chromedome

Thanks, all. I will be doing some digging during my (less than copious) free time...I am a freelance researcher, after all...but needed a few quick ideas to get me started. The links above are all that and more, and "strata" (thanks, Andiesenji!) is precisely what I was grasping for as a label to use for menu-writing purposes. I can run with that, now that I know what to call them! I'll improvise variations on those themes, and bake them off on sheet pans or in two-inch hotel pans, and cut 'em in wedges to go with my roasts. Shouldn't be too difficult to co-ordinate pudding w/sauce w/roast. The carving station has been rather fun for me. Making up sauces for the roasts has been an amusing diversion from the pizzas and pastas; makes me feel like I'm getting some practical use out of all that class time. And my "Repertoire", of course, is small enough to fit handily in my locker at work.

Over the next week, at my day job, I'm taking up my new duties as "team leader" in the bakery (essentially manage that department). We've just recently switched to a new bread supplier. These are artisanal breads of excellent quality from one of the leading local purveyors; the price points are higher and part of my job will be selling the new product to our longtime customers. However, because of the higher costs, another part of my job will be ensuring that we get maximum utilization out of the unsold product. For the unflavoured breads, I don't anticipate any difficulty locating recipes for upscale bread puddings (or using them for breadcrumbs or stuffing or what have you); but many of the breads we're buying are savoury...black olives, peppers, onions, cheese, and many other suchlike ingredients. Are there any traditions of savoury bread puddings out there? We do a carved item every day, so I wouldn't lack for meals to pair them with, but I'm unsure about how they'd be received. Bread puddings, for a lot of people, conjure up memories of frugal grandmothers and stale-tasting sodden goo. If there was a traditional style of savoury bread pudding, now, I'm thinking that I could put it across as an ethnic specialty...something that would perhaps garner a more sympathetic ear from my customers. Anyone know of anything? Got any ideas?

I got tired of combing the second-hand stores for one of those waffle irons a couple of years ago, and bought a small two-waffle modern version. Back in February I was in a thrift store here in Edmonton and found an old four-waffle Kenmore with the cloth-covered cord. Works like a charm, and makes better waffles than the new one. Hmmmmm..... Come to think of it, I haven't made waffles for a while. Maybe I'll mix up some batter tonight before bed.

I love my Kitchenaid, and I use it a lot, but it's useless for bread. I made the mistake of buying a model with the 4.6 qt bowl (I was on a budget). It's got the 350 watt motor, so I've got power enough to handle bread dough, but the dough climbs the hook and winds itself around the head unit. I spend more time unsticking the damned dough than it's worth. Usually I start the bread in the KA, let it go to the point that it climbs the hook, and then take it over to the table and knead by hand. It's quicker in the end. As I said I give my machine a lot of use, but bread was one of the primary reasons I bought it. I'm still a little miffed about that.

My mother bought a Proctor & Gamble toaster oven in the mid-70's. She used it for about eight years, then gave it to my sister. My sister used it for another three, and gave it to me after receiving a newer model as a gift. I used it for a further four years, a rather respectable total for an inexpensive model. When it died, I purchased a nearly identical model to replace it, which lasted me for eight years. My current model is at the three-year mark and counting. It is microprocessor controlled, and beeps/shuts off when the toast is done. Doesn't broil nearly as well as the older model, but it makes decent toast. All of these cost less than $35 CDN, which is pretty lowball up here. I used to have a separate toaster, but gave it away because it did nothing but take up space in my cupboard. I doubt I'd ever buy one again, unless it was a wedding gift...

Being a Downeaster, I'm a biscuit man all the way. Having said that, fresh strawberries are of course a perfect accompaniment to any ol' pieces of angel food, white cake, genoise, sponge cake, or similar substance you happen to have lying around. It's just not strawberry shortcake, is all.

