Tri2Cook

Eben Freeman's Bazooka Bubblegum cocktail goes over well with the younger crowd... especially the ladies. Just for fun, I made a batch of the bubblegum vodka and used his recipe at a wedding reception and the college-age group, mostly the girls, cleaned it out in the first hour. It's not a super-sweet candy drink like the name implies, it's balanced pretty nicely by the lemon and lime juices, but it's still leaning to the sweet side which is usually popular with the crowd you're wanting to impress.

Pulling this thread up from the depths to ask about gelato di riso. Somehow this is something I've only recently heard of and I want to investigate. Yeah, I've already googled it but, in usual google fashion, there are 1,342,916.7 different recipes that are each different. For example, the person who told me about it had it in Italy and remembers it being similar to frozen rice pudding with cinnamon but all of the recipes I found didn't have cinnamon. Can anybody point me in the right direction or is this one of those things that, if you went to Italy, might be different at every vendor?

Thanks Kerry. That's what I guessed but I figured it wouldn't hurt to ask. This thing is awesome. I should have been buying them all along. The whole ones must be more aged or something, the texture is much more dense and chewy than the pre-sliced stuff she sells and the flavor is definitely more intense. I'm putting together an elk themed dinner (after the next market when I have a couple things I special ordered), I have to find a way to work this sausage into it.

I bought a whole Mennonite elk summer sausage at the farmer's market. A vendor from a semi-local elk farm always has a booth at the market and I buy a lot of meat from them (She's bringing me some elk bones for the next market to use for stock, she always has smoked bones but the stock from them was too smoky so I asked her if I could get some unsmoked as well.). I usually buy a couple packs of the pre-sliced sausage to munch on because it's really tasty but this time I decided to grab a whole one. I've never dealt with one of these before. After I peel the cloth bag off, is there anything else to peel or do I just wash it off (or not?) and munch? I cut a piece off and peeled it because it's kinda fuzzy looking once you remove the bag (not mold) but that seems to lead to a bit of waste so I won't peel it if it's not necessary.

I've used the bbq marshmallow from the Chadzilla blog. I did a candy-themed bbq app which was basically a mini sandwich of pulled pork hock on a bacon biscuit with tootsie roll bbq sauce and a bbq marshmallow on a small stick that I torched and leaned against the sandwich.

I don't know what the cool toy for home mixers is right now. I know several people who swear by Cuisinart. I'm still using my ~12 year old 5 qt. Kitchenaid at home. I don't use it for heavy doughs very often, I enjoy working bread dough by hand, but I use it frequently for cakes, cookies, icings, marshmallows, meringues, etc. and it's still going strong. Obviously your experience wasn't the same so good luck with whatever you go with.

Nice. I'm in the process of building and stocking a decent home bar. Something I never wanted before and I'm not rushing it now but it's getting there. I'm far from being what would be considered an oenophile but I enjoy wine now and then. Something like this seems like a good idea for someone like me who has no interest in parading out a different glass for each wine but understands that there are reasons why the various glasses exist.

I just wish one of them would've had the cojones to pick "hide the salami" in the quickfire.

Sorry, no disrespect intended, but I'm gonna disagree twice. First, butter in a carrot cake does add flavor and doesn't ruin texture when used in combination with the oil rather than as a replacement. Second, I can tell in one bite or less if shortening is used in a cookie instead of butter regardless of the spices involved... and I'm never happy about the substitution. I'll sacrifice a little tender for better flavor if I have to make the choice. I agree with the rest though. Not urban myth. I've witnessed it first-hand many times. "I didn't have this but the internet said I could use that instead." "I don't like those so I used these." "The kid won't eat that so I used the other... and the recipe just wasn't as good as you made it sound." I'm not an "anti-substitutionist" but if you didn't make the actual recipe, you can't really make a judgement on the recipe.

I'm gonna go with Shalmanese and suggest maybe this is a case of making a mountain out of a mole hill. Cultures which use wine prominently in their cuisine have fed their foods to their children for a very long time without problems. Before Gerber and Similac, the kids fed from mom 'til they could handle what mom and dad ate. Then they ate what mom and dad were eating. Feeding a kid enough coq au vin for the residual alcohol to induce alcohol poisoning would be like trying to feed him/her enough lettuce to become obese. That said, I also agree with Shalmanese' reduction suggestion. That's probably going to get you about as close to zero as you're going to get at home.

