OliverB

if you pay retail rent but there's no retail to speak of, then I'd move the thing somewhere cheaper (industrial) and eventually think about opening a store (or delivering to delis and other such stores) plus the market, restaurants, etc. If you move to where there's more foot traffic, your rent most likely will go up like crazy, and if you move the whole operation you'll need a space that's mostly used "industrially" but costs high retail rent. I'd probably try to run it first for a while and get a better feel for the entire operation (unless you're already very involved in everything) and then see what makes most sense. I would LOVE to have a bakery outlet (and a real butcher and a ....) instead of the supermarkets. They carry great things now but the whole shopping experience is not the same and a dedicated bakery store can concentrate on good quality and also offer some more unusual things a supermarket could not feasibly stock. I'd also do some research in the area you are in right now. Why don't those people buy your bread? Artisan bread is more expensive, is it a low income area? An area with mostly people from elsewhere that are not used to your kinds of breads? Are there local options to expand by offering maybe one or the other product to that community? Maybe find out about local markets, festivals, things like that and see if you can somehow have your product there. Maybe people just don't know about you? I drive by a lot of stores every day and would have no idea what they sell, people on their way to or from work have other things on their mind. Try to get the word out, spread some samples around, you never know, people might like your products and start flocking in! Unless you only bake very expensive things (meaning cost to you) that you have to sell for a lot more than what bread at Safeway costs - in which case you might want to look at your line of products and maybe make adjustments there - I can't quite imagine why people would not buy from you. Is there parking? Important. Maybe look into offering some additional things (spreads, cheeses, things that go with breads) too if you have the room? And take a good look at the business plan and the accounting. More expensive breads are nice, but people that lost their job probably won't go for an $8 loaf right now. As a bakery , you should be able to adjust to different demands relatively easy, it's not like you have to re-build your assembly line to make smaller breads :-) good luck, I'm jealous, I'd love to own a bakery! I've played with that idea many times.....

of course they can't cool below ambient, that would be nice! I don't have access to cheap salmon and at the current prices it's cheaper to buy ready made smoked than even thinking about doing it myself it seems - sadly. What you mention with choice of wood and fuel is really one of the major issues for me, I don't want to be locked into what somebody somewhere decides to produce as pucks or pellets or what ever. And reading repeatedly that people do really long smokes (14+ hours) on the BGE without even having to add fuel is really intriguing to me. I don't like the idea of having to add fuel every couple hours (over night), if that's not necessary I'm almost sold. I guess one could play with (dry) ice packs to cool things down?

I just have one set (round, like melon ballers) so I won't get variations between brands. I might get a set of narrow ones that fit into spice jars some day, but it's something I need so rarely that I have not bothered so far. If I work on a more involved recipe I measure everything out first (mess in place, you know), otherwise I just wash/wipe the spoon quickly if needed between things. In general though I agree with above, that it most likely won't matter. After all, there's no set size for "a pinch" either, nor is there a norm for "one egg" or "3 carrots" etc either. It would be nice to have everything (and I mean everything) in metric, but really, recipes are merely a guideline to get somewhere, like directions given by a stranger. You will reach the town, but not necessarily enter it at the same gate :-) I read somewhere that one of the main jobs the co-authors or assistants with celeb chef books have is asking "how much xyz was that just now?" and then figuring that "oh, about a handful" might mean a cup or what ever it might be. The more you cook, the less you'll need to measure but do things by feel or eyeball it - and have your personal taste and preferences come into action. Of course, still can be frustrating for a novice, but I think the danger of using the wrong kind of ingredient (regular salt vs kosher for example) is much higher than the small difference between spoons and cups. And if you know that spoons A are a bit larger than spoons B you can always adjust on the fly. Happy cooking! Oliver

