Sararwelch

My parents were at Bouchon yesterday and were nice enough to bring me a slice of the lemon tart. I would suggest a nut other than pine nut for the crust - I think I read in the Bouchon cookbook thread that someone has tried macadamia nuts before - maybe it was Ling? Not sure. That might be a good combination with the pineapple.

Not necessarily tasteless and greasy for me, my report is in this thread. ← That's good to hear, I went when it was really new, so maybe they've worked the kinks out. I'm doing DAT at One Market for lunch tomorrow.

I am most definitely a sucker for cookbooks with pretty pictures. I am trying to get into the habit of using my cookbooks more often. The problem is that, while I love to cook, I find it takes a lot more time to try to follow a recipe exactly. Most nights, I'm just looking to get dinner on the table in a reasonable amount of time and I don't want to be bothered with consulting a cookbook every 10 seconds. Along the same lines, while I spend a good portion of my free time cooking, some of these restaurant cookbook recipes are extremely time consuming. One of my restaurant cookbooks has a chinese chicken salad that when you add up all of the parts of the recipe, you end up with about 50 ingredients. I really don't need any more $$ condiments in my fridge that I'm going to struggle to use past the original recipe. That being said, my new year's resolution is to actually use my cookbooks. I think it's a good way to expand my culinary repetoire, even if I don't repeat the exact recipe again.

I just got this cookbook for the holidays, and I haven't made anything from it yet. Suggestions on where to start?

I've used 2 cups of bread flour and 1 cup of any of the following: semolina flour white whole wheat flour rye meal They all came out well - I was a little skeptical of the rye meal - basically a coarse grind of rye flour, but even that came out well. It wasn't as airy as the others, but the flavor was well developed and the texture wasn't too dense.

The Richard Simmons Dessert Cookbook. Yes, that Richard Simmons. It's a pretty hilarious book, I got it for really cheap a while ago. I haven't cooked anything from it in years.

I always do the second rise in a greased bowl. I know it's not supposed to be as good, but it's way less mess and the breads come out great. It's also really easy to transfer the bread - I just turn the bowl upside down over the pot and it slides right out.

I don't like to drink wine. I've never found a wine that I've been able to tolerate. I hear it's an acquired taste, and it's just something I've never gotten into. That being said, I cook constantly and have gotten to the point where I think I need to learn something about wine to further my culinary skills. I use wine in my cooking, but I never know if it's a good wine or not. I have a friend that's really into wine, and he's willing to teach me some things, but I also need the absolute basics. Does anyone know of a good website to start with?

I also love cookbooks - the more color photos, the better! I am trying to make a habit of using them more often. My problem is that I find it takes a lot longer to actually follow a recipe than to make up a dish as I go along.

I made Martha Stewart's Rocky Ledge bars, but I substituted toffee chips and milk chocolate chunks for marshmallows and white chocolate so I ended up with chocolate toffee bars. They were very well received and easy to make.

I'm jewish, and I can say that my family always goes to the movies, chinese food is optional!

I recently had a few dungeness crabs. The first night we ate them steamed with butter. I used the crab shells and some shrimp shells to make stock, and the second night made a red seafood chowder with crab, shrimp, scallops, orange roughy, vegetables and potatoes.

Have you taken the hobby classes at PCI? If so, what did you think?

I am looking to take some cooking classes. I would consider myself to be at least an intermediate level home cook. I was considering the weekend program at the California Culinary Academy - has anyone had any experience with these classes? Any other places I should look at? I can only do weekends.

I use disposable too - so much easier to clean, especially when you're piping something sticky.

I bought my yuzu at the Monterey Market in Berkeley, CA. They also had them at the Berkeley Bowl.

I used andiesenji's microwave recipe from recipegullet. I've tried it with orange peel, meyer lemon peel and buddha's hand. JBN, after you take the peel out of the syrup, let it dry on a cooling rack - when it gets to the point where it's just slightly sticky, roll it in sugar.

I'm reporting back - I picked one out that felt heavy. I just juiced it and got about 1/4 tsp of juice, which is more than I got last time.

I made the strawberry marshmallows: They were great! Much better than the recipe I was using before.

The first time I tried your recipe I used a really brightly colored orange. It's funny, it had a very different consistency than what I've made with meyer lemon peel and buddha's hand. The orange peel was much firmer, and the sugar syrup got much thicker. There was no bitterness at all with the orange, it almost tasted like one of those orange slice candies. Chocolate orange peel: Candied buddha's hand:

I candied my buddha's hand - I changed the water six times, and used a little kosher salt for the first boil. I let it sit in the syrup for a few hours. It's delicious!

If it's still too bitter after the three rinses, should I microwave it again for 10 min and rinse? The buddha's hand was pretty bitter even after 3 rinses.

These are really good, a Gale Gand recipe Lisa’s Almond Macaroons Makes 2 dozen macaroons 8 ounces almond paste, cut into large pieces 2 cups powdered sugar ½ teaspoon pure vanilla extract ¼ cup egg whites (from 2 to 3 large eggs) 4 ounces semi-sweet chocolate, melted (optional) Preheat the oven to 375 degrees Fahrenheit. Have ready a pastry bag fitted with a large (1/2-inch) plain tip and a cookie sheet lined with parchment paper. In a mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat the almond paste with the powdered sugar on low speed until smooth. Add the vanilla and then the egg whites, and mix until the mixture becomes a smooth batter. Fill the pastry bag with the batter and pipe 1¼-inch-diameter disks (about the size of a half dollar) about 1-inch apart onto the prepared cookie sheet. Bake 15 to 20 minutes, or until the macaroons are golden brown. Remove from the oven and let them cool on the cookie sheet. Using a fork, drizzle the chocolate over the macaroons and allow to set up.

It's possible that they're old. I wouldn't think there would be a high rate of turnover on yuzu. I don't even think I got 1/16 of a teaspoon out of the one from last week. I am going back to this produce market tomorrow - if they have more, I'll buy one that feels heavy and report back.

I candied orange peel using the microwave recipe posted a while back, and it came out great. I tried to use the same recipe to candy buddha's hand, that didn't work as well. The buddha's hand was still really bitter at the end of the process, and when I tried to cook it for a few minutes longer, it burned. I candied meyer lemon peel a few days ago - it's good, but very different than the orange peel. The texture is much softer, and there's still a hint of bitterness at the end. Is candied citrus peel supposed to be soft or firm? Should there be any bitterness at all? Are there any guidelines for stuff like this?