tikidoc

You can also get cocoa butter in reasonable amounts from most places that sell soap making supplies, although it would be hard to beat that ebay price.

I've only ever made marshmallows in pans but I remember seeing a Good Eats episode on marshmallows when Browm piped them in rows, then snipped them with scissors to make mini marshmallows for use in hot drinks and it did not look hard. As I remember, he used a ziplock bag with the tip cut off, and even with, that they looked pretty even. I would expect someone good with a piping bag could make them very even.

Have you been to pizzamaking.com? There is a whole section of the forum for cracker-like crusts.

Oooh, posole sounds good, I'll try that next. I just put it in the sous vide, thanks for the time and temp, Chris. I'll report back after we try it.

Don't know the culinary term for the connective tissue, the anatomic terms are endomysium and perimysium, depending if you are talking about the stuff around each individual fiber, or group of fibers. Fascia called epimysium surrounds complete muscles. Would be interested to hear what the culinary terms are. I was thinking about trying a long sous vide bath, good to hear it makes sense to someone who knows more than me and actually owns MC. I'll give it a try.

Yea, I was a little worried it would be so big that it would be tough or affected by boar taint (although that is rare in pastured pigs) but everything we have tried so far has been pretty good, and definitely no boar taint. I was wondering about using a low and slow method but there really does not appear to be much in the way of connective tissue - the steaks we have thawed so far (a total of two) look like just a couple of very large muscles. But they are obviously muscles that get a lot of use, so not the most tender meat around. As far as what we have tried, we only have done a little cured ham and one piece in the sous vide (for a total of one big steak). I have a thawed piece in the fridge at the moment, wondering what to do with it. I might try the sous vide again but for a longer time to see if it gets tender. The last time I did it in the sous vide, I used just some salt and pepper and a little apple cider jelly (http://woodscidermill.com/PRODUCTS/CiderJelly.html - LOVE this stuff with pork), and the flavor was really, really good.

Yup, we will definitely be making sausage, but we have a LOT of ham... Did I say this was a big pig? Live weight was in the neighborhood of 400#.

About a month ago, we purchased a whole, locally produced, pastured heritage breed pig. First, thanks to many on eGullet for suggestions on how to instruct the butcher. It was a big help. They didn't give us the head as requested ("we don't do that", said with a facial expression that made it clear that they thought I was out of my mind) but otherwise I think we pretty much got it how we wanted. Although we love most things porky, nobody in the family is a fan of cured ham. Other cured pork products, yes, just not ham. This was a big pig with a big butt, so now we have a lot of cuts from the ham, and I would love some suggestions as to how best to deal with it. To make it manageable (did I mention this was a BIG pig?) it was frozen in 2-3" thick steaks weighing about 5 pounds each, bone in. Quite a few of them. We tried curing some ourselves, and although we liked it more than commercially made ham, it still was not a huge hit. Made for some fantastic split pea soup, but that's a lot of effort to cure meat just to make soup. I recently got a Sous Vide Magic, so I did a piece in that (uncured) and the flavor was good but it was a bit tough (can't remember exact settings and time, will take notes from here on out). It was not a marathon cook time though. I have not found too much on internet searches, since it seems everyone loves cured ham and that is what you are expected to do with this cut. So, more ideas? Jess

Ha, about raising goats, maybe, about candy making, I doubt it! But it sounds fun. Hopefully, other newbs are planning to go. Will update when the call schedule comes out. Is there a date that we need to let you know by?

Please put me on the "maybe" list. The call schedule for that weekend is not made yet, and I'm waiting to see if I have to work. I'm just down the road in the Richmond area, so it looks like a fun opportunity. ETA Pretty much a beginner with candy here, I make caramel, fairly basic truffles and toffee for holidays, and have made marshmallows a half dozen times or so. The extent of my skill with chocolate is that I can successfully temper it. Oh, and I have made cajeta on occasion (we have goats, so will be overrun with milk again in a couple months). Will this be worthwhile, or totally over my head?

Yup, this. Spread them on a cooling rack over a half sheet pan and bake. The pieces are not so tiny that they will fall through. Good flavor too. I tend to use bacon as an ingredient, like with pasta, so it usually gets cut into little pieces anyway, so this is a good deal.

At work, we have a good sized fridge in the break room. I keep a large container of plain nonfat yogurt in the fridge, and a bag of mixed berries in the freezer. I picked up a "personal sized" blender for about $15 at Target, which I keep in my office. So if I forget lunch or run off without time for breakfast or I just need an afternoon snack, I can whip up a smoothie at work. We get lots of drug reps bringing in lunch, usually with desserts, so this way I can have something sweet with everyone else but still stay on track.