I read it on the naked whiz page where they test the new DIGIQ II from BBQ guru: ============= Cold Smoking The DigiQ II can control your cooker down to a temperature of 32 degrees. Therefore, there is no need anymore for the foil-wrapped-probe-in-ramp-mode trick that you could use on the original Competitor get it to control the cooker at temperatures below 175 degrees. Just remember, though, that in order for the DigiQ II to control the cooker at lower temperatures a good seal on your cooker is very important. Too much ambient airflow will prevent the DigiQ II from keeping the fire low enough to maintain a low temperature. ============= and as far as I can tell, it seems to work very well. Not a cheap gadget, not something one needs to run out and buy, I won't be cold smoking anything for a while, but the option seems to be there. No extra firebox or pipes etc to pull cold smoke over there. Your Primo looks nice too, how much is it? Can't find price info on their somewhat antiquated site. What are the dimensions of the grilling surface? Don't know if the bbq guru thing also works with your model. Oval is an interesting idea with the divider. Ack, why are there a gazillion choices! How's one to make up one's mind?

I probably worded that wrong, I'm sure the legs are not flimsy, they just look flimsy on the photos. But I just saw that they make this nice table and provide plans to make one, which is great! I also saw that they now offer a XL version with larger grill. One of my main concerns with the BGE was the comparatively small cooking surface compared to my weber, which is often full with meat, corn, onions etc. Now I'm really interested in hearing from BGE owners! I just also found that there's a site that sells electronic controllers that even allow you to do cold smoking in the egg, while you can then turn around and crank the heat to 700+ degree for steaks or pizza, lower it to bake bread, lower it some more for pulled pork that cooks for hours, all w/o having to add coals or even looking at the thing. There are even nicer models out there now, but I don't have $4000 to spend on it. The XL egg seems to cost $900 plus table and some accessories that can come later. Not cheap, but if it really does everything from cold smoking to pizza oven, it might just be what I'm looking for! I might build a pizza oven one day, who knows, but even if, it would be years from now. BGE also looks less industrial than the other charcoal smokers out there (I like the look, but it might be a bit much on the patio...) and is a lot smaller. Please any BGE owners, chime in what your experience is and what different kinds of food you've made on it! Thanks, Oliver

Uh, too many choices!! The Big Green one is sure interesting, I just don't like the flimsy looking legs/structure it's sitting in, at that price I'd wish for something that looks a bit more substantial. What I don't like about all the puck/pellet ones is that I can't use any wood I want, only what they make. Some German (and other countries) recipes require woods that are not offered in those forms. And those are the things I particularly want to make. Maybe I'll go with a regular smoker after all, does anybody have any experience with those offered by spitjack.com? Those look like they're well built, I like the Braten (of course I like it, it's the most expensive) but also the 20 inch barrel ones look good. There are similar much cheaper models, but they seem too flimsy and paint peels and what not. Not what I want to look at. Maybe adding a bit of wood or charcoal here and there for a longer smoke isn't all that bad. Or maybe I'll build a smoke house, I have a hillside yard. And then I build myself a helicopter and fly around town Decisions decisions.....

Oh, just found this (google is your friend): One package (1 tablespoon) of powdered gelatin equals 4 sheets. from here: http://www.recipezaar.com/library/getentry.zsp?id=431 and google for gelatin sheet to see more buying options. I forgot about it, but as mentioned on some site, we used them as window glass on gingerbread houses when I was little. Seems you can use either, pros seem to believe that sheets make clearer gelatin, probably not important for home use or at least for a first try of a recipe. Let us know how your recipe is turning out! I have that book on my "next to get" list :-)

I'd love to know too, I'm in the SF Bay and have been looking for them in every supermarket I go to, no luck. The powder is everywhere, but lists nothing like "one pack = one sheet" or any such instructions. Are the leaves/sheets just an old fashioned way of packing? An European way? For online source, just type it into Amazon, they list several. Amazon has everything it seems. As I can find the powder in any store here, I'd prefer to know the difference/similarities though, instead of having to pay for shipping on a pack of gelatin. Oliver

