Tri2Cook

Yep. I consider myself part of the "it's just food/cooking" group. Me and Adam discussed that in another thread. I think it's unnecessary to advertise (through self-labeling) using modern techniques and ingredients. Just use what you want/need to use and don't worry about whether the customer knows or not. He demonstrated that there can be a benefit to letting people know what you do and how you approach it. It's a valid point. It didn't change my view on the matter but it will probably prevent me from arguing against it from now on.

I didn't read it like that at all. Fair enough. Maybe I missed the point. How do you interpret... "This concept of dining being a magic show is only for those Chefs who do not have enough content in what they are doing and need to distract the guests during the meal so they don’t realize the Chef can’t actually cook. In my food there is a lot of Technique and many points of humor in a 27 course menu, but it is there because it serves a purpose or helps to tell the story I want to get across."

So what you're saying is that, if you or one of your heroes do it, it's a valid technique that enhances the experience. If anyone else does it, it's a gimmick to hide their lack of ability. That's kinda arrogant, isn't it? And complete nonsense of course... I'm nowhere near being a top level chef and I can produce an original dish with an element of show that will be cooked properly, well balanced and taste good. If I can do it, I'm sure many others can as well.

So I used the information in this thread to make a grenadine-style syrup using chokecherry juice I had in the freezer instead of pomegranate. I realize that means it's not grenadine but it is similar in every way other than the base flavor. Any ideas for some cocktails using this syrup?

I'm just saying it probably is a legitimately large market they are catering to and not just the product of marketing imagination. We're not necessarily the people those places are after in the first place. The people those places appeal to are there to see/hear and be seen/heard and wouldn't want it any other way.

Well, if the places are always busy enough to be noisy then the evidence is kinda on their side. But I agree, those are not my favorite types of places. Neither are the places that are so stuffy that everybody turns and stares if your fork clinks against the plate a little too loudly. I like somewhere between those extremes.

Come to Ontario, Canada. Walk around in a LCBO for a while. Go back home, hug your local liquor store owner and tell him/her how great his/her selection is.

This months Royal Foodie Joust challenge was fish, coconut milk and nutmeg. I haven't participated in one since September so it seemed like a good ingredient list to jump back on board with. It was nice to get the challenge done and get dinner done at the same time. escovitch cod - coconut milk rundown - green banana porridge - pickled red onion - nutmeg

I have that problem too. I lived in Alabama for many years and could easily get awesome pecans... and they were cheap (or even free if I was willing to gather and shell them myself, many people with trees become tired of the bother and will let you take the pecans just to get them out of the yard). Now all I can get is crappy commercial pecans that are more expensive than gold here. I very rarely bother with them anymore even though I really like them.

I'm going to take this in the opposite direction for a moment if that's ok and ask the experts to help me create. I made a syrup with some local chokecherry juice I had in the freezer using advice from the "make your own grenadine" thread. Now I have no idea where to go with it (in the cocktail world). Anybody willing to throw out some ideas? Barring any ingredients I'm unable to get locally, I'll try whatever's thrown at me.

Somewhat a beginner to the cocktail world so when I post in this topic I'm usually going to be saying things most of you already know (or disagree with, but that's ok too). Other than a couple of standards, I've been more a beer guy over the years. Anyway, trying to play catch up and have been making the effort to mix up one cocktail I've never tried before each night after work for the past couple weeks. I've found a few that will become regulars... including tonights which was the Juliet & Romeo. And just for the record, I think the Gin-Gin Mule might become my favorite summer drink (I say 'might' because there's still a lot I haven't tried). It's kinda scary how easy those go down. Wish I'd started this years ago, it's almost as fun as cooking and and an excellent lesson in balancing tastes and combining flavors because there's nothing to hide behind.

I don't know... might be kinda cool if he did.

Errr... Alabama going undefeated, beating Florida for the conference championship, having Ingram pick up the Heisman and capping it all off with the national championship has already happened! Oh, you're talking about that other sporting event... I'm not sure yet. Formal meals, fancy plated dishes, things requiring a lot of last minute work... all banned from sporting events. I'd rather eat a bag of doritos and drink a pepsi than miss half the game cooking. I go with stuff I can pile on or in plates/platters/bowls, toss on the table (or in warmers) and say "have at it when you want it". I'd like to think I'm going to cook something but the truth is I could just as easily end up with pizza and beer.

Yep Kerry, I'm sure that's exactly what it is. For some reason saying it's "blessed" with white truffle oil just seems a bit cheesy to me. Like they were shooting for pretentious... and missed. Anyway, I'm over the initial laughter now. I suppose they can write their menu any way they want to.

I'm dragging this one from the depths because I have to get this one out of my head. I was browsing the restaurant menu from the hotel where I'll likely be staying during an upcoming work-related trip (that I'm trying very hard to get out of) and found this little gem that pretty much makes eating somewhere else a done deal. It wraps up a very lengthy description of a very simple dish by saying that it is... "...blessed with Essence of White Truffle". Seriously? Blessed? Where's the "barf" emoticon when I need it? Edit: Further reading revealed this beauty as well... THE IM‘PORT’ANCE OF ONION SOUP Tawny Port blessed Caramelized Onion broth, hints of Rosemary baked with four Cheeses and Marble Rye Crostini Maybe I'm just being overly critical because it's a trip I'm hoping to avoid but...

