Edward J

You can buy dehyrdated coconut cream in 50 gr pouches for usually under a dollar at most thati/Asian stores. It's pretty good stuff, I use it alot in other recipies. I think one pouch =1 fresh coconut

Interesting thrad..... Unless you count a 4 hr stopover in Gatwick back in the '80's, I've never really been in Britain, let alone eaten there. On the surface, it sounds like the owner is too chicken to raise his prices, and has found a weasel hole. N. America is another story though, very different from continental Europe. Let's take a closer look: -No trade qualifications for cooks, bakers waiters/esses. -No qualifications needed to open a restaurant. -In many places waiters are paid minimum wage, or even below that -Fierce, cut-throat competition for the dining dollar -Ample opportunity for Hospitality unions to address the situation. -Dining prices are much cheaper than continental European dining prices, quality can be on par or exceeding many Euro places. -Tips belong to the waiter. I believe in California it is illegal for owners to divide tips between other staff members. -Custom to tip 10-20% for the entire dining experience to the wait staff. Now it's true the wait staff work very hard, but everyone in the building works for the customer's entire dinining experience. Whether this is fair or not, the owners take advantage of this custom, and consider tipping part of the waiter's salary. In Continental Europe we have: -Trade qualifications/benchmarks for all trades (waiter is a two year apprenticeship in most EU countries) -Qualifications needed in many EU countries to open a restaurant (ie "Wirtepruefung"). -Trade Unions set wages for their respective trades across the country, as well as playing an active role in the education of apprentices, and setting benchmarks/salary scales. -Stiff competition for the dining dollar. -Service charge is built into the prices in many establishments. It's quite something to look at and compare, isn't it?

Oh there's no doubt about it, trufle shells are an enormous time saver, but........... Even if I bought them in a case of 520, I'd still be paying almost 15 cents a piece for them. So 15 cents for the shell, another 7 or 8 cents for the filling, maybe a half cent for plugging the tops, and then more enrobing the shell or covering it with curls, etc. And we haven't even began with packaging.......

What does the ingredient list state? If there's no cocoa butter and only weird vegetable fats then it is, indeed, a coating. Even coating shouldn't get hotter than 40-45 C, but you don't need to cool it down and warm it up to a very specific temp like with real couverture.

Thanks for the replys Jenni, if you notice I stated that I never refused anyone who asked. I just have a problem with people who think it's a right or something to come in off the street, use the facilities, and go back out on the steet again. That being said, I haven't had a problem with druggies for quite some time now.(and I'm knocking on wood as I type this...) Meh, maybe I'm too sensitive. But I have made up my mind that if I get one more person who specifically walks past my counter and ignores my or my staff's greetings and heads straight for the washrooms without saying a word, I'll put a lock on the door.

Firstly, my place is a 16 seat cafe that only serves pastry, coffee and artisan chocolates, and I only have 1 guest washroom. I do not serve alcohol. Secondly, I have never refused anyone who asks me first if they can use my facilities. I do get upset when people walk in, ignore my or my staff's greeting, eyes automatically seeking out the washroom sign. This can happen twice a day, or it can happen once a month. It's not the bathroonm itself that bothers me, it's the attitude. Ignore me or my staff, become upset or downright arguementitive when I ask them what exactly it is they want, or when I state with a completly blank, neutral tone that "washrooms are for customers only". Locking the washroom has become a tactic employed by many other restaurants in Vancouver, Stah-bucks has keys or buzzers, same with Mickey D's, and even the public library does this. Many nightclubs have installed blue lights in the washrooms, as this makes it imposible to see veins or arteries..... This has been an issue in the past, and the health dept has appeared on various media explaining that restauants did have the right to refuse people who weren't customers the facilities. The majority of Vancouverites are aware of this. Some will oder something, and while it is prepared, use the washrooms. Others say they will, and when finished, question my staff on pricing or ingredients of various items (ignoring the menu board...) then simply state that everything is too expensive and quickly walk out. And others, well they choose just to argue. Thoughts?

Just curious as to how other restaurant owners handle the problem of people waltzing in and making a direct bee-line to the washrooms and then waslking out again? Just had an up-teenth "discussion" with one such person who insisted that I,as a restaurant owner must provide anyone and everyone washroom facilities. I maintained my "boilerplate" schtick by reminding the person that washrooms are only for customers. As usual the person was agitated and insisted I was "rude". I guess I could lock the washrooms and have the keys behind the expresso machine, to be doled out to customers who need it, or I could go one step higher and put an apartment buuilding style "buzzer" lock on the door. I am reluctnat to do so, but one more incident and I will----immediately What do other owners do?

