tacked,,dammit,,,I can't move my neck!!!

HALP!!!!!!!!!!!!!




chef

Hello Feral!
Ate We talking maple smoked of maple flavored vrnoson?
I am on my phone. So may not get to answer till later.

ok...is it sweet??

I Rep for a company that sells a very good pineapple/bacon sausage that blends gloriously with French Toast and pancakes..it's my sunday brunch secret...my L'orange french toast some time back is an exxcellent paring..OJ, Eggs, Splash of curacoa...hmm...

I would recomend the same for maple flavored.and other pairing as a lunch or dinnner may include a mix of  grilled root vegetables, topping on a chef's/Cobb salad with a slab of tenderloin and breast of chicken slices..

would really dependon sweet v savory in he base flavor..
chef.

sliced and grilled parsnips, carrots, potato and onion,, make a very nice main dish too..

Chef-
I made some cream of tomato and broccoli and cheese soup on Sunday. How long can it stay in the fridge before it goes bad? A week? 4 days?

I only ask because I brought some for lunch....I also didn't want to freeze it.

Thanks!

well,,


3 days is the basic rule of thumb...but I have no issue using left overs at a week..but be sure to bring it to a full boil,/safe temp!
With left over's at home, I'll go 10 days at the absolute most on using leftovers as long as it smells ok and hasn't broken down
..again, insuring it's bought to a full heat before eating..


and bring $10 for lunch elsewhere if it tastes off once heated..nothing worse than those afternoons of mild stomach cramps and praying you make it home in time while sitting in rush hour traffic..

in restaurants, again 3-5 days and it's used or tossed has always been my rule.
Restaurant refers are not as relible as your home unit and you don't have 10 people walking/reaching in and out of it and
I am sure you rarely leave the door open for hours at a time..

Any way to freeze it and have it taste ok or should I just figure out a smaller batch? I don't have access to a stove at work, only a microwave.

micro will bring it to a boil,,but if only 3 days, I think a good Steam coming off the soup fine..
freezing..depending on your thickening agent..it will be fine it MAY break..seperate etc..,,if it "breaks" you can make a small amount of chicke or veggie stock thicken with roux or cornstarch, making it a bit thick then  slowly blend your brocc/cheese into it..


many restaurants use frozen soups,,why I will NEVER know..but there are some decent ones available.
I having spent a few years as a Saucier in a large kitchen, where soups and sauces were my daily responsibility can't fathom frozen soup,,I know for a fact that in 30 min you can create a very nice edible soup for the days service,even if your hung over, over sexed and still awake from the night before.

Do you have a recipe for macarons (not macaroons)?

My husband has requested them.

wow,,havn't heard that phrase in 100 years...I remember reading about them in LaRouse...

today's whoppie pie is basiclly a macaron...also Littel Debbie makes a "cookie" filled with cream which is basiclly the same thing though more cakey..


4 extra large egg whites
1 2/3 cups confectioners' sugar
1 1/3 cups almond flour
1/8 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup super fine sugar

Place egg whites into a metal mixing bowl and refrigerate overnight. The next day, bring egg whites to room temperature.

Preheat oven to 280 degrees F (138 degrees C). Line baking sheets with parchment paper.

Whisk confectioners' sugar and almond flour in a bowl. Beat the egg whites with salt in metal bowl with an electric mixer on medium speed until foamy, about 1 minute; increase speed to high and gradually beat in superfine sugar, about 1 tablespoon at a time, until the egg whites are glossy and hold stiff peaks, 3 to 5 more minutes.

Gently fold almond flour mixture into whipped egg whites until thoroughly incorporated; spoon meringue into a pastry big fitted with a 3/8-inch tip.

Pipe 1-inch disks of meringue onto the prepared baking sheets, leaving 2 inches of space between cookies. The batter will spread. Lift the baking sheets a few inches above the work surface and hit them lightly on the work surface several times to remove any air bubbles from the cookies. Let the cookies stand at room temperature until the shiny surfaces become dull and a thin skin forms, about 15 minutes.

