gfron1

Many a night of my undergrad in New Orleans ended at Popeyes. And I'll always hold dear their anniversary specials in the mid 80s where you could get all you can eat for $3. But just for lagniappe, I'll say when I went to Kansas City and needed late night drinking food, I used to go to "Go Go Chicken Go" near Rockhurst for the bucket of gizzards.

Thanks John for the complements and tips. The hand cream seemed safe (and 2 days later no one that I know of ended up in the hospital). I read the label very carefully and it contained nothing but cocoa butter - no preservatives, no colors, no fragrances. So, my assumption is still that the "external use" was because the factory isn't food certified. Which, I acknowledge, is reason enough to not use it in a commerical setting...which I'm not.

Over in the Cookbooks and References forum index you'll find the list of books: HERE and in the Pastry & Baking forum index you'll find some great tutorials and info: HERE.

Thanks for the kind words. No, there was no crust. They were eaten about 45 minutes after being put on the table (it was a fundraiser fashion show), which is longer than I would have liked. So at that point, and when I scarfed a damaged one right after spraying, but after it was starting to soften on our work table, neither time was their a crust. I did two full coats to ensure equal color coverage, so it wasn't quite pickable, but not gooey, slushy either. Did any of that make sense?

A new thought on this topic. Yesterday I judged an apple pie contest along with two trained chefs - both of whom use Sysco (or equivalent). There were two pies that had unusual tastes - atypical tastes. As we discussed the flavor, the two chefs were unable to discern the source. I quickly identified one as almond - specifically extract; and the other green chile - specifically roasted and fresh, not frozen. While that was not a controlled experiment, nor would I claim cause-effect, it did lead me to wonder if their tasting abilities have been homogenized. Since I'm not in the business, I create flavors and source unique flavors (hence the 10 different salts in my cupboard). My hypothesis is that they have hindered or limited their tasting abilities by using products from Sysco. Just a thought, not an attack.

Or Ce'nedra...maybe they can become an ice cream!

My guess is that the margarine is a commercial application decision (cost, shelflife, etc). All of the danish dough that I use calls for butter. But that's not your question. My recipes either have me cube the butter into 1/4" cubes (Julia Child), or sheet it like you're doing. When I sheet it, if I'm careful it won't be lumpy, but rather consistent and smooth. More commonly I will have uneven spots, but nothing disasterous - adds character in my opinion. I think that you're okay. Going forward of course, practice, and keep it cold. I return my dough to the fridge (or freezer) a few times in the rolling out process depending on the temp in my kitchen.

Now that I've invested in a sprayer that I can't use for anything but food I'll have to start playing more. eGullet will be seeing quite a bit of sprayed foods from me in the upcoming year

Clean up was very fast the way we did it. The sprayed area was just crumple the paper and toss. Because of how we used the paper, there was no overspray to clean off the floor. The painter was my fear knowing how stubborn chocolate can be. I just let my water get as hot as it could and filled the paint container, washed out the chocolate by hand, re-filled and sprayed it until the container was empty and the water was running clear (just like when you use paint). I then hand washed the container and did some spot check cleaning of the nozzle. I'll check today to see if there is any residue, but I didn't feel any. Less than 5 minutes of cleaning.

Here's what I learned from you all - I've always overbaked my cheesecakes. SugarSeattle - I owe you big! I pulled with just a hint of jiggle. These were a huge success. I made them for our local women's fiber art guild - passionfruit cheese cake, sprayed with white chocolate, tinted with Chef Rubber Aztec Orange. Thanks everyone for the help.

