gfron1

I carry Peet's in my store, so two additional comments. First, Peet's is very protective of how their coffee is distributed and has high expectations for freshness. That said, my local Albertson's regularly has 'past date' coffee on its shelves, which I partly attribute to the fact that Peet's has confusing dating label. So watch your freshness (you can find a code interpreter on their website). Second, they no longer provide whole bean decaf products. I've never been told why, but they stopped a couple of months ago.

Did you run it through a sieve? That would probably perfect it.

and the swans...are they meringue?

I think I would cook it down too, and I would add a touch of rum for good measure.

Be sure to check out: 99% Cocoa. Wine with savory chocolate Similar question to yours in Pastry & Baking Savory pastries Pairing chocolate and savory flavors Starchef report on savory uses of chocolate A specific dish using Valhrona One more anyway...you get the idea.

We sell quite a few of the Heinz dicks at my store. I strategically group them with jars of cockles and Uncle Joe's mint balls.

Two topics that will give you more info than you could ever want. Dulce de Leche Cajeta I haven't done it, but apparently its safe, the question then becomes...why?

No pic in the book and it didn't rise anymore than a pound cake, so I don't know. Many of her recipes leave you extras to be used later - for example this one had some scraps from the squaring off, which I quickly ate, but then yesterday realized the very next recipe wanted me to use in the babka which I'm preparing to make. I have been making high altitude adjustments on the cakes using THESE recommendations, which have been very successful for me.

HERE'S a previous topic on 99% bars. I used mine grated over a salad with fresh strawberries and a vanilla vinaigrettes - good stuff! The flavor definitely holds its own and if eaten properly is not overwhelming.

I don't have tv service because 1) I'm cheap, and 2) I would waste my life away watching it. However, my mom knows I love Ace of Cakes and so she tapes it and sends it monthly. She'll often include other shows that she likes that are packaged around AoC. Lately she's been including this Sandra Lee lady - WTF! And from 2005 no less - was she worth showing in 2005 any more than 2007?! I kept saying to my spouse, "Just turn it off, she's just opening cans." And we would sit and wait for her to create anything-anything from scratch. It never happened. Now forgetting that the woman who released me from her womb watches and enjoys such tripe, I never would have been able to experience the marvels of that show without reruns So see...reruns are a good thing.

Last night I made a super meal of Chicken with Vin Jaune and Morels for some friends and capped it off with the Cassatta. Six layers of rich almost-pound cake layered with currant jelly and a mixture of ricotta, cream cheese, cream, marsala, and cinnamon, covered in a light and smooth fudge frosting. As I'm coming to expect with this book, this was a really tasty and easy dessert. I had stayed away from it for a while because I thought it was going to be a lot of work - it wasn't. A couple of challenges however. The recipe called for baking the cake in two 8x4 loaf pans, then cutting each into 3 layers. What you're seeing in these pics is just one loaf pan - I ended up making two cakes which is fine with me, but if I had done it her way, the cake would have been nearly 12 inches tall. The second concern was the filling. When I made the filling according to the recipe it was too thin. If I had simply mixed the filling and put in on the cake, it would have oozed out or soaked in. I tried to whip the cream while mixed which did thicken it some, and then I put it in the fridge to firm up the cheeses. Those steps made it thick enough to work with. I think the problem was that I used reduced fat ricotta since it was the only thing available in my town. That may have thinned the mixture enough to cause the problem, so someone who has access to full fat ricotta should let us know if they run into the same issue.

Its a cassata cake (currant and ricotta) from Amernick's book. I'll be posting it HERE after I get the gut shot tonight with dinner.

I'm going to back this demo up a bit. As I'm sure many of you have noticed I am not a good decorator. I'm too busy playing around with flavors and techniques to take the time to have a clean finished product. But, I'm working on that especially with cakes and tortes. So I just finished a 6 layer cake and I made the cake in loaf pans as per the recipe. I did my horizontal slices with one of those wire guided thingies. But I didn't want the angled sides, so I figured a way to get sharp edges on the cake. This is old hat to many of you but I was pretty proud of figuring out this technique. I sandwiched the cake between two small boxes. I gently saw cut the chilled cake using a sharp bread knife. Rotated the cake and did the other sides. In the end, I have perfect 90 degree angels all around except a small bit on the top corners which will be resolved with frosting. I'll be using the previous demo later today when I frost.

I burned my dried rind last night and it smelled amaziningly just like burnt paper Not a hint of lemon aroma. I'm going to soak a coffee filter with lemon rind extract and see what that does.

