Tri2Cook

Nice Randi. I'm a fan of the Pierre Herme version and the Heston Blumenthal version is really good (but a lot of work) but that looks really tasty. I like black forest but have to make it myself if I want it because all you can get locally are the dry cake/canned cherry pie filling/cool whip atrocities.

Thanksgiving today in Canada, did the dinner thing yesterday. My contribution to the dinner was... ...an orange zest flavored cone filled with cinnamon whipped cream and pumpkin pie ice cream. Plated with a little aromatherapy: hot water infused with ginger, clove, cinnamon, nutmeg and vanilla on the plate and a few star anise in the glass. Worked well with the really nice apple pies that someone else made.

I think we're drifting off the original topic here but what interests me about it is the organic approach. I'm not really concerned with new techniques in this one, although if they're there that's great, I want it more for inspirational reasons. Everything that was shown in the episode revolves around the natural world. They seem to be inspired by things you can see walking around with your eyes open, not just staring towards where you're going, but constructed using the Adria "How the hell did he do that?" techniques. I'm prepared to be blown away and willing to pay the price to have that happen. If it doesn't, I'm sure it'll still be a nice book to have around.

Thanks!

I'll definitely be getting it even if it was 50 pages and no text. After Bourdain's tease in the No Reservations Spain episode... Pastry chef's everywhere, when they see this, will gape in fear and awe and wonder. I feel for them. Like Eric Clapton seeing Jimi Hendrix for the first time, one imagines they will ask themselves "What do I do now?" ...and the short but very cool look into what it's about, how can I not? I was going to preorder it but I haven't been able to find it from a Canada or U.S. dealer, anyone seen it anywhere?

Funny you should bring that up, I'll have to keep watch on this one as well. Coconut flour just showed up in the local grocery recently and I'm all fired up to play with it. I've never used it before for sweet or savory so I can't just leave it sitting in the store. I'm on a need-to-know basis when I find ingredients I haven't worked with.

It works for any roast. If you have an oven that will go lower and lots of time, even better. The reason I said the above method is only good for well done is that holding it in hot gravy (at food safe temps) is going to eventually get it there no matter how it goes in the pan (unless you time it to be cut just before serving, in which case there's really no point to doing it at all). The method is actually better for cheaper/tougher cuts but sometimes people insist on prime rib despite the fact that they're going to make you torture it to well done. For prime rib not cooked to death, low and slow is still the way to go... just omit the adding liquid and sealing with foil parts. Personally, I like to low and very slow prime rib to very rare, rest it, cut it in thick slabs and finish them to order on a very hot grill. Nice steaks.

I'm not BryanZ and he may give you a much more useful answer but I don't use ratios with things like tapioca maltodextrin or Ultratex (which I realize you didn't ask about). I just blitz it in a little at a time until I get the consistency I want.

Anybody else excited about this one? I've already preordered it. I've been looking forward to it since I first heard it was going to happen.

So in the Spain episode (which was incredible and inspirational) during the Albert Adria segment Chef Adria tells him what's in the mix that he aerates and microwaves for the sponge. I caught almond flour, sugar and egg white but couldn't quite make out the first ingredient he named. Did anybody happen to catch it?

Randi, you should really try to hook up with someone in a restaurant that's willing to let you piggyback on their orders now and then. Rib is at a decent price right now (at least through my guy), I picked up some 8 kg+ boneless (yeah, I know... but it works out better for the purpose these were purchased for), cap-off at ~$5.75 lb. this week. Boneless, cap-off is cook, cut and eat. Waste is pretty much zero. The price will definitely go up as the holiday season kicks in so I'd buy early if you decide to do it. Cooking it low and slow will result in less drastic shrinkage and they will be able to cut it with a butter knife... even if they want it well done (or the program requires it for health code reasons). If well done is required you can salt 'em, sear 'em off in the afternoon, seal them in a big roasting pan with foil (and a little hot water or beef stock), throw 'em in the oven at around 175 - 200 f. and let 'em go until the next day. Check 'em for 150 f. or so, pull, rest and slice. Put the slices in a big pan and pour the hot gravy over. Seal and hold warm until needed. I don't like cooking it that done but I do what the customer asks for so sometimes I have to. They'll still be tender and you have a nice base for gravy. If you don't require well done or want to offer choices then obviously this won't work but, if you do need well done, they turn out surprisingly nice this way with very little last minute work.

Yep, smoke and white chocolate are definitely in the "mmmm" category. I try to keep a couple lbs. on hand all the time. When it gets low, I smoke some more. Same with smoked milk chocolate. Smoked dark chocolate is nice but the combo seems to accentuate the bitterness of both the chocolate and the smoke so it requires a little more thought in using (unless you like that bitterness). I don't have a suggestion for the chestnut flour, the only thing I've ever used it for is pasta dough. On an unrelated note, I was browsing through the "interesting" section of the only local grocery store this morning and noticed coconut flour. Don't know a thing about it but I have to play with that one. I'm excited to see this section in the store because, until very recently, the most exotic thing in the store was kiwis and gelatin sheets.

