Pam R

I understand completely - when I was growing up we'd go out in the dead of winter. No power, no running water. The Coleman stove got used a lot! Campfires are always better when it's cooler, don't you think? Though we've been told by the 'power's that be' that it may snow at some point over the next couple of days, I don't think it'll be that bad for you! Have a great time.

Artichoke - great suggestion. My grandmother always used feet - but I can't get them kosher. (that's another reason for the necks - I love snacking on them after the soup is done)

Possible snow mixed with rain forcast for tonite though. Thermoses full of hot soup! Seriously, the picnic-y foods that everybody suggested made sense. If the kids would be into it, just pick up some good bread, cheese/meats, some veg (tomato/lettuce/etc), maybe some olives, spreads (think hummus) and let everybody go at it. Absolutely no work for you and everybody can help themselves to what they like. I hope our weather doesn't travel down to you - and you have a wonderful opening weekend!

For using as soup or in soup (or sauces) it doesn't matter if it gels at all. As long as it tastes good. Necks and wings have a high ratio of bones to meat - and they just add tons of flavour to broth. If you're happy with the flavour, then don't worry about it and enjoy!

That's my choice too. Plenty of bones, some wings (I leave the skin on) and I like to add some necks too. My chicken stock always gels... and I don't think I've ever simmered it for 5 hours. How much of each did you use?

Russ - I completely agree that part of the problem can be in the recipe writing, not in the recipe following. But when the person replicating the recipe decides not to measure anything ... you can't expect it to taste as it should.

Thanks for the link! I baked some jachnun yesterday.... i'm assuming it turned out as it was supposed to. I'd rather have malawah.

This happened to me . I was in Vancouver for their Jewish Book Fair right after my book came out. They had me come in for a cooking demo followed by lunch. The actual lunch was prepared by the person who ran the food service where I was doing my demo. As I was running back and forth to the kitchen to grab what I needed when I was setting up, I observed them making my recipes - and believe me they weren't following the recipes to the letter (which I could tell right away when I tasted them). I know that I mentioned more than once during my demo that I did not make the food. The people attending the lunch paid good money to come and sample some of my recipes- but what they ended up with wasn't how it would have been if I had made it.

You don't sound naive. Naive would be not asking these questions. It sounds to me like you do understand what you'd be getting yourself into - and that you understand that you may not know every little thing that may come up in the process. If you go through with the shop I hope you share the process with us. Good luck!

I've been introduced to a lot of these items over the last few months - but haven't had a chance to try all them. I now sell frozen malawah and jachnun - ground hilbe and things like matbucha, harissa, schug, etc. I like to try all of the new items I carry - so i can help guide my customers who know about as much about them as I do . Now that Pesach is over, it's time to try some more. I have cooked up some of the malawah and it's great - but rich. I'm going to bake some of the jachnun soon to see how I like it.

hmm..rather than having feet, they look to me as though the bottoms are dipped in something. Or maybe they have feet. otherwise they look like just a simple meringue to me.

can you hook me up? Mazel Tov!

I think my point is that even though you're doing all that your doing from home, it is going to change in a shop. In addition to your orders, you'll have to produce things for the shop. People will come in without appointments to discuss cakes - or expect to pick them up without ordering (which you don't have to do). I always plan out my days at work the day before. If I get half of what I've planned done, it's a good day. Dealing with customers can really eat into your day. So with a shop you'll probably need to look at hiring staff. And expect to put in more hours than you're open for.

We actually had a family Shabbat dinner this week. Roasted Chicken with a new spice rub mom was testing for the store's take-out BBQ Short Ribs Kasha and Varniskes (how I swoon for kasha!) Sauteed garlic zucchini Tossed Salad with vinaigrette

Ok. Still a little concerned about the hilbe... research tells me it should be soaked and once a 'jelly' forms, pour off the water and use in a recipe. I'll look up some actual recipes on this one. I've tried the malawah - and liked it. Though I find it rich and can't imagine eating it often. I'm going to toss some jachnun in the oven this week and see what happens. Do you think I can bake it in a foil pan, covered tightly with foil? I don't actually have a jachnun pot... I love the idea of a jachnun delivery service!

