Smithy

@HST, please do let us know what you reported and how it was received. A number of us are very interested in the outcome - as much detail as you care to report - and remember, some of us were pulling for an 'A'.

I spotted rhubarb in a Yuma (Arizona) grocery store - mainstream chain, not specialty - last week.

I second this question and want to reinforce it. As of this moment there have been 660 views of this topic* and 48 responses, many of them from (as gfron1 notes) only a handful of people. It would be good to hear from the lurkers. I expressed my skepticism early on: whether I would go back would depend on how well I liked the result the first time. However, I'm probably not the target market: I am much more likely, if I like something, to try to learn to make it myself unless it's incredibly complicated and time-consuming. If it's that complicated and time-consuming it will probably not be practical for this business model, for all the reasons expressed above by folks in the business. (I am not in the business.) If I had a sudden urge for a particular food I'd probably want to go THAT DAY and get it, or get its closest facsimile. I wouldn't dream of asking a restaurant, no matter how good they were, to try to reproduce my grandmother's green beans or my mother's fried chicken. I do like the idea of having a 'meet the chefs' section so prospective customers can see whether there's a possible fit for their prospective menu. I think this strengthens the idea, although from where I sit it still looks like a fantasy proposal. @HST, I've seen a bit of conflicting information in your fantasy proposal. One of the conflicts was that initially you said the prospective customer would give the proposed menu to the restaurant and get it priced, and later you suggested a price point of $20-$30. Did you mean 'get it priced' in the sense of getting an exact price instead of the $20-$30 range? I interpreted 'getting it priced' as finding out whether this was, say, a $10 proposal or a $50 proposal. I suggest that, if you are refining your idea, you restate it here and see whether that draws responses from some of the lurkers. *No idea how many are new viewers instead of repeat viewers.

Sorry, I typed without thinking of in-store bakeries! I had in mind the mass-produced stuff to be found in sealed bags on grocery store shelves, although their continued existence suggests that some people like them. At any rate, Anna's cookies look wonderful. I wish I'd been that friend in Shelby's dream, chowing down on those cookies with her.

Sourdough pita. Fluffy pockets, tender crumb. I'm getting the hang of it again!

It's hard to beat good chocolate chip cookies, and not-good chocolate chip cookies are rare unless they came from the grocery store. Brava, Anna.

What a difference a week makes in the farm fields around here! I'm a bit late posting the photos, but we made another trip to town and passed the same fields I showed you before. Remember the bare field being plowed or disked for the next crop? It already has green. Other fields that were being prepared in the previous visit were in various stages of sprinkler irrigation and new planting. I couldn't find anyone to ask, but it appeared that the erstwhile broccoli fields were getting a grassy crop next. Tracts of sprinkler pipes were laid out and awaiting connection, or connected and operating, or, having done their job, were picked up and moved to another field. We followed a flatbed truck carrying dozens of lengths of pipe for that purpose. Now that it's too late for this trip, I've discovered the Yuma area agritourism program. Had I started researching this sooner, I could have gotten a tour of the University's farm plot in which the tourists help harvest lettuce, dine on part of the harvest, and pepper a guide with questions. The last such program for the season is sold out. Maybe I'll get a chance at it next year.

*bump* I've been exploring pita-making lately; my latest adventure with it is here. Thanks in part to understanding bread-baking better than I did 3 years ago, I think I'm getting a better grip on how to make reliably successful pita pockets. Here are the mechanical factors I've worked out to be necessary: Smooth, thoroughly kneaded dough, rolled very thin - somewhere between 1/4" and 1/8" thick. The thinner the disk is rolled, the more likely it will puff - but the more tender it is, also. If it's too thin it will tear instead. I'm sure the dough formula influences this behavior as well. Dough ball size: smaller than 100g makes a pretty small pocket. 200g makes a huge, impractical pocket. For my purposes, a dough ball of 110 - 150g seems to work out about right. Dough ball moisture: the dough needs to be kept from drying out as it rises, lest a 'skin' form that splits when the ball is being flattened and rolled just prior to baking. (That uneven coloring in the upper left photo, below, is due to that dried-out skin.) Once the ball is flattened and rolled out, it also needs to be kept from drying out. A damp towel helps. Moisture is also important for a smooth surface. If the disk is too dry it will split instead of puffing. If it's too damp it will flop and stick. HOT surface for cooking. According to my oven thermometer (digital baker's thermometer) the minimum temperature to get a good puff is 440F, as measured by the oven probe immediately adjacent to the baking stone. I kept the temperatures between 440F and 450F and got good puffs every time. The first dough ball, at 435F, only got a small rise. The baking surface is important because it has to provide a lot of heat. I've worked with both a baking stone and a cast iron griddle in the oven, and I've used a cast iron pan atop the stove. The dough disks are less likely to puff if they go onto a baking sheet (with no underlying stone) in an oven, because the sheet will cool too easily when the dough comes in contact with it. The cast iron seems to hold heat a little better than the baking stone, and that's a mixed blessing. If the cast iron is too hot it sears the pita before it has a chance to puff; on the other hand, the cast iron seems to brown the pita more than the stone does. I'm interested also in the bread dough formula. These days I'm using half whole wheat flour, half unbleached bread flour. Most recipes I look at use volumetric measurements and I haven't figured out the hydration for those formulas, but the batch of sourdough pita I made today came out at 62% hydration. Andiesenji noted uptopic the feel that the dough should have, and gave good procedures, but some of the issues I list above seem to be things I've had to work out on my own. What about anyone else? Have I missed some factors? Does anyone have a new favorite recipe?

