zilla369
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Posts posted by zilla369
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I found a recipe for Guinness ice cream online, and it sounded intriguing. Our restaurant serves Beamish stout rather than Guinness, so i used Beamish when i made the ice cream last night. I'm going to serve it as a special tomorrow (St. Patrick's Day). Probably will garnish with oatmeal cookies.
There seem to be two diametrically opposed reactions from those who have tasted it so far. Camp A absolutely loves it (i'm in Camp A). Camp B hesitates for a moment and then inevetably says "that's...weird."
Anybody tried stout ice cream? Your thoughts, please.
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This recipe from the Godiva Chocolate website is the one i've settled on. I often make them as check amenities at the restaurant where i work.
I checked out the recipe and would like to try it. Should I need to omit the 4 teaspoons of Godiva Liqueur, would orange juice work in its place?
nah, omit the Godiva and just don't replace it with anything.
If you're not omitting due to alcohol constraints, just put in brandy or Kaluha or something.
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How much are you paying for your POM? The times I've seen it, the price has been er... not merely expensive, but extreme.
$3.59 for a .... 16 oz bottle, i think.
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There's a spiffy POM billboard at my nearest Metro station, but I haven't seen it in stores as yet. I guess it's either coming soon or someone messed up their media buy.
hannnah - check again. It's not in the drink coolers in my area - it's in the produce section of the chain groceries.
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This week i discovered my new favorite non-alcoholic beverage, POM Wonderful. It's 100% pomegranate juice, and advertised as having more anti-oxidants than anything else you can drink, including red wine and green tea. Expensive, but like heaven in a bottle. Sexy website, too: POM Wonderful
Anybody else tried this stuff? They have several pomegranate-blended-with-another-fruit flavors, as well; pom-tangerine, pom-blueberry, etc.
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This recipe from the Godiva Chocolate website is the one i've settled on. I often make them as check amenities at the restaurant where i work.
A word of caution: make sure you beat the eggs and sugars for the entire 10 minutes suggested by the recipe. Skimping on the beating-time will result in a runny batter too loose to form into proper loaves, or loaves that will spread and flatten out too much in the oven.
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The actual party isn't until January 16th. The tasting was two weeks ago today. I made my mom's chocolate cake recipe split into two layers, and filled the middle with a peanut butter-butter cream icing layer, a layer of peanut butter and chocolate morsels, and another layer of peanut butter butter cream. Enrobed the whole thing in ganache. Sliced carefully just before presentation, and garnished with some chocolate sauce and a mini Reese's cup. It turned out great tasting and great looking. The kid loved it. His mom asked if he thought that would work for his party or if he'd rather have something else. He said enthusiastically "No...this will be just FINE!"
When Chef tasted it later, he said gruffly: "Hmph. Nailed it on the first try. That doesn't happen too often."
Pretty high praise from him
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Butter two slices of wheatberry
Get a small amount of EVOO screaming hot in a cast iron skillet
One slice of the bread butter side down, topped with
One thin slice extra-sharp cheddar
Thin layer of shredded fontina
Two slices of garlic dill pickle sliced the long way
One slice Vermont White Cheddar
Second slice of buttered bread
When brown on the first side, lift onto spatula and add a little more EVOO, allowing a moment for the new oil to get some heat, then flip new side down
Serve with a bowl of steaming white bean soup.
I dare ya.
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230 covers tonight. I sold (and made and plated) 112 desserts. 48.69% dessert penetration.
i RULE!
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I use granulated white sugar on my brulees at the restaurant. I take the chilled brulee out of the fridge and dump a generous portion of sugar on top. Ever so gently press the sugar into the surface, then invert the ramekin and let any excess fall off. Then i torch it - but not up close; from as far away as i can hold the torch and still see some change in the color. Patience is the key. I think of it as "spray painting" the carmelization onto the sugar, does that make sense? Start at the edges, end in the middle.
Actually, it's not just white sugar; it's white sugar infused with bourbon. Since it's infused with bourbon, it tends to get clumpy, so i run it through a hand-held sifter first.
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Just wondering if you had a chance to try the upside down pie shell technique yet?
yes! It works great, about 85% of the time, which is fantastic. The other 15% of the time, the pie shells crack and are not viable. But i'm not so sure that's the fault of the technique. It's possible that that's my fault for putting them in the oven too soon or too late.
Still, when it works, it works great. Thanks, Wendy!
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Whoa! Thanks, hillvalley. I had the day off today but called my boss and pitched the brownie bar with toppings idea. He said we would "offer them that". I'll probably still have to have a cake for the tasting.
I love the idea about the retro candies. I was already thinking chunks of candy bars and gummi candies. I can't go too wild for just 15 kids - but if these clients like it i could see us getting a lot more business from good word of mouth from this function.
My current idea is a chocolate cake with a candybar icing middle layer, with an ice cream and topping bar. Sound like a good combination of all the ideas so far?
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Another question. Please bear with me in my ignorance. About decorating: how okay is it to decorate with the Star of David? On these catering websites i see it piped in icing all over everything, and it would be easy to do. But i know that, for instance, it wouldn't necessarily be "cool" to make cookies with a cross on them at a Christian birthday party. Is it fairly standard and inoffensive? Or would the guest of honor and his friends think it's sort of square? I was picturing tuxedo strawberries with little Stars of David on them.
I know it's lame that i have to ask; but if i have to ask, where better than here? Now please be gentle.
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is the adult portion of the meal entirely plated, or do you have the option of giving them a dessert bar?