Place the baking sheets in the preheated oven and bake with the oven door open slightly until the macarons' surfaces are completely dry, about 15 minutes. Let cookies cool completely on a baking sheet before peeling parchment paper from the cookies.

Spread half the cookies with any desired filling, top with remaining cookies to make sandwiches, and refrigerate at least 2 hours to overnight to let the cookies soften.


Fillings are limitliess from simple butter cream and raspberry jam to

Chocolate Ganache

1/2 cup heavy cream
3 1/2 ounces dark chocolate, finely chopped (preferably 70 percent cacao)
1/2 ounce (1 tablespoon) unsalted butter, softened

Bring cream to a boil in a saucepan over medium-high heat. Pour cream over chocolate in a heatproof bowl. Let stand for 2 minutes. Add butter, then whisk mixture until smooth. Let cool, stirring often. Use immediately.


as always, an interesting request....
CHEF

Thanks a lot Chef! I'll be making them (probably) tonight. I'll try to remember to take a picture and post the result!

The soup didn't take long to make. I just don't want to get up another half hour early to make soup before the gym before work before school at night.

Now please give me ice cream recipes. Also is there anything special I need to know about storage of ice cream? I saw a video where the lady said 5 days max because of the eggs...not sure if serious. And if she is serious why is my frozen pasta good with eggs but not the ice cream?

I have another question about the macarons. Is it really necessary to separate the the whites and let them sit in the fridge overnight? What does that do?

remember I have not baked professionally or much at home for over 30 years...IF I recall it has something to do with the proteins breaking down increasing
ability of the whites to hold better..again, been a VERY  long time and much gumbo under the heat lamp..

I'll definitely do that then.  That's really interesting. I think the chemistry behind the baking is really interesting.

Thank you again.  

Chef - You've helped me out in the past and offered some much appreciated input
on help I've needed and asked for in the past. I could use a little guidance on my
next foray into a commercial style kitchen to do 50 - 60 covers soon.

I'm a member of the BPOE - Elks and have been asked once again to cook dinner for
50-60 on a Friday in lent. Last year I made pan seared Chilean Sea Bass wrapped in a shredded
potato nest with a roasted red pepper burre blanc, haricot verts and baby red parsleyed
"smashers" for 60 or so and it was a tremendous success. I guess they're not really
covers, but glorified catering and I learned a valuable lesson between being an accomplished
home cook with visions of grandeur and "real life" in a busy commercial style kitchen including
days of prep work and shopping.  I also "broke the bank" with the Patagonian tooth fish at 20+
a pound so have been asked to reel in the costs this time. (A little bit anyway)

This time I'll be making stuffed flounder fillets, vegetable medely (squash, carrots, snow peas, etc.)
and a rice pilaf of some sort. Still fine tuning the pilaf, but I'm pretty close to what I want, the veges are pretty
straightforward, but am looking for a stuffing recipie/style for the flounder that will WOW them once again.

Most of what I've ever made/had was too heavy on the bread and for the most part OK but not
spectacular.  I'm thinking of putting shrimp/scallops/jumbo lump crab in it but want to compliment
the fish - not overwhelm it.  I live on the ocean and have some really good fish mongers locally and can
get just about anything fresh that I could need. I've been bouncing the idea of cornbread stuffing,
wild rice in there for texture and clam juice/broth and shrimp stock for moisture but then remember
I'm making pilaf so I dont want 2 rices and think cornbread might be too much for the fish.

Any thoughts or creative sparks to lean me in a good direction?  Also, what do you think is the best way to
hold the cooked fillets awaiting service without a warming oven? I'm thinking undercook and hold in a regular
oven set to 150 or so or chafing trays but fish is so suseptible to overcooking and drying out.  Any ideas?

I will pull up some ice cream recipes..
the issue with fresh made icecream is that lack of carregian and or gaur gum and other fillers used in commercial ice creams, so yes it does break down and get's freezer burned quickly.
it's more to do with the "frothyness" of the egg/cream combination than just the egg. The bubbles, IE Thin strands of eggcream crystalizes quickly and breaks down and can give a rather unpleasent taste profile past day 3 or 4..Preservatives and fillers is what keeps other blended frozen foods together and even they have a real limited freezer life V frozen steaks or chicken breasts..