A new day, a new batch of pita. I think I have it down again. Here are the factors I think affect the quality of the pita (in addition to the dough recipe). I plan to elaborate on these in a dedicated pita topic, in hopes of reviving that discussion, so this may seem sketchy. Smoothness and thorough kneading of the dough Dough ball size - I had best luck between 100g and 150g Thickness of the rolled-out disk of dough - mine were between 1/4" and 1/8" thick Dough ball moisture - too dry or too damp causes problems for forming and handling the rolled-out disk (not to mention the rising dough balls) Baking surface heat (my oven thermometer says it needs to be at least 440oF) This time I did roughly half the batch on the baking stone and the remainder on the cast iron griddle, so I can discuss the comparison also. The ceramic baking stone seemed a bit more forgiving about temperature range - it wouldn't overcook the bread at 450F - but it didn't brown the dough. The cast iron griddle actually browned the dough, but if it was too hot the dough cooked too quickly and came out with a flattened sear instead of a nice round puff. That's visible in the center image in this collage. Feel free to ask questions or make comments here, but I'll be posting more detail in this topic, in hopes of more discussion: Perfect Pita: The secret to thin pita with good puff.

I agree with gfron1 that $20 - 30 per meal would mean I'd try it once (only) if I didn't like the result. I'm not sure I can put myself in the "if money were no object" group (due to a lack of imagination and experience ), but if money were no object I might be more inclined to hire a personal chef of known high-quality experience. Whether I'd like going out to the restaurant for this specified meal would depend on the restaurant's ambience. Is it quiet or noisy? Kitschy, campy, sedate, stylish? Assuming you can cater to everyone's whims (I'm trying to imagine a staff that could handle every possible cuisine) then do you also cater to the different atmospheres required? Perhaps there's a pizza-parlor room and a main family-diner room and a quiet big-city night-out room, with several others that can be styled to meet different needs on different nights? I had to spend some time deciphering what you meant by saying the menu would be "totally metric based". I think it means that the more popular items would be on the fixed-menu and that they would change weekly based on the most popular items. Is that right? If so, how would new items be introduced? I like the idea of getting free meals as a reward for bringing in a recipe that catches on. It's an interesting question, and in the context of being entirely academic I hope you're able to get useful discussion here.

Funny, I was going to ask how you sealed them, because far from looking appalling, I thought they looked appealing.

I took a cool-ish morning to bake pita. The idea was to compare using the baking stone vs. the cast-iron griddle in the oven. I found myself too preoccupied with getting the pita process right to try changing, er, horses in midstream, so the baking stone was used for the entire batch. I'm working on a set of rules for successful puffy pockety pita. Does anyone want to weigh in with their own pita-making rules? I'll post my working hypotheses if there's interest. In the meantime, here's a collage of the process. The overlarge mutant-looking pita was a size experiment. Dinner: lamb meatballs with oodles of garnishes and condiments.

I think the traditional cheese topping, at least in the Upper Midwest of the USA, is shredded cheddar. My husband and I are fond of feta cheese with tuna and noodles, but if the lasagna has a tomato sauce I'm not sure that would be compatible.

The rain, the blessed and much-needed rain! It didn't get all the way to us, but we saw it to the west and north of us on radar images. We got clouds and slightly cooler temperatures. This area could do with a good gullywasher, but we're enjoying the sunshine and (mostly) clear skies. I spent an afternoon's hour cracking and shelling some of last year's pecans. It's nice idiot work: sit and listen to the radio in a shady spot, crack and pick. Pecans aren't as easy to shell as walnuts because they're smaller and more tightly knit, but they're worth the work. If anyone has a preferred method for shelling these guys I'd love to hear it, since I still have several pounds' worth. This is what I bought last fall for the purpose when my older straight-pincer nutcracker proved an utter bust at busting pecans: I toasted the pecans, chopped them, then used an egg wash to help them stick to salmon filets. The crusted salmon went into a very hot cast iron skillet, with a bit of oil, over the campfire. Into Papa's Pan went asparagus, a bit of bacon and oil and the leftover pecans from dredging the fish. From a 'presentation' perspective there were too many pecans for the amount of asparagus, but the flavor was great. The fish was tender inside, with a crunchy coat. Like most of my campfire cookery, this could be done over a hot stove, but we needed no exhaust fan.

