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gfron1

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Posts posted by gfron1

    The Supreme eG Baking and Pastry Challenge (#2)

    in Pastry & Baking

    Posted

    Good morning all. Two things came up whilst sleeping...

    1. I've heard that tamale masa should be bought premixed (wet) for a good tamale maker (which we have plenty of around here) because its more refined than buying the bagged powder. Anyone know anything about this? The only reason this causes concern was that I was going to rub lemon (or orange) zest into sugar, and then incorporate that into masa before mixing....if its already wet, that may not work as well.

    2. I have 6 paper thin sheets of meat (cut against the grain). My plan was to take lengthwise cuts of pineapple, layer them with the meat and brown sugar, and let the acids cook them a bit. Then I was going to try three cooking methods for the meat - 1. a dehydrator, 2. in a skillet with butter, 3. in the oven between two baking sheets on a low temperature.

    My goal is to have the meat be very delicate and break off as soon as its touched. I assume that when I pull the meat from whatever cooking process, that it will be soft, but as it dries in the air, it will become delicate. As a side note, we rarely have rain here, so the humidity is generally very, very low, but we have a rainstorm coming in for the next 2-3 days - that may effect the drying.

    Your Daily Sweets (2005-2012)

    in Pastry & Baking

    Posted

    Yes they are more chewy than crumbly - no crumbs missed my mouth in the eating of this cookie :biggrin:

    And yes I did use the whole clove for the stem. The orange water/sugar dipping process formed a glaze, so while the pic makes it look like there was loose powdered sugar - there wasn't.

    The Supreme eG Baking and Pastry Challenge (#2)

    in Pastry & Baking

    Posted · Edited by gfron1 (log)

    So here's the lay of the land...

    Yes, the course feels set to me as well, however, I have two days of utter madness in my life - that damn cheese bust is going to be the death of me! So, I hope you all keep sharing ideas, because two days is a long time in my mind. I've switched my brain from "what should I do?" to "can I pull off this technique?" So, I'll be rushing around until Sunday trying to figure this out - as the light bulbs turn on...please share because I may toss it all out and start from scratch.

    Tonight, however, was our bubble drink party. The fact that we had a bubble drink party should tell you how rural we are. We are about 3-5 years behind the coasts. I'm going to get posting the pics in the dinner thread.

    NOTE: For the record, no dirty gossip was shared with me about Ling as I alluded to previously...Ling has accrued celebrity status among eGulleters, and so she has become a target of jabs and jokes. All in good fun :)

    The Supreme eG Baking and Pastry Challenge (#2)

    in Pastry & Baking

    Posted

    I'm not ignoring these suggestions - all very helpful, but I'm in the middle of boiling my bubbles for tonight. I had a very successful trip to my butcher. Now I've got a team of carniceriadors (I may have made that word up) rooting for me in Spanish. I have paper thin beef steaks, and my kidney fat...I haven't made up my mind but its coming together.

    The Supreme eG Baking and Pastry Challenge (#2)

    in Pastry & Baking

    Posted

    Well I'm awake now and can unequivocablly say that I will not ask anybody to suck the dessert out of a pig snout. S_Sevilla seems to be channeling my thoughts right now. All of these ideas are really great and I can't wait to make a decision...however, last night I got to make a greek cookie for a friend (I'll post in the dessert thread later), and tonight I have my bubble drink party - and there's still that cheese bust I need to carve. I'm also heading down to Deming today (1 hour south) to go to my carneceria for the suet in case I happen to use it.

    I will also say that the backroom drama is much more intriguing than what the masses read on this thread. You would be surprised how many PMs have hit my box with secret tips, hidden secrets, and dirty gossip. Shame on you Ling...I never knew you were like that! :blink:

    The Supreme eG Baking and Pastry Challenge (#2)

    in Pastry & Baking

    Posted · Edited by gfron1 (log)

    OK, here is brainstorming gone awry. While I keep pulling away from the bison, I am drawn to it like an auto wreck on the side of the road. So tonight my spouse and I played more with the idea and could I actually pull off a sweet buffalo sheet. The idea that ended the conversation went something like this...

