McAuliflower

Boy- I kind of ran off on my own inspiration after seeing the thread title. I don’t buy canned refried beans anymore. I don’t buy ketchup anymore. I don’t buy Bisquick anymore. I don’t buy canned soup anymore. I don’t buy canned chili anymore. I don’t buy salad dressing anymore. I don’t buy teriyaki sauce anymore. I don’t buy bottled marinades anymore. …I can make them better myself. I don’t buy soda anymore. …for nutrition reasons. I don’t buy Hershey’s anymore. I don’t buy Nestle anymore. I don’t buy non-local apples anymore. …because I’ve had better.

I was wondering if its possible use some kinda of liquor ( under 30 ) in marshmallow batter.Would that prevent the batter from setting? I've made bourbon marshmallows with success. I've also replaced part of the corn syrup with honey successfully too. Do you think it would be OK to add lime or lemon juice to the water and gelatin at the beginning of the recipe (in place of the vanilla)? Or would the acid screw things up? I've tended to add my flavors (alcohols, essential oils, extracts) at the end of the recipe- after the solution is whipped up and fluffy. Partly because I haven't wanted them exposed to heat. Purees I add as the recipe directs. I've made lovely lemon marshmallows (for use as the tamago in my dessert sushi). A lemon poppyseed marshmallow is fun to make as well.

I have been chewing on this thread topic since it first came up, with nothing to add... until yesterday: canned coconut juice it was kind of like pie crust flavored water, which I can't believe didn't taste good...

while staring at her air brushed face on a box of Triskets over thanksgiving, it dawned on me... With more and more exposure, RR is getting accumulatively more tv-generic-female looking. I think she has become the new Betty Crocker.

>>FEBRUARY 9 & 10, 2007 you're getting a bit impatient? Yes glasses may be .50, but I believe the money largely comes from the tickets purchased, ala your typical beer fest. I haven't been recently, though did in the past. I nice way to attend this event is to work as a volunteer beer server and after your shift, go peruse the offerings. I was able to work the Collaboration Booth (think that's the KLCC one) and had a blast.

the chef blog Ideas in Food. They are very generous with their inspiration, and documentation of their dishes. They have recently begun selling a book online as well. This is a rich blog, well worth the time going through.

I've made a nice raspberry fudge by just adding crunchy dehydrated raspberry bits to your basic fudge recipe. The dried raspberries are fun to break down as they fall apart into separate drupes. It adds flavor and doesn't muck about with the consistency.

thanks for the ideas- - the truffles were rolled in a cool kitchen, probably around 62F, and it was in a significantly warmer atmosphere that this started happening. -the original recipe said that rolling in chocolate or cocoa was acceptable. - this batch of truffles was actually just half with strawberry, which was rolled on the outside of the truffles: Even truffles without strawberries on the outside weeped. The ganache consisted of half and half, 70% chocolate, and vinegar. (Love the bleedin hearts!) I'll do a thicker shell next time. More I think about it my kitchen was too cold. I don't have experience using invert sugar... is it considered not hygroscopic?

well.... I work at a school, inside Juvenile Hall.... so, not sure if there are anything appropiate to poke fun at.... ← darn that "appropriate" word... Cheese crackers? Roasted and spiced nuts? Potato stuffed empanadas with sweet tomato and onion jam? Grilled asparagus? I was thinking savory items that might be a refreshing break from sweets. damn... I've got munchies...

a thought- oven cleaner spray? Also, I think I've seen it mentioned in the Queen of Clean's book (don't have it- was skimming in a bookstore) to soak a fabric softener sheet in your dinged up baking ware. Maybe that would help here? A total last resort try: in my metal fabrication class we're always burning off stickers and glue with the torches under a hood. Maybe you can burn it off using an application that's hotter and more directed than an oven?

annachan, were do you work? aka, what do you do? I take particular pleasure in making food that kind of refers to my work... (I work in a research lab with tropical fish... so I make alot of fish cookies and crackers that poke fun at science) is that a possibility with your work place?

