Lisa Shock

The original 1914 Alfredo recipe sauce is incredibly good and simple. The key is good Parmesean grated very fine, like a powder.

I love making fruit compote to top my pancakes. And I'll use whatever is on hand. If I don't have a suitable fruit, face it watermelon won't work well, I use honey or jam.

I use OxyClean alone in a hot wash at first. I let the washer fill and begin to agitate, then turn it off for a half hour, add Tide Free and let the machine finish. I use cheap terry towels that I got in bulk a couple years back at Ace Hardware in the paint section. (ok, since my kitchen is decorated with a Halloween theme, there are cool spiderweb towels on display, but they are rarely used)

Freezing doesn't kill all salmonella. It will slow its growth. I wouldn't keep the brine very long, no more than a few weeks, maybe. Be super careful about any cross contamination in your freezer. When used, you'll need to take care to handle it safely and not contaminate anything else with it, and make sure that anything brined in it is cooked to 165°.

I've been using a Hawaiian Shaved Ice machine for 16 years now and have been very happy. My machine is still going strong, I just replace the blade every couple of years. The model I have is an older version of THIS Model and I have been very happy with it. It uses circular blocks you freeze. The only other accessory I have purchased for it was a lot of ice molds so that I could always have ice on hand for parties. (right now, the machine is on sale!) I make my own syrups for snow cones, and find it useful for making slush style drinks.

Right around the time I took ServSafe for the first time there was a cluster of cases of e. coli where everyone (30+ people) who attended a kid's birthday party/cookout became ill and some people died. The families of the ill patients immediately went after the meat supplier with accusations. Turned out that one person had brought a whole watermelon that was cut up at the party and eaten without being washed -that was what turned out to be the source of the infections. Not only can a melon have soil on it from the farm, but, you have to think about all the people who have handled it along its journey. You just don't know loaded it on the truck or who thumped it in the store. Remember, only about 50% of men and 70% of women wash their hands after using the restroom.

You can always heat the jam to reduce it. But, that's a delicate balancing act. Too dry, and the filling will be tough and chewy like some jam thumbprint cookies. Too moist and the macaron gets soggy. Why not do a flavored white chocolate, add flavor oil to it and maybe a tiny amount of cream. (it can be difficult to make a hard white ganache) As far as I know, the cocoa butter alone doesn't cause the physical effects that the cocoa solids cause and should be caffiene free. Or, you could make your own 'meltaways' to flavor, from coconut oil perhaps...I have never made these, so I don't really have a recipe. But, I'm thinking that you could probably make something as good as the Wilton product.

This reminds me of food historians explaining why American tomato sauce is so different from Italian sauce; cooks in America started doctoring it up with tomato paste, etc. because they didn't have access to the vine-ripened tomatoes they were used to in Italy. The perfect garden tomato used to be the standard for making sauce and soups a century ago!

I would call them either a lace cookie or tuille -although there are many types of tuille.

Thanks for sharing with us! My fave is the naturalistic twig.

Let them know that you understand that you'll have to learn to do things the way that they want it done, and that you're eager to learn it. Everyone expects a knowledge of the basics (like knife skills) but every place makes their dishes a little differently and they'll expect you to make things to their standards -not your old boss' standards. The most desirable candidates are people who want to learn their business, and techniques -not know-it-alls who don't adapt to the program. You should also try to convey the fact that you're energetic, motivated, organized, and take cleaning up seriously.

I don't know how to improve the seal, but, I do know that ravioli is very different from potatoes. The gluten/starch structure in semolina flour has much more structural integrity and flexibility than the starch/fiber of potato.

I don't have the book yet, and I was wondering why you're trying to glue potatoes together when the regular recipe for the dish works pretty well if directions are followed carefully? My thought is that the seam isn't going to want to expand if it's glued really well together. After all, with a regular potato slice, the puff is caused by a lack of strength on the inside of the potato allowing air to expand within the shell of the 'toughened' outsides. It's a situation similar to what happens when you make pita bread.

Buttering the shells may have been your problem. Butter is 20% water, and the water content will tend to make the starch in the flour of the dough expand and become sticky. A good crust dough doesn't need any help, you shouldn't ever have to grease a pie pan. More sugar won't help, it can burn and will definitely increase the sticking factor since much of it will invert during the cooking process. Sucre dough is good, if that's what you want in terms of flavor. Otherwise, a regular short-dough pie crust should be just fine. You may wish to seek out a recipe that replaces some/all of the ice water with vodka, for a little more no-stick insurance. Remember that resting the dough is an important step, and, keep everything you work with cold. Good luck!