That's beautiful stuff, keychris...and some great names, too.

@Kim Shook. I love the look of that cake, and I agree that using cocoa as a dusting powder rather than flour looks like sheer genius! When I see cakes like that I think "maybe I should spring for one of those fancy bundt pans!" and then remember that I have a garden-variety bundt pan that's never used. Bake on, please - and @Thanks for the Crepes, I eagerly await a report on your new panas well.

I love that cookbook, enough that when the Kindle version came out I bought it for travel although I've had the print version since it came out. How, then, have I missed this soup? Thanks for the recommendation.

I confess: I had no idea prawns could get so large. Is this something you pick up at the local fishmonger's shop, or at a standard grocery store? Or do you have to go down to the wharf - or get them from special friends? The resulting dinner photo is stunning!

I'll keep an eye out for another chance to rescue some unwanted leaves. If the chance doesn't come now, I'll look for them next summer. Thanks! It's warm and spring has sprung. It's subtle in the desert, but if you know where to look you can find color. The washes in the evening have a delicate floral perfume that I haven't managed to identify yet. Brittle bush, ocatillo, native trees and fairy dusters The campfire has come into its own, partly so we can enjoy the night sky and partly to keep the trailer cooler. We've been making heavy use of a burger basket, a wok-shaped double basket and Papa's Pan, with an occasional appearance by a cast-iron skillet. Papa's Pan - I've written about it before, here - has given us a new favorite way to cook brussels sprouts. Cut them in half, load them into Papa's Pan with 2 or 3 strips of bacon cut into 1" chunks, drizzle with enough olive oil to provide good pan searing and a hint of balsamic vinegar. Close the pan. Put it over high flame until you hear it sizzling, give a few shakes, flip and repeat, then set it over a warm flame until it's done and the rest of dinner is ready. This method would also work on stovetop, inside an oven or under a broiler - any source of high heat - but over an outdoor fire with an omelet pan there's no mess to clean up when juices drip from the pan, and there's no need to keep stirring with a spoon or spatula. The first night we tried it we added some stray asparagus spears. They didn't suffer from the treatment a bit. That, plus burgers from the basket, and a bit of green salad, were all we needed. My burger fell apart because it stuck to the basket. Guess I needed a bit of oil first. Other campfire dinners: Chicken thighs with a spicy rub, inspired by a recipe from Paula Disbrowe's charming book Cowgirl Cuisine. The beans here are fava beans - my first attempt, and none too impressive. The favas will need more work, but the chicken is always a hit. Numerous grilled-meat and -vegetable dinner salads, like this one: Tequila chicken dinner salad, not yet tossed (above), and served (below). I'll write about pecans and salmon another time.

It looks like a very good arrangement, but might you be placing a little too much faith in that CommandTM Hook? What is its stated load-bearing capacity? I have them all over the place but generally keep the weight lighter, for fear of breakage or at least a midnight awakening.

Thanks very much for this tour, Chris. It looks like a lot of fun. Two questions (at present): In this photo of yours it looks like the tortillas are mechanically cut - as in, stamped - but I don't see where or how. Where did that happen? Did the worker just reknead and reuse the dough cut out from the margins that he's gathering here? In other words - can you describe more of the process? Next question: are you now inspired to try making some new Mexican food at home that you hadn't tried before? If so, what?

@KennethT, photos of the process would be of great interest as you continue.

Thanks, folks, for letting me know the photos are interesting. @Thanks for the Crepes, you're right about broccoli and bugs. At home, the broccoli my organic-farmer friends give me frequently include, er, bonus protein. I don't know what the spray practice is in this area. Back in the Imperial Valley, near the Salton Sea, we noticed a number of fields labeled "Organic - no spray". Those fields also had stern "no trespassing" and "no walking your dog here" signs out of concern for contamination of the crops. It hadn't occurred to me to dash out into a harvested field and grab some of those leaves! On the other hand, they aren't really wasted: they're plowed back into the soil, and I would expect that to be a good supplement. How do you prepare broccoli leaves?

@huiray, I wouldn't have taken 'tossing' so literally if @blue_dolphin hadn't asked, so I'm glad the question came up. I'd love to see that. The colors are beautiful!

I've wondered how one controls the rise and volume, and what happens if there's too much for the pan. Now I know part of the answer.