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Lisa Shock

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Everything posted by Lisa Shock

  1. Should be ok overnight, it's low liquid and sterile to start with. Remember, if you are ever worried about eggs, you can buy the pasteurized ones.
  2. Freezer temperatures are not cold enough to stop the motion of diffusion. (you'd need to be storing your ice cream inside a dewar of liquid nitrogen to accomplish that) Sugar is very hygroscopic, the only way to be able to store chunks of it in ice cream for any period of time would be to coat the chunks in wax or fat like cocoa butter. Think about commercial ice creams, there are no hard candy type chunks in any commercial ice creams. Premium ice cream makers even enrobe nuts in chocolate to prevent sogginess.
  3. Greetings! My parents live between Williamsport and Boonsboro. What's for dinner?
  4. I do it for big special meals, not so much for everyday meals. That said, there are things i enjoy using where I prep a quantity in advance and then freeze it. I make various vegetable stocks and freeze then vacuum seal in cup and quart sized bricks. I make spaghetti sauce and freeze it in 4oz and 8oz chunks. I make tomato soup and freeze it in 8 oz blocks. If I make rice for dinner, I make a couple of extra portions for the freezer. I make a large pot of onion confit and store it in smaller portions in both the fridge and freezer. I don't usually prep vegetables in advance unless I accidentally make too much for a dish and save it for later.
  5. Lisa Shock

    Shallots

    I suspect part of the deal right now is freshness. As they get older, all of the alliums start to dry out, leaving papery skin on the outside. (and sometimes moldy/mushy decaying layers) Employees in supermarket produce departments spend time peeling down the onions and shallots to make them look good. But, a couple of layers of papery skin used to be a couple of plump layers of juicy flesh, so, the produce keeps shrinking as it dries gets peeled.
  6. Lisa Shock

