AAQuesada

Best Yuzu juice around. Well worth the cost for commercial use! If you try it report back, http://www.chefswarehouse.com/Yuzu-Juice-750-ml/M/B00202SZ2Q.htm

You are correct. Weighing is always more accurate. Conversions like that are seen as with in the margin of error. The egg industry is remarkably good at its size/weights over a dozen. Individual eggs may be off, by a but but the bigger issue is not getting all the egg out of the shell. You would be surprised by how much you can leave behind if you are not careful!

Not true. Most kitchen recipes are standardized for large eggs which are a standard 24 oz per dozen (or ~2oz per egg)it makes it easy to scale up or down w/o weighing. Most kitchens i've been in still use # of eggs (each)UNLESS they are using liquid egg products. Usually for hollandaise, where food safety is more the issue. I've never worked in a kitchen that used anything but Large AA eggs. I certainly haven't been everywhere, but that is my experience.

Make to coffee cakes or cupcakes..scoop and weigh, then whisk the ingredients together. The other weigh then sift before proceeding with your method. See if it notice a difference, I always can tell the difference in the crumb. YMMV. I hate shortcuts. Leads to bad kitchen habits. [shrug]

I guess sloppy technique is not the end of the world when you are just cooking at home, but things like the wrong size eggs or taking short cuts in procedures really add up in production. The difference in 3oz per dozen between egg sizes may not seem like much to a home cook, but when you are dealing with standardized recipes its everything. Really you master a few basic mixing methods, and you never take short cuts IMO it frees you up to be more creative. And you won't really have to follow the instructions, because they all fall into just a few categories.

For me it's not about clumps it really is about aeration. Where I really notice it most is in quick breads, (pancakes, muffins ect..) and Cakes,(genoise, cupcakes, sheet cakes). It's because mixing methods are so important you want to take as much care as possible with out babying your batter. Why do you get a lot more volume when you sift? it's the air, take the care to keep it in your batter.

Plus.. Sifting makes a big difference in the final product. Skipping steps like that in baking is just foolishness. Will the formula still work, sure, but like staining sauces its a point of refinement. Do I really need to rest my bread dough in before shaping?.. {sigh} There are lots of times when you can change recipes or procedures, it's prudent to understand what they are there for.. often it's more than just the obvious.

Wow! that looks great, and I love the label too. I'll second the preserved myer lemons. I do a really plain recipe just salt, lemon or bay leaves, a dried chile or two and thats it. I do the standart eureka's as well as the Myer lemons and I love preserved myer lemon for vinaigrettes, myer lemon aioli, Salad's like Tabbouleh....

I pretty much stick to the classic gazpacho myself, there are so many updated versions around I feel more innovative not innovating! But then I do like Lopez de Heredia too ;^) For me its not gazpacho with out the 'pa' for pan. Veggies got to be raw, it's hard to get the right green peppers out here for spanish cuisine though. I don't know how to describe them but they are thin skinned and not as bitter as the ones you see here. Finished with good olive oil and sherry vin. I'm okay with the lurid orange color, the bread gives the whole thing a creamy texture that balances the sweetness of ripe veg and acidity. Arturo

Mrs. Wilkes country kitchen. Wow. Excellent, best fried chicken I've had. Incredible variety of veg, delicious collards.. Be prepared to wait in line.

His book is really good, there are some pretty good ones bread books out there, but I wouldn't hesitate to recommend it. I learned a lot and found the short video very helpful. Rarely use my KA for bread anymore.

You'd be surprised how few people can make a standard rice pilaf! Cooking whole grains.. Issues: to soak or not. You could do puffed rice Pate a chou is pretty amazing and very versatile.

I have been filling in my home bar to be more well rounded (Just got back from K&L in Hollywood). The last couple are still open. I admit to mostly sipping straight, although I do love classic cocktails. Maybe not the cheapest list, but I think a value list anyway. 1 Herradura blanco 2 Wild Turkey 101 Rye 3 Ron Zacapa 23 4 Flor de Cana 5 Prunier Liqueur d'Orange 6 Calvados LeCompte 7 Lillet (instead of white vermouth) 8 Dolin Vermouth Rouge 9 Gin * most likly Hendricks, although I'd like to try Junipero 10 Scotch *likly something from bowmore. Legend is a good blended 11 ? I see Maracino liqueur on a lot of list should I pick some up? Mixers: Citrus, soda, tonic, frozen fruit purees Am I missing anything major?

