CurlySue

Raw fish. You can call it Sushi, I call it not cooked yet. Couldn't pay me enough to eat it. I love seafood, but won't touch oysters. Slime in a shell. No thanks. I detest raw onions and will go out of my way to pick them out of anything they come in, even if that means spending a half hour picking them out of the tuna salad. Watching Fear Factor has made me realize that I have a very weak stomach. I can't imagine even smelling most of the things the people on that show eat. Disgusting.

It sure will. In fact, there is really a rather narrow window between dark and yummy and dark and nasty. I'd go to about 350-360F. ← Thanks Patrick. I don't work with boiled sugar much and had no idea. I'll try again in a few weeks.

Sorry to go so far backwards on everyone but I just got this book recently. I made the chocolate caramels over the weekend and they're horrible! So bitter I threw them away. The only thing I can think of is that I overcooked the sugar. I have no idea what color "dark mahogany" is. I wish he'd given a temperature instead. Would overcooking the sugar make it bitter?

The food pretty much determined how we planned our wedding. I have been to so many weddings with cold banquet food that I was determined not to do this to my guests. We finally decided that the best way around it was to have a small formal wedding with family only. We had the ceremony and "dinner" on a Friday night and were served in the library of a very nice local lodge/hotel. The food was fabulous and our guests were allowed to choose from the standard dinner menu from the restaurant because we only had 25 people. The hotel restaurant was known for it's fine food. It was exactly the way I had pictured it. Wine and booze flowed freely and everyone had a great meal and a relaxing evening. Our outdoor reception followed the next day where everyone was treated to traditional picnic type food (chicken and corn and beans and sandwiches) and kegs of beer and the most beautiful May day we could have hoped for. I, of course, made the cakes for both evenings. I wouldn't change a thing.

Funny you should mention that! :D That's on my agenda for tonight as a matter of fact! Tomorrow will be the chocolate caramels from that book that I can't remember the name of.

Thanks everyone. Maybe I got confused through all my reading over the past weeks and bought Thyme instead of Tarragon. Stupid "T" herbs. Live and learn. I'll remember that for next time. The Old Bay idea is interesting. For some reason I thought that was for fish only. I've done the corn starch thing in the past with pretty good success but I wanted to try this gravy "pure" this time. We did like it, but I will probably try thickening it with the butter/flour option next time just for comparison sake. Holy crap. Thanks for pointing me to the lessons. Somehow I've missed that whole section in my reading. Geez, now I'm going to have to spend the whole weekend on my computer! I've started in on the stock lesson and realize I'm probably going to get a lot of experience roasting chicken if I want to have enough bones for stock! Maybe I'll just boil the whole chicken as it states in the lesson... oh my. So much to do. I'll have to quit my job to make time for reading and cooking at this point!

Hello everyone, New here and decided it was time to make my first post. I've been reading for weeks and must admit I'm in awe at the knowledge here. I'm a baker at heart, non-professional home baker of wedding cakes and the sort, but have taken a sudden interest in the rest of the cooking world in addition to developing a serious obsession with chocolate. I roasted my first chicken last night. 35 years old and never roasted a whole chicken before. Hell, never roasted much of anything other than marshmallows. I read as much as I could on the subject of roasting a chicken and settled on starting simple. I stuffed the little guy with a lemon and some fresh thyme, then liberally seasoned and buttered under and over his skin (something I never would have done without reading it here first). I cooked him at 425 for about 20 minutes and opened the over door to find him very nicely tanned. I was on my way. I lowered the oven temp to 375 and cooked him about another hour and 15 minutes, basting occasionally with a stock/butter/lemon mix. I put him on the counter to rest and proceeded to deglaze the pan (my God, did I just say that?) with some white wine then added some stock and moved it to a saucepan to simmer a while. Admittedly I didn't really know what to do with this concoction, but it was good drizzled over the chicken after it was carved. All in all I'd say it was pretty damn good, my husband agreed. Now the questions. What more, if anything, should I have done with that "gravy"? Should it have been thickened? I actually saved the carcass (again, something I would have formerly pitched in the trash) to make stock in the future. The little guy's bones are in my freezer in a ziplock. Do I just boil him in water with some onions and seasoning? Obviously the stock could then be used for soup or risotto or something, right? The thyme, although good, didn't seem "right" with the lemon. Any other suggestions for a more compatible seasoning? I plan on making chicken and noodles with the leftover chicken and "gravy" from last night. Have to figure out how to turn that gravy into something acceptable for chicken and noodles. Also have to find a source of fresh pasta rather than Mueller's boxed. Thanks again for the wealth of information you all share here. I look forward to learning to cook! Better late than never!