LizD518

I was laughing hilariously throughout this. Honestly, I felt so sorry for most of the contestants. But at least a few of them seemed like they really wanted to learn - and had produced a passable effort. I also wonder if there are any common personality traits (for lack of a better phrase) that are common among good cooks, and thus, the lack thereof are common among not-good cooks. It seemed like very few of them took any time to think about what they were doing and what the result would be when they were cooking their "signature dishes". They also seemed to lack any instincts when it came to flavors and seasoning.

Made a quarter batch of the Maple Cornmeal Drop Biscuits - I had no eggs, so I had to find a breakfast recipe to fit! I also discovered that I had no maple syrup, so I made them with honey. They were delicious - tender, but with the crispy, toothy edges from the cornmeal. The original recipe was to yield 12, so a quarter recipe should have yielded 3. I only made tow, but they weren't too large - I still ate both of them!

These sound great! I have a batch cooling right now!

I'm still working on building my cookbook collection before I start to cull any of them, but I do have a few obvious duds (for me anyway). One, that I just mailed out as an exchange through Swaptree.com, was Nigella's "Domestic Goddess" cookbook. I love her show, the pictures were beautiful and things looked tasty, but every time I went looking for recipes to bake, none of her items spoke to me. So, off it went, to a new home, and I am recieving a hardcover novel that I know I will read in the near future.

Made cran-raspberry marshmallows last night. I had everything ready to go - geletin blooming, sugar measured and in the pan - when I found out that I had run out of corn syrup, and was already nearly out of sugar. After a frantic search through all the cupboards I decided to throw some honey in to make up for the corn syrup. The flavor turned out wonderful - the honey really complimented the slight bitterness that the cranberries brought. I need to cut them tonight - I can't wait to try them in some hot cocoa! I also want to ask if anyone has tried a flavor with wasabi by any chance? I have read through this thread in the past and don't remmebr seeing it, but it has been a while. I just received some wasabi powder and I thought that it might be a neat flavor to try and do somthing with. For that matter, I also received powdered lemon peel and want to do something with that. Lemon-wasabi marshmallows anyone?

I just received a lovely gift box from Penzey's as a Christmas gift and one of the items it contains is Wasabi Powder. Since I don't make sushi / sashimi at home, I am looking for other uses. I have a few things in mind already, but I thought I'd throw it out here for suggestions. So far, I want to add some to hot cocoa (maybe made with coconut milk) to come up with something inspired by the wasabi truffles I've had a vosges. I was also thinking it would make a good topping for roasted almonds or peanuts. What about wasabi peas? Can anyone direct me to making my own version? Or using it as part of a spice rub for tuna or salmon - what else would you include?

My mom's recipe is pretty much exactly the same as Darienne's husband's - the only exception is that my Mom uses's onion powder instead of onions because as little kids we wouldn't eat the onions. And it is certainly a winter / holiday staple in my family - Mom usually makes one Christmas eve for dinner, and Memere always pulls them out for late afternoon meals on Christmas and Thanksgiving (we eat at noon). I think using game such as venison would be a very typical substitution that a lot of Quebecois would make; not sure about duck and rabbit - but why not? It might be nice to have a traditional one and then a "contemporary twist" on one. Also delicious - Patridge pot pie instead of the more traditional turkey or chicken!

Are they these: http://www.surlatable.com/product/3-piece+blue+nesting+bowl+set.do?keyword=bowls&sortby=ourPicks by any chance? I got the above set last Christmas with a gift certificate and I looooove them. Other than those I have a cheap set of plastic nesting bowls with lids that is ok, and I used to have some ss ones I liked, but I think I left them with an ex when I moved out a few years ago. I miss those bowls.

Made the NS strawberry recipe with raspberries the week before Thanksgving - they were the best ones I've ever made! I think this weekend I'll make another batch, but I only have half the respberry puree I need. Instead of buying more raspebrries, I was thinking of doing a mix of raspberry and cranberry to use up the rest of the cranberries Ihave in my freezer. Has anyone used cranberries in marshmallows before? I have to cook them down so that I can make the puree, so I thought I'd add some sugar to them so they won't be too tart. Any thoughts?

Bumping this up to ask about the ratio of poaching liquid to fish. I have never poached salmon, or any other fish, before, but I have a piece of about 12oz or so that I am going to poach so that I can use it in another recipe (salmon pies). Do I just use enough liquid to cover - or more than that?

I use silicone spatulas or wooden spoons for everything - in fact, I just bought my brothers one of each for stocking stuffers because all they have are cheap plastic spoons that look like they will melt if they get within 10 feet of the stove. But I don't worry too much about the technical properties of each - unless I'm scraping a bowl for batter or somthing I don't find my needs suited to one or the other too specifically.

Thanks for all the input! I don't want my popcorn making deficiencies to keep me from having good popcorn any more!

All these ideas are tempting ME to go out and buy some - they are usually summer food for me. Speaking of summer recipes - my favorite use for avocados is a salad / chunky salsa of diced avocado, diced tomato and corn (equal parts each) with some shallot (or red onion), minced jalepeno (or not) lots of cilantro and lime juice, s&p. I usually eat it with tortilla chips but it also works as a side dish, or a topping for burgers!

