gfron1

I have confirmed that they will make 8 Happinesses Duck for us which is a 5 day prep...don't know what the hell it is but it sounds like my type of eats.

Click here the terms under which this event is listed in eG Forums. I'm gathering a large table of foodies, chefs, food writers, and plain old hungry folks for a unique dinner at Budei Gourmet in ABQ next Sunday (7/13) at 7:30. Truly, all are welcome! We are going to be off-menu requesting everything be served from their authentic Taiwanese menu family style. I've been told that they have some serious eats that you won't even know about unless you ask, so I'm working with the chef directly to prepare a kick ass meal. RSVP here before Thursday so I can get everything finalized. Right now we have a James Beard nominated chef, a chef from Restaurants Impossible, one of Slate's primary food writers among others. Join us!

My 2 cents. I started here on eG however many years ago and was encouraged to get Herme's Desserts and Chocolate Desserts (or something like) and baked my way through both. I've tried buying the various text books but found them too dry to work with. So over the years, whenever there was a chef that excited me I worked my way through their book...and I turned out okay, right? So some of my favorites for lasting usefulness: Those old Dorie Greenspan Pierre Hermé books are classics for me Migoya is an amazing teacher - all of his books Yes, Bouchon but I find that I don't go back to them too often anymore Reinhardt is still great Subscribe to So Good - jam packed journal/magazine of haute...if you want haute v. fundamentals

I'm all about food. So your suggestions have been spot on. We are hoping to go up north early in the week. Our reservation at OlO is on Saturday night and we arrive the prior Monday so we have plenty of time to explore.

The draw of St. P is the Hermitage. Kinda a once in a lifetime opportunity for us.

I haven't set any plans in stone yet. We just know that one day will be St. Petersburg, and we're only there 7 days.

Touristy isn't really my thing. Meeting people and seeing cool food related stuff is what I'm looking for so your suggestions are certainly on the right path.

I bought my tickets today to eat at OlO in Helsinki. This all started when I realized how isolated I was getting in my rural little town, and constantly having the voice of Jiro in my head saying, "to make great food you need to eat great food." So after hearing a trusted source say "its a game changer" I bought my tickets. Now I want to round out my experience. We're looking at a jaunt over to St. Petersburg and I've already started a topic about that, but I'm curious about other adventures in Finland itself. Not interested in other countries since I've only got 5 days, but inland and northward are interesting to me, and I'm particularly interested in products/ingredients/experiences. But all info is useful because I don't know jack about Finland-I'm only going to have dinner.

Just pulled mine out of the oven. Very yummy. Almost taste like an American biscuit with a rye background. Not sure if this will be my new sandwich bread but I'm sure going to use them at home - very easy and fast recipe. Thanks!

I'm working on a batch right now and I'm up to 350g extra on white flour for a total of 950g. Finally moved past sticky.

Those look great. I think I'll give a go at it in the morning.

I'm not in a rush - so thank you for your efforts. I'll just look forward to a relaxed walk through by you I've got plenty of other research to do here as well. Yours is very intriguing to me.

Looks like I'm heading to Helsinki to eat at OlO in December and we're contemplating training over to St. Petersburg for dinner for one night. Anyone have experiences dining there? I prefer modern interpretations on indigenous or traditional foods but I'm game for anything and money won't be a limit on this trip. Thanks.

I ended up with these Blundstone BL1322 Slip-ons. Good traction. Comfortable for my long days. Sturdy outer. Let's see if they stand up over time.

Yeah, so many good options being thrown out. I'll have to start by weeding out ones that would take too much time away from my kitchen.

that link doesn't work for me. Any chance you can give me a recipe?

Once I started adding baking soda, as others have said above, my problems have 100% been solved regardless of the age of the egg. I do 1 T per quart of water mas o menos.

CatPoet - that Hole Cake sounds interesting to me. I will need your help though since google just gives me some type of bundt sweet cake. And Smithy, a soft flatbread could work especially if I shape it so its not as rustic. And you're very observant - we have mesquite but its scrub so the pods don't really get big enough to be worth harvesting. But ironically I went to a big mesquite conference a week ago and made all sorts of contacts down near Tucson. A Puerto Rican friend just suggested pan de agua which might be interesting too if I added some flavor.

At my restaurant we make everything from scratch (even cheeses, cured meats, pickles...) except bread. Which is ironic since my start here on eG was primarily pastry and its still my passion. But I just haven't had the capacity to make bread for the restaurant until now.I bought a commercial convection, 2 tray full-sheet oven, and I think that will allow me the space to make enough to feed my customers. The bread is for my lunches only not dinners. Lunches are basic café fare - soup, salad and sandwiches. So obviously we're looking at the sandwiches. The bread needs to cross the lines between roasted turkey to sloppy chicken molé. I like my sandwich breads to be soft enough to easily bite and chew (sourdough is out). I would like the bread to be versatile enough that I could add herbs or cheese to specialize for various sandwiches. It needs to be sturdy but not so much bread in our carb conscious world. I like focacias but they're a bit too rustic for my place Previously I have used a bought ciabatta but they were too tough for many of my customers. Currently I am using a bought brioche bun which is too bready and so I'm seeing a lot come back to the trash. I've only used individual rolls/buns to this point but have considered sandwich bread, although that is a bit too rustic for us...but not if its good enough. I think the ideal bread would be somewhat flat but a bit of sponge, have a little bite, but not too much chew (if that even makes sense). Any thoughts. Maybe there's a cool ethnic bread that I haven't considered, or you have a favorite that seems to fit the bill.

I have a love hate with Yelp. As was said just a few posts up, I have 27 rave reviews in the "filtered" section - and I"m in a very small town with only 12 tables so I do remember each and every one of those customers and could provide receipts if pressed to prove that they ate at my restaurant. On the other hand I have a review right now from a first time reviewer who had a legit bad experience which I acknowledged and apologized (new server) and his review stands. Their algorithm excuse seems silly when I looked at these two sides of it. But what really gets my goat is that I have no real way of discussing a situation with a staff member at Yelp. A recent reviewer edited her comment after I responded, making my response out of context. I flagged but they didn't budge. Surely their software captured the original post and the subsequent actions. If the information is to be trusted it must be transparent - sounds like a familiar argument heard around here which eG has addressed throughout the years. All I know is that Yelp does effect my business good and bad and I wish they had a system like Hotels.com where you couldn't review unless you were proved to have actually dined at the restaurant. That would sure minimize bad info and make for a more trustworthy system.

I do use them mostly for pastry and have never even thought of looking it up under a cake knife. Thanks.

Tremontina is a great lead - thanks! Wow! They even have a 24" machete! Maybe I need one of those for my foraging trips

Not to be a typical male, but bigger, longer, stronger! I really want 14" to 16" Hell, maybe I should just buy a lumberjack saw

I do come from the camp that says buy your serrated knifes cheaply but I haven't been able to find a long bread knife. They all seem to be 10" or less. Does anyone know of one at any price that's longer?

You're not a slob, you just don't have a prep cook