Lisa Shock

What if you made a wine gelee from a really fruity wine like a brachetto, then cut it into discs and layered it into the serving cups? (the bubbles will make it interesting looking) Maybe do dark mousse in the bottom of the cup, then the gelee, then a more milk chocolate or white chocolate mousse on top. Or, make the gelee fairly firm and mold it in fleximolds to make small cups or bowls and pipe mousse into them... Let your boss know that, while tasting wine with chocolate is a common event, mixing the two isn't so common. You have to be careful, both wine and chocolate contain a LOT of flavor components and you're risking getting a muddy mess, flavor-wise.

I tried them, they were all too weird for me to eat more than a few. I got them in Phoenix at Fry's supermarket. The blue bag was too spicy for me, the spice hits you pretty late and then takes over. It did have a distinct smokiness which I liked, I was guessing that it was some sort of chipotle flavor. If it were just not so spicy, I think I'd like this one. The orange bag is kind of odd in that it's sweet and spicy, which normally would not be bad for me, but, it's just coming out as 'wrong' in my head. (I loved Poore Brother's 'Calypso' flavor potato chips.) The red bag definitely has a strong 'Doritos' cheese taste, but is also spicy. It's not bad, it's just not really exciting.

Singapore Rice Noodles might be something to consider. (I was being a bit tongue-in-cheek with the currywurst suggestion. I first heard about it from someone who just raved about it, it wasn't until I looked it up that I discovered that it's just cheap sausage with a mix of commercial condiments.)

Yeah, with convection, it doesn't matter so much. My cheapo stove is not convection, but, being just a couple years old, it heats pretty evenly. (I have tested it.) Yes, the upper rack(s) get a bit hotter, but, I just pull the cookies from there faster, and then move all the other sheet pans up. Anyway, having seven racks instead of two makes a huge difference in the amount of time and electricity (no gas in my neighborhood) I use baking off cookies, crackers, etc. If I get nervous about opening the door too much, I leave my pizza stone on the bottom shelf, where it normally lives anyway. I own a MC steel but have not tested it as heat sink in the bottom of the oven yet.

Gotta love dual ovens that are tall enough for more than a couple racks, that's really a beauty! One suggestion, I don't know how many oven racks came with your stove, but, you might want to check out the manufacturer's website and see if they sell more if you don't have one for every groove/slot. (hopefully, you have a place to store some while not in use.) I'm set up so that my modest cheapo stove can have a rack in every slot, if I wish, and this way I can bake off seriously large quantities of cookies. I don't use them that often, but, when I do, they are very helpful in cutting my baking time way down and using less energy.

Have you looked into vacuum sealing them?

Hmmm, will look for it an my next trip to the super-big asian market. I'll also check out the Indonesian aisle for peanuts. Gonna be a few days, though.

You could always make currywurst from scratch.....

Do you start with raw nuts and roast them before grinding them? I find that roasting right before using the nuts really makes a big difference. I even make peanut butter in tiny batches that I consume in a day maybe two max.That said, different types do seem to have different flavor, I tend to prefer the 'Spanish' ones.

1) plain, unfilled, in a dry container with desiccant packets then fill to order 2) Chocolate and a stencil, however, it will be very delicate handwork as they break very easily.... You could print using one of the sugar icing printers and attach a printed sheet with a dot of chocolate.

Or, if you happen to already own one, this would be a good use for the Modernist Baking Steel.

I have always had issues with freezing potatoes and just generally avoid doing so. I freeze stews then reheat with raw potato in them, long enough to cook the potato. I'm not all that fond of frozen potatoes either, and I can spot a frozen french fry a mile away. (frozen fries are terrible if cooked then left to get cold, fries made from fresh are still edible if they sit around and get cold) I just don't think there's an easy solution for the problem. The additives you mention are probably for things like purees, like cream of potato soup. They don't make a lot of sense for a chunky stew where they won't penetrate the insides of a 2" hunk of potato.

I'm thinking a late summer harvest theme. Drink: Daisy Buchanan (cheat: make it as a punch with white wine instead of champagne) For the vegetarians, I often take a vegetable biryani to Thanksgiving meals for vegetarians. It's vegan, so everyone will eat it. (don't make the mistake of thinking that the vegetarians will eat dead animals like fish, or even eggs, unless they tell you otherwise) It's good, and meat eaters take home leftovers and ask for the recipe. I make it with a modified fried rice method: The day before: Cook some Jasmine brown rice (salted water) and refrigerate it. Cooks some garbanzo beans, from dry beans, in water that has salt and cumin in it. Refrigerate when done. Saute carrots in oil with lots of ginger, stopping when they are still a little firm. Keep going with whatever vegetables you have at hand, cook each in a different spice that is compatible with a mild curry but slightly undercook it. On the day of, saute a diced onion and the rice in oil with a little curry paste in it and pour into a chafing dish/hotel pan. (It's supposed to be mildy fragrant with spice.) Heat up each of the vegetables one by one in the same pan/wok and pour into the chafer. When finished, stir to distribute evenly and keep warm. This will keep well covered for hours. Another entree, one that could be made with meat (as well as meatless with beans) and rice, or barley, bulghur, etc. is a medley of stuffed roasted vegetables. The filling can be made days in advance, and softer vegetables (eggplant, bell pepper, zucchini) will roast very quickly so you're mostly just heating them through. You can take this in many directions depending on how you spice it: Middle East, India, French, etc. They can have a sauce (cabbage rolls) or not. (when I do cabbage rolls, I cook red lentils mixed with jasmine or basmati rice and add lemon zest and juice to the water for the vegetarian rolls to give them a bright flavor) Sides could include roasted vegetables, like eG's popular roasted cauliflower, baked potatoes with a toppings bar, roasted root vegetable medley, etc. Make sure to have a great salad. Perhaps a mini salad bar would be in order, with a couple of dressing choices and toppings like sunflower seeds and nuts. The vegetarians will eat the salad, and it can be a fallback for anyone on a special diet. Fresh fruit is also appreciated for those who might have issues with dessert. That said, sorbets are a dessert that most people will eat without arguing over whether or not there are eggs and/or dairy in the shortcake, etc.

