Lisa Shock

Mayonnaise, Hollandaise, Bernaise 'edited by' Justine Harding et al. I bought this online, unseen, while researching whether or not to write my own book on the topic. This book contains a compilation of sauce recipes from previously published sources owned by the publisher. There is no author given for any recipe, they just credit the editors of the source cookbooks. The 200+ recipes given include gravies, pestos, marinara sauces and fruit coulis. Only 17 of the recipes are for a mayonnaise, hollandaise or bernaise and those recipes are just the bare-bones classics taken/stolen from Escoffier, Mrs. Beeton, and other classic sources. If you own any decent comprehensive cookbook like Joy, Fannie Farmer, Escoffier, Julia's Mastering the Art, etc. you already have these recipes and far, far more. The binding is hardback, and that's the only nice thing I can say about this book. Amazon.com has copies for $2.45 and I am warning you not to waste your money on it, you will regret it.

They probably assume that you are draining the beans. And, no the bean liquid would not adding any binding abilities.

I should add that gelatin stops being a binding agent once it's heated, so, cheapo sour cream made with gelatin won't bond a burger that will be cooked.

If you raise enough to need to choose a diet, or want to challenge people to give more, or something, why don't you go for a truly historic one? You could eat like a medieval European peasant for a week, or pyramid building Egyptian slave, or a Chinese servant in the court of the Yuan dynasty, or somesuch.

Real sour cream (Daisy, Knudsen) is not a binding agent. Cheapo sour cream and imitation sour cream may have some binding ability if they contain gelatin. Non fat sour cream or yogurt should work ok in this recipe, they too are not binding agents. They usually contain a lot of starch which binds a little bit, think sauce thickening, but not enough to hold a bunch of starchy beans together. Potatoes have no binding abilities beyond weak starches. Once again, think thickening sauces not holding large chunks of anything together. Mashed potatoes aren't very well bound, not like an omlette or a loaf of bread, or bread dough. The bread crumbs are the binding agent in that formula. If you sub yogurt, make the burgers fairly quickly, the acidity may break down the bread crumbs' gluten and lessen the binding ability.

I don't get it. Seems like it would get a lot of gluten development in the defrosting and subsequent folds.

Great! I didn't know that! So, you mean that so long as the root stays in tact, we're golden for much longer than w/o it? Yes, as long as there looks like some little bits of root, you're fine. I routinely keep partial onions for weeks+, and, even if there's just a little left it still works because it's still alive. Avoid buying onions that don't have any root, they will not last. That said, if you leave a partial onion with the stump on it in the fridge too long, the center will start to grow. -There's nothing wrong with that, it's just uneven to cut.

With elderly people, medications may be an issue: no grapefruits, nothing with vitamin K, etc. You might want to ask about this first.

The mystery has been solved! Ruth is actually Josh Friedland, a freelance writer.

Sprouts, if you have one, carries the whole corn. Try a natural grocer.

That's mostly a myth. It takes over 2.5 hours of simmering to get down to only 5% of alcohol left in food. Here's info from the USDA on how much alcohol remains in food after various sorts of preparation: Alcohol Burn-off Chart Preparation Method Percent Retained alcohol added to boiling liquid & removed from heat 85% alcohol flamed 75% no heat, stored overnight 70% baked, 25 minutes, alcohol not stirred into mixture 45% Baked/simmered dishes with alcohol stirred into mixture: 15 minutes cooking time 40% 30 minutes cooking time 35% 1 hour cooking time 25% 1.5 hours cooking time 20% 2 hours cooking time 10% 2.5 hours cooking time 5%

Thanks for working so hard for this project. I think it's about time that such a museum existed. I think that many people don't really know much about the history of food, and this is a great way to help them discover the past.

Could be the pipe going into the house. Here in Phoenix, the size of pipe allowed under zoning laws differs for houses vs commercial applications. So, a stove in a restaurant gets fed (usually) about 50% more gas than a home stove.

If you only need to use half an onion, use the top half. Cut it at the equator and put the bottom half, with the root stub intact, in a plastic bag or wrap tightly. The onion will still be alive and will last much longer than diced onion, or any part cut away from the root.

You need to look into your local area's laws about managing/working in a bar. Here in AZ, managers (which is what I guess you'd be during the project) have to be certified by the state: take a class, have a background check, and get fingerprinted. A bar owner would be insane to let someone run their place without the certification; the penalty if an owner is caught include large sums of cash, jail time, and, losing the right to ever own or work in a licensed establishment in AZ ever again. You'll probably also need a food handler's card. You're going to need to develop a relationship with an owner. I think what they would want is an assurance that it will make money, and, that you won't require any extra work on the part of the owner or staff. They are not going to want to do anything much extra just to indulge your dream. Also, they will definitely want to retain control of cash handling, so, you'll have to work out how to direct the customers to pay. But, then, if they pay with a credit card, you need to get your cut from those receipts. Whoever does the books is going to have be able to work out your split easily.

Springform pans will leak eventually. In culinary school, I was taught not to use them. We made cheesecake in regular cake pans. One way to have a super-crisp crust is to bake the cake and crust separately and only unite them when served. Usually with some sort of pate sucre, or other dough type crust that can reliably be moved around as a disc.

Good luck! Don't forget to take some photos and give a report afterwards!

He does seem to have a favorite 4-letter word I could do without hearing all the time. I enjoyed seeing him bring common sense and insight into the situations presented in Kitchen Nightmares. However, I've been without my DirectTV for about a year and have no idea what goes on these days. The US Kitchen Nightmares episodes can be viewed online at the fox site. You might want to watch the Amy's Baking Company episode if you haven't seen it. I think that episode is also on Youtube in three chunks. It was a bit of an event here in Phoenix.... And, I was (un)lucky enough to get a reservation and eat a meal, sort of, at the grand re-opening.

