MarkIsCooking

I'm doing a dinner party tomorrow night! One course is a braise that I plan to make today, cool to room temp, refrigerate until tomorrow. I've heard this even enhances the flavor. What is the best method for reheating??? Please help and thanks! -mark-

What sources do you know of that offer the very best pricing on Bourgeat and other better brands of cookware (online or regular stores)? I've seen various threads talking about which brands are better, why, etc.; but what I'm looking for is rock-bottom pricing on what I know I want to get. Can you help?????? -mark-

Are prices at Broadway Panhandler really good? Last time I looked around their website, prices seemed 'ok' but nothing extraordinary. -mark-

At my school, we always use apricot jam, which we heat in a saucepan to make it more liquid and then we strain it. Always seems to work for us (and I can't say that about most things we try ) -mark-

At school last week, we tried Grana Padano, which is very similar to Parmagiana Reggiano and a fraction of the price. Worth a try if you haven't had. -mark-

Don't ask me why, but I've experimented in recent months making challah bread. I just say, my final product has been very tasty. No problem there. One of my baking books demos how to do a 'turban' braid, where you roll the dough into 2 groups of 3 strands each. Then, with various over/under maneuvers, you end up with something very cool looking. HERE'S MY PROBLEM THAT I NEED HELP WITH. I egg wash the turban and set it aside to proof. Then, it goes into the oven where, of course, it continues to proof a bit until it reaches that temp where the yeast dies. When it's done, the turban looks great, except there are parts of the braid that grew or stretched through the ovenproof/baking process and so there are parts of the top that are not as golden as the parts where I egg-washed them. Expert bakers - please help me out! How could I change my technique to create something visually much better?? Thanks! -Mark-

I agree with Fat Guy that you can eliminate the horizontal at home. My bigger question is" What are those brown discolorations on Fat Guy's knife? Is that just lighting or is there a story behind that??? -Mark-

My jar lives on. One Mason jar, 10 beans sliced and filled with Bourbon. The smell is clearly getting as FatGuy said, still not like my store bought, but hopefully heading in that direction. I'm tryinig to exercise the patience and if all this works out, maybe I'll get jars going at different times so I'll always have a 'vintage' reaching maturity as I need more. Does that sound a bit anal retentive??? -Mark-

Catalina and Browne are both awesome. Since they both ship overnight, if you plan it right, you can get your shipment the day of (or day before if need be) cooking and you won't have to freeze them. -Mark-

I think the method of making the meringues is less important than using a low oven (like 200-225) and baking them for a long time (about an hour), turning off the oven and letting them dry further in the oven while the oven cools. When we made them in school, we did a few things to make them look like 'real' mushrooms. before assembling the cap to the stem, we dipped the bottom of the cap in chocolate and then into some crushed pistacio nuts. The top of the cap and the stem we rubbed with a little cocoa powder to give them that 'dirty' look. Best of luck! -Mark-

Can you give a little more direction? Cuisine preferred? Boston proper or anywhere in the Boston area? Loud-ish hot spot or quiet upscale??? Pending your guidance, here are a few: l'espalier This is the finest French restaurant in Boston. Setting is a Back Bay townhouse, small intimate dining rooms, decorated impecably, extraordinary service. Chef/owner that actually cooks. Incredible wine. Known and lesser-known regional cheeses. Very $$$, but if you go all out for the tasting menu, you may never want to leave. Sibling Rivalry Very cool concept. Two brothers, both chefs, each responsible for their own parts of the menu. For each main ingredient, you get one interpretation by one brother and one interpretation by the other. You can pick all dishes from one or mix and match. Open kitchen, very nice decor, very good food. Not as pricey as L'espalier, but no Olive Garden either. Lumiere In the nearby Boston suburb of Newton, MA, sits this small, unassuming French gem. The Chef/owner has received various attention, including a nomination this year for a James Beard Award. Clean, modern French inspired food. All of these places are on Open Table so you can make reservations or see more restaurant info in one easy place. Best of luck and welcome (in advance) to Boston! -Mark-

This recipe for White Chocolate Chunk Cookies is pretty awesome. A slightly different take on the old standby. Chocolate White Chocolate Chunk Cookies Recipe Summary Prep Time: 20 minutes Cook Time: 15 minutes Yield: 40 to 48 cookies 1/2 pound unsalted butter, at room temperature 1 cup light brown sugar, packed 1 cup granulated sugar 2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract 2 extra-large eggs, at room temperature 2/3 cup good unsweetened cocoa 2 cups flour 1 teaspoon baking soda 1 teaspoon kosher salt 1 1/2 pounds good white chocolate, coarsely chopped Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Cream the butter and 2 sugars until light and fluffy in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment. Add the vanilla, then the eggs, 1 at a time, and mix well. Add the cocoa and mix again. Sift together the flour, baking soda, and salt and add to the chocolate with the mixer on low speed until just combined. Fold in the chopped white chocolate. Drop the dough on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper, using a 1 3/4-inch ice cream scoop or a rounded tablespoon. Dampen your hands and flatten the dough slightly. Bake for exactly 15 minutes (the cookies will seem underdone). Remove from the oven and let cool slightly on the pan, then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely. Recipe posted on: www.MarkCooks.com

Fresh garlic, onion and mushrooms all sauteed - one of my favorites for sure. I cook out all the liquid from the mushrooms, allow them to brown on the pan, degalze with sherry or white wine and finish with some freshly chopped rosemary. Yum!

