YoChefGregg

We have our lutefisk ordered and dream of eating our yearly portion. Being of Swedish heritage, we prefer a white sauce; adding rustic mustard, wasabi or some other ingredient to give some flavor to our fish. What condiments to you serve with your Christmas Eve lutefisk?

Hey Swede, are you doing all of those items at home or do you cook for a living. Very nice looking plates. What was in the yogurt ravioli?

Long sleeves, rolled way up, if I'm doing misc. things around the kitchen. Rolled down when I have to lift a 40 qt. stock pot or sauté 100 chicken breasts in a roasting pan or have to reach way into the oven, rack burns on the hand seems to heal quicker than a forearm burn.

We prepare and eat a Mid-western smörgåsbord every Christmas eve. One of the main items is lutefisk. As kids we might put a piece on our plate, totally covered in a very thick béchamel sauce, but probably wouldn't eat it. As time pasted, our defenses were worn down and now, most of us, even our spouses, and child, and now grandchild, eat their share of this Scandinavian delicacy. Or at least have a serving on their plate, totally covered in a very tasty béchamel sauce. I have taken over the lutefisk cooking duties from my 75 year old mother. We now heavily salt the raw lutefisk, placing it on a grate to allow the flesh to loose lots of its moisture. We rinse the lutefisk then place on a grate again and into the oven, 350ºF until flakey, oh god, we hope that it's flakey. We now top ours with a béchamel that's got dijon mustard, nutmeg, onion and a touch of white wine added. It's really quite good. Göd Jul

I don't think that cooking schools are overselling our profession. But there are a lot of naive people that enroll in culinary programs, they have no experience in our field and have the impression that getting an executive chef position is easy. Hey Carrot Top, nice Carl Larsen picture.

I was Sous Chef at an event arena in West Michigan, here are a few of the folks that I cooked for: STP, Aerosmith, Laura Bush, Bush, Barry Manilow, Clint Black, WWE, Elton John, Neal Diamond, Ringling Bros. and Barnum and Bailey Circus, James Taylor Most of the performers were quite nice to the staff of our facility.

I noticed that the headline vanished quickly, but I didn't notice just how quickly. Wow. And thankfully. I'm also a midwesterner, and have never heard that term used for a sandwich.

On Epicurious' main page, they have a link to a recipe section, the link is called Soups & Sammies. WTH, is that a Rachael Ray invented term?

When is or was your birthday? I turn 50 on the 23rd of December, in Mexico, with my daughter's family and new grandson. Felix Cumpleaños !

Great episode Tony! Thanks. It's nice seeing our neighbors being treated as such and not as illegals. The time for airing the show was inspired. Hey Hector, what's up?

I have heard somewhere that Crutchfield Jacobs disease became a problem in some headhunter communities, another very good reason to leave your neighbors alone!

Two real quick examples, dill and cilantro. As a child I didn't eat dill pickles because of the dill. Couldn't stand the flavor. Now I make inlagd gurka, a quick swedish pickle, a couple of times a month and use about a cup of fresh dill. And cilantro. The first time I purchased fresh cilantro, 10 years or so ago, the smell gave me a stomach ach and I through it in the trash. Now, posole wouldn't be posole without a good sized portion of fresh cilantro added just before digging in.

It seems like our tastes, likes/dislikes, change or some times kind of ebb and flow as we age. I like to eat certain things now, that 10 years ago I won’t even try to eat. Conversely, there are things that I loved and now I can take them or leave them.

Cleaning a commercial kitchen grease trap, mid August, temp. 88ºF, humidity above 90%. Hehe, I was the Sous Chef and was supervising. Bad enough just getting within 10 feet of the pit. After cleaning the pit, I allowed my crew (2) guys, to take the rest of the day off. It was a slow day anyway. I'm such a nice guy.

I agree with Canadian. Most often while making a buttercream, there comes a point where the buttercream looks like it has separated. It has, warm it gently over warm water and then beat it well and it will come together and work beautifully.

To use gelatin, use the following proportions: Heavy Cream 1qt Gelatin 1/3 oz Cold Water 2 oz Soften the gelatin in the cold water, then warm it until the gelatin dissolves. Cool it, but do not let it set. Beat it into the cream just as the cream begins to thicken. From, "Professional Baking", Gisslen.

My daughter and son-in-law will be taking the bus from Morelia to Mexico City, take a taxi to the airport and we will drive back to Morelia together. That will give us 3 or 4 more hours of visiting.

Buenos Tardes, Thanks so much for everyone’s input. We will be noshing on tamales that my daughter is bringing from home, her in-laws. I’ll request that they try and have the filling a little wetter than normal, since using a salsa will be very difficult while driving. We would love to just fly into Morelia, but that adds about $500.00 per person to our cost. We got a fairly good price on the route that we choose. Our choice of flights were Chicago to Morelia, or Grand Rapids to Mexico City. I’d rather fly from home and have to drive on the other end of the trip than to drive and park in Chicago. We will also be able to use the van for side trips. Ok, which direction do I take when exiting the airport?

On Christmas day, my wife, Sudanese foster son and I will be flying into Mexico City, renting a van, and driving to Morelia. Is it safe to eat tamales while driving? Is it safe for a gringo from Grand Rapids to drive in Mexico City? We will have my daughter and Mexican citizen son in law with us. They'll take a bus to Mexico City and meet us. We've heard all sort of horror stories about driving in, "The City". What do you think. Can you help a fellow egulleteer out? Muchas Gracias,

Boning Inst's These pictures make the process look more difficult than it really is. Once you've done it, it'll be a piece of cake,,,,,,uh,,,boned leg of lamb.

Thank you for sharing your remembrances of your father with us. I love your comment about the thin sliced scrapple. Why did you always cut yours thin? Because that’s how dad cut his. May you find peace through your sadness.

I worked the 1997 meet at Saratoga, in the main kitchen. Being from the mid-west, I was damned surprised at the graft and corruption going on there. Not just the money captains were extorting from guests. From what I was told, it was difficult doing business with the track unless there was some sort of consideration given to management. I have only third hand knowledge of this activity, but all of the long time food service employees had similar stories. It was a weird weird place to work. I'm glad that I only had to work there for 4 weeks.

Carrot Top-I love you. You are an oasis in a vast desert of over analyzation VEFE, damned VEFE. Get some on your chef's coat and it'll never come out.

You can't go wrong with a Hobart. Hobart

-faux sizzle- Is that the sound effects, via a foley studio, added to many of the FN cooking programs? Makes ya feel like your right in the kitchen.