Tri2Cook

Orange Smoke... smoked orange curd, cornmeal shortbread, chipotle-caramel popcorn, orange coulis

So this is the result... smoked orange curd, cornmeal shortbread, chipotle-caramel popcorn, orange coulis

If the restaurant has a tried and true recipe and you're told "make it this way, don't change it, don't get all creative on us, just make it" and you do that without making mistakes then the soup will taste like it's supposed to +/- final seasoning. If you decide one day "I really don't like asparagus but my customers are begging for an asparagus soup so I'm going to see what I can come up with" you will be fighting a difficult battle for the reason you stated... it will never taste good to you. I agree with the comment that I wouldn't put something on my own menu that I don't like but we don't all always have the luxury of making that decision. Sometimes you cook what you're told to cook and it damn well better be good whether you like it or not.

Thanks. That's not eactly what I was curious about but it's still very useful information... I hadn't considered the role the tannins would play in the end result.

I think the difference there would depend on whether you were making an asparagus soup or creating an asparagus soup.

If I have to cook something for others that I don't like to eat then I taste it. All I have to do is make sure it's seasoned properly, I don't have to eat a plate of it. I learned that lesson a long time ago when I worked construction. At first I wasn't overly happy about balancing on a 2x4 three or four floors up while carrying large pieces of plywood on windy days and mentioned that fact to my boss. He imparted these words of wisdom that I've never forgotten over all these years: you don't have to like it, you just have to do it.

Working through books with an online translator is not a fun job. I tried working with Los Postres de El Bulli (on loan from a friend) that way and I just don't have that kind of patience. I did have some patience though. I have all of the pages assembled into an ebook on my computer in case I ever decide to give it another go someday.

When I make a custard or curd and set it with a bit of agar so that it can be sliced and hold it's shape it's similar to what you're describing. It looks like it's going to be too firm but actually it's still nice and creamy when you eat it. The Ideas in Food folks do something similar with custards using carrageenan but I don't know the exact details of what they do. They're awesome about sharing their ideas and discoveries but sometimes they just point you in the right direction and leave some of the discovery to you (which is fun in my opinion) and I haven't worked on that one yet because I've been happy with my agar versions. I'll get to it one of these days though.

Well, I hadn't seen or heard of that soy caramel so I wasn't trying to achieve it by inspiration but I guess that's basically what I was up to. I basically made my own version of kecap manis by caramelizing sugar, adding light soy sauce and water along with fresh ginger, cinnamon sticks, cloves, star anise and sichuan peppercorns. I cooked it, let it infuse overnight, reduced it and sieved out the aromatics. Then, because I wanted a syrup, I reduced it even further. To me it tastes like a really good variation on molasses (apologies for the lack of modesty there but I'm really happy with the results of that one). For the nori, I hydrated nori sheets, pureed it, cooked it with water, glucose and agave nectar until the liquid reduced, pureed it again, sieved it, chilled it overnight, spread it on a silicon lined pan and dried it at 200f for about an hour. It would (in my opinion) work much better on the savory side. I candied the water chestnuts in the same manner as doing marrons glace except I flavored the syrup with the same aromatics that I used in the soy syrup. They taste nice but I'm not thrilled with the texture. They lost their crispness and instead are kinda dense and gummy. Rob suggested maybe dehydrating them would make them crisp and delicate, I'm going to try that next. If I did them again and wasn't going to try drying them I would probably just give them one or two rounds in the syrup to keep the crispness.

Since I'm not an expert in this area, I'll ask those who are before I jump in with both feet. Will this fat washing technique work with nut butters (peanut butter, almond butter, pistachio paste, cashew butter, sesame paste, walnut paste, etc.)? I was considering infusing with toasted pecans and brown butter then I thought: what if I pureed the pecans and butter together into a paste? That lead to: I have some cashew butter in there, I wonder what that would do? And so on...

I'm sure you've already considered this but I have a fairly large collection of "standard" muffin/cupcake pans that in actuality are of assorted sizes. The differences aren't huge but they're definitely different and make a difference in the end product when you put an equal amount of batter in them.

The coconut must be in very fine or powder form. It's not at all present as a texture and not in the foreground as a flavor. It makes an appearance but it's not at the top when they roll the credits. The currants and glaze make the cookies. Something about the glaze does actually give them the illusion of being creamy even though it's a dry-to-the-touch glaze and the currants give some chew to a cookie that would just disappear in a pool of creamy mush otherwise.

