JeanneCake

Puff pastry twists - with herbs or cinnamon sugar Biscotti - any variety. Half dip some in chocolate to get a higher price!

I've always shared kitchen space - the very first kitchen I rented was part of a banquet facility. I didn't have any prior experience in restaurants so I would often ask what they were doing/making. I saw the chef once adding powder from a packet into a huge pot of boiling water. I asked what it was (non-dairy creamer) and then asked why he was adding it to the water. His response: we're making the cream sauce for chicken pot pie. I never ate any of the food offered to me while I was there. ETA: correct typos

My son is the one that says grace during holiday meals and it's been pretty amusing, enlightening and entertaining to see how he changes what he says as he grows up. My in-laws say grace before every meal, no matter where they are and like to join hands if we are at home; when we are out, they will silently bow their heads and hold hands under the table but don't expect everyone else to participate. I like to stop for a second and be thankful that I have food to eat, because there are so many who don't. And that could be me one day, you never know.

Sexy is for the food. If they can bring sexy food back - that you want to cook, that you want to eat, fine. Aren't there already plenty of channels for watching sexy people? Stilettos do not belong in the kitchen. Ever.

I'd love to see that recipe I'm thinking of fall menu items already (and summer has barely started!) and like this idea....

I reckon there's something in that. Until comparitive recent times, meals out for Mrs H and I used to be Pizza Express and the occasional slightly better place for "special occasions". We always used to thoroughly enjoy it every time. Now we eat out much more often, we find ourselves much more "nit-picking". This is amusing to me; it sounds as if when funds and time out was a more casual type of restaurant, you were always pleased with the food/service/experience? And now that you are enjoying more frequent meals out, at a different type of restaurant, you are more critical of the food/service/experience? What changed? And why, do you think? I'm not trying to start a flame, just curious.

can you use a waxed or coated bag? or would that not make a difference? or wrap the pop in a waxed tissue (like the amoretti cookies?) before bagging it?

Well, that's some recipe At least, it's a long read to get to the recipe part!! What's with the highlighting toward the end there?

Thanks, I have only the small jars but will check those numbers in work tomorrow. It would appear that it's only the quart and gallon sizes but it doesn't hurt to be sure. Especially as I was planning to use this on Friday in a wedding cake!

I'm embarrassed to admit this because it was so silly: making caramel. I was terrified of doing it for years because I was convinced I'd burn the house down (because I would make the caramel too dark and then it would start to smoke and catch fire. I didn't say this was logical thinking but there you are.) The first time I actually tried it and it worked, I called a friend in California who knew I was scared of making it - and as luck would have it, they had just experienced a small earthquake! Now I make caramel two or three times a week because our best selling tart right now is a chocolate caramel tart....

I think you could reduce the leavening a little; that's where I'd start. Are you weighing the flour/sugar, etc? Because if scooped, a cup of flour might weigh 5 ounces, if you sifted it three times it might weigh 4 ounces; I don't know that I would reduce the sugar. Sifting is more for aeration rather than mixing so not sifting would work so long as you were weighing accurately...

Why would there be only one "ground breaker"? There have always been trailblazers in industries or professions; Alice had to have gotten her start somewhere too. I think there is also a regional factor to consider (how far-reaching is someone who is a local celebrity versus a name with national recognition). Maybe it's not a "who" that made it possible, but a "what" - changes in society that made cooking seem a glamorous career choice, for example. The wave that's cresting at the shore started deep in the sea and traveled a long way to there...

We have another order for these next week so I will add some corn syrup to the ganache, and report back! Thanks!

It's not so much a glaze as a layer of ganache; the ganache layer is about a quarter of an inch thick. I want them to have enough of each (the caramel layer and the ganache layer) to be distinct once it's cut. The caramel is just enough to run a little bit, it's the ganache that's firmer. I need to keep this a poured ganache rather than piping it on (the thought occurred to me) in order to keep labor costs down for this product. Yesterday the staff made another big batch (300) of the individual ones and they used half Chocoa and half Callebaut dark in the ganache; almost half of the tarts has fissures across the centers, but some were perfect - no cracking or even the tiniest bit of caramel peeking out at the edges. I agree a glaze would be better for the flourless cake, I just need to find the reason why the poured ganache cracks in the tart shell. I've just started using the Chocoa brand and it seems to handle just like the Shokinag, so I didn't make any changes in the ganache formula. Maybe it's time to experiment.

I've been using the same recipe for ganache for years: 2# bittersweet chocolate (callets or disks, either Callebaut or Chocoa now that Shokinag is no longer available), 8 oz butter in a bowl; 2# heavy 40% cream brought to a full boil and poured over; let sit a few mins then gentle whisking to bring it together. When I use this to cover a flourless chocolate cake, in some display cases, the glaze will crack after a few days. But the worst problem is when I use this for my chocolate caramel tarts (in 9" and 4" sizes). I pour a layer of caramel (not too thick, but enough to coat the bottom of the shell. It's maybe a quarter of an inch thick if that), let it sit - sometimes overnight but sometimes for an hour or two; then pour ganache over it. The shells are probably 5/16ths or maybe half an inch shallow so these are not deep shells. The ganache is still fluid when poured but not warm to the touch. The problem is that sometimes the ganache topping develops fissures across the diameter of the tart; sometimes caramel shows on the edges of the shell. The fissures are usually hairline, not wide (they get wider the longer they stand in the larger tart especially) but they are unsightly in my opinion because you can see caramel. Not all of the tarts develop a fissure or caramel around the edges so I can't figure out what is causing this. I don't refrigerate them once they are made; usually they go out the door within 36 hours of being made (e.g., we pour the caramel on Monday, ganache on Tues, pack and out the door on Tues or early Wed morning). The tarts are on parchment lined sheet pans, on a speed rack with a cover. Should I be using a different formula for the ganache? The caramel sauce is the basic sugar/water/corn syrup with cream, vanilla and butter added and I am one of those who likes a very dark caramel in this kind of tart, but it doesn't seem to make a difference whether the caramel is dark or light. I am not using any added flavoring or salt on the caramel. We're making more this week so I'll see if I can get a picture. But any theories on what's causing this and how to avoid it are welcome!

