Tri2Cook

I had no idea what 辣子鸡 là zi jī is so I turned to Google and it didn't let me down. Sounds interesting, may have to give it a shot. I do love a good challenge when it comes to chiles. It used to be one of our favorite pastimes at work until the coworker who was my main partner in crime in that endeavor passed away in a car accident several months ago. Haven't really had the heart for it at work since. I know the chiles are not really meant to be eaten in some dishes but I find them impossible to resist. I always eat them.

There is most definitely something to be said for that as well. I wasn't actually thinking of you and Kerry when I posted that though. I was thinking of the people who would have the item even after being informed it wasn't ready yet and then, instead of complimenting them on their attempt to make them happy as was done here, would tell everybody they could about the horrible undercooked pork they got at the place and say nothing at all about the great service they received or the fact that they were told up front that it wasn't really ready to serve. Fortunately, that type is the minority but there are enough of them that it's easy to become cynical sometimes.

One mistake they made was not sticking to their guns. If the pork wasn't ready to serve, they shouldn't have served it. Apologize, hope the customer is willing to choose something else, if not, watch sadly as the money walks out the door to eat elsewhere... don't serve food that isn't ready to be served.

Kinda hard to go wrong with that one. You could stuff steak, fries and cheese in a dirty sock and it would probably still taste pretty good.

I wasn't thinking that you can't do it. I was thinking more along the lines that if I was standing in front of a bunch of mousses that needed to have it done, I think I'd rather have the output of the Wagner over the precision of the airbrush in that situation.

And, in my opinion, there's nothing better for that particular task on an investment vs. result basis.

Yep, even using the very best of premium ingredients, it would be. And I'm pretty sure Subway did not spring for the very best of premium ingredients.

I'm probably not going to go buy sloe gin just so I can make that drink but if I had it in the cabinet, I'd give it a try. I don't have an aversion to sweet as long as the drink is tasty. I'm sure many people genuinely don't care for sweeter drinks and I can understand that but sometimes I wonder if there's a point where it becomes a little bit for show as well. When someone is comparing 2 or 3 straight, unsweetened liquors and complaining about one of them being way too sweet, I tend to think "bollocks" (I actually think a different word that starts with "b", contains an "s" and has the same number of letters in it). Probably unfair of me though, I probably just lack the level of palate sophistication to judge spirits at that level.

Makes sense. It didn't look that simple in the pictures, it looked like some colors were slashing through parts of other colors causing almost a semi-latticed look in small areas. Glad to hear it's something simple after all. Thanks for that!

For everyone who says "I'll start doing (whatever they're putting off doing) as soon as I get a (whatever piece of gear/equipment they're using as a reason to not do whatever they're putting off doing)", the excuses have hereby been invalidated. Now I just need to get better at applying this lesson to myself...

I'm hoping to see her thumping powdered donuts to get some icing sugar to roll truffles in.

It is nice... but they didn't actually show us how they did it and I'm apparently not smart enough to figure it out just by seeing the result.

I followed the link and then searched around to see if I could find some half that width, so 1/8", but no luck. I may add a roll of that 1/4" the next time I do an amazon order... if I decide I'm brave enough to venture into that level of fancy decorating.

Yeah, I definitely know that. If I haven't managed to by now, I'm not sure anybody can. I was thinking more in a general sense than specifically in regards to chocolate.

The Incorrect Statement of the Year award, maybe.

- Most useful equipment so far - EZtemper - digital scale - 8" taping knife - a blue-removal filter for clearing the air when the chocolate gods decide not to smile upon me that day Best sources of learning so far (apart from eGullet of course) I honestly don't have any serious source of learning regarding chocolate outside of eGullet... unless I decide to ask Kerry Beal my question on Facebook instead of here. Most useful ingredients so far - chocolate - cocoa butter Suggestions for learners - don't irritate Kerry Beal, you want her to not mind answering your questions - get an EZtemper if you can, want one if you can't, until you can Learn simple decoration (cocoa butter colour, texture sheets etc) early on. These make a big difference to how everyone will react to your work. I've never found that to be an issue in my area, "plain" shells seem to sell just as easily as decorated with interest tending more towards what's inside... but knowing your market is important so this could very well apply to many.

