Lisa Shock

I'd add salt, it probably wasn't mentioned because it's everywhere, like air, in the commercial kitchen. I think the olive oil just naturally has that bitter flavor, the better ones moreso -if you're referring to the scratchy, back of the throat sensation, it's related to Oleocanthal content, an anti inflammatory that acts a lot like ibuprophen. fact is, unless you're dining in a VERY high end restaurant, the olive oil most restaurants use is pretty low-end, cheap, light, and probably a blend. I'd use a 'light' olive oil, or a canola/olive blend and see how that goes. Personally, to help the emulsion, I'd add a pinch of dry mustard and, for flavor, I'd toss a chunk of white onion into the blender as well.

Grapeseed oil is very light and clear, the clearest in color that I can think of right now.

I just realized that you guys probably aren't aware that tomatoes are not in season here. -Obviously, I could buy some at the store -they'd probably be from California, or maybe a more temperate part of Mexico. We've had daily high temps well over 100° for more than two months, including several weeks of temps over 115°. Tomatoes, depending on the variety, won't ripen once it hits about 94°. Years ago, I had a bunch of tomato plants in the garden I planted in springtime. They held on to green tomatoes, which neither grew in size nor changed color, from may until the last week of September. They then all ripened at once. Anyway, no tomatoes at the farmers' market, no tomatoes in the organic garden exchange. On the up-side, we can grow them very well during the rest of the year. So, we do enjoy them October-April.

Sorry, totally forgot that. Many items (while really and truly in my kitchen) were just added to distract people. And, to add dessert.

I do have some frozen green beans. I also forgot that I have a head of celery.

Tuesday is vegetarian night! Here's my list, I do have a ton of condiments (including wasabi covered sesame seeds), as well as stock in my freezer, etc. In the fridge: 1 leek 1 cucumber ½ head cabbage 6 nectarines 4 white onions 6oz swiss cheese, sliced a parmesan rind the size of a finger 1lb sealed pack extra firm tofu carrots 6oz white mushrooms 42 eggs 8 pink grapefruit 8 limes 6lbs mozzarella 34lbs of assorted chocolate: baking bars, chips in 3 colors, callettes, etc. plus nibs 5lbs raw peanuts, 10lbs raw pecans, 1lb raw walnuts In the cupboard: dry beans: pinto, pink, red kidney, yellow split peas, brown lentils, red lentils lots of different dried pasta including Italian types plus: dry bean thread, ready-to-eat fat rice noodles, and dry Chinese egg noodles rice: 1lb brown jasmine, 1lb basmati, 3lbs Bomba, and 5lbs Calrose I do have semolina flour, cake flour, bread flour, whole wheat flour, and AP flour. corn meal and corn flour sweeteners: sugar, cane syrup, blackstrap molasses, powdered molasses, 4 kinds of honey, corn syrup, crystallized fructose, jaggery olives: black, green cocktail, and pitted kalamata canned: diced tomatoes, garbanzos, black beans, bamboo shoots, baby corn cobs, water chestnuts, chipotles in adobo, coconut milk 8 lbs of glaceed cherries 4 lbs chopped fruitcake mixed fruit many condiments, oils, butter, spices, black limes, misos, etc. cocktail stuff (no potatoes right now, they are hard to keep in the summer, go bad before I can eat them, the house is kinda warm) Bon Chance!

Cornstarch doesn't begin to start thickening until it hits at least 203°F at sea level. As stated before in this thread, and mentioned in the recipe, it's best to take a mixture to a boil and stir a bit to visually confirm that the whole container has gotten well above 203°.

red snapper, sauteed in butter, deglazed with a little red wine, add a little minced garlic (1 small clove) and diced tomatoes (concasse if you are up to it) -with a pinch of red pepper flakes -serve over/with fettucine spinach salad with raw mushrooms and maybe croutons made from old bread, with a crumbled warm pork & fennel sausage (just a little, like ¼ of a sausage) vinaigrette dressing (like bacon vinaigrette)

The problem is using a double boiler. Note that the recipe does not mention using one, it pretty clearly tells you which pans to use and I agree that those types of pans would be best. The pudding isn't getting hot enough. A double boiler setup can only get so hot (the temperature of steam), and that's it because the steam evaporates and/or cools as it rises. Double boilers are made for warming things, like sauces where you just want them at 140°, but terrible for large quantities that you want to actually come to a boil. It's almost impossible to bring anything to a boil in a double boiler, as its primary function is to prevent the food in it from getting very hot. Also since you used a bowl for your pudding, the bulk of the product was sitting high, in the cool area of the setup, and it had a lower surface area to insides contact ratio than the small base of the bowl. If you had used a thermometer, you would have seen a temp far lower than boiling in the top 2 inches of the bowl.

So, I see cake combs all the time at thrift shops and antique malls. I was wondering if anyone has an opinion about using them? Obviously, they used to be popular. I don't think I have ever seen one for sale new. (I am referring to the tool that is a handle with a series of ~4" spikes on it -used to cut slices of cake, not the decorating tool that is generally a flat sheet of metal or plastic with ridges used to texture the sides of cakes) I have even seen them with their boxes, which proclaim them to be a better, safer way to cut cake...

Of course, i was kidding, but, I turned my breakfast nook into a pantry, and my dining room into a cookbook library and equipment storage area. They were all kind of connected in an L shape anyway. My kitchen is an 8'x9' galley kitchen. I managed to fit in a 10' table in the old dining room, and I simply call it the chef's table. I extol the virtues of being seated in the kitchen to guests. But, I try to serve everyone outdoors whenever possible.

