CharlieHorse

lindan, actually beer should be served warmer than "ice cold". In fact, a high quality craft brew is best at "cellar temperature" which is around 55 degrees F. The reason for this is that the cold numbs your taste buds and they don't sense anything. The warmer temps allow you to experience all of the subtle flavors that the brewer crafted into his beer. That's also why Bud, Miller and Coors (know as BMC, none of which should be labled as beer) have to be so cold to drink them. If you let them warm, they still wouldn't have any taste and people would quit buying them.

Wow, nobody mentioned the ONLY thing that I don't care for; shreaded coconut. It looks light and fluffy and is exactly the opposite when it goes into your mouth. I just can't handle that. I love the taste, though.

I'm a subscriber of the idea the cooking is a labor of love, not just of the craft but a love of good food. For instance, I learned to make beer because I like good beer. To learn to cook, one first has to learn to taste. Going back to beer, I taste every type of grain that I use before I crush it. That way I can get an idea what the finnished product will taste like. When I'm cooking an ingredient that I'm not familiar with, I taste it raw. The point that I'm trying to make is to teach your student to taste what they're making and make things that they enjoy eating. Often times, if somebody can see how simple something that they like is to cook, they're more likely to explore dishes they have never tried. I'm sure that you could steal borrow from some of the cooking shows and make games out of it. Think surviver, only you don't get rid of anybody, you reward the winning team/cooks.

Back when I waited tables, I used to tip out the kitchen if they did anything special, like hurrying an order that I forgot to send back or make something special. When I moved to the kitchen in a different restaurant, I would frequently put on a clean jacket and apron and check on the customer myself and the wait staff appriciated this. Sometimes they would tip me out, sometimes the customer would tip me, but that's not why I did it. I did it because it was importent to me that people eating the food that I worked hard to make were enjoying it. In fact, I would say that was my favorite part of the job.

A couple of point about truffles. When you roll them in your hand, you can get them roundish with practice. You may be working with them too soft. I leave mine in the fridge over night before I scoop them out with a small disher onto parchment, return them to the fridge for an hour then roll them out. They aren't really supposed to be round anyway. The reason that they call them truffles is that they kind of look like the mushrooms that pigs dig up in France.

Not revive an old thread, but this is exactly the recipe that I use. One of the advantages of the champagne yeast is that it's pretty cheap (I think that I paid $.99 a packet) and stores in the freezer. When I make up a batch, I make about 4 liters at a time and it stores quite well in the fridge. I generally use the PET bottles that are sold for the Mr. Beer kits (I don't think that I put actual beer in them) and they're flexible enough that I don't have to worry about bottle bombs.

First of all, As Martyn Cornwell points out, beer should never be drunk from the container in which it arrives. You should drink your beer from a glass. Of course, there are exceptions. If you're on the beach at a bar-b-que or if your drinking that pale, yellow stuff that has a low alcohol content that bar have for happy hour specials (I still can't call it beer). That said, I sometimes bottle my home brewed beer and when I do, I store it in a dark closet until I'm ready to cool it to drink. Light will destroy the flavor and aromas of the beer that the brewer has worked so hard to bring to you. For this reason, canned beer, when decanted, is better than bottled beer.

I'm a bit confused here. Why not just cook the meat all the way in the smoker? I've done several butts and lots of other things in mine and they turned out fantastic. Oh, and just so that you know, smoked bluefish is fantasic, smoked clams and oysters are good, smoked crabs (hard or soft) are very very bad.

Ojisan, that's exactly what I was going to say. Normally when I make my gumbo, I include the "Holy Trinity" in my stock for gumbo and throw in the chicken bones (I use thighs) and the ends of the okra. I know, It's not a purest stock, but it's tastey and the okra and chicken mute the shrimp a bit. As you can imagine, shimp stock as a lot of fat, so be prepared to skim that off after it cools if you're saving it.

I second (third?) the idea of hand pies. If your audience is "of age" you could brew some trappist ale (basically, you lightly hop with "noble hops"). Since sugar was impossible to get, things that were sweetened used honey.

One of the reasons for Panko is that it doesn't discolor (turn brown) in the oven. I've used it for coating trout, but since I'm frying it in bacon fat, it gets a hint of brown.

I don't see anything on that list that I would consider adding anything other than ice to (other than the Remy, it should be enjoyed straight up). I might consider a rum variation of the Brazilian Caiprinha with the Mt. Gay Rum, though.

I'm currently drinking my home brewed Gingerbread Imperial Porter. I had a Dogfish Head 60 Minute IPA with dinner.