gfron1

The cookbook giveaways have been a great tool for Society members. I want to facilitate this a bit by offering two tools as you offer your cookbooks to others. 1. Donors - Post your list 2. Wanters - PM the Donor - please don't respond directly on this topic 3. Donors - As soon as a book is claimed add [s]book title[/s] around your book and that will show that it is no longer available. Don't delete your book...just make a line through it. 4. Donors - if you've passed the edit window, PM me and I'll make the edit for you. And let me know if I can help in any way. Rob

Looks like a red velvet cake - or maybe raw meat with mayonnaise.

If you haven't already, check out the gnocchi cook-off HERE. There is tons of good data there.

Dang! I'm going to banish back into the chocolate kitchen for such a quick and CORRECT answer! A dear Dutch friend of ours (was part of the kinder train, and summer of eating nothing but tulip bulbs) shared it with me today. She stated that you cut a piece of long thing lard, hook it on the bard, close the clamp, then thread it through "dried rabbit." I get it, but I don't. Either way...ding, ding, ding. You are the winner!

I hope this is a stumper - it was for me. It measures 8 inches long. At its widest, it would be about 1/4 inch diameter coming to a very sharp point. On the fat end is a hinged arm - not spring loaded. Inside the opening of the hinged end is a single pointed tooth on just one of the sides - the side that isn't hinged (meaning the top arm hinges, the bottom arm if part of the 8 inch long stick. Made of stainless steel, stamped "Nimbus Stainless Germany" Even though its stamped Nimbus, this is not a magic wand for Harry Potter. Good luck.

Shokinag is a company that adds chocolate chunks into their powder with great results. I have a local woman who sells powders that have won her numerous awards for her green chile chocolate and she just uses cheap ingredients - so defining your niche would be really useful for this conversation.

I'm thinking that in a way you're offering a ghost writer/ghost chef service. Its a chef behind the screen (Wizard of Oz reference). But of course its more than the chef. Its a Kitchen's Right Hand. When I opened my business we debated if we wanted a name that conveyed what we do or would draw people in the door to find out what we do. We chose the latter. I think you need the former b/c often times you'll just be an envelop which has a high likelihood of being thrown away without being opened. So I think your name needs to very clearly state what you do and incorporate a logo to add the style and feel back into. That said, you might want to stick to something simple like Creative Kitchen Evolutions. Okay, brainstorming done for now...

As chronicled in THIS TOPIC, here is my hummingbirdkiss inspired juniper berry sourdough loaf #2. Unfortunately I had my spouse bake it which meant - burnt, but the inside was really great again. This starter has produced two very sour loaves that have been enjoyed by everyone. You can see that I also forgot to score it, so it cracked but that's okay it was a breakfast loaf.

If that's the case, could you not get a replacement gasket for the thermal and just drop it into the other instead of buying two pieces of equipment? (I haven't taken mine apart enough to understand how its constructed.)

Having just placed a $3K cheese order this morning, I can tell you that $6/lb is cheap cheese. I always buy some cheap stuff ($3.75-$5.00 my cost) so every customer can walk away with something, but my good stuff (or decent anyway) ranges $8-$15/lb my cost. The waste issue is nominal if you buy right and serve right. Since I can only order my cheeses every 2-3 months, I push my soft, wash-rind cheese as soon as I get them and then push increasingly firmer cheeses until all I have left are my grating cheeses. As it is in my very small town, I trim maybe $50 of my whole order away as mold; and pitch less than that as unredeemable. I've also learned how to sell rind when appropriate which has been useful. I think the larger issue is that the lack of knowledge of cheese by the restaurants and customers. A local restaurant offers a cheese plate and I always ask what's on it. It will typically be something smoked, something blue and something soft. They once had a cabrales which was a far inferior cabrales to anything I had sold or eaten. But, the chef was so proud to offer it to me. On the contrary, when I have a customer come in (I'm strictly retail) and they say they're hosting a dinner party, I can easily sell them 3 pieces of good quality cheese in appropriate proportions because I talk to them about the cheeses' history, heritage, flavor profile, and very importantly - alleviate any concerns of stinkiness...if they have that concern (or vice versa if they like stinky cheese). And that little bit of knowledge makes all of the difference. And my last thought (sorry about the essay, but this question touches a nerve), remember that mediocre-to-poor cheese plate at my local restaurant...They charge $8 for the plate which includes 10 bite sized pieces of cheese (pre-cut). For $8 you can give me 4 oz of $20/lb cheese and if its good, I'm happy as a clam. You make $3, I get just enough, but good stuff, and we're both happy. If nothing else every restaurant worker should read Jenkins book to get the very basics of this whole world.