I shamefully admit to actually liking the Dare Ultimate French Cremes. They almost dissolve in your mouth other than the currants which are a nice contrast and are nice with tea (Which I've been drinking a lot of lately in an effort to cut down on coffee. I assumed I'd drink less tea since it's coffee I really wanted. I was wrong. The easist way to break an old habit is get a new one I guess. ). I know there's room for them to be better because they could be a bit less sweet and I'm thinking more butter and less palm oil would be nice but I've had no luck finding any reference to any such cookie other than from that company. Does anybody know if these are based on an existing cookie or are they straight out of the Dare company creations?

Verjuice: that mousse looks great. Renka: every time you post I know there's going to be a feast for the eyes, everything always looks beautiful. AmritaBala: awesome macarons. I was experimenting with a couple ideas that weren't for anything in particular, I just wanted to see if they would work. In the interest of sharing it here, I added a couple other components and plated it. I'm not at all happy with the plating but the ideas I was trying worked so I'll post it anyway. steamed rice cakes, ginger sorbet, candied water chestnuts, sweet soy syrup, nori glass The cakes are flavored with coconut milk and tinted with the nori paste I made for the glass. The candied water chestnuts and sweet soy syrup were the ideas I was experimenting with initially.

Tell your brain to go watch a movie or something and follow your instincts... coffee mousse, sans chocolate, is tasty. Infuse your cream with some good coffee beans and go to it.

Great. Like I'm not going to be busy enough with the Alinea book. Now I have to get this one too.

I'm happy. We just got a new restaurant in town this week. Lebanese food cooked by a Lebanese family. I plan to single-handedly keep them in business. Yesterday was lamb shawarma and labneh, today was falafel and tabbouleh, both meals ended with nammoura. I'm supposed to be shedding the winter pounds to get ready for the cycling season. Oh well. I told them I'm coming in during a slow time next and I want them to give me what they think I should try prepared as they would eat it. They were agreeable so I'm looking forward to it.

I do sketch some of my ideas. Especially when it comes to platings. Ideas for flavors (regardless of whether they end up being good or bad ideas) come fairly easy to me but figuring out how I want to plate them is sometimes a struggle and requires a sketch or three before deciding. I don't always do that, sometimes I just improvise and live with it, but those don't always turn out as nice. My sketches are very basic and not artsy at all, more of a blueprint than a picture. I have no problem sharing them except for the major problem that I don't save them so I don't have any to share.

Not restaurant inspired but the Duby's books are awesome. The first one (Wild Sweets) is all desserts but the second one (Wild Sweets: Chocolate) has some really nice recipes for the savory side as well. In the second book they give the original recipe as well as an easy(er) version for those who want the flavor with less work. The title may make it sound scary to some but the chocolate (which really does make an appearance in every recipe) is used in a very intelligent and tasteful manner. There is no mountain oysters in milk chocolate soup or liver and onions with white chocolate ganache or anything like that. Yes, I know I sound like a commercial for the books but I really have enjoyed them a lot and I don't use books often. If you're only interested in restaurant books this won't matter much anyway but if you're looking for quality books from Canadian chefs these have to be on the list.

Oil or no oil, that was cool. Thanks for sharing it.

That's the one. I saved the recipe because I wanted to see if I could tweak it a bit but I never got back to it. I did try it as written and felt that more of the classic marshmallow was lost in all of that confectioners sugar than I could live with. It tasted as described though... somewhere between marshmallow cream and a confectioners sugar glaze or icing.

I caramelized the sugar (if I remember correctly, I used a 1/2c. sugar instead of the 1/3c. on the box) then slowly whisked in the milk (again I added more than on the box, 3c. instead of 2 3/4c. I think, to compensate for evaporation) and cooked it just long enough to melt all of the sugar. I cooled it down quickly in an ice bath then proceeded as the recipe directed with the addition of a little salt and some butter at the end. It was very un-scientific and random and I didn't make any notes about it but I'm pretty sure that's what I did.

Ummm... well... now for the confession. There is no grand recipe to share. I was messing around in the kitchen and for some reason just out of nowhere decided I was in the mood for tapioca pudding. All I had on hand was the quick stuff and I basically just followed the recipe on the box but I caramelized the sugar to a nice color first, used more salt than called for and added a little butter at the end with the vanilla (which I also added more of than the recipe called for). I haven't tried it with the nice big tapioca yet but I can't think of any reason why it wouldn't work. I ate it with banana slices and some cumin caramel sauce left from another project.

I did a tapioca pudding a while back by caramelizing the sugar first then proceeding as usual. I didn't share it with anybody to get feedback, I was just in the mood for tapioca pudding one night, so I guess it doesn't qualify as tried and true but I was happy with the results.

Thanks for all of the great suggestions. I wound up doing a sliceable curd from the juice and a marmalade from the zest and did a plated dessert with them. I'll post a pic soon.