gfron1

Has anyone had or heard of Alta Margherita cheese. Its a small, very soft round wrapped in waxed paper. Its so soft I'm not sure if I want to get it, but it smells very strongly delicious. Thanks.

There may have to be a battle of chips with Z in their name! I don't know what this Utz thing is all about, but let me tell (since no one has on this topic since 2004) Zapps really are the most incredible potato chip there is. And in particular the cajun crawtator is...oh man, I'm losing my breath thinking about them...so perfect with a bottle of Abita Beer or with a plywood table filled with crawfish. Oh Zapps how I love thee, let me munch the ways! Here's what Mr. Zapp's has to say

This whole discussion keeps taking me back to two of my past stomping grounds - Indianapolis and Omaha. Culturally there are many similarities - most notably that all three have a strong foundation in a major industry (Indy - Eli Lilly; Omaha - ConAgra). Time has evolved, as have each city, and in all three there are gems to be found in the food world. I would think that we can all agree that Detroit is no Paris when it comes to restaurants. But that doesn't mean there isn't good food there. I am curious what the locals think - why with so much money being made by the employees (that's a relative term, but in general the auto industry pays well) isn't there more demand for higher quality food? Also, I'm assuming the auto industry, like other major industries, is attracting many international employees, which often times leads to an increase in international restaurants. Is this happening? I know it is in Omaha and Indianapolis.

John, thanks for a great report. I usually attend the San Fran show, and then this year the Chicago show (both because they are more aligned with my distribution channels). Having done these for a number of years, I now spend less than a half a day looking at products that really have interest to me - the final entry in your report is the sole product that stood out to me from Chicago - the micro herbs. Knowing that it is unrealistic for me to get them in my store, I was still so impressed with their taste and texture. So many cuinary possibilities exploded in my mind when I tried them and I've continued to think about them for months afterwards. Thanks again.

Okay, this weekend is play day! I'm going to try and do three variations: Seafoam, sponge candy, and long baked meringue. I'm also interested in the idea of pouring something on dry ice to see what happens...but I don't know if I can get dry ice in my town. So pictures and a report soon. Thanks for all of the suggestions - this has been a fun one for me!

I didn't know there was a slurpee capital! Are they all the Simpsons variety right now?

Not to make this a love-fest, but that is one beautiful charlotte! Wow, when you cut it, please post a picture.

That's a great idea...and if you're going to be really fancy - gold leaf them (or gold luster).

While I had it for breakfast, it was supposed to be for dessert: From The Art of the Dessert, Coffee Eclair After Robert

How would you like to wake up to this! Coffee Eclairs After Robert. Coffee pastry cream filled eclair with a coffee drizzle on top. Very light and smooth.

Thanks. My pastry bag created eclairs will be posted later tonight (how's that for keeping it on topic ).

In that case, let me tell you what happened...I used no tip, just the inner sleeve. They piped fine. But then they cracked. They puffed fine. So, I wonder if using a star tip would have the same effect as when you score your bread loaf - controlling (or at least encouraging) the cracks. (We can get into choux issues in a different topic, this is more a question of the effect of the tip.)

That's the big report you've been working on?! (I'll look forward to the real one!)

I wonder if you couldn't do a melted cheese sauce with cornstarch to give it a coating that would complement your straws.

Thanks Mark. I've been drooling for eclairs since you posted yours.

I have a recipe calling for a 5/8" plain tip "such as Ateco #28" This is to make an eclair. I don't have a #28, but I have 55 or so other tips. The pictures online of the #28 are fine stars. That doesn't make sense to me...shouldn't it just be a plain circle tip?

I think dockhl hit an important point. When I worked at Keystone Resort, we had a bunch of restaurants, but our concierge was constantly answering the question of where to get a meal off-site. I sat in for the concierge for about a month, and my palm got greased so many times by local restaurants and businesses that it kept those businesses top of mind. I'm not suggesting anything nefarious, but if you already have a good operation going, then make sure the key service staff knows about you. And by the way, when I was in Chicago a few months ago, I confused my transportation captain for the concierge for 3 days - so don't limit to the concierge.

And don't limit yourself to restaurants. I own a specialty food store, and we have an intern through the ProStart program. He's able to share his knowledge and experiences with us, and we consciously make sure he is exposed to things that we don't think he'll get in culinary school. Right now we have him learning our Chinese Teas. We've spent a lot of time on artisinal cheeses, chocolates...we'll keep working through the inventory so that when he starts having control in the kitchen, our hope is he'll choose not to rely on Sysco or the other typical distributors.

Snackish- fried plantain. And I'm envisioning your friend wearing a hula skirt made out of fried plaintain (but I haven't seen your friend to know if that's something you really want to do )

Recipes! Now what fun would that be? (Thanks I'll keep it for the next class)

Since I'm speaking on behalf of Edward Behr (and he doesn't even know it ), my assumption about his King Arthur recommendation is that its the best readily available option. So for those who don't have a local mill, nor who live in France, it would be a good starting point.

Today I held a marshmallow making class for kids in our store's new kitchen. It was great fun. They got a 30 second history of marshmallows, and then I whipped right into a batch of strawberry. I then set them loose in the store (we're an international grocery and gourmet food store) to find 2 flavors to add. They came back with Armenian Raspberry Syrup and also Pinon Coffee (yikes!). I was able to talk them into adding chocolate extract to the coffee (which it didn't really need) and all flavors were super. Then we attempted (unsuccessfully) to pipe our marshmallow into peeps - not very well - but lots of fun! Here are some pics: The scariest part - pouring the hot syrup into the gelatin with parents watching. Look how bad these kids are at making peeps...I'll show them how good I am! Oh well...maybe next time!

I feel like I've made enough pastries from this book in the past couple of weeks that I could send one to each member - but the interview was the surprise

She does have nut flour cakes - I've been avoiding them because of the heat, but last night I decided to go back to my passion - the more complicated multi-day desserts, so I'll get some posted soon.

In a recent Art of Eating (#73-74) there was a whole section on how to replicate French baguettes at home and talked about flours and subsitutions. The article (as you would expect from that magazine) is quite extensive, but here are some snippets: -9.7 to 10% protein -Type 55 flour by French standards for the level of ash -Flours grown in the upper mid-west/Northern plains -The recipe he provides uses King Arthur All-Purpose which he specifies,