Lisa Shock

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?

I am deeply saddened by this news. I was a lurker at the site for years before joining, and recall being overjoyed when Steven sent me a message after I joined asking me a question an inviting me to participate in a project. Even when the site was busy, he took time out to talk to all sorts of members. My condolences to his family and friends. Looks like I need to get another bottle of pineau des charents....

"This latest enterprise will entail the restructuring of the chef's many brands, which include Paula Deen Foods, Paula Deen Restaurants, and Paula Deen Media." So, it looks like they are cutting all ties with the past and re-inventing her and her empire from scratch -minus the Food Network. BTW, here's what it's like to take a Paula Deen cruise.

I think I can stand to just drink other drink types for a while. Someone just gave me the last of the season's grapefruits, maybe ten pounds worth, so, for me anyway, it's gonna be grapefruit daiquiris and greyhounds for a while.

Do you have a mortar and pestle? If so, I'd suggest trying that both dry at first, then wet. I think you can get smaller particles this way.

I also like the marzipan idea. You could even begin wholesaling it to other bakeries. If you have a culinary school nearby, perhaps they'd be interested particularly for teaching the making of decorations. You might also do well to contact your local ACF or ICES group and see if anyone there would be interested. Retail pricing is about $50 for a #10 can, plus shipping for those who cannot purchase from a local food wholesaler. (My local ACF group has a culinary salon every year and marzipan showpieces are a category. I'd enter more often if the cost were lower.)

Actually, whoever wrote that menu shortened the name. It's called 'slippery pot pie.' The upside of the dish is that no one sells the noodles that go into it, to make you have to make the noodles (called rivels) fresh right before serving. I went to HS in PA, the cafeteria served two regional lunch dishes I never hear mentioned: corn fritters and candian bacon with maple syrup poured all over both, and, pork with sauerkraut (a pile of hot sauerkraut with pork chunks cooked in it.)

You should try to visit the restaurant supply store that the packets come from. Save some packets, so you have something to show people. You'll need to do some sleuthing, make sure they aren't from Sysco or another purveyor that delivers. -If they are, you could try to get someone who owns a restaurant and is a Sysco customer to buy you a case of them. Shamrock, a local food company, here in AZ, will allow people to buy things directly from them with 3 days notice and loading dock pick-up only, no deliveries. But, Restaurant Depot and undoubtedly many other wholesale shops sell the packets and 5 gallon tubs of various brands of soy sauce. If you are located in/near a large enough city, there may be some places that just sell Chinese foods to restaurants. You may need a friend with a restaurant business license to get in, but, you should be able to buy enough to last you a few years.

I gave up on fruit puree and started using freeze dried fruit, which I grind to a powder. I buy the fruit in tubs at the health food store.

I would like to point out that the metric set of steel cups that I have were kept after going through my kitchen and testing my measuring cups and tossing many of them. I other threads, where I try to tell people that measuring cups are inaccurate and different bands differ, I tend to be met with incredulity. This is one reason why you might have trouble replicating a recipe -your 'cup' or 'pint' isn't the same as your great-aunt's. (and, of course, if you start using volumetric measurement for dry ingredients, real randomness gets introduced into the formula) I usually only measure water (I bake bread of some sort several times a week) in them and occasionally commercial cream -which generally should weigh the same as water. I was assuming that everyone here knew that only a few ingredients have the same specific gravity as water....

I've got a pro metal set from Europe with metric marks and I have them up to two liters. -Got them at Tuesday Morning about 15 years ago. I also have an old nesting metal set of 1 cup, ½, ¼, etc. from culinary school. I used to have a Pyrex 2-cup (purchased in the early 80s) and one day, I touched the top edge with a chopstick, lightly, and a chip popped off then the whole thing just shattered. So, for me, never again. I haven't had a microwave in the house since Fall of 2010, so, I don't have any need for containers to use in a microwave, though. (I heat water in one of my Japanese hot water dispensing pots/kettles.)