I can't afford to go all local organic either, I try to go to the farmers market every week though. Not cheap, but things you can't find in the store and super fresh. There are some that farm organic but can't afford the certificate (which really should not cost anything IMO). It's just fun to go and make up recipes as I put things in my bags :-) But yes, while I really hate the meat mass production, I still buy mass produced meats, can't afford to spend $20+ per lb on all the things we eat. But I'm trying and I'm hoping to forge a local relationship with some growers and ranchers. I'm getting 1/7th of a pig soon, which will cost me around $6 per pound, now that I can live with :-)

sounds like your cousins are into fraud, not very nice.... If they charge more for their fake organic food they're really not doing anybody any good except their wallet. Which is why we have eggs from chicken concentration camps too. Kind of sad. To me organic means that the producer hopefully grows his things according to regulations, what ever they might be locally. It's hopefully a bit more environmentally conscious than just throwing what ever grow chems at stuff to harvest the most (crappy) product. Is organic better for me? Not really, what ever chems are used in industrial agri won't relaly show up in concentrations to be worried about, but they show up downstream and that's what I'm concerned about. To each their own of course. As for cooking with organic food, there's no difference in how you use these, except that you should probably wash your non-organic stuff a bit more thoroughly. I can't afford to buy all organic and I sure hope that the organic food I buy is grown/bred by honest people and really is organic, if I lay out the extra cash. I try to buy free range, free roaming meat, just getting 1/7th of a nice Berkshire hog next month, and attending a butchery class where I'll get even more pork, poultry and lamb, all raised out on the range. The way nice people treat their livestock, the way I like it. Happy animals taste better :-)

pizza on the bbq! doesn't get any better :-D

First and foremost my tiny appt. size side by side fridge. Our old one broke and we had to rush to get a new one, the only that fit was this tiny one. We could have remodeled the space, taken the cabinet (that's full of mostly who knows what) above it out, but I had had a contractor in the house for a good two months already, baby on the way, could not face that guy anymore. Bad mistake..... What I really want is just a large fridge, no freezer what so ever in the kitchen. Maybe an ice maker (though I hardly ever use ice except for ice baths to cool things down) and put a large upright freezer in the garage. There's nothing in the freezer that I need on a day to day basis, so why waste kitchen space? The 2nd thing is the crappy JennAir stove. Has those weird coils on top, a bitch to clean, the chrome inserts underneath crap out quickly and are very expensive to replace. And that down vent? Hello? Steam RISES! Who ever thought of a down vent? Useless with anything taller than a small sauce pan. Wish I'd have a nice gas range instead. 3rd thing is the microwave above the stove (with a built in fan thing that just blows the air back into the kitchen, now that's a smart thing to have!). I want just a nice strong and quiet(!) hood there, one w/o sharp corners of course. 4th are the plastic counter tops. White. Staining easily white plastic. The cabinets are spacey, the doors are ugly and covered with paper thin veneer with hair tin lacquer that's peeling off above the stove and coffee maker. Oh, and the wallpaper the former owner put there, the wallpaper we were gonna take off right away. Some 12 or so years ago.... Workspace is great though, it's a large kitchen and I can't complain in that regard. I just wish I'd have the 50 or so thousand to replace the machinery and put nicer doors on the cabinets. But then, I don't eat the kitchen and I rather spend my money on good food items :-) PS: ever notice how "I need more counterspace" turns into "more stuff on the counters"? It's amazing actually, I can spend an hour or two clearing everything off and cleaning things nicely, next day you would not notice. Two little kids of course are very helpful in cluttering :-)

I just came across this neat company's site: spitjack.com and I want one of each of their products! Fireplace BBQ insert, rotisserie for campfire or fireplace, some great looking smokers too! I'm in the market for a smoker and can't decide between some automatic ones like Bradley or Traeger (that tie me into their chips or pucks but make long smokes a bit easier) or a "real" smoker that allows me to use any wood I want. I'm curious if anybody here ever used spitjack products? There are some very tempting things on that site... Oliver

some interesting ideas here, thanks! I don't tent the chicken and my family would most likely eat me if I'd eat the skin all by myself, LOL!

