Lisa Shock

Last night Bobby Flay gave some really poor advice while judging a contestant. In noting that Jeffrey only used about 1/3 of the money allotted for his meal, Bobby said that what he personally would have done was buy about 5 lobsters and use their broth to run fragrance everything, like his risotto. But, not actually serve them. We've seen this on the original Iron Chef, Battle Asparagus -the judges kept complaining that they wanted to eat the lobster. In short, this method does not respect the ingredients and won't get high marks from judges who know what they are doing.

There IS whole wheat pastry flour, which should help the texture. I'd use that or King Arthur's White Whole Wheat, and a regular brownie recipe from, say the Brownie CookOff Thread. Since you are already adding butter, the oil seems unnecessary. If it needs more fat, I'd up the butter or chocolate parts. I agree that the coffee is adding water, which is an ingredient not usually found in brownie recipes, and which will negatively affect the texture. Cake has water content, not brownies. I am also, personally, of the opinion that one shouldn't be masking the flavor of good chocolate. Are there faults with your chocolate that you feel need to be corrected with instant coffee of all things? If so, I'd use a different chocolate, or more of it. If what you want is a coffee flavored cake with a cocoa butter structure, then we can get you a recipe for that -one that uses better coffee that instant granules.

I use this little plastic egg timer gizmo, and my eggs are always done just right with no green on the yolks. You can find it with the name Burton (just saw it at Sur La Table), LUX, and Norpro. I have had mine for years, and love it. As for filling, I always liked making variations on the Brandied Stuffed Eggs from La Cuisine de France by Mapie, the Countess de Toulouse-Lautrec -page 123. Essentially, she used vinaigrette, brandy and a tiny dab of prepared french mustard to moisten the yolk then added capers, minced olives, tuna (which I omit), and allspice. -And served the eggs on a vinaigrette dressed salad of fresh tomatoes and green beans. It's a fairly unique and fancy appetizer with or without the salad.

I have owned one of the plastic egg devices for years, mine is marked Norpro brand, but it's the same thing. It works wonderfully well every time. I even took mine to culinary school and my instructor ran it through a barrage of tests when we were studying eggs. It worked every time. He liked it so much, I gave him one. Some amazon reviews talk about a bad smell, I have never experienced that, nor have I had one fall apart.

I just found an article in the Baltimore Sun about the various ways people use Old Bay. I like the Macaroni & Cheese suggestion, gonna have to try that...

I'd just like to second 'Something From the Oven' as a fun, informative read.

Are you painting a light coat of chocolate in the mold before pouring the bulk of the couveture in? I was taught to always do that after cleaning them.

I was able to buy a copy from Chef Rubber's booth at the World Pastry Forum for $10 cash. It has a substantial hard paper cover, lots of photos plus in-depth interviews and recipes. I like it. Dunno if I can afford to subscribe at $22 a pop, though. My guess is that CR is shipping in special padded envelopes, thus the handling fee. I was lucky enough to get my copy autographed by Albert Adria, with whom I had several interesting late-night conversations. So, my copy has special meaning to me and I will admit a bit of bias.

Might be a difficult bar - essentially you melt away the surface so I don't think it would be practical for production. ← But, you only need to melt the outer surface. I think if you had a long log of it you could just slice it with a good result.

I saw this demoed at the World Pastry Forum two weeks ago. Vincent Pilon showed it as a showpiece base. It's pretty easy to make. You take some chocolate chunks or discs in several colors and toss them into a blender for just a few seconds to break them into smaller, random bits. You place them within the borders of a mold which can simply be some silicone strips laying on parchment on a sheet pan. You then pour some tempered chocolate or plain colored coca butter (we saw red cocoa butter used, this was for a showpiece) over the chunk mixture until it's covered. Allow it to cool. At this point, the melted chocolate/cocoa butter will have obscured a lot of the pattern. Then, finish the edges by rubbing lightly on a heated surface like a warm sheet pan to reveal the inside pattern. Presumably, one could make a log or big bar of this and slice it with a hot knife or wire to make individual confections. I have not tried it, nor seen it done, so I am not certain. It does seem like a good way to use up odd bits of chocolate.

