gfron1

I had the rare opportunity to go out for a meal today and guess what they had as their dessert special!? - Peanut Butter Pie! I wasn't all that impressed, but it was an interesting variation because it was a baked custard - sort of the texture of a sweet potato or pumpkin pie.

This advice has been mentioned numerous times in other similar topics so I'll forward it on here. If you get the job - great! If not, and your personal situation allows, offer to work for free for a specified amount of time (one month, three months - enough to make it worth both your and their time), in order to get more experience and provide them some free labor. The key is to define the experience in both time and scope so you don't end up feeling taken advantage of.

You know its only 5 hours for me and I'm really trying to justify the time away. I really feel that at my stage of professional growth that I need that type of exposure to learning, so... Its just a matter of dollars and cents at this point.

Near the end of THIS THREAD about my recent 100 person cater you'll find some discussion about estimated quantity.

just for posterity sake, I always ask, "I'd like to hear more about what you're looking for in a good worker."

Is she serious? That just seems so ridiculous to me. "I won't tell you" "OK I"ll tell you but minus one ingredient" "But I won't tell you the proportions" really? ← uhhh...yeah. Rather pathetic ain't it. I even reminded her that pretty much all of my recipes are on my blog for anyone to access. I figure anyone can have a recipe - it comes down quality ingridients and skills, not a list on a page. and yes Paul, that would be good karma - not the crap that she has, but the stuff she could have had.

I just realized that you shared your personal recipe (not just a link). Thanks! You can have the stingy lady's karma

First this is if you're buying more than a few blocks, like say 20#, then buy through the big boys for better prices. I use Qzina for my chocolate and I know others have even better priced distributors than that. Choc has a decent shelf life if properly stored so that's the route I'd go.

Does anyone know if there is an equivalent to this being sold in the US?

she only listed ingredients unfortunately.

what you're describing is what I'm going for so I'll give that recipe a try. thanks.

I tried the one Andie linked to above and it was good, but not the same. Her cake felt soaked, but it wasn't. Andie's was a bit dry like flourless cakes like to be. I did wonder if a night in the freezer my fix that? I ran into the woman yesterday and pleaded for the recipe and she said she would give it to me minus one ingredient - I coulda slapped her - she can take her bad karma and... Anyway, she started rattling off the ingredient list and it was almost identical to Andie's so there's something about the technique that is different. The only clue I got was that she uses whole eggs, not divided. Any ideas?

I've never had that bottom crust problem but I can see it being helpful to pre-bake. As far as advanced-ness...you could also pre-assemble it all and let is sit in the fridge until you're ready to bake. Its a forgiving recipe. Although the recipe is typically cooled to room temp, I might be inclined in this instance to serve it warm with a scoop of ice cream.

yeah I love that recipe - PM me if you need the recipe. I also love the Galette Bretton recipe from Amernick's book - she uses grapefruit, but rhubarb would be nice too.

My only advice is meaningless if you don't already do it - be precise with all measures and weights! I can't tell you how many people I've sent away when they've mucked up my easiest recipes because they didn't use a scale. Good luck though - if you're a night person this will be a fun job .

The title says it. I am making Ethiopian food this week for my dinner special and I know of at least one birthday that is coming in. Does anyone know if there is a traditional food or ceremony that might be appropriate?

Here are a few things from my trip this past January: cheap eats Pastries And I agree, cabs are cheap enough to get around to some better places than you'll find at the center.

My food suggestion is any play off of BBQ beef. For my cafè, I have a molè chicken which has quickly become one of my top movers. Its basically a shredded chicken breast cooked in the molè sauce. For you maybe its a BBQ bison or elk...or whatever feels regionally appropriate. Serve that bad mama jamma on a sweet potato biscuit with a side of great slaw and I'm on my way for lunch! And as for the hood, my inspector was incredibly flexible to let me do a residential range and hood. I appreciated the cost savings a year ago, but we've already outgrown them. Now I have to figure out how and when to bring in bigger better equipment, so plan on success and growth as you plan this out. The other thing which I haven't done my research on yet, is that my architect eluded to a less costly surpression hood that many of our restaurants in historic buildings (like mine) have been installing. Apparently they are free standing, with limited water supply, but only run a couple of thousand. For me that's important because I'm in a 120 year old adobe building with no roof space. It might be worth looking into...but again I don't know any more than what I've just said.

I recently prepared papas rellenos for a catering event and they were the hit of the night. Someone PMd me for a recipe so I thought I would share it here. A more detailed description is at my blog. Back in 2000, I did a climbing trip to the Huascaran area of Central Peru, where I spent a month bagging 20,000 foot peaks and living off of high energy, but very inexpensive foods. I only took $100US with me into the town of Huaraz and that let me survive for the full month living off of chifa (Chinese) and papas rellenos...with lots of matè de coca. Each evening as sun set, the blinds covering kitchen windows of many homes would fling open with a sign thrown out that offered Papas Rellenos para 50 cèntimos. At that time, they were about 20 cents each. Most were the size of a baked potato and filled with a slightly sweet, slightly spicy picadillo. Although I ate much more than that, the papas rellenos are the strongest food memory for me of that great time. This is the first time I made my own to share with others. I candy green olives with cinnamon, nutmeg and lemon peel. I chop them with dried apricots, and add them to a sauteed mixture of onion, red bell and ground bison (or beef). Let it cool to be handle-able. Next, I make mashed potatoes, keeping them on the dry side, but mixed with 2 eggs, a bit of milk, salt, pepper and crushed garlic. Keep your hands very covered in corn starch and make a ball with the papas, flatten it, fill it with the meat mixture, re-form the ball, coat it in corn starch, and fry in hot oil until golden.

Thanks for the idea Robert. In this situation, a carving station was not going to be appropriate since they were really looking for finger foods. I do use SV in my dinner applications, especially in my MG meals, and a good water bath with circulator is very high on my to-buy list.

and that's why I asked the question - their website doesn't give the menu, they simply refer to their certain days MG tasting menu. And that's how Niche does it - they offer an MG influenced tasting menu but the rest of the menu is not MG. So you would classify O's as MG then?

My understanding of O's menu is that its not a molecular restaurant, but rather, one that serves MG styled food on certain days and only for the tasting menu. Do they integrate MG into the rest of the menu? ... reminds me of Niche in St. Louis.

So my question - and maybe you'll need more time separated from the meal - is how do you think your low expectations influenced your experience? I've heard O's is good but haven't been yet. Just wondering.

Okay, okay...just enjoying my day off climbing in illegal places When I did it, I upped my yolk and upped my butter to help it set. I use Amernick's lime curd recipe as my base and then modify based on how it feels when I stir it - meaning, does it look like it will ever set thick?. I'd have to look but I may have even placed the recipe on my blog.

Nag! Many chefs and owners are too busy to keep you in mind. Often times its who shows up at the right time. I just brought a kid in a couple of weeks ago because of timing (he' s gone already - too slow).