gfron1

I'm certainly not restricted to electronics and I've been wondering what "plates" I could find to serve on. Basically, I'm looking for things that you wouldn't normally expect to find at the dinner table. I'm not sure if I consider Alinea's pillows to be technology however...I guess I'm thinking more geeky stuff.

ahhhh....Pi Day....why didn't you say so! I don't know if the students have read Life of Pi, but you could make a Tiger Pie...probably a sweet potato pie with black dyed wavy crust strips on the top to make it look like a tiger. But if they haven't read that book, then the reference would be lost.

I'm gearing up for my next tasting menu in May, and want to explore ways that technology might be integrated into the meal. I'm not interested in sparklers and light shows, but rather technology that might actually enhance the meal at the table (v. in the kitchen). The first idea I had, which is very much not cutting edge, is to request that all diners keep their cell phones on during the meal, and send targeted messages to diners at key points. For example, maybe I'm serving locally raised pork, and I send one person at each table an image of the family that raised the pork with a brief statement of their farming philosophy. Or possibly its a blurb about the use of pork by indigenous people in the area...something along those lines. I think that's a pretty basic idea, and in the spirit of brainstorming, I'm not as concerned as why these ideas wouldn't work or might be annoying. I just want to throw a bunch of stuff out there and see what sticks. What do you think? How would you take modern technology and apply it at the dining table?

How about a Dulce de Leche pie.

I rarely burn myself, but cuts used to be frequent (every other week), until I read Chad's book. I still get a nick here and there, but they are much less frequent and much less severe.

Here's my menu: Asian Inspired Items Miniature Spring Rolls w/ Dipping Sauce (actually salad rolls) Meatballs with Sesame Lime Dipping Sauce (perfect idea for this crowd --thanks!) Asian slaw in tuiles Miniature passion fruit cheesecake cone American Inspired Items Sweet potato biscuits with BBQ Chicken (the favorite from last event) Whitefish salad with crackers (I have lots of whitefish in my freezer) Stuffed potatoes (actually these will be papas rellenos minis) A big ass filler potato salad so there will be plenty of food. Lemongrass punch I can still modify this, but its a good starting point. All can be room temp. All are finger food. None are too out there. A few things for vegetarians. I'll be sure to post the results when it happens.

Everyone loved the food. One of the big problems that led to the feedback was that they coordinator didn't include the volunteer staff of 25 in the headcount, so when students were walking through the registration area in front of the staff, and they were raving about the food, the staff weren't able to leave to get food which pissed them off, and somehow that translated into my problem. That's also why this time they are holding the registration in the same area as the food which will make for a lot of congestion (as someone pointed out this could work to my advantage).

very nice looking - I think you did fine decorating.

I finally opened my new catalog and sure enough: and then some other stuff like "eco-healthy handle" "handles are made from 70% recycled stainless steel" It looks like they'll have a "Green Gourmet Hard Anodized" "Green Gourmet Stainless" and "Green Gourmet Aluminum"

I guess I forgot JI which is funny since his grapefruit dessert is what I made for my last tasting menu.

I remember we looked at that here in eG and found our measures varying wildly. The end result was that we all agreed to never do that again (it causes nightmares and panic attacks) and just adjust recipes as you have to do anyway and stick to what you have.

Another huge bag of (insert your favorite produce here) from a friend, and yet one more challenge. This time I received nearly 50 pounds of grapefruit from a neighbor's friend's mother's tree in Tucson. I cranked out my curd already and candied my peel. Then I set off to find a recipe in any of my pastry books...crickets chirping. Amernick had one for the peel and Ong has one, but besides that - nothing! I didn't expect that. So then I found this lil' thread and thought I would kick it back to life. Then I went to the food pairings website and found some interesting pairings: Herbs and spices: Cardamom, Cilantro and Ginger Vegetables: Bell pepper coulis, Carrot and Celery leaves Chocolate, coffee, tea: Tea green, Tea black and Cocoa nibs For anyone following my round cake dilemma, the dessert is a peppered honey cake with grapefruit bavaroise and grapefruit shortbread. That will take care of 2 pounds of my grapefruit. Now, on to the other 48 pounds! Any fun ideas?

