skavoovie

32C? That's really really low but if you liked it and your fish is good enough to eat raw, why not. But albumin shouldn't be an issue until somewhere above 50C.

I'll use this old thread for a similar question: what would be the best method for serving onion soup and bone marrow toast a la henderson for crowd (from a home kitchen)? Can I pre-roast the bones, keep the marrow in the fridge and spread on toast, toast in oven, and toss in soup that's waiting hot?

Wow, I've never heard of pickled spruce tips before - and this thread is hit #4 on google now, so I guess they're not that common. I'm trying to get more into foraging, so maybe I will try this. If you haven't done anything with them before, the simplest option is spruce syrup. Simmer the tips for ~2 hours, sieve, add sugar to the liquid, boil into a syrup. (Or add pectin for a jelly.) I don't have proper ratios, but it is good as a sauce for desserts, including ice cream.

In my experience, rosemary freezes quite well, and frozen parsley is acceptable, too. Almost everything will get worse by preservation, but almost always there is a reasonable preservation method, too. Drying is inappropriate for most herbs, but there are workarounds.

I found one more flipping through some magazines: a liquorice sauce for salmon. Fat Duck inspired but simple. Sorry, this is in the original measurement units: 2 shallots 2 tablespoon veg. oil 0.1 liter soy sauce 2 tablespoon sherry 2.5 tablespoon muscovado sugar 0.25 liter water 2 tablespoon liquorice root chips (know idea how this would convert to powder) 1 tablespoon butter I suppose instructions are quite straightforward from the list. Haven't tried it but could be interesting.

Thanks for your tips! I was planning a bean salad, but I think I'll do a warm bean dish instead, and leave the quiche out. Possibly a fennel/potato/black bean thing with crumbled feta on top that we like and it's easy to make. For salads, I won't decide until I see what available and good, but I will do a coleslaw (with vinaigrette) and a root veg thing, either beets or celeriac, possibly with mayo. Roast cauliflower with nuts? It's not easy to come up with multiple salad items with winter veg and make them different enough to be interesting. As for shopping, I should have mentioned I'm not in the US.. but we have access to wholesale place where cafe owners and small caterers shop, so we're fine for shopping.

I just had gravlax (salmon, dill, s&p) with store-bought pickles. When cucumbers are in season, I toss some with dijon and maybe vinegar and add that instead.

Free oxtail I buy salmon heads and scraps at the fish monger and make a variety of things out of them, depending on how much meat remains. At least, I can get a nice soup with just potatoes and cream, but often there's enough meat for a variety of options.

Dear Forum, I've been a lurker for ages and learned heaps from the forum, but now I think I could use some help. We're cooking a meal for 40 people. We have done similar stuff for 25 before, but now there are a few added complications. We are amateurs, and while this is not exactly a family party, but similar enough. It is a sit down dinner, but the food doesn't have to be fancy. It should be flavorful, and as seasonal as possible. Mainly, the problem is that we need to cook at an off-site kitchen. We have a rental kitchen, so cooking is no problem, but I'd be happy if somebody with more experience could make sure I've the right ideas for transporting the food cold/hot:We are doing the bulk of the cooking the day before, refrigerating it and heating & finishing cooking at the kitchen. The transport is about 10 minutes driving, and we'll have chafing dishes with, um, the flame thingies at the site. (Sorry, English is not my first language.) Are we alright with heating at the kitchen in the chafing dishes, packing with foil and transporting to the site? I guess the question is how fast a packed chafing dish cools down? Is half an hour off heat OK? As for the menu, we are trying to come up with dishes that stand up well to reheating. Also, it's winter (freezing, couple of feet of snow), so warming, hearty food is in order. A third of the guests are vegetarians. I think I would like to start with a soup. We (and some outside helpers) will bake our own bread that the guests are expecting and looking forward to, and that should go well with soup. I'm looking at either mushroom soup (Les Halles with stock from our own dried wild mushrooms) or sunchoke soup. The problem with both is that they both look like gray baby food. Is sprinkled parsley (and bacon/reindeer bits) good enough, or would it still be too ugly for a festive meal? For the main, the plan is a pearled spelt side dish with beluga lentils, lamb shanks as the main protein, roast parsnips, an eggy/cheesy vegetarian thing, and salads/cold dishes. Would a quiche be odd in this context for the vegetarian thing? The lamb shanks I get are quite big (450g or 1 pound), and I can't imagine eating more than one, but should I have extras or a backup protein? I mean, I will have a few extra, but should I be ordering 1.2x carnivores? 1.5x? Creme brulée and wild berries we picked & froze ourselves for dessert, with coffee and truffles. Does this make sense? Any comments would be appreciated, even (or especially) just to say it seems fine would be appreciated! cheers, Skavoovie

A local restaurant here in liquorice candy country (Finland) makes a liquorice creme brulée. It also works well with chocolate and raspberries. Add some to a ganache tart or strawberry muffins? I believe I've also seen the suggestion to add some to a gin & tonic, but I'm not sure how good that sounds to you.

Don't forget it's also a sales pitch, just aimed at a different crowd. Not cooking steaks to well done or whatever might well bring in more people than it turns away, by signaling passion and staying true to ingredients. There are also cultural differences at play, but it seems to work in parts of Europe at least.