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MarkIsCooking

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Everything posted by MarkIsCooking

  1. Took friends celebrating their anniversary for the tasting menu at Morimoto and it was extraordinary in every way.
  2. I can't remember where I first heard this, but it really works. Put the baked goods into the airtight container of your choice (of course after they're fully cooled) and along with your baked goods put a piece of very fresh bread. I don't understand the chemistry, but it seems that the bread "grabs" the air and the baked goods remain fresher. Of course, this only grabs you and extra day (2 tops).
  3. Thanks! Does the same data hold true for bacon fat???
  4. When I try to convince my wife that I'm not crazy for spending lots of time in eGullet, I think I'll elect not to tell her about the lengthy discussions And experiments about how to create perfectly clear ice (though I'll confess just to those here that I find this topic fascinating).
  5. I'm willing to risk the 'dumb' question. Does the rendered fat need to be refrigerated or frozen? Other pure fats like Crisco or various oils do not. Would love to hear from the bacteria experts.
  6. Lots of great points here! Consider these: > If you're anywhere near a business school / college, you can sometimes get students to help you draft a solid business plan as part of a school project. This way you not only get some free energetic help, but you get their professor to look it over and critique it as well. > I totally agree that focusing how you'll generate sales - and service those customers from the 'front of the house' point of view is very critical. Catering is a hugely broad term. Exactly what are thinking of? Are you focusing more on corporate catering (lunches, corporate functions and stuff like that)? Are you thinking more about private parties from ramped up in-home parties to weddings, bar mitzvah's and the like? Menu building, marketing and delivering on these different types of things can really impact many aspects of your planning. > Think through how much capital you'll need and how you'll find it. Most new businesses fail due to lack of capital to survive a ramp of period (which can be quite a long time in some businesses). The good news about certain types of catering is that the cash flow is extremely good. My old company would take deposits in such a way that all our pre-party out-of-pockets were covered by the client. Best of luck!
  7. Made The Perfect Scoop's Tiramisu Ice Cream and here's the deal. I've eaten A LOT of ice cream in my life. A LOT! This flavor will make your head spin around at least 4 times and roll your eyeballs back like nobody's business. [All the liquor in it probably doesn't hurt!] A must try!
  8. Best Lobster Roll: Marketplace outside the Poppenesset Inn, Mashpee, Cape Cod Marketplace on Yelp Really good crab roll: Legal C Bar: Legacy Place
  9. I think the producers end up guiding the final decision based on what they think will make the best TV. The show is entertainment TV and nothing more. There is no incentive to have the absolutely best chef win. The incentive is to keep the collection of people moving forward that will bring in the most viewers.
  10. I'm a simple guy. I like to eat food that is smartly prepared and tastes amazing. Any chance we could agree that botulism is bad and share some safe and awesome recipes/techniques for making duck confit in a slow cooker (or otherwise)? -mark
  11. MarkIsCooking

