Pallee

We'll be starting off from Christchurch in a couple of weeks camping. I'm looking for info on where the best markets are to purchase food supplies?

The mushroom folks at the Portland Farmer's Market on Saturday at PSU or at Hillsdale on Sunday have truffles. I got some last week. They aren't super fragrant yet.

I agree totally with andiesenji. I bought my Magic Mill from the folks she's recommending and have no regrets. It's super great for bread, doesn't walk across the counter like the KA. I also have the meat grinder and use it a ton for sausage. The blender is also a great attachment.

Edsel waited on me several times. Always slapped down a pencil and paper in front of each person. Telling the men to write down their order in exacting detail, then telling the women to put down their name, address and telephone number. I watched him chase a man down the stairs once, yelling at him that the tip wasn't big enough. The guy coughed up another buck. I always enjoyed the walk through the kitchen to get to the stairs up to the dining rooms.

I enjoy staying in the little town of Dunsmuir, south of Mt. Shasta along I-5. I love this motel where you stay in an actual caboose - http://www.rrpark.com/welcome-caboose.html It fills up so get reservations. I've had great meals at Cafe Maddelena - http://www.cafemaddalena.com/ again, reservations a must. There's a Thai place that's good if you order from the specials - the other side of the menu is bar food, a bit schitzoid, but the specials were great. The Cornerstone cafe is open for a great breakfast. I was really surprised to find so much to like in such a little place. I usually like taking 199 over to Crescent City and going down 101, it is so beautiful, but haven't found any really great places to stay or eat.....maybe someone else knows of some.

And don't forget to rinse the lime juice off that knife! Left overnight, lime and lemon juice can put some pretty deep pits in even stainless steel.

It's looking like I may have a week in Bangalore sometime in September! I'm very excited as I've never been to India. I'll have my days free and am wondering if anyone can recommend anyone to take some cooking classes from who speaks English? I have done alot of cooking and quite a bit of Indian food, but am sure it hasn't been authentic. Also, any other must go to places to visit - markets and such? Thanks....

I seem to remember from school (about a million years ago) that one of the purposes of the raft and "clearmeat" is also to add more flavor to the consomme. We did a couple other enhancements to the flavor - using the consomme as the base for a whole nother stock, then clarifying that. Or, doing a second clarification of the consomme with fresh raft and clearmeat. And then the "infusion" where you pour the hot consomme through the herbs you wish to impart flavor with in a cheesecloth lined chinois. The gelatin trick would work fine if you have a very strong flavored stock that needs no extra flavor. I would guess that the "reclarify" refered to in the question is the second clarification of the stock in order to add more flavor.

Here's a couple I've used and like- http://www.cateringsupplies.com/ And if you have some extra cash burning a hole in your pocket - http://www.jbprince.com/

Here's the rack I use https://www.surfasonline.com/products/41330.cfm

I use a wire rack that has 3/8" squares. It's a commercial type that fits in a hotel pan. I spray it with pan spray, set it in top of the pan of boiling water and just dump the batter on it and push it through with a dough scraper. Works great and makes the right size spaetzle. I've also use a perforated hotel pan. If you have a restaurant supply store nearby, they'd have both or a site like this - https://www.surfasonline.com/index.cfm The recipe I use is Mix together dry ingredients AP Flour 3/4 c baking powder 1/4 t salt 1/4 t nutmeg 1 pinch egg 1 beat w/ milk 1/4 c Add to dry ingredients and mix well. Push through rack into salted boiling water. Scoop them out after they float for a minute. I like to then saute them in butter w/ sage, s&p, maybe garlic and top w/ parm. Really easy and can be done for a crowd with no problem.

"My father (who also keeps kosher -- oy!) is getting me the Northern Tool grinder and the Grizzly stuffer. Merguez, beef peperone, and some chicken sausages are definitely on the docket, but I'm at a bit of a loss in terms of fat. If pork is out, should I use suet? Lamb fat?" I've made a ton of chicken sausages without adding any pork fat. I just use boneless skinless thigh. One recipe for Thai chicken sausage uses coconut milk and I've used others that call for some olive oil. And some call for nothing aditional at all. When you get around to using your ducks, save the extra fat and it would add a nice flavor to chicken sausages.

Yes, they are open 7 nights a week. 120 NE Russell Street Portland, OR 97212 503.281.4464 www.torobravopdx.com eat@torobravopdx.com

While not low prep - I always have duck confit and duck fat veal demi glace chicken stock valrhona chocolate pieces (at least 2 kinds) butter all the usual baking ingredients every spice I might need onions, garlic, shallots, carrots, lemons, limes nuts: pecans, almonds, pine nuts, walnuts, cashews, peanuts olives anchovies tamarind, galangal, ginger eggs asst. cheeses masa heavy cream home made pickles, canned fruits, jams soy sauce, fish sauce, garum asst. hot sauces, ketchup, mustard coffee wine, beer, liquor and mixers 4 kinds of salt oils and vinegars rice, pasta, cous cous, beans... Basicly I could eat well for quite a long time with what I've got on hand.

