backstage (a rarity). In fact, the wife of one of the local security guards became one of our most loyal customers after tasting our stuff. All thanks to Dave Grohl.

I don't really have anything to add, but I feel your pain. We operated a small, from-scratch bakery and ran into the same thing. The only time we'd hear from the culinary students is when they had to get a couple weeks of "real world" experience in order to graduate. I have no idea what the hell those students expect to do upon graduation unless they're hoping for a job at Chilis or Applebees assembling pre-made, pre-bagged microwaveable crap.

I get your point completely and agree. I guess what I'm driving at is that I felt that a lot of the cooking stuff lacked authenticity in my opinion. I wasn't expecting to walk away with ten new tricks or shortcuts or anything. But if someone's really passionate about cooking I would think that would shine through and that they couldn't help themselves from singing the virtues of a technique or dish. He does that to a point in a passage about foie gras, but again, it doesn't carry through the book. I get the impression they're trying to position him as the next Bourdain -- Chef Jeff, the Bad Boy of Cooking -- or something like that is mentioned at one point. It sounds forced. Hopefully he's got another one in him and it'll be better. This one's wildly uneven and, to me, felt like an inspirational magazine profile stretched out to book length. I'll give the guy all the credit in the world for improving his station and working hard. But the book could've been much better.

To be brutally honest, there's a reason for that. I, too, have read the book and was disappointed. The attention to detail that is paid to covering the drug trade doesn't carry over into the cooking and kitchen portions. He didn't come across as someone who's passionate about food, in my opinion. It seemed as if he was more of an adrenaline freak who enjoyed the competitive aspect of cooking and the kitchen, taking pride in stealing recipes and getting ahead. It seemed as if he had replaced the rush of selling drugs and getting away with it by cooking and advancing his career (often to the detriment of his family). To be fair, he owns up to a lot of this, but it's ultimately not a 'foodie' book to me. If the book is all about cooking and ostensibly about this passion that is ignited within him, why are there hardly any tips or tricks? Most importantly, why is the only recipe included in the book one for fried chicken that he didn't even come up with? It just came off as hollow to me.

Ah. Two answers from me on your question. First, they'd have to meet the minimum amount for a special order (8 won't cut it). Second, if they asked about trans fats I'd happily answer ours have none. If the product in question did, I'd tell them. As far as trade secrets go, that's a case by case and customer by customer thing. I know you want a direct answer, but quite honestly it depends on the situation. In some cases I'll tell the person what they want to hear because it's simply the path of least resistance and I don't have all day to explain the intricacies of the business as stated earlier. You can call that lying if you want. To me, being disingenuous is when you pass off factory crap as your own or knowingly sell an inferior or stale product. As for customers, the ones who genuinely care about what goes into what they eat are, quite frankly, the reason we get up in the morning. 95% of the regulars are truly a joy to be around. I was talking specifically about the people with no intention of buying (or who buy something twice a year) who come in and grill you about the intricacies of the business because they have nothing better to do. There's more of that going on than you'd think, which is why you get told 'so and so's in the back, they can't come out right now.' Otherwise they'd never get anything done. I'm not directing that comment at you -- I don't know you -- but that's why that policy's in place.

I'll let K8 answer that for herself, but you're twisting the issue a bit, and she acknowledged as much. So did another poster. If a customer asks if something's vegan/organic/trans-fat free/has nuts in it, that's much different than asking if something's 'fresh' or not. If you want to know if it's 'fresh,' that's a preference. A hope. A wish. And until they know the logistics of the operation it's not really something for the customer to debate. If they're really that concerned about freshness and quality, it's fairly easy to get the big picture of how most commercial food is made, from the Food Network's factory tour show to the Internet. If you ask if something is vegan, free of trans fats or has nuts in it, that's a whole other question altogether, and one that should be taken seriously and answered honestly. But experience has shown that the interrogators of the world are, by and large, fickle and cheap. They come in just twice a year, because your cake costs $x more than the sheet cake at the grocery store that they usually buy, but Aunt Nellie's coming to town and they want something special, so they expect you to treat them to a song and dance and lots of personalized attention when they grace you with their presence. They want the quality product (for once) to impress and expect that you'll recognize the 'favor' they're doing you. Again, if you have religious/nutritional/allergic questions, I've got all the time in the world for you and respect you for asking. But if it's an esoteric debate or because you want to feel special and/or feel entitled to special treatment just because you're you (and you're not a regular customer), that's another matter entirely. Lastly, when you're baking from scratch it takes more time to put out a quality product, period. There's less time to shoot the shit so time is at a premium. It becomes a question of 'do I spend ten minutes with this person (and the one after that and the one after that) answering questions because they didn't get enough attention as children, or do I get more pies/cupcakes/bars out?' It's a pretty easy answer. So my question to you is this: let's assume you're a regular customer. You know me and I know the names of your pets and kids, what you did for the Super Bowl, etc. Would you accept the fact that the cookie/pastry/pie you came in for as part of your regular stop isn't out today because I just spent twenty minutes describing the minutiae of professional baking to someone who comes in twice a year? What about the day after that? And the day after that? How long before you'd quit coming because the production schedule's so erratic that you can't count on the usual items being available for sale?

To be quite honest, your customer should thank her lucky stars there's someone in her community that is actually making/touching the food she's eating as opposed to getting a mix, adding a couple eggs and some oil and calling it their own. Not to mention thawing something that was made in a factory across the country eight months ago and calling it 'fresh.' It's really sad how much of the crap (and it is crap) people are consuming as 'homemade' or 'fresh baked' is mass produced and pumped full of preservatives. But as Jello Biafra famously said 'the convenience you demanded is now mandatory.'

Two things that haven't been mentioned: you could say 'we make our brownies in batches of [x amount]. If you want them freshly baked the day you pick them up you need to purchase/order that many.' Another way to get around it in the future is to place minimums for orders, so customers need to buy either x amount of an item or spend x amount of dollars for a special order. Otherwise you'll never win.

Wholeheartedly seconding the "Food Arts" recommendation. Great magazine with some of the best food writing I've seen.