Lisa Shock

I just mix some light vegetable oil with half as much soy lecithin granules in the blender and use that as 'grease' for pans. The lecithin is a release agent. I have some spray in the house and use it for a few thing. But, I am very aware that it contributes to the dirty film of dust that accumulates in a kitchen. In terms of cleaning, I like Bon Ami.

Twining's Earl Grey tea, loose leaf tea. No other Earl Grey, and, absolutely no tea in teabags ever. (I hate the taste of the teabag, plus the tea itself is generally of low quality.)

I just never tried it. I do use lecithin mixed with oil to grease pans.

I like Joy, but wasn't so fond of that recent overhaul. I'd look for an older, used copy.

I think that the issue is related to the fact that we call different breads brioche even though they may contain vastly different amounts of butter. -Generally anywhere from 20% - 70% butter, in baker's percentages.

Just thought I'd start this thread for discussion of Last Chance Kitchen, so that spoilers don't appear in the main TC9 thread. Bravo has viewing blocked outside of the US. Anyway, I like seeing the eliminated contestants on the sidelines. They are helping a lot and giving more insight into what the dishes taste like. I also like the fact that the competitors have no idea that this event is occurring, so they get a surprise as they 'leave' the regular show. Too bad that this is the only season where this will be the case.

Poached pears might be nice.

And, Heather also loses at Last Chance... I'm glad that Nyesha still has the jacket, I don't think we really saw her full potential.

Was it proofed?

Some good liquor at the duty-free shop.

Tempura, especially parsley.

The bread contains gluten and absorbent starch, all of which will hold it together. The squash will become mushy and fall apart in a 3 hour braise. While I make a variety of stuffings for holiday meals, this particular dish probably needs the stuffing made as written.

It's interesting that they are allowing the eliminated chefs to be seated ringside in Last Chance Kitchen. They have been very helpful to the contestants. I also think it's cool that the chefs in the show aren't aware of the existence of the Last Chance competition. Too bad this is the only season that this will be the case.

I have only added butter for butter-almond ice cream.

For dark, have you tried Trader Joe's Pound Plus bar? It's made by a famous manufacturer, and of decent quality.

For baking there are beige double-sided terry pads, kind of like two towels sewn together, that have elastic band sewn on one side. We get them at the restaurant supply store.

You said your cast iron pan was already warm. I am suspecting that your room is too cold. The dough may not be warming up enough after being refrigerated. If it's cold, it will be sluggish. Also, dough that's perfect at one time may not improve with more fermentation. After a while, yeast can run out of food. I like Ciril Hitz, I have taken many of his classes (with and without Mitch Stamm, they're always better with Mitch) and use his methods and formulas all the time now. They always work beautifully.

You may want to try contacting the company and ask what the cocoa/cocoa butter split is on that product. Generally, though, chocolate chips aren't good to use as couveture because the chocolate isn't conched as long (may be a bit gritty) and the split doesn't have as much cocoa butter as needed, so the chocolate won't have a great snap to it. It may make a grainy ganache, and be a little odd to handle because of a lower cocoa butter content. (edited to switch 'isn't' for 'is')

The ratios for making ganache change in relation to the type of chocolate used. White chocolate doesn't set up like dark does, so you need to use a lot more of it -usually double the amount of dark that you'd usually use. Like HungryC points out, you could chill it and enrobe in tempered chocolate, roll in nuts, etc. You could also use it as cake icing, just warm and pour over a bundt cake. Or, spread as a filling between two cake layers, just make sure to pipe a ring of your main icing around the edge of the first layer to act as a dam to hold it in. Pour the lightly warmed stuff into the center, chill, then apply the second layer and frost the whole cake.

You have to watch out with certain substitutions. Some cookies, for example, rely on the water in the butter to activate the gluten in the flour to make a chewy texture. With ghee, high ratio shortening or lard you need to add some water to the mixture for the recipe to work properly. This is why some bizcochito recipes call for wine or orange juice.

How about savory biscotti? There are a lot of variations and, if properly made, they store really well for months. -Perfect gift basket fare.

Those sesame candies look delicious! Sesame candy is one of my all-time favorites, I am going to have to try this...

Be aware that if you drink it while still partially frozen, the alcohol content of what comes out will be much higher than usual as water freezes out before the alcohol. Ah, the joys of a college education....

I used to use MasterCook, and liked it. Then, I got a new computer and my old versions (yes, I liked it enough to buy upgrades) don't work. I am trying to decide whether or not to buy the latest version because of some pretty bad reviews on amazon of the product and service. That said, if you have access to a Windows machine running something before Win7/Vista, Mastercook 8 might be just the thing for you. It allows you to format recipes in a lot of ways: 3/5 cards, half page, full page, etc. (it also provides nutritional info) You can then just use office supply store equipment to bind it. My favorite printing 2-up half-pages to fold like a book (look for something called a saddle stich stapler -this is the one I own, you can get bigger ones for more pages) and stapled. Buy, you could also go with spiral binding or wire binding. The nice thing here is that you control it all and can make extras as needed. The end user gets a nice physical object. You can make it upscale by using good paper.

Adding the oil while creaming doesn't do anything, it's fine to just add it with the wet mixture.