DanM

Thanks everyone and thanks for the recipe on Epicurious. In the end, I used Jamie Oliver's recipe due to the weight measurements (yeah, I am a pastry snob) but I only "wizzed" half of the dates and left the rest in chunks. It also gave me a chance to try out the cake spice mix from the spice house. In the end, the two Brits at the meeting were not familiar with sticky toffee pudding. Oh well, good deeds never go unpunished. Dan

I am planning on making sticky toffee pudding tomorrow for a friend who is British and is hosting this months homebrewer's club meeting featuring English bitters and pale ales. I found this recipe by Jamie Oliver, but I have no experience or knowledge of this dessert. Does this look authentic? Does anyone have a better formula? Thanks Dan

For an appetizer, you could serve Vienna Sausage with barbecue sauce

We were at Costco the other day and purchased 9 lbs of cranberries and a 1 lbs of chanterelle mushrooms. The chanterelles look okay, but are not the greatest ones I have ever seen, but at $10/lbs, it is worth buying for use in stuffing or other mushroom dishes. I am going to give them a try tonight to see if they are worth buying for thanksgiving. Dan

Yep. I plan on smoking one of my turkeys with apple wood on my kettle grill. I have not decided how to season the bird just yet, but it will be a dry rub. Dan

It looks like we are in luck! Bravo has announced Top Chef: Just Desserts. There are very few details so far... http://www.bravotv.com/blogs/the-dish/bravo-announces-top-chef-just-desserts Dan

First off, let me preemptively request that we keep this discussion civil. The proposed US government mandated health insurance law is a heated subject to many. Lets please keep the discussion to its affect on the food service industry and not the law itself. It looks more likely every day that congress will enact a law requiring all Americans to have health insurance through either an employee based health insurance plan or a government run program. I was wondering what impact the proposed law will have on the food service industry. How will it effect food prices and cost to your customers? How will this effect hiring practices, wages, employee retention, and other employee issues? How will this effect profit margins for businesses? Is this even feasible in a restaurant environment? Will restaurants offer insurance, or will they pay the penalty and make employees buy their insurance from the government? etc... If this bill does become law, it will have a significant impact on the food service industry. I hope this thread will help those of you who own or run a restaurant or food service company better understand how it will impact your business and for everyone else to understand the impact of the law will have on our dining experience.

+1 for the Pie and Pastry Bible. There is a chart at the beginning o the Fruit Pie section that lists how much sugar and corn starch is needed for a given amount of common fruits for making a fruit pie. That by itself is worth the money. There is also a great chicken pot pie recipe that my wife and I enjoy. The cake book is good, but a little dated. I don't know much about her new Heavenly Cakes book. Bread bible... meh. Good stuff, but I would recommend Jeffery Hammelman or Peter Reinhart for a bread book over hers. Dan

One detail I did not mention in my other post is that this will be a kosher dinner, so no dairy. This eliminates lasagna and Marlene's pasta dish (which I will steal for another time, thank you!). Per Kate's concern about pie crust and more pie crust. For this dinner I will be making the pot pie a little extravagant by using puff pastry for the crust. Nature's Balance vegan margarine makes a pretty darn good batch of puff pastry. Also, my wife is pregnant, so no alcohol in the dishes either. Dan

Is it too early to start planning for Thanksgiving? I am expecting 18-20 people this year... GULP! Here is the current plan. I need probably 2 more sides. I will have a couple of vegetarian friends, so all of the sides, except for one of the stuffings, will be vegetarian. Desserts are still a work in progress. Regarding the poached and roasted turkey. Can it be poached the day before and then roasted the day of? The only pot I will have that is big enough will be used to fry turkey #2. Salad: Spinach Salad with Bosc Pears, Cranberries Red Onions, and Toasted Hazelnuts Brussels Sprout Slaw with Mustard Dressing and Maple Glazed Pecans The Birds Pecan Smoked Turkey Poached and Roasted Turkey? Deep Fried Turkey? The Sides Roasted Fingerlings with Red and Yellow Piperade Wheatberry and Hulled Barley Pilaf Sweet Potatoes?? Dressing Sourdough, Fennel and Sweet Sausage Stuffing Mushroom and Leek Stuffing Gravy Pan Gravy Barbeque Sauce Relish (I will make these ahead of time and pack in mason jars) Cranberry, Apple, and Walnut Conserve Chipotle Cranberry Sauce Cranberry Sauce with Port and Dried Figs Vegetable Pot Pie for my vegetarian friends. Dan

I wonder if it also has to do with the cultures involved. Just like with beer and other fermented products, the fermentation cultures play a significant role in the flavour of the final product.