    "I really think pig is the way to go."

    "What part?"

    "How about snout?"

    "Snout!?"

    "Yeah, you could fry it, and hide something sweet inside, then ask the guest to suck on the snout to get the sweet out."

    On that note...good night!

    edited to add: In all seriousness my greatest dilemma is whether to go gimmicky or make something that any other human being might be intersested in making. If I do the snout, I'm inviting Ling for the first taste/suck :shock:

    The Supreme eG Baking and Pastry Challenge (#2)

    in Pastry & Baking

    Posted

    I know it's sort of off-topic, though it is food-related -- PULEEZ post a pic of the Velveeta sculpture, ok?

    It will happen in the cheese thread - the funniest part is that I asked his wife for pictures of him so I could carve the cheese, and since its a secret, she took them while he was asleep. He's turning 85, and the pictures look like they came straight from the mortuary (he's one of the alivest people I know), so we'll be sure to post the picture with the sculpture :)

    The Supreme eG Baking and Pastry Challenge (#2)

    in Pastry & Baking

    Posted · Edited by gfron1 (log)

    I assume Lorna went through the same thing last week - I had trouble falling asleep and woke up very early with ideas running through my head. Since this is a challenge, I feel like I should stay away from duck fat, and other things that are incorported into a dessert. What I'd really like to do is have the animal product be the focus of the dessert.

    I had to look up the definition of animal to see if bugs were fair game. Coincidentally, we're in the tail end of our tarantula mating season, so those nasty suckers are everywhere right now...but not for long.

    Renka, your comment intrigues me because I've felt drawn to the mooncake thread...drawn enough that I've been looking at buying a mooncake mold. I have a antique Chinese store nearby, and I just happen to be visiting that area tomorrow - so if they have one, maybe I'll see that as a sign.

    My wake-up thought was focused on bison. I was thinking of a paperthin sheet of bison (cut against the grain), soaked in an infused simple syrup (maybe sage), cooked somehow (possibly fried or boiled in sugar water) to make it very delicate and edible, with green chile chutney, and accompanied with a sage mousse. Clearly my sleep turned me to a conceptual dessert which I am in no way commited to, but I love the idea of making this dessert scream Silver City. All of these piece may prove to be too much in the end.

    To add to the drama, I've accepted Lorna's challenge on a week where I'm throwing a Japanese potluck tomorrow night (I got a Bubble Tea Party Kit :), a cheese cutting party on Thursday night in preparation for my monthly cheese party (we're having German to celebrate Oktoberfest) on Saturday night, for which I agreed to carve a lifesize bust out of velveeta blocks of a friend for his 85th birthday. That on top of running my store and my full-time job running a meth treatment clinic. Now that my excuse and whine is firmly established...I'm awake, enjoying my Peet's coffee and raring to go! Thanks again to Kerry for unleashing the beast, and to Ling for the challenge.

    Edited to add: And Jackal, I still think an interesting take on mincemeat might be fun since I've never had the real thing, and we're approaching the mincemeat season.

    The Supreme eG Baking and Pastry Challenge (#2)

    in Pastry & Baking

    Posted

    Animal product!??? Wow...well, OK. So I accept wholeheartedly.

    I'll post a bit more for background in the morning, but it reminded me of my fried peach skins that looked like bacon. My very, very initial thought is incorporating fish into a sweet paste and boiling it as a noodle - never done it, don't know if it would work, but its a starting point. Also, feel free to clarify the challenge if I stray from the original concept like if you're looking for a big piece of flesh draped over a chocolate cake (I gave up my veggieism about a year ago thank goodness).

    My other thought is that I want it to be accessible but a bit over the top.

    So that's it for now. All I have to say is I am very honored and can't wait to get going. As my spouse said, "You were challenged by the only EGulleter to have their own verb! Wow!" So, I'm off to out-Ling the Ling!

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