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My comments: This menu was inspired by Hatch Green Chiles. I didn't want to beat folks over the head with HGCs but I wanted the food to play off of the experience of the morning at the festival. As much as was possible, I wanted to source my products locally. Here we go... Course 1: Pixie Stix Let's just start it off with straight HGC! I gelatin clarified roasted HGC, eye dropped it into tart Granny Smith juice and a sprinkle of wasabi. This was served in a long tube that reminded me of those Jumbo Pixie Stix when I was a kid - you know, the ones where we ate 2 cups of flavored sugar in one fell swoop. Course 2: Pan de Vida Chronicled HERE, this is my sourdough shaped into chiles. I've had such amazing success with this sourdough and I owe much of it to hummingbirdkiss. This was the first time I made a small bread out of it, normally making batards. Course 3: Roasted Corn This was the course I was most looking forward to making. A piñon tuile with a roasted sweet corn panna cotta served with fresh garden tomatoes and a piñon horchata soup. Course 4: Sushi Nofishi I pureed HCGs, added a bit of egg white and corn syrup, spread them on a silpat and slow baked at 175F until dry. I then cut them into nori squares, added hitomobore rice, fresh mango and some sodium alginate HGC caviar from my gelatin clarified batch. It would have been more visually stunning if I had used my non-clarified chile. Course 5: Tuna Tempura I'm starting to have fun now! I wanted folks to expect the fish tuna, but instead I took prickly pear tuna (which I had been playing with HERE). I seeded them, stuffed them with chuchupate, an indigenous herb infused into local honey, white chocolate and topped with blueberries. I tempura battered and fried them. They were served on top of an oil lamp chimney, which had an Everclear soaked square of green chile at its base. The burning chile gave a brief, but dramatic moment, but what I really wanted was that whisp of roasting chile. HERE'S my experimentation with fire. Course 6: English Channel I had many failed trials HERE. I ended up with beet soaked tapioca pearls flavored with rice vinegar and soy sauce (ala TheSwede), set over a soft poached Guinea Fowl egg and a bit of gold leaf for good measure. Course 7: Bison Under Pressure This is the only course where I felt out of my element and it showed in the results. Sous vide bison tenderloin pan seared to finish with a molè verde, homemade ravioli with pancetta, parmesan and piñon, a light limoncello butter sauce, and a smear of morel infused ganache. The ravioli was the only self-anointed disaster of the night. Course 8: Summer Fruit I roasted some of my garden tomatoes, skinned, pureed, seasoned, gelified every so slightly. I served it with 25-year balsamic (guests said it was lost in the overall dish) and powdered basil oil. Course 9: Curso Queso Whiskey cheddar fondue with fried cornbread and microgreens. Just a transition course. Course 10: Tooty Fruity Hungarian sour cherry stuffed bao/bun served with lemon chantilly soup and sour cherry geleé cubes. I was afraid that this might be too bulky at this point in the meal, but none came back, so then I was worried that it wasn't enough food...so... Course 11: Tamal Dulce I re-created my dish from the Iron Baker Challenge and made the orange infused masa tamale with mincemeat filling, pan seared to finish, served with sage/agave ice cream (very melted in this pic). Course 12: Margaritas A little after dinner drink. I had been chatting incessantly with Kerry Beal on this since I had never made a pate de fruit. In the end it was exactly the finish to the meal that I wanted. Margarita pate rolled in sugar, salt and lime zest.

No apologies needed - I'm not a fan of beets either so it wasn't my favorite. Like I said, if I were to do it again - and I will - I would completely douse/rinse the pearls in a rice vinegar solution to completely remove the glutinous, gloppiness of it all. I might also consider some sort of oil rinse to slime 'em up a bit - in a good way. The egg on the bottom was a locally raised guinea fowl egg soft poached.

This past weekend a group of eGers gathering in my hometown for a few events including a tamale and tortilla workshop. Misstenacity posted THIS REPORT which includes a video of a demo. Enjoy!

Talk about teases! I'm just waiting to throw my head on a pillow again! What a fast weekend. I have absolutely NO PICTURES! So when Andrea and Chris get home, they'll have to do that work and I'll post my details. It really was a great weekend. Andiesenji's snacks (the ones that Andrea referred to) were wonderful. Since I never had time to sit for a full meal, I lived on her pistachio balls and candied ginger yesterday. I would love to have find out more about the balls - I just know that I can fit 5 in mouth comfortably.

