tino27

For 3 people with no leftovers, I would've gone with about 1 pound of potatoes.

In my mind, if you can stick a spoon in it vertically and it doesn't fall over, it's a spread. Otherwise, it's a dip.

My cubicle neighbors looked at me strangely after laughing out loud when reading this. That is definitely working the system.

I imagine that, if I had to take hundreds of orders every day, I'd probably want to follow a script, too. And as a customer who's primarily interested in getting quick, accurate service, I'm happy to follow that script rather than insist on ordering my way... ← Believe it or not, I actually TRY and speak the language of the restaurants in order to ensure that my order is taken correctly. If I pick up that the chicken nuggets are called a "5 piece", then I'll use that vernacular when I order that particular item. My problem, as Carrot Top rightly picked up on, is not the use of a script, per se, but the fact that when the order taker says, "May I help you?", I am under the assumption that they are ready to listen to me. The fact that I have to essentially order the meal twice is what irritates me. And having them repeat my order to me at the end does not bother me. It's me having to repeat myself for every little detail of the order. And as someone else mentioned, I have noticed my fair share of glazed over looks from cashiers who have a propensity for the aforementioned behavior. I guess the reason it bothers me is that I have worked this type of job (long time ago) and I don't seem to remember this being a problem.

My "beef" as it were, is not with order fulfillment, but order placement. Unfortunately, this is becoming more the norm than the exception. I walk up to the counter to order. "Can I take your order?" "This order is for here." Cashier nods. "I'd like the burger with cheese combo, ketchup and mustard only, a side of fries, and an iced tea to drink." "Which burger combo did you want?" "The burger with cheese combo." "What did you want on it?" "Ketchup and mustard." "Which side did you want?" "Fries." "Is that for here or to go?" WHY DID I EVEN BOTHER SPEAKING? And that's just when I order for me ... I can't imagine going through this for a family.

Adding a fat is a double-edged sword. Because the fat coats the gluten strands in the dough, it can prevent good gluten formation. In things like brioche, this is a good thing as we want that cake-like consistency. However, adding some fat will make the dough easier to work with as well. In a lot of my breads where a fat is called for, adding from 1-4 tablespoons is not uncommon. If it were me, I'd probably add a couple of tablespoons of a light flavored oil (canola).

Corollary: What you initially thought would take the longest amount of time to complete doesn't. What should arguably be the quickest item to make suddenly is the longest. The laws of conservation being what they are, however, dictate that everything will be ready when the event starts. And for my own ... Any item that is available to you (think fresh herbs) ANY other time you've ever looked for it will somehow be impossible to find the day before your event and will require a trip to six different stores to track it down. Grumble ....

More or less I agree with Tri2Cook's ratios. In cheesecakes where I use melted chocolate (white or dark), those cakes tend to set up firmer after refrigeration and follow the ratios mentioned before. In cheesecakes where I use fruit purees and no chocolate, I will generally add one additional egg to the batter to help it set up more firmly. Texture-wise it is similar, but slicing and presentation are a lot nicer if the middle of the cake isn't slightly runny. One big thing that I've found is that once you start adding your eggs at the end of the mixing, do not overmix the batter. It will incorporate too much air into the mix and will souffle in the oven (with a possible falling in the center as it cools).

I realized only after starting to make my risotto that the white wine I was planning on using had turned. Fortunately, there was a nice bottle of crisp Belgian ale in my fridge that I used in its place that saved the day (and the dish). It definitely tasted different, but it was just as good. I'm also a big fan of using beer in chili as well.

I've also seen USB coffee warmers as well. However, you're neglecting the next big heat source ... notebook computers that get so hot that you can actually get seriously burned if you use them on your lap. Some manufacturers have even stopped using the word "laptop" in favor of "notebook" for this reason. I'm guessing a notebook hot enough to burn you would make some interesting-tasting scrambled eggs.

I've been reading this thread with great interest as I have quite a bit of pantry items that aren't "protected" (read: still in the same bag as I bought it in at the grocery store). Obviously mason jars and thick plastic containers should be enough to keep the buggers out, but are the plastic bags that come with the food saver machines thick enough? Someone mentioned the Tilia earlier in the thread ... is it only this brand of bag or will others work in general. Or should I just stick with mason jars and plastic containers?

No...YOU picked the restaurant. None of them had ever even heard of it. You're waiting for your out-of-the-country-foreigners dining companions to show up. Never mind worrying about being seated, ordering food, etc. How long would you wait before leaving? ← Oops, sorry, you did say that you picked the restaurant. If it were me and I decided that it was all or nothing (meaning that either I would or wouldn't eat at the restaurant), I'd probably say I would wait for an hour before leaving. But I agree with markemorse ... I'd be sitting at the bar waiting.

How long to wait before what? Being seated? Or ordering? If I wasn't afraid of losing my reservation/table, then I would probably wait about 15-20 minutes in the lobby before asking to be seated. If I was afraid of losing my table (and the restaurant allowed it), I'd be seated immediately. As for ordering food, I'd be willing to wait up to an hour, but with the caveat that I'd probably order a couple of appetizers for people to snack on while we waited. On the other hand, if this were a restaurant that I had only agreed to go to because I was in the minority, and I showed up on time and no one else showed up for 30 minutes, I would leave and go somewhere else that I preferred.

This is certainly not an indictment of Arby's or fast food restaurants in general, but there was this specific Arby's that co-workers and I would frequent every so often on our lunch break. It actually wasn't for the food, but for the floor show. The day manager took it upon herself to correct employee's incorrect behavior by screaming at them ... in front of the customers. We never could figure out which was worse: the quality of the employees she had presumably hired or her very unprofessional managerial bedside manner. The obviously high turnover rate was seemingly only apparent to the customers.

