Lisa Shock

The one pictured with a yellow sauce might be a parmesean tuile. Just bake a small pile of grated parmesean on a silpat for a few minutes.

There are commercial flours are only available regionally, and national labels vary in protein content so there's a chance that they use a slightly different type of flour than you may have access to.

I'd try to work in some salt into the dough. Also, making a salty product would help. You could make soft pretzels, freeze any excess.

This is definitely a grey area, particularly in home cooking recipes. I think most recipes assume that people already have an idea about how thin pie crust should be, vs a biscuit. Some recipes call for the dough to be rolled to a particular overall size (9inch circle, or 9inch x 12 inch rectangle) which forces the dough to a particular thickness. Others call for visual cues, like strudel dough needing to be so thin you can read a newspaper through it. Most professional recipes assume that you are using a machine (pasta maker, sheeter) and give numbers for thicknesses. I have one grissini recipe where the dough gets pulled extra thin, to about double the thickness of strudel dough, but, that's rare. This would definitely be something to consider when writing a cookbook. We do have tools to check these measurements, those rubber rings for rolling pins are useful, but only if you have an idea of which set to use.

I forgot to mention that I have had success with making chocolate (recipe uses cocoa) mayonnaise cake (RLB has a good, weight-based formula in the Cake Bible) with Vegenaise instead of mayo. It does make a very delicate, slightly crumbly cake that is not appropriate for a regular layer cake, but, I have made good cupcakes with it. (had a very notable disaster with it trying to make an 8" double layer cake) Making discs in a straight-sided muffin tin (Chicago Metallic sells one) should work fine.

You could make an entremet style cake: layers of mousse, cake, crispy-cookies, surrounded by rolled cake and topped with the showroom-finish glaze. Mousse can be stabilized with gelatine, or white chocolate to avoid the eggs, and can be in fruit flavors or chocolate. Verrines would also be a good option.

I am deeply saddened by this, I will miss his wit and wisdom. I always appreciated his participation here, in the eG forums -he really helped build our knowledge-base on Modernist topics like LN2. Condolences to his wife and family.

I've never tried it with sorrel, but I have tried it with broccoli and a few other common supermarket green veggies. It neutralizes acid and prevents chlorophyll from changing into pheophytin. I have seen celery which was lightly blanched in water with a little baking soda added (1/2 tsp to 6 qts) turn a very vivid green color. It will get mushy if it remains in the water for more than about 6 minutes, but, I pretty much never cook a green vegetable that long. (maybe Brussels Sprouts, but, I generally roast those nowadays) Here's an explanation and a test of baking soda vs calcium hydroxide as recommended by Dave Arnold.

Since I have access to lots of free grapefruits in season, I tend to go for greyhounds. Maybe, the no ice admonition is due to the fact that many people store the fresh fruit in the refrigerator so that the resulting juice is cold (not bracingly icy, though). Also, the grapefruit season coincides with winter, (not that it gets all that cold here in southern AZ) so maybe being served warmer is a reflection of this being a winter drink.

It keeps the broccoli bright green longer. But, it also speeds up the vegetable falling apart. It's usually used when green vegetables will be held on a steam table, so they don't turn unappealingly khaki green in color.

Vintage items can be dangerous: has the surface been deeply scratched, was the item stressed by being dropped on multiple occasions, ever dropped anything heavy (like a cast iron skillet) on top of it? Then, there's the question of how you're going to use it. Will you be putting a big pile of frozen food on it and shoving it under the broiler so that some exposed parts will become hot quickly while other parts of the pan will be closing to freezing temperatures? Will you be pulling it from the fridge and immediately putting it under the broiler? It's rare for those items to break, but, they can break and need to be handled with care. Glass, ceramics, etc. are not allowed in professional kitchens because they can and do break. A metal pan (sheet pan, hotel pan) will last longer and take more abuse. -And will probably cost less.