Made a batch of balsamic strawberry truffles using Alice Medrich's bittersweet proportions. For the first time I coated them in a thin layer of tempered chocolate (well, I think it was tempered properly... that's a new thing for me to do as well). Truffles were great- chocolate coating had a nice delicate shell effect. However, after two days or so, noted that tiny beads of liquid were forming on the outside of the shell. Is this the result of my outer coating being too thin? The vinegar in the ganache? Or did I accidentally consume a weeping Virgin Mary apparition? thanks

Alex and Aki are now offering a book of inspiration for purchase. It's $49.08 softbound, or $18.75 as a download. From their blog: "We decided to take advantage of modern technology and self-publish the first book ourselves. It's not a recipe book, although we're working on a few of those, it's a book of photographic inspirations. All of the pictures have been featured here on the site. We've picked our favorites and compiled them into an album of sorts, complete with menu descriptions so that you know what you're looking at. Sometimes a picture is better than a recipe because it gives you a jumping off point without any constraints on your imagination. Alex was the architect, choosing and arranging the photos for your pleasure. So, if you enjoy the site, please take a look at what we've created. If you like it, you can purchase it here or use the bright blue button at the top of the page. *the book is 172 pages long with 172 images and it is soft bound "

you know... blue is one of the most unappetizing colors ever! I still can't get over that blue tempura!

not in my repertoire, but a google search for marshmallow pumpkin pie resulted in lots of other possibilities similar to the link Badiane provided. Will have to try this next year!

also- adding a layer of carmelized onions as a base layer is heaven.

Orangette just posted a thanksgiving recipe reminder list that included Sweet Potato rolls. Wonder how your recipe would do with mashed yams or sweet potatoes for the mashed potato part?

I just love this thread. I'm looking for a fun set of flavors for strawberry truffles... the Dec 06 Bon Appetit has a Balsamic Truffle with Katrina Markoff of Vosges that I'm thinking of rolling in powdered strawberries. Also thinking of tossing some whole peppercorns into the ganache cream. That wouldn't be overdoing it, would it?

great squirted on top of Jicama

The Art of Eating Website.

Flavor Variation: with my second loaf I added caramelized onions, shredded emmenthaler, and poppy seeds to the dough. I added this all at the very beginning step- these goodies hung out with the dough during all the rising. It was quite tasty, though the cheese caused the load to stick to my Creuset. This resulted in the loaf being cut in half. Wonderful flavor combo- toasting the bread was divine! I've had bread for half of my meals the last couple days...

phenomenal meal and write up... virtual dining at its finest! practically a culinary Dr. Seuss story

idea: use liquid nitrogen... (welding supply stores, see all the necessary precautions) Dry ice can be obtained from ice cream stores (Baskin Robbins?) and maybe butchers. regarding food safe: just don't have your ice cream come in contact with the dry ice. Freeze scoops of your ice cream solid in your freezer, pop those scoops in a plastic bag and then bury the bag in dry ice. Regarding the molten sugar step your reference... why not just do the caramelizing creme brulee style? Dust the top of your frozen hard ice cream with sugar and blow torch. Or, make spikes or threads of hard crack sugar to then adorn your ice cream. I once used dry ice to freeze my liquid ice cream base... it made this neat texture in that the bubbles aerated and froze the ice cream at the same time. The resulting ice cream looks just like bread!

side note: Wow- you just triggered an odd food memory: in Germany on the Air Force base, eating an ice cream sundae with a red dyed grape instead of a cherry!

Maybe it will grow. I was pretty disappointed too. Google's always building something new and different. ← Google has recently unveiled an application to create your own custom google search that culls through url's of your specifying. Elise of Simply Recipes has just put up FoodBlogSearch.com which searches through the food blogs listed on her site. This is a foodie search that warms my heart, a plebian conglomeration - unlike the Yahoo Food venture.