chromedome

If any of you are visiting in Edmonton, you may want to try the dining room at NAIT, now known as Ernest's. Last year when I was studying there, we made "tableside" caesar at the Friday buffet a couple of times. Even when we didn't, it was made backstage, so to speak, in the classic manner (since we could learn the bastardized versions at our leisure, once we graduated).

At my day job we use the heavy-duty muffin pans from American Pan Co. They are 12 per pan, with a secondary depression around the cup to allow for jumbo muffins. We use a #6 scoop, and our muffins average 250g unbaked weight (over half a pound), which is big by any standard. It's their stock # 03027, on this page. I'm sure they'd be pricey to order, but they'll last you a lifetime of hard use. Ours are ten years old, at this point, and are still straight and square in each direction. And boy, do they take a beating!

I am always mystified at the passion avocadoes arouse. To me, they've always been a mouthful of lard with an aftertaste of new-mowed grass. The only two avocadoes I've bought in the last decade have been for my wife to mash into her scalp and hair. However, as noted upthread, about the only avocadoes we get here in the Great White North are Hass and "those <expletive> Florida things," so I may be doing a disservice to the other gazillion varieties out there. In the interest of international amity among foodies, I hereby pledge to try the damned things again if I ever find myself down in Mexico. (....but some of you have to promise to give okra another shot.... )

It's always hard to know what people are really thinking about their experience. Your "regulars" will generally give you positive feedback. Comment cards are iffy (some people associate them with lower-end establishments, others just ignore them); and if people are asked anything more pertinent than "How was everything?" they'll often find it intrusive. For those establishments which have a high enough profile to be discussed regularly online, it's a great way to "eavesdrop" on your clientele.

<shrug> I cook the best that's available to me at a given time; as filtered through budget, availability, and energy level. Sometimes that's prawns in saffron, sometimes that's opening a can and pouring it over store-bought pasta. I have two student loans, two jobs, a side freelance gig, two kids to raise, and a wife to keep happy. Sometimes I just don't have enough "processor cycles" to cook the way I want to at home.

Think of it as a culinary "take" on Malevitch...

My unscientific approach is to pick my baking pan, fill it with bread, and pour in enough base to fill it up. Five minutes later I'll come back, top it up with base, and head to the oven. I favour softer, richer breads as well; usually I make it with leftover pieces of brioche or cinnamon roll.

Well, I opted for pains au chocolat rather than chocolatines, since I had some brioche dough lying around that I wanted to use up. Turns out that the chocolate chips were the answer to my dilemma, they worked out beautifully. I might "spike" them with a bit of couverture, just to improve the flavour a bit, but they seem to be working. I put them into my display today, and sold eight of the twelve despite their being crowded into the least-visible corner of my showcase. I think that's a reasonable starting point. I made more today, and I'll run them for a couple of weeks and see how they go. At least one of today's customers was thoroughly delighted to see them, and gushed about telling everyone in her office. We'll see. Onwards and upwards....

My impression is that you're more likely to find fresh yeast specified in 1) European recipes; 2) professional recipes; or 3) recipes from older cookbooks. I don't know about the US, but here in Canada trying to find fresh yeast in the supermarket is an exercise in frustration. As for shelf life, the usual recommendation I hear is two weeks. In practice, I've occasionally hacked the moldy outer layer off a brick of the stuff (we got 1 lb. bricks of it at my school) and used it. Not for resale, mind you, but when the stuff at school got outdated I'd ask permission to take it home and use it. As long as you're diligent about taking off the moldy bits, it seems to work fine. I would guess that, while it will lose potency over time, you could probably keep it for at least a few weeks past its date and still get a decent rise out of it.

Most recipes I've seen for any sort of custard/anglaise/pastry cream suggest straining it through muslin or a fine tamis. If you've been lax and allowed your eggs to curdle slightly, it will fish the lumps out; or if you've not incorporated the starch into your pastry cream properly it will conceal the evidence of your shortcomings. I don't think I'd every "whizz" a badly curdled custard in the food processor to try and pass it off; but who knows what we'll do under enough time pressure?

The "plain chocolate" I referred to is dark Callebaut couverture in little chunks, which some call pistoles and some call callets. I know those are terms with a specific meaning, but I've heard both names used interchangeably for both products, and the individuals involved were equally adamant. Personally, I don't give a hoot either way. I just use the things. We don't order chocolate chips any more (we use the chunks of couverture in our cookies and muffins) so that's not a long-term solution for me; but I do have a bucket or two of mini chocolate chips kicking around. I'll try those, and see how they work.

Nutella unfortunately is out, because of the whole nut thing. I have a lot of nut-allergic and nut-averse customers. Also, I can't order it from my supplier. Plain chocolate and ganache both seem to boil out the seams, even when sealed with egg wash or a flour-and-water "whitewash." Frustrating at best, and the heat doesn't seem to do the chocolate any favours re: flavour and texture. I'm thinking that I'll probably go with a butter ganache that has some icing sugar worked in. That should give me a reasonable consistency, and resist the temperatures reasonably well. Wish me luck... As for the whole "fudge is boring" thing, well...it doesn't excite me too hugely either, but it's a very down-home sort of thing and Alberta is a very down-home kind of place. Nougat is a good idea, though, and I may well look at doing something with that later on in the year.

