Lisa Shock

I just saw an episode of America's Test Kitchen where they explored French Toast. Turns out that it's better to dry the bread out in the oven for about 15 minutes than to use stale bread -the starch will absorb more and have a better texture. They liked Challah, used it for the demo, and mentioned several mass-market breads that tested as best to use.

Thanks for the link, it looks useful for the future. -It's a lot easier to carry around a bowl and whisk than my mixer! Yes, what I got was essentially a gin & tonic sorbet, we ate it with spoons. To drink, you had to wait a while. But, as a frozen confection, it was really lovely texture-wise.

I would visit Thomas Haas, he makes everything from scratch, including his soft drinks. I have taken classes from him, and he's great teacher in addition to being a very talented chef. His philosophy is that maybe only 2 people out of 20 can tell the difference between good chocolate and great chocolate -and he wants to cater to those two people. You can see more on his Facebook Page.

I'll have photos up in a couple of days. I was only able to do gin and tonics, the crowd didn't want to wait for a series of frozen drinks. I tried working in a red plastic cup, but, the fog was too dense, and we couldn't really tell what was happening. I did LN2, then gin, then tonic. The finished drink had just a little ice floating on top. So, I moved to the mixer. First, I made frozen gin. As this happened, everyone noted a very strong odor of gin and we believe that the nitrogen carried some alcohol off with it as people started to feel a little light-headed a couple of minutes later. (yes, we had good ventilation) It coated the sides of the mixer pretty solidly, looked like snow slush and had a sorbet like texture -judging by stirring it around, it was too cold to taste safely. Spoonfuls of it floated on top of tonic water in attractive manner, but that drink was unsatisfying because at first it was all tonic and became too strong as it was drunk. As the gin melted, there was an interesting phase when it was white and looked and acted a lot like royal icing. I cleaned the mixer, then poured measured amounts of gin and tonic into the bowl and mixed with LN2 until a sorbet-like texture was achieved. The fog as it mixed had a slightly different appearance, which we suspect had to do with the carbon dioxide from the carbonated tonic being released along with the nitrogen gas. The final product read -35.4° F, was white in color and easy to scoop, a bit like when sorbet first comes out of an ice cream machine. There was no trace of carbonation. The texture was amazingly smooth. There was definitely less flavor due to the cold, but the texture was very velvety and people were able to eat it like ice cream. Overall, the final product was successful and people really liked the texture. I'll be able to do this again in a month, I think I will try a frozen version of punch. (edited for spelling)

I'm doing a demo with liquid nitrogen tonight, and have been asked at the last minute to make some basic cocktails to be served frozen. I could really use everyone's help here to make it a success! I have read The Liquid Nitrogen Primer in Cooking Issues. I have 16 years of experience handling liquid nitrogen. I have safety equipment and a PhD level chemist who works in a cryogenic lab as an assistant. I just need a few tips on drink making with it, which I have never done. I have been specifically asked to make frozen drinks. I won't have a full bar, just the alcohol I bring, so it will be a very limited menu. I am thinking of a doing Manhattans, Brambles, and gin & tonics. My question is, are drinks (as illustrated in the Primer) just frozen in the glass? Or, are they frozen in a bowl, then scooped into the glass? I need a basic procedural. Would it be: make pitcher of Manhattans, pour LN2 into bowl, stir, scoop into glasses? Or: make pitcher of Manhattans, pour LN2 into glass, pour Manhattan into glass, stir? And, has anyone here frozen a carbonated beverage with LN2? I've been working on variations of a frozen G&T for years, but not with LN2. At my house, when I make shave-ice and pour tonic over it, the tonic foams up rapidly and voluminously. (less so if the ice being shaven is itself made from tonic water) How much can I expect in terms of expansion with LN2 - should I make one drink in a 5 quart bowl? And, if so, what's the best type of bowl to use?

They also probably pack it with a gas instead of plain air, too. This way, there's no oxygen to cause oxidation.

I have some of the cheap plastic Japanese 2-part sphere molds and have only had limited success with them. The ones I have are the type that you fill one side an then quickly place the top on it, hopefully forcing water from a ledge inside up into the top of the sphere. They are messy to use, and I often only get one somewhat complete sphere out of a mold that's supposed to make 4. If my budget would allow, I'd love to have one of the heat-press type, like THIS.

I stopped roasting in olive oil after reading THIS article by Harold McGee. I get better results with canola oil. Ran a bunch of tests for a restaurant that I did some consulting for, olive oil wasn't the best fat for roasting potatoes. (we had to stick with vegetable oils for this application) In the blind taste tests I ran, olive oil was consistently rated worst in flavor and texture of the potato. I will say that choice of fats makes a huge difference in baking. Butter tends to make cakes dry, whereas oil in cakes gives a moist result. This is the secret to great pancakes; use a light oil (canola, vegetable, soybean) and extra egg to make moist pancakes. But, this whole topic is about the basics of cooking anything: know your ingredient. Know as much as you can about all aspects of it. And, know as much as you can about every ingredient you add to it -as well as how that additional ingredient will interact with your original ingredient. With the addition of each item, you have to ask yourself if you fully know what you are doing, and, if what you are doing is the best possible course of action to maximize the potential of the original item. You also need to be able to accurately quantify your actions through the use of scales, thermometers, timers, refractometers, etc. IMO, this is the essence of modern technique.