As a vegetarian, this has happened to me (everyone taking my food and leaving me nothing edible). I try to scope out situations beforehand and will decline invitations if things look like they'll be problematic. It's not so bad at Chinese places, I just order my dish and tell people hands off, or order two vegetarian mains to guarantee that I get something -but I make an announcement before I order, then remind people when the food arrives. I'm also not shy about ordering extra rice, but, if rice is all I get to eat, I will complain mightily if the check gets split evenly. At all family style places, like some Italian joints, I will just refuse to go, fake illness, whatever. But, a couple times a year, I try to take all my veggie friends out for a food sharing feast -because we rarely get to do this.

I like sharing, but, I always ask in advance and respect the other person's choice. Most commonly, I go to lunch with a friend to a burger place which has a variety of different veggie burgers and we each order a different burger. Before we start eating, we cut them in half and switch halves with each other -all done with clean silverware. I will occasionally do this with entrees, in places where the portion sizes are ample and the atmosphere casual -like the local Chinese joint. If something is really good or unique, I'll offer tastes later on the bread plate or an unused soup spoon -unless it's an easy grab, like sushi. I offer because I like to share, I don't have any expectations of reciprocation. I will ask others what a unique dish tastes like and trust their description.

It's nice seeing Sprouts on the list. AJ's is good, the secret is that they are owned by Bashas's, which also owns Food City. They all source their produce from the same places so, you can get the same produce for less at FC or Basha's. That said, when you really need salt-cured capers, there's no place like AJ's.

Just out of curiosity, you might ask if they have piping chocolate (dark or white) anymore. None of the suppliers in the Phoenix area have been able to get it for about 5 years now.

HERE's something interesting to try with the Gravy Master.

I always pipe them onto silpats. You can place a printed template under the silpat if you need a guide. I would not spray a silicone pan for two reasons, first is that it's not good for the macaron, second, the spray may damage the surface of silicone. I haven't used one of those pans, they probably work alright, it's just that if you pipe too much product in one spot, you'll get an odd looking footing at the base instead of spreading into a larger disc.

An atmosphere surrounds the moon. This atmosphere has far fewer molecules than Earth's, but significantly more than present in, say, the near vacuum of space between galaxies. NASA Link

Pizza Rusitca aka Easter Pie. (I think they call a big rectangular focaccia-like pizza 'pizza rustica' in Rome, but, in the North, PR = Easter Pie.) It's a savory ricotta pie with cheeses, meats, and (at my house) veggies. The crust was a savory short-crust, at my house. There are lots of regional variations on this, including at least 3 different types of crust. Easter Bread, with the embedded eggs.

Make sure to regulate the room temperature, check that any spot lighting isn't overly warm, and don't hold the molds in your hands for very long -the heat from your fingers can make the molds too warm.

I haven't seen anything like that. Could you cold-brew some ground decaf beans, add the mix-ins, then freeze it in portions? (use a small plastic container that is narrower than his cup, pop out when frozen) The portions could be vacuum sealed, or just stored in freezer bags. The only fuss would be pulling them out the night before to thaw in the fridge.

Here's my go-to sugar cookie formula. Add spices, change the extract flavor, or grated peel to change the flavor. (creaming method) 500g Butter 250g Sugar 8g Salt 95g Eggs 8g Vanilla Extract 750g Pastry Flour

I forgot to mention that how you handle dough is very important. Roll the dough out on a cool surface on parchment paper, then refrigerate it for at least 20 minutes. This lets the gluten relax. If you re-roll scraps, be very careful to chill several times along the way: ball up the scraps, chill, roll partway, chill, roll to thickness, chill, then cut. If you just roll then cut, cookies can shrink due to gluten development.

Fish cakes and fish pie are common. How about salmon with cabbage, or Irish roasted salmon with some roasted vegetables? An easy light dessert that is an Irish tradition is a berry cream. Simply take some fresh, washed blackberries, raspberries or strawberries, mash or juice some of them and add to fresh cream in a ratio of ¼ cup juice to ¾ cup cream and add a tablespoon of sugar per cup of liquid. Whip the cream, and serve over more washed berries.

In general, avoid cookie recipes with baking powder, baking soda, and more than 1 egg.