I have so enjoyed being in your world this week; I've learned so much about kosher/non-kosher cooking from you and your blogs. I am not doing as much Passover as in previous years; my chef friend moved on to a kosher catering company so he can't use my company but we stay in touch. There's been a huge influx of Passover items brought in by a local supermarket chain - stuff you couldn't get even three years ago (carrot cake mixes?! KfP confectioner's sugar - so now I can make meringues!) is on the shelf so I think a lot of people are doing things at home now that so much more is available. We've had a great week with you; hope you have had a great week with us!

You might first want to see if there's a niche market you can fill - something like muffins, cupcakes, marshmallows and use that to fill your off hours. Or, and I say this somewhat haltingly, see if someone who wants to start a business like that wants to rent your space in your off hours. Depending on what that business is, you may need additional refrigeration or table space, in addition to a convection oven (which may not really be necessary, depending on how the ovens you currently have now work). You would need to be very specific about hours of use, who cleans what, where storage is, who is in the space (people who know how to use the professional equipment in place) and whether or not a separate business can be licensed to share the same kitchen (when I was exploring sharing a kitchen, one town I was looking in would not allow two businesses to share the same kitchen. First time I'd ever heard of such a thing.)

The only thing that comes to mind is the rose or sunflower pan from Nordicware; but the sides are the petals so it won't look like a traditional bundt pan.

God, now I'm really jealous. You get to go with Johnny Iuzzini. I would have done the same thing that your wife did - you get a chance like this, you take it and I am glad you are going and going to report about it. You also need to bring something very, VERY nice back as a present for her

I did my first vegan cake this weekend; it's not going to fit the parameters of gluten free, but I adapted the popular "wowie cake" (the recipe is all over the internet) to a vanilla version by replacing the cocoa with almond flour. You could experiment with using a gluten free flour replacer in the recipe (the recipe, which I doubled, so I remember the quantities: 15 oz flour, 14 oz granulated white sugar, 1 tsp baking soda, 1/2 cup almond meal, 1 tsp salt - mix this together in a bowl. Then you need 1 tsp vanilla, 2 cups cold water and 2/3 cup vegetable oil, add these liquids, stir (don't leave any lumps but don't overmix this either), pour into a greased pan (I lined them with parchment so I'd be able to get them out cleanly) and then bake it for about 35-40 mins at 350 (I didn't use the convection oven for this but if that's all you have, use a low fan). It will bake pretty flat, but you can cut it into shapes and use it as a component on the plate....

So the coupon doesn't mention that gratuity will be added to the bill? If the customer learned that the tip was 18% only after receiving his bill, I can understand being surprised and annoyed about it (or he could have felt that he was saving 2%!!). But anytime in the past, if I've had a coupon, I tip on the total amount of the bill before the discount or promotion is added. The coupon should state terms of use and charges appropriately so there are no surprises later.

I have a jelly shelf, too. I have to try every known brand of black currant jam ever made. This is research! I wish I lived near andiesenji too! I stand in awe of your knowledge, your collections and your ability to explain and share things so clearly with us!

I have one of these microwave/combination units; I bought it four or five years ago and there isn't much (except baking a cake) that I can't do in it. So I use it almost exclusively, and rarely use the oven anymore. We've been buying appliances from the same family-owned company for 18 years so usually, when we're buying something, it's because something broke and needs to be replaced fairly quickly. We ended up replacing the original appliances (dishwasher, oven, microwave, washer, dryer) - which were new when we bought the house within five years (they were Magic Chef, chosen by the builder, and we were surprized to see they lasted that long). So I have to wonder ... if you're able to plan on replacing an appliance, you probably put more thought into it. For me, it's always been a sudden breakdown that compels me to buy something because I can't go more than four or five days (in one instance, I had to get the stove replaced the next day because it was Thanksgiving week, and of course, we were hosting the family) and I end up settling for what I can get.

Many years ago I read a story about the graham crackers in Maida Heatter's cookie book; someone mentioned making a graham crust with the dough rolled out as pie dough and placed in the pan. Maida Heatter thought she was making the cookies and then grinding them into crumbs for a crumb crust. So maybe use a make-your-own graham cracker cookie dough as pie crust ....

This reminds me of something I haven't thought about in years, decades probably. My mother or grandmother made it; and I don't think it was really dessert and it wasn't a salad either. I remember the gelatin being filled with shredded carrots, maybe crushed pineapple? and chopped walnuts. I loved eating it as a child - it was cold, crunchy from the carrots and walnuts and it seemed for a while I couldn't get enough of it to eat. I'm sure it was made with commercial Jell-O; I don't ever remember my mother having gelatin sheets in the house but she did have powdered gelatin because there was a thing for awhile about adding it to drinks to improve your fingernails maybe? And making gelatin blocks in our own favorite flavors when Jell-O Jigglers were first popular. I'm going to have to find out what that was....