The adults have already chosen my bourbon sour mash bread pudding with sorghum creme fraiche as their plated dessert.
Man, you guys weren't kidding about the dessert bar being all the rage at bar/bat mitzvahs. I've been browsing caterers online and this is almost always an option. I've also seen lots of torah scroll cakes. Do people use a special pan for this, or is there a cute shortcut to making the "scroll" half-cylinders on the sides?
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Hmmm. Maybe I'm thinking about it wrong. I just figured they would think we were "cheaping out" with a brownie bar. It would be super easy to do a brownie bar with toppings.
How does one serve ice cream in a "buffet" situation? Scoop their own? Provide a scooping waitperson?
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The "bar" ideas are interesting, but i have to say, the parents are paying quite a bit for the food, and i'm afraid they might be offended if i suggested that option. I'll think about it some more.
I need dessert for about 15 kids. The event isn't Kosher, either.
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...the clients told the maitre d' that their son likes the desserts at cheesecake factory, like the candy-bar themed cheesecakes. This dessert will be just for the kids at the party; the adults will be having a separate dessert.
They want something "different", but something the guest of honor will like, of course.
Ideas, please? i'll need to make a prototype this weekend.
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Day-old croissants make fantastic French toast.
But there we go again.
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I hear Flavor Flav got a job heat lampin' after Public Enemy broke up.
Matthew, you just made my day.
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8. Menus with mispellings and grammatical mistakes--shitake mushrooms and arugala show up frequently.
How else are you supposed to spell shitake?
Shiitake. It's early on a Sunday, Rachel....i'm sure you knew this! Heh.
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at about 1PM, i had a krispy kreme donut...
Oooh, Krispy Kreme! Did you heat it up first? They taste so much better when they're hot.
Has anyone besides me notice the magnetic properties of the HOT NOW sign that seems to draw people in to KK. It's like getting trapped in a force field - resistance is futile and calories be damned when it's lit.
Last time i went to KK, they gave a free hot glazed donut to each person waiting in line. This confection completely satisfied my craving, and then i was left standing in line wondering how to exit gracefully. I ended up buying two donuts and took them to someone else.
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And don't worry about the idiot woman who whined about her "pathetic" dessert at the end of the night. You turned it into a "plus" which will go far in terms of good will, good karma and, possibly, good word of mouth to her friends.
This is just a thought, but would it possible, in regards to the bread pudding to go, to put the creme fraiche in its own container? Then it won't "melt" on the hot bread pudding and look "pathetic" for future idiots.
This is along the lines of what i was thinking. Probably nobody could get home fast enough for this to be a good dessert on the sofa.
I think i will provide both sauces in a separate container AND possibly print some little cards with reheating instructions for the hot desserts, and just skip heating them to go altogether.
How would y'all feel about getting a to-go dessert with reheating instructions?
Edited, for daylight savings-time spelling.
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Marsha,
I don't know the actual stats but I've thought the actual percentage was much lower. If I had to guess I'd say 25 to 33%. I am sure someone on the board will post the correct ratio statistics.
I think a number like 45% is fantastic! That means that almost 1 out of 2 people in the restaurant are ordering your desserts. That rocks!
And that means successful desserts, thanks to your hard work.
Thank you, Toliver! I adopted an aggressive dessert-sales strategy.
Even though we were unbelievably busy (remember, there's only five of us in the kitchen), i made it a point to be sweet and accomodating (which is hard, sometimes!). I also spoke to all the captains pre-shift and made a pitch for selling more desserts ("you know, with desserts priced at about $6, that's an extra $5 tip for every four-top!"). I gave away several mini-portions to the servers. One server asked for a chocolate-covered strawberry, and i made him one right away. I gave all the servers chocolate truffles. I told them they could "create-their-own" dessert trio for their guests. I offered to spike their personal lemonades with berry sauce - that was popular.
The only bad spot was at the very end of the night. The last table ordered desserts to go, then hung around for another 45 minutes. One lady opened her to-go bread pudding (this is a dessert that's supposed to be served warm, with sorghum creme fraiche and sorghum sauce). She told the bartender it looked "pathetic." Of course, it did - after spending 45 minutes in a styrofoam clamshell. Naturally, i made her a new one.
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I will weigh in on this, because it was a crucial point in my baking final. I got an A while many others got a lot of points off for liquid-y pies.
Do EVERYTHING else first before you peel and slice the apples. Don't soak them in water and lemon juice; they'll be brownish in the pie in the end, anyway. Toss with the sugar, flour, cinnamon and whatever and put them directly into the pie crust, and directly into the oven from there. You did use a little bit of flour in your apple coating, yes?
Anyway, the people that scored badly on that final prepared their apples first, some of them left them floating in lemon-water while they made their pie crust; others just added the sugar and stuff to them before getting their crust together. In either case the apples released too much liquid during baking, resulting in runny pies. Mine cut and stood up on the plate like a dream. But i have to be honest and say i didn't realize i was doing it the "right" way - i just got lucky. Imagine my surprise when my pie came out the best. Naturally i acted as if i planned it that way from the beginning
Edited to say: ah, as i re-read your post i see you did use flour. It wasn't a measly amount, it's just possible you performed your steps in the wrong order. I'm curious to know if this is what happened.
Stout Ice Cream for St. Pat's Day
in Pastry & Baking
Posted
The recipe i used said it was the winner of FoodTV.com's 2002 Ice Cream Cook-Off. No special flavorings or spices, just a very straightfoward custard base with the stout as the flavoring.
Wouldn't want to try it with Old Milwaukee, though.