Does anyone have this one? http://www.dougcare.com/foodstorage/homeequip.htm#bestvac

Wow, you guys are more evil than medical staff. Lots of practical jokes take place on slow nights in the hospital. This thread has been a fun read. Not a professional kitchen story, but I did something similar when I was an intern (medical). One of the chief residents kept raiding the fridge in the call room and eating my lunches (generally very tasty ones, if I do say so myself), but as the lowly intern, I couldn't really complain. So I baked up a batch of chocolate chip cookies and put a fairly large dose of powdered habanero in a portion of the dough, and put the cookies in my lunch bag. I tasted one, the heat does not register immediately because of the sweetness, easily allowing someone rapidly snarfing cookies to finish at least a couple before the heat starts. He never stole my lunch again.

Vietnamese. Pho, banh mi, banh cuon, bun nem nuong. The flavors are so bright, and I never feel like a glutton after eating it.

I ordered the Waring WSB33 Quick Stik (for just under $60 shipped) but it looks like there is going to be a delay in shipping it (a couple more weeks). I just got an email from William Sonoma about the immersion blender from All Clad above. Thought on if the extra $40 for the All Clad would be worth it? The detachable shaft would be nice but I'm not sure if it's worth an extra $40. Because of the delay, I could cancel the shipment on the Waring, and we have a local WS store, so I could pick it up. Thoughts?

Yup, we have one here that I like too - https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100001158090730&ref=ts. It's a gourmet taco food truck and they use FaceBook and Twitter to let people know where and they will be and what they are selling.

Reminded me of a blog I stumbled on a couple months ago, http://thatisnotartisan.blogspot.com/. It's a fun read. But shouldn't it be "That is not artisanal?"

I second the recommendation for a Guatemalan coffee, and would add Panamanian coffees to the list of candidates. A good Panamanian coffee is very well balanced and not terribly acidic. They can be a bit harder to find than some of the more well known countries for coffee, but most of my absolute favorite coffees have been Panamanian.

I have done ciabatta a bunch of times and it worked great.

Hands down, "Cooking with Papa Tuck" is the absolute worst train wreck of a cooking show I have ever seen. It is a public access show produced on Martha's Vineyard, but it apparently can be seen on public access stations all over the US, and on youtube at http://www.youtube.com/user/PapaTuck?feature=watch. The guy works at an HVAC place on the island and does this show on the side. To his credit, the proceeds from his cookbooks go to food banks. I have never seen him cook anything that I have ever wanted to cook. There are frequent long and awkward pauses, and whenever he realizes that this is happening, he yells "yeee haaa" for no apparent reason, in a semi-southern accent. He goes back and forth between a fake Southern accent and an upstate NY accent (where he is from), and says "y'all" a lot. It truly must be seen to be believed. ETA, this is an actual quote from the show. "Today we are going to do us up a special. Buffalo chicken chowda. And this recipe comes from the Adirondacks, upstate New York. I've never had this before and I have not cooked this yet, but it looks really good." I am not kidding.

I agree that it would be helpful to know what she likes to eat and if she really wants to learn to cook or just needs a bunch of good, simple recipes. As a doc, I can say that I enjoy books that take a scientific view of cooking, which is why I like the Alton Brown books and CI. Alton is fun to read too. As is Bourdain in Les Halles cookbook, if she likes his somewhat raunchy style (I do). I have only made a few recipes out of his book but I have really enjoyed reading it. How To Cook Everything and Joy of Cooking (I have an older edition, can't speak to the newer ones) are nice to have, because if you think of something you want to make, the chances are that you can find a recipe for it in one or both books. I used Joy almost daily when I was in college.

I think I'm gonna stick with the tried and true SV Magic.

Hmm, if that works well, looks like a good deal. Anyone?

For now, I'm going with an edge sealer. Convincing my husband that we need that took some effort (due to the bad experiences with the previous sealers), he would laugh me out of the room if I told him the price of a chamber sealer. I'm still considering the Minipack sealer. It has 4 settings and the accessory hose. One of the advantages of this one over the FoodSaver is that it is easy to get parts for (including replacement wire and tape), which I understand is not available for the FoodSaver. It has a 3 mm (1/8") seal, a moisture trap,, automatic and manual settings, and a fan so you don't have to wait after doing a couple bags. It is sold by Doug Care, which I have heard good things about, and although I have not seen too much about the sealer online, I have seen plenty of good reviews on Minipack products in general. As far as the chicken, I would cut them up before vacuum sealing but it is still a fair amount of bird. We raise a small number of birds each year for our own use, but life always comes up when we should be harvesting them, and they always end up being done later (and therefore bigger) than planned. And you are right, it is a butane torch not propane. I do also have a propane torch from the hardware store as well, so I'm set. No strong preference on temperature scales, I just don't see a distinct advantage to one or the other. I am used to using centigrade at work (medical), although I moved a year ago and the hospital where I am now uses F, and it seems weird to me, when talking about body temperatures. When it comes to air temperature, I would have to get out a calculator if someone told me an air temp in C. For my oven, I am used to F but would have no issue with using C. Same for sous vide, I suppose. Jess