chezcherie

i think the rules, deliberately or not, were vague. i think that's why betty wasn't outta there...after some review, it appeared that they had not been specific enough in the wording. otherwise, buh-bye betty, no question. they can certainly use judicious editing to make it appear that everyone else (after the fact) was on board with the rules, but if they'd been clear, i'm pretty sure betty would be history.

mahalo, miulang!

can someone provide a pronunciation for this pudding? i wanna try it, but i also wanna be able to say it! thx

thanks for the link, gg--the recipe looks much the same as the one i have, so i know that the dough contains no sugar, and the ratios look similar (orange flower water, yolk, butter, etc.) so maybe i'm in the ballpark...next step will be to surprise my moroccan friend with a test batch.

i'm hoping to make the pastry/cookie known as gazelle's horns. i have a recipe, but the problem is that i've never had them, so i don't know if the recipe is a good one. the dough is not at all sweet (although the pastries are finished by a dusting of powdered sugar)--the dough calls for 2 1/2 cups flour, about a tablespoon of butter, a little cinnamon and rosewater and a little regular water. the dough is very easy to roll out, but quite dense. they are filled with an almond paste and shaped into crescents. the finished pastries are not very sweet, which i actually like, but i'm just not sure if they are the "real deal". can anyone describe the texture of this dessert? thanks.

this is also what i know as millionaire's shortbread...one of my faves!

the wong way to cook? i sure don't love that... also, i was so looking forward to padma, as she had to have a better voice than "fingernails on the chalkboard" katie lee joel...is is POSSIBLE that her voice is equally annoying??? too soon for me to form opinions on the contestants...when there are so many, it hurts my brain to pigeonhole them..that will come later. still, fun to watch! edited for typos

thanks for that tidbit! i knew that indexing is a subbed-out job, but love the fact that la julia did it herself! i love this thread, and i'm reminded about how fabulous this site is ever time i log on and see dorie posting here....how terrific is that? i'm really not a baker, but this book is terrific, and along with this thread, it has inspired me to break out the baking stuff. i will be making a variation of dorie's chocolate chip cookies in cooking class tonight, substituting the new tiny mini-peanut butter cups from trader joe's for chunks/chips...and you can bet i will be holding up the book, and telling everyone to go get two copies (gifting season is upon us) tomorrow! i'm wondering--a lot of my students are in the bake sale and class snack phase of life. has anyone tried subbing half whole wheat flour in the applesauce spice bars? if not, i may have to give it a try, as our local schools are crazy about stuff like that... thanks for this thread, and thanks especially to dorie...great book, and great eG customer service!!!

caramelizzzzzzed

i heat a little butter/olive oil, saute a shallot or other aromatics for a bit, add the couscous until it colors a little, then cover by about an inch with chicken or veg stock. bring to a boil, reduce heat and simmer until tender, 15-20 minutes. in the last 5 minutes, i'll throw in some juliened carrots and/or bell peppers/arugula, prosciutto. i love it hot for dinner nad then cold, maybe with some cooked chicken or pork tossed in with some vinaigrette the next day. cook once, eat twice.

i was given this vessel as a gift. it is glazed inside and out. am i correct that it is for serving only, and that i cannot use it to cook with on a stovetop? thanks very much!

i did them this weekend. of course, i prefer the bone-in ribs, but the costco ones lured me because (1) i was there and (2) they looked awfully good, even without their bones. they were fabulous....i took them to a friend's house, and even though we had had a million appetizers, people were groaning over their goodness, and fighting over the left-overs. reallly, really tasty and tender. i braised them about 3 1/2 hours and did not tie them. (i added a touch of tomato paste when sauteing the veg, but otherwise followed the recipe faithfully.) thanks, marlene...can't wait to do them again...hopefully it will be braising weather here soon!

if you use a metal measuring spoon, and you rinse it in very hot water first, the honey will slide right out.

i think kale (for a longer simmer) or arugula (thrown in at the last sexond) would work in the soups you described. isn't that a funny phenomenon? as soon as we can't have something, we want it so much more!

a bit of googling (spaces before and after the ampersand) revealed sad news: jan 2006 article check page 2, second column...apparently fallow fields adjacent to the saffron crop lured crocus-eating pests into the fields, destroying the crop.

saw them at surfas this week, but also, i believe cost plus carries them.

i'm not marlene, but i, too, am dying to try her short ribs...if it ever gets to be braining weather here in southern CA...so i have it bookmarked. marlene's short rib recipe

if i recall correctly, there were a couple companies that got tripped up by selling "vegetarian" marshmallows, made with a gelatin replacement that turned out to be animal-based....the article i read implied that the companies were duped by the "vegan gelatin" maker, rather than being in on the scam. i think this might have been one of those companies.

i've doubled, tripled, quadrupled pate a choux quantities many times with no problem. (since you are asking, i assume that the recipe is a small batch quantity...i haven't quadrupled a production volume batch.) i like comte for my gougeres. trader joe's carries a reasonably priced one. you catered your own wedding....i seem to remember the thread. wow. my hat's off to ya...this one should be a piece of cake...you aren't making that, are you?

i was thinking about this too, and my suspicion is that because the bagged spinach is sometimes "triple washed", people don't wash it, and then consume it raw...whereas they will usually wash the non-bagged stuff. as mimi sheraton posted above, cooking would eliminate most if not all of the danger. washing would also help. i'm not the most type A kitchen person, but i have been (re)washing the "triple washed" lettuce mixes i use for some time now, for just this reason!

the pork sounds like it will be fab without the salt. for chicken and veg, i find that a little squeeze of lemon does much of what a sprinkle of salt will do. especially if one has been eating hospital food or the equivalent, that little hit of citrus really perks up the tastebuds.

i, too, went to culinary school in my 40s. one of the benefits of being older is that you have the wisdom of experience behind you. you will be surprised at the number of students in your pastry program who have never really baked...much of anything...and are really starting with a blank slate. since you have a base of knowledge already (even if it's just "at home" experimentation), you will know what questions you want answers to, what has happened when you have done "xyz" in the past, etc. take a zillion pictures! i probably spent another tuition just in developing fees (no digital camera then!) but i'm soooo glad to have those photos to look back on! have a terrific time going back to school!

I've cooked on electric all my life until recently. Compaired to my Viking range top I think my old electric stove got hotter. Gas is great for the infinite ability to adjust but electric isn't that bad but will take you some time to get use to it. One tip that can help is if you use two burners. Let's say you have something like rice that you brought to a boil on high and then want to simmer you can have a second burner set to simmer and when the rice has come to a boil slide the pot onto the second burner. Now you didn't have to wait for it to cool down. ← i second this, and wish i had learned it waaaaaay before i did! when forced to cook on electric, the first thing i do is turn on two burners--one high and one either medium or low, depending upon the application. that way, i don't want for the burner, the burner is waiting for me.

Just for clarification, the manufacturer is Kershaw and the name of the line is "Pure Komachi." I've just now realized that Kershaw is the overseas name for Kai Cutlery, which is a major brand in Japan. I've seen those knives before and wouldn't hesitate to buy them for casual use. Kai is a very trusted name in Japan. Here's a link to the Kershaw site (look under "Kitchen Cutlery" for the Pure Komachi line): http://www.kershawknives.com/large.htm ← merci to you both---they are too adorable to resist a try....and also hard to lose when taking a knife to someone else house. those reasons alone are enough to place an order!

If anyone has any comments about these or has worked with them, let me know. ←