Here are the pics. First, here is the El Rey white and the hand cream ready for melting. I chopped them both a bit more. I simply heated in the microwave until most of the chunks dissolved and then babied it until completely dissolved so as to not overheat. Here are tools. I had a 5.2HP painter. I could have bought the cheaper ones, but my fear was that the chocolate would have been too thick to work through easily (that wasn't a problem at all). You can also see the colored buttercream - Aztez Orange from Chef Rubber. eG member Patrick A assisted on the project. We heard the recommendation to work on the ground, but I'm tall and my back ached at the thought, so we set up on our prep table. We draped the table with butcher paper. As I sprayed, Patrick would hold up the paper behind where I was blowing to catch overspray - worked like a charm. I did the 2:1 ratio and it was very thin, but apparently, just right. I would compare it to the viscosity of a cheap Wal-Mart paint - watery indoor latex. I checked the temp, simply by touch - waiting until slightly warm to the touch. This photo shows the coverage: Here's the final product before decoration. This was a passionfruit cheesecake. Unfortunately this pic is blurry, but I tempered some chocolate onto a transfer sheet with a weave design and added my signature card. The event was a fundraiser for our local women's fiber art guild. I didn't know that my colors would match theirs - see the edge of the seating card: Thanks again for everyone's suggestions and guidance. As always - you're super!

Today was our downtown's Taste of Silver City event. My store provided Gorganzola Dulce with 25-year Balsamic, followed by Fig Bread. Wow! I really think gorg dulce is a decent cheese, but it made me really happy today because so many non-cheese fans, or people who don't like blue cheeses, loved it. Its kind of like making a convert

Here are the pie contest pics. I was asked to judge along with two chefs in town. And LOOK! I'm distinguished: Here are the other judges (I'm in the hat) - I was the only one to be able to identify the mystery ingredient in one of the pies...green chile (I even suggested that it was roasted, not raw baked): Here are the entries: And the winner by a point! They were all good. This one had the best crust (butter/lard), but it was slightly underbaked. Fully baked it would have blown the others away:

Typically I get my fresh eggs and maybe a veggie or two, but today I was asked to judge the annual apple pie contest, so I thought I would share our market with everyone. Here is some of the general produce - probably looks like what everyone else has: Here's one big gourd that isn't giving up its seat: This woman lives in Pinos Altos and has so many types of jellies that its not worth counting. Half of them have chipotle or jalepeno in them: This guy was very proud to have just won awards for his wine jellies at the State Fair last week: Our most common crop: And more: We have lots of indigenous plants. Here is a table of cacti: These ristras will start showing up everywhere as we get closer to the holidays: We are an artist community and there are many gourd artists: Pretty braids: This is unique. He has a half dozen varieties of potatoes - not a common crop around here: And this is the most unusual of all - sugar cane:

Can I just say you guys are incredible! What a huge success. Everything went perfectly. I'm so tired right now but I'll post pics and techniques shortly.

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Ha! I wasn't buying K8Memphis's claim of getting that many pieces out of one cake, but now I can see it. But what the book doesn't account for is the size of my pieces - 8 at the most out of that cake!

(Slapping forehead)...of course. Thanks.

Here's the amazing thing to me...in my fridge I have Guiness Marmite right next to a what looks to be the exact same Dijon! Even if its not the exact same - what a small world when it comes to food. Thank you for this blog. BTW, I keep toying with the idea of swirling the marmite into a savory cheesecake.

All the common themes are being touched on. I'll add that my work in Amernick's book makes me think of many of her desserts as fall/winter comfort foods. She uses oats, raisins, spices, etc. That time of year I like brioche filled with pumpkin paste, or almond paste. Plays on cinnamon rolls. Plays on crumbles and cobblers. Struedels. Hang in there with all that's going on in your life!

Hey, I don't mess around when it comes to unusual extracts - that's serious business!

My cheesecakes are mostly complete and frozen rock solid in my commercial freezer. I have enough hand cream (cocoa butter) for about one good solid spray over them all - so no mistakes are allowed here! I'm reading all of your comments to say that the chocolate does not need to be tempered - just melted and I'm assuming brought back to room temp. Any final temperature guidance for me? I think I'm going to use white chocolate for the spray - does that change anything?

Sparrowsfall will have to speak for themselves, but I think they meant pour all the butter on the baklava (pre bake) just like what you do with the sugar (post bake), because you're absolutely right that you have to have the butter on during baking. I wouldn't try that method though because it would be more difficult for the butter to fully infiltrate the dough in the center.

Item #615 for Amoretti. No minimum order.

Probably more than you ever wanted to know.