OK..this will take some thinking and 6am saturday and only on one cup of coffe is not the time to get into this..
but.

my Immediate thought was...

use a LIGHT Tortilla shell with the fish rolled into it filled with a light stuffing of the crab, shrimp, scallop, Oyster filling the interior..
eaiser to hold for certain, differnt presentation..bit of a mexican slant,,
add a pilaf made with saffron mushrooms and jalapenos sided with grilled veggies and you may have something that Pops..

or,,phylo cups, drop the jalapenos..pre salad of romaine, fete, greek olives...sour dough with olive oil infused with reduced balsamic vinigar...

Awesome, thank you. Thanks for the lesson too!

moose,,
check the indexes there are some ice cream recipes in them IIRC...
if not, let me know

CHEF

Results of the macaron experiment:



They don't LOOK like macarons are supposed to, but they taste right. Meaning that they taste DELICIOUS.    The bittersweet chocolate ganache is the perfect filling. My husband ate a whole spoonful of the ganache before I could stop him though, and then he wanted to know why I was ruining the cookies.  

I don't know what happened, but they didn't expand in the oven at all. They puffed up a teeny-tiny bit, and then they deflated once I took them out of the oven.

Raw batter:


After baking:


Stuffed:

Will do.

not a lot of expansion, you're making merinque, it's pretty stable, your just "setting" the merinque with heat.

looks.you may have overworked the whites..too much whipping
..if you're using a pastry bag, get the tip closer to the paper..nearly bury the tip just at the top of the merinque as you draw up..use a smooth, even press
if your spooning,,again you want the spoon to be inside the drop, using a mild jerking/patting motion as you take  the spoon out of the "drop".
practice makes it smoother, like the cruly que on a dairy queen cone..

they look very nice and glad husband enjoyed the ganache..

Thanks for the tips. I'm definitely going to try again once we eat up this batch.  

Chef,

Do you have a recommendation for a book or other resource that has many recipes for emulsified sausages? All of my charcuterie and sausage books have one or two fairly generic recipes (weisswurst, frankforters, mortadella, etc..) But I would like the recipes for other sausages I have had growing up in a German househould (yachtwurst, swievelwurst, bierwurst, etc..). I have been looking with no great results.

Thank you in advance for your time and efforts!

I don't usually get into a lot of book recomendations as I could spend days doing so..I only have a couple of dozen or so cook books myself and generally used them over the years for
Ideas and reference materials...as I am retired, I don't buy new ones any longer as my personal tastes and preference are rather simple and diabetes keeps me on a pretty limited diet.

so..
Bruce Aidell is the KING of sausage making, made a career out of it..while he has retired he has a full line of suasage, meatball, and hot dog products available in
costco, kroger, safeway's and central markets lots of his products are chicken based with a varity of others, His taste profiles are excellent..

.aidells book of sausage and  other recipes

I have this one and it's pretty good

I ordered the Rytek Kutas book. IT had been recommended to me a few times. Your recommendation kicked it over the edge. There are a LOT of sausage recipes and techniques in there. I am on board with you for only using cook books for ideas. But it is helpful to know ratios that have successfully worked for other people if nothing else. I almost if not always deviate from the seasoning to suite the flavor I am going for.

Thanks Again

Successful macarons!

Chocolate with nutella mousse.  

Nice!

BRAVISIMO...
Next you'll be wsnting to wear Le Gran Toque!!!

Merci

Thanks Chef! I'm nowhere near a professional chef, I just like to bake. (and eat!)

what, you don't want to work 100+ hours a week and become cranky, mean and cynical in your dottage
chef

Back on page 11 you posted a recipe for queso fundido. Is that what I should make to be the queso dip that you can order at a Mexican restaurant that they serve with chips?