Been using mine regularly for a year and a half. In Canada at least, they come with a 90-day warranty. No problems so far <crosses fingers, spits over shoulder, knocks wood>

Teff is the smallest of cultivated grains, being a fraction of millet's size. In fact its name is thought to be derived from a word in a regional dialect which means "lost." Aside from its flavour and nutritive value, its great distinction is that it is the most drought-hardy of grains, surely a recommendation in Ethiopia of all places. Typically, in areas which may-or-may-not get enough water for other grains, maize will be attempted first, with millet and then teff as the fall-back crops. I'm assuming that this would be due to the relative yields of the crops; and the relative difficulty of milling teff given its tininess. I think I have a little bit left in my cupboard as I write this. It's bloody expensive stuff, about $13/lb when I bought it last. Remarkably tasty stuff, though.

My son was watching me do this one day, eyes wide. "How do you do that?" he asked. "Simple," I told him. "See how the side of the pan is shaped? It's a half-pipe for food!"

During our first few months together, my wife-to-be had the dangerous habit of pinching my butt while I was absorbed in cutting and chopping. Fortunately, I broke her of that one quickly enough to retain all of my digits.

Exculpatory moment. I was never one for sharing my space in the kitchen, but of course cooking school takes care of that REALLY fast. And of course, I want to encourage my kids' nascent interest in cooking and baking. So really, it depends where I am and what mood I'm in. At work, people natter at me all of the time. If I'm focussed on what I'm doing and especially if they're talking to my (less functional) left ear, it's no problem...I just don't hear them. Well, actually that is a problem sometimes. At home, I have different moods and moments. If the scenario is "I've just got home from work and want to get supper on the table so I can sit down and relax," then you'd best be staying out of my way. Wife and kids know that. If I am locked in the throes of mortal combat with my recalcitrant muse, then I am not fit company for any human. Wife and kids know that, too. Otherwise, I'm okay with chat for the most part, less so with physical presence (small kitchen). My end of the conversation will tend to be random and abstracted, of course.

This is actually wife of Chromedome, reading this thread while CD and young'uns are eating lunch. Chromedome likes no interference with his rhythm in the kitchen, though he has learned to give said young'uns a little space in there so as to encourage their own budding love of cooking. But CD himself is a little deaf, and is tuned in to what he's doing. He can handle one person coming in and asking about what he is doing, but not much more than that when we have a house full of people. On our daughter's birthday, he shared HIS kitchen with my Dad's wife beautifully. There were only a few misshaps regaurding Mummy's clothes and CD's food, but they had alot of fun for such a small kitchen. How have you dealt with sharing your domain? Squirrel