interesting idea with the blow torch, that might just work! Thanks for all the other input too, I'll try some of those things next time - which will be soon :-) Oliver

thanks all, not sure what happened either. Next time I'll just make it right when I serve the soup, it's chilled soup anyway, so that should be easy. It was wonderful when just done, and shortly thereafter it was lumpy and all the whey (I guess) drained out. Odd. I don't usually buy that stuff, at $7 for a little tub it's a bit expensive. Oh well, live and learn ;-)

nobody have any tricks? Hmm. So, I made the chicken on my webber with one of those wire "beer can chicken" contraptions. Turned out great and juicy but part of the skin turned into something very tough. Like those plastiky skins you find on some sausages (aidell's etc) that I can't stand. Very strange. I had salted the chicken two or three hours before and had it rest in the fridge uncovered, took it out about 30 min before cooking. Some skin stayed nice and crips, some turned to hard plastic, and some very soft as if cooked, even though it all was up in the 500degree heat. I used some new coals that burn extremely hot I guess, I had to leave the lid a bit open even to not have some inferno in there. This was an organic air chilled chicken from Whole Foods. All great, except some of that though skin. Oliver

So, I can crisp up a chicken just wonderfully, in the oven or - as will happen today - on the bbq. Comes out wonderful, the skin crisp like chips. Then I let it rest and most of the crisp is gone! I can't think of a way to avoid the steam and juices under the skin to soften it, but there must be a way to keep it at least somewhat crisp? I read about this somewhere, but as my wall of cookbooks is missing a universal all book index I can't find it... How do you keep it crisp? Thanks! Oliver

I just received the seven fires book and had a chance to page through it. It's an amazing book and will quite likely become my go to bbq/cooking with fire book from now on. I also got the Dinosaur book, which is as good as people say here, but the Seven Fires takes things to an other level. Not always an easy to follow level, if my wife had a clue what ideas of fire contraptions are brewing in my mind she'd probably fire me, LOL, but really, amazing recipes and a gorgeous book with wonderful pictures of Patagonia, which I always considered as one of the less nice to live at places, but the pictures and recipes make me want to pack a bag and go. It was just released yesterday, you might find it at your local mega store soon, but if you're into fire and meat of any kind of animal, just order it, I doubt you'll regret. I think they tried most recipes on a regular charcoal grill so you won't have to build a two story fire contraption anytime soon (though you might look at items in the hardware store a whole different way....) and everything I looked at and read looks like something I want to try and would like to eat right now. Outstanding book! Oliver

eggs sure are strange (and probably the most perfect food item). I've had problems with eggs past their date, with eggs fresh from the market, and anything in between. And some others peel almost by themselves. I boil them by putting them in the pot in cold water, bring it to a boil, off the heat for 10 min, then I drain them, shake the pot vigorously to crack them all over and then I run cold water over them for a couple minutes. If they are problem eggs I peel under running water, but still, sometimes a layer of egg whites comes off. Probably with the fresher eggs, where the several layers of egg whites are still in tact. Back in Germany we used a little device with a needle in it to punch a hole in the round side (where the bubble is) of the eggs before cooking and cooked them for about 5 min at a rolling boil, then into cold water. It's been a long time, but I don't recall having problems peeling them back then. The hole was to release the air bubble so the shell does not crack during cooking as far as I know. I will probably buy one of those on my kitchen item shopping spree that's planned for our Germany vacation this year. Ever thing about all the things we would not have without eggs? Astonishing. Oliver

