fooey

re: Bittman http://chowhound.chow.com/topics/309785 hello, I think the pre-peeled stuff might be o.k. when you have a dish that requires a lot, AND good fresh garlic is impossible to find because of your geographic/seasonal predicament. Right now great garlic is at its peak. I cringed when a prominent food writer (M.Bittman) praised the pre-peeled stuff for some gobs-of-garlic preparations, but I realized he was writing mid-winter for a audience that doesn't always have access to serious produce markets. Homemakers who need to work fulltime elsewhere get into a time crunch, and I can see the pre-peeled stuff being a helping hand. I tested my prejudices by trying out some of the peeled stuff--it lacked pizzazz, but I'm not cooking for a big family either. In the end a cook's gotta trust his/her own gut/palate/pocketbook. I suppose, considering this, it has its place.

I think they absolutely do. One thing I noticed is that the pre-peeled are not at all sticky. They're lacking whatever fresh garlic has (essential oils?) that make garlic so potent, the sticky substance that, before you wash it off, makes you want to eat your fingers it smells so good. You'll find the same thing missing with pre-peeled shallots (complete waste of money, IMO). When cooking Chinese, I always have to be careful not to let the garlic stick to the wok. With the pre-peeled stuff, it doesn't stick at all. Non-stick garlic might have some appeal, but not when the flavour is compromised.

Tangent, but... If you need a recipe to use up your garlic, try Silver Bill's Garbanero Tongue-Twister Hot Sauce:

I could eat garlic for breakfast, so I had to try it, I did a taste test: One clove from the pre-peeled jar, 1 clove fresh, both the same temperature, popped into my mouth, chomp, chomp. Results: I found the pre-peeled stuff to be significantly inferior to fresh. The fresh was so much more potent that it settled this issue for me for good. I didn't waste the jar of pre-peeled, but I did double whatever the recipe called for when using it. That worked, but it's not the same. I finished off the jar by baking loaves of Dan Lepard's garlic bread.

I almost wonder if it's half almond custard or pastry creme and half frangipani. The texture is smooth AND gritty (not all smooth like creme, not all gritty like frangipani). It reminds me of when you mix in "the crunchies" that come with the yogurt and it's both crunchy and creamy at once. I don't live in Seattle anymore, but I sent them an email this morning. If they respond, I'll ask if I can post it here. It's really an exceptional tarte: pear, almond and chocolate grace notes. It just works really well, flavour and texture both. Pierre Hermé also has a version that sounds interesting. No chocolate, but that filling could have a secret or two in it, especially the creme fraiche. I'll make that one too.

For the first twenty years of my life, I dipped the fish in milk/egg/beer batter and dredged in flour seasoned with salt and white pepper. Then someone (I think it was Thomas Keller) said, no!, try it in reverse: Dredge fish in flour seasoned with salt and white pepper first, and then dip it in milk/egg/beer batter and fry. What a difference that made! I don't do this commercially, so my technique might be too much work, but I assemble the batter fresh for each batch as: - While oil is heating to 375 F - Immersion blend to a froth: 1 cup milk, 1 cup strong Belgian ale (can be flat, as its the flavour you want, not the carbonation), 4 eggs -Dredge fish into flour seasoned heavily with salt and white pepper -Dip into batter -Fry in hot oil -Remove and salt immediately -(optional) throw handful of finely chopped onions, shallots, scallions over fish -serve

For Cajun food, they're ambrosia. We never eat them raw, however, as they're rather awful tasting. No green bell pepper would be like cutting one leg off of a three legged stool. Try something simple with one, like rice and gravy: 1 large round steak cut into 2" pieces. 1 large onion, diced 1 large green bell pepper, diced 3 stalks celery, diced 3 cloves garlic, diced salt black pepper cayenne pepper (to taste) dried thyme, oregano (optional) Sautée vegetables (not garlic) in half butter, half olive oil until onions are caramelized, add garlic, steak, and enough water to cover to 1", cover pot, braise until meat is tender, adding water as needing so it doesn't dry out. Serve steak and gravy over rice, garnish parsley. Simple, but make it without the bell pepper and it's completely boring.

Don't worry about the Cake Bible being intimidating. It's big and comprehensive, and the author explains things so well that it's hard to go wrong. She also provides both cups and grams. For me: A. Grams/Milliliters + digital scale = "Almost perfect" cakes every time B. Cups/Ounces + measuring cups (no digital scale) = "I hope you have really, really good luck and great technique, because you'll need it" cakes

Could be, but it seems more like an almond custard. I'm sure I can find an almond custard somewhere, so I'll try both.