Hee! Reading this thread has been like watching the last two years of my life passing before my eyes. I've always been a very capable home cook, and a very helter-skelter one. I seldom bothered with recipes except as a source of ideas; if I saw something that appealed to me I'd just bang out my own version on a wing and a prayer. The vast majority of the time, the meal would turn out excellent. And the vast majority of the time, it would be 30-60 minutes longer than I'd estimated, and the kitchen would be a shambles when I was done. Then I went to cooking school. Then I went to work at an upscale restaurant. Talk aboutcher "sink or swim" moments? Oy. I'm getting pretty good at accelerating under stress, now. At my day job we feed 700 people in 45 minutes or so during the lunchtime rush. I have two hours to prep and complete my day's production for lunch (and accomodate any catering contracts that have come along); then roughly two hours of lunch (12:00-12:45 is the part that really wails along...); then finish my day on other prep (tomorrow's mise, etc). Since I work directly in view of our clientele, cleaning as I go is pretty mandatory. Unfortunately the dish pit is at the very back of the shop and I'm in the very front, so I have to resort to making "relatively neat" stacks of rinsed dishes during the morning crunch. I'll only have time for two or three trips to the dish area in the run of a morning. And by the same token, I need to get everything I need from there pretty much on the first try. So...as for recipes lying about the prep time? Look at who's writing them. If it's a professional cook, you know that he or she is very, very fast by layman's terms. Even those food writers who spend a high proportion of their time testing recipes will generally have learned to be quick. One important thing that the professional kitchen teaches is to "never prepare at the time of service what you can do ahead." Break down your recipe. What can be done that morning? What can be done a day ahead, or even two or three? For example, will you be using fresh thyme tomorrow? Pluck the leaves from the stems tonight while you're watching TV. Chop, rinse, and dry your parsley. Chop and seed your tomatoes. Carrots can be peeled and held in water; peas or beans can be tipped and "stringed." Many things, far from deteriorating, are improved by advance preparation. The whole notion of "mise en place" is of mixed benefit to the home cook. If your kitchen is small enough that everything is within reach, and if you always know where everything is, there's not much benefit to having all of your "stuff" sitting out. In fact, in some kitchens I've used if you set out all your ingredients you've got no counter space left to work in! In larger kitchens, though, it is well worth organizing yourself first. My general rule is that if I can't reach it in a maximum of two steps, I'll get it out before I start. Not that I've had a lot of larger kitchens to work with, at home... Right now I have a tiny kitchen with mimimal counter space and storage space, so prep room is difficult to come by. I generally use the pull-out cutting board as a work surface, placing one of my eight or ten lightweight cutting boards on top. I have lots, so that I can quickly switch gears between meats and non-meats. My knife drawer is directly beneath the pull-out cutting board, so I need to get my knives organized before I start. Unfortunately, my kids are frequently improvisational when putting away the dishes, so I often find myself delayed as I dig around for a vital utensil that's gone missing. At such moments my generally laid-back parenting style may develop something of an edge! I keep an inexpensive spray bottle on the counter filled with a bleach-and-water solution for sanitizing with. If I want to re-use a given knife I only have to give it a wash and then a quick spritz with the sanitizer. Likewise, when changing cutting boards, I sanitize the underlying work surface to avoid cross-contamination. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- I am often asked by friends whether professional chefs have a secret to cutting onions without tears. "Why yes," I say. "They delegate the job to someone else!"

Fascinating thread. So many topics touched on, I'm in severe auto-distraction mode just reading it. Personally, I have no real limitations on my eating except the financial. I'd love to play around with a ton of different things that I just can't afford. Oh well, we'll see what a few more months of slaving at two jobs does for the ol' budget. However, having said that... My wife has numerous non-life-threatening-but-damn-they're-irritating health issues. She's relatively healthy since surgery a few years ago, but for a stretch of five or six years my major cooking constraint was meeting her needs for caloric intake. Here's the way the scenario stacked up... Her metabolism (I won't get into the whys and wherefores) was in overdrive. She needed to eat six real meals every day just to maintain a minimal healthy body weight. If she missed even one meal, there was a strong likelihood that she would suddenly turn white as a sheet and need to sit down *NOW!* The obvious solution, feeding her high-fat high-calory foods, was out because her gall bladder would have a fit. She couldn't take supplements, because her gimpy kidneys would have a fit. Cool, huh? Now add in a few spousal food allergies (spinach, for example) and the usual kaleidoscope of kid likes and dislikes, and it's an interesting scenario to work with. Oh, and this took place during the years when our financial situation was going to hell, so I had to do it all on a very minimal budget. It taught me to be very creative.

Hmmmm. Interesting. My father was in the navy, so I fit the pattern in that respect, but I'm a little confused about the connection. My dad is a pretty good cook in a blue-collar style, but I learned mostly on my own. I do get a charge out of the adrenaline when the rush is on. It's kind of like when I was in retail at Christmastime...realizing that closing time was a half an hour ago and you still haven't closed and locked the doors and you haven't even looked at the lunch you were supposed to have eaten six hours ago and OH MY GOD AM I EVER THIRSTY!!!!..... I was never an athlete. I played hockey and soccer as a kid, but was never much good at it... my career totals after eight years of minor hockey were something like three goals and five assists. The only time I've run voluntarily since my teens was when I was chasing a bus or in danger of missing "last call" at the pub. But oh, how I love food and cooking...