Yeah, I think I would have enjoyed seeing this challenge last year more than I did the deconstruction challenge.

You did achieve it. Familiar: aligning the strands of meat for burgers, mushroom ketchup and the cheese slice concept all made appearances in Heston Blumenthal's "In Search of Perfection" books. Different: the compressed tomato, infused lettuce and the mayo/glaze. I'm not implying anything negative. I'm sure the way the "familiar" ideas were executed was unique, they're just ideas that are more familiar to me than the stuff in the "different" category. It's looking like this is going to be one of those "must have" books regardless of price.

I agree. I personally hope printed cookbooks never become obsolete... at least not in my lifetime.

I was too... until I did it. They must have better processors than I do 'cause that was a mess. The processor motor was struggling and I lost quite a bit because I got tired of trying to scrape it off of everything.

The "herpe girl" thing has grown beyond tired for those of us who are out of highschool. His place, his rules. At least you got a cookie. I agree with Chris on the creativity thing. I can live with a chef not having working knowledge of every cuisine, even among the major ones. It's the boring predictable dishes that are sucking my interest in the show away this year. There hasn't been a single episode that sent me to the Bravo site to check out a recipe or technique. I was doing that pretty much every week last season.

That's hilarious... my gf just walked in my door with another pail of chanterelles. I'll have to post about it more often so I get more.

My gf went out with her sister to pick blueberries and brought home a 4 liter pail full of chanterelles. I didn't do anything fancy with them. Grilled some steaks and sauteed the mushrooms in butter. The next time I get some maybe I'll plan something interesting but wanted to just enjoy those nice and simple.

I'm beginning to think the chip I tasted was something completely different that accidently fell into a Doritos bag. I'm not a fan of McDonalds food but the worst burger I've ever had from a McD's was far better than that chip. The word cheeseburger never crossed my palate or mind after tasting that thing. Dusting a cheese Dorito with beef bouillon and onion powder doesn't come together as cheeseburger on my tongue I guess. Kinda glad to hear they taste like a cheeseburger (even if it's a bad one) for some folks because I was literally almost sick from the taste left in my mouth... but apparently it's me and not the chips.

That makes a little more sense except a mcdonald's cheeseburger tastes like fine dining next to those chips. They taste exactly like what I said, beef bouillon cube and onion powder.

I knew better. I almost never eat snack chips, "gourmet" or typical convenience store brands. So what made me decide to taste a Doritos Cheeseburger chip when a co-worker had them at work today, I have no clue. He said he picked them up on the way to work out of curiosity so I guess I'll blame curiosity too though stupidity seems more accurate in hindsight. I definitely paid the price for that slip in judgement. It was by far the most disgusting thing disguised as a snack chip I have ever had the misfortune of tasting. It tasted like a beef bouillon cube dipped in onion powder. That this one got a thumbs up from the test markets kinda scares me.

Chitlins... and they don't taste much better than they smell.

Sorry to hear that Darienne. I thought way up here in the far north we were the poster child for unavailable ingredients but even we have corn tortillas and, during the summer, a better selection of peppers than just jalapenos. The owner of the local grocery store is somewhat decent about ordering things in on request if he can get them without having to make too much effort. I've never seen pre-fried corn tortillas but, if the store can get those, it can probably get fresh or frozen as well. Have you asked? When I was a kid, my stepmom used to spread refried beans on fried tortillas (she fried them herself though), add some cheese and toss 'em in the oven a minute to melt the cheese then pile all of the stuff you would generally put in a taco on top. Nothing fancy but I liked them.

This will be an interesting thread if people keep it honest. These types of discussions on the internet have a tendency to drift into a contest to see who can have the most unexpected list but I'm guessing, if it stays honest, Rick won't be too far off base. Personally, tuna, salmon, cod, halibut and swordfish are probably my most common choices from the ocean but none of them come close to being my most commonly eaten fish. That would be walleye from the local lakes.

I'm not an expert on Thailand but, if there are ducks there, then I'd be very surprised if they're not part of somebody's diet. Either way, the duck noodle soup at the Thai place I used to go to before I moved was awesome so I was never really concerned over whether it was authentic or not.

The folks at Ideas in Food make a ganache by combining caramelized white chocolate with cream cheese. Maybe not the ideal thing for filling chocolates that won't be fridged but it sure is tasty.