That's a somewhat risky criteria. Almost everything can hurt us if we over-indulge. They may not all immediately hurt us but this didn't immediately hurt anybody either. His hospital trip and treatment were all precautionary according to the article. But I understand the point you're making and with this particular item, it probably would be in the best interest of the manufacturer and retailers to make the warnings more noticeable and market the product differently. Even if the product is 100% safe and the warning is entirely precautionary, it would just save them a lot of headaches and negative publicity in the long run.

That's a fair argument. Maybe put the warning on the front and back of the packaging and in a manner that calls attention to it. I don't have a problem with that. I just think there's a point with anything where it's reasonable to say "we provided instructions for proper use and warnings against improper use" and have the expectation that the burden then shifts to the consumer. Whether or not this particular product achieved that point is debatable so that's probably enough to warrant them making a better effort to get the warning noticed.

I'm a big fan of the reuben sandwich and would probably give this a shot but it doesn't appear to be available at the local store. Such is life.

But if there is a responsible and safe way to use them, do you agree that nobody should be allowed to have them just because you don't agree that they should and some people may choose to not use them responsibly and according to directions? That's the difference for me. There are many prescription and over-the-counter drugs that do good things for many people used correctly that get abused and used incorrectly by many other people for personal satisfaction. Should all of those drugs be removed from the market and taken from those who use them responsibly so that those who don't can't have access to them?

I found a source for larger containers (3.76 liter) of the refined coconut oil for a much more reasonable cost per liter than I can get it at the local store or even on amazon. Turns out they do have one at the local store that's the refined stuff as well. It's a tad costly at $12 for a 400 gram jar but I think I'm going to spend for it and do a test run to make sure I like the result and that they'll do what I want them to do before getting the large container.

If I'm not mistaken, the dark Jamaican/Martinique combo was the solution for replacing the Wray & Nephew 17 year that was the key ingredient in the original Mai Tai. When the W&N became scarce and eventually unavailable other than in private collections, it forced finding a workable substitute. I claim no expertise in that area though, I just happen to be fresh off of a thorough reading of a couple of Beachbum Berry's books and Martin Cate's book and I'm pretty sure I remember that being the case regarding the Martinique rhum in the Mai Tai.

Savoury glazing is easy. Gelatin, agar or a combination of the two all work, with agar or the combo (which allows for a less brittle gel than agar alone with better stability at warmer temps than gelatin alone) being the best bet for room temp or slightly warmer. Gellan works and you can heat the finished product without melting your glaze. Gellan has really good flavor release and a clean mouthfeel so I like it even for unheated items but it's not generally as easy to get as gelatin and agar unless you order online. As with gelatin and agar, you have the option of combining low and high acyl gellans in various ratios to get the gel texture you want. Crispy savoury glazing without sugar may be easy as well but somebody else will have to chime in with how they do it. It's not something I've ever done or even attempted.

I think that one might work. Slightly bigger than I had in mind but not by much. The price is certainly right.

Good idea! I have some hobby grade molds. They're not hearts but I can use them to test how the meltaways release and then acquire hearts if I'm happy with the result. Dusting the mold with 10x should be fine if needed, they get dusted with it eventually anyway. Take the idea and run with it. Even if I were inclined to be greedy with it, which I'm not, I'd be hard pressed to convince anybody that molding chocolate was my own unique idea. Nope, not as far north as Pickle Lake. Sioux Lookout, actually. Still about 70 km north of the trans-Canada connecting T'Bay to Winnipeg though. No Value Village either but I'm going to give pastrygirl's idea with the hobby grade molds a shot. That's the exact mold I found on amazon that I thought would be perfect but in the comments someone asked about piece size and the responses all seemed to agree that they're less than 1/2" x 1/2" each. A little smaller than I had in mind.