Josho

Hi, Shalmanese, I'd like to hear more about this (and any links to further info if you happen to have any). My impression was that many of the offending chemicals that one is trying to avoid by buying organic meat and dairy are fat-soluble, not water-soluble, and thus more likely to be found in the butterfat than in the water and milk solids that are discarded during clarification. If I can find documentation that the hormones, antibiotics and pesticides indeed reside completely within the water and milk solids, then I'd be DELIGHTED to use regular butter...it'd certainly reduce my costs! --Josh

Hi, Joe, I'm guessing you're talking about my being able to find a particularly open-weave muslin at a paint store. Is that what you do? Thanks, Josh

So now that I'm making large quantities of soups and sauces at home, I find myself wanting more (and cheaper) cheesecloth than what I find in those pricey little packages at the supermarket. Other than buying a 60-yard box via the internet, how do home chefs address this? I've shopped at the local fabric store -- the cheesecloth they sell, while cheap, is not nearly as wide as the huge bulk boxes, and it's bleached, which doesn't sound right. (It's also a VERY loose weave, making me question how useful it would be.) I've been told that some chefs use muslin rather than cheesecloth. But I've looked at rows and rows of muslin, and it seems like it's fairly dense...at least 100 thread count. I haven't found any muslin that's especially loose. I'd be interested to hear what frequent users of cheesecloth do for their supply. --Josh

I have the Mayberry cookbook, the Sopranos cookbook, and a number of others... But really, despite having thousands of cookbooks, even the "embarrassing" ones aren't really embarrassing. I consider them more like humorous conversation pieces. Although I keep the serious cookbooks I use most often in a public, easily-accessible place, and the rest in an out-of-the-way place, when I occasionally rotate the serious books, I always put a few of the so-called embarrassing ones out prominently...because, dollars to doughnuts, those are the ones people want to pick up and look through and talk about. My favorite? That would probably be The Easy-Bake Oven Gourmet. --Josh

Qwerty and HungryC, Thank you both -- your answers make perfect sense and I'll take them to heart. These are all for my experiments at home, and I'm not throwing anything away -- can't really afford to! I use organic butter when cooking at home for my family, so "butter is cheap" is no longer really a truism for me -- around here, cheapest I've found for organic butter is $7 a pound! I haven't tried making any brown roux yet, but that'll be my next home project. The blond roux is for a veloute that I'm using to make a Shrimp Bisque out of my textbook. One of the other teams in my class made it a few weeks ago, and it was simply one of the best soups I've ever tasted. I'm making a gallon for friends and family later this week. --Josh

Definitely not vermin of any sort...they're flour (or, rather, fat-dampened flour). DoctorTim, I use a wooden spoon. I guess I should try a wooden spatula and see if that does a better job for me. Bits that I miss on the bottom of the pot are, frankly, the only thing I can think of. --Josh

Hi, Luckylies, No, stainless rules in this house. :-) When I say "burned bits," I wonder if people think I'm talking little blackened crudgies or something. They're not black at all. They are (a few) small bits about the size of a flea that are several shades darker than the rest of the roux. I just remade the roux, making sure to use a lower temperature and a heavier pot. I still noticed a speck or two of darker roux. I'm beginning to think that when I'm stirring, I'm perhaps leaving a little at the bottom of the pot that isn't getting scraped up (or, at least, not often enough), and it's getting darker than the rest of the roux. I'm curious as to why the textbook emphasizes making the roux with clarified butter, and the sentiment here seems to be that that would detract from it. --Josh

Hi, all, Many thanks for the replies. As for the burning bits, we're talking maybe 8 or 9 tiny bits. I went back to Raymond Sokolov's excellent book The Saucier's Apprentice, and even he talks about being sure to remove the burned bits in a roux (although he's talking about brown roux, and my roux wasn't anywhere near brown). But clearly, given that I seem to be the only one clarifying the butter before making the roux, my clarification wasn't to blame. Regarding my gross incompetence: I'm not ruling it out, but making roux seems like a pretty straightforward process. Maybe I was using too high a heat. Anyway, I'll give it another try. (My textbook also highly recommends using cake or pastry flour, BTW.) Thanks again for the responses. --Josh

Hehe...go, County! The clarified-butter-for-roux comes from our textbook, "On Cooking" by Sarah Labensky, which seems to be a fairly ubiquitous textbook. It's even included in some editions of Mastercook. --Josh