The challenges are often ridiculous on this series, and last night's episode was a great example of it. I realize that they were trying to add some sort of Iron Chef twist to things, but, these people were trying to make something to get on Red Lobster's menu, and they had plans. (not that it's such a great honor, really) Aside from showing demeanor, what was this really about? Do FN shows start taping on-script about one topic and suddenly lose a bunch of ingredients and the host has to make a new menu up on the spot? Does the network change the star's recipes in the middle of taping? Is this really how Bobby Flay's shows are taped? I suspect that Bobby would explode in a violent fit of anger if someone strolled by his set and took half of the spices for a dish. (I remember how ticked he was that the cameras showed his girlfriend during the Iron Chef rematch in Japan.) I'll also bet that that the camera operator probably knows how to turn the camera off and wait until more product is sourced before re-starting the tape. And, although they don't care to admit it, they apparently do have an editing crew. I actually only watch any food network shows occasionally now, because the content has been dumbed down to the point of celebrating ignorance in the kitchen rather than attempting to give any real education of any value. And, most importantly, they have lost sight of the real food network star: FOOD! The casting call for next season is out there and casting is happening right now. I find it ironic that they say they are seeking chefs and culinary school instructors, when they refuse to provide a venue for substantial content.

You can also brown a vegetable like mushrooms, onions, shallots, etc. and make a vegetable sauce to go with an item.

I liked the original Iron Chef partly for it's over-the-top kitschy take on fine dining and high society. It was also fun seeing the defenders of classical Japanese cuisine face off against the modernists. The American show lacks a lot of the pageantry and theatrics of the original, as well as lacking ongoing rivalries. (apparently, America has no 'Prince of Salt') I was bored with it before reading about how it's really staged -once I read about it, I was un-hooked for good. Top Chef has been entertaining for the most part, but, like all of these challenge shows, the challenges often have little to do with real cheffing skills or creative talent. I expected more from Top Chef Masters, but, after seeing the win in episode one with a plate comprised of dishes from Pastry 101 for Culinary Students I became pretty disillusioned. The other shows are pretty disappointing because the challenges rarely reflect anything anyone would ever do in the real world. Or, are downright mean -like last night's Next Food Network Star switcheroo hijiniks in the middle of people trying to get a dish on the menu of a national chain. Do people walk up in the middle of the taping of a Bobby Flay grilling show and take his ingredients away and tell him to soldier onwards??? Of course not, if he is doing a show on over-seasoned, corn encrusted fish, that's what gets made that episode. It was simply a ridiculous challenge. I like the ACF competitions. They cover a wide range of skills and creativity. (Ethics Disclaimer: Hopefully, I'll be competing in one in a couple of months.) The items being judged have real-world applications. And, not every competition category is timed -which, IMO, is important since I don't think that great food is developed in 15 minutes with 4 ingredients and a group of people sabotaging your every move. If I had money, I'd produce a series about various ACF competitions and the people preparing for them.

I have seen wines where 4 bottles in a case had volatile acidity, 4 were ok but nothing spectacular, and 4 would be superbly delicious. Most recently, for me, it was several cases of Penny Farthing Cabernet Sauvignon 2004. The good bottles had luscious, pronounced, cherry and chocolate flavors. But, buying the wine was like playing the lottery.

The Martinez

I like having Amaretto & tonic with a lime wedge. It's eerily similar to a soft drink of my childhood: Suburban Club Almond Smash. It's low in alcohol, but tasty.

I'd make plain tomato concasse and refrigerate. You can always add salt at the last minute, it doesn't seem too incredibly tedious of a chore. This also allows you to accommodate that person who shows up and lets you know right before the meal starts that they are on a low sodium, or pepper-free diet. IMO, fresh pepper is a lot more fragrant if served immediately. And, yes, the basil needs to be handled at the last minute.

