Panaderia Canadiense

And under the heading of "better late than never" I've actually got some passionfruit photos to share! Granadillas. These are tiny examples of the genre, but the smallest ones are often the most flavourful. The thickness of the shells is representative, though. Maracuyá. These, on the other hand, are large examples of their kind. Taxo. These are taxo proper; I'll try and get some sachataxo photos later on. Of all the passionfruits I eat, these have the thinnest shells.

Cheese babkas. Very yum, got snatched up by visiting friends almost before I got to cut a slice!

A Q-BLAT sandwich (Queso, bacon, lettuce, avocado, tomato). I don't do these often, but that just makes them tastier when I do get around to it.... (edited because for some reason the attachment entered twice)

A baby shower cake, complete with stork and bundle of joy (I really like my clients sometimes - they ask for such nifty things!) Bitter chocolate mocha chiffon cake, with mocha ICBM. It disappeared so quickly that I don't have a slice photo!

OMG, I'm almost afraid to follow all that yumminess, AnnT! Here are a few of the dinners I've been less ashamed of lately (with my current workload, I've been eating a lot of ramen in a cup...) Some sort of tenderloin preparation with mac n cheese and obligatory steamed carrots. I don't recall what the sauce on the beef was, but do recall that it lasted all of about 15 seconds... A dish that started out intending to be cheeseburgers, but went disastrously wrong in the pan. We ended up calling it "cheesebuggers" instead. Despite its lack of cohesion, it was quite yummy. Some marmalade-sauteed shrimp with ratatouille-like casserole Seared fresh tuna steak in light teriyaki glaze ETA - I forgot dessert! Bitter chocolate mocha cake with mocha ICBM, one of my personal faves.

Jellies, taxo (banana passionfruit) cream with strawberry.

I basically live in my kitchen. When I remember to eat lunch, it's normally a bakery failure - exploded empanada, piece of cake failure; if I actually think about it, I might have a cuppa noodles type thing with a chicken sausage in it (viz the Lunch thread) instead of the exploded emp. When I was going to school, I brown-bagged it with leftovers. Nobody in my faculty found it at all strange.

You could try a small amount of coconut essence, the kind that's used for baking. But be sparing, 'cause that stuff is strong. Other than that, maybe a coconut rum?

Paiteñas are these. The sachataxo are partially for my own personal enjoyment - they make a beautiful shake with vanilla helado de paila - and partly as cheesecake topping.

FrogPrincesse - I, on the other hand, will cheerfully add ice cubes to my Malbec, after watering it with sparkling. It brings out another dimension of flavour. However, consolidation of tails is unconscionable. Sylvia - I'm in the sparkling water camp as well, but I'd be equally comfy watering a Chateau Neuf du Pape or a glass of Thunderbird....

Last Sunday's haul: Simón Bolívar Fish Market A single, perfect 2 lb Lenguado (black sole) Mercado Mayorista - Feria Libre 2 lbs Sachataxo (wildcrafted banana passionfruit, probably P. mollisima tripartata but possibly P. mixto) 1 lb paiteña onion (a sweet red type) 1 head butter lettuce 4 avocados, Patate type 5 long white onions 1/4 lb small shallots 1/4 lb garlic, in peeled cloves 3 lbs carrots, medium sized, Nantes type 3 lbs large beefsteak tomatoes, probably Brandywines (if previous experience with the seller holds) 10 lbs panela raspadura Mercado Mayorista - Naves Mayoristas 25 lbs unbleached wheat flour, strong 1 lb whole walnuts, peeled 1 lb almonds, peeled 1 lb macadamia nuts, in shell (very fresh) 1 lb Cariamanga coffee, medium roast, in grain 2 lbs mother of chocolate 1 lb baking powder (this is about 2 week's worth) 2 lbs black raisins Puro Pollo 2 lbs ground chicken 2 large chicken breasts 2 lbs chicken livers 12 drumsticks

Spiced nectarine buttercream, seville marmelade reduction with a hint of dark chocolate ganache, mocha Royal icing, peanut gianduja, and cinnamon Royal are all very popular flavours here with my chocolate cookies....