I don't know how much this will help, but, you might try soaking the rice for about 45 minutes before cooking it.

The problem I see is that many foods have little quirks that are really specific, for example, ginger will coagulate milk into a custard if cooked at a precise temperature. If you wrote a recipe for a drink that involved milk and infusing ginger in it by heating then cooling, your reader would be surprised to no longer have a drink. You'll also get flavor interactions that you don't expect. I mean, I have thought of things that on paper sounded tasty but turned out to be oddly flavored, bland, and oddly textured. Other times, I have come up with combinations which exceeded the sum of their parts. (butter & teriyaki sauce)

I am just like you with regards to coffee. I can always taste it and it ruins the chocolate. I just add more of whatever liquid is being used (like milk in a cake) plus, I add a dash of chocolate extract. I used to buy chocolate extract and got varying product flavors, nowadays, I make my own. Just get some EverClear then freeze and grate some good chocolate into it and wait about a week, or more if you are patient. Then strain and use. (keep in a tightly sealed bottle) It gets weirdly cloudy and I have not been able to fix that, but it doesn't really matter.

Devil's on Horseback comes to mind.

I used to visit Gandhi at least once per trip, but, I notice that their prices appear to have doubled in the past couple of years and the buffet appears to be gone. It's probably still a decent option, and it's just a block off the strip, but the days of getting dinner for two for under $20 are apparently long gone.

Yes,the chocolate will still work as a barrier, but, you need to be careful. Untempered chocolate is soft, and might get moved around too much or scraped off the crust completely while placing the filling inside if you're really active/aggressive in spreading the filling. Just try to avoid going too deep with whatever tool you are using to spread in the filling.

Sometimes, if the cream has set overnight in a bowl, it's difficult to fill a shell because the cream is kind of chunky -kind of like trying to spread jello cubes around. That said, it usually gives in a bit if you beat it for a few minutes. Anyway, when making cream pies, to protect the crust, I always paint mine with chocolate, mostly white or, sometimes dark. It forms a nice barrier and if you are careful to keep it in temper, it gives a nice snap when cut. -Making the crust seem even crisper. Good luck with your pie!

Fresh garlic would burn, making a really bad flavor, in some recipes where it would be exposed to high heat. Because it won't burn as easily, those are the applications that dried powder/granulated is used for: BBQ rubs, grill marinades, some roast recipes, etc. I've made an oven-roasted wings recipe for a client that turned out terribly bitter when my boss insisted we use real fresh garlic instead of the powder called for in the recipe. And, then, some people use powder for convenience on pretty much anything. I can't really speak to that, I always have fresh at hand and make roasted a couple times a month for variety.

I have gotten good things from IndianBlend, but, they pretty much just carry Indian foods.

I've really been broken up over this for the past few days. I have an IT background, and Steven and I had some email exchanges about technical things that I'm currently working on and getting reminded of him, and anyway, it's still so hard to believe that he's just gone. I am thinking that I am going to get my act together in a couple of days and start working in earnest on the WikiGullet project again. I think Steven wanted us to have a permanent, easy to use reference guide covering all sorts of food (and sanitation) topics. -Something for the world to use, built by combining the vast wealth of knowledge and experience that we share as a group. I grew up poring over the Larousse Gastronomique, a thick volume with tiny print, and now, I am amazed at how superficial that work appears compared to our advancing knowledge of the science of cooking and foods. There currently isn't just one great place for accurate information anymore. But, there could be and we could help build it. I had been trying to think of something appropriate to do in Steven's memory, and I think that working on WikiGullet will turn out to be the most appropriate choice.

Unless you burn it, nothing is ever a total loss in the bakery. Have you tried freezing it? You might be able to cut it while frozen, then roll in cocoa, or bring up to room temp and enrobe. If you can scrape it up with a big flat spatula (like one would use to spackle a wall) you could use it as a cake filling and keep the layers intact. If none of that works, you can whip the two together in a mixer for a whipped ganache icing. There's always the mousse route: whip in more cream, and maybe gelatin, then serve as mousse, make an entreme style 'cake', or a mousse pie. It may be unseasonable, but, some ganaches make delicious hot chocolate or chocolate coffee drinks when hot water or coffee is added. If you wish to try this, test a little and see how well it dissolves and if the cocoa mass is at all gritty. If you like it, freeze the ganache and scoop out as needed. Or, freeze, cut into measured chunks and refreeze chunks in a bag for quick grabs. There's a good chance you can make a cake out of it, just look for a recipe that has a similar amount of chocolate in it and reduce the amount of milk added.

So, is this sauce just quickly mixed, or do you make a true emulsion so that it's like a mayo?