    Costco

    I like the berry smoothie, it's reasonably priced and not too big. Summers are really hot here and this is a convenient way to not get too overheated and dehydrated. (plus, it probably has vitamins and fiber)
  7. Would those spots happen to correspond to the location of your hands/fingertips when moving the mold around? Make sure to just grab the edges, hot hands can leave untempered spots.
  8. I had picked up a formula at an after-hours session at WPF years ago, and cannot find it. IIRC, it had some cream, I recall being disappointed because I was trying to please a vegan client at the time. My guess is that a little cream is helpful, as long as the temperature is kept low (under 135°) cream has some emulsification properties. HERE's a recipe, but, it's very vague about the type of chocolate and it is for a liquid ganache. No word on if the chocolate was kept in temper or not, something of regular debate with old-school ganache making. In a few days, I will also be experimenting with olive oil ganache, will let you know what happens.
  9. I prefer a whole wheat pullman loaf for PB & J. I make my own peanut butter. I keep raw peanuts in the freezer and roast them until dark in a pan with a lid on the stovetop. I allow them to cool a bit then hit them with an immersion blender and a dash of salt. (I use a milkshake machine cup.) This only takes a few minutes, but makes really great tasting PB. I like many different jams and jellies, so, I change the type often. Sometimes, I will make ½ and ½ different flavors like apricot and cassis. I also enjoy PB & honey, with raw honey.
  10. Shrimp shells will give you the cleanest tasting result. Other than that, I'd make a vegetable stock from whatever aromatic vegetables are featured in the dish. (onion maybe, or celery) I don't see clam and shrimp mixing that well.
  11. The issue for me is the bacteria hiding deep within the pores of the skin. A while back, a research study was done showing that paper towels were better for drying hands than blow dryers in that they left less bacteria on the skin. People often rub their hands under the blower and in doing so, push skin oils and bacteria up to the surface. " When hands were rubbed, bacteria on the hands increased significantly after 15 seconds of use." So, when people rub their hands or put other sorts of pressure on the skin, bacteria are forced up to the surface. This means that the more time spent between hand washings, like when prepping a huge amount of one type of food, the more bacteria is on a barehanded cook's hands. -And, much more is present than on a properly gloved person's hands. Just because one person put dirty gloves back into a box once does not mean that the entire food service industry should abandon glove use. Anything can be ruined by poorly trained, uncaring, or uneducated individuals not properly performing their jobs. It doesn't mean we should toss the rubric out the window, it means the teaching system needs to be re-evaluated. (and probably the HACCP plan as well) I was trying to point out that the one person using gloves was clearly trying to keep sauce off of his hands rather than protecting the raw food which did not require handling with gloves. (which appears to be a bit contrary to the usual concerns behind food safety procedures)
  12. whoa, cutting unwashed oranges with bare hands on a RED cutting board.... (three health code violations bundled into one activity) Lots of bare hands there -the only gloves were on the person tossing sauce on red meat. Also, watermelon on a blue board is also generally frowned upon. Looks like fun, but, I'd invest in more gloves and train staff about cross-contamination and the color-coded cutting board system.
  13. Those are easy, just apply the red cocoa butter with a fine tipped squirt bottle, then flick in white dots with a toothbrush, allow to set a bit then spray or carefully paint the blue.
  14. The temp of the proof is as important as doing it.
  15. I drain the beans before freezing, generally because I make them pretty plain (simmered with salt and a dash of toasted cumin) and don't usually want any liquid in the end product if I am using them like I would use canned beans (tossed into a mixed vegetable Indian dish, for example). I have frozen lots of chile stews and such as well. It's just a matter of thinking about what's convenient for you when thawing. I do like to freeze them first in the rectangular containers, then pop out the frozen mini-brick and vacuum seal after a day or so.
  16. Those should freeze just fine. I use my foodsaver a lot, but more for leftovers and for staples -like, I make a slowcooker full of beans from dry beans and freeze them in 12 oz portions, like canned beans (except no slime!). Or I will make a big pot of rice, eat some for dinner and freeze the rest in individual portions. (or smaller, so I can just toss s handful of cooked rice into a soup or stew) The main thing that I have discovered is that potatoes do not freeze well, they come out with a weird texture. Soupy things tend to freeze well, the way I handle them is to freeze in a square or rectangular plastic container then a day or two later (when I have time, hahaha!) I pop the frozen cubes out put them in bags and seal. If you use all one size containers, you can do some very efficient stacking. You'll figure out what size is best for you. I also do things like make spaghetti sauce from scratch then freeze in the large size Tovolo King size ice cube trays where each compartment holds a little over 4 liquid ounces. I live alone. These cubes give me just enough sauce for my liking. I freeze in the trays overnight, then pop out the cubes and place in a larger bag. If I know I will eat them within 6 months, I just use a zippered freezer bag. If they might stay in longer, I vacuum seal a big bag of them, leaving a long tail for re-sealing.
  17. I keep meaning to make some nougat, it's been a long time. My personal favorite is a recipe I got from Anil Rohira at World Pastry Forum. His formula includes freeze dried fruits and flower petals.
  18. Yeah, in culinary school we'd show students by taking 3 chickens and butterflying them. One just got some salt and pepper all over. One was seasoned with a rub on top of the skin and bacon was wrapped all around it. (held down with toothpicks) The third got rub and bacon slices under the skin. The instructors would then slice the meat on the interior and place it n unmarked bowls for tasting. Students could always tell them apart and the third one always rave reviews.
  19. Well, I suspect that having to do tasks not directly related to cooking played a part as well. Having stagees paint the buildings' exteriors was definitely not helpful in furthering their culinary education.
  20. It's not just the knife, the direction of the cut is important. Find the hole where the jelly was injected. Line up the doughnut for cutting following the imagined line where the injector was inserted. This should give you two even halves, and since you are opening up the jelly cavity evenly, it shouldn't squirt anywhere. That said, a razor sharp knife and a light hand are also needed. I would use a serrated ceramic knife, as it is much thinner and sharper than a conventional serrated knife. The most difficult part is using a light hand while cutting. In this case, you want a very light sawing motion. Many aspects of pastry arts require a light and skilled hand, it's the most important overall skill needed in the pastry kitchen.
  21. I'm putting in a small commercial (steel, free-standing) 3 compartment with a regular set of taps plus a pull down sprayer.
  22. Ikea ran a sale on the bowls about a month ago, and I picked up some via mail order. (two each of 5", 8", 11" plus shipping was about $31) Like everything else, there were only 3 sizes available to purchase online. They used to have, or maybe they are only available in-store, tiny ones sold in a 4-pack, and a large one that's about 14" across the top. I would guess they have voluntarily pulled them, fire being fairly serious and all.... Now, I see many have found their way onto eBay, and at more than 3x the original price.
  23. Earlier this week, state of California health department officials confirmed that one person has died and nine others were hospitalized from this incident. Apparently, six victims are still in the hospital, paralyzed. Lawyers are looking at suing the cheese factory in WI, but so far, samples from the same batch (sold in plastic bags) have tested negative for botulism.
  24. The sugar in the maple syrup is still sugar, and will act as such -it's hygroscopic and will pull liquid out of the fruit, making bottoms of the pastry wetter and increasing the likelihood that juice will flow out of the pastry entirely. You could use raw fruit, but it will be a very inconsistent result varying from piece to piece, and should probably be sliced very, very thinly. Because of the relatively brief baking period for a turnover, there won't be as much time for a thickener to fully develop and thicken. If you just sprinkle cornstarch, arrowroot, etc. on the fruit (which only gets heated during the last few minutes of the 15-20 minute bake time) you'll probably wind up with lumps of starch floating in juice in wet bottoms. The pre-cook with sugar and starch for fruit used in turnovers is to: ensure a consistent outcome across the entire batch, reduce the liquid content thus ensuring a crisp pastry all around, ensure consistent flavor, create a concentrated fruit flavor, thicken the juice so it stays inside the pastry, and to prevent burning. Also, 95% of Pinterest is comprised of lies created by photoshoot stylists.
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