Growing up, it was either water or juice at meals, milk if I asked for it but not obligatory except with very spicy dishes (where I would ask for it if it wasn't already in the glass). Mom grew up with water or juice, dad with juice or milk, and they seem to have settled on letting me choose one of the three. Nowadays, it's mostly either water or fresh juice (I'm not all that tolerant of straight-up milk now, and I rarely asked for it as a kid either), but with spicy meals or BBQ anything it's the national pale pilsener, and on special occasions it's wine, paired appropriately with the food. Now here's a question for those of you who drink wine with meals: straight up, or do you water it? I ask because my family's custom is to water; I'll unashamedly ask for water at restaurants where wine is part of the menu, and this more often than not horrifies the people I dine with. I find that watered wine is an excellent palate cleanser without going to my head and thereby ruining my dining experience - this may sound odd, but wine is far far worse for me than something like whiskey, a single glass of neat wine and I'm squiffy kind of thing.

That being what it is, it's also fallacious then to equate elite athleticism (or really any athleticism, when it boils down to brass tacks) with special superhuman effort. It's just another manner of conditioning the body for strength and endurance in a different set of tasks.... However it's worthwhile to recognize that there are very few other occupations that expose their professionals to the sheer range and depth of stressors as kitchen/bakery do.

IIRC - If I Recall Correctly. 3 oz is a really substantial roll; if these are meant for table rolls, I'd check the 1.5-2 oz range, or otherwise make trebol rolls (three 1-oz balls tucked together in a baking tin).

I certainly wouldn't - the point I made about the flour sacks notwithstanding, bakery has given me incredible endurance, intense heat resistance (especially in the arms), interesting scars, and the upper body strength of a man twice my size. Unfortunately, it means I look kind of funny in formal wear, but on the upside nowadays when I attend a wedding I'm in my dress whites anyhow and the big shoulders just fill those out nicely. I'll give you that one too! I haven't been able to find a long-sleeve shirt, other than a chef jacket, which will fit my shoulders, and my arms too. I also prefer my good egyptian jacket, for almost every formal occasion. What a life we live, Panaderia! Yeah, most people think of kitchen professionals as fat (the old stereotype bowling-ball chefs), when some of us are actually large of muscle instead.... My problem, of course, is that nothing for women is tailored with broad shoulders in mind, and the final effect of me in a cocktail dress is that of an well-dressed transvestite wearing cake perfume (being 6' tall in flats doesn't help that either.)

I certainly wouldn't - the point I made about the flour sacks notwithstanding, bakery has given me incredible endurance, intense heat resistance (especially in the arms), interesting scars, and the upper body strength of a man twice my size. Unfortunately, it means I look kind of funny in formal wear, but on the upside nowadays when I attend a wedding I'm in my dress whites anyhow and the big shoulders just fill those out nicely.

Google and google translate were not much help to me for the Barba Negra aguardiente añejado. My guess would be a South American black rum? My coconut is a can of Coco Lopez, but the pineapple (whether white or not I cannot say) is fresh. I don't own a blender, except for an immersion blender. I'm currently trying to figure out how to cut open the pineapple. In my hands a real coconut would be laughable. Barba Negra is the brand (Blackbeard - many of the good añejados are named for notable pirates); aguardiente añejado is barrel aged cane aguardiente. It's a product similar to rum in flavour and character, but which follows a slightly different production process. BN is actually more akin to a really good gold Caribbean rum; it's got nice depth and a good molasses finish without being too funky for the Piña Colada. In my personal opinion, white rum is too delicate for this drink, but black rum would overpower the play between the fruits, so gold and its kin are my go to spirits. You'd know immediately if you had a white pineapple. The flesh is white, not yellow, and subtly more acidic and fragrant than you'd be used to. They're not exported all that much (too easy to bruise), so you basically have to live somewhere that they're grown or get very lucky at the grocery store. Mine are seedy, but I live in a land of hummingbirds. As for the coconut, I cheat a bit. I can get whole fresh coconuts that have had all of the husk chopped away by a very skilled guy with a machete, which means alls I have I to do is drain, cut them into pieces with my nakiri and stuff them in the blender... My usual ratio is 2 parts pineapple, 2 parts coconut, 1 lime (squozen), and 1 part rum. ETA, because I just saw this: JoNorvelleWalker, on 30 Aug 2013 - 22:57, said: This is exciting! I just finished cutting and juicing the pineapple. It makes a mess, but the ripe fruit is so delicious. The flesh does not taste much like cut up pineapple I have been served before. And it is not very fibrous. I had always believed I could not eat fresh pineapple because the bits get horribly caught in my old teeth. I had no problem with this pineapple, even when I ate the core. Very strange. If asked I'd say it tastes like fruity, non-alcoholic rum. -- Sounds like you got a small Kona Gold, which are practically coreless. That's a very nice pineapple, although if it was tasting like a fruity rum it was probably a bit overripe. If you're going to start juicing pineapples on a regular basis, it would be a good idea to invest in a proper blender, Waring style (although a cheapie with a plastic jar works just as well - it's what I've got). It reduces the mess of juicing a pineapple considerably, would smooth out all of the issues you're talking about, and opens you up to the wonderful world of Daiquiris as well.... A blender is perhaps your best friend as you get into the fresh-fruit cocktails.