Do you have a dining room? If so, dump all the furniture and put steel restaurant prep tables around the perimeter. Build a dining area in the back yard, or, put a gazebo in the front yard.

I recall a thread here where fat Guy discussed using shower caps to cover small appliances to keep the dust and grease film off. I have been playing around with the concept and found two possible solutions, depending on the appliance. I found these shower cap-like cover ups at Smart & Final called CoverMate Stretch To Fit Food Covers, they are relatively small. There are also large bags like the Space Saver bags, ignore the whole vacuum sealing part, think of them as large sturdy plastic bags, I have seen packs of these at Big Lots, really cheap -like a 4 pack for under $6. I am also working on adapting blanket bags -search amazon, the amazon link isn't working for me right now. I think you could just measure, order, then cut one side off and they would rest on the appliance and protect it. Might not be very attractive, but would eliminate a lot of scrubbing. I wind up washing everything weekly, whether I used it or not, and I am tired of it.

Another food that bothers me is that most jarred sushi ginger is now sweetened with one artificial sweetener or another. Somehow, I missed getting young ginger last year and my supply is running low. I suspect that many restaurants are serving the artificially sweetened stuff because I noted huge (gallon size?) plastic bags of very pink, dyed, ginger at the LeeLee market, which sells some bulk items to restaurants. The bags were some priced ridiculously cheaply, like under $10, and I was contemplating buying one and splitting it with my gardening group until I read that saccharin was the sweetener.

I have been upset to find sucralose sneaking into all sorts of foods, even non-diet foods. For example, Shasta sodas all contain it now even the regular sodas. Seagram's decided to add it to their regular ginger ale -there must be some sort of cost savings over sugar. I personally don't like the taste and have discovered the sucralose when trying something and then asking why does this taste so bad? There is some evidence, in mice and fruit flies, that sucralose can effect the brain's system of regulating diet. -When sweetness without calories is detected over a period of time, the body then adjusts to eat more calories overall, and in particular to find regular sugars more enticing. More work needs to be done in human trials. http://www.scientificamerican.com/article/how-artificial-sweeteners-may-cause-us-to-eat-more/?WT.mc_id=SA_FB_HLTH_NEWS

Dorie Greenspan had a shortbread recipe on her blog a while back that was very good. I keep meaning to roast more flour and test it in various recipes and I keep forgetting!

IMO, the best peanut butter is the stuff you make yourself right before you need to use it. I take raw peanuts and roast them on the stovetop in a copper saucepan (if it's just a few, the copper cools quickly helping avoid burning) or the oven if it's a project using a lot of peanuts. I let them cool a little, put them in a steel milkshake cup, then hit them with my immersion blender. Just takes a few minutes, and tastes better than anything that's been sitting around. That said, I usually make almond butter cookies instead of peanut -using roasted almond butter, made as above, plus a drop of almond extract. If it's a super special occasion, I will half-dip them in dark chocolate.

Try speaking to a manager. In my experience, waitstaff doing this are trying to cover up the fact that they stayed up all night, are drunk or hungover, and didn't get a chance to take a proper shower. As embarrassing as it might be for you initially, the manager can handle the situation and maybe it won't happen again. Plus, you'll feel better returning because you'll know it was handled.

Ok, if I can manage to make something work, you two will both get a piece of the action.

Have to run tests. Thing is, my experiment used already made ice cream, which by definition was cold. (not -50° but cold) @Kerry Beal if we can, we should try to get a co-packer to make this for us.

I just peeked at the ice cream, it's not good news. I had taken a 6 oz container of a basic French ice cream mixed with toast dope, and scooped some out and then layered the finer salt between chunks of ice cream. I opened the container and found that where the salt had been were pockets of liquid ice cream base. The salt did dissolve, and the resulting salty areas won't freeze. My freezer is at -10°F. Might need to use the bigger granules, or figure out how to enrobe them entirely in caramel or chocolate or egg whites.

Maybe we need to find the people who make pretzel salt and speak to them? I can also see that a factory that makes sugar products might not want to start doing salt for fear of cross contamination. I think between confectioners, glaciers, and pretzel roll bakers, someone could make money. It is definitely a niche product, but, with salted caramel being everywhere now, this product seems like a natural.

So, can we call it Shock Salt, as in, "I tried Kerry Beal's™ medium size Shock Salt on peanut brittle, and it had better shelf life?" A peanut brittle test is in the near future, btw. (I generally toss some kosher salt on it as I pour it out to cool, I suspect that the wax will help it retain the crystalline shape.)

I notice that some paste includes the skins (probably the reason for dark colors) and some do not. I am interested in people's opinions of the flavors of each, better with or without?

I learned to dip, egg wash, salt, then bake -as a kid and later. I know that frozen soft pretzels are packaged naked and you are supposed to add salt from a packet. Maybe some people add salt later. I found this video of the Philly Pretzel Factory and they salt before baking as well. The big issue is pretzel rolls. Every time I go to Costco, I see bags of them and the salt has vanished. Bakers expect pretzels to be eaten the same day, but those buns need to keep for about a week to be profitable. (places like Sonic offer a hotdog on a pretzel roll, Wendy's had a burger on a pretzel bun for a while) I personally wanted the salt mostly for making salted caramel ice cream. But, I like salting the outside of calzones, with herbs, as well. This salt should be pretty great on some types of focaccia bread, I think. More experiments to come. Day 2, the no wax bag has no visible salt. the waxed items are hanging in there. About 20% of the salt has melted since yesterday, but, all buns still have visible crystals. I think a less moist bread might help keep them better. I am also wondering about desiccant packets, or specialty plastics which release some moisture. I used freezer bags and they are different from other food service type bags.