jrshaul

Are you kidding? This is fantastic news. Now that all the hipsters are buying tie-die, I can afford some good old fashioned reds and rieslings.

The problem with things like the Thermomix is that you can buy a complete set of unautomated kitchen gear for less money. For $2,000, I can have: -A food processor -A crock pot -A sous vide kit for the crock pot -A kitchenaid mixer -And a secondhand Honda. Sure, it's not automated. But the kit above will do most of what the Thermomix does, and will also drive me to the airport. That said, devices like the Thermomix are generally intended for small volume sales. This results in huge overhead for the manufacturer, increasing the price per unit, and an enormous retail mark-up - as high as 100%. Build them by the million and sell them through Amazon, and the same product could just as easily be $700.

At that price, I'd be eating a lot of goose. I'm lucky if I can pay that for factory chicken.

Can you specify more on this? I know a guy who needs to cook for twenty people on occasion, and this would save a lot of time and money.

The funny thing about fat, sugar, and salt is that they can all be used as preservatives. Frozen prepared food is, weirdly, often the best of the lot. If these are good, I could definitely make use of them - I don't use a lot of broth, and something shelf-stable would be a boon.

I wouldn't worry about it. Unless you have something really wild, odds are that your work was stolen by an amateur; the difference between a successful bakery and a flop is, after all, mostly a question of efficiency, good planning, and marketing. I could probably replicate your macaroons if I spent a day or two in the kitchen, but there's no way I could do a thousand a day, and it's flat-out impossible I could match the cost. I'd also profile your employees - theft happens most often from those who know you best... "BEWARE: You may have received an inferior copy of our products. Please do not confuse with the genuine article...."

I've seen quite a lot of discussion of the best way to cook perfectly-marbled steaks as thick as a brick, but what's the best technique to cook a cheap one? I have some fairly good 3/4"-1" flatirons in the freezer, and would like some suggestions as to the best way to cook them. I've had pretty good luck in a propane barbecue set to max for about 1:30 a side, but I'm not in a position to be using one right now.

Apologies for post-dredging, but I just read the sugar solution and very much want to try it. In opposition to what others have suggested, I seem to have had better luck with the swordfish warmed to room temperature. I often find that the outside of the fish becomes tough and inedible before the interior is done, though this is likely just an artifact of trying to make cheap fish as safe as possible - most recommend to cook it much less. I cooked it under low heat with a tablespoon of butter until almost done, then put it under the broiler for a few minutes, turning once. I didn't get much of a crust, but aside from that, it was pretty good. The butter also helped prevent the fish from becoming dry, another problem with heating to 130F+. Next time, I think I might try removing it from the butter and searing it in hot cast iron pan. I figure if I bring the fish to ~115-120F and sear for a little under a minute on both sides, I should hit 130 neatly.

I've been ordering some raw parts and composites straight from a supplier in China. There's no free shipping and the delay is enormous, but it's half the price of anyone else. Often, the best deal isn't a "deal" at all. Unless the promotion is obviously run at a loss or you have a strong vendor preference, there's a good chance you can get the same thing elsewhere for less. Also consider that brand-name goods frequently have large retail mark-ups, and the ugly and questionably named generic model may well be the better product.

I'll keep an eye out for Hunts' tomatoes next time they're on sale. Pretty much all the non-heirloom tomatoes I get from the farmers' market taste like cardboard, and the heirlooms always seem to be a day or two closer to going bad than I'd really like for $3.50/lb. Despite their technically jarred nature, I'm going to nominate Trader Joe's whole cherry and apricot preserves. It's about as good as supermarket jam gets, and at $3 for a big jar, cheap enough that I can actually purchase. The apricot makes a pretty effective glaze for meat; my father, in particular, liked to mix it with mustard. Anchovies? In olives? This is a thing that exists? I feel deprived.

11 lb for $36.50? That's a very good deal. I'm paying $50 for that quantity from TJs - even if the quality is identical, the price is worth it. Sadly, the UW rag I write for hasn't actually filled out any proper documentation, so I'm out of luck unless I can bluff my way in. Oh, well. Huh. How hard is it to BS entry? I write for a UW food rag - technically a nonprofit group... Also, can anyone recommend a particular Callebaut formulation useful for general-purpose chocolate making? Something useful both for covering and ganache would be nice, particularly if it wasn't too bitter. Also, does anyone know about lecithin concentrations? I love how the TJs stuff is nigh impossible to de-emulsify unless you scald it. I'm not sure as to the level in commercial chocolate, and it's cheap enough at Whole Foods that adding it myself if definitely an option. (Besides, lecithin - a natural extract of soybeans - is much healthier than the rest of what I put in truffles.) I use the Callebaut dark in a chocolate truffle ice cream with great success. I also use it for shavings on desserts etc. I consider it an all purpose chocolate and suggest you try it. I pay less than $40 for the 8 lb block here in NJ. If your non-profit group has a business license, certificate of incorporation or tax exempt certificate you can apply. Here is the link Restaurant Depot Membership.. you also need to show that you are authorized to purchase for the group. My mistake. The Callebaut Dark Chocolate is an 11 pound block selling for $36.50.

