$crilla,

1st plate: The lighter colored sauce (and I'm curious to know what the two sauces are) going around the plate in a circle is kinda silly looking.

2nd plate: This one sounds and looks the best.

3rd plate: I assume that since you're from australia, a pudding = a muffiny type thing? I think the plating here could've been really impressive. Try this: scoop the ice cream straight onto the pudding, then stick one corner of the tuile on the top center of the ice cream, getting it to stick out as high as possible. Then drizzle the caramel sauce from a spoon in a random swirly way all around it. Then sprinkle the crushed macadamias all around the plate. Tuiles should generally be used as an opportunity to make the plate look impressive in an architectural way.

Avocado puree and cocktail sauce (homemade mayo,ketchup,cayenne,lemon etc)

Ya i wasn't happy with any of my plating, i pretty much couldn't be bothered to make it look pretty.

i hate round plates for certain things, if i had a rectangle long plate i would of been able to do something better.

And i also hate ice cream on top of desserts, i always put it on the side whether it be on top of a praline or whatever.

I made a curved triangle tuille and was planning on quennelling the ice cream and it basically would of sat inside the tuille, couldn't be bothered.

And its basically a moist banana cake, i just called it a pudding for the sake of calling it something.

Thanks for your tips though i know what u mean.

On the subject of cooking chicken, 60-68 degrees Celcius internal temp (idno farenheight)
will result in cooked and still moist chicken.

Chicken is one of the easiest proteins to cook.

Just make sure you rest it for the appropriate time.

The ballotine i cooked above was pulled from poaching at 55, and then once browned on the outside to crisp the prosciutto, and then finished in the oven after it had rested was around 63-65 hovering.

perfectly moist.

Slow roasted lamb shoulder for dinner last night, was my first time doing something like this and it was definitely a success!

Very nice Roy. Recipe?

That looks delicious.

The recipe was Gordon Ramsay's fiery lamb shanks which I just used for the shoulder: http://www.lifestylefood.com.au/reci...ked-fiery-lamb

Served it with some spiced yoghurt and charred pita bread and just made our own little wraps/bites with the lamb, very tasty.

I hope mediocre pictures and baked goods are allowed. I made chocolate chip cookies using the SeriousEats recipe. The first batch was too thin and soft/chewy, so I made them again with some adjustments (less egg, browner butter, more baking soda, less mixing of flour), and now they're somewhat closer to how they're supposed to be.

I love that recipe.

My neighbor just brought over a few frozen soft shell crabs he caught not long ago. He was kind of in a rush so I didn't get to ask many questions. He said to basically just throw them in hot oil in a pan. I've never had soft shell crabs (tons of steamed crabs but never soft shell).

Do I defrost them first?
What kind of oil? How hot?
Should I put them in flour first?
Any other seasonings?
Serve as a sandwich?
Anything else?

I'd probably defrost them, though I'm just guessing.

Here is a great recipe, and it gives you a basic outline for cooking your crabs: fry them, then toss them in a nice sauce.

http://www.sbs.com.au/food/recipes/w...b-cua-xao-sate


Edit: here's another one. This is a little simpler, but still quite tasty.

http://www.sbs.com.au/food/recipes/salt-and-pepper-red-crab-cua-rang-muoi

Those sound good but I'm not a very good cook. I talked to my neighbor who dropped them off and he said they usually just defrost them, dip them in a milk/egg mixture, then dip them a mixture of flour, salt, pepper, old bay, whatever else I want. Then drop them on a hot skillet with a whole stick of melted butter. 4 mins a side.

Then back into the wet mixture then back into the dry mixture and back in the pan for 2 mins a side if you want it crispy. He said the crab should feel like lump crab meat like you buy at the store aka kinda hard and dense.

I'll let you know how they turn out!

Thanks a bunch for your recipes. I def did not stumble across those googling. My culinary abilities/lack of ingredients make those tough right now.

I have a bunch of soft shell blue crabs frozen so I'll def be experimenting.

Edit...10 mins a side the first time. 4 mins the socond time. Apparently an undercooked soft shell crab is terrible.

That simple recipe sounds good! Luke makes stuff like that, too. Take pics for us.

Don't be too scared of cooking. The first couple of times that I made something that intimidated me, I was surprised at how good it turned out--despite my clumsy, inexperienced hands.

If you're just looking for crispy soft shell crab, use seasoned cornflour and deep fry.

10 minutes a side seems excessive the crab will be overcooked..

Can't edit my post but ^^ dipped in egg WHITE only first and then seasoned cornflour and deep fry.

I'm assuming you're talking about the little soft shell crabs?

Should take about 5 minutes total..

I just ordered a Sous Vide Supreme and a bunch of other stuff off Amazon. After following this thread, and watching chefsteps videos for awhile now, I finally just said **** it--I'm getting a sous vide. First thing I'm going to make is cheese curds with it (ldo, I'm from Wisconsin). Can't wait!

Butchered these two pieces of pork from a butt: mock belly from the fat cap and mock ham hock from the blade bone. Cured then cold smoked along with some queso fresco.

Had some time labor day weekend, so broke out some chemicals:



Earl grey tea sphere (direct spherification), lime foam (soy lecithin), lemon cube



Marinating reverse spherified olives (oliva sferica; calcium lactate gluconate, xanthan gum, sodium alginate)



Olive and olive pulp on petit toast, reverse spherified olive (flattened a little too much, marinating them has since helped a little bit with that), frozen parmesan foam (soy lecithin) and pecans



White chocolate and nutella powders (n zorbit m), blueberries, strawberries, acai syrup, and caramelized apples that I ended up burning a bit

Ludicrously impressive!!!

BTW, what are you using as a guide for this stuff? Modernist?

Sometimes modernist cuisine, sometimes random recipes I find online, sometimes I just improvise based on typical %s used and logic (like if I were to make parmesan spheres instead of a foam, I'd know I'd need to use reverse spherification because of the calcium content, may not need calcium lactate gluconate, or a smaller than average % by weight, and a typical sodium alginate bath; if a liquid is too thin, maybe add xanthan gum a little at a time; things like that).

I am looking to do a corn chowder and the recipes I have checked out all call for evaporated milk. I would rather use regular milk or cream. Does anyone have a good cream based recipe for soup?

Made some lamb burgers earlier.

Lamb mince, garlic, chili paste, smoked paprika, cumin + coriander. The recipe I was semi following wanted to use a bit of bulgur wheat, I didn't have any so decided to use a small amount of couscous instead.



Homemade rolls



Burgers and chickpea/beetroot/cucumber salad with yoghurt and tahini dressing.

Why does white meat cook faster than dark meat? Calories?