I wasn't trying to make these vegan, in fact, they were served over guinea fowl egg. Hopefully Chris Hennes will post pics from the dinner. I ended up making Swedish Caviar where I used beet juice and tapioca. And yes, it became glutinous, so I rinsed it with extra rice vinegar which worked nicely. They turned out great so I'll make sure Chris sees this topic - I was too busy to take pics.

Okay, I'm out of time for trial runs so since TheSwede's horse is deader than a doornail, I'm going to do tapioca - I could only get small pearl. And I'm going to cook it in beet juice. I think your idea of soy and rice vinegar would be nice. Thanks again. I'll be sure to post and let you know how it turned out. And to explain - squid ink is not available anywhere within 3 hours from here, so that's just not an option. Its not as if I am an anti-squid bigot or something

I'm getting the topic kicked off although my time so far has been spent in the kitchen so I have experienced much of the weekend. Chris Hennes and Misstenacity showed up almost at the same time last night. I scurried them off to the tamale/tortilla workshop while I kept prepping for the tasting dinner tonight. I heard many pics were taken so I'll let them talk about the workshop. They'll be off for the Chile Fest in just a bit. Many, many more details to com.

I'm not quite sure what that means. Is Israeli couscous not considered couscous? I'm using the large pearl couscous - similar in size to tapioca. I'm going to try beets in a few minutes here. And Pat, while squid ink is the best option, its not available in my town which is why I'm looking for something less usual. Thanks everyone - I'll be sure to post results...

beet juice! The ultimate dye! Off to the store.

Another great idea - thanks. For the rest of the story. This will be served in a caviar tin over a soft poached egg. So the flavors do have to meld. "What was I thinking with the Dr. Pepper..."

I've got kitchen disasters surrounding me, so I went in to my tea room to calm the nerves with a bit of tea and as I was sipping away I realized - dumbshit - try tea! I've got my blackest tea on the stove right now! Cross your e-fingers for me.

Unfortunately no. If anyone in town would carry it, it would be us, but we're out.

Alright, I started with Dr. Pepper, went to a few other sodas, then Guinness beer, and just now carrots. I can't get the couscous to retain the color - I'm using Israeli couscous. I'm in the middle of nowhere with only one day left to figure this out. Squid ink is not an option, and I don't want to use food colorings, although a natural coloring is welcome. I've wondered if vacuum sealing it might help. Any ideas?

HERE'S a demo for you to use. I made a batch of cookies this morning. No problem! As suggested, there was plenty of chocolate to balance the beans. I used Peet's Mocha Java whole beans (slightly crushed) in a chocolate walnut cookie. They were very good. Thanks for the thoughts everyone.

May I share my romantic feelings for a moment? Today was the day that I welcomed a new friend to my kitchen. He is a friend that I invite each year, but only comes for one day. He releases his musk, which wafts through my nose, sending quivers of orgasmic ecstasy throughout my limbs. If I could wrap my arms around his scent, I would squeeze so hard that he could never leave. But, alas, he always does. After a few short hours all that remains are memories of his existence, and maybe an instant recall following a bite of his slimy green flesh. Yes, my friends, today is the day I roasted my chiles! For those of you who haven't met my friend, I'll do my best to introduce you. This time of year, green chile trucks are all over our highways and side roads. Behind them lay a crumb trail of green curled peppers. My first experience with the real deal (not the canned Ortega crap) was in a little tiny town called La Garita, where after a day of rock climbing with Tory, I would get a green chile cheeseburger. This truly is food of the gods. Nowadays I have green chile year round, at pretty much any restaurant I go to. And I use green chile daily in the cafe for a couple of our menu items. So today's reuniting with my friend was as much about love as money (I'll spend pennies on the dollar using these chiles). Here is how its done. You start by going to pretty much any grocery in the area and pay about $17 per bushel with a $2.50 roasting fee. Bring your own trashbags and/or pillow case. Here's my friend waiting for his ride: The full write-up can be found at my blog. My question - does anyone tip their roaster attendant? I always feel like I should so that probably answers it, but I'm curious.

I get mine through subscription, but I don't know if you can find it on newsstands. I did not see any article on PH.