Yeah, individual blocks. I do it the same way I make "checkerboard cookies": Glue up strips of maple, then slice them across, then glue those strips end grain up back together. I knew I'd have a job cleaning up the surfaces, so I sandwiched the strips between two aborite covered mdf scraps (sink cutouts) before clamping. I have acess to a friend's thickness sander, and have access to a very large stroke sander, but I'm working 10 hrs a day at work now, and only have an hour or so in the evenings. Despite the effort in using a plane, it is kind of relaxing--it's the only time I'm not multi tasking!

Hope the "Boardsmith" doesn't get mad with me, but I just finished making 3 end grain cutting boards for Christmas presents. Each board is made up of 64 individual 1 1/2" eastern maple blocks, end grain facing up. The hard part was smoothing the surfaces after glue up. Can't run the board through a thickness planer or it'll disintegrate, can't use a belt sander, or you'll get grit imbedded in the wood. In the end I used a #80 cabinet scraper, a low angle jack plane with a nicely honed blade, and lots of mineral oil to lubricate the board and plane. Of course I'll be treating the boards with mineral oil anyway......

Don't know where you are, or what purveyors are around. Qzina (www.qzina.com) carries quite a few lines, "Chocoa" is moderately priced and quite good, belcolade is another brand, both are Belgian. Lindt has some excellent couertures and has ones in the 54% range (surfin), in the 60% range, and in the 70% range. Surfin's not bad at all for the price, and pretty good for molding. In the end, when dealing with suppliers, volume is the magic word. I've seen Callebaut 70/30 go for as low as $5/kg if the volume is high enough. Dark chocolate keeps for years, it's just a question of how much your new bosses want to tie up their cash in inventory, and how much they want to pay for weekly delivieres.

Never really liked knife blocks. I've gotten them as presents in the past and dutifully used for a few months, then stuck them in a closet. One of the main reasons is that at home we have two kids and both adults cook. The knife block usually ends up with some kind of crud or water spilled on it. Lee Valley (www.leevalley.com) has a version of the bamboo skewer filled thingee, but with carbon fiber rods all anchored together at the base. When dirty, slide the rod "package" out and toss in the d/washer. If you don't like magnetic strips, you can go for teh "professional" option, what butchers use. A knife rack. This is nothing more than a strip of plastic with slots cut in it and totally encase by a s/s sleeve. The whole thing comes apart to clean, will take about 10 knives and is wall mounted. Each knife stays completely separate from the other.

Don't need no stinkin' brushes! Cut yourself a small piece of rubber foam, mix some dust in a saucer with some high proof booze, dip your sponge in, stamp the inside of your mold, and away you go.

I don't own one, I've seen too many broken ones in commercial kitchens. However I frequently see them at tradeshows and in knife shops and I can't help myself but to try them out. Many, including the Kyocera are not very sharp at all, and many would not pass my "tomato test", where little or no pressure is used to try and slice a ripe tomato. But what really stuck in my mind is that the majority of them wee hollow ground. I really question the hollow grinding as this makes the edge even more fragile.

Factor in at least 2 hours to get into work if your bring your knives in a gun case on public transport. I have a funny feeling the Cops would want to have a peek in the case..................

Still have and use some old Henckels "Zwilling" knives, survivors of almost 30 years in commercial kitchens. Like everyone else, it's all a matter of choice. The big fat heavy German knives seem to shine in a few applications, like cutting/peeling heavy vegetables, chicken parts fabrication, and some meat cutting applications. Since I'm only doing pastry and confectionary work now, I still use the ol' Henckels for chopping stone-hard couverture, cutting up 25 kg blocks of butter, and cutting hard items like nougat. Think of the 12 Henckels as an Axe. Perfect for cutting down trees, pruning, and splitting wood, but not so ideal to make furniture with. Also what David G. says. A knife is just a hunk of steel with a sharp edge, the magic is in your hands....

Clean your racks. When I was catering I had a heck-uva-time getting clients to pay for tents/canopies for outdoor events. "It won't rain" was the standard response. I responded with "It's a health regulation", which was almost always met with a "HUH?" Leaves fall in, tree debris, and of course the birds aren't potty trained. If you use both racks and move one, you're guaranteed to have baked on crud scrape off the first rack and fall into the food down below. "Those are natural vanilla flecks" may work for baked goods, but not for gratins or savoury dishes.

