DanM

According to Peter Reinhart's blog, he will have another book out this year. Dan

You can add six more books for me. The prize catch in the latest additions is Michelle Urvater's Chocolate Cake. The Hawaiian white chocolate, coconut, and macadamia cake was stunning! Dan

Thanks for the quick overview. I do have a few questions, if I may. What is the ratio between articles and recipes? Are the formulas in weight or volume, imperial or metric? How often do the formulas call for unusual ingredients or equipment? Thanks Dan

I recently had this problem when I made a whipped chocolate ganache for a cake. It said to chill the ganache before whipping. It did not say how cold to chill it though... What temps does everyone recommend? Back to fridge temp... approx 40f? Thanks Dan

I do a ton of pareve baking. For margarine, I recommend Earth Balance, Willow Creek, and maybe Fleishmans, if you are desperate. I would avoid mothers, Rich's and Mishpacha, unless you enjoy a chemical flavour to your food. Earth Balance tends to be a little more plastic than most margarines which aids in building layers. For milk I typically use unsweetened plain soymilk. You can also try almond milk which some feel gives a fuller, rounder flavour. Dan BTW... it is interesting that they are doing pareve given that it is Shavout, a holiday where it is customary to eat dairy meals. I spent most of yesterday and today making cheesecakes, creme brulee, cream puffs, and a boat load of other dairy rich pastries. Pictures to come.

I made one a while back with ginger, lemon grass, and green tea which turned out amazing! What I love about creme brulee is that they are relatively easy to make in large quantities for a cheap price and look quite impressive. Dan

I hope you are only kidding about the foie gras. Pop-tarts have a uniquely "trashy" style to them that would not blend well with foie gras. If you decide to tackle Hostess cupcakes, let me know. I not been successful at replicating them. Thanks for the formula though.. I will have to give it a try! Dan

If you want a good grill, I recommend Weber's Performer grill. I have one and it is amazing. It is a charcoal grill with a propane starter. Mine is 9 years old and shows little to no wear. Cookbook wise, I want to throw in Marinades, Rubs, Brines, Cures and Glazes by Jim Tarantino. Its not directly related, but has lots of grill friendly recipes. Dan

sounds like the "Rieser Bauerntorte", served in the region around the village Noerdlingen. It's an Applecake with a dense crust and the filling is apple puree. Sorry I've no reciepe but will be in Noerdlingen in about three weeks to get one. If this cake sounds familiar to that one you've had once, I'll post it then. ← I greatly appreciate this and will gladly take the recipe. I will let you know how it turns out when I make it. Thanks again! Dan

While I don't disagree with you about the quality of some students or the reasons for allowing them to attend school, I think Thomas Keller and any number of chefs would take offense at this considering they did not receive a "formal" education in the culinary arts. This argument is the dead horse that has been beaten over and over. Take what you can from your education and the situation and overlook those other students. Trust me when I say that very few employers that are hiring for entry level positions in kitchens are worried about where you got your education. They are much more concerned with how you actually work in a kitchen. The assumption that the only positions available to people without a formal culinary education are dishwashers, busboys and McDonalds workers is ridiculous. I just wonder what someone like Bill Gates could have done with his life had he actually finished attending Harvard... ← I'm sorry for not getting back to you sooner. I was busy with the JBF awards as a volunteer most of the weekend. You are 1000% correct. I totally agree that a formal education is by no means a requirement to become a chef. An education by fire is often better than what is available in local culinary schools. Both of the chefs that I worked for this past weekend are field trained and respected enough to be recognized by the James Beard Foundation. What I was trying to get at was that not everyone who wants to train as a chef, formal or otherwise, should. Schools should attempt to assess the kill level of applicants before admittance. Some of these applicants only have the skill level to be dishwashers, busboys, etc... There was a student in my class who was segregated from everyone else and provided independent instruction due to poor skills and constant sanitation problems. They passed him through based on effort. The worst part of it is that the school knew full well of his skill level and sanitation problems because he already went through the ACAP program and was fired from his internship at the big mouse for sanitation problems. Dan

Favorites: Juila Jaques The Swedish Chef!! (why am I the first to list him??) Jamie Oliver Alton Brown Mario Morimoto Anthony Bourdain Denis Cotter (little known, but a huge influence on me) Paul Prudhomme Bronwen Weber Ella Brennan (Not a chef, but a wonderful, wonderful person ) Least Favorite: Bobby Flay Todd English (I swear this guy wears make up) Rocco Rachel Ray Martha Stewart That lady in the school cafeteria with the hair net...