Le Panier in Seattle's Pike's Place Market is one of my favorite bakeries. They offer a tarte called Tarte Belle-Hélène. It sounds similar to this tarte. Le Panier's version is an open-faced tarte, however, and almond creme is used, not chocolate creme (at least that's my best guess). Pieces of chopped, dark chocolate are added along with the pears (I think). What might this almond creme be, exactly? Recipe suggestions? Anyone have a version similar to this? Also, one thing I noticed about their tarte pastry is that it's layered. It's not the usual shortcrust pastry. If you look closely, it almost looks laminated. Is this just unique to Le Panier. Is there a type of tarte pastry I'm not familiar with that's laminated (it's not puff)? What's it called? How is it made? Folded and rolled out? Recipe?

Frank Bruni interviewed a series of chefs on his NYTimes blog. He would ask likes, dislikes, etc. The one ingredient that was listed as a dislike by several different chefs was green bell pepper. "Bell Pepper, I'd say! What nonsense is that? Eliminate the green bell pepper and you're left with maybe 1 of every 10 Cajun dishes, all desserts!"

The Reuben is one of those obscene sandwiches that needs no introduction. I could eat them morning, noon, and night. I made this one recently from Chubby Hubby. Photo credit. ChubbyHubby.net

I found The Food of France at Costco. It's cheap and comprehensive and has a ton of bistro food. I second The Way To Cook by Julia Child, especially since you say you're looking for a technique heavy book. I used to go to Anne Willan's La Varenne Pratique for reference, but not since buying The Way To Cook. The Complete Robuchon, while not technique heavy, is an astounding reference. The book's foreword is worth the price of the entire book.

Her techniques work IF you can get very fresh, high quality (read: expensive) ingredients. I can't count the times I've made bland, uninteresting food from a Waters' recipe. For me, cooking from her books is always an expensive, risky proposition that only sometimes produces worthwhile results.

I almost forgot about harissa. It's certainly unappreciated. I like to add it to cous cous, but alone would be great too. Some of them are really hot.

I don't suppose you can tell us what school has such a discretionary budget?

Recipes for the Gastrovac here.

It's not any one thing, but... I finally had enough of not being able to cook this or that because I didn't have this pan or that gadget, etc., so I just bought everything on my list, including the commercial mixer. Online restaurant supply stores saved me a lot of money. Had I bought everything from Sur La Table, etc., I would be bankrupt. If only one thing, it would be my new burr coffee grinder. I use it to grind malt and pepper and spices too, but mostly coffee. It takes 15 seconds to do its thing and leaves no coffee grounds on the counter. I did make one mistake. The 8 sheet pans and sheet pan covers are commercial sized, so they don't fit in my oven (and can't be returned cheaply!). Doh!

This is Michel Roux's, the one you're following: 500 g flour 500 g butter, cold 1 tsp salt 1.25 cups water (300 mL) This is the one I've always used: 500 g flour 400 g butter, cold 2 tsp salt 2 tsp lemon juice (10 mL) 1 cup water (250 mL) My dough is tacky, but not sticky. If I were to follow Roux's quantities and add an extra 50ml of water, it would be a wet and sticky mess.

Was there another flour you missed, maybe another 500 g of pastry flour? Why's the water in cups and the flour in grams. It's usually g (flour) : ml (water). It could be a misprint. Have you checked the publishers site for corrections?

Surely, not! Ahem!

I don't believe the Bosch could handle 15 lbs of dough. If it can, how long or how many times before it gives up the ghost. I think a lot of people overestimate how much dough these prosumer machines can comfortably mix (and still have a long operational life). After breaking three, that includes me! The one I just bought is the equiv. of a 20 qt. Hobart and, like the Hobart, has surprisingly low capacity guidelines

Have these all been the KitchenAid variety, or have you already trashed a Bosch or an Electrolux model as well? ← I didn't like the Electrolux at all. Using it felt like going to the gym and staring at one of those weird machines and trying to figure out how it's supposed to work. Then you go back next week and realize you've forgotten how to use it. I just plain didn't like it. I haven't tried the Bosch, but after breaking a Professional 6 and Commercial 5 Kitchenaid and a Viking, I said "That's it, I need something serious." For most doughs, I mix to dough ball, rest 20-25 min, salt, finish mix, so the dough is really strong by the time I need to mixer to do its work. If I didn't rest the dough, the usual prosumer machines would work fine.

I will never again roll the 100 meatballs in flour* WHEN those meatballs are to be added to a chicken soup (Italian Wedding Soup), or any soup that's not supposed to be as thick as oatmeal. However, if I ever want to make a really, REALLY thick soup, floured meatballs will get me there with haste. *They were sticky!

This sounds like a challenge for Harold McGee at http://www.curiouscook.com.