Surely I can't be the only one who'd risk it...

To me recipes are guides ... ones that I like to follow once as written, then change if I feel it is necessary. I've said so 'on record'. Having said that, it still somewhat irritates when somebody tells you that they've changed your recipe. Even though I've never had somebody tell me they changed it and hated it, in the back of my mind I'm always going "what was wrong with the way it was written?" But really, it doesn't hurt anybody. Now.. if somebody complained about a recipe of mine, having changed a bunch of ingredients, that would really irritate me. By all means, change the ingredients - but at the very moment that you change anything about the recipe, it ceases to be mine. Accept the responsibility of the end result.

Thanks Michelle! I am talking about the frozen jachnun, not from scratch. The problem is that the instructions are all in Hebrew, and though I speak some - I'm not completely up to following the instructions! A couple of my customers told me to bake this stuff overnight, but I was not sure about the container to bake it in - whether to cover it, etc. I have Moroccan Matbucha in the cooler . .. I think I need to try baking some jachnun soon. Is it similar to malawah? As for the hilbe - the stuff I have is powdered - I'm still not sure what to try it with. I know you say they use it in everything... but everything? I'm learning so much these days - thanks!

There is a lot to consider. And every situation is different. But it can almost be guaranteed that the time you must give to opening your own store will be all-consuming. A great thread to look at is Mel's New Bakery. Mel took us through all of her trials and tribulations that led to her opening her new shop. I can tell you personally that I am re-evaluating what I produce in my shop because I just don't have the time and energy to do it all. I don't want to be discouraging - I just think it's really important to know what you'll be getting yourself into - and comparing that to what you're already doing. Whichever way you go - good luck! You're producing beautiful products and I'm sure will continue either from home or a new store.

Jhirshon - these recipes are wonderful - thank you for sharing them. you might want to post them in recipeGullet so they will be easy to find in the future. I have a couple of questions... One of your recipes calls for hilbe. I've started selling Hilbe in my store, but have no idea what to do with it! Is it a typical Yemenite ingredient? Do you have other suggestions for using it? Any thoughts on jachnun? As in... how do I cook it? Thanks again, Pam

I certainly can't speak for all casual food chains - but I've done my time in one. And I have to tell you that some of them have cleanliness standards and food handling practices which are probably better than some high-end restuarants. The one I worked in had rules which were followed. When I was in university, I took a sanitation course. For the 10 week term, most of my fellow students stopped eating in the school cafs. or in restaurants. By the middle of the following term, we were all eating out again. You can't really know what's going in behind the kitchen doors - but there are many restuarants that I won't eat in. You know how it goes - if the front of the house is filthy, chances are the back is too. There are certain foods that I find 'gross' - but not because I think people are sticking their unclean fingers in them. If your kitchen (and you) are dirty, do something about it. Can you imagine how much happier you'd be at work if you weren't being grossed out? And the risk of making somebody ill will go down... and that would be a good thing.

But.. .you're forgetting how well they soak up rum... or... trimmings suspended in mousse make a whole OTHER type of cake out of the original cake...

If you follow a bread recipe that gives you bread that dries out quickly and you cannot correct the problem by adding more liquid, put in a tablespoon of potato starch and it will improve the texture and slow down stalling. It works in bread almost like the addition of powdered lecitin. ← That's really interesting. When I was testing some cake/cookie/brownie recipes for Passover, I found that when I added potato starch, it made the final product much drier (even 1 T. added to a cake recipe made a huge difference).

What Apicio said. They aren't the same thing at all. What do you use Potato flour for? I do bake with starch - but only at Passover. Otherwise I use it as a thickener or for blintz wrappers.

I'm sorry if I missed this ... do you do all this wonderful work yourself? Have any employees? What sort of hours/days do you want to be open?