Thanks for the explanation, I tried some of the NYT no-knead bread that's supposed to generate steam by using a pre-heated dutch oven in a hot oven. The bread was nice and crusty but I found the crumb to be not very good, too many huge bubbles inside. Your crumb looks a little more uniform. It might be a matter of overhydration of the bread dough but I'll have to give your method a try too.

I have had great success with the no knead bread, there are several variants, and the one I use is from Jim Lahey's book, My Bread. I got the recipe from a weekend edition of the Globe and Mail newspaper (Canada)

I have also had great success with this recipe:

http://vanillaandlace.blogspot.com/2...nch-boule.html

I use the no-kitchenaid-mixer variant.

can i get a recipe on this please?

bubbles also have a lot to do with shaping. Are you doing boule's? they tend to have smaller holes then loafs or baguettes.

Also as far as the kneading thing goes. If you Autolyse (combine water and flour only, wait 30 minutes, then add yeast and salt and mix lightly) you dont need to knead the dough. I pretty much do that all the time (unless im adding like herbs or something to the bread, then kneading helps homogonize the dough).

Don't know if this is the right place, but I'm totally useless at cooking- looking to improve. The other night we had nothing to eat except shrimps, smoked salmon, and some pasta. What do you think you could add to this to turn it into a good meal?
I was thinking zucchini and some oil based sauce or something, but I'm stabbing in the dark

Personally, i would make an alfredo sauce. Its fairly easy and you can make a personal portion or enough for a family relatively quickly. In a saucepan combine about 2:1 cream and butter, a good amount of parmasean (more than you think you would need), salt, pepper, and i like to add some ground chipotle for heat. Experiment around with the proper amount of cream:butter: parm ratio. Just simmer it in a saucepan while whisking until the cheese blends and you have a smooth sauce. Add diced tomatoes, zuchini, artichoke hearts, onions, mushrooms, or just about any veggie, along with either the shrimp or salmon.

Ill prolly get flamed for this but a suuuper easy and cheap garlic bread- buttered hot dog buns sprinkled with garlic powder under the broiler for a minute or two.

Did it turn out like you expected?

3am blackened shrimp salad w/ feta + almonds and Champagne vinaigrette

Sure, I cheated a bit on the broth and chicken because my girlfriend was sick and had to get this done as quick as possible. It took me 45 minutes this way.

I bought one of those pre-cooked oven roasted whole chickens from Vons/Safeway and just picked the meat off of that and threw it into the soup toward the end. Also, I used the carton of chicken broth, instead of making that from scratch.

You need:

1 onion(chopped)
3-4 carrots(chopped)
3-4 sticks of celery(chopped)
12-16oz of egg noodles
1 whole chicken
1 box of Matzo Meal
1 carton of Chicken Broth(also a plus to add vegetable broth)

Spices I used: Basil, Garlic Salt, Pepper, Parsley, Poultry Seasoning

I made the egg noodles, while simmering the broth, carrots, onions, celery, and then eventually through them in with the chicken.

I cooked the Matzo Balls separate and threw them in at the end too. There are two ways you can make these. Dense(as shown in the picture), or larger and fluffier(which I prefer, but didn't have time).

You mix 2 eggs, a tablespoon of veggie oil, and the contents of the Matzo Meal package together until thick. Throw this in the fridge for 15-20 minutes to harden. Not too much longer though or it won't be good. Take out of fridge, mold into 3-6 Balls, and dump into boiling water. Continue to boil for 15-20 minutes.

If you want the larger, fluffier balls: cover the pot as soon as you dump the balls into the boiling water and boil them for longer, like 30 minutes.

Enjoy.

If anyone who knows how to make a good Matzo Ball Soup, and wishes to add to this, please do. I know my brother makes the chicken and broth by boiling the chicken in the big pot.

Never read this thread while hungry....

OOT Cooks,

Robuchon potatoes and butter poached salmon.

We used the classic ratio of 2lbs of potato:1lb of butter. Passed it through the sieve twice. Making these potatoes is a super pain in the ass.

For poaching salmon, sauteed some garlic and shallots in olive oil, added a half cup of white wine and brought it to a boil, added a bunch of dill, rosemary, and thyme, reduced heat and let it cool down. Then started mixing in a couple sticks of butter, keeping temp pretty low about 140 degrees. Cooked the salmon five minutes, flipped it, and cooked it another five minutes. Super easy.





Salmon was so moist and delicious.



We made some mixed berry cobbler for dessert, though we were too full to eat very much of it.



The potatoes went through this drum sieve/flour sifter twice.

Cobbler looks a little runny but very nice otherwise.

knives,

Agreed. Girl was in charge of the cobbler. I prefer the style of cobbler where the dough is sort of all intermingled w/ the fruit rather than the biscuit on top style, but this still turned out pretty damn delicious. (Also it wasn't as runny as it looks in the pic - that was empty space where some juice had run after a couple pieces were scooped out)

bravo.

I brought back some iberco ham for my boss over Chinese new years when i went back to the states (place by me sells it).

So he bought me some very nice truffles (White) after his trip to shanghai.

But i have no idea how to cook with them.

Don't "cook" with them at all. White truffles are too delicate to be used for anything other than freshly shaving over a dish. They are great grated finely over eggs, pasta or risotto.

Hey guys, made this the other day in cooking school where we had to build a plate with salmon made two ways.

hate the brown smear of poo-looking sauce. Is that salmon mi cuit and tartare?

poo smear was my first thought too. i'm not inherently opposed to making a plate look fancy but i think the smear does more harm than good in this case

Ty

Made osso bucco and rissotto last night and shaved a couple grams over the rice. OMFG was fantastic.

How do you do the poo smear? Using a brush? If so, just brush onto plate, or drip some on the plate and then brush?

that looks great. Didn't see it as poo smear until others mentioned it. Shame.

In cooking school, do they teach you about plating?

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If you've got an ipad, mario batali has a pretty sweet cooking app. I'm just going to post the picture form from my blog. The food is really good!






soffrito







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caprese









nom

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Grilled Cheese









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Bucatini All’Amatraciana







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Vodka pasta

we spent like 6 hours eating :O

Nice photos

+1 good stuff

Syous,

Excellent.