To who ever asked, yes CPK is from California, LA to be more specific. It started of as a take on Wolfgang Puck's famous salmon pizza (sometimes called 'jewish pizza'). The CPK founders hired WP's pizza chef as a consultant and the rest is history.

I am sure you'll get some great answers. For me California cuisine is greatly influenced by the early influence of the Spanish, Italian immigrants you can see the with Mediterranean ingredients here (oranges, olives, sage). As well as the influence of early immigration of Chinese and Japanese. Of course the food of mexico, chile, tortillas, Avocado ect.. California cuisine is a continuing mix of ethnic influences, the use of fresh veggies and fruits, a culture of high heat grilling. Encarnacion's Kitchen is an interesting book on early california cuisine... http://www.ucpress.edu/ebook.php?isbn=9780520939332

Suck it up. pretty much. Silver sulfadine when I get home.

Wow! Fast becoming one of my favorites. The recipes really work, def Pro's only though with a well equipped pastry shop. I've used more than a few of the formulas as teaching tools and never had any problems. LOL, As always... YMMV!

You should be able to special order from a butcher. Pigeon(vs. Squab which is the younger animal) is really nice, much closer to duck than chicken...

Wow, I guess this thread falls under to each there own. I love the china moon cookbook, one of my all time favorites. It has some great techniques, her voice really comes through and the recipes work. It's one of the rare times where fusion cuisine works (California-Chinese or as she says the Chinese Provence of San Francisco) I really like all of Kellers books as well. If you are a chef or cook you can learn a lot from one of the best in the business. The books are easy to read and very well organized.The food really works as well.. BUT All of his stuff is restaurant food, not for anyone else but the most ambitious home cook.

There are quite a few Spanish books published in English. One I brought back from my 'practica' is Creative Basque Cuisine; Traditional and Modern. Part of the work from the Basque Culinary awards the 'Premios Pil Pil de la gastronomia Vasca' edited and compiled by J.L. Barrena.

How about: Campanille - Los Angeles Just makes the 30 year cut off. Bachanallia - Atlanta Has been exceptional doing local, farm-centric southern fine dining.

If you don't like the premise of the book how can you be objective reviewing it? You haven't tried any of the recipes and yet you insist on repeatedly panning the book. I could care less either way about this book, but there appears to be a lot of negative energy here and not a lot of people saying they tried recipes and they didn't work. If it's too sweet for you but the recipe works is the ratio really wrong? I don't think so. Can he do all the things he claims he can with that recipe? This thread makes me weary. Arturo

I don't have bakewise and won't comment on in. The 'Touch of Grace' recipe though appears in Cookwise and IMHO are great, I think they are worth working to get right. Maybe this note from Cookwise will assist you... "Notes: If low-protein Southern self-rising flour is not available, use 1 cup national-brand self-rising all-purpose and ½ cup instant flour (such as Shake and Bake or Wondra) or cake flour, ½ teaspoon baking powder." "If self-rising flour is not available, use a total of 1 ½ teaspoons baking powder. Do not use self-rising flour for shaping since the leavener will give a bitter taste to the outside of the biscuits. " Arturo

I don't know if anyone else here has the FCI book, but it is really interesting to see it come to life in these posts. Thanks for doing it.

I love my blundstones. Been wearing them (same pair) since November of 07. Fourteen hours plus a day 5, 6 days a week and still going strong. Comfortable, Very good non slip and I don't have to change out of dorky kitchen shoes after work. I wear the regular 550. Bottom line is that I feel safe in these shoes and it's one less thing I have to worry about. BTW.. The Aussie website has much better info regarding saftey.. some of the model numbers are different but at least they give you that info. http://www.blundstone.com/product_info.cgi...tegoryID=130278 Arturo