If you're in the mood for paella, give Toro Bravo a try. Yum!

Good questions. I've hired many cooks over many years. Some of the best have never set foot in a school of any kind. School will give you the language and basics of the industry, but no where near all the skills. Your bank account will be better off with the community college and restaurant experience. If someone else is footing the bill, the high end CIA type education is gravy. If you feel like you need more credentials after you've been in the business, the CIA has a continuing education program at Greystone in CA that is great, fun and looks good on a resume.

I have noticed when I make a high sugar ice cream that it doesn't get as hard. I would guess that since you didn't "dilute" the custard enough with milk that the sugar content was too high to allow it to freeze hard. Just a guess.

I also made the Spiced Braised Nyonya Pork, as it had been cool and rainy and it just sounded so good. Didn't have any problem browning the meat, I just pushed the shallot paste over to the side of the pan. I can see why this would be a holiday meal, the aroma is heavenly. I made it a day in advance and let it cool in it's juices. We'd had just a ton of rice this week so I came up with what sounds like a weird side dish, but it worked really well. I made spaetzle and sauteed it with green beans in the fat from the pork. This is a really fun book to cook from!

Well, I made 5 # each peperone, tuscan salami and finocchiona with the F-LC and am now happily consuming them. I got my first mold ever, which I must admit scared me a little. I used beef middles for the salamis and large hog casings for the peperone. I think I'll use the beef for both next time, as I'd like the larger diameter for the peperone. The flavor of the peperone is more sour than the last batch, but not unpleasantly so. It may mellow with more age. I'm really happy with both the salamis, could use more black pepper in each, however. My fermentation temperature hardly varied from 62' the whole time, good time of year to hang sausage around here. I tried to measure the ph with a garden variety ph meter but it didn't work at all. Any one have a fairly inexpensive ph meter that will work on sausage to recommend?

No, you never should need any thickener at all. I don't have his book, so don't know his exact instructions, but here's what I do. I use veal bones and sometimes veal feet or "trotters" if I can get them. Brown in oven, brown the mirepoix, add some tomato product, peppercorns, thyme and parsley stems, garlic. Cover with cold water, bring to just a boil, skim the scum, and let simmer, never boil, for at least 10 hours, often I go 20. Then strain and defat. This stock gets reduced down quite a bit - check the consistency by spooning some on a plate. I pour it into a shallow pan to cool and firm up, then cut it into brownie size pieces, wrap with saran and freeze to use as needed. I usually make a second stock, covering the used bones with cold water, adding fresh roasted mirepoix, and cook for another 20 hours, repeating the straining and reducing. This "remouillage" will need more reducing as it's not as strong, but is still useful. The yield is not huge, you're probably just not reducing it down far enough.

I love chicken breasts stuffed with manchego, sage leaf and wrapped in ham. Other stuffing ideas - pesto with provalone roasted red pepper w/ roasted garlic kalamata tapenade w/feta Stuffed under the skin I like a mix of cilantro, jalepeno, garlic, lemon, butter I am in favor of brining to keep the breast super moist. Lots of great ideas in previous posts also!

So, yesterday morning I finally read this thread. Head to the bookstore and find the book. I'm looking at it and it looks really familiar. I just turned 50 in December, the brain is turning to mush, you know how it goes. Decide to go home and look around as I could almost swear someone gave me this book for my birthday. Search high and low and back again, and buried in the center of the coffee table is this book! I felt great and stupid all at the same time. The grilled coconut chicken with lemon basil looks great, I have everything on hand except candlenuts, but this is Oregon and hazelnuts are the universal substitute, so I'm good to go. OMG, it turned out sooooo goooood. I can't wait to try another recipe.......

I made my first batch of salame from pork I'd frozen in order to follow the anti trichinosis guidelines. It turned out fine. Since then I've decided that it isn't enough of a threat in dry cured products to worry about. So, I'd say, go ahead and freeze the meat if you need to. I have not made ham from frozen, so maybe someone else can chime in on that...

It also seems to me that yeast amounts would need to be less when multiplying up. I had a cook make a focaccia recipe from "Baking with Julia" and times it by 20, including the yeast, and the dough almost took over the walk in. Which is funny because so many of the recipes in the book started as commercial large batches and had to be scaled down for the book, and here he was, scaling them back up.

I think it depends on what it is and by how much you are multiplying. With punch, I wouldn't think there'd be much problem. With your dressing, I'd hold off on some of the salt and add it to taste. As well as other spices. It gets trickier in baking - you can multiply a baking recipe by 10 and maybe only need to increase the leavening by a factor of 7. If you have recipes that go by weight, especially metric, it is alot more accurate and I trust the conversion a bit more. Sorry for the wishy washy answer, but I've never found an iron clad rule on this. Always go a little light on things you can add to taste at the end, and you'll be fine. Except for garlic, vanilla and bacon.....add with a heavy hand!!!