gfron1

I went just over 3 hours and they were very tender and fall off the bone, but I still had to dig my teeth into some peculiar knooks and crannies.

I don't see any. It comes out a very thick pourable liquid, but dries as a crunchy toffee-esque.

I was sent a review copy of Menu del Dia, a cookbook of everyday, working class Spanish cooking. So, now I'm cooking my way through it on my blog. Last night I made three dishes: Potatoes cooked with chorizo & nora peppers [Patatas con Chorizo (p. 47)] Spinach with piñon and raisins [Espinacas a la Catalana (p. 51)] Braised oxtails [Rabo de Toro (p. 92)] All were very good, and this was my de-flowering to the world of oxtails. The work to payout ratio may make me abstinent in the future

Thanks guys. I want to re-do it as popper sized balls if they will stand up to the frying. Isn't this a great time of year for us sweeties!

Beautiful run of meals! I'm coveting David's polenta dish (good comfort food on a cold Fall night) and Prawncrackers stirfry! Wow. And, yes - welcome tkassum - keep 'em coming!

Just a note to say that I made the butter scotch that Andie linked above. I ate some straight. I chopped some up for chocolate chip cookies. And right now I've got a cheesecake with a whole slew of the pieces in it. Very good stuff!

I'm hooked on the savory granola in the new Alinea book.

Since this topic has veered a bit from pricing, let me add that the Small Business Development Centers (SBDC) are very helpful and free (typically associated with universities, but not always). They can help you with all sorts of aspects to the business. The other thing to consider is beyond food stores. Your work is beautiful enough that I could easily see it in spas, jewelry stores, or art galleries. How fun would it be during the holidays to do a sampling at an art gallery! You could also theme some chocolates to go with their current exhibits. I'm doing this with pastries in a few weeks for a holiday opening at one of our premier galleries. If people are in a gallery, then they are certainly your customers who will pay full price. And if you have a mailing list already, that's something you would be offering the site - you will market your tasting to your customers to bring a new set of people into their business ... win-win!

I recently made a celery ice to garnish a borscht. Celery curd filled strawberry macarons Celery mousse cake Celery Italian Meringue And my personal favorite: celery geleè wrapped white chocolate ganache filled with Moroccan olive powder HERE

For the Foodie BlogRolls Royal Joust of Coffee, Black Peppercorn & Honey, I submitted: Fried Morning-After Ice Cream Black & Szechuan peppercorn infused brandy ice cream, coated in coffee tempura, and fried. Boy was it good! You can read the recipe at my blog HERE.

I made this 50th Birthday vegan cake this weekend: Prior to this cake I had never made a vegan cake that I really enjoyed - always too dry or gummy. This one was perfect- I mean I would have been proud to serve it to a non-vegan audience. Look how nice the crumb turned out: Definitely more box cake-ish than genoise, but that's okay since the majority of the US prefers that type of cake anyway. And then I did the water ganache outlined HERE which was fast and easy. I filled it with some Pakistani orange marmalade. The key to the cake is using good vinegar (I used yuzu vinegar), and I've outlined the process at my blog HERE.

I used this technique last night on a vegan birthday cake and it was perfect. No fuss and it wasn't time consuming as others had warned. The whole process took just over 3 minutes including microwave time, and my ~45 seconds of whisking. Perfect. Thanks.

I probably wouldn't waste it on this, but I wonder if you could use it as a boiling liquid for say squash gnocchi or some other fresh pasta.

I worked through that a while back HERE.

All good suggestions. Alana - I don't know that I've ever had a cake that didn't have some pull - am I complete failure What you're describing is what I'm going for, but I think every cake I've made pulls in from the top (not so much from the bottom). And the poured frosting/glaze is what I typically do to compensate, but that isn't "perfect" and so I have to do a buttercream base to get ultra smooth sides. And Annie, I do cut while either frozen or very chilled, but same - I get crumb roughness although it is much better than room temp. Maybe a sharper cutter.

Thanks for these suggestions. I'll see what will work out best for my panforte.

So what exactly is sourdough ice cream? I've seen others make it as well, and I can't quite figure any way to make it other than an Amoretti sourdough flavoring.

I want to make a panforte but can't find a good priced citron, nor a citron not filled with preservatives. Is there a way to simulate candied citron?

I can only answer from the retailers perspective. First, I always ask my wholesaler if they can get me a lower price. That may simply mean a lower price, but it also means do you have quantity price breaks, seasonal price breaks...what can you do to make this more attractive to me. Any item that comes across my desk I double the wholesale (including shipping if it exists) and ask if I would pay that much. So for example, I had someone bring me locally raised, grass-fed beef yesterday. The wholesale was $4.95/lb. Obviously I can't sell that for $9.95/lb - maybe in a big city, but definitely not here. She agreed to take it down to $4.25 if I buy 50 pounds at a time, or if I gave her a 1 year purchase commitment. I think I can get $8.95 from the consumer...now we have a deal. This person also is going to commit to ## of in-store samplings at her expense and her own advertising listing us as the sole reseller. A very sweet deal for me. More direct to your question - I had a chocolate maker approach me last year. She makes nice bon bons and truffles. A bit big for my liking, but I'm sure they could sell. She wanted $2.50 each. I know I can't sell them at that price point. Simply too expensive. So I guess my advice is to view the retailer as someone with their own set of expertises and as a partner, and ask how can we make this work for both of us. I'm always surprised at how much people will pay for things that I wouldn't, but it takes a big to support from the provider/distributor to get me to try it. But any item, regardless of price, that sells quickly, is something I will restock.

When I do individual cakes using my SS pastry forms, say my 3" rings, the cake always pulls away as it cools leaving a non-perfect cylinder. Its not the end of the world, but I really would prefer a perfect shape. When I've made a large sheet and cut out my circles, I get a perfect cylinder, but the sides are rough instead of smooth which means the extra step of adding a frosting base to get the smoothness, but then I can't get as sharp of edges as I would like. Is there something I can do to get a perfect cylinder, or is it simply a problem I will have to live with?

Cute stuff guys! And Nakji, I agree. My second cake had just three small balls resting in the pool of geleè and was much classier looking. Thanks for the kind words about my balls all.

I forced myself to have a play day and made this cake inspired by a huge box of pomegranates that a friend gave me. Using the Exotic Orange Cake technique from a few years ago's Pastry Championships, I used pistachio cake, filled with rose cream, surrounded by pomegranate bavarain, then I sprayed white chocolate onto it, and finished it with some white chocolate orbs and banana tuiles. The cavity was filled with pomegranate geleè and fresh seeds. My employee says this was hideous, but I liked it. I have thick skin if you want to tell me its hideous - still working on my decorating skills. And, I've been wanting to show Kerry my balls since she taught me how to make them (and Lior taught me how to seam them). Thanks! I detailed the whole process on my blog.

Qzina, Cheeseworks West

I pulled out the ol' Wagner Power Painter today to coat this Pistachio/Rose/Pomegranate cake: I detailed the process at my blog.

How can you dislike potlucks! I love 'em! Since its a slow food potluck, how about a piñon tart with local goat cheese.