I don't have anything really useful to add... but I am REALLY intrigued by your wild rice krispy treats. Would you mind sharing the recipe with me? Best of luck with the rest of the race! Dan

I went to culinary school last year and quickly discovered that the school is more interested in making a profit rather than educating students. The admissions standards were so low that several people in the class could not do basic arithmetic or follow simple instructions, but they passed them through based on effort, not on results. One of the chefs told me straight out that they give praise to students to boost their esteem even if the products were unacceptable. The director of education has a philosophy that everyone has the right to an education and to work in this industry. I told him to his face that he is naive and foolish. Granted, everyone should have access to an education, but that does not mean you have to educate everyone. By allowing the lowest levels into the school, he is lowering the standard of education for everyone. Just because I want to take courses this fall in Nutrition does not mean that I should be able to walk into Yale and start taking classes. I need to meet their standards first. Secondly, not everyone in the culinary industry needs an formal education. We still need busboys, dishwashers, and people to man the fryers at McDonalds. Its needless to say that I felt that I did not get my money's worth going to Connecticut Culinary. I recommend that you ask serious questions about their academic standards before selecting a school. Dan

Those tarts look amazing! I have added the recipe to my cookbook for future use. I think it is a little too rich for our diet at this time. Thanks for the reference! jackal10 Thanks for the link to the Guardian Article. After reading it I pulled up the River Cottage Cookbook on Google Books and found a couple of new ideas. The Eel in Green Herb Sauce looks mighty good, but made with a kosher fish. http://books.google.com/books?id=lbscLPGd1...qyZFW#PPT357,M1 Dan

What kind of apple kuchen are you looking for, as I have a recipe for Schwabischer apple kuchen, and here in germany there seems to be a lot of different apple kuchens. ← Thanks for responding. I almost gave up on this. The apple kuchens I have liked in the past had a dense crust and a custard like filling. But hey, I will take whatever recipes you have and try them all. I have a lot of neighbors, friends, and family that are more than happy to help me taste test a bit. Thanks for your help!! Dan

Good morning, I picked up a half pound of locally grown Sorrell at the market yesterday. I am not familiar with this green, so I was wondering what are some classic preparations for it. thanks! Dan

I didn't say that. I said that I now think of kosher Israeli wines as Israeli wines rather than kosher wines. There are of course kosher wines from all over. We had wines from California and New Zealand at our tasting, for example. I didn't say they were. What I said, which is true, is that the overwhelming majority of kosher wines sold outside of Israel are mevushal. That's what consumers demand. Even many Israeli kosher wines that are non-mevushal are produced in special mevushal batches for export. ← My appologies. I misread what you wrote. Dan

Thanks for the insight and depth of the article. I will resist being a nitpicker and poke holes in your post. However, I do not agree with your intention to call kosher wines Israeli wines. Kosher simply indicates that the wines have been produced in a manner that conforms to the laws of Kashrut under the supervision of a rabbinical authority. Secondly, not all kosher wines come from Israel. There are amazing wines from around the world that are kosher. My wife and I enjoy Capcanes Peraj Petita as a favorite red wine in our house. It is a Montsant wine from Spain. We have also recently purchased a few wines from Georgia to try out. I have also had wines from Chile, Agentina, Austrailia, Italy, and even an authentic Port that all happened to be kosher. On top of that, not all Israeli wines are kosher. Secondly, not all kosher wines are mevushal. The Peraj Petita is a wonderful example of a non-mevushal wine. I also want to suggest that you find yourself a bottle Teperberg Silver 2006 Late Harvest Reisling. It is very well rounded and not cloyingly sweet. My wife and I just purchased a case of it because we liked it so much. Dan

LOML has this habit of eating these nasty frozen, nuke and eat veggie pot pie pasties for breakfast almost every morning because "they have enough protein in them" and she (thinks she) does not have time to sit down for 5-10 minutes like a normal person and eat a real breakfast. I occasionally make the mistake of getting her opinion on what to make for dinner. This usually devolves into a 1-1.5 hour "I don't know" ordeal with 5+ cookbooks on the couch because she cannot make up her mind and nothing I suggest is acceptable. Will not eat most lettuce or greens because they are "weeds" Snacks in front of me just before I start to make dinner. Dan

