chefette

Ganache freezes quite well. I normally place a lump of leftover ganache on a sheet of plastic, wrap it up, sometimes double wrap it, label it so you don't forget, and freeze. If it is a particularly soft ganache you might want to freeze it in a plastic container (make sure it doesn't smell like anything else first). When you want to use it later, just take it out of the freezer the night before and place on the counter to thaw. Sometimes you need to hurry it up and place it over warm water or near another heat source, but this can have detrimental effects on the texture and appearance. It is best to exercise foresight and patience. All of your thoughts on re-use would work. Steve would not approve of the truffle application unless you coated them with tempered chocolate. In any case, it is certainly an option.

I visited a Wegmans in NJ with Steve recently and we expressly wanted to take some pictures of the display of Herme chocolates and desserts but were caught by the vigilant counter people who told us it was not allowed. I am not really sure what the big deal was, but it seemed pretty non-negotiable and I did not relish the vision of having my camera ripped out of my hands and being expelled from the store.

Steve wrote:"--like a dessert which promised real chocolate but delivered something overly sweet and cloying rather than bitter and complex. Perhaps I'm too cranky, perhaps I misunderstand the marching orders for and resulting editorial direction of the section, perhaps I'm misguided in thinking that readers at home deserved better--and that they could handle more" and "there were too many simplistic, irrelevant or insignificant pieces which failed to challenge readers enough, which didn't raise awareness enough. Too much of the actual cooking discussion was home recipe-centric and dumbed down." Perhaps its just you - Bitter and Complex to the core of your being ;-) I know the following is not exactly in-line with the discussion you were trying to spur but: I agree essentially that the Food Section seems to be caught in a balancing act between reporting on food and wine in the area and presenting recipes and techniques for home cooks. In the end, it seems that this is both too little and too much. I think everyone is just thinking too much about all this - for God's sake, its just FOOD - DO something with it - Have FUN with it. Maybe it will work out, maybe it won't, so you try again. Failure is good - it is the first and most important stage of learning. So much of what is published these days treats the reader as if they were small and stupid children. If you can read you can cook, cook anything. I look at older cookbooks and they don't have step-by-step photos and illustrations, not even of the final product frequently and yet, for years people managed to make much more complex and time consuming consumables than we seem to be able to manage with the aids available to us today. Perfection in anything is something to attain after trial and error - so people should just TRY and if they make errors they are lucky because it caused LEARNING to take place. I started pouring over the Betty Crocker Cookbook when I was in 3rd Grade and my Mom let me tackle anything that caught my fancy. I had fun, I made all sorts of things that sounded cool at the time: Baked Alaska (flaming), Daffodil Cake, Floating Islands, Chocolate Eclairs, Divinity, Lemon Chiffon Cake... The only thing you have to fear... Anyway, Steve's post made me think about this rant about the perception that everything needs to be simplified for the public. Then they complain that the public can't do anything. So, public, stand up and demand complexity. We need a Tim Russert in the food media. :-) Sorry Steve

As long as you have the profiterole part down and are not afraid of hot caramelized sugar it should be fairly easy. You will need to have all you similarly sized profiteroles all ready on a sheet tray - and you will need a bunch. Many chefs use a large cone mold (the inside of it actually) - works best to spray it first with Pam or Crisco Butter flavor spray or just oil it lightly. Otherwise in the absense of a form you can build your tower. 1- Draw a moderate circle on a parchment sheet - I would not exceed 8 inches in diameter 2- It is best to dry caramelize your sugar so take a heavy medium saute pan and heat it up, lightly sprinkle in about 1/4 cup sugar and it will caramelize (melt) pretty quickly. Keep sprinkling in more sugar til you have quite alot ready - probably about 2 cups of sugar or more to give yourself plenty to work with. 3- Set the pan on a towel at a slight angle to give yourself good dipping access and allow the caramel to cool slightly (about 5 minutes - if it is too hot it will be too thin and will not coat nicely) 4- start grabbing profiteroles (filling hole side up) and start dipping you can dip all your profiteroles and then use more caramel to stick them together, or dip and build - your choice The thin stringy caramel wispys are the end and you can do this by dipping a large tined fork in the caramel then waving it about your completed structure. 5- place before ravenous friends and rip it apart You need to make this pretty close to serving and eating time since your pastry cream is temperature sensitive and you cannot put your creation in the fridge. Except for the danger of 2nd and third degree hand and finger burns this could be an amusing activity to pursue at your party. I would recommend doing it before commencing to drink heavily. :-)

One that really sticks in my mind for some reason is "The Little Engine That Could" The train was packed full of big ripe beautiful fruits and vegetables and lollipops. I think that's why I love going to the Farmer's Market. It always reminds me of that image (sigh). :-) Another of my longstanding favorites is from the "Secret Garden" when the two kids are laughing about not being able to eat lunch (since they had to keep up the pretense of being peckish) and how difficult it was trying not to laugh out loud since they had just been eating roasted potatos. No illustration, but the virtual image sticks with me. I also just remembered some hysterically funny book I had that was my Mom's. It was about mountains of mashed potatos and these kids were jumping in them and sledding and digging. I wish I could find it someplace.

Gabriel's.

what kind of food do you like Samantha? and what neighborhood are you living/working in?

Patrice--how was the pear milk shake with spiced figs served and presented? in a glass? were the rice crispies caramelized?

very true Katherine. what about the reverse of Gail's initial question: techniques and dishes made to seem complicated--or presumed to be difficult--that, in actuality--aren't so difficult after all?

why are frozen candy bars just so #### good? 1- because sugar is not so sweet tasting frozen and these candy bars are noxiously sweet when eaten at room temperature 2- because they are using some nasty chocolate product instead of chocolate and the only way you get to enjoy the nice crisp sensation of the chocolate is if it is either cold or frozen 3- because its more fun that way... Personally, I am completely addicted to frozen chocolate chip cookies. I believe this is because my Mom always made big batches of cookies and froze them, then my brother and I would always sneak them out of the deep freeze. Just got used to eating them that way I guess.

I agree with Lesly I tried the Vanilla cake, found it pretty sweet and thought it needed to be friends with fruit. I though pears poached in red wine and the cold vanilla ice cream would give a happy and attractive combo.

OK, you asked for it on THAT one, so here goes... I would say that true, flour and sugar cost far less than a pound of steak, but think how much more work and time it takes to make flour and sugar edible. Plus, so often eggs, butter, fruit, cream, chocolate, etc come into play. At บ dessert is a bargain. Oh, and skill, wouldn't want to mention that the 16 year old guy working after school to score a few bucks at the "Ponderosa" can grill that hunk a meat up for ya just as well as the chef at Chez Ennui all in 10 minutes - only the cow suffers. Let's see, 7 minutes of warming flour and sugar just aren't quite as palatable ARE they??????? In fact, one of the ferw dessert items I can think of that require as much cooking effort as a steak are fresh fruit and popcorn in caramel. Voila! No cake for you today.