tino27

I agree with KristiB50 ... happened to catch the re-broadcast of the original show last night at 1 AM and after figuring out what it was, I have to say that I felt the show was highly edited ... to the point where I could easily pick up on the fact. It just felt like the show lacked any real purpose, other than to highlight how much make-up one of the contestants wears.

I have to agree with KarenDW, if at all possible, I try and add them entire stems to a sauce and let the stirring action remove the leaves from the stems and then simply pull out out the stems. For applications where no sauce is involved, the best (but not most efficient) is trying to strip the leaves from the tip to the base, but if the stems are too tender, they tend to break easily.

I think that many of us will take delight that Robin is now gone. Whether you liked her or not (and personally, I don't know of anyone who liked her) she is finally out of the running. Originally I had predicted that the top four would be the V brothers, Kevin, and Jen. But, Jen being so wishy-washy and Eli coming out for a win now and then, I think the only thing we can count on is that the top three will be Kevin, Michael, and Bryan. I project Kevin for the win, even though I like the V brothers an awful lot. This is really probably the toughest season to figure out who I want to win.

I've had great success with cheesecake. Yes, I know that sounds strange, but hear me out. After baking in the springform pan, leave it in the springform pan. Let the cheesecake come to room temperature and then wrap the top with a nice layer of foil and chill completely. Place a nice cardboard square on top of the foil, place in a cooler and cover with lots of ice. You can travel for quite a bit, depending on the ambient temperature of your car. I used to bake pumpkin cheesecakes and then transport them 2-3 hours to their destination with absolutely no ill effects as long as I packed them in ice. Unmold on-site before dessert service and slice appropriately.

Ditto, Marmish. Although my brioche tends to be a tad decadent, so I don't make this very often. The brioche is so buttery that the only thing necessary is a little bit of Grade B maple syrup. It almost melts in your mouth. Damn, now I'm craving it.

I find it pretty rare that I can make a recipe directly from a book without any alterations. Usually the problem is that the dough is either too dry or too wet when I measure by the numbers. I think it's a combination of using the recipe as a jumping off point and then using experience and common sense to judge what is happening in your mixing bowl. Even when you figure out what works best for your conditions (humidity, type of flour, age of flour, etc.), it can still vary slightly from time to time.

Perhaps all you eG'ers from the wonderful southern part of the US can help out a poor Yankee. Every time I order grits, not cheesy grits, nor shrimp and grits, just plain old regular grits, what I end up with is largely a woefully underseasoned bowl of boiled coarse cornmeal with either a hunk of butter or margarine floating on top, slowly melting. I find that I normally need to add quite a bit of salt just to make them taste good to my palate. Before I bemoan the state of grit preparation in northeastern Ohio, I would like to know from those who might be much more experienced than I: 1) If you order "plain" grits, is this how they are served in the south? 2) Are savory versions of grits (like cheesy grits) seasoned with extra salt in addition to the salt that is inherent in the cheese so that the resulting dish would be more in line with what one would consider "proper" seasoning? 3) Is there a proper way to order "seasoned" grits? I really do enjoy a nice bowl of grits once I add salt, but what invariably comes out of the kitchen always has the flavor of spackling. Please help this Northern Boy understand the nuances of proper grit preparation and ordering etiquette.

There are some very good books mentioned so far in this thread and I do own most of them. However, for me, Reinhart's Bread Baker's Apprentice was an excellent introduction to bread theory, if you will. After reading and absorbing the excellent information that Mr. Reinhart has in that book, it changed the way I read every subsequent bread book after that. I agree that other books and authors may dwell more deeply on specific points (such as yeast or specific enzymatic actions of bacteria on flour), but BBA serves as an excellent jumping off point.

What about blending up some silken tofu in a food processor and adding a little bit of lemon juice for some acidity?

Totally agreed, eldereno. Come on, Bravo ... if you start showing new episodes on random Wednesdays, you'll lose me as a viewer.

It appeared that Robyn knew the shrimp were bad before the judges told her so. In the time allowed, there was no opportunity to redo it. You are correct, sir. However, my recollection is that she said that she only tasted the dish after she served the judges, but before Judges Table. Thus, she would've known how bad it was before facing the firing squad. Am I remembering this correctly? Anyone else care to verify?

I pretty much agree with the need to hold back on doing any more ceviches. However, one thing I did want to point out is that Season 6 of Top Chef was filmed over 20 days during the month of May. Top Chef Masters didn't start airing until June (and obviously was filmed much earlier). So, unfortunately, no one from Season 6 would've been privy to Anita Lo's raw bar disaster. Hopefully the Season 7 cheftestants will have learned this lesson though. However, one gripe that I think is completely fair is when will the cheftestants learn to TASTE the food before serving it? Tom et al having been griping about that since Season 1. Certainly that might have saved Robyn this time around from being in the bottom three.

