Tri2Cook

Are you thinking of a specific application or just a general all-around substitute? I'm not sure there's such a critter as the second one. I don't think there is any one thing that could do the job of heavy cream in every application because the cream doesn't do the same job in every application.

Red velvet cake + cream cheese icing = what ice cream? Something to compliment or contrast cleanly. Whenever the owner at work knows her daughter and family are coming into town a red velvet cake w/ cream cheese icing is requested. They're coming into town next week and I was thinking maybe I'd do an ice cream to go with it as a surprise. For some reason I can't get this one sorted out in my head. I don't want to do a cream cheese ice cream with the cream cheese icing. I don't really want to do vanilla but I'm not ruling it out. I was considering buttermilk but I'm not sure how that will go over with the people who will be eating it... some of them are the owners grandkids. Maybe a very mild chocolate? The color of the cake often has people unfamiliar with it asking if it's strawberry or raspberry so maybe one of those to put the mouth and eyes on the same page? There's probably something obvious that I'm thinking myself into overlooking so I'm turning to the people who always come through when my brain goes on strike.

In certain cases, I disagree. For many of my purposes no heating of the liquid will be required at any stage of the process so any benefits will not be lessened and sometimes the benefit is a cleaner flavor that is measurable (assuming you consider taste a unit of measure). Her example related to ganache but, as I'm sure you know, the technique isn't limited to that use. I'm not sure why it's time wasting. Tomorrow I want some cream cold infused with ginger so today I toss it in the walk-in and when I get to work tomorrow it's good to go. Fair enough... but I'd argue that tossing it in the cooler overnight requires no more work time or effort than watching to make sure it doesn't overheat. Heating coffee beans doesn't ruin the flavor, I was just answering the question as to whether or not it works. It does work. That doesn't mean it's necessary or even the best option. However, a white coffee ganache was the specific example and, as you said, much less color is transfered with cold infusing the coffee beans.

Did you mean cold infusion? I do cold infusions all of the time. Coffee works. So do teas. It's great with mint or ginger too. Gives a nice, fresh flavor. Of course, if you are going to heat the liquid significantly after the infusion there's not a lot of point to it in many cases.

Kerry, please say you know a source for that mold.

It is.

That's ridiculous. I don't know if I'd call it ridiculous. A professional review done properly won't be uninformative but it will certainly be biased. It's impossible not to be biased. We all have our own preferences and they are going to influence our opinion whether we think they are or not. The only difference with the professional reviewer that does their job well is that they will disclose their biases/preferences as part of the review. Instead of saying "the servers are aloof", they will say "the servers were aloof for my taste, I like to interact with my server". Unfortunately, there are plenty of "professional" reviewers that think their biases should be your biases and present personal preference issues in a manner that reads as business issues. Which is not to say that they are doing anything wrong, I'm just agreeing with Florida that in the end a review is just an opinion. Sometimes educated, sometimes not. You have to fish out the information that is relevant to what you want to know regardless of who is doing the reviewing.

I don't think I'd be too interested in eGullet the cookbook as a book but I would probably be tempted to buy it anyway if the point was to benefit the society. Then again, there are eGullet members of all ages and experiences from all over the world so it could have the potential to be an interesting book if done well. I don't require that all of my books be instructional or even inspirational... there's room on the shelf for fun.

I've done a lot of his recipes from the series but not that one in particular so I'll have to give you this one. On paper, it's beef, beans, beef stock, vegetables and a chile blend. Granted, a much more complicated preparation than the usual pot of chili involves but, in the end, pretty much the same idea. Maybe the end result doesn't justify the means... I'll have to give it a shot sometime.

Blumenthal is far from clueless. The problem is, people see his "In Search of Perfection" shows or books and make the assumption that he claims to make the perfect version of those dishes when he actually makes it quite clear to those who take the time to listen/read that he is making his perfect version of those dishes. He shares the journey with us but the destination was all about getting the dish where he wanted it to be... not where we think it should be. As for the now ancient subject at hand, I don't know whether or not chiles can kill (aside from an allergy being involved) but I do know most super hot sauces and extracts come with warnings for those with heart and respiratory problems and some even require signing a waiver at time of purchase... which may or may not be part of the show rather than an actual attempt at warning people. I'm a recovered chile-head who used to seek out the hottest of the hot and none of them caused me any problems that time and sitting on an ice pack wouldn't cure.

I'm a fan of the mixed snack bowl/plate. This time of year that bowl or plate usually just contains various types of cut up fruit and/or vegetables and/or pickles because cycling season is almost here again and it's time to drop the extra insulation that is courtesy of much more interesting snack bowls/plates through the winter. My snack bowl/plate in the winter usually contains assorted cheeses and meats in addition to pretzels, crackers and pickles and things of that nature. Fortunately I don't snack all that often so I don't have to get too drastic to drop the extra winter lbs.

I have a preference for the thicker pasta and a very high pasta to other stuff ratio. I like my lasagna to be pasta with some stuff, not casserole with a few layers of pasta in it. That said, I have used the "no boil" before and didn't hate it.

I'm no cocktail expert and I love me some pickles but I'm having a hard time pairing cocktails with vinegar in my head as well. The Bloody Mary and it's variations are about all I can come up with.

You managed to sum it up much better than I did but that's what I was getting at. It's all about cooking.