I can only use the old fashioned solid metal (aluminum or such), straight walled cups. Glass is too terribly inaccurate. Angled pouring fronts make it hard to eyeball your halves when you're being lazy. Plastic doesn't give a good lip to pour off. Not that I have an opinion or anything

I'm re-reading the recipe and my mind doesn't work well in measures any more (v. weights), so I can't quite guess the thickness. But they say it will be like peanut butter before you whip it, so I would think it would last fine if you keep it away from sunlight and furnace vents.

A quick update. I've made Paula Deens recipe and it was (of course) too much. I did Alton Brown's last night and its not a peanut butter pie - more of a reeses cup. I'm going to start through some of your suggestions now - starting with Amy's

These are all really helpful suggestions - thanks. And thank you skipper10 for taking the time to share all of that info. My target events are usually small, high-end, cutting edge affairs, so even obvious suggestions like meatballs are very useful...I'll just have to fany 'em up. I'll post my menu next week - its due on Wed.

The event is early April and I'm going to push for, at least, separating sweet and savory, but the client has serious space restrictions.

It will depend on how long it takes to eat it. There's plenty of info in the threads on shelf life of chocolate and ganache. But, my guess is that you'll consume it before you need to worry about that. If you do decide to chill your cake just bring it back out for an hour or so to bring it to room temp before eating. And it is possible that you'll get some blooming (discoloration) which is perfectly fine to eat. btw - I just looked and no one has reviewed their recipe, so when you're done, you should go make comments on their website.

Grrrr...I've had three successive failures with this. Today was a honey cake in the iSi pan. Baked fine, but couldn't get that sucker out for the life of me even after freezing. I'm going to a super basic recipe tomorrow and trying again with a parchment circle just on the top since that's what stuck today. I sure hope this is worth it when I finally get this cake complete.

That's really amazing. The details are fantastic - especially the barnacles.

Great ideas. And I hadn't thought of Peruvian which is near and dear to my heart from when I used to live there climbing up near Huascaran. That reminds me of my all time favorite dish - papas relleños - I could do minis of those (actually the inside out sheperds pie made me think of it first). And I'll be doing a killer dessert spread. The station idea is also useful. They want to crowd me on a couple of tables against the wall but I've already expressed concerns because of congestion. And as far as that attendance number...Their board has beaten this around ever since the last debaucle and they believe that this is the high number. So that plust my 10% overage should get us there. Also, in my response I outlined how I calculate the amount of food. In this case, they'll get 100 people's worth of .75 pounds per person. That's a lot of food that they're paying for. If we're short its not for lack of knowledge and prep on my side.

So here's the setup on this gig. I did this group's event last year and got burned. Its an adult ed group for affluent retirees who want hobby classes. Twice a year they hold registration events, and last year when they asked me to cater, they bid 75 people, I prepared for 75+10%, but 150 showed. I caught a lot of flack for not serving enough food - I was pissed and said I would never work with them again. Well, here we are a year later and they didn't even go out to bid this time - they are begging me to do it. Their budget is right within my limits. And this year, instead of tray pass, they want buffet for 100. Okay fine. I can take back my promise to never do it again. But, I really shy away from buffets - just not my style. But, this is a group of the influentials in our town, so I really should do the gig. If you were going to eGulletize a buffet for a bunch of 60 year old hipsters, what would you want to serve? BTW, the event is one hour, standing-while-eating, no facilities for hots or last second prep. My facility is only 5 minutes away however. Any killer, impress-the-hell-outa them buffet foods?

All of the science aside, I sell a variety of lines of cookware including Cuisinart. Late last year they promised us a completely teflon/PFOA/etc free product. I haven't seen it yet, but I haven't opened my new catalog that came a couple of weeks ago. If true, that would be the safest non-stick. However, if true, I assume there would be a media blitz regarding the product.

Not so much. There is going to be more of a difference by brand and make-up than the percentage. Are these single origins or blends? Blends will have less difference than single origins

yeah that turned out really nice. I might add a contrast element on the gelee in the soup - a microgreen or almond half dipped in chocolate. I love when you give us desserts that I have to wiki some of the ingredients