New Mexico: Green Chile Stew, definitely.

You could always weigh the yolks and whites separately, see how much they vary in weight from a standard large egg and then adjust amounts accordingly.

Really, I used to have issues pulling out broccoli with cooked marks on it from where it touched the steamer. I took the temperature of the metal and found it much hotter than steam, and gave away the metal steamer right away. Been happy with bamboo ever since. Added bonus: the bamboo steamer is constructed so that you can place a cup of sauce in it to heat, and it has sides high enough to make steamed buns.

I hate the metal ones, all of them. I find that they do quite a bit of cooking via conduction of heat through the metal and get a lot hotter than the temperature of steam. So, items wind up cooking unevenly since the parts touching the basket get exposed to a lot more heat than items or parts of items surrounded by just steam. I have a couple sizes of bamboo steamer and find these to work much better and more accurately for me.

I don't like the 2 buck chuck, either. I think it tastes watery. Ditto for most of the wines I have tried at TJ's. Sorry, Joe, love your food, your beer is ok, just can't take your wine. I have had decent success cooking with the boxed wine (forgot the winery name) from Target.

You can freeze wine to be used for cooking. For non-red-wine-drinkers, I recommend buying a bottle and freezing it in ice cube trays, then popping out the frozen cubes into a freezer bag for long term storage. You can then use what you need. As for what type of wine to use, here's my favorite wine article ever printed: Cheap Wine Works Fine. Essentially, you want a low-tannin wine like a merlot, or an easy-drinking blend. And, that under-$5 bottle will probably work out great.

Trader Joe's also has an almond one, don't know if it's a unique item, or repackaged -I haven't tried enough of these spreads yet to figure it out. I will say that I refused to eat Nutella for years because it was made with shortening, which contains trans fat. It was reformulated about a decade or so ago (at least, that's when I noticed) and I started using it.

Ok, update time. I decided to try infusing lemongrass in EverClear, and it didn't work. The liquid was a delightful bright green color, but had no flavor for days, until finally after 5 days, it took on a vague, somewhat green vegetable flavor -but just a little bit. So, I wound up cooking lemongrass in with the bark and citric acid. However, I used a lot less lemongrass than the original recipe called for. That said, I like my final product. The citrus flavors and allspice are very subtle. I had infused the citrus peels and allspice in a cup of EverClear, I wound up only using a half cup of that, so, I'll trim my recipe down, and use the current leftovers in vin d'orange. I also wound up using an entire quart of 'complex syrup' to balance out the tartness.

I don't have a set recipe, just a general set of guidelines. It kind of depends on what form your tamarind is in. Various pastes and concoctions can have varying strengths of flavor. I thought of this one day, as I was trying to make a tart salad to go with an Indian style meal. Essentially, just mix the following ingredients and adjust amounts to taste. Generally, vinegar will have the largest volume of all the ingredients. I had a tamarind syrup (like for making drinks or snow cones) for a while that I'd simply add white wine vinegar and salt to, and that was about it. If you have a jar of plain paste, mix it with vinegar (I prefer white wine vinegar, but, rice wine vinegar, seasoned rice wine vinegar, apple cider vinegar or even plain white will work), a sweetener (sugar is fine, brown or raw sugar is very good, jaggery adds umami and is wonderfully tasty), a little salt and maybe black pepper. If you have the whole tamarind beans, shell them, remove the big fibers and seeds, and grind in a mortar and pestle with a little vinegar until you have a paste and then stir in vinegar, sugar, salt and pepper. Sometimes, I add freshly ground cumin in small amounts. It's tasty, but, it depends on if I have already used cumin in other dishes I am serving -a concern if I am making an Indian or Mexican meal. Good luck, I hope it works for you!

HERE's Harold McGee on the topic.

I love slaw, and make all sorts of dressings for it -tamarind anyone? If it's Napa cabbage, though, I personally would make eggrolls.