Alcohol doesn't cause graininess, the grainy sensation happens when the water content freezes and the alcohol doesn't and you end up with ice crystals suspended in slush. I once read on a cocktail blog that a combination of agar and xanthan is a good stabilizer for cocktail sorbets. I'd be more inclined to try gelatin and xanthan though. I'm sure the agar firms it up just fine but I don't think the melt would be right. I haven't actually tried either though, I use commercial stabilizer blends (stabi-sorbet and stabi-3000) most of the time. I do an apple sorbet that I pucker up a bit with malic acid and stabilize with apple pectin just to stay on the apple theme but I've never tried pectin in a booze sorbet. I wiped out my gin a couple nights ago making Gin-Gin Mules and haven't got around to picking up more yet or I'd try just hydrating some stabi-sorbet, cooling it then mixing in a standard gin and tonic with no additional sugars or anything. If this brainstorm is still on-going when I get more, maybe I'll give it a shot.

No need to sigh... I'm sure you got your information the same place I got mine, from personal experience. Why are your bad experiences more valid than my good experiences as reference points to base opinions on?

A bit of piment d'espelette is a nice touch in a surpisingly wide range of applications.

All of which is why I said "be cautious". Auctions and craiglist don't fall under being cautious unless you are person #1 and/or #2 on your list. Failing businesses that have been open a year or three that started with new equipment and are trying to send what they can out the back door are excellent places to look. It's not bargain basement stuff but it's frequently good condition stuff at much better than new prices.

I'm going to switch "don't buy used equipment" to "be cautious if buying used equipment". Using the used car example from above, my grandmother had two cars and she doesn't really drive much anymore. About two years ago, I was on the phone with her and she told me she'd decided to sell one of them. It's nothing exciting, a '95 Ford Taurus, but it had less than 70,000 miles on it, was kept in a garage, had just had the timing belt replaced as preventive maintenance, was immaculately serviced and maintained (with records) as only an elderly lady who really didn't want to be broke down on the side of the road does (you know, if the mechanic says it needs to be done then do it) and she was going to sell it for $1000. I was already thinking it might be nice to have a more comfy, good gas mileage vehicle to supplement my Jeep but didn't want to dive into another car payment at that time so I told her I'd buy it. Two years later I've had to invest $0 into it other than normal maintenance and adding a block heater for the winters we have here. If it fell to pieces tomorrow, I'm still ahead. My point is, if you're determined to give this a shot and the only thing standing in your way is not being able to afford a lot of brand new equipment, a little careful shopping in the used sector can get you some good time-for-your-money equipment to get going with. The way I look at it, if I buy a $2500 piece of used equipment instead of the $9000 new one and it dies within a couple years with a couple hundred dollars of product in it, I still didn't do too bad. By that point, hopefully I'm stable enough to buy the new one if I want to. Is it a bit risky? Yep... but so is doubling your monthly payment to the bank to buy all new equipment for a high-risk business when you don't even have income on it yet. Good used equipment buys more than the equipment, it buys time. Time to have a cash flow and time to see if things aren't going to work out after all and leave you paying for a bunch of new equipment that you don't need and will have to get rid of at a large loss. Then you'll be the person someone like me will be looking for on the used market. Someone with good used equipment that they really need to get rid of.

Yeah, I'm thinking the key here is going to be some form of stabilizer. It won't produce a firmer sorbet but it will poduce a more stable one that won't melt into a puddle as quickly. Some commercial frozen desserts are so full of gums that they can be almost completely melted and still hold their shape. Since low sugar and/or solids would generally lead to overly hard or icy sorbet and relatively high alcohol is going to lead to overly soft sorbet with crystals of frozen water making it grainy, I wonder if hydrating a stabilizer and combining it with the gin and tonic base would let them meet somewhere close to the middle while maintaining some stability?

Interesting. Does the reaction do anything texture or flavor related or is it just an appearance thing?

I wouldn't go that route in this setting. I've played around with a lot of hydrocolloid "noodles" using known recipes and my own experimenting and it can be a useful technique but it's not really the right thing for family-style mac and cheese (although it could be fun in the right setting). It's really delicate unless you pump up the hydrocolloids to the point that they're more like gummy worms. It's an excellent way to surprise people with a clean and unexpected flavor in noodle form but it doesn't really behave like a noodle. It doesn't have the chew or the ability to absorb and carry the sauce that traditional pasta has. If "mom's cooking" is the theme you have to be careful what you do to people's mac and cheese.

And the reason will almost always be "business is great but we're just ready to move on to something new" or "it's taken off way more than we expected and we just can't do it anymore"... neither of which is true in 99.9899% of the cases.

The value of the powder is that you can up the solids level for a given amount of liquid beyond what you can do with the liquid glucose. If you take liquid glucose and dissolve in some powdered glucose you've increased it's solids without increasing the liquid content and with less relative sweetness compared to adding sucrose. I usually do my sorbets with a base syrup of sucrose, water, glucose powder and stabilizer to which I add my flavor component. It works great but I think it would be quite a bit too sweet for what you're doing. I've never experimented with using isomalt in ice creams and sorbets so I have no idea how it works/doesn't work but it would be another way of reducing sweetness compared to sucrose (and glucose) if it works. I know it works great for pushing marshmallows to the savory side because I have tried that. A syrup of tonic water, isomalt, glucose powder and stabilizer would be significantly less sweet than a sucrose based syrup (then you'd just add some fresh tonic water, the gin and maybe a bit of lime) but I can't tell you how it would work because I've never tried it (I just enjoy a good brainstorming session)... but I think I'm going to have to find out now that you've got me thinking about it.