    Popeyes

    Are we really talking about Popeye's here????
  12. Whatever fish looks best and a quick sauté on some veg. Healthy, quick, light and delish.
  13. Hello all- So here's the story. My family and I went blueberry picking yesterday near Mt. Monadnock in SW New Hampshire. Amazing views and blueberry bushes just dripping with gorgeous fruit. Seems to me there are some eGullitiers with some awesome ideas for updating the traditional approach to jams/jellies etc. Here's what I did and a few questions. I wanted to create a "purist" blueberry jam. Just fruit and sugar and less sweet than traditional jam Fished around in the Internet and tried this. Just 2 ingredients: blueberries and sugar at a 2:1 ratio of fruit to sugar (many recipes call for 1:1). I now know I could have gone even less on the sugar to really bring the true blueberry flavor more to the forefront. I elected to omit the pectin, which most recipes call for. I followed the canning directions on the bottom of the 1/2 pint Mason jars. My recipe was: 12 cups freshly picked blueberries 6 cups sugar (I might try 4 next time) Sugar into large sauce pot/stock pot When the sugar melts, add all fruit and stir Continue cooking fruit, regularly stirring, for 20-30 minutes, until it reaches about 200 degrees Using a canning funnel, fill (not to the top) super clean jars and apply rim/cap, just until on - do not over tighten Filled jars into simmering water, with at least 1 inch water over top of jars Bring to boil Set aside for 5 min. Remove carefully jars from water and allow to cool for several hours. Once cool, push on each lid. They should have no give or pop when you push on the top. How would you change what I did? Other great ideas for abundant blueberries? Blueberry jalapeño jam anyone???
  14. You won't go to prison for this, but you are throwing a few terms around incorrectly. The difference between your product cost and the selling price is your 'gross margin'. In larger companies, the gross margin would be after (net of) the manufacturing labor. In smaller businesses, it's often not. I owned a cafe/bakery at one time, and I'd say (just 1 guy's opinion) that your gross margin before labor for labor intensive stuff like baked items or chocolate should be about 8o%. For example, the muffin that sells for $2.50 should have about $.50 cost of ingredients. At retail, it's generally not practical to apply to the exact same percentage markup to everything you sell, it's more of a rule of thumb. Then, once in a while you can even get more on some items, but you'll need to get less on others. Of course, it's a great idea to promote high margin items, which helps your bottom line. There are various rules of thumb for various line items in the food business. Here's an example of one, but by no means does this work in all situations. You would do well to have a template something like this to illustrate what you want your model to look like and then follow actual results at least month by month. I hope this helps. Gross Sales. $100 Cost of goods. 25 Payroll. 35 Rent/occup/util 10 Marketing. 5 G&A (insur,etc) 10 Package/bags. 5 Profit b4 tax. 10
  15. For your breakfast, I'd consider "Good Enough to Eat" on the UWS and I suggest you cue up about 20 minutes before they open.
  16. How about bottling some homemade vanilla extract for holiday gifts? Bottle them now and they should be ready to give by Christmas.
  17. I ate there some years ago and I remember being very surprised at how good it was. I wished I remembered specific dishes, but I don't. I do remember asking the waiter to help us with the selections and that worked out very well. Best of luck. -mark
  18. Lower end stuff at Restaurant Depot and Working Gear. Better stuff can be ordered from this guy Averill's uniforms
  19. I can't say that I find tons of stuff I love at TJ's, but here's one my wife discovered recently that amazed me. They have small boxes of frozen croissants (plan or chocolate - 4 per box). Here's the drill. You take them out of the freezer at night before you go to bed and place them on a sheet pan with parchment. Let them sit out overnight. Through the night, they defrost and then proof. When you wake up, they're ready to bake. I'm telling you, fresh out of the oven, they are amazing and the quality will surprise you. Worth a try. -mark
  20. Yes. I saw the same message re: their website and I've seen a few interviews. There are clues but not enough. I did find the coconut reference interesting because I didn't pick that up at all when I ate them. I'm hoping if people keep finding this post, someone will help us nail it down. They are gooey as referenced. When you but them, several are usually connected since they baked in a sheet pan so closely together. Others in Israel try to copy them (I had a few) but nobody else came close. The hunt continues . . .
  21. I haven't asked. It's a crazy open market type place and I would be willing to ask if I could get there again. I have tried to find their website but it doesn't seem to work. I will try anything I can think of, but I thought someone here might unlock the question easily. We'll see.
  22. eGulletiers - HELP! I'm on my first trip to Israel in 20 years and my friend insisted I go to the Marzipan Bakery in Jerusalem while I was here to buy the chocolate rugelach, which of course didn't take much convincing. OMG!! Here's an article about the place. If you scroll down, you'll see a photo of some of these heavenly creations. They're baked, shoulder to shoulder to fill sheet pans. They come out hot on a regular basis. Our group bought boxes of these and they're all gone! The tenderness and even gooey-ness of these is totally different from the often dry or less moist variety I so often find. Here's the task. Is anyone familiar enough with these that I could get my hands on either a recipe or some guidance on how to re-create these without the 10+ hour flight from Boston? Would be eternally grateful!! -Mark
  23. Let me add this tip to the list. I save all the plastic bags that you put produce in at the grocery store. I used them to line a small bowl and I throw my scraps into this bag-lined bowl as I'm cutting and prepping stuff. When I'm done prepping or the bag fills, I pull it and toss it into the trash. The bowl is still clean and it provides some use for those produce bags. -Mark
  24. For that special occasion, like most egulletiers, I'm game for the kind of off-the-charts meal that you can get at places like Jean Georges, Le Bernardin, Nobu and the like. However, for the nights when you want a good meal for a lot less than $200 a head and don't want to deal with lines of tourists, where do you go? Those little nuggets of gold some refer to as "neighborhood favorites". No celebrity chefs. No pretentiousness. Certainly no dress code. What have you got NYC???? I'll throw into the hopper The Mermaid Inn, which I just found not long ago. Totally casual. Had 2 really good meals there in the last month. Service was very low key and perfectly fine. Jeans - no problem. Lobster salad on a brioche roll = happy me.
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