tammylc

I'm hosting a little cocktail party this weekend, and am planning a tropical and Tiki theme (because my friend Mary just got back from Hawaii and is pining for the tropics). Can you recommend a few Tiki or Tiki style drinks that don't require me to buy 6 different rums? I don't mind buying a couple more (or other mixing liqueurs) to round out my collection, but... Right now I have Appleton Estates Reserve and Cruzan white rum in my liqueur cabinet. What else is essential, and what can I mix with them? Thanks in advance!

Just two weeks out from this dinner, so I need to start firming things up. Childhood: Jersey Shore White wine poached clams served on a bed of butter bacon "sand" with scallion "seaweed" - I tried making butter sand, but to get the right texture it was too sweet. So I think bacon will stand up better to the maltodextrin, from what i've read. And bacon and clams = yum. College: Year Abroad in England/trip to Scotland/trip to Morroco Moroccan-spiced seared scallops with grape-preserved lemon relish Peace Corps: Senegal Deconstructed Mafe - braised short rib, sweet potato puree, peanut butter foam The more I think about it, the less I like this idea, since the strength of mafe is it's "stewiness," which makes the deconstruction less than ideal. Of course, this is a problem with pretty much all the traditional Senegalese dishes I know of. But this recipe for Yassa Ginaar seems more amenable to being made into something plated and "special." (For the purpose of the dinner I don't want to just cook the same things the same way that he does.) It's basically a lemon and caramelized onion sauce served over rice with chicken pieces on top of it. I am thinking of doing it layered in ring molds (rice, onion, shredded chicken) and garnished with spherically encapsulated green olives. Alternately, some kind of rice cake of some kind arranged with the other components on the plate. Also thinking of using Guinea hens instead of chicken. My other idea was to do a play on sushi - Senegalese food is eaten with your hands, using the rice as a sort of scoop. So I thought I could make rice logs like for sushi, top them with the onion mixture, and a thin slice of boneless chicken breast. With the idea that you could pick up each piece and eat it with your hands. Thoughts really appreciated on this one! Trip with Mother/Sister: Kenya/Tanzania Coffee granita/sorbet? Another course I'm just not that excited by, that feels more like stretching to fit the theme than contributing to the integrity of the meal. So thinking of just dropping it. Or subbing passion fruit sorbet as a regionally appropriate fruit that's more palate cleanser-y. Green: Australia, Japan Yakitori-style Australian lamb (or kangaroo?), some kind of sauce, asian greens (bok choy, mizuna, something like that). So, my local grocery store that sometimes has kangaroo doesn't have any. I've found some online sources, but it's spendy - $60.00 for 2 lbs of loin, plus shipping. I can get sausages or ground meat cheaper, but I'm not sure it's worth bothering. Mother's Trip: France/Loire Valley Cheese course with Loire (or Loire-style) goat cheeses and Loire wines. Dessert: still TBD, although I just found out the birthday boy likes Key Lime, so I'm thinking about that.

I bought myself some alginate and calcium chloride for Christmas. My first experiment - basic melon caviar - worked well. Last night I mixed up some beet juice with alginate and when I tried to make some caviar this morning it didn't work nearly as well. The liquid did bead up in the calcium chloride solution, but then it would start "bleeding out" into the solution. If I pulled the caviar out and rinsed them I got decent balls that were stable for a little bit, but then would continue to leak. And the walls/skin were pretty thick, despite the leaking. I tried adding a bit more alginate, but it didn't help, and I'm not sure I incorporated it well enough in any case. Anyone successfully made beet caviar and have proportions to share? I should note that I made my beet juice by pureeing beets with a bit of extra water, and that my water is somewhat hard, so I probably introduced some calcium in addition to whatever might be in the beet already - would that be reacting with the alginate and reducing it's activity in the bath? The liquid is not particularly thick, i don't think, although not having done this much I'm not sure how to tell... Thanks for any advice!

I've been thinking about this for a couple weeks. I'd be curious to hear what tricks you have for this, in terms of the science and the presentation, and how it turns out. I just did my first spherification a couple weeks ago (mango caviar on vanilla icecream w/ dark chocolate & brandy mousse - thank you for making everything so easy to get Will Goldfarb!), and it worked well - though would an inverse spherification perhaps make the prep for NYE easier? Best of luck! I have no tricks - just standard alginate mixed with the melon juice (seasoned with a little sugar and salt), dropped one by one in calcium chloride solution. Put a piece of prosciutto in the bottom of a soup spoon, top with some melon caviar, eat. I'll make them a few at a time at the party until I get bored and want to do something else. I haven't tried reverse spherification at all yet. Edited to say: I made a bunch at a gathering last night, and they worked out well. "skin" was a bit thick - i'm going to dilute my melon/alginate mix with a bit more juice, see if that helps.