A caterer I know has people come in and work shifts if she has big events, and these part-timers work regular jobs at other places so most of their work ethic and habits come from their regular jobs. One guy never washes any food unless you stand over him and tell him to do it, item by item. His regular job is at a big, popular Italian place in town and he preps veg and cooks the line there. So, it's apparently SOP at the Italian place to cook up unwashed potatoes, unwashed mushrooms, etc. I won't set foot in the place.

I second the wok, it uses less oil and is a more efficient shape for the task since the food spends so little time at the bottom of the oil. Are you using a thermometer? Some of your issues may be temperature related.

As far as I know, in most cases it's just a mixture of citric acid and sugar that is a coating on the outside of the candy. My local healthy grocery store chain, Sprouts, sells the citric acid in bulk. It seems like it would be pretty easy to make pate de fruits and use the acid/sugar mix as the outer coating.

Poppyseed is a good option, that and the fruit juice based boiled salad dressings. My 1951 Joy of Cooking has three recipes that are all decent and give guidance on using your choice of all juice or adding a little or a lot of cream. -These are like some coleslaw dressings, similar to Marie's, but, obviously better tasting. Another option would be a fruit coulis of a contrasting flavor.

Sorry, I was thinking about an old Penn & Teller show about toilet seats... But, um, well, I really started keeping things cleaner when I saw a study showing that about 25% of men don't wash after using the restroom. Those people are out in public places touching things. A study of my local mall in 1997 showed a significant amount of fecal matter on the escalator handrails. So, I'm pretty skeptical about anything a stranger may have touched in the supermarket. Yes, anything grown in soil will have a variety of things growing on it. But, I try to minimize my risks by keeping things clean and properly handling food. The last thing I want to do is to be culturing pathogens in my sink by leaving it dirty.

I'd like to point out that salmonella is just one foodborne pathogen that may enter your kitchen. There are lots of others out there, including e. coli -which is probably the most universally problematic since virtually everyone has the bacteria in their bodies and on their skin. (usually lots of e. coli right around the outside of the nose, so someone rubbing their face then touching food can contaminate it) I like to wash my hands before I enter the kitchen to try and lessen the volume of pathogens entering the room. I wash some things as I bring them home, like melons, and don't wash other things, like pre-bagged carrots or potatoes. Since I'm a vegetarian, I don't worry so much about the actual foods I bring into the kitchen, I worry more about who touched them at the store (sick people, people who didn't wash after a restroom visit, etc.) and if they went down a checkout conveyor belt that might have had leaky meat packaging on it.

My mom taught me to wash my sink out every night with a sanitizing mix of bleach and water. That, plus washing after each use makes it pretty clean at any given time. It doesn't take long, and, I usually wipe down counters and doors and the floor at the same time. Takes about 10 minutes, tops. But, I tend to follow modern sanitation practices and rarely wash my hands in the kitchen sink, either. I wash in the restroom before starting cooking and only use the kitchen sink for handwashing during cooking. (When I remodel, I'm putting in a handwashing sink.) I have a hands-free soap dispenser for both hand soap and dish soap next to the sink. I sanitize my sponges by running them through the dishwasher, and, replace them frequently. I also use side-towels for a lot of tasks and just toss those into the laundry when I am done with the specific task, same day. My last step in cooking anything is wiping down the sink, so it does get cleaned a couple times a day, minimum.

I really like Darjeeling iced.

Wholesale prices are up 30% in the past month, are you asserting that federal taxes have risen that much in the past month?

It's being caused by speculators in newly opened food commodities markets, and their derivatives, not government taxes. At least in the US, federal taxation on foodstuffs has not risen in the past year. And, I am fairly certain that no state has imposed new 50%+ taxes on food in the past year. China is hoarding certain commodities, and others are in slightly lower supply due to poor weather last year. But, market speculation is driving it. With most of the supply controlled by a few companies, we have little choice but to accept what is offered us.

First of all, burgers are different from steaks or chops. Each cut has its own challenges. That article you refer to mentions the collagen in a burger, but that sort of collagen isn't present in every cut of beef. And, those guidelines certainly don't just transfer over to every cut of pork. There's a lot more going on than just protein. If it were as simple as you are asking (I am reading you as saying chicken should equal pork, why doesn't it taste the same?) then most people would be happy with tofu or wheat gluten, which are also proteins. It's about the other flavor components, and, about your culturally conditioned palate. I have seen rare chicken served to great admiration in Japan.