I don't, but then what's the difference? Or, is there a difference between the stuff they coat in chocolate v. a bean intended for drink. If there is no difference, then I should be able to substitute. I'm a cheapskate, but if I have to I'll just try a batch with some espresso beans.

I have a recipe that calls for chocolate covered coffee beans and also chocolate chips. I don't have chocolate covered coffee beans. Can't I just use regular coffee beans and add a bit more chocolate?

I am a professional (I'm just not sure in what yet), and I'll disagree in my certain context. I'll also not offer any fancy formulas because I have more disasters than successes! That is why, my friends, you are highly unlikely to see me make a cake and post it in these forums At altitude, it seems that scaling leavening is important. Now, I'm not talking about the altitude leavening adjustment that we know has to be done (as much as 50% less - thank you pastrygirl for the tip), but when I do varying sized pans as suggested in this example, if I use the same batch of batter, each cake will have a different outcome. Think of it (and this is a terrible analogy) as a battery of cannons - each cannon of a different size. The short, stout cannon shoots a heck of a cannonball, but it doesn't go very far. The tall, thin cannon shoots a smaller ball, but a very long distance. So...if you're still with me on this analogy, if I put the same exact batter in a 9" pan and an 11" pan, and fill them to the same level, inevitably my 9" pan will do fine, and my 11" pan will rise and crash. Okay, like I said, its not a perfect analogy (maybe volcano spouts would be a better one - this has to do with constriction and pressure I think), but I wanted to give the physicists something to work with

A quick thanks to ChefCrash. I've been making your recipe (sometimes modified, sometimes not) ever since you posted it. A few weeks ago I had a woman hire me to make a full sheet for a book signing/reading that she was doing for THIS BOOK, and she was very particular. Regular fillo, not wholewheat. Simple syrup, not honey. Rose water, not orange. Nut mix, not pistachio...you get the idea. So I did your recipe with three layers, nut mix on the bottom and pistachio only on the top. I was very nervous about hearing what she had to say. She actually came into the store this afternoon to thank me for helping make her event so successful. She said the baklawa was perfect! So, I pass the thanks on to you. شكرا لك

It is helpful. While I don't mind having some misses in a 12 course menu, I do want to improve the odds. Silk Tassel seems my best bet. I can't imagine it offending anyone, but it would give me what I need. I also will relook at my use of citrus. I have some in there already and maybe it needs to come more into play earlier in the menu. Thanks all.

I heat the tortillas on a grill and add the fillings. Currently I only have one burrito on the menu, which I put hot beans in to melt the cheese, etc.. I think the set-up would be similar - have two or three hot core fillings (beans, rice, ???) and add the extras to it.

I'm just being thankful for this thread today. Yesterday, after one month in the kitchen, I blew out my hiking boots. The scary part is that I put literally thousands of miles on my hiking books and they last years. Then I wear them in a kitchen for one month and bam! I'll be re-reading this thread for ideas on my next purchase.

Thanks for the feedback. I'm going to share your comments with my herbalist and talk through it with her again. And as for the Passover comment...well, it is I guess My rationale is 1) I feel like my dish needs it, and 2) I want to play with the traditional use of bitters to stimulate digestion. My hope is to get this incorporated 20 minutes before the entree. ******** Here is my first trial: Purple Gentian Smell - very faint, almost sweet Directly in mouth - I refrained from spitting it out! Bitter with a slant toward acidic. It reminded me of chewing on licorice root. The flavor is somewhat "roundish" and is concentrating on the back of my tongue, as expected by the outdated map of the tongue. As a tea - More smooth, but still quite bitter. More of the sensation was experienced on the tip of my tongue. Silk Tassel Smell - virtually none Directly in mouth - Flavorless As a tea - Has the smell of a good green tea. A very nice taste with just a tinge of bitterness on the tip of my tongue. I would drink this as a tea happily. Oregon Grape Smell - dusty, non-distinct Directly in mouth - Similar to putting cream of tartar in your mouth with a slight earthy flavor. As a tea - Not good nor bad. So non-distinct that I won't be using this. Hops Smell - Fresh and green Directly in mouth - Almost citrus-y, but mainly mild As a tea - Not pleasantly bitter - how did this stuff end up in beer?! Nothing unique about it.

Good to know my subscription wasn't lost. Today I received my Dessert Professional, the new version of a combined magazine (PA&D, Frozen Desserts & Chocolatier). Same guts as the old format.