Yeah, they posted on the mosaic that all U.S. orders went out yesterday and all international orders would be going out today. Shouldn't be long now (although my last l'epicerie order has been stuck in customs almost a week now so we'll see).

I bet Alinea is wishing they'd never let those books go to stores as early as they did. I'm completely fine with waiting for my limited edition copy but some people seem to be really bothered over it. They did post yesterday that all U.S. books went out and all international orders were going out today so it won't be too long. I haven't ordered the Fat Duck book yet because someone hinted that santa might be bringing it to my house. I'll have enough to do with the Alinea book that I can wait a little longer for the other one if someone else is buying.

You could seal the yolk(s), broken or not, in a vacuum bag (or just a heat safe plastic bag for that matter) and drop it into hot water until cooked. Maybe suspend the bag from a wooden spoon over the pan if it doesn't seal well enough to keep the water out. Egg yolk sous vide.

So far I've tried... vodka - didn't really add anything but didn't take away either, a contender rum - another contender, changed the character a bit but not in a bad way tequila - didn't care for that one but in all fairness I have to confess that I'm not a tequila fan under the best of circumstances so it may not have been a fair test gin - the only one I had on hand was Bombay Sapphire and it was somewhat buried in the mix with an odd (couldn't decide if it was unpleasant or not) finish, no mirto available here to try the combo bostonapothecary suggested ...I'm curious about bourbon. I like it with lemonade and I've heard of it with coffee (but never actually tried it) but I can't grasp the three together in my head. Any thoughts on that one? I guess there's an easy way to find out. I know these are inadequate tasting notes but, as I mentioned, I'm not generally a cocktail connoisseur.

You could use molds. Fill your molds with tempered chocolate, pour out the excess and let it set just like you would for any filled chocolates. Drop in your spheres and bottom the molds and you're set. I'd definitely use "reverse" spheres though. If not, you'd have to use them pretty quickly or they would gel completely. Just coating the soft, wobbly spheres in chocolate by dipping sounds like an exercise in frustration to me... but I've never actually tried it.

Very nice.

I think you're onto something with that. The Borg likes bibimbap/bop. Actually, I've wondered about it before because it goes on in other areas as well. How does the entire town know what time they're going to eat on a given day? Monday, everybody eats at 6pm. Tuesday, everybody eats at 5:15pm. Wednesday, everybody eats at 7:30pm. And so on. Then next week it's completely different but whatever time it starts, that's when they all want to eat on that day. Does a memo go out? "Ok everybody, tonight it's dinner at 8:17pm... don't tell the restaurant workers!"

For cakes that are going to be iced, I just grab the longest serrated knife I have, find a starting point, hold the knife level and attack. I find the longer I think about it and worry over it, the more mistakes I make. Minor uneveness gets worked out in the filling and icing. I still don't want it to be off to any large degree and exposed layers require more precision for appearance sake but it usually works out pretty well. I find it easier with the cake on a turntable but they don't always fit. I keep intending to buy one of those wire gadgets Rob mentioned. I want one with 2 wires so I can 1/2 or 1/3 the layers in one cut.

Thanks for the great ideas so far, I'm going to experiment with some of them (the ones that use things I can actually get in my area). I was initially leaning towards the old standby of vodka because I'm happy with the flavor as is but knowing that I'm not a cocktail expert I thought I would enlist the help of those who are in case there were some ideas that might enhance it without drastically changing it.

I did the full process. Steeped the coffee in cold water (I went with 24 hrs. on that part), sieved it, heated a small part of it, dissolved in gelatin at .5% by weight and mixed it into the cool part, chilled it, froze it and drained it out. I use gelatin filtration frequently so I'm used to preparing ahead for things that require it.

After reading about it on Ideas in Food a while back, I went to the source, found the recipe and made it. I really liked it so I kept the recipe. I made a new batch today. So, anything in the cocktail world that would be good with coffee lemonade as a base? It tastes like not-too-sweet lemonade with a coffee background and definite coffee in the nose and finish. It's very refreshing and possibly a bit on the tart side for some as written. I'm not usually a cocktail guy, few and far between gin and tonics are about it, but I want to try to do something with this for an upcoming party.

Thanks for another heads up Randi. I'm in the process of pushing the rep to work with me a bit on the butter thing. I'm going to tighten the screws until I get a lock on the current price. Dairy is going insane here so even some long term stability would be good enough for me. I know the drill... you just have to keep pushing through the "I can't" until you get an "I can". Once you reach the "maybe" or "if you do this" stage you're golden because "maybe" means they can, they just don't want to.

Yeah but we helped generate a buzz. We let them know there was some serious interest in the project. Plus we get a signed, numbered copy and special edition slip cover and we got early access to the mosaic. I'm fine with waiting a few extra days. No regrets about preordering for me.