IN good mexican restaurants, Yes..and usally it's flaming when arrival at table.

some just use "white Ready Melt" or similar cheese with salsa mixed in..it's OK but not good..

Cool. My husband mentioned that he wanted queso, and that we haven't found a good Mexican place since we moved back in July. So I said I'd ask and then make some myself.  

Thanks!

Nom!

EXCELLENT


looks very tasty...needed it with my Fajita Nacho's and Shiner dinner..

Thank you for sharing a great "snak pic"

I've been using the Ask the Chef archives lately.    I made oatmeal wheat bread last week and tres leches cake this week.

Hmm I like both of those recipes very much..

thread only gets used when it's bumped to the top so when I have time to answer a few questions, I bump it up..


been going on a LOOONNNGGGG time..folks move one...

I'm still here. I haven't found the directory lacking, yet. I'd like to do something big for my wife on Sunday. I'd like to do something that looks impressive, but isn't terribly difficult. Any ideas?

nice rack of lamb???


Ingredients
2 lamb racks (about 8 to 9 ribs each)
1/2 cup extra-virgin olive oil, plus 2 tablespoons
4 garlic cloves, unpeeled and crushed
2 (4-inch) rosemary sprigs, crushed
6 thyme sprigs, crushed
4 rosemary sprigs, for garnish
Freshly ground black pepper
Sea salt

Directions
Clean the rib bones well by scraping off meat and sinew with a small sharp knife. Cut the racks in 1/2 so that each has four ribs. Mix together the olive oil, crushed garlic, crushed rosemary and thyme sprigs in a large bowl. Add the lamb and coat well. Grind some coarse black pepper over all. Wrap well and marinate the racks overnight.

The next day remove the lamb from the marinade and scrape off as many herbs as possible. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F.

Heat a large saute pan over medium-high heat and add 2 tablespoons of olive oil. Season the lamb well with salt; no additional pepper should be necessary, and sear fat side down until golden, about 7 minutes. Turn over so that the fat side is up and roast in the preheated oven for 20 to 30 minutes. Let the rack rest for 10 minutes before cutting.

To serve, cut each lamb rack into 4 equal pieces, 2 bones per chop and serve on individual plates or a platter with the accompaniments of your choice.

one thing I did for years on Easter sunday brunch was to serve La Lappine...




1/2 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon pepper
1 (3 pound) rabbit meat, cleaned and cut into pieces
3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
2 cups thinly sliced onions
1 1/2 pounds mushrooms, thinly sliced
2 tablespoons chopped garlic
1 tablespoon chopped fresh thyme
1 tablespoon chopped fresh basil
1 tablespoon chopped fresh rosemary
2 bay leaves
2 cups amber beer
1 quart chicken stock
3 tablespoons all-purpose flour
2 tablespoons softened butter
1 tablespoon minced fresh parsley

Directions

1.Place 1/2 cup flour, salt, and pepper into a plastic bag; toss to mix. Add the rabbit pieces, toss to coat with the flour mixture, and shake off excess. Heat 2 tablespoons of olive oil in a Dutch oven over medium-high heat until lightly smoking.

2.Sear the rabbit pieces on each side until golden brown, then set aside. Pour in the remaining tablespoon of olive oil and stir in the sliced onions. Cook until the onions have softened, about 2 minutes; then stir in the mushrooms and garlic, cook for an additional 2 minutes. Add the thyme, basil, rosemary, and bay leaves; season to taste with salt and pepper.

3.Place the browned rabbit pieces into the Dutch oven, and pour in the beer and chicken stock. Bring to a boil over high heat, then reduce heat to medium-low, cover, and simmer until the rabbit is very tender, 25 to 30 minutes.

4.Stir 3 tablespoons of flour into the softened butter until smooth. Remove the rabbit from the simmering broth and set aside. Skim any visible fat from the liquid, then whisk in the butter paste. Simmer for 3 or 4 minutes until thickened, then remove the bay leaves, season again with salt and pepper if needed, and stir in the parsley. Serve the thickened sauce with braised rabbit