I always substituted applesauce for part or all of the oil.

Hey CaliP! Does your butcher actually cut the chops himself? Or does he get them from his supplier already cut? If he cuts the chops himself, maybe he'd be willing to sell you the bone-in loin for the same price as the chops -- that way you would be able to roast a whole piece of meat, helping to avoid it from drying out. I don't know if this salad would fit into your next meal plan, but I have a recipe for a fantastic and very simple roasted potato salad. Simple cut up your potatoes into bite sized pieces, throw onto a sheet pan and coat with olive oil. Roast in the oven until your potatoes are cooked and have taken on a little color. Let cool. Then toss the potatoes with some white wine vinegar, olive oil, salt, pepper, and a little bit of scallions/green onions. It's quite delicious and can be served cold or at room temperature. Good luck on your next meal!

I just used mine over the weekend to make parmesan "cups" -- sort of like a tuille, but with parmesan cheese instead. They worked like a champ for that purpose. I've also seen them used for pate de fruit -- which sort of goes along the lines of the "sugar" work mentioned earlier, I suppose. I'd bet they'd also be killer for doing things like brittles and caramelized nuts and such.

Time to bump this wonderful thread back up to the top! So I just did two 7 pound bone in butts for a party this weekend. I finally remembered to weigh the resulting pork after it had been shredded, bones removes, etc. I started with 14 pounds and ended up with 7 pounds all said and done. Is that what other people see, too ... about a 50% loss from the original weight? (Fortunately, 7 pounds of finished butt is perfect for what I need) I guess I am asking from a party planning perspective ... if I know I want 'x' amount of finished product, should I always get '2x' amount of raw product? One other thing I've noticed is that parts of the pork butt shred easier than other parts. It seems that the meat right around the bone literally falls apart where as some of the other meat requires a bit of more work to shred it. Anyone else notice this as well? In case anyone is wondering, I usually cook my butts to about 195, cover them loosely with foil and let them sit for 60-75 minutes before shredding.

I've done several pasta dishes for large events before and what I generally find is that when the pasta dish is part of several others (as opposed to the main course), about 1 ounce of dried pasta per portion is about appropriate. Once you've cooked the pasta, added in your vegetables and dressing, that 1 ounce of dried pasta will turn into more like 3-4 ounces of pasta salad. So, for 150, that would equate to about 9.375 pounds of dried pasta. Go with 10 pounds and you'll have extra. Normally when I make pasta salad, I do a basic balsamic vinaigrette with a little Dijon mustard in there to help emulsify the dressing. Plus it adds a nice zing. And there's no worry of the mayo issue. As for fruit salad, here is a favorite of mine that I'm constantly being asked to bring to parties over the summertime: This feeds 12-15 adults, so you can scale it up appropriately 2 quarts strawberries, hulled and sliced 1 pineapple, peeled, cored, and sliced 5-6 peaches/mangoes/nectarines/plums, cut into wedges 1 vanilla bean, split and scraped Honey to taste Cointreau/Grand Mariner to taste (replace this with freshly squeezed OJ to eliminate the alcohol) Gentle toss the fruit with the vanilla bean, honey, and liqueur (or OJ). I like to make this the day before and let the flavors really permeate. As for the fruit, you could really use just about anything that is seasonal. I would stick with fruit that is going to hold it's shape reasonably well though.

I have used this technique once or twice and the loaves came out okay. There is some concern about overproofing -- as even when the dough reaches the fridge temperature, it still does continue to grow (albeit very slowly). My advice to you is to let the loaves sit at room temperature for about 45 minutes to 1 hour and then bake as normal. You didn't say why you were shaping and then proofing in the fridge. If it's time related, I much prefer to do my fermentations (risings) in the fridge and then when I want to finish them, I'll take the dough out, let it come back to room temperature, then shape, proof, and bake. This way I don't have to worry about overproofing the loaves and I can still break up the task of making bread over two days.

Couche: Place a wine bottle on the outside of either side of your folds in your towel. The weight of the bottle will force the dough to rise up, not out. Refrigerated dough: Absolutely. I've had doughs that I made one night and didn't go through the rest of the process for 2-3 days later. In fact, Peter Reinhart actually suggests a similar method for his Pain a l'ancienne. What I would do is make up my Poolish on Thursday morning and let it sit out at room temp all day. Thursday night, make up your dough and immediately put it in the fridge. After about 3 hours it should be sufficiently cool enough -- punch down/fold over the dough to degas. When you are ready to finish making the bread, take it out of the fridge and let it warm for 1-2 hours and then continue on as normal. The nice thing is that the extra time in the fridge helps to release even more of those starches from the flour.

If you find that your emulsion has broken, you don't have to throw it out. In a fresh bowl, add a fresh yolk and slowly begin to reincorporate the broken mayo into the fresh egg. Again, you want to start slowly, but as you start to create a stable emulsion, you can add the broken mixture in larger and larger amounts.

Cali -- That recipe looks very good. I'm assuming you sub in 1 1/2 cups of cooked quinoa for the couscous? Or would you up it a little higher since the 1 1/2 cups of couscous is measured before the soaking in the water (since 1 1/2 cups of unsoaked couscous does not equal 1 1/2 cup soaked couscous)? Tino

I've done an Italian meringue before for a lemon tart and it was quite lovely. The drizzling in of the sugar syrup definitely heats the egg whites enough to cook them. I like the Italian meringue because the final product has a glossy finish to them.

Another big fan of quinoa here! After sauteeing some onions and garlic in a little olive oil, I'll add the rinsed and drained quinoa into the pan, add the appropriate amount of chicken stock and some dried thyme, and cook until done. Then I might add a little bit of lemon juice and salt and pepper and it is always a very lovely side dish.