Summershack is certainly not high end in terms of ambiance, that's for sure. They do pump out a lot of food, so there is a certain efficiency and speed that maybe some critics would say gives it a chain-feel. Not cheap, either. However, there is nothing chain-like with the food quality and taste. The pan-done lobster in a butter sauce is AWESOME! When they have them, the FRESH Louisiana shrimp appetizer lets you taste what fresh shrimp really tastes like. And, when you can get awesome New England fare and show up in jeans if you want, I'm a customer. -mark-

A few thoughts. Several people in this thread have poo-pooed a variety of things relating to sanitation and food storage. A word of caution. 35 million people each year get sick from improperly handled food in their homes. The risks of poor handling are real. No, you won't get sick every time you skirt the rules, but it's not something to be taken lightly; and if you're very young or old or pregnant or have a suppressed immune system for some reason, your risks are far higher. Re: the pot top question. Having the top on will help the boil quicker (i.e. before you add the product). Also, if you add your stuff to the water and the water stops boiling, it will come back to the boil faster with the top on. I don't know of any reason why the top would need to be on during the cooking process (once the water boils). -mark-

You could just lighten your base with some stabilized whipped cream or whipped egg whites, which would be faster/easier than an Italian meringue.

Here's my vote: Payard's on the Upper East Side -Mark-

As I've learned in culinary school, when something goes wrong, there are usually multiple reasons that could be to blame. Did you wrap the dough well in plastic while it was refrigerated? You definately don't want the dough subjected to open air for hours and hours. Did the dough look just fine before it went into the refrigerator? I don't think the quick rise is to blame, but you could certainly use regular yeast if you're doing to do the dough the day ahead (which I do often so I can treat my kids to fresh baked stuff in the AM). The dough will continue to rise for some time in the refrigerator and then it will reach a temp where the yeast stops growing. I'd recommend bringing the dough out of the refrigerator, bringing it to room temp and cutting it down to proof for the final rise before it goes into the oven in the AM. If you want to try a different recipe that I know works, you can check out the CINNAMON SWIRL BREAD recipe on www.MarkCooks.com click on the RECIPES tab. This bread is made in roll form so instead of putting in a loaf pan, you can slice it down to make rolls. Best of luck, -Mark-

It probably won't be for a while, but I swear that the next time I redo/renovate a kitchen, I'm going with something geared towards a restaurant instead of the consumer products. I think you get WAY more for the money in both cooking appliances and refrigeration. I'd probably get something from a place like BigTray.com Anybody else want to chime in? In general, I think the stuff that Home Depot and Lowe's sells is very mediocre. -Mark-

Unless I'm making a mini-tart where the fluting is small, I use pennies as weights. I have tons of them and it's a whole lot cheaper than the pie weights they sell in the stores. -Mark-

One of the things I love about the CSA I joined is the way the pickups work. Members come to pick up their shares. If for any reason a member does not take his/her share OR if they want less than their share, the balance of the harvest each week that members don't take is donated to feed the hungry in our area. I totally understand how people would prefer to use everything 'they're paying for', but it's another reason why I'm psyched about having joined the CSA. Hunger is a huge problem in this country and if my membership helps even a little, than I feel good about that. Maybe we could make more progress on fighting the problems of hunger if we paid a little more attention to real issues and a little less attention to things like the paternity of Anna Nicole Smith's baby. Wishful thinking??? -Mark-

I hear what several people have said about school. It's very expensive and (generally) such a low-paying industry, it's hard to justify. I decided to go to school because I'm a middle-aged guy and wanted to get a solid education in classic cooking and baking. If you want to benefit from the thousands I'm spending, check out my blog where I've been recording most everything I've been going through. There actually is some useful detailed information if you're up for it and don't mind reading it all. Notes from hundreds of hours of class really add up. Best of luck! -Mark- MarkCooks.com click on the Mark's Blog page

I joined a CSA for the first time this year and I'm very excited to see how it goes. I joined on relatively close to my home. I figured the odds were much higher that I'd actually get there and use the food if I picked a convenient location. I'm luckier than some, since the farm is only about 15-20 minutes from my home. Whether I get my money's worth or not, I'll feel great about supporting a local farm and helping make sure that for another year the place won't be turned into condos! -Mark-

That's exactly it (I think). The question is: can I take a more traditional recipe I have and simply work the eggs in this way or do I need to alter the recipe ingredients/quantities in some way to apply this different technique????

I'm wondering if anyone happens to have the recipe for NYC's Eileen's Cheesecake (plain). I know that she does a seperated egg technique, where she beats the yolks and whips the whites seperately (then combines them). I'm told it results in a lighter yet still very rich version, which I'm dying to try but all the recipes I've seen add the eggs all at once. eGulleters, can you help???? -Mark-