All of these are made from scratch in my kitchen Pancakes are fun and can be made in many different ways, but requires some serious work that I frankly don't want to do the first thing in the morning. Yeasted waffles need time to be made right and requires a waffle iron... another tool to fill up the kitchen. French toast is just leftover challah, egg, milk,and spices (and sometimes rum or bourbon). All of which are stocked in my kitchen. I might even "french toast" a sandwich of peanut butter, bananas, and honey. That's my first choice. Dan

What was her favorite snack as a child? Maybe she would appreciate a little something from those simpler years. Does she drink coffee or tea? It might help her through those late night study sessions. And it is almost halloween so a little trick or treat action maybe in order. Dan PS, don't forget the TP. colleges are not known for stocking soft stuff. Shoot me for saying this. I am not making any assumptions about your daughter or how you raised her. Maybe send her some protection, if you get my drift. If she is going to do it, might as well make sure she does it safely.

Interesting question. As a baker, I am pretty well trained to follow a formula exactly. This does spill over by habit to recipes. However, I do improvise and adjust due to taste preferences, ingredient availability, time constraints, kashrut, and other variables. Regarding inefficient shopping... I might grab the ingredient and then allow myself to be inspired by what remains. It's a good excuse to play with a new ingredient. Dan

As long as 50% of the book is useful, I will be happy. I am always willing to experiment and substitute where necessary. Sometimes recipes for pork can be replaced with chicken thighs amongst other creative techniques. I am not sure if Chef Keller would cringe or be amused by my "creativity". Thanks Dan

I am interested in this book and is at the top of my Amazon wish list. My only concern is that we keep kosher and I don't know how friendly this book is to a kosher kitchen. Any thoughts on this? Dan

I use probably 50% of my books. 1. I buy quite a few at Half Priced Books in Dallas, TX when I visit my in-laws. I have maybe 2 minutes to judge a books before I make a purchase. Some times I just pick a few turkeys. 2. I occasionally find books that provide better information than books that I already have. This often results in books being placed in the overflow shelf in the guest bedroom. 3. I have some very subject specific books that maybe get used 4 times a year, but are otherwise indispensable. Dan If you have any baking and pastry books that you would like to store at my house, I should have room for them.

King Arthur Flour's books, except the 200th Anniversary book, all have weight measurements. Am I snob for passing up baking and pastry books written with volume measures for those written with weights?

If you are flying, do not take a frosted cake. I talked with the TSA a couple years back about taking a cake on a flight and they informed me that the frosting was considered a liquid and therefore not allowed. BUT, if the cake was frozen, it would no longer be considered a liquid and should be perfectly acceptable to take on board. Honestly, that is what they told me. Dan

King Arthur Flour's Whole Grain companion has a great Apple-Raspberry Oat Crumble recipe. The raspberries add a touch of tartness to offset the sweetness of the apples. The crumble portion uses both oat flour and rolled oats, which makes it gluten free, for those who care. I occasionally make a quick grilled apple crumble when I am barbecuing. I cut an apple in half, core it with a melon baller and then top with a crumble topping. Once I am done with the barbeque, I place the apples on the grill and let the residual heat from the charcoal to cook the apples. Typically, they are done just as we are finished with dinner. Dan

Good Evening. I am in need of a good pumpkin doughnut recipe. Does anyone have a recipe they can share? Thanks, Dan

I found a can of Worthington Skallops at the market the other day. They are a vegetarian version of scallops. Scallops are not kosher, so I am not familiar with any traditional dishes dishes for them. Any thoughts on traditional dishes I can make with this product? I am tempted to wrap them in vegetarian bacon and sear them, but that would be too obvious. Thanks! Dan

Do you have the authority to subcontract some of the work? There are some really great cheese shops in NYC that might be willing to set up a cheese tasting as well as olives, antipasto, etc... at a reduced price if you allow them to advertise at the event.

I will also recommend Peter Reinhart's Bread Baker's Apprentice and Hammelman's Bread. From there, you might want to check out Reinhart's Whole Grain Breads. It will open your eyes to new possibilities in bread through variety grains. Dan

This dinner set was a gift from my parents from their tip to Japan a few years back. I have service for 2. I have only used it 3-4 times in the past 4 years given how delicate and beautiful they are.