Lisa Shock

If your main concern is color, I'd consider white chocolate.

I am not a fan of the fountain: double dipping happens, finger-dipping happens, you need to add a ton of oil (lowers chocolate quality) to make it work, messy, and, it can create a spot that interferes with the flow of traffic in the room. Having a person making hand-dipped fruits and candies would be a good demo. I am not sure about involving people in making anything, there are sanitation issues requiring glove use and, issues about inexperienced people making messes -of the station, of their own clothes and other people's clothes.

I used to live in Santa Fe, and, for many of us, one of the defining regional foods was the green chile Frito pie (your choice, vegetarian or pork) served at Woolworth's on the Plaza -from a little window directly on the sidewalk, you didn't have to go into the store. But, there were other notable concessionaires in town as well: the fruit juice lady, and the carnitas man -to name a few. As a kid on the US East coast, I had some great food made by various church groups, school boosters, and clubs, all served at estate sales and auction houses. I can recall having the most amazing crabcakes I ever ate someplace in Delaware. And, slippery pot-pie in Pennsylvania. There were, of course, a lot of ordinary meals served as well. And, oddball things like potato candy.

I also keep a separate pot of hot stock nearby and adjust consistency at the time of serving -particularly for barley soups. If any leftover soup is refrigerated, it invariably becomes a thick solid that needs thinning during re-heating. But, once again, I focus my energies at serving time.

They're junkies, best to simply pity them, they aren't really in control of their behavior.

Starch molded? Yep! It just occurred to me that those are very liquid centers and would be fairly difficult for a diner to figure out how it was done -not something people do at home every day.

Or, you could make the centers for the bonbons that are usually the mini liqueur bottles (in a different shape) and try placing them inside the mousse, either in a chocolate shell or not.

Something made with alcohol should do the trick. Some sort of coulis with a high-proof liqueur or flavorful spirit (rum, whiskey, akvavit, etc.) should do the trick.

And, a winner emerges! Congrats to Chris! If anyone is wondering how he won, since the show's editing made it clear the decision was very, very close, degustation always represents the greatest number of points available in a pastry competition.

They are starting with 29. Looks like I found my answer and spoilers for the first two episodes: MySA Top Chef Blog.

Is there a bar code on the back label?

I am interested to see how they handle eliminations with so many contestants. I hope they don't just dismiss half the people in the first episode.

Can't help with the rings, but, when I do sunny-side ups on my cast iron griddle, I place a small metal bowl over each egg (it acts like a domed lid) for a minute. That usually captures enough heat to cook the top of the egg.

Thanks! They've done a great job of presenting the event online, you can see a lot of detail.

I agree about Orlando's carnival dessert. He kept saying candy apple, and, to me, candy apple means a cinnamon sugar shell on a fresh apple. Caramel apples might have chocolate, but, they should also be primarily fresh apple with caramel. I understand that they were supposed to interpret the food into being a higher-end dessert, but, really, whatever got made should have just sung out with fresh apple flavor. -And some pulled cinnamon sugar would also have been nice.

Season 1 contestants didn't have access to recipes, second season was allowed to bring recipes, I think this has helped the quality of everything immensely.

Yeah, it alters the position of your shoulders affecting your cutting arm position.

By moving the arm out at an awkward angle like that, you decrease accuracy and add stress which will mean the arm fatigues faster. Using the dead spider position for the thumb in question (and all the fingers on the pushing hand) is a more ergonomic solution. -I just took a knife skills workshop focusing on how posture affects performance. Elbows out mean that you're uncomfortable, at a bad angle and more likely to make mistakes.

I just had solar panels installed by Solar City -part of their leasing program. I am not only covering my own usage, but sending excess generated kWh back out to the grid. I paid, they send me a check each year for those excess kWh's. All the lightbulbs in my house except the oven light are LEDs. (can't put an LED in an oven) If every light in my whole house were turned on at once I'd use 162 watts. The other plus is that LEDs are fairly cool, they don't waste energy as heat, so, they don't heat up the house and I don't waste energy running the AC to cool down a room because of lightbulbs. Here in AZ, air conditioning is the main thing we use power for, followed by heating water. I plan on getting a solar hot water unit within the next year. I got my house about a year ago and got all new, energy efficient appliances. I do try to use things wisely. I often cook extra little things, like roasted garlic, with the residual heat in the oven after I have made something else. I pack my fridge and freezer efficiently. I only run the dishwasher when it's full. No big tricks, just little efficiencies.

That's an old urban myth, check out the entry at SNOPES. They are polymer clay and mohair sculptures by a professional artist. I'm surprised you hadn't seen this before, this was one of those viral emails everyone was passing along in 2004.

You said bake, so, I am assuming you really mean baking. (otherwise, I'd suggest a fruit mousse or something with pastrycream or lemoncurd) What about something like a tarte tatin, maybe with pears instead of apples? If you layer the fruit carefully, they can be very beautiful and made very simply in a cast iron skillet.

Isomalt isn't as hygroscopic as sugar, so it doesn't want to stay in solution. Reference LINK There are, syrups you can buy Syrup Description I think that the Isomalt used for them is formulated differently. Since Isomalt is made up of two components, tweaking the ratio can affect the performance. Looks like your product may only make a lovely syrup if kept warm.

Sounds like you killed the yeast with too much heat in the oven or through some other incident with the starter. Or, your rising area is super-cold. It's really hard to overknead dough by hand to the point where a long relax won't mend the situation. I really think there's a problem with the yeast.

I have to agree here. The only things I can think of are that somehow you had a really humid environment that affected it or, that there's something other than yeast activity going on. Some bacterial infestations like 'rope' make sticky doughs. Problem is, I haven't witnessed anything like this firsthand, so, I feel awkward giving advice.

You can always cook with the vermouth if it seems like the bottle might be hanging around too long. The dry ones are especially suited for making pan sauces. Sweet vermouth doesn't last long here, it gets used in drinks like the Martinez. Occasionally, you'll find really good liqueurs in limited release in miniatures. I have gotten some good things like imported absinthe that way. They don't have the best per ounce/liter price, but, if you aren't certain you'll like something it's a small commitment.