I'd like to hear more about what image you're trying to portray. For example with restaurants McDonalds has a very different feel than French Laundry versus Alinea. So what are you going for?

How could we not have a whole topic dedicated to to this question on the eG Forum already! Here are some starting points: #1 The Donut Topic Here's an Alton Brown recipe Dunkin Donuts Recipe Krispy Kreme Recipe Also, are you looking for a glaze or a frosting?

And I was surprised to see two Food Network "celebrities" listed. I remember that dialogue about the magazine sometime last year. I'm not really interested in Top 10 lists, but more, where is the greatness? Where is the ingenuity (I would not put Vanille Patisserie in this category)?

I just finished reading the latest Pastry & Art and Design magazine which highlighted their top 10 pastry chefs in the US. While chefs are splattered about the country in the northwest, rocky mountains, etc., I couldn't help but notice the concentration of chefs in the Great Lakes region - 2 from Chicago and 1 from Grand Rapids(!). Vegas had its representation as you would expect. The specialities varied from chocolates to breads to traditional pastries. I wonder if folks in Chicagoland realize what they have between their great restaurants and now their pastry excellence. Vanille Patisserie is just an outstanding shop that I view as a dream stage, and if I won the lottery I would probably head off to the French Pastry School. The other issue that I noted was the oversight of a strong presence in NYC, LA, Atlanta or the major cities. Is the concentration a result of synergy in peers and learning opportunities, or just coincidence? What other communities have been overlooked?

Some good leads HERE.

The oil was at room temp, but obviously was on a slanted plate. I'll give the butter idea a try. Won't that cloud the look?

Congratulations to Dimitri Fayard of VP who was listed as one of the top 10 Pastry Chefs by PA&D.

I just found THIS topic on shipping chocolates that might be helpful.

Oh my goodness...I missed your question, so here is the answer 4 months late! The shell was so thin that I don't think you could have picked it up. It floated in liquid and when it hit your mouth, it shattered. And the flavors were all very strong, so the cocoa butter was just a vessel that gave mouthfeel, not taste.

If it isn't perfect, keep improving it! I look forward to one the eGullet bread bakers giving it a try and letting us know how it turned out.

Thanks to a generous sample pack from Amoretti, I now have a bottle of edible Siberian Pine perfume (the flavor was my choice). But, what do I do with it? Has anyone used edible perfumes before - I assume based on the taste of mine that they're meant for the smell, not the taste, and the "edible" means its safe to consume. My original thought is a butterscotch bread pudding. Then take some soft vanilla ice cream and press it into a bowl and freeze it. And at serving time, put the hot pudding on the plate, squirt a bit of the perfume in the bowl as I place it inverted over the pudding. The heat from the pudding will melt the ice cream out of the bowl, and when the bowl is lifted it will release the pine perfume. The inspiration is that when I'm out hiking, our pine trees smell like butterscotch. This may be a complete disaster, but what they hey! So, the question is - has anyone used this stuff, and how?

I don't know if these will be helpful, but just in case: Italian Meringue Buttercream DEMO American Buttercream French Buttercream Swiss Meringue Buttercream

Very cute Darcie. I'm home sick today and I'd love a big bowl of Nectarine, sour cherry and blueberry cobbler (a la mode).

You may find THIS previous topic useful.

Sorry - you're out of luck. Dufours may have a slight taste edge, but not 2.5 times better.