Panna cotta can work well and is faster than pots de creme/creme brulee, and, if made with milk, cheaper. If you have access to some small, sturdy glasses you can pour into those, chill, and be ready to serve -with maybe a couple of berries as a garnish. One of my favorite flavors is orange/vanilla made by simply infusing vanilla bean and orange peels as I heat the milk/cream mixture.

Egg whites bind many baked goods. That said, pureed flax seeds act as binder and egg replacer in some applications.

I have taken master level classes in baking gluten free. People with celiac disease are in danger when exposed to the components of gluten (the two amino acids are sometimes found separate from each other in surprisingly non-grain related foods) in even microscopic amounts. When making foods for celiac sufferers it is vital to have an entirely separate environs to store the ingredients, prepare the foods, and wash the dishes. Most ordinary bakeries, for example cannot really prepare safe foods 'once in a while' or 'one day a week' because the air, air ducts, pans, ovens, sinks, commodity containers, etc. are all contaminated with gluten residue from other baking. There are a lot of websites with incorrect statements posted in a factual tone. Like all medical information online, one needs to look critically at the source. There are two reasons why it's 'big' right now. One is that it's a fad with all sorts of followers from movie stars to the pseudo-medical fringe healing crowd. It's the diet of the moment. The other reason it's big is because it has been discovered to be more prevalent than previously known. 2002 Study HERE. It used to be thought that about 1 in about 6,000 people had the disease. Now, we know the number to be closer to 1 in 133 people. There are blood tests that accurately diagnose the condition, and the good news is that kids are being diagnosed earlier, so they stand a chance at a better life than people living in the past who endured the slow destruction of their intestines without treatment.

HERE is my Green Goddess recipe (vegetarian).

Green Goddess was the most popular salad dressing for a while, it was supplanted by creamy Italian in the 70's. Ranch had been around as the dry mix since the 1950's, but didn't really start to conquer the world until Hidden Valley, a Chlorox subsidiary, developed a shelf-stable ready-made bottled version in the early 80's. What also contributed to its rise was, ironically, the proliferation of low-fat foods. Mayonnaise became a bad word in the 80's and 90's so a lot of places selling processed foods subbed Ranch for mayo to seem healthier. (which is ironic because Ranch is made with mayo)

I agree with the stale bread as a beginning. I usually use a challah loaf that is stale enough to have visibly shrunk. With stale bread, the custard gets absorbed well and you won't have an eggy mass on the outside of the bread. I fry in beurre noisette.

A lot of places do this to balance out the steaks, which don't have much margin at all.

What drives me nuts about people eating pizza with ranch dressing is that every time I have witnessed it, the people doing it have picked up a slice and immediately dunked the pointed end of the slice (the center of the pizza) into the ranch dressing without actually tasting the pizza first.

What about homemade ice cream for dessert?

I was never fond of ranch dressing, I find it bland and boring. I always preferred creamy Italian or blue cheese if selecting a creamy dressing. Overall, though, I tend to be a classic vinaigrette person for salads. The butter idea sounds good, though.

Yes, just put it in a container and freeze. I own a FoodSaver vacuum sealer, but do not use it for rice because it tends to crush it. And, if you don't seal at full vacuum, you have the same freezer burn issues as not sealing it and are, IMO, wasting a bag when a reusable storage container would work as well. Also, if you look for square/rectangular shaped containers, you can pack the freezer pretty efficiently.

Well, if you make it yourself you can control the salt levels. Also, at my house we eat a lot of different rices, so, my frozen rice selection includes red cargo rice (my favorite brown rice), brown super-short grain sushi type rice, white imperial-grade sushi rice, white jasmine, brown jasmine, and black short grain rice. TJ's doesn't have all of these types. Also, I toss in a hunk of kombu, or occasionally a lump of ginger root, when I make the sushi rice types for added flavor.

I am currently paying $9 for 20 pound bags of Jasmine rice at the Asian market. I can get a 4pack of BPA-free plastic storage containers in a 12 oz size at the supermarket for about $2.60. Cost of water and salt are negligible. So, my cost is less than a dollar for one of those 12oz (by volume) containers, and I can reuse the container for a few years. Making extra rice when I am already going to make rice anyway takes a few seconds of extra effort in terms of scooping and waiting for a measuring cup to fill with water, and, maybe, washing a larger sized pot.

True, but, you could make the frozen rice yourself much more cheaply, even including the price of storage containers. If you just make 6x too much rice once every month or so, pack it and freeze it, you're set. You could also make double the amount of rice one night for, say, Indian food and refrigerate the excess and use it the next day or day after for fried rice.

Me too. Agreed. And, ranch dressing should never, ever be near a pizza. (I don't eat the stuff at all, but dipping pizza into it is a horrific abomination.) Years ago, I worked in a restaurant that served pizza and other things. We also had french fries. Some people would order pizza and fries. I never understood this. I mean, the fries were good, we cut potatoes fresh every morning and fried them twice in peanut oil. But, for me, pizza and a small salad is enough.

What about using the eggs for desserts? You could make a yolk-rich cake with italian buttercream frosting and a pastry cream filling. (you can also freeze plain, unfrosted cake very easily) And there's always pavlovas or sabayon or pots de creme. Then tempura the mushrooms along with some other veggies. (the batter uses an egg white) And make soft boiled egg tempura.

Agreed, rice freezes remarkably well. I always make extras when I make brown rice and freeze it in several sizes of containers for various applications.