I finally made the French Laundry carrot soup and it's pretty amazing! You use about 10 carrots the end up with around 2 cups or a bit less of soup that has such an explosive carrot taste, pretty amazing. Each spoon must contain the essence of one carrot. It's a chilled soup, extremely orange (it almost looks fake) and very tasty but also quite heavy - well, it's from the French Laundry. I forgot to take pictures, but mine looked way more orange than the one in the picture here: FL chilled carrot soup I made my own juice, you could probably also use bought juice but I'd make sure it's fresh and without any preservatives etc. Also would be great as a sauce I imagine. Oliver

well, to each their own of course, but all the things you can't put on a frozen sandwich are what makes a sandwich a sandwich to me. Mayo, lettuce, nice fresh tomato, things like that. I'd guess that a sandwich made the evening before going to bed and put in the fridge will still be better than something frozen. Even while making some other dinner there should be a minute here or there to grab the sandwich stuff and put one together. or as somebody suggested, make little packages of prearranged "insides", go as far as getting mayo in those little condiment stand packs, in there too, grab a pack and two slices of bread in the morning and assemble when the time comes. I'd recommend some kind of reusable containers or maybe wax paper instead of creating a pile of plastic bags in the trash. All that has more appeal to me than the idea of a frozen sandwich where I had to skip a lot of the good things and end up with some dry thing. Curious how that sandwich turned out Magictofu, let us know. Oh, and for the morning slowness, I just get up 5 min earlier, which my body does not notice but gives me the time to have breakfast for the kids and a sandwich for my wife ready. And coffee. Yes, I do find myself staring at the fridge or pouring milk in my cup (which I can't stand) at times and I might have smeared mayo on what's supposed to be a Nutella muffin once, but it's really not that bad. :-) Oh, what I find really handy too, those prepackaged meat and cheese packs at Trader Joe's (and others) with for example provolone and salami in it. Grab one thing have both items on hand. If I don't have that I usually have a large ziplock where the cheese pack and meat pack are both kept, to avoid an other 'what was I looking for?' fridge zen moment :-) And I get mayo in the upside down squeeze bottle (what is it, best food or something) which makes things easy too. And I agree that frozen bread needs to be toasted. Or if it's a loaf, I sprinkle it with water and throw it frozen in the oven. Not too much time later I have what pretty much resembles fresh baked bread and the kitchen smells as if I'd been up since 4am making dough.

Trade Joe's here always has two or three fresh (not frozen) doughs in bags that I've had good success with. Regular pizza dough, one with herbs and I think a whole wheat one. I sometimes prebake it , sometimes not. I always use my stone and peel, I find the clean up is a breeze with my little battery powered hand vac. Mostly I make my own dough, I really have to try the aging thing! Make one fresh and one a week old and see if they differ. The TJ's doughs I've had in the fridge for several days past the date on the sticker and they were just fine. I never noticed any sourness, but I also never paid attention to that, I'll have to do that next time. I too leave the pizza stone in the oven unless I need space for a large pot or something. But I also don't bake anything sweet and most other things like bread and pretzels can go on the stone too. After my round one broke on the bbq I got a big rectangular one that's the size of a cookie sheet, quite happy with it. Oliver

while this might work with some sandwiches, I find the idea rather unappealing. I can't imagine the bread being nice and fresh, rather soggy or dry. And filling up my freezer with sandwiches I might want to eat (or more likely forget about) does also not strike me as good idea. It takes two minutes to make a sandwich, unless you want to get elaborate with salads, tomatoes etc (which I can't imagine freezing well at all). Hardly seems worth it. I could imagine freezing wraps, but even there I'd expect something not so nice once it's thawed (if it is thawed) by lunch. You can't just have it sitting on the counter or in just a plastic bag on your desk. Does not strike me as very food safe?

thanks. I tried it with more creme fraiche, but it did not work well. I had not whipped it much at all, and only by hand. All fine but 10 min or so after I set it aside it went all weird on me. Tasted fine, just didn't look as nice as I hoped. Next time I'll make it last minute right before I put it on the soup as garnish. Thanks! Oliver