That was a real kidney shot for me, too. I wasn't at the Midtown more than once or twice, but knowing it won't be there anymore (even worse, that there will be some ghastly travesty of a "new Midtown" in its place) is a bad jolt. How the hell do you replace the smell of a half-century of stale beer and cabbage? (For the non-cognoscenti, the Midtown is a classic example of a pre-Archie Bunker style corner bar, not nearly classy enough to be called a pub. They pour lots of beer and serve blue-collar food in an unmistakeably "coveralls and workboots" atmosphere.) Reverend, I feel for you. I spent two years in Regina in my late teens. It was the longest decade of my life. Oh, and an important point about fine dining in Halifax, which I'd forgotten to mention earlier. Whether it's our Scottish heritage or just old-fashioned frugality, $30 CDN (about $20 US, depending on the exchange) seems to be the "hard ceiling" for entrees in Halifax. Michael Smith was able to charge more...for a while...as was Bacchus at the Sheraton...for a while...but $30 seems to be the price at which people stop coming. A nice bonus for our south-of-the-border friends. Merlin: I know what you mean about eating well in Nova Scotia in the 70's. I was a kid then (I'm 40 now) and when I was growing up, there were only about five vegetables known to homo NovaScotianus: potatoes, turnips, carrots, cabbage, and onions. There were peas and beans, of course, but peas came in a can and beans were dried. Zucchini and broccoli were strange and exotic things which might perhaps be found in an ethnic store. And yes, I work in the restaurant business here in Edmonton. I worked long part-time/short full-time hours at the Unheardof during my schooling at NAIT; and now that I've graduated I'm dividing my time between full-time hours at the downtown Sunterra Market and part-time evenings and weekends at Unheardof. That amounts to three days off per month, give or take (not allowing for stat holidays) but I'm rather enjoying the notion of having four paydays a month. Helps pay down those student loans, and all. Perhaps on Monday I'll open up a "week in the life" thread; we've had a few of these work blogs lately and I've found them interesting.

It occurs to me that I may have left Halifax hotels under-represented in the late-night ransacking of my memory. The World Trade and Convention Centre, which dominates the downtown (takes up most of the space between City Hall and the Liquordome) boasts chef Cristophe Luzeux, a native of Lille. Cristophe presides over Halifax's highest-volume kitchen, and is a member of Culinary Team Canada (as is Geir Simensen of Scanway Bakery on Quinpool Rd). There are numerous dining establishments within the WTCC, with various themes. Simensen and Luzeux, despite their busy schedules, are "good eggs" who took the time to come out to my school and judge student competitions. A stone's throw away is the Prince George Hotel. Executive chef Ray Bear is one of the Coast's consensus up-and-comers, as is pastry chef Annaleisa Waito. Bear graduated from the Nova Scotia Community College, my old school, and then went on to the CIA. Finally, Halliburton House Inn, just south of the downtown core, is generally considered to be the city's top spot for game dishes. The hotel is made up of three 18th century townhouses, and is within easy distance of the Saturday morning Farmer's Market in the old Alexander Keith brewery (where Da Mauritzio is located). Chef Scott Vail avoids the limelight, but does wonderful work. I pulled a few shadow shifts in his kitchen last spring, before moving to Alberta. My senior instructor at school in Halifax (a man whose job description used to include cooking for the Governor-General and visiting royalty) took his wife there for their anniversary last spring. 'Nuff said. Halliburton's website Come to think of it, you may want to visit the Keith's brewery site just on its own merits. The historic waterfront brewery has been restored to a gleaming tourist-friendly version of its 1820 appearance, and still turns out batches of beer. It is pitched (note the careful wording) as "North America's oldest working brewery site." The Keith's which is sold across Canada is made in the city's North End in a modern brewery, a few blocks from where I lived before moving to Alberta. Keith's turns out four seasonal beers each year, which are of above average quality for a commercial brewery. Well worth sampling. While I'm free-associating I'll mention the Granite Brewery, which operates two brew pubs downtown (just off the Grand Parade, and the original location in the South End near the Halliburton Inn). They brew a number of fine bitters, and also bake their own bread with brewer's yeast and the spent grain from the brewing process. Finally, just off Citadel Hill a block or two from Barrington St is the Propellor Brewing Company. They make a number of fine beers, but their pride and joy is their porter, which has been adjudged one of the world's best in international competition. They also make damn fine root beer and ginger beer, incongruously enough. If you are going to be in Baddeck (I'm assuming you're going to visit the Alexander Graham Bell museum, it's a can't-miss no-brainer); try to ensure that you get to the small nearby town of Iona. I was there three years ago for my cousin's wedding (he married an Iona girl, with flaming red hair and a flaming red temper). While the town has no culinary distinction that I'm aware of, it is the site of the Highland Village "living museum." Nova Scotia has a very vital Scottish heritage (you can take your university courses in Gaelic at some schools) and the Highland Village attempts to bring that heritage to life. They offer a chronological tour from the old-country "black house" (a stone cottage with a thatched roof) through various 18th and 19th century houses moved there from across Cape Breton and restored. Locals in period garb demonstrate various crafts from spinning to blacksmithing (my kids have a handmade nail from the smithy). It's a fun way to spend a few hours. Their official site And with that, I do believe I'm out of ideas again (for now). I'll probably return to this thread again, from time to time.