I haven't posted in a while -- but I've been busy enrolling in a 2-year culinary degree program at State University of New York - Schenectady. (It's no CIA, but it's a reasonable commute!). We're currently covering sauces, stocks, and soups. I'm doing a lot of work at home to make up for the fact that we don't really have (in my opinion) enough lab time, especially since the weather's been responsible for some class cancellations. ANYWAY. In class, when we've made roux, we've added stock directly to it to continue with our recipes. Here at home, though, I'm making the roux in advance for a recipe I plan to make later in the week. I just finished making a blonde roux (1:1 ratio of flour and clarified butter). I cooked it for roughly 9 minutes...ended up with a few little burned particles, but in general, it looked good. But now that it's been sitting for awhile, cooling, I'm noticing that there's a definite film of butter on top. So I have two questions. First, are the burned bits (which I've removed to avoid having them impart flavor to the veloute I'll be making as a soup base) due to imperfect clarification of the butter on my part? Second, is the butter film on top of the roux normal? If not, what might I have done wrong to cause it? Many thanks for any advice, Josh

Hung was better than his judges, and because of that fact he should despise them... And most lifer cooks who've worked in high-end restaurants end up hating their patrons - the way that it is... ← Well, I haven't seen any indication that Hung was better than his judges, but if, at this young age, he as as filled with loathing for the people eating his food as the "lifers" you refer to, perhaps he ought to consider retiring soon. --Josh

Two thoughts on the outcome of TOP CHEF, SEASON 3. Re: the Chicago thing: I was laughing out loud at poor, poor Marcel. He clearly truly hates the fact that he's white. Re: Hung. So very disappointed that he won. It wasn't his arrogance about his cooking versus his competitors'. Rather, it was, throughout the season, his constant, baldly-stated contempt for his "consumers" (anyone eating his food). If a judge found his food incorrectly seasoned, it was the judge's own lack of acumen; it could not possibly be a mistake on Hung's part. If a consumer or group of consumers found his food lacking in some way, it was because they were too common, too limited to "get" him, too pedestrian for their tastes to have any validity. Hung may've been the most technically proficient chef in the finale, but I wouldn't want to eat at his restaurant, because I'd always have the feeling that since I don't have my own Michelin star, I'm persona non grata in his dining room. --Josh

Hi, Mark, Well, I haven't made anything from it yet (this weekend will be my first forays). I'll know more about whether or not I feel I've made a good investment after I've tried some of the recipes I'm anxious to make. But I'll say this: it's certainly the most COMPREHENSIVE, by far, of all the candy books I've got. Over 350 recipes covering just about every conceivable candy and filling (although you won't find newer flavors in here...the book's from 1954 and the tastes reflect it...no bergamot or earl grey tea!). Also, the recipes are clearly written with commercial sales in mind. Most of the recipes I'm looking at will have to be scaled down (shouldn't be a problem). Then again, if I was making candy for a bake sale, no problem... Just thought of something to add: there are no photos in the book, so if you're looking for that kind of cookbook, this isn't it. It's very cut-and-dried. --Josh

Kerry, Before I make the Molasses Chips (it's formula 263 in Richmond's book, BTW), I have a question. He says, in part: "Place on spinning table. Shape batch so that it is smooth on the top and bottom surfaces. Spin out and cut on continuous cutter..." I'm wondering about the spinning table and "spinning out" he refers to. I'm unfamiliar with this equipment and what spinning out means. Are you familiar with this? Is it something I can duplicate at home? Josh

Hi, Kerry, Many thanks for the reply...I'll be attempting one of the CC recipes this weekend. (I'm also going to try his recipe for Molasses Chips -- they're not honeycombed, but he speaks so highly of them...) I ordered the book from GOMC.COM, and it was $75. Great service; I ordered it on Monday and received it on Wednesday. The other sources were all asking for $100 or more. --Josh

John, Your dipping looks as good as any I've seen for hand-dipped chocolates, really. What's your technique for avoiding feet? --Josh

