Mr. Delicious

One of my favorites is to ask a hostess for a third pan of steam, or a bucket of A.I.R. Another fun one is to make "oreo's" with discs of brewed espresso powder and give to the new guy. One guy I worked with once would fill your back pockets with raw shrimp, thats always great to go home with and find the next day. I also like to run down the line with a pan of baked potatoes and see how many people I can "burn" and watch how the react.

Last night was battle beets, and the challenger was Homaru Cantu from Moto in Chicago. It was great to watch, he had his polymer box, liquid nitrogen, corkscrew utinsels, even the class 4 laser. It was quite interesting, I was very suprised to see him win. Even Morimoto was usuing liquid nitrogen, it was great. Just curious what anyone else thought, and I am shocked that I am the first to post about this.

I was just reading about the cold spell that hit the citrus region of California, then the local news called and asked if wanted to do a story on how it will affect me, especially with Valentines day coming. Just wondering if anyone had heard more, or how something like this has affected us bakers before.

I was on a south FL vacation, and when searching I found out there was a Les Halles in the Miami area. I was very excited, maybe because I am such a fan of Bourdain (I own all of his books), I do realize that he has very little affilliation with them now, but I still had to eat there. We were there for a late lunch (first mistake). When we arrived we were one of about 6 tables, so they were in no way busy. We shared some food first some onion soup, and some escargot, both were good but in no way amazing. Then came the mussels (portugese style) and the frites. Mussels were decent, frites were good, but maybe not to my expectations. Our server ruined our meal, he took the order and brought the bill, nothing more. When spending $25 each for lunch this is a joke. I'm not saying I would blame Bourdain for this or anything, I will still buy his next book, but I was very dissapointed in my meal, but 80% because of the service. I guess it is true that in SF there is very little great service. To sum it up it may have been my most dissapointing meal in years. I just wanted a refill of water, that would have helped. Anybody agree or disagree??

I just got my cuisinart ice cream maker yesterday, today was learning (vanilla bean and peanut butter brownie with some caramel,) tomorrow strawberry green peppercorn (Canned and brined) the best sweet and spicy combo in my opinion.

I as a kid was never big into cream cheese, mayo or sour cream, however i did always like cheesecake. Now I go through 60lbs a day and it doesnt bother me. Still wouldnt put any on a bagel or anything, just cheesecake and an occasional hors d' oeuvres. I also couldnt agree more on the cheesecake factory, it gives bad representation of cheesecake. One hell of a company, one bad cheesecake. I also agree that a simple cheesecake is better (I do like some wild ones, strawberry green peppercorn) but nothing tops a simple lemon.

I have done a root beer cheesecake, I used some root beer concentrate (spice barn). Turned out quite nice, maybe over the top, but it sold alright.

I beat cream cheese, cream with sugar, add eggs slowly, then a bit of cream. It is possible that it is a bubble but i cant figure it out.

The only thing I can think of is a small lump of sugar (perhaps clumped with lemon zest?) that would be susceptible to overbrowning. This happens to me sometimes with cookies; a tiny bit of brown sugar lump will go unnoticed in the batter, but it spreads as it heats and makes a brown bomb crater. ← All dry were sifted and mixed smooth, It just happens on the edge, and only in one spot.

I do the same thing just in a 9" x 3" round cake pan (never leaks), put a round sheet of parchment in the bottom, press in crust, prebake a bit, bake in waterbath, cool overnight, then invert onto parchment and torch, give it a litte "spin" it will fall right out. The best benefit is the smooth sides as opposed to running a knive around the edge in a springform pan. Also the butter from the crust melts and aids in the removal. Sometimes I chill while inverted to ensure a dry crust.

I agree that over mixing is probably the largest cause, I prefer to mix the batter and let it sit overnight, tapping the pan on the table also works well. But I do sometimes have one "cancerous" lump that I cant explain. Seems to happen most with vanilla or lemon, but not chocolate. cancer bump anyone know what would cause this (flavor is lemon blueberry)

It was cooled over night and the candy was applied while completely cool.

Yesterday I made a candy cane, and a chocolate candy cane cheesecake, they both looked wonderful after I pressed in chopped candy canes last night. But when I looked today the candies have melted. I need a suggestion please. before after I used the round mints not true candy canes if that matters any.

This is my german chocolate cheesecake, nice and rich to stay warm. (Oreo, coconut and pecan crust)

I always wondered where the Molson Canadian "Pillow fight referee" beer label came from. Looks like great entertainment though.

I went to Florida Culinary Institute several years ago in WPB and have eaten quite a few meals around south Florida. First Brewzzi's: one day at class my management teacher starts telling me about the wonderful service he had over the weekend at Brewzzi's, i was there the same night and had just the opposite to say, but food is decent and amtosphere and beer are great. My favorite restaurant in SF is definately Eduardo de San Angel's, what I would refer to as inspiring service, servers knowledge of food was amazing and very personal, I was eating with my girl friend in shorts and a t-shirt (I'm 23 so I usually dont get good service in a place like that). One place i really love for lunch is Belle and Maxwells but thats all the way up in WPB. I have also heard great things about Chef Allens but never made the trip.

Just wondering if anyone has ever eaten at a Space Aliens they started in North Dakota and now there are 2 in Minnesota (Waite Park and Albertville) just looking for opinions

Here is my first attemt, i used the sourthern living recipe, and it turned out great. Thanks for your help!

I had a request at my bakery for an Italian Cream Cake. I have never heard of it and I need advise on the best way to make it. Help me please.

My favorite growing up was honey on MCD fries, now I prefer ranch or a cajun ranch, BBQ, nacho cheese, or like everyone else sriacha. As a kid I would also dip my fries in my ice cream cone, now thats classic. Although I live near Canada, please no vinegar on my fries, and whats with canadian fries always being soggy?

From googling it, it looks very difficult to use on anything larger than a loaf of bread. Don't you still have to cut the item into managable chunks with a knife before moving it to the cheeseblocker? If so, that seems like an awful lot of work for something that retails at over $100. ← I place the cheesecakes on a 10" cardboard round and cut on there, there is plenty of space and it is only difficult if it is square (half hotel pan). It also works great for cutting small squares for samples. Cheesecakes are most of my business, so the $100 was very justifiable. It also cuts the crust with ease.

I prefer a 9" cake pan 3" deep with a parchment round. I cool the cheesecakes overnight then take a torch heat slightly, invert them, no need for a knife to loosen, remove the parchment and let crust dry this helps with a moist or gooey crust, like a turtle. Brownie crusts can simply flipped upside down and will slide out. To cut the pies i use a divider to mark the surface (12, 14, 16 for a 9") then use a cheeseblocker by Lincoln to slice, it uses some sort of metal wire, much quicker, more accurate, and with no mess. I would highly recommend the cheeseblocker to anyone.