The 2009 James Beard Award nominees for cookbooks are in... Any thoughts or picks? AMERICAN COOKING Arthur Schwartz's Jewish Home Cooking: Yiddish Recipes Revisited by Arthur Schwartz (Ten Speed Press) Cooking Up a Storm: Recipes Lost and Found from The Times-Picayune of New Orleans Edited by: Marcelle Bienvenu and Judy Walker (Chronicle Books) Screen Doors and Sweet Tea: Recipes and Tales from a Southern Cook by Martha Hall Foose (Clarkson Potter) BAKING Bakewise: The Hows and Whys of Successful Baking by Shirley O. Corriher (Scribner) Baking for All Occasions: A Treasury of Recipes for Everyday Celebrations by Flo Braker (Chronicle Books) The Art and Soul of Baking by Cindy Mushet, Sur La Table (Andrews McMeel Publishing) BEVERAGE The Harney and Sons Guide to Tea by Michael Harney (The Penguin Press) The Wines of Burgundy by Clive Coates (University of California Press) WineWise: Your Complete Guide to Understanding, Selecting, and Enjoying Wine by Steven Kolpan, Brian H. Smith, and Michael A. Weiss, The Culinary Institute of America (John Wiley & Sons, Inc.) COOKING FROM A PROFESSIONAL POINT OF VIEW Alinea by Grant Achatz (Achatz LLC/Ten Speed Press) The Big Fat Duck Cookbook by Heston Blumenthal (Bloomsbury USA) Under Pressure: Cooking Sous Vide by Thomas Keller (Artisan) GENERAL COOKING How to Cook Everything (Completely Revised Tenth Anniversary Edition) by Mark Bittman (John Wiley & Sons, Inc.) Martha Stewart’s Cooking School: Lessons and Recipes for the Home Cook by Martha Stewart with Sarah Carey (Clarkson Potter) The Bon Appétit Fast Easy Fresh Cookbook by Barbara Fairchild (John Wiley & Sons, Inc.) HEALTHY FOCUS Cooking with the Seasons at Rancho La Puerta: Recipes from the World-Famous Spa by Deborah Szekely and Deborah M. Schneider, with Jesús González (Stewart, Tabori & Chang) EatingWell for a Healthy Heart Cookbook by Philip A. Ades, M.D. and the Editors of EatingWell (The Countryman Press) The Food You Crave: Luscious Recipes for a Healthy Life by Ellie Krieger (The Taunton Press, Inc.) INTERNATIONAL Beyond the Great Wall: Recipes and Travels in the Other China by Jeffrey Alford and Naomi Duguid (Artisan) Jewish Holiday Cooking: A Food Lover’s Treasury of Classics and Improvisations by Jayne Cohen (John Wiley & Sons, Inc.) Southeast Asian Flavors: Adventures in Cooking the Foods of Thailand, Vietnam, Malaysia, & Singapore by Robert Danhi (Mortar & Press) PHOTOGRAPHY The Big Fat Duck Cookbook Photographer: Dominic Davies Artist: Dave McKean (Bloomsbury USA) Decadent Desserts Photographer: Thomas Dhellemmes (Flammarion) Haute Chinese Cuisine from the Kitchen of Wakiya Photographer: Masashi Kuma (Kodansha International) REFERENCE AND SCHOLARSHIP Milk: The Surprising Story of Milk Through the Ages by Anne Mendelson (Knopf) The Flavor Bible: The Essential Guide to Culinary Creativity, Based on the Wisdom of America’s Most Imaginative Chefs by Karen Page and Andrew Dornenburg (Little, Brown and Company) The Science of Good Food by David Joachim and Andrew Schloss, with A. Philip Handel, Ph.D. (Robert Rose Inc.) SINGLE SUBJECT Fat: An Appreciation of a Misunderstood Ingredient, with Recipes by Jennifer McLagan (Ten Speed Press) Mediterranean Fresh: A Compendium of One-Plate Salad Meals and Mix-and-Match Dressings by Joyce Goldstein (W.W. Norton & Company, Inc.) The Best Casserole Cookbook Ever by Beatrice Ojakangas (Chronicle Books) WRITING AND LITERATURE In Defense of Food by Michael Pollan (The Penguin Press) Shark’s Fin and Sichuan Pepper: A Sweet-Sour Memoir of Eating in China by Fuchsia Dunlop (W.W. Norton & Company, Inc.) Raising Steaks: The Life and Times of American Beef by Betty Fussell (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt)

Good one!!! You got me laughing hard with this one!! How about those little ice cube trays of pre chopped herbs and garlic that taste nothing like herbs or garlic? Premade heat and serve pancakes that have the texture of rubber. Supermarket sushi... exactly how old is this stuff? Vienna sausage and spam... lets not go there... Cereal bars. You can't sit down for five minutes and eat breakfast like healthy human being? Here is a hint... set your alarm clock for 10 minutes earlier. 3 bits... adjusted for wheat prices Dan Whats worse is when it contains absolutely no actual tea!!

Okay... you got me drooling. Who needs bacon fat (trayfe) when you can have schmaltz! The really good kosher butchers will sell you jugs of this stuff if you ask them nicely. My all time favorite application is to roast a cut up bone-in, skin-on chicken over a bed of new potatoes and several heads worth of unpeeled garlic cloves. The fat renders from the chicken and is abosrbed by the potatoes and the garlic. I serve it with plenty of challah to soak up the schmaltz and to spread the roasted garlic. I also tend to wipe the roasting pan clean with a little challah to get that last bit of schmaltz before washing it. As mentioned before, skim the schmaltz off of the stock and use it in the matzo balls. Floaters vs sinkers is a discussion for another day. Schmaltz also makes for a damn fine crust on a chicken pot pie. Finally, it makes a nice addition to knedlach when I make my mother in law's paprikash. Dan

Here are my three ideas given the description of what you are looking for. River Cottage Cookbook River Cottage Meat Book Wild Garlic, Gooseberries and Me by Denis Cotter. All of these books are about the connection between the cook and the land. Wild Garlic is more of a diatribe on his favorite veg than a cookbook, but a very entertaining read. 2 bits Dan

Thanks for the idea and recipe!! I made these gingerbread hamantashens and I am getting requests for even more!!! These are a definate keeperand with a little experimentation, I will get people drooling at the sight of these. Dan

Wifey has asked me to make her a strawberry flavored cake with chocolate frosting for her birthday. I have been looking around, but cannot find a formula for the strawberry base. Does anyone have any ideas? Thanks, Dan