Lisa Shock

The challenge was poorly constructed... make people beg to use kitchens while the clock is running??? It didn't bring out a lot of real creativity, this one felt like a culinary school competition.

Cliffhanger! I will say that that Bev and Grayson got the challenge that terrifies me the most, and they both did well at it. I fear that I would be a deer in headlights with so much leeway. Now, tell me that I have to use grapefruit and jasmine rice and cauliflower, and I am so there. But, the 'do anything' challenge just stops me cold with too many possibilities. So, kudos to them both for getting something decent on the plate!

Gotta love Pee Wee! This episode (13) is the one that makes me jealous. I'm a huge Pee Wee fan, I discovered his show as an adult and just loved it. (I was making croissants for the first time and had the tv on while making turns, and his show happened to come on.)

I don't like frozen potato dishes, the texture is always weird. I'd make potato chips. (crisps)

I checked it against easy mac, and again the numbers are off. The amount of fat per calorie is almost double in the Arby's product. Chances are, this was a special blend made just for them, or, their data sheet is incorrect.

Make a showpiece? Ganache it and add a really strong flavor like peppermint oil and use it make truffles? (careful with the ratio, use less cream than you would with dark chocolate)

It may also simply have to do with them being pancakes. Unlike a cake where the whole batch gets poured into a pan and baked immediately, pancakes get doled out and cooked ladled-full by ladle-full. Sometimes the batter is held for a fairly long period of time, and baking powder just works better in these situations.

I can't name one thing, but, what I will say is that I believe that most of it is due to the corporations that helped feed the troops in WW2 and who wanted to keep sales growing following the war. So, rather that scaling back operations, they looked for ways to market processed foods to the home front and began relentless advertizing campaigns to convince housewives that real cooking was too difficult for them to manage on their own.

I feel that the block party challenge was a big waste of time. The episode is simply forgettable at best. The format of the challenge didn't inspire creativity, it was just a race to crank out whatever people could as quickly as possible. I think the chefs were hindered by having to shop at a supermarket for supplies and only having 2 hours to cook. Some of them didn't step up creatively, as pointed out by Tom when he asked probing questions about chicken salad, but, overall, I think the producers dropped the ball here. Chris maybe could have done better, I had really wanted team Moto to go far, he just seems to choke in execution.

Cox On Demand has it as well. Those of you who need a regional workaround online can use an IP masking service like silentsurf.co.uk and just type the TC:LCK url into the toolbar, http://www.bravotv.com/top-chef/season-9/last-chance-kitchen unclick the disable javascript box, and you're good to go.

Interesting showdown this week. One more episode before the big reveal. I had hoped for so much more from Chris, and somehow he never quite delivered. I had really wanted Nyesha to keep her streak going, but, it would also be very amusing to see Beverly walk back into the kitchen. I think that she was unfairly ragged on for most of the regular show, she definitely can cook.

Making a brittle is just another type of sugar work, all of the usual rules and warnings apply. I'd just use a regular brittle recipe, making simple syrup first seems like a waste of time. All that extra water also just adds time to the cookdown period, there's no point in using it if you're going to boil it out. The oil on the bottom isn't for parchment, it's from the bare sheet pan. You don't want to use parchment because it will stick or get embedded. What usually makes the binding material opaque in a brittle is air pockets caused by the addition of baking powder at the end. Most brittles need this or they'd be almost impossible to eat. For comparison, here is my brittle formula: 14 oz Sugar 6 oz Water 10 oz Corn Syrup 2lb Peanuts, blanched ¼ oz Salt 1 oz Butter 2 tsp. Vanilla Extract 1 tsp Baking Powder Oil a half sheet pan very well, keep warm in a low oven. In a 6 qt pan cook the sugar, water and CS, washing down the sides occasionally. When the mix gets to 265° add the peanuts. Cook, mixing once or twice, until the mixture is dark and the peanuts roasted, just at 318°. Remove from heat, stir in butter and vanilla. Add the baking powder and stir thoroughly and quickly. Pour into the warm pan and spread with a large palette knife. Pull with gloved hands, if necessary, to make an even layer. You can sub honey for the CS. And you can sub other raw nuts for the peanuts.