Just a shot in the dark, but I would guess your problem is due to the arrival of summer. An increase in your ambient temperature would certainly have an impact on your cake batter...perhaps try refrigerating your sheet pans after you've poured the batter? (Or the batter itself, of course, but I'm thinking it would chill faster on the sheets) My parents used to own a small "homestyle" bakery in Nova Scotia, and summer always meant workarounds. They didn't have a walk-in, just a few domestic fridges, so summer was a pain in the butt for them (especially given that they had no venting to speak of). Chocolate "swirl" cookies, anyone? Their cakes were made in small enough batches that they could refrigerate the batter, which certainly helped.

A couple of years ago, in dire straits, I fed my family for a week on a pumpkin, a bag of flour, a dozen eggs, and the various bits and pieces left in my pantry (not as much as usual, either...things'd been dire for a while). Not that that's any help to you, of course, but as generations of our ancestors knew, you do what you have to to get by.

Thank you kindly. The ones I have must be the softer (gur) version. I've got a kilo of gur sitting in my cupboard, waiting for me to be inspired to do something with it. Every week or so I'll pull out one of the little disks and break a piece off and let it dissolve slowly, trying to decide what to use it for. The flavour is very distinctive, and I'd like to really run with it. At the rate I'm going, though, I'll probably wind up just eating most of it as it sits. The only thing I've really made with it so far is some *damn* good hot buttered rum!

