gfron1

yeah - after about a week of thinking about this the two keys for me seem to be 1) awareness of what I'm doing and 2) making the calories count. I've long wanted a recipe for a high powered energy bar that wasn't sugar loaded, but was tasty - you know, something I can crank out a 9x13 of and eat it all week. The burrito mentioned above is also a great option for me. I just take all my scraps from lunch service, wrap them up and scarf.

For #2, DC has got to be in the running. So many really good selections.

No disrespect taken. I know how disgusting it sounds, but I can't tell you how many TGRWT challenges have resulted in really surprisingly good combos. My guess is that most participants in this month's challenge will do a salmon with some form of savory chocolate. When I participate in the challenges I try to push in the least obvious way because I really want to test the theory behind the challenges...hence salmon marshmallow hot chocolate.

A frankemallow - hah! Okay, okay, so there's a reason that I titled this marshmallow-like and pulled the discussion out of the marshmallow topic. I don't care if the final creation is actually a marshmallow. What I want is for the diner to pick up an object that feels like a marshmallow, and then to have them drop it into their hot chocolate which would then melt it like a marshmallow. Jeannecake's idea still seems to hold the most viability to me, but I also keep thinking about the seafoam process. And again, I still think an uber stabilized whipped gelatin cube could get me there as long as the gelatin didn't slime up the chocolate.

Great suggestions - what about keeping it savory? That strategy would still involve lots of sugar or isomalt.

HERE in the quite lengthy marshmallow topic, I posed the question of creating a savory marshmallow. That's tough since a marshmallow is typically hot sugar and gelatin, but I'm doing it for the TGRWT challenge (typically I do my experimenting very privately, but in this case I'll do it more publicly). So, I'm trying to make a smoked salmon marshmallow to go with a historic Parisian hot chocolate recipe. I've learned to trust TGRWT's flavor pairings (for the most part). I cowardly anonymous eGer sent me a PM suggesting something utilizing egg whites like a salmon gelee mixed in with a salmon mousse. That got me thinking about the pink fluffy stuff we eat at Thanksgiving - jello mixed in with whipped cream. I could do something similar, but stabilize it with extra gelatin. Or I could create something that gets whipped in a turbowhip or something like that. Maybe baking powder comes in to play - I'm thinking of seafoam and how it reacts by aerating before it sets. So many ideas...any thoughts?

You know me too well - I really do HAVE TO play with this because its part of my neuroses However, my idea is evolving beyond marshmallow so I'm going to start a new topic so as to not limit myself and take things OT. HERE is the new topic.

I've been waiting for you to wake up...but you've failed your challenge So, I'm working on this month's TGRWT challenge of dark chocolate and smoked salmon. I wasn't excited about yet one more challenge that involved chocolate, but then I thought - ah ha! I could make a historic hot chocolate recipe (I'm thinking of a Parisian 1654 recipe) seasoned appropriately for a smoked salmon marshmallow. I know, at this point 95% of readers are rolling their eyes and preparing to gag, but I've learned to trust TGRWT connections, so I think it could work. Worst case, I'll go for a sweet marshmallow, but I'd rather not.

I can't believe a topic doesn't already exist but I sure can't find it if it does. There's a brief mention of PB pies in a topic on PB mousse, but that's not quite the same. I'm recreating my life in New Orleans this week at the cafè to celebrate Mardi Gras, and to go with the gumbo I want to offer PB pie. Right now I have Alton Brown's recipe - he's a pretty safe bet, but does anyone have their favorite?

Savory - I mean, really savory, not a savory flavor added to the sugary stuff...it would probably need something from Tri2Cook's cupboards. I've googled the heck out of the concept and can't find a recipe. Anything that I find that calls itself savory has 2 cups of sugar and corn syrup in it. I know that's the structure, but can't we pull something out of the air that would allow this to work?!

Just finished reading through all of these suggestions (minus the book due to time constraints) and they were immensely helpful. Thank you all so much.

I'd be interested in making some. I did a great chestnut one last week for my tasting dinner.

I'll spare the details, but my name gfron was born at MG in 1987 when I was attending Loyola during the Endymion parade. That fateful day started with 100 pcs of Popeye's and six kegs of bud nestled into ice in the back of a pickup. I was asked to guard the truck and the parade spot until everyone else showed up four hours later. I remember the first four hours, but not much else.

Thanks - very helpful. At dinner tonight, a friend with a couple of decades on me reminded me that fine dining used to be equated with steaks. He also asserted that it was more about place than food - which seems to hold true to my memory as well.