Fresh coconut, flesh and liquid from a perfectly ripe one (blender until creamy), fresh white pineapple juice (blendered and strained to remove pulp), Barba Negra aguardiente añejado. Fresh coconut and pineapple make all the difference.

Those are the small bags of flour. For bakeries, you're talking 100lb bags. Yeast comes in 25-50 lb sacks.

Me too! Tri2 - that's exactly the point I was making. Roadie work is also extremely dangerous, particularly the portion I did which was rigging and electrics for lights and large sound instruments. That's high in the air in a 3-point harness (rarely a 6-point), working with things that weigh a minimum of 50 lbs each (6-par truss) and normally over 200 lbs each (moving head robotic lights, some haze effects, the speakers) and raw 220 current. After a couple of years, I was also a crew head, which is the same creature as a foreman. Exhausting and stressful as this all was, a full day in the bakery takes a far worse toll on my body and my mind.

I'll add another thumbs-up for "shop to a list." But don't get OCD about it - if one ingredient, like passionfruit, isn't on the list but it's beautiful when you get to the market, buy it anyway. You'll end up using it. This said, I shop primarily on Sundays, which is market day in my city, and I shop at about 5-8 different places on that day (we call it "Economic Stimulation Sunday") for the various and assorted things we eat in a given week. It's a good idea to figure out when the farmer's markets and other freshmarkets are in your area, and when your favourite grocery stores/fishmongers/whoever get in their fresh produce, then shape your shopping around this (not sure how well it will work in the US - in Ecuador the days tend to synch up with the main farmer's market day). It guarantees you the freshest possible everything. I don't plan the week's meals so much as buy staples that are flexible in terms of how they're prepared - there's a grocery thread around here somewhere, I think, where I posted a typical week's haul. It allows for reasonable variety of dishes while removing the stress of preplanning all of the meals in a given week. I am not the kind of person who has a panic attack when I've got 2-day old chicken in the fridge and friends invite me out - I'm the kind of person who tosses that chicken into the freezer and goes out. Flexibility of ingredients is key.

I'm with HungryC - the bakers, particularly the artisans who mass and knead everything by hand (no machines), are probably more athletic than the chefs..... Higher weight (both flour and dough are ridiculously heavy), more reps, in a higher heat environment, and at much more antisocial hours. Add to that that the final product is sold for far less than what comes out of a chef's kitchen.... It's not so much athletics, though. Line cookery/cheffery and bakery are endurance sports, to be sure, and while a day of playing football (soccer to those of you north of Mexico) is physically exhausting, a day on the line or in the bakery making bread is, while equally physical, also intellectually taxing. Tri2 - I've also had physically demanding outdoor jobs (roadie, anyone?) but bakery is a more complete sort of exhaustion than road crewing ever brought me. Although in the bakery I don't seem to accumulate the interesting sorts of bruises I got as a roadie....

My first impression is simply this: why are you not using your dedicated wooden mortar and pestle for this? And my second was: it's not going to hurt the knife to crush garlic - garlic is much much weaker than steel, and you're not using the knife like a hammer (well, I hope you aren't), you're using it on the flat to smoosh a fairly soft item into an even softer state.

If you're less into long term storage, the Ecuadorian approach to quick pickling uses lime juice as a basic pickling bath. Red onions, sliced finely, and beefsteak style tomato in cubes, cured in lime juice overnight, is a tremendously tasty condiment.