Is it me or is anyone else seeing an eerie similarity between Jennifer of this season and Casey from Season 4?

If you got the pork roast from Giant Eagle, then I would surmise you picked up a boneless pork roast. I would also surmise that the pork has already been injected with a brine solution, so brining it at home as a separate step seems unnecessary to me. When I do a pork roast from a place like GE, I normally remove any silver skin (if there is any) with a boning knife. If the pork doesn't hold a nice uniform shape, I will then truss the loin using cotton twine (if you ask at the meat department at your local supermarket, they will usually give you some for free). I then season liberally with salt and pepper and sear each side of the loin in a skillet for about two minutes using an oil with a high smoke point, such as canola or grapeseed. I then transfer the seared loin to a casserole dish or roasting pan where I've already placed cut up potatoes or other root vegetables. I then bake it at 375 deg F until the internal temperature of the loin reaches whatever temperature you consider to be "done". Remove the pork and tent with aluminum foil. Meanwhile, crank up the oven temperature to 425 deg F and finish roasting off the vegetables. Slice and serve. If you want a pan sauce to accompany the pork, deglaze the skillet you used to sear the pork initially and build a sauce from that.

Darn, I thought I would be breaking the big news when I saw Steve Paul's Facebook link about the article! LOL I think he did a great job capturing not only the events, but a lot of the personalities, too.

At the Greenhouse Tavern in Cleveland, OH, they serve the bread with either duck or pork rillette. Ummm ... quite delicious (although honestly, the bread alone is also quite good). ETA: Although I guess technically, rillette isn't a dipping sauce, but a spread. Still delicious though.

Thanks to you both for your suggestions. nsxtasy -- I came across Joseph Decuis from another source and did take a look at their online menu. I'm not sure whether the heart attack would occur after eating the foie gras appetizer or finding out that it was $26.

Looks like I'll be in Fort Wayne, IN for about a 24 hour period during the third weekend in October. Any eGulleters out there familiar enough with the food scene able to recommend something uniquely Fort Wayne? Suggestions for all levels of cuisine are acceptable.

Not to be a thread hog, but I just received a Tweet from Steve Paul this morning, the reporter from the Kansas City Star who attended all of the events from this year's gathering, and he said that the magazine article he is writing is scheduled to appear on August 30th (assuming it doesn't get bumped).

The pictures from our amazing brunch at Crum Farm on the final day of the weekend are now up and posted on my blog. Please feel free to stop by and check them out. You can read about it here: Brunch Is Bountiful There are also two entries (the previous two before the brunch) that detail our dinner at the 2131 Studio space as well.

You can also place your shaped (but not yet fully proofed) loaves, seam-side down onto a cut piece of parchment paper. Then, simply use the peel to slide them into the oven and after about fifteen minutes of baking, the loaf will have risen to it's full capacity and you can simply pull the paper out from under the loaf. I do this all the time with my ciabatta dough since it is SO wet. I would use a separate piece of parchment for each loaf. Just make sure you make the piece large enough to cover the bottom of the ENTIRE loaf or else you'll end up with sticking issues where the dough touches the peel.

While I did chime in earlier about keeping the voting to cities where we actually have volunteers, I didn't actually make my preference known. While I am more than likely to drive to whatever city is finally chosen, personally, I'd like to see a return to Ann Arbor next year. It's been three years since I attended there and honestly, I think it's time for a return trip. Not that Cleveland or MSP wouldn't also be good venues, but that's just my two cents. I'll be honest though ... part of that preference is the fact that we have a kitchen space for workshops prior to our Saturday dinner as well as a space to cook for ourselves on Saturday, too.

Oops, reading back through the posts on this thread, I realize I may have surreptitiously volunteered NancyH for Cleveland when she didn't actually make that offer. In which case, only Tammylc from Ann Arbor has technically thrown her hat into the ring for consideration so far.

All of the cities that have been suggested are a wonderful idea, BUT ... I think we are putting the cart before the horse. As I'm sure any of the organizers from Heartland Gatherings past can tell you, it takes a lot of time and energy to put together this four-day orgy of food. Even if Des Moines or Minneapolis/St. Paul are meccas of food gastronomy, if no one local is available to organize the events, then suggesting them would seem to be a moot point. What we need is a list of volunteers who would be willing to organize the event in whatever city they happened to live in. So far we only have Tammylc representing Ann Arbor and NancyH representing Cleveland. Once we have that list of volunteers, then we can decide where we want to go. And honestly, to me, the city isn't nearly as important as the fact that we are establishing a sense of community with others who share a common interest.

Just in case anyone was interested, starting with this morning and continuing through next Wednesday are five blog entries that are posting related to my Heartland Gathering Kansas City experience. Today's post is all about making focaccia dough for the dinner we had two Saturday's ago. You can read about it here: Focaccia is Fantastic And yes, the recipe is included.