Sadly, yes. Basically there are two kinds of foodie bloggers in Vancouver, the non-pro ones who usually have some kind of a job, and the "pro" bloggers. The non-pro ones are a joy. They come in un announced, order what they want, snap a simple photo or two, and a week later you get a e-mail telling you that you've been featured on their site. The "pro" boggers e-mail you first, telling you that they want to do a blog on you and request free whatever. I was recently aproached by one such blogger who not only wanted a free meal for himself, but for his mother too. This is dangerous territory because such bloggers also "dabble" in: Web design, photography, food styling, "branding", "business consulting" and "trouble shooting". These services are listed on their website. They also have no qualms about informing me how popular their websites are, and what kind of results a positive blog would have. In the end the way I dealt with the blogger+mom was to offer the free meal but only offer a 10% discount for his mother. Confused the bee-jesus out of him. He reserved and canceled several times, and finally canceled for good.

Attachment will fit all models, however..................... The mixer sits on a s/s stand that holds it at an angle. MY K.A, a 5 qt "pro" (Costco special) doesn't fit quite right on the stand. All the other mixers will though.

I've been thinking alot of how to weed out the inconsiderate photographers too. There's no one to enforce such rules but the restaurant itself. So how about a "disclaimer" on the front of the menu reminding patrons that photography of your own food is allowed, but that consideration of the other guests is paramount. Flashes, tripods, and awkward stances are not allowed except with prior consent. Oh, and also to put your cellphones on "silent", and when using cellphones to speak in a normal volume. Thus warned, the staff/owners might have some kind of leverage in dealing with guests who refuse to be considerate to the other diners. For the record, in Vancouver alone there are 150 or so food blogs. If I had a dollar for every e-mail I recived asking for freebies so as to do a blog, I'd be a rich man now.....

I have the D & R pan. Holds up quite well. Not much to it really, two bowls, one with a hole in it, the other with the attachment shaft, clipped together with 4 "office depot" style clips. The rounder the object you want to coat, the better your results will be. I gave up on almonds and have had good sucess with hazelnuts--also because they grow locally.

Haven't been in Zermatt for almost 20 years. I worked there though in the late 80's, or rather I worked a bit out of town at the Hotel Riffleberg, halfway up the mountain.

Perhaps e-gullet could have a sort of "code of ethics" for restauarant photography? On my list would be: (1) Courtesy to other diners--no flashes or body parts in other diner's faces (2) Only include staff in the picture if they agree to it (3) Acknowledgement that the meal was served properly--no excuses that the food was cold, sauces congealed, salads wilted after 10 minutes of fiddling and tweaking (4) EXPRESS consent from the owners to take pictures of architectual features or creative displays. How and who will enforce this?

Actually, almost any recipie will work. Most commercial kitchens have a utensil called a "spider" Basically a skimmer with a very course wire mesh. Make your streusel and force it through a course wire mesh. Freeze it, dust it with more flour or sugar, freeze it again. Sprinkle "with feeling".... Oats are nice, but for me, oat streusel only goes well with cinnamon....

Food columnists usually have excellent powers of description. That is, they can accurately describe what is on the plate, how it is presented, what flavour combinations, special features, etc.. The paper pays for a good verbal description and gets it. To date I haven't seen a newspaper columnist use pics. Bloggers are another story. Many approach the restaurant before--usually asking for a freebie or heavily discounted. Others just whip out their cellphone camera and snap away. It's the photographers who are so engrossed in getting the "right angle" all the while sticking their various body parts and flashes in other diner's faces that gets both service staff and patrons all riled up. IFyou could somehow hold them accountable we wouldn't have any problems..........

There are a lot of thoughts about this, and each restaurant is different. If the photograper is oblivious to his neighbors, it becomes a sore issue for his neighbors, which usually results in poor tipping...... If the photographer takes precautions it becomes an advertising bonus for the place. If the Chef or owner has "been around" they are aware that once a photograper takes a picture, that image becomes the photograper's property, to be used/abused as they wish. On the other hand, the diner has paid for his meal. Kinda like buying a car and taking as many pictures of it as you want. This pertains to food/beverage only, as the decor/furnishings and ambiance are exclusive to the restaurants. I have seen images of my own work (chocolates and bon-bons) obviously taken in my store, cropped and enhanced on other people's websites and fobbed off as their own, or in one case, my creations copied to the last detail and sold as their own creations in another continent. My gut feeling tells me if you paid for what you get, you should be able to take as many pictures as you want provided you're not a nuisance to other diners, but decor, staff, etc are off-limits.