Things have been covered pretty thoroughly here, but as a native Haligonian I'll throw in a few words of amplification/clarification/etc. First, the restaurants owned by the Bertossis... Da Maurizio is the lynchpin of their chain, and their flagship. This is straight Northern Italian food, done well and consistently. Bish is less geographically-oriented, having some Italian food but also delving into other cuisines. Their Il Mercato outlets (the Bedford one opened since I left a year ago) are more of a trattoria sort of thing. I do not believe that La Perla, across the harbour in Dartmouth, is owned by the Bertossis but I could be wrong. It is easy to get to...just take the ferry across from downtown Halifax, and when you walk out the front doors of the ferry terminal look across the street and a half-block to your right. I had truly wonderful lamb there a few years ago. Bacchus, at the Sheraton, has revitalized the hotel-food scene in Halifax. Before chef Raj Gupta arrived at the Sheraton the hotels were content to turn out decent but pedestrian food for those who didn't want to go off-site for their meals. Bacchus was more adventurous, and was successful enough to inspire the city's other major hotels to revamp their menus. Bud the Spud rocks. You'll find a lot of very decent Lebanese places downtown; Lebanese food being Halifax's preferred finger food (the donair is locally considered to be a Lebanese thing). Ray's, in the food court at the Scotia Square Mall downtown, makes a better-than-average falafel; frequently voted best in the city by the readers of the local free weekly. Everything FG said about Fries & Company is justified, and an understatement. If you like fish and chips, eat there. Unfortunately, the city's most legendary bowl of chowder is no more. "Mama Camille" held court for decades across the street from the naval base in Halifax, but when she retired and sold out the new owners decided to build a chain and conquer the world. Their business sense falling short of their ambitions, they went belly-up several years ago. The Five Fishermen, across the street from the Grand Parade, is generally conceded (among my acquaintance, anyway) to be the best of the downtown's plentiful seafood restaurants. When I left they'd just opened a "faster food" outlet in the same building, called Little Fish. Both establishments are located in a block of heritage buildings which have been transformed into a complex of bars and restaurants. The proprietors refer to this site as "the Entertainment Dome," but to everyone else in the city it's the "LiquorDome." Either way, ask anyone you meet to point you to "the Dome" and you'll get there. Economy Shoe Shop is not far from there, and is reputed to serve better than average food and drink. Fid is by all accounts superlative, Dennis Johnson being one of those self-taught people who make the rest of us feel talent-deficient. Maple is gone. They stood on the reputation of Michael Smith, and after he left they failed rapidly, despite the experience and prior success of the new owners. The chef/owners of Chives are his proteges, and he has a financial interest in the restaurant. If you enjoy the Food Network show "Food Hunter" you may wish to visit Pete Luckett's store, Pete's Frootique, in suburban Bedford. Pete is exactly as you see him on TV. If he's in the province at all, you'll probably see him in the store sorting over his produce and explaining things to passersby. If you don't see him, ask...he's seldom too busy for an out-of-town visitor. Hmmm...what else... At Citadel Hill, students dressed in the historic uniforms of the 78th Highlanders stand sentry and fire the noonday gun. They also host evenings of single-malt tasting in the centuries-old barracks. Worth checking out, if you like whisky. Maxwell's Plum, just a few blocks from anywhere downtown, has the city's best single-malt selection and also lots of cigars, if your taste runs that way. They also have a large selection of draft beers. So does the Halifax Alehouse, a new bar in a pseudo-18th century style. Not that there's anything wrong with busty barmaids in period garb, mind you. Domaine de Grande Pre, in the Annapolis Valley, has the reputation of doing winery tours as well as anybody in the country. Their owner, chef, and menu are all Swiss. They make very drinkable wines, which can only be purchased onsite. Grand Pre is also the center of Acadian history in Nova Scotia, which makes it a great place to visit in this of all years. The Acadian community is celebrating their 400-year history with a year of special events. If you have the opportunity, you've got to get in on that party! The Glenora Distillery, in Cape Breton, distills a scotch-style single malt, the only one in North America. They have a restaurant and tasting room. The restaurant is said to be good. The tourist trap at Peggy's Cove has a restaurant called the Sou' Wester, which offers little but standard truck stop fare. They do offer lobster dinners, of course, but the thing to get there is their hot homemade ginger bread. Even on a summer's day, the wind there can be cold enough to make you glad of it. It's worth eating, for sure. Anything else? Mmmmm.... ah, yes. Black Bear Ice Cream. They're located in the Historic Properties, but they also have a little hut set up on the Halifax waterfront. Have fun! Wish I could be there too...<sniffs the the transplanted Easterner...>

Several months ago I was in the little Punjabi store near my sister-in-law's house. In their shopping cart of clearance items I found several bags of pebbly-looking things covered in sesame seeds. Unfortunately for me the grandmother was working the counter that day, and all she could convey to me was that they were a sweet. They are about the size of a hazelnut; they are covered on the outside with sesame seeds; they have a firm but not hard consistency; they taste of cardamom. What are they? I'm sure I'll want to buy some more some day, and I'd like to know what to ask for.

Having married into a Mennonite family, I'm all in favour of that! Come to think of it, I've got a couple of Mennonite cookbooks on my shelf. I should look at those.

My next-door neighbour was asking a few days ago whether I had a good recipe for homemade doughnuts. Appears his mother used to make them, and he's had a hankering lately. Well, now I've got the itch. Unfortunately, while I've tried a few recipes over the years, I've not been happy with any of them. Do any of you have a good recipe for either a cake doughnut or a yeast doughnut? I've just been given one of those Moulinex deep-fryers, so the timing seems to be coming together just right...

I just cooked urad dhal last week for the first time ever. I'll second that observation (and so will my wife...).