Back in December I did a catered meal/cooking demonstration for a group of investment brokers, and this subject was part of my discussion/demonstration. The entree for their meal was a chicken breast wrapped in prosciutto; stuffed with sauteed grapes, onions, pine nuts, and chiffonaded basil. That, to my palate, delivered a nice combination of flavours, textures, and (important with breasts) moisture. I like grapes with poultry, especially with chicken. Sauteed grapes make a beautiful garnish, by the way. Throw a few green seedless grapes into the pan with some butter, and they'll turn to a beautiful milky-jade colour. There are a lot of combinations that I like. I consider prunes to be a natural with poultry as well, and I like them with pork. Apricots are beautiful with lamb, and I've served apricot puree with pork as well. I use raisins or currants (or any dried fruit I have on hand, for that matter) in many of my curries, and especially in mid-East-influenced stews. Cut the large black or red plums into wedges; sautee them in a little butter and sugar; flambee with brandy or whiskey, and serve them with your broiled or barbecued meats. It's not entirely true, of course, to say that fruit-with-meat is not done in North America. Turkey and cranberries, anyone? Ham with pineapple? Pork chops with applesauce?

I was looking around the Demarle website a couple of months ago, and came across a silicon sheet pan product. "Cool," I thought, "those suckers'll NEVER warp." Then, a moment later, I realized the catch. They're silicon. Whatcha gonna put 'em on, when you put 'em in the oven? Doh.

LOL @ "mise flunky." Annie, you fracture me sometimes. Having said that, I want one in the worst way.

'Lo again, all... Once again I'm looking to shamelessly Hoover ideas and suggestions from those more accomplished than me. I'm going to be super-busy until Valentine's Day has been and gone, but I'm considering some options for my next couple of months. One thing that's been on my mind is "chocolatines," croissants with a chocolate filling. I've begun making croissant dough anyway, since I've had a lot of demand for ham-and-cheese croissants; and it seemed to me that a chocolate filling was a no-brainer alternative. My problem is that I don't have the option at present of buying the pre-made rods of chocolate for this purpose. Ganache doesn't work very well, since it just bubbles out the ends and gets everywhere. I'm assuming that there is something along the lines of icing sugar added to the chocolate for stability, but I'm just guessing. Anybody got any input? A second idea that struck me as viable is fudge. Tourist traps and farmer's markets alike have been selling fudge hand-over-fist for years, and I'm thinking that it's something I could sell easily in my downtown location. Can anyone recommend some good recipes for high-volume fudge-making? Thanking you all in advance...

IIRC, what they have at Superstore is the 835, about 54% cocoa. It's not a truly superlative chocolate, but it's certainly adequate to be the day-to-day chocolate for most purposes.

Like any other bacteria, salmonella requires a certain degree of moisture in order to reproduce. Royal icing hardens up dry as a bone, leaving any pathogens in a dormant state. It's the same as any other dried food, really. Think "cake jerky."

The ones I use are the round ones that you'd stick into a club sandwich, although without the cellophane ruffley things at the end. Compared to an ordinary flat toothpick they're maybe 40-50% longer. I bake round cakes in shallow 8" pans, maybe 3/4" deep, so these are more than long enough. Probably wouldn't work if I was using a sprinform.

Sage is one of the oldest culinary and medicinal herbs; and there are few with more varietals around the world. You can find sages with a variety of flavours grown for internal use; and sages in a variety of colours for decorative use. I love fresh sage but am ambivalent at best about dried, so I tend to freeze mine whenever possible. It does lose some flavour, but retains a "fresh sage" character as opposed to a "dried sage" character. Sage partners admirably with onions and their cousins. It is also wonderful with a wide range of cheeses. Chiffonade a leaf of fresh sage in to your next grilled cheese sandwich and you'll be amazed. Even better, combine it with caramelized onions in your next grilled cheese sandwich. Or for your next party, find a chunk of sage Derby, a gorgeously green English cheese similar to a sharp cheddar, but simply packed with the flavour and colour of fresh sage. For a variation on the digestive tea theme, infuse a bottle of vodka with fresh sage and have shots with your appetizers. "Rubbed" sage is exactly what the name suggests, more or less. Most of us, when adding fresh or dried herbs to a dish, bruise them gently with our fingers to release the flavours. Commercially "rubbed" herbs essentially do the same thing, albeit on an industrial scale. They retain somewhat more flavour than the ground, although less than home-dried. Ground dried herbs are vile and should never be purchased except in the direst extremity. I would rhapsodize at greater length and in more detail, but I've loaned my herbal to a friend.

Couple trays of cold cuts. Couple trays of buns. No cake. Bulk wine from the u-bottle place, and not much of that. Thirty-odd in the wedding party, including bride, groom, parents. I told my wife, "Hey, the first time 'round you got the wedding...this time you're getting the *marriage*. ...Of course, we were pretty broke at that time, too.

IIRC Madeleine Kamman recommended the refrigerator crisper drawer for those in hot, humid climates. ...though on second thought, that may have been just for SF-style starters. I don't remember for sure.

To cool your chiffon (or other sponge) cake which has been baked in a round pan, use six of the sturdy round toothpicks. Slide them down the edges of the cake, between the cake and the pan, and evenly spaced. Gently invert the pan. The cake holds the toothpicks in place, and the toothpicks hold the cake off of your surface. The centre of the cake will not get "rack lines," nor will it collapse. If you're cutting the cake later into layers this will not especially matter, but I've occasionally *wanted* the dome on top for specific reasons.

Marcia: To keep your copy of BBA from getting all splattered, I'd suggest covering it while you work. At cooking school, we commonly placed plastic wrap over the open pages and tucked it underneath to protect the cover. I eventually "laminated" the outer cover of my textbooks with clear stick-on plastic ("Mac-Tac" it used to be called), and joined two sheets of acetate (with more of the sticky plastic as a hinge) to replace the plastic wrap as a "raincoat." My textbooks survived all the messes of cooking school fairly intact.

I used to do that...but invariably the tie would come sliding back down at an inopportune moment and go splat! into my food.