I've lost about 50lbs recently, and would make the suggestions below: 1. Fiber seriously cannot be overemphasized. I now eat a bowl of sugar-free shredded wheat every morning. It tastes like horse fodder, but it's not very caloric and I stay so full I have to remind myself to eat lunch. 2. Snacking on fruit when you're really hungry is a bad idea. I always seem to get a big blood sugar spike, and then get "I must eat my entire refridgerator" hungry later. 3. Even if you're *not* hungry, eat a decent lunch - say, 300 cal for a 175lb male. This way, you avoid the afternoon crash and eating the half-pound of ganache in your refridgerator. 4. Things are often not as they seem. Frozen meals are often quite carb-heavy and don't have much fiber, which is less than ideal. However, a Trader Joe's chicken burrito has about 360kcal - only about 20% more than frozen meal - and a lot more protein and fiber from all the beans. I eat 'em for dinner twice a week. 5. Eat more spinach.

Huh. How hard is it to BS entry? I write for a UW food rag - technically a nonprofit group... Also, can anyone recommend a particular Callebaut formulation useful for general-purpose chocolate making? Something useful both for covering and ganache would be nice, particularly if it wasn't too bitter. Also, does anyone know about lecithin concentrations? I love how the TJs stuff is nigh impossible to de-emulsify unless you scald it. I'm not sure as to the level in commercial chocolate, and it's cheap enough at Whole Foods that adding it myself if definitely an option. (Besides, lecithin - a natural extract of soybeans - is much healthier than the rest of what I put in truffles.)

I make a lot of truffles, and am pondering an upgrade from Trader Joe's "pound plus" chocolate. A mix of half 72% dark and half regular dark gives acceptable results, but it has something of a bitter aftertaste. While this is forgivable in light of the sub-Hershey's pricetag, I'd like to try something better. In order to save some money, I'm hoping to buy some decent coverture chocolate in an industrial-sized quantity - 3-5 kilograms. I'd like to pay no more than $7/lb, though if the chocolate is worth it, I'll definitely consider it. What do I buy, and where do I buy it?

Buy some blackout cloth from a fabric store. Put some of that over the windows, and you won't be waking up until you're good and ready.

You do WHAT now?

Those look excellent, though they are just a bit out of my price range. Here's hoping I can find one cheap on eBay.

It does, though the "broiler" in question is electric and somewhat dubious as to its' efficacy. The Sanyo electric grill looks very nice, though - I may have to order one myself.

I'm moving into a shoebox-sized apartment in one week, and was hoping someone had some insight into the topic of electric barbecues. Living in a single room makes the use of the stove an unpleasant prospect between June and August, but combustion-driven cooking is forbidden on the balcony by fire code. I've seen several solutions to this problem ranging from a ridged cast iron griddle on a hot plate to high-zoot quartz IR elements, and was wondering which might be the best step-up from the electric pan in my closet. An electric approximation of the Japanese "Shichirin" mini-grill would be ideal, if such an object exists.

You do realize that white chocolate is comprised of cocoa butter, sugar, and milk powder, right? Not sure how you'd avoid dairy flavors with that mix. I wasn't. I was under the impression that coverture white chocolate as just cocoa butter, sugar, and emulsifiers; apparently, this is not the case. Can anyone suggest a cheap brand suitable for mucking about in the kitchen? It doesn't have to taste perfect - I'm still at the "make mistakes and learn from them" stage of chocolate making. Whole Foods does carry Callebaut by the pound, but the formula isn't labelled and at twice the price I figure I'll stick with TJ's. Alternately, anyone know a good wholesaler in Madison? Heck, Milwaukee's not such a drive....

I'm interested as to your procedure. I tried making Bananas Foster with coconut oil, and it just came right out of emulsion. Perhaps it was that the coconut milk was already an emulsion?

I've been mucking about with chocolate quite a bit lately, but my results enrobing truffles haven't been quite as successful as yours. What method are you using for your Snickers bars and truffles?

In a "what the heck" moment, I mixed equal parts Trader Joes' dark (~53%) and extra dark (~70%) chocolates. Instead of heating to 110+ and seeding, I chopped them very fine and heated them in the microwave until just barely melted. The end result was lovely and shiny at room temperature, though I'm curious as to how small the margin is between the melting point of chocolate and the point of dis-tempering. I've also acquired some el-cheapo Wilton chocolate molds. These are of the extremely thin variety - only a fraction of a millimeter - and appear to be made of clear polycarbonate. They're obviously not really ideal for making candy shells, but I'm at a loss as to options short of a $30 polycarbonate professional mold. Perhaps a HDPE paint palette with hemispherical indentations would work? On a semi-related note, has anyone combined white chocolate and dark chocolate to form a "mild" chocolate without the dairy flavor of milk chocolate? Also, does anyone know an inexpensive source of white chocolate suitable for thin shells?

I'd suggest trying to find a French name that Americans already know, or bears a strong resemblance to a familiar phrase. Words like "masion" are a lot easier to remember than, say, "embrayage". After running a few words through Google Translate, I am especially enamored of "déjeuner," which I'm at least 70% sure is the correct term for "Lunch."

It is an honor to be confused with Kerry Beal! I think it would be safer to add superfine sugar to ice cream base because there is some water content to dissolve the sugar. No water in tempered chocolate, so you'd have to make sure that sugar is really really fine, fine enough to not be detectable on the tongue in a dry state. From what I understand, Trader Joe's chocolate chips are Callebaut chocolate with an enormous amount of sugar. Sugar may not mix with chocolate, but heavily sweetened chocolate chips should.