After Kerry's marvelous explanation of the making of molasses honeycomb chips, I was moved to wreck my cookbook budget for the next few months and pick up "Choice Confections" by Walter Richmond. (Well, okay, I also picked up Morimoto's cookbook.) Although I've only had a few hours to glance through it, it brought up a couple of questions I have for experienced candymakers...regarding English Toffee. First, he talks about adding "Baker's Special Sugar" to the mix to start the graining. Now, I'm confused about this ingredient. Some sites refer to it as basically superfine sugar (so I'm thinking Domino's superfine will do the trick). Others seem to list Baker's Special Sugar as being a coarser grade than superfine, so I'm wondering if superfine will work. I would think so, but I'm wondering if anyone has any experience with this. Second, he talks about aging the toffee for a week before selling it. I'm wondering if this will accomplish what's been my "holy grail" of English Toffee since I started making it: creating a toffee that doesn't stick to your teeth when you chew it. It seems to me that much commercial toffee doesn't stick to your teeth; it somehow seems a little "drier" when it's chewed. My homemade toffee, which always gets eaten in a few days, tends to stick when chewed. I'm pretty sure I've got the temperature right, so I've been thinking it's a matter of ingredients...but Choice Confections has me wondering if it's a matter of age instead. --Josh

Kerry, Holy cow! Well, thank you so much for investigating this and getting me such a great, complete answer. I won't be the first one to try this...sounds WAY beyond my fledgling abilities. But it's certainly something to work up to, and I'm very grateful to have the instructions. I may try visit Plantation in the near future to watch them do all this (realizing that that's a longshot, given how secretive candy companies are). Just out of curiosity -- which professional candymaking book did you find these instructions in? Thank you again, Josh

Thanks, Nakji, I'll try both! Best regards, Josh

That's nuoc cham, though lime juice is preferred over vinegar. Sometimes it's called nuoc mam cham, perhaps that's the source of the confusion. But nuoc mam is just fish sauce. ← Hi, Prasantrin, I should have been clearer, I'm sorry. I know that nước mắm itself is fish sauce. I didn't know what to call the actual dipping sauce, since nước chắm always seemed to be citrus-based, so I was just trying to say "a sauce made with nước mắm." I'll give a nước chắm recipe a try, subbing vinegar (white, I'm guessing?) for the lime juice. Thanks! --Josh

My wife and I regularly get some very good Vietnamese food locally, and frequently the dishes are accompanied by a nước mắm sauce. I'd like to be able to duplicate this at home, but so far, all the recipes I can find call for lime (or even lemon) juice. The dipping sauce we're given is completely clear, amber-colored, and has no hint of citrus flavors. It also generally contains a few shredded carrots and perhaps a few red pepper flakes. Anyone have any idea what this recipe might be? Many thanks, Josh

One of the Silver Palate cookbooks has a recipe for bacon that is dredged with mustard and brown sugar, then broiled. Really delicious, but it has to be watched VERY carefully as it broils. I think it's called "Bacon Bites." --Josh

Hi, Kerry, So glad you're here! I've been following this thread with some excitement. I had the chance to be in a class that Greweling held at the CIA a couple of years ago during "Pastry Boot Camp." What I'm talking about is Molasses Honeycomb, which, I believe, is essentially Greweling's "Peanut Butter Honeycomb" minus the Peanut Butter filling. I'm not talking about the "cook and pour" honeycomb candy/Seafoam, which isn't pulled. Attached is a photo of a Molasses Honeycomb Chip. (These are made by Plantation Candies in Pennsylvania, and I've been told that they're hand-pulled.) I believe this is what Molasses Honeycomb looks like when properly made. On the left is the enrobed candy, in the middle is the denuded version, and on the right is a cross-section. As you say, it shatters when you bite it. --Josh

Rob -- point well taken about the enrobing! Still, I'd LIKE to be able to produce a product that looks, crunches, and dissolves like the commercial honeycomb. Clearly it can be done, it's just one of those things I'd like to conquer. Alanamoana -- ah, yes, you're talking about the cook-and-pour kinda honeycomb, also called Seafoam. I'm trying to make something you find in chocolate shops as "honeycomb molasses chips," which, like the Seafoam, uses baking soda to create the bubbles, but is then pulled to aerate it and produce a sheen. It's got a different texture than Seafoam as the bubbles are stretched, something I'd describe as almost flaky. Clearly there's a knack to pulling it enough to aerate it without pulling it so much that the bubbles vanish...a knack I'm probably not close to developing. --Josh

Alanamoana, Really? When pouring it out, it doesn't seem to have the sheen that "commercial" honeycomb molasses chips have. I'll give it a shot, though, and see if it passes... --Josh