Tri2Cook

Dude! (Yeah, I know... "80's-dude-alert". Can't help it, those were my teen years. ) You've got the macs down to an art. Very nice.

I found myself completely disinterested. ← I lost this round as well, my pick came in third. But I guess I'm going to have to be the odd man out because I enjoyed this episode. Good food, no egos, no attempts to sabotage each other when creating the mystery boxes. They went into the elimination with a "we're all good chefs so let's give each other the very best ingredients, do what we do and may the best chef win" attitude. These were right up among the highest scores given by the judges from all 6 rounds which has to say something about the food. There wasn't a lot of new-school or techno stuff involved (which I am a fan of as well) but that's not what these guys do. Going off their game during a competition would be insane.

A man of many strong opinions! ← Definitely opinionated. That's not something that normally bothers me but in this case I have to argue a bit. First, he's incorrect about the pectin as long as you use a LM pectin. It doesn't require acid, it does it's thing with calcium. If he'd made the distinction I'd let it slide but since he just said pectin as a generality it has to be disputed. He really should have left cornstarch off the list as well since his reasoning for shooting it down was based entirely on what he imagines to be true. If he actually tried it he'd find that, used correctly, it does just fine. There are things I now prefer to use over cornstarch but they're not things everybody has in their kitchen or can grab at their local grocery. And finally, 1/2 & 1/2 isn't the evil thing he suggests either. Scientifically, there are differences between it and a milk/cream blend but in real world use you won't notice it in your batch of ice cream (as long as the final fat levels pretty much match).

I tried doing a nori-like sheet by drying blanched pureed mint. It was very delicate and difficult to work with. I did it thinner than the average nori sheet and dried it without heat in front of a fan. I think the thickness was the main problem. It worked pretty well other than being too easily broken.

Xanthan doesn't require heating. It will fully hydrate in cold liquids. Heating it in the meringue base won't hurt it though. It's temp stable through a pretty wide range. I've never used it for the purpose you mentioned so I can't be much help with that as far as how well it will do the job. I have used it in combination with methylcellulose in egg whites for other purposes though. If you're going to try it be forewarned that the xanthan won't like being mixed directly into the liquid egg whites. It will want to clump. Mix it with the sugar first then whisk them into the whites together.

Assuming they survive the next three elimations. Right now, my final round pick would be Chef Keller but he has to get there first so we'll see.

You cook it in the custard base as you would the egg. Heat most of the base liquid with whatever sugar you're using and a pinch of salt. Make a paste with the remaining base liquid and cornstarch at around 4% of the total base by weight. Whisk the hot liquid into the paste, return to the pan and cook until slightly thickened.

I generally prefer yolk bases over cornstarch but I have used it in some cases (delicate flavors I don't want masked with egg and colors that turn grey with egg yolk in the mix for example). I made a lilac ice cream which turned grey with the yolks so I did it again with cornstarch and it was perfect. I also had a request once for grape ice cream which I developed around a cornstarch-thickened base. Purple and egg yolk just don't seem to add up to pretty.

I suppose I get it but once there's a good fudgy recipe and a good cakey recipe (which already exist in the bake-off thread) I'm not sure where else you want to go with it. I'll still watch, eGulleters can be pretty creative within a narrow and strict framework as evidenced in challenges past.

Brownie Bake Off from the awesome, informative, handy dandy Pastry and Baking Index.

I had a catering job tonight and caught the late replay when I got home. They definitely went straight for the lowest common denominator when picking the contestants this time. I'll probably still watch it if I'm home doing nothing when it's on but I won't make an effort or record it if I'm out or anything. I'm not sure what was up with the "tough guy cook vs. raging maitre 'd" thing but it was good for a laugh anyway. I spent the whole episode trying to figure out where I've seen Van before and it finally occured to me... didn't he play the banjo in Deliverance? I know, that's not nice, but I have this pet peeve about people that walk around spouting about how they're going to kick someone's butt. My usual response is shut up and show me. The super-agro let's-step-outside guy is a joke too. This isn't looking to be a good season but it's going to be a loud one.

I don't know. Charm may have helped with the diner score but it wouldn't have helped in the quickfire and I very seriously doubt it would have helped with the judges if the food didn't back it up. There wasn't enough spread in the diner points to have made a difference in the outcome so I don't think it was a major factor.

I do something very similar to that, usually around Valentine's. The only difference being, once they're dipped in chocolate I toss them in pop rocks. Yes, for good or bad, I do call them cherry poppers.

Thanks! Maybe I still have a chance at a comeback.

It's a pain in the arse if you need lots of them. I did some so I could stick a little chunk of chocolate ganache inside before tempura battering and frying. Before the end, I was wondering if they'd be just fine without the stems.

Hmmm. Interesting. The information from the people selling it and the information from the people using it don't seem to match up. Chad (Chadzilla) and Alex (Ideas in Food) both gave me pretty much the same reply when I asked them about shelf life and they both work with it regularly. I was tossing it after 6 weeks before I got the information from them, now I seal, freeze and toss after 8 weeks. I'll have to try leaving a bag in the freezer for 3 or 4 months and see what happens.

I'm not even sure of the layout for this series. Do they get the last preliminary out of the way next week then do a final episode with all 6 or will there be more narrowing of the field first? Seems like there should be at least one or two more elimination rounds before the end. We're doing our little competition on a points system. You pick one person each week. If that person finishes first, you get 4 pts. Second, 3 pts. Third, 2 pts. Fourth, 1 pt.

As I mentioned above, Chad says they're able to buy an extra 2 or 3 weeks by portioning, vacuum sealing and freezing. Not a lot of extra time but maybe enough to be the difference between using it and tossing it.

Nice macs! Have you tried using spray dried coconut milk? I use it whenever I want coconut flavor in a non-liquid form without the texture of shredded or chopped coconut.

OldSchoolMeetsNew: I'm curious why you're going to cook the veal before grinding and adding the activa? I've never tried that. Holly Moore and ermintrude: I haven't seen it in small "play" quantities other than samples and it really doesn't last long once opened. Even with plannng a large number of uses for the month or so following opening a new bag, I still ended up having to toss some. I emailed Chef Chad Galiano (Chadzilla blog) about it because I know he uses it regularly. He says when they open a new bag they set up a bunch of labeled bags, immediately divide it into 50g portions in individual bags, vacuum seal them and toss them in the freezer and can get up to 2 months out of it that way but he said they usually still end up having to toss some too. It's a fun ingredient but not a practical one for the money as a home toy unless you can really push yourself to use it up quickly. Maybe plan some things that you wouldn't mind "gluing", vacuum packing and freezing for later use just to keep from having to toss too much of it.

Yep... and that slip cost me yet another week 'cause he was my pick. I'm not doing well at all, I have a bad feeling I'm going to be buying dinner for 6. Maybe I can talk them into letting me cook dinner for 6 instead.

Thanks mkayahara. I was interested in the additional information because the first article left me thinking WTF? It just didn't add up with the information they reported. The stuff doesn't just randomly suddenly explode for no reason at all. An inappropriate container is a whole different jar of gas though.

You could use it to make a buttermilk gravy to go with the chops. Then all you need is some biscuits.

What-ever. ← So that's how it works! I guess that means they can call all of the slop in the warmer in the deli department Deli Style too. Mmmmm... Deli Style reheated frozen egg rolls.

Nice work!