I bought myself some "molecular gastronomy" chemicals for Christmas, so I'll be using those for my New Year's contributions to various parties I'm going to. PB&J - Strawberry pate de fruit coated in peanut butter powder Prosciutto with melon caviar Whipped goat cheese with beet caviar Plus I've got some leftover salty caramels and some tiny meringues that i'm going to dip in mint dark chocolate.

I had been pondering kangaroo, so thanks for the push. There's a grocery store near me that has a freezer section for exotics. I know they've had kangaroo in the past - I'll have to give them a call to see if they have any now.

My current thinking: Childhood: Jersey Shore White wine poached clams served on a bed of butter "sand" with scallion "seaweed" - what do I need to know to make butter sand? I've read through the tapioca maltodextrin thread, and assume I'll need to clarify the butter first, right? College: Year Abroad in England/trip to Scotland/trip to Morroco Moroccan-spiced seared scallops with grape-preserved lemon relish - came across this recipe this weekend, and it looks fantastic and fits the slot well, I thought. The cold crunchy grape relish and seared scallops will make a nice textural contrast. Peace Corps: Senegal Deconstructed Mafe - braised short rib, sweet potato puree, peanut butter foam - If I'm doing sand in the first course, I thought I shouldn't do peanut butter powder here. Thoughts on making a peanut butter foam? And maybe some chopped peanuts too, for texture? Other ideas? Trip with Mother/Sister: Kenya/Tanzania Coffee granita/sorbet? Green: Australia, Japan Yakitori-style Australian lamb, some kind of sauce, asian greens (bok choy, mizuna, something like that). Seemed like a fun fusion moment - will look for an Australia wine to serve here too. Would love ideas on fleshing out this course. Mother's Trip: France/Loire Valley Cheese course with Loire (or Loire-style) goat cheeses and Loire wines. Dessert: TBD Very interested in feedback and ideas. Is the tapioca maltodextrin available from L'Epicerie reliable and easy to use? Thanks!

Are you open to doing any sort of molecular gastronomy? You can make flavoured "sand" using tapioca maltodextrin. I'd definitely be willing to try it, with good instructions from somebody... I was thinking I'd need to do that to achieve the peanut butter powder. At this point, I think you have too many soft, stewey textures together. Can you make the england/scotland/morroco course something else? Maybe a tiny morsel of perfectly fried fish on some fat cut fries? i like that idea. Maybe a tiny little newspaper cone with a bit of fish and chips?

I think the point of the male-female chef commentary is that it's just a numbers game. Let's say that 10% of all chefs are "top chef material." And let's say there are 10 male chefs for every 1 female chef. So in a Top Chef audition, you might have 500 male chefs and 50 female chefs. Based on the 10% figure, you've got 50 "top chef material" male chefs and only 5 "top chef material" female chefs. But the show wants to start with 8 each of men and women. So you end being able to pick the best 8 of the 50 men, but have to take all of the top women PLUS some that really aren't up to the challenge. That's why women - as a group - don't tend to do as well on Top Chef. It has nothing to do with their relative skill level, the math assumes that men and women are equally skilled as chefs. And I'm sure the show does a lot of outreach to try to attract top female chefs, but the simple fact is that the pool is smaller.