I have been making popcorn on the stove top in a pan for a couple of years now. But my popcorn always comes out kind dense and every so often it burns. I've read through the thread on here about making it on the stoptop and I've tried different brands, etc, but I can't seem to make it come out fluffy and light like it would when we made it in an airpopper as a kid. So I am about to give up and go back to microwave popcorn, but I have almost a whole jar of popcorn that I can still play with. Sur la Table has a new microwave container for making popcorn - you put butter in the top and it drips onto the pocorn as it meltss, so...score! But I am wondering if anyone has tried it. Here is the link: Popcorn maker

Crab or shrimp cocktail made with tiny little rock shrimp, or medium sized cocktail shrimp - mix the cocktail sauce and chunks of avocado and the crab or shrimp all together and serve in martini glasses. I like lots of horseradish! I have a recipe somewhere for a green chili yogurt-based salad dressing. The original salad had the avocado in cubes, but I pureed it into the dressing and liked that even better. Serve instead of ranch over a south-west salad with black beans, tomaotes, roasted corn, and cruchy totilla chips or strips. Avocado ice cream!

How finely chopped are they? Can the almonds be processed further (and sifted) to be used for macarons? It would probably be a lot of work, but if you are interested in making them and already have to almonds on hand, it may be your opportunity.

Hi Lisa, On the sizes, I say offer the sipping-chocolate in the smaller demi-tasse size, but be aware that you may need to educate your customers a bit on this product, unless maybe you are in a place like NYC with a more generally sophisticated clientle. I'm no help in how you would hold the product, but I like Lior's idea of a molded product on a stick that can be stirred in to a given quantity of hot milk. That would be a great product for retail sales.

When I checked it this morning the chocolate had set up enough that I could at least pack it in a bax with layers of parchment between the layers. It won't stand up to really warm temperatures, but at least it doesn't start making a mess immediately. I think it would have set up faster if the toffee had been fully cooled beforehand though. It would have been nice if the recipe had said that - as the intructions were written, it should have been fully set in an hour or two!

Thanks Kerry, I'm going to have plan on doing a little experimenting in the next week or two. I think think for the next batch of toffee I'll break it up first, then dip it in tempered chocolate and roll it in the nuts - it'll make it easier to adjust if the chocolate isn't working out right!

Bumping this up because I too am having trouble with the chocolate on my English Toffee. Although my trouble is of a different sort and I think it has to do with the tempering, or lack thereof, of my chocolate. I made my toffee, which came out perfectly in taste and texture. The recipe I used simply said to take bittersweet chocolate, chop into chuncks, and to sprinkle it onto the hot toffee, about 10 minutes after you first pour it into the pan. After the chocolate chunks melt and are spread evenly, sprinkle with finely chopped nuts and put into the freezer to cool down. Apparently, at that point I should be able to flip the slab of toffee out of the pan and cover the underside with more melted chocolate and nuts. Um, no. It has been at least an hour at this point, and I did lift the toffee our of the pan, because I had lined it with aluminum foil, but the chocolate on top is still almost as liquid as it was when it first melted! The instructions did not mention having to temper the chocolate, and I have no experience doing so I was happy to follow the instructions as written. What should I have done differently? I would like to make more toffee for Christmas goodies, but not if I am going to get melted chocolate all over everything!

Does anyone have an idea how long vanilla sugar should take to start exhibiting an aroma and taste of vanilla? I used a vanilla bean in baking a few weeks ago, and as I had a half a bag of sugar, in addition to a full storage canister, I decided to bury the vanilla pod in the extra sugar. I checked it today and there is a very faint scent of vanilla. I decided to add another couple of beans, which I did not scrape prior to chopping up and burying in the sugar. I also transferred the sugar to a canister, instead of leaving it in the bag. I'm hoping to see a more intense vanilla aroma by Christmas. BTW, the beans I am using are over a year old and becoming quite dried out. I may try andiesenji's method, mentioned on this page, of steaming them to re-hydrate soon, but I only want to do that when I am about to use them, otherwise they will just dry out again - right?

Today I roasted a whole chicken with the express purpose of using the leftovers for chicken stew and dumplings, and for stock. I also have a large piece of salmon in the freezer that I am going to poach sometimes soon. One portion will be for dinner immediately, but my real purpose is to make a salmon pie with the leftovers.

I love the idea of a standing date between long-term couples. Especially if they take turns surprising one another. Every time I go on a first date and my date defers to me in choice of restaurant - even when we are in an area that he knows better than I do, I just wish that he'd take a risk and say "I really like this place and I want to show it to you".

Jen has shown that she can take command and run the kitchen - She was all over it in the Air Force Base episode. She also said to Colicchio that she got into the weeds really early, so maybe she didn't plan to steam the shellfish to order?? I also think the group over all fell prey to the idea that they all respected each other's abilities so they didn't think to question each other and the plan to each plate both dishes of each course. Whereas even though the Red team didn't appoint Mike V as the leader, he took an over-all view of the proceedings, rather than just worrying about his own portion of things and that seemed to help the group perform better as a unit. OTOH - he was a d**k to Robin and should have backed off when she was plating the desserts. And she took more offense then necessary in order "to maintain her voice" (I'm paraphrasing).

One of my favorite winter meals growing up was my Mom's Salmon Pie. Our family is French Canadien, and my grandparents are both first generation American with strong ties back to Quebec. From what I uinderstand, salmon pie is either a French Canadien dish or an old Yankee dish that you might find in New England diners. Either way, I loved it. I need to get my Mom's specific recipe, but it was basically leftover mashed potatoes and canned salmon in a pie crust, sometimes served with a bechamel sauce with peas in it. I am thinking I will make it with poached salmon instead, but otherwise it is good as-is. Does anyoneelse make this dish and if so, are there any variations I should think about?