fou de Bassan

Finally, finally after reading and wiping saliva from my chin for the past week today was gumbo day. I used the recipe from epicurious for comparison to all of the others here. This initially made 6 quarts of gumbo, so I halved the recipe. The recipe says to stir for one hour so I got music lined up,but didn't really believe the hour thing, well I listened to Buckwheat Zydeco, La Bottine Souriante and some Beausoleil! Apart from sore arms I had a beautiful roux but never again. I'll try Cajun Napalm any day. But the smell... you were all spot on. Amazing. End result? Delicious gumbo, overflashed unpublishable pics Maybe I'll try to take some pics of the leftovers tomorrow.

Therese, What a great way to start the day. I miss the South! Looking forward to reading your blog and seeing pics of the kitchen redo.

We have from 6 to 10 people over every week or so. With more than 20 I start to panic but I'm most comfortable with 6 to 10 in a casual setting.

I cook much less from recipes now than when I first started cooking. We've generally eaten organic or minimally processed food but I try to buy more locally produced foodstuffs now. Otherwise, my changes are much the same as the other posters.

Afterburner, To the salt and pepper or instead of, you could add a savory herb such as rosemary,chopped, or some Aleppo pepper or crushed red pepper. OR thinly slice shallots saute them in the pan juices add some sliced mushrooms and then pour in a bit of red wine or a tiny bit of good vinegar and scrape everything around to loosen the stuck on bits. Pour this over your steak. You can vary the herbs liquid and dead animal flesh for many meals.

I love lapsang souchong. Now, this may be tea heresy but, I like to mix LS with earl grey. I like the combination of tastes.

I'm looking forward to this one! Hot grease and flour, knives and meat... what more could a girl ask for? Won't be able to get started until this weekend though. The anticipation will only make the gumbo sweeter.

Go for the Russell Hobbs. I have a Flama cordless made in Portugal and while it suits me just fine I miss the look of my MIL's RH. They are definitely worth whatever they cost, and on E-bay that could be less than a buck!(sans shipping)

Enjoyed your blog. Thanks for bringing some warmth to those of us surrounded by snow .

We use our dining room every weekend. During the week everything revolves around the kitchen table and follows the rush of the day. On the weekends, though, we relax, take our time with cooking and eating and catching up on conversations that were started during the week. Also, every Saturday morning my husband and I have a 'State of the union' time where we get to talk to only one another. We do this at the dining room table and the kids know that that time is ours.

So, this lovely woman thought that Cool Whip would make your absolutely delicious brownies better Could you just drop her from the potluck rotation? I would have been as caught off guard as you were.

sarah o, Welcome to eGullet! How big are your hearts? I'm not a pro so don't have access to the great tools but I think an icing pen might work and they aren't all that hard to find. What a good idea!

Thanks for the tutorial, I truly enjoyed the thread on duck confit and was wondering if there would be others. Also thanks for the spoon idea, I tuck the pastry under with my fingers but am never satisfied, now I'll do that.

Before I learned about Special K red Berries from Little Miss Foodie's blog I was strictly a Weetabix girl. I'm branching out.

So, I made the honey-thyme marshmallows 2 days ago and they are really nice. I made an infusion of dried thyme from the last of the herb garden and got a beautiful light green color that I hoped would color the marshmallow, no such luck. I used 1 1\2 cups of a dark honey, given to us by a friend who keeps bees, and 1 1\2 cups sugar. I decreased the water to 1\2 cup. The marshmallow whipped up higher than normal. I did notice that this batch stuck to the foil, whereas the others have not. I wonder if the honey was responsible? The taste of these marshmallows was wonderful. You get the honey immediately and then, underneath, a delicate hint of thyme. Then the taste of honey comes back to finish with a nougat aftertaste. These and the Raspberry-Chambord have been our favorites so far. Next, tarragon?

Cooking, planning, eating. Definitely

Thanks lmf! I need to learn how to play with color as my buns look a bit anemic in the post. I used parchment paper underneath tha bao as I didn't have any waxed paper in the house. I had no problems with sticking but I did oil the tortilla press as I was flattening the dough and I think that could have helped.

I have a little room in the basement just for kitchen things. 3 walls of shelves and one is for pans. If I didn't have a basement I think Metro shelving would take up a significant part of our first floor!

Here is the pork after cooking... Filling is ready Preparing the dough, I used a tortilla press so my 5 yr. old could help My Buns! These were wonderful! We made pork and chicken and found the pork to be tastier and to have a better texture. The pork held the sauce better as well. I'm new to posting photos, advice on how to make them small would be extremely helpful!

Chefzadi, I live in Wisconsin but, plainly there is a need for this type of program everywhere. I don't think there is a specific demographic because the term disadvantaged covers lots of different populations. What Iwould love to see is a base that would serve as a guideline that teachers could build on. Something that could be modified to suit regional variances. If done under the aegis of e-gullet, would there be chapters with volunteers that could be trained? ( Or am I getting ahead of myself?) And if so, could they associate with local institutions who have access to a base population and basic kitchens already set up?

I started on the meat today. I made two recipes. One, chicken with the packaged marinade bought at the oriental grocery to which I added garlic, water, grated ginger and 5 spice powder. The second, pork shoulder, sat in a bath of rice wine, honey, soy sauce,garlic, grated ginger, hoisin sauce and 5 spice powder. I cooked the meats in the oven separately over a pan of water at 400. The chicken was done after 20 minutes while the pork took a good 45minutes. I will finish the buns tomorrow(hopefully). As to the marinade, I preferred the homemade to the powder, it clung to the meat and tasted more immediate.

I can't tell you how serendipitous this thread is for me. I was just speaking to a volunteer at the local domestic abuse shelter about setting up this very thing! She was receptive but had no idea how to implement something like this. I've been working on outlines for marketing, budgeting and menu planning on my own and would definitely appreciate ideas. Thanks

With black tea hobnobs or digestive biscuits. With green tea melon or some other fruit. Chocolate with herbal teas.

And no monsoon? Hmmmm. You are right about the skin. It will form if the pastry cools down. There you are, the extent of my pastry knowledge for what it's worth.( Not much but better than a stick in the eye, as my father says)

sorry to post twice but I just re-read your 1st post. Did you brush the tops with an egg glaze after piping? If the glaze dripped down the sides onto the pan it could have acted like a 'glue' and made the choux stick. I don't think the star tip would have a huge effect on air holes but I'm not a pro so don't have any facts to back me up.