fryguy

Another neat idea is to take a ring mold, plop it in the middle of the bowl, fill it with the lighter (color, not thickness) of the two soups, and then pour the darker soup around it. Remove the ring mold, et voila! It looks really nice. Maybe garnish with a little creme fraiche.

Y'know that horrible cream cheese "fruit dip"? It's not so bad with bacon.

After shelling your prawns, toss the shells into a stockpot. Add enough cold water to cover everything, and *SLOWLY* bring to a simmer, skimming any nasties that come to the top. Add some rough-chopped leeks, carrots, and celery, simmer for about 45 minutes, ladle it through a mesh sieve lined with cheesecloth into a container big enough to hold it. If you just dump the the stockpot into the sieve, you risk clouding up your stock.

I had a fennel root & celeriac puree at an ACF function last month. It was to die for. Both the fennel & celeriac were braised in butter first, rather than steamed or boiled, so the texture was amazing. I'll have to pick up the recipe and post it.

Based on a very bad experience at school, duchesse potatoes can kiss my ass. But it is a good suggestion.

I made a big batch of mashed potatoes tonight and had a ton left over after dinner. Immediately, I'm thinking "What in hell am I gonna do with 2# of mashed potatoes?" Gnocchi comes to mind. But I've never made gnocchi before. Can I used leftover mashed (butter & cream)? Thanks in advance.

First off, thanks for all your help. I dunno if it's a contest winner, but I think I've got a good shot at it. With Carlovski's prompting, I changed the soup to a pure mushroom soup, and the flavor of the porcini is really prominent. Here's the recipe as I'm turning it in to the judges: 2 tsp butter 1 shallot, minced 1 clove garlic, minced 1 ½ C mushroom stock ½ C red wine 1 C beef or veal stock 1 tsp balsamic vinegar ½ oz dried porcini 2 stalks fresh thyme 2 stalks fresh parsley salt & black pepper Reconstitute ¾ of the dried porcini in 1 cup of the mushroom stock. Grind the remaining dried porcini in a spice grinder. Strain resulting liquid through cheesecloth & reserve. Roughly chop porcini & reserve. Saute reconstituted porcini, garlic & shallot until the shallot is translucent. Deglaze with half of the wine. Reduce until the vegetables start to glaze the pan again, deglaze with remaining wine. Add reserved mushroom soaking liquid, porcini powder, beef stock, vinegar and herbs. Simmer until reduced to 2 cups. Remove herbs, serve. Like I said, the mushroom flavor really stands out, with everything else in a supporting role. Thanks again for all your help! The judging is on Thursday, so I'll probably get the results on Monday when I go to class. Thanks again everyone.

I wasn't very clear in regards to that in my recipe. I do intend to braise the beef in the soup.

There's a soup competition coming up at school, and I'd thought I'd enter it. I have a basic idea, but I thought maybe someone with more experience could add something that I've forgotten, or never would've thought of in the first place. Anyways, I'm making a beef & porcini soup (stocks are homemade, mushroom stock is out of the French Laundry cookbook): shallot garlic porcini red wine beef stock mushroom stock stewing beef (unsure of the cut) fresh thyme & parsley Usual steps: Soak the dried porcini in mushroom stock, strain liquid with cheesecloth. Brown the beef on all sides, remove & set aside. Add shallot & garlic, saute till lightly browned. Add mushrooms, brown slightly. Deglaze with wine. Add julienned reserved beef. Add stocks and herbs, reduce till it tastes good. So that's my basic idea. Am I leaving anything out? Anything you'd add? I'd really like to win this, and any help you guys & gals can lend will be very much appreciated. Thanks!

There's a recipe for lemon confit in Colicchio's Craft of Cooking. The book was in my local library. Basically, blanch some lemons, then slice them. Mince 2 shallots & 3 cloves of garlic and combine them. Mix 3tbsp sugar with 1/3 cup of kosher salt. Cover the bottom of a container with lemon slices. Put some of the shallot mixture over the lemons, followed by the salt mixture. Repeat. Cover, refrigerate for 3 days.

I am currently a restaurant line cook with aspirations of chefdom (I'll be going to school this fall). In order to keep some sort of regular schedule, I was thinking about personal cheffing after I graduate, rather than going back to the line. I really have no clue how this industry works, and I've seen posts by people who are currently personal chefs. I was just wondering how all this works. Thanks in advance for your time.

Just got back from a birthday party in Jacksonville, FL, where I spotted and tried Tom's (I think) Salt & Pepper chips. They're not international, but they are *damn* good. Even Mrs Fryguy, who's fighting a nasty flu, enjoyed them. I'd have liked them better if they were kettle cooked and thicker-cut, and made with sea salt & more pepper. As they are though, I'd give them a 6/10.

I deep fry them and make a sauce out of Frank's Red Hot & butter with Gulden's spicy brown mustard to taste. Really good stuff.

First, I'm not a chef. I'm just a cook. I'm not in charge of anyone else on line, and I don't have any say on what's on the menu. That said, I got into kitchen work out of necessity. I needed a job, and my friend told me that the restaurant he worked at needed a dishwasher. A few months later, a slot for a lunch cook opened up, and I raised my hand. I found that I liked it... banging out meal after meal, cooking the staff meal just felt right, like I *should* be there. Eventually I moved, and of course, I got another job cooking. Going home feeling like I'm doing something important, even if it is just slinging pasta for people. It feels good. It *is* stressful. I go home hurting every day, whether it's my feet (always), my back (most days)... it's hard putting into words. I cook because I don't know what else I'd rather do. It's simple as that. I belong in a kitchen.

I still eat uncooked pasta. As a child though, I was more a boogers and paste kinda guy Yuck.

This happens to me too. My fiancee has the slightly annoying habit of standing either in front of the sink or next to the range when I'm cooking. Usually when I'm plating, I'll pull the saute pan off the range and grab whatever's cooking with tongs. She doesn't move unless I say "Hot coming over!" She always tells me I'm not at work. I may not be, but after so many years of cooking professionally, it's ingrained. If I slip up and not let people know I'm coming down line with something sharp, heavy, or just going to grab stock, either they're getting injured, or I am. And I don't wanna work that guy's station too.

10" Chefwear fry pan from Target. ~$18, nicely heavy, copper-encased aluminum bottom, stainless steel. Retains heat really well. One of my favorite pans, along with the 2 other nonstick frypans I got from work that were going to be thrown out.

Here's how I roast garlic: Slice the top bit of the garlic head (not clove) off. Rub all over with olive oil, sprinkle with s&p and wrap with aluminum foil. Put in a slowish oven (275-300) and wait. 45 min - 1 hour later, beautiful roasted garlic.

I've had good luck with Fire Girl' in the past. Not sure if they have what you're looking for, but it's worth a shot.

The kitchen manager at my last job always made jokes about a guest who ordered "The Echo Domino Peeno Greggo."

Thursday: Beef burgundy (except I used cabernet), with mushrooms and potatoes simmered with the beef. Homemade baguette. Leftover wine (Smoking Loon Cabernet 2002). Tasty.

The last time I cooked a rabbit, I used a large rabbit I got from a friend who raises them. Took the saddle off the bone, pan-seared it with just S&P, and served with Wolfgang Puck's braised red cabbage. Came out very tasty, and not dry at all.