Don't forget that there are a wide variety of foods available in aseptic, shelf stable packages that do not need refrigeration -and taste better than canned goods. That said, I'd get some fruits and vegetables that do not need refrigeration, take a look at what the grocery store doesn't refrigerate: potatoes, onions, shallots, tomatoes, avocados, lots of fruits, and if seafood is involved, citrus fruits. Get a ton of lemons. Bring some live herbs in soil. Look for that lettuce that's alive. Both can just be out and growing til needed. Don't forget to bring dry spices, salt, and some sort of fat like a bottle of olive oil. Virgina ham might be a good option, it takes a while to cook but needs no refrigeration.

Anyone looked into tent rental? Yeah, I'd make at least 1.5 times the guest list of each item. (this is for fashinista, model-skinny, movie-star people who don't eat much) So, for 80 guests at a fancy event where don't want to be caught chewing, I'd make at least 120 pcs of each item. Too many types of offerings is a typical mistake for beginning caterers, you'll get wiped out early and not know why. There's an old adage in catering that out of politeness people (even those who do not actually eat) will take one of every flavor/type of thing. -And go back for seconds on what they like. (thus the 1.5 number) So, if you serve 3 items to 100 people, you'll need an absolute minimum total of 450 pcs -150 of each type. But, if you decide to serve 5 different things, you'll need a minimum of 750pcs -again 150 of each type. Making more types or flavors of food doesn't help you, it will sink your ship. -You'll run out of food early, spend a lot more time making things, and spend a ton of money on ingredients. And, then, no one is happy: you're tired, the guests want more food, the host is angry, and you're still waiting to get the balance owed you. (ok in this case, I know there's no payment involved) If the group is comprised of people who actually eat, and maybe weigh more than 99.5lbs when wet, I'd make 2-3 pcs per person. If kids are present, go quadruple on the cookies. Chris Taylor is absolutely correct that it's a LOT easier to make large numbers of one thing than to switch gears and make another flavor or type of food. If anything, it means you don't have to clean the mixer between batches of say, madelines, just keep cranking out more dough.

The OP mentioned eclairs in his original message. To finish an eclair, one picks it up, jabs a hole with a thick skewer, puts the skewer down, picks up the piping bag, pipes the pastry cream, puts down the piping bag, flips the eclair so the bottom is facing downwards, dips the top in warm ganache, flips it back up then places it carefully onto a tray. He was already planning on doing 80+ of these on location. I don't think adding to this workload is very wise. That said, I usually fill small cups, shells, etc., where the filling will be seen, with piped rosettes. They take longer than dumping blobs with a plain tip, but that's often what separates fine catering from ordinary food. That and the fact that I am very aware that the 'pile of dog poop' shape is not a real piping figure no matter how many cheap cupcake places insist on using it on their wares. -Whenever I see that shape I cringe. If all you want is a lump of stuff on something, there are manual depositors that hold more than a piping bag, are faster to use, and, more accurate in measuring out portions. Some things might be done best with a mechanical, ice cream-style scoop.

I'd only count on piping MAYBE one thing on site. Even that may be too much with all the setup you will need to do. You have to consider the numbers. Even I, with a lot of piping experience, can only pipe about 90 things an hour, if I don't have to pick them up. If I have to pick them up, like a cream puff or eclair, the number goes down to maybe 55 an hour. You're going to be slower, a lot slower. So is your assistant. You also need to factor in time to re-load bags, because most of the things you are talking about piping aren't 3m dots, they are 1-2oz shots of pastry cream, mousse, etc. If you have 3 things to pipe and you want 80+ each, you're going to need at least 5 hours to do it. If you want to dip the eclairs in ganache of some sort, double the production time on those.

Rumaki?

I use canning jars, there are half-gallon sizes for larger amounts, and my vacuum sealer. I went with all wide-mouth jars, but there's also a regular mouth attachment as well. The jars are relatively inexpensive, check Ace Hardware, and the lids can be re-used for a couple of years before they won't hold a seal. An added bonus is that my shelves look better with everything in the same type jar. I have no idea if the vacuum kills the bugs, but, it's easy to check the glass container without opening it and I haven't had any problems with larvae in my foods since I started doing this. That said, the hormone traps in my cupboards do occasionally catch some beasties. But, they aren't in most of my food. Years ago, I had a horrible infestation and tossed out everything and scrubbed the kitchen with vinegar. (even the cocoa had weevils, blech!) That was when I started using the canning jars and the sealer.

I hope this isn't too basic but, you should finalize the menu then break it down into component parts then into tasks. So, say you're making bruschetta. Your components are bruschetta breads and the topping. Tasks for the topping would include dicing veg then maybe slicing olives, measuring seasonings, then combining everything. The tasks don't have to be done on the same day -chopped olives will hold for a long time. You then make a work schedule for every day you have available to work. So, you wind up with a master list of tasks (pair with recipes and a provisions list) and a schedule for each day. As I complete tasks on a day, I check them off on the that day's schedule and the master list. This way, you are less likely to forget something. The provisions list will save you time because you go out to shop once. The day of the event should also have a packing list so that nothing gets left behind accidentally. That list should include your sanitation supplies: sani buckets, bleach, lots of towels, gloves to fit you and the assistant (wearing black? use powder free gloves), aprons (more than one, just in case), extra piping bags & tips, ice packs, and backups of things like chafing fuel. Don't forget tubs to bring back your dirty serving trays and utensils, etc.