"The Secrets of Baking" by Sherry Yard. If you don't know how to to bake, you will by the end of this book. She gives a master recipe at the beginning of each chapter that is the building block for many sophisticated desserts.
I can really relate to the onion problem. I often wondered how they manage to chop onions on TV without blubbering through the show. Over the years I've tried some pretty goofy ideas (just try chopping an onion under running water-the good news-the blood goes right down the drain!) The best tip I've used is to chill the onions for 30 minutes or so before chopping. (Given your 3 hour time schedule for the recipe, this shouldn't be a problem!)
I make wedding cakes for a living, and I can't help but think that it would be would be awfully nice to have 10 days (!) to do my design work on the cake-but happily for my brides all my cakes are made from scratch, so I've usually got a 48 hour window to bake and get my design work done.
I've never understood what people find so amusing about Paula Dean's cooking style. It's really terrible. There is some great good cooked in the the south, but you wouldn't know it by watching her.
Deleware would have to be peach. (but I do so miss Blue Bell Ice Cream-The Best Ice Cream in the country!)
I use parchment paper all the time, and in very hot ovens (450 + degrees), and I've never had it ignite. (It will turn brown) I do think it helps prevent baked goods from browning on the botton too quickly. Silpats do the same thing, but there's that whole clean up thing...I also use cream and turbinado sugar for sparkle and crunch.
Ellios: It's Ramsay, not Ramsey.
P.S. Paula Deen stinks, the best chef in the world is Gordon Ramsey.
I have to say I LOVE burgers, all kinds of burgers. Cheese, chicken, turkey, pizza, anything! Burgers with onion rings, burgers with bacon, even burgers with mash potatoes like the new one at BK! But this is not a burger. A DONUT? A FRIED EGG? That is disgusting, especially the donut part. Theres some foods you dont mix and this is the best example of that.
I'd probably pick one of Rick Bayless's books. I've made a few of his dishes, and what I love is that I don't always know what the end product is going to be, exactly, but so far it's all been good. Of course, I'd probably get tired of Mexican food after about 6 months.
What would probably be fun is making every recipe in a cookie cookbook I've got. Nothing earthshaking, probably not a lot new to learn, but I'd probably have a lot of fun giving cookies away to everyone I know.
My mom has a "Cake Doctor" book, which is all recipes that involve adding things to cake mixes. I recently made a rum cake with yellow cake mix and vanilla pudding mix (not a real rum cake, I know), and my co-workers raved about it -- especially the rum-pecan glaze I made with brown sugar and butter. And I'm crazy, but I love the batter. I like homemade best, but the results can be mixed. Sometimes the cake comes out too small or too dry.
As a rule, I wouldn't be caught dead serving anything made from a box. However, I did "come out of the baking closet" recently, when I tried AND admitted making a "Mexican Chocolate Brownie" featured on the Pillsbury Bake Off Contest page. It was actually VERY good. But I also suspect that the addition of 1-1/2 cups of Ghiradelli 60% baking chips had a GREAT deal to do with the outcome. Aside from that, growing up with that artificial cake mix smell, was deterrent enough to keep me away from the boxed stuff for life.
I bake some pretty big birthday cakes and use Moist deluxe only. Usually 4 mixes divided into 2 big pans.Forget the tubs, I make a peanut butter/cream cheese whipped mousse filling, A milk chocolate frosting made with hershey kisses then covered with a chocolate ganache. For a good size birthday party there isn't a crumb left. It prob. weighs in at 25lbs or so!!!! Requested all the time.
Ehhh, whatever. Take a box. Add 4 eggs, a packet of instant pudding mix that compliments the flavor and a cup or so of milk. Hell, maybe a half stick of soft butter just for kicks. Mix. Bake. Eat.
Better than most bakeries can produce, thats for sure.
How do you compare all box mixes when your control cake is made using the "lighter" version and iced? And then you want to compare it to a lemon bar mix or a crepe mix...how do you compare those to an iced marble fudge cake?
You are just doing taste tests of different box mixes, which will be interesting and helpful when in a pinch, but you can't use your "control" cake for comparisons.
I don't make or eat a lot of sweets. However, I do have a weakness for the boxed Ghirardelli double chocolate brownie mix. Yes, I know brownies are easy to make from scratch. I've made them. But these particular boxed ones are darn tasty and so very, very fast.
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