My local hardware store (Ace) sells replacement rings for under $10. I don't think it's possible to get a seal with just glass on glass.

It's still an oddly small group of members. The one place listed in AZ is in Tucson, and we have a couple of decent places in Phoenix like, oh say, Bianco or Metro. My favorite Tokyo place is not on the list. Garibaldi in Gotanda is run by a chef who worked for several years at Pizzaeria Del Presidente in Naples, and was the pizzaiolo on duty when Mr. President ate his pizza there.

What sort of "treatment"? Did you acidulate the garlic? Pressure cook it to 250°F for more than five minutes? Once again, I'll point out that the standard recommendation is to make and use infused oils in the same day, no longer. And, that the restaurant which you are attempting to emulate would be promptly shut down if the health department in most US municipalities discovered them making and/or serving garlic oil.

I am specifically talking about the chocolate sauce: "Chocolate sauce would be dark chocolate, cream, butter and brown sugar." I doubt that the original poster is cooking dark chocolate, cream, butter and brown sugar at a temp anywhere close to 250°F. The FDA info said that water bath canning did not prevent dairy from spoiling. Low moisture in a product can help with the botulism situation in low-acid foods like this. But, a creamy sauce that has been gently heated to prevent the chocolate from burning and cream from separating, which is then water-bath canned, will still see rapid spoilage of the dairy products in it. That is why the FDA recommends vacuum sealing for such products, and a shelf life of no more than three days.

A quick search reveals that water-bath canning of dairy products and, products containing dairy, is considered to be dangerous -even if you refrigerate the resulting product. Commercial producers use pressure canners. The guidelines allow dairy to be vacuum sealed but note that the product should be consumed within a few days.

You might be able to vacuum seal those lids, but then again, you might not. You can see the FoodSaver jar sealers on amazon, look for FoodSaver T03-0023-01 Wide Mouth Jar Sealer and FoodSaver T03-0006-01 Regular Mouth Jar. They are $9.99 each, and allow use of the old-fashioned 2-pc canning jar lids that have a flat pc and a ring. The wide-mouth attachment is easier to operate and more reliable. There's a bit of a trick for the regular-mouth attachment to work, but it does work. These are attachments for the machine, so you just need one -unlike the universal lid. Water bath canning may make the sauces shelf-stable, I am not 100% certain on this as boiling water temps do not kill many anaerobic bacteria like botulism -particularly if your food is low acid. My recollection is that the FDA recommends that only high acid foods like pickles, certain fruit and tomatoes are stable at room temp with a regular water bath. You may need a pressure cooker (temps over 250°F) like commercial processors to get a truly shelf-stable product.

I would guess that the chocolate would burn, since that's what chocolate does once it gets over about 120°F. Why don't you vacuum seal your jars? The home-level foodsaver has canning jar attachments that allow easy sealing of the 2 part canning jar lids; I imagine better sealers also offer this option. I use mine all the time to seal mayo and pickles that I keep in the fridge. Outside of the fridge, I seal all of my dry grains and beans in jars to prevent pantry moths. Edit: vacuum sealing won't make it shelf stable, but it will preserve flavor better than boiling for 20 minutes will.

The coolers work well with the hard plastic 'blue ice' freezable bars, which do come in a variety of sizes. They keep things cold for well over 6 hours if kept inside a soft cooler/insulated lunchbag. My local supermarket has ones that are 2.5" x 5" for $1. Larger ones are running $1.79. They came be washed and re-used for years. I keep an army of them in my fridge because grocery shopping in Phoenix can be like wandering around in an oven. -When it's 126° outside, the inside of your parked car can easily hit 165° and literally bake your food. That said, I also like the lava-cupcake idea. You could also consider making hard candies and fancifully shaped lollipops.