For me its the Greenspan/Herme collection with the incredibly detailed closeups. Those images help convey texture which otherwise is relegated to words like "smooth," "creamy," "just combined," "light and fluffy," etc. The cover of Chocolate Desserts is the ultimate example with that incredible chocolate mousse.

I sell MC as my primary good chocolate v. El Rey for my standard (I'm talking bars not couv). Since I get it at cost, I can use it anyway I want. However, I find that MC is wasted in certain creations. I've tried it in Ling's brownies...lost. I've tried it in mousses...mostly lost. But, every time I've picked the right MC and featured it as a distinct flavor - not just chocolate, its been a hit. So, I do think you're in the right mindset. If I were a professional pastry chef, I would probably not be using MC as it would not be appreciated enough to justify cost. If I were a chocolatier, then it would be a great option if, again, properly paired. But, just my 2 cents.

Anybody make anything exciting that is not sweet lately?

I hadn't even thought about all the folks who volunteer to work at our store just to help out, or to get a discount. Last month we had a woman come in and say our front lawn (yes, we have a front lawn at our store- that's rural) looked neglected and asked if she could plant some mums and bulbs for us. We let her Then there was the guy who came by last week. He lives in the mountains - some would call him homeless, but he has a home - the mountains, and he brought us a bunch of mushrooms to sell, eat, whatever - and they were good! When we moved into our new building, customers came by to move our inventory, paint the store, run electric for lighting, etc. These are the joys of small town life.

Patrick A and I are going to get started on one this week - we're going for size since it will be a store display piece. We want to sell it right before Christmas - obviously for looks not eats. We're in a very dry climate so humidity won't be an issue. Can this sucker last a month or do we need to spray with some toxic chemical coating like polyurethane? We'll be sure to post pics of whatever we end up with since we want to play with a few decorative ideas - spun sugar, spray painted white chocolate snow, and if we have time pulled sugar red chiles.

I'm also interested since I gave up making these years ago after numerous warped walls, uneven lines (post baking) and general unsturdiness of the cookie. Surely someone has played with various sugars, flours, baking temps/times, etc.

[This isn't necessary a MG question, but the technique is found primarily at restaurants often defined as MG] I want to create a lemon rind smoke and capture it underneath a glass - ala Alinea's lavender and nutmeg pillows. I'm not up for buying fancy expensive equipment - any ideas? Right now my thought is to dry a bunch of lemon rinds that are finely minced or shaved. Then light them. Somehow capture the smoke, and somehow direct the smoke to fill the glasses.

My first recipe from the book - I wanted to test it for a kids cooking class. This is totally not what I was expecting, but yeah, its a great cookie.

The definition of rural becomes quickly debateable for exactly the reason that malawry describes above. I don't think fringe communities count because they do have relatively easy access. But "fringe" then can be debated...but I digress, that's not the question at hand. I live in a town of 12,000 two hours from Las Cruces and three hours from an airport (Tucson or El Paso). Our county is larger than a couple of Northeast US states, but I'm sure smaller than Australian counties. Being a store owner, I know that we we are an anamoly. Before I opened the store 3 years ago, we had our Albertson's (which is not as stocked as large city versions), our Wal-Mart (which is the small town model-no frills), our Piggly Wiggly/AP/small town chain, and our health food co-op. Not too bad...but then we're bigger than a 200 person town. The fresh meat and seafood selections have always been and continue to be terrible. When my store opened (we are an international and gourmet grocery) the foodies in town went bizerk because now they could get Thai, Indian, real cheeses, good Italian, etc. heck, they could even get argan oil and 25 year balsamico. That's not to toot my own horn, but we're really proud of how we've changed the culture of the town in a postive way. Before us, if you wanted any of those things, you would listen for which friend was driving "to town" and ask them to make a stop for you. But from the store perspective, here's my observation of small town buying. I'm still figuring out what items people like and dislike. With frequency I'll bring an item in to try out, and it will catch on. It takes a long time but word of mouth spreads and the item eventually sells, but let's say it takes 6 months for me to sell my case of Companion Braised Gluten (for a real example). I think its not worth keeping so I don't re-order. Then the five customers who bought it just can't live without it. So I order another case - but we're in a small town so I can't just order when I want, I need enough items to justify the shipping. So it finally comes in two months later. Those five customers rush in and buy me out in a week. Customer six comes in and we don't have it. Then next time I order two cases...now they sit unsold because everyone bought it before thinking I wouldn't have it again and are well stocked. So it sits on my shelf collecting dust. This cycle happens all the time. When you live in a small town, you hoard items because you just don't know if they'll be there tomorrow.

Be sure to check out the cream pie bake off HERE.

Less than 2 weeks away...what are the plans?