I'm preparing a presentation of molecular gastronomy (I'm terming it hypermodernist cooking), and I want to demonstrate the path we've taken as a society to get to el Bulli and Alinea, but I don't feel that I have the personal history to be confident in my timeline, so I'm throwing it out here to see if I'm off base. My thought is that historically we've dined (in restaurants) on peasant cuisine. If we deemed it "gourmet," then it was most likely French or an exotic international cuisine, but most likely French. As we approached the 70s and then 80s, classic French cuisine was joined with more haute American cuisines which then exploded in the 80s and 90s. I can take it from the 90s, but I don't know if anything I've just said holds water. I want to talk international dining and not just the US - during the past century. From my childhood (60s-70s), fine dining meant expensive French or Italian. I don't remember anything else. But when I got to the 80s, I remember all sorts of fine ethnic restaurants, and many nicer (what we called) California restaurants. Okay, so I plead ignorance. Can someone set me straight and feel free to point me toward references to educate myself. Thanks.

Please don't confuse my comments as a body image issue, or even a reflection of my society's perception of me. I think for those of us who have maintained a relatively stable body weight and composition, any change is noticeable and, at least in my case, has an impact on energy/fatigue and other factors. I don't care if I have a bit of a gut (I don't), or if I was thinner (I have been). What I care about is that I'm fueling my body appropriately for this new task in my life. That said, I couldn't agree with your statement more in general.

My apologies. I misunderstood the question.

As someone who recently cracked an egg in a Jewish friend's house to see him basically scream "get it out," because of a spot - regardless of whether it was blood or protein - I believe you need to respect religious rules and beliefs. I've shared the article with that friend and he said he wasn't 100% sure about what he sees in eggs, so he wasn't going to take that risk. To me its no different than cooking your vegan's meal in a pan after just a quick wipe down to get butter out from the previous dish. Since you posed this as an ethical question, let me pose the question to you - are you prepared to place a sign in front of your food that says, "This product uses eggs that may have spots that I believe to be in accordance with Kosher Law. Consume at your own discretion."? Full disclosure or don't do it as far as I'm concerned. Switching gears. This is a big issue, so if you build your clientele up to include non-Kosher, or Jewish caters that don't hold Kosher food laws, then that could address your waste issue.

After today I'm realizing that awareness is a huge part of the battle. I've eaten like a work horse today. Nibor asked how much I weigh now - I'm at 168lbs, so only 7 pounds less than normal. Seven pounds isn't much except when your weight has been so consistent for so long (which by the way is why I'm taking the comments about a check up serious). Today I was aware, so I had a bowl of oatmeal with piñon for breakfast, a Fage with honey, and a baklava (that's a habit I need to break). After lunch I made myself go outside and put off cleanup and prep and had a monster gyro (with lots of veggies for good measure). And I just polished off a failed cake (ditto to that habit thing). I'm still voraciously hungry today which is funny considering I started this topic about not eating.

There are plenty of topics in eG about taking weight off, but I've got a real problem here. I turned 40 this past year and expected my weight to rise a bit. But then I stepped into a full-time cooking role. With it has come the long days, constantly on my feet and financial stress. Those factors were all magnified from the start of the holidays through last week when the last of my string of special events ended. I finally have a breather until around May. Then last night my spouse, with a strong look of concern, said that he thought I had been losing weight. Sure enough, when I weighed myself, I had lost a bit. So here's my weight timeline - 135 until I was around 20 because I ran marathons and ultras since I was a wee baby boy (not quite that early), then fraternity beer started pouring and I slowly, very slowly worked my way up to around 165 still running, skiing and climbing. After I moved out of Colorado my activity dipped and my weight climbed to 175 where it has stood for over a decade unchanged through holidays, work spurts, etc. But now I've dipped, and at 6'3" that's not healthy looking. In the kitchen I know I don't eat enough, but I'm constantly snacking, tasting, and have a morning dessert (or two or three). My guess is that because of all of the tasting I don't feel hungry and therefore don't eat as much as I used to. I need to eat more, but also eat smarter in a busy kitchen. I don't want to live on the fattier foods that I serve, nor the desserts (well, I do want to live on the desserts, but know I shouldn't). What do those of you working in restaurants do to keep yourselves fed?

My answer is to bake more If you want to address frugality or moral issues then sell your daily bakings and donate the money to a good cause, or find a non-profit that can use the bread to feed kids or something. OR to answer your question more directly, I toss a bit of mine in waffles on most Sundays. Okay, I've helped you with a tablespoon of the stuff, the other 10 gallons is for someone else to deal with.

HERE is the press release. They were recently bought and now the doors close. Reminds me of the Scharfen Berger story slightly. I guess the question is - do you take the money and run if you own one of these smaller companies, or do you keep it so it doesn't get ruined or closed.

Since I don't do much in the way of chocolate this may or may not be helpful, but I recently received a sample form Qzina of a snow white colorant that I wanted to add to cocoa butter for spraying. I haven't used it yet, but it seems like it would work well for what you're talking about.

Wow - I don't know how this book passed my radar - probably the word "frozen" which is normally not my thing. I'll be watching to find a bit more motivation since I have so many new books right now.

Iuzzini's citrus compari granite, lemon curd, grapefruit geleè, citrus flakes, and the infamous damiana geleè cube. The final course of my Kama Sutra dinner.