rickster

What about trying a risotto type rice like arborio or carnaroli?

I'd be surprised that Armstrong is racing after breaking his collarbone last month

If you google, there are a couple of sources for the product, but they seem like the sizes are for home use. Not sure if they are big/economical enough for commercial use.

I think Baking With Julia has a recipe for a Hungarian Shortbread Bar Cookie that has a layer of homemade rhubarb jam in the middle. Unfortunately I don't have the recipe.

I would only point out that it is standard practice on the show to hold the finals in a different site. Top Chef Chicago ended up in Puerto Rico and I think another season ended up in Aspen.

I agree, its a better substitute for ricotta in an Italian cheesecake, but I would be careful about salt since I think there is more salt in cottage cheese than ricotta

I thought this is similar to what are called French crullers.

sadly, tj's is discontinuing all king arthur flours. king arthur website blog ← That is bad news. They always had the best prices anywhere on King Arthur. I used to be a huge fan of Trader Joe's, but over time they have migrated more and more to selling only their own branded products, which I find to be hit or miss. These days I use them for only a few select items.

I agree with all this, although I have not seen much of LRS. One thing that bothered me with the format of this show as well as Hell's Kitchen (especially with HK, which I can't take for a number of reasons) is the fakeness of the whole restaurant/guest set up. They try to make you think these are real restaurants when everything is entirely staged. At least with Top Chef they limit it to one episode.

You could try to do some sort of mandala on the top (or is that purely Tibetan?), especially if it has to be a flattish cake to travel.

I can only guess, but I know if you heat butter to a high enough temperature, the solids coagulate and drop to the bottom - it's how you make clarified butter. I'd guess she doesn't want you to take it this far.

I would guess that MSG has a pretty negative image to most Cooks Illustrated subscribers and Marmite is a more socially acceptable recommendation.

In the paper, at least half the review is history, interior design and desserts before he even gets to the food, which seemed to me to be very superficially discussed for a 3 star restaurant.

Panna cotta doesn't have eggs (usually), just cream, flavors/sugar and gelatin. Sounds like it might work, the key issue being how to keep the chocolate from melting. If you cooled the pana cotta just to the point it was about to set, and maybe refrigerated the molds, it might help.

This makes me think of a shaker lemon pie as well as an option.

My local Trader Joe's is selling bagged apricot kernels in its nuts section and they're pretty cheap - they're advertising them as "poor man's almonds". They are roasted - I don't know if that is standard or not. I used some in an amaretti recipe a few weeks ago and it seemed to turn out pretty good. Just whizzed them in a food processor like chopping any other nut.

Excuse my ignorance, but how can you be semi-vegetarian? Either you're a vegetarian or you're not. ← I don't know, I think that's quite a debate between those that eat no animal products and those that make an exception for milk and eggs. My comment was meant to be a bit tongue in cheek, and there are also people who consider themselves vegetarians "but" they make an exception for fish. Gwyneth has just taken it one step further.

It looks like it might be out of print, but I own and have used East of Paris by David Bouley. It takes a lot of traditional Austro-Hungarian recipes and updates them. Alot of the book seems to be by his #2 guy at Bouley, whose name escapes me but was Austrian.

I wonder if the bowl shape is a cause of the collapse of the cake? Both recipes were basically meringue based and rely on preserving the egg structure. The bowl can't provide even heating by the nature of its shape. Just speculation on my part, but maybe you would need to use a less delicate cake type for it to work. Edited to add: beacheschef's point on butter cakes may be getting at the same issue in a different way.

Okay. So, Paltrow doesn't approve of jamon because it's not kosher. And yet, she eats shellfish, which I'm sure isn't kosher either. ← Paltrow has said that she doesn't eat meat from four legged animals - chicken and fish/shellfish are OK. I don't think it has anything to do with Jewish dietary restrictions and she was joking when she said "traif" and it really has to do with her semi-vegetarianism.

I've read they are given a list of 2-3 possible theme ingredients to prepare for in advance. And they practice the menu to make sure they can bring it in under an hour. I've also read that in fact they cook the menu twice - once for the TV taping of the cooking, and a second time for the actual judges tasting. I assume it's because the food would get cold by the time they get set up to tape the tasting portion.

But a cumulative points system, where points are awarded based on individual challenges would avoid this. The guest judge would still have input to the individual challenge. (I am not a fan of a points or cumulative process)

It's an interesting question. If Richard Blais had been her sous, would he have suggested sous vide or would he have suggested that she stick to her strengths? and if he did suggest sous vide, would she have been more likely to over-rule him than Casey?

← Wow. As many of the commenters to that noted, that was tactless and classless. Carla took the blame on the show, and instead of being grateful for that, Casey made sure to rub it in one more time. While she attempted to save face, she ended up making herself look like a totally mannerless person. In addition to that, Carla's bio on the TC website and Carla herself say that she has classical French training. SO either they're lying, or Casey is just plain wrong. ← In her interview in the Washington Post, Carla says she went to L'Academie de Cuisine in Gaithersburg, Md.

Why would you charge LESS for your (superior) product? ← He's not. That $3.50 is his cost, at he's charging the customer $7-10. I vote for the catering option, too. They have to pre-order and pre-pay. That way you never make more than you need, and it will be easier for you to plan. It a good way for you to get your feet wet. ← I'm confused. I don't understand the ingredient costing, but I intrepreted this the same as baroness. he's charging the customer $3.50 per challah for 2-3 challahs which is $7-10 per customer per order. I agree he should be charging more than supermarket prices.