I've been asked to cook dinner for a friend's 50th birthday party. His wife is conspiring to have friends from far and wide come into town for the event. I regularly do tasting menus for my Supper Club and other events, but given the birthday nature of this one, I thought it would be fun to have courses that highlight different experiences/places he's traveled. We're expecting 10-12 people and my budget is $500, which should include paired wines for most courses. Looking at around 6 or 7 courses. Here's the chronology of his life, with my current menu thoughts for each. Childhood: Jersey Shore - some kind of cold seafood (clam?) dish. Maybe with some "boardwalk" kind of elements? College: Year Abroad in England/trip to Scotland/trip to Morroco - thinking either another fish (salmon for Scotland?) or a vegetarian tagine of some sort? Something on the lighter side. Peace Corps: Senegal - he regularly cooks dishes that he learned in Sengal, and one of my favorites is Mafe - in his interpretation it's a beef stew with a tomato and peanut butter based sauce, usually with sweet potatoes and carrots in it. I thought it would be fun to do a "deconstructed" "haute" Mafe, and was thinking to braise beef shortribs in a braising liquid with tomatoes, then do a sweet potato puree and some peanut butter powder. Trip with Mother/Sister: Kenya/Tanzania - My first thought for Kenya was coffee. We don't have to do anything here, but if we could think of a palate cleanser sort of thing that had coffee as an element, could be interesting. Green: Australia, Japan - Given the place in the menu, I'm thinking Australia is more amenable than Japan, and was thinking about something with lamb. Or kangaroo... Mother's Trip: France/Loire Valley - Cheese course with Loire goat cheeses. Then I'll do something for dessert, since that's one of my specialties and can reflect the time in his life that I've been connected to. This is my first cut thinking, but if people have creative ideas that are wildly different from what I've written, I'd love to hear them. Or just ideas on fleshing out what I've posted. Thanks for your ideas!

I've been doing a simple bark of just toasted pecans and dried cherries in dark chocolate, and it's delicious. The spiced pecan thing would certainly be fancier though...

When I asked my customers for special requests before I announced my holiday collection, my smoked almond-bacon bark was the #1 most requested item. I use Michel Cluizel milk chocolate, crispy cooked bacon, and chopped smoked almonds. I'm not a fan of the Vosge's bacon bar, but I like mine a lot, and so has most everyone I've ever served it to! i've got orders for 3 lbs so far (in 1/4 lb packages), and the three people who requested it haven't ordered yet.

If I had anyone to buy me Christmas presents, I would ask for: A tamis (aka drum sieve) The Alinea Cookbook The pastry roller attachment for my KitchenAid But since I don't have anyone to buy me Christmas presents, I picked up the tamis at a local restaurant supply place (for 20% off because the side was a bit dented). And i'm pondering the other two. I can wrap them up and sign Santa's name to the tag, for the benefit of my five-year old...

120F is well above the ideal point of milk chocolate, so I vote for the burning theory.

Count me in as a yes, please.

Xanthan gum is a very common egg replacer in vegan recipes, and is easily accessible at health food stores. As someone else said, I'd suggest starting with a vegan recipe that looks pretty good, but then substituting real butter for whatever stick margarine they're using.

Thanks! The short cook time is in keeping with the Duck Hearts on Toast recipe I've made before. The hearts had some texture, but were not overly firm or difficult to eat.

Thanks for the ideas, Kent. Anyone else cooked with duck hearts and have some ideas for me?

What do you like to do with duck hearts? I got 1.5 lbs from a local farmer recently, and have them stashed in my freezer. I have a multi-course tasting menu style dinner party coming up soon and want to incorporate them into a course. Any favorite recipes or techniques? The only thing I've done with them before is the "duck hearts on toast" recipe from the Nose to Tail Eating cookbook, and that was good, but I'm looking for new ideas!

Although in my experience there's a huge amount of variability in fresh pumpkin. Some is delicious and sweet, and some is watery and tasteless. The advantage of the canned stuff is consistency...

I frequently make panna cotta topped with some sort of fruit compote or poached fruit (like peaches drizzled with a little balsamic vinegar) and it's always a big hit. I use this recipe from the Splended Table.

Count me in. I was so bummed to miss last year!

Michigan has stringent laws about where food can be produced, but that ingredient label would be just fine here.

I did end up going to the 53 mile dinner, and it was great! The pork dish ended up being a chicken dish, and it was amazing. But the goat was the star of the show - it had a double goat rib chop (cut from a roasted rack, i believe) and then other "parts" that had been smoked and then braised. With the slightly spicy smoked chile sauce and the corn and pumpkin pudding, it was just awesome. Many people at the table had never had goat before, and were all really pleasantly surprised. Another pleasant surprise were the Michigan shrimp! Apparently there's a guy with a pole barn and a shrimp farm operation up near Okemos. The shrimp were very flavorful, and Chef Johns says that even though they're expensive, he's considering using them regularly in the restaurant.

I watch my Top Chef via Amazon Video on Demand, and they are much more punctual about getting new episodes up than iTunes.