I like sage. Another way to go would be ground fennel seed.

Me too! Mine are all in a plastic bag in the freezer - along with the cloth couche, some kneading gloves the linen banneton liners, etc., to prevent "invasion" by flour-loving critters. A lot of bakeries do this, the couches never get washed unless something horrible happens.

I make different sorts of Daisies with them.

You'll do ok with volume measurement for the cream. You know the weight of the chocolate from the label, so, you're good to go.

Sorry, a cursory look through several editions of the Larouuse, Ranhofer, and a few other older books has yielded nothing.

Don't forget small salads and a selection of marinated olives. Cold options free up the stove, and, can be made in advance.

I have never tried it with nibs, but it should work. Obviously, choose a good type that you like, and crush them to break them down a bit, you want as much surface area as possible since they are dense. (unlike fruit or flower petals which are very permeable)

To make chocolate extract, get some grain alcohol. EverClear is one brand. I use the 190 proof because it's available in my state. In some states, you may only have access to the 151 proof, which I have not tested. I usually use about 8 ounces of EverClear to 2 oz of chocolate. You can experiment with types. I freeze the chocolate so that it's easier to handle, then I grate it with a fine Microplane. Mix the two together and store at room temperature, under 80 degrees for a few weeks, shaking the mix every day. It will get cloudy, I have not been able to fix this even though I have tested several types of filtration, the clouds keep coming back. But, no one cares when you just cook with it. Anyway, just strain and use. I often just keep the chocolate in the jar, since it sinks to the bottom and is presumably adding flavor. I have tested this process (as part of making chocolate liqueur which has repeatedly failed due to cloudiness) with cocoa and found that chocolate gave a much better flavor. The ones made with cocoa seemed one-dimensional and flat, the ones with chocolate were far more complex. I think the alcohol pulls some flavor compounds from the cocoa butter. I tried some very good cocoas: several Guittards, and a couple other high end samples I received at trade shows. It was just never as good as the chocolate from the same manufacturer. Anyway, I use Felchlin Grand Cru now because I like it and have access to it. The end product is a high-alcohol pure flavor that can be added to various things to give chocolate flavor or boost chocolate flavor. Be aware that if you want to taste it, you should water down your tasting sample so that you don't 'burn' your mouth. Never drink pure grain alcohol as it can kill the cells in the mouth and throat causing a great deal of damage. Hope this helps!

I make my chocolate extract from Felchlin. I add it because the cream itself doesn't add much flavor.

I like to add a small amount of chocolate extract to help boost the chocolate flavor.

Spanakopita -but, if the freezer is fixed, make soup and freeze the soup.

Definitely agree with this statement. I've taken several master level classes in gluten free baking/bakery management and having everything separate including the air system (AC, Heating, etc.), storage, employee changing rooms, restrooms, and dishwashing is critical to the prevention of cross contamination. There's a 100% gluten free bakery near me and I have spoken to the owners. They run a test which costs $30 on every single container of provisions they receive, like: sacks of rice flour, sacks of oats, sacks of sugar, tubs of baking powder, etc. Everything they buy is marked 'gluten free' but in reality, about 20% of the products arrive contaminated and must be returned. It's a constant battle for them, and they are in a major city (Phoenix) buying from major distributors.

The one issue I have encountered relates to the size of the pot and the room temperature. If your room is cold and the pot is large there can be a big temp difference between the top of the water and the water at the bottom. Heavier pots retain heat better, so they help. Stirring may also help a bit, too, but in some cases this is an insurmountable issue -no one wants to stand at a stove and stir for 36 hours straight. I'd recommend looking into one of the circulation devices people use when they make homebrew setups.