They give that answer because it's true. The seller only supplies the market, the buyer creates it. If people want to buy a specific thing and I don't sell it but the guy in the next building does, guess where everybody will go? Then they'll go ahead and pick up the other stuff they want/need while they are there and I lose all around. Nothing will ever change by going after the seller because that is their livelihood, if enough people want to buy it they will find a way to sell it. Especially with the given examples. We're talking about the fish guy who barely scrapes out a living as it is. He's not going to say "sorry kids, no dinner tonight but I simply refuse to sell those baby fish everybody wants to buy". The changes can only happen with the consumer... and there are enough "I want what I want and I don't care about the possible consequences" people in the world that that will be a very difficult task.

If enough people are willing to pay that $100, he's charging exactly the right price. If people would line up to pay $100 each for any one of my dishes, I'd sell it to those people for that price all day every day. It doesn't have to be worth $100... it just has to be worth $100 to the people buying it.

Don't apologize. That was a big undertaking, looks like you did a great job.

Exactly what John Rosevear said. Reviewers don't require permission to review and are not bound by the "if you don't have anything nice to say, don't say anything" adage. And of course it's personal. All opinions are personal and that's all a review is, an opinion. Sometimes educated, sometimes not so much... but still just an opinion. There are works of art in the art world that are valued at hundreds of thousands of dollars or more that I wouldn't hang in a dilapidated outhouse (I would love to find one but that's a different story ). Basing a review of a product on personal opinion of the manufacturer may be childish and unprofessional but I don't think it's illegal. Even if it were illegal, it would be awfully difficult to prove. One reviewer saying something sucks when another says it's great isn't proof of bad intent, it's just different opinions.

But what if what you want to do with said octopus doesn't include "poached in a small enough vessel in properly seasoned liquid, then pressed into a form" as part of the process? That's kinda like saying there's no need to bake a potato when it will cook just fine by cutting it into pieces and boiling it in a pot of salted water. The end result is two cooked potatoes but they will be entirely different in taste, texture and form. I don't think there should be a when/why disclaimer applied to "progressive" techniques. They're just techniques. Cooking something in a temperature controlled water bath is no different (from the validity perspective) than cooking it in a temperature controlled oven. Nobody has an oven that just has an on and off switch, they're all controlled by some form of thermostat that allows you to select the temperature you want to work with. Why would adding transglutaminase as a binder be any less valid than adding egg white or gelatin as a binder? If anything, the transglutaminase could be viewed as more valid. Other than the "scary" name, it's a more food-worthy binding agent. It won't alter flavor or texture as egg white and gelatin can. The "no binder is necessary" clause is fine but sometimes when you're cooking for paying customers and not just for friends and family a little insurance against failure of the natural process is one less thing to worry about when it's busy. I personally would kinda like to see the many names of "progressive" cuisine disappear simply for the fact that it causes many people to automatically raise their gaurd against it when they might be perfectly happy with the food if it were prepared the same way without the foreknowledge that that was the case.

I keep several acids on hand (citric, malic, ascorbic, succinic, tartaric, lactic), most of which I mainly use as balancing agents. If you know or can find the acid profile of an ingredient, you can restore a lot of it's fresh flavor after processing/cooking with acid solutions.

For cooking, I use coconut milk the most but I don't use it all that often. Overall, I probably use young coconut water the most. I like to drink it and I sometimes substitute it for my usual sports drink on longer (75km and up) bike rides during cooler weather by adding a pinch of salt/potassium blend. It doesn't seem to sit as well on the gut for hard rides in really hot weather as my Infinit.

Adam, just to be clear, I wasn't and am not the least bit offended. I'm very difficult to offend, I just kinda suck at typing things in a way that sounds like I intend it to. Anyway, I just wanted to be clear on what you were trying to get across. It sounded like you were going for a double standard where a select group can do something and it's art but if anyone else does it, it's just a distraction to hide their lack of skill. Apologies if I misinterpreted. I guess my only other question would be: does it really matter how someone chooses to present their food as long as the flavor is their? What I mean is, is it possible for one persons magic show to be another persons art? To the organic raw enthusiast, steaming a carrot might be a magic show to hide the inability to choose a quality carrot. I think there is room for the formal and the fun in progressive cuisine... both can be done well and both can be butchered.

...or just melt the chocolate and cream together, chill, then whip it.

Thank you Chris Amirault. You gave pretty much exactly the advice I wanted to give and made it sound helpful, encouraging and not at all condescending. Anyway, in addition to what Chris said, I'd add that you may end up wishing you'd went with a different vegetarian option when it comes to crunch time unless you have plenty of kitchen help available. Ravioli for 25 while dealing with everything else is going to be fun if it's just you doing the actual cooking. Overcooked or clumped together ravioli is unpleasant at best and may fall apart and leave you with noodles in squash broth at worst (or were you going to cook them ahead and reheat them in the sage butter?).

Would something along the lines of Elizabeth Falkner's Catch 22 fall into the choco-tini category? I've never tried it because some of the booze called for isn't available locally, I found it a while back while doing some research on dessert/cocktail pairing. 3/4 oz. batavia arrack 3/4 oz. manzanilla sherry 3/4 oz. clement creole shrubb 3/4 oz. homemade chocolate liqueur* Shake with ice cubes. Strain. Garnish with an orange zest strip. *homemade chocolate liqueur 1 liter overproof rum 2 vanilla beans, split lengthwise 1/4 cup cocoa nibs Infuse for 3 weeks, shaking daily. Strain.