Have a new pot. Would love to know how you guys do it. Thanks!

how can you bake a cake evenly in a cake pan (one without the hole) so that it does not overcook for the ends? 12 ” X 5 “?

 

 Chocolate Tasting [53:11m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Want to know which chocolate is best for baking?

Learn how chocolate is made, all about the types and brands of chocolates, how to read labels and select the perfect chocolate for making your favorite recipes, and then experience a step-by-step tasting with cookbook author and chocolate expert, Carole Bloom.

ChefsLine’s ‘Chocolate Tasting’ is a 45 minute podcast of a live event with Carole and ChefsLine members held in 2007. During this event, we also celebrate the official release of The Essential Baker cookbook and review that book’s two mos exciting chocolate recipes, Dark Chocolate Madeleines and White Chocolate Shortbread Triangles.

I’m in the middle of making some cookies and I messed up. I was supposed to let the butter soften, but I nuked it since I was in a hurry. I ended up using melted butter instead of softened butter. According to the recipe, I was to beat the butter and powdered sugar until light and fluffy. Mine is not light and fluffy. Is there anyway to save this, or do I need to start over? FWIW, here is the recipe I was making: http://tinyurl.com/3xyjkj

How do I cook a bottom round roast? We like our meat rare too. Also, what seasoning should I use????

It’s hard to beat rare roast beef, but the perfect roast, a prime rib roast, is expensive. So, like Leslie who asks, “How do I cook a bottom round roast? We like our meat rare too. Also, what seasoning should I use?” we wonder how to make good roast beef on the cheap. Fortunately, it is doable.

This is a tough cut of meat. It’s a muscle the animal uses a lot and it has very little fat (marbling) to break up the strands of meat. The typical approach to such cuts is to braise them in liquid — bottom round is a popular choice for pot roast. But braising won’t produce a rare roast. If you want rare, you need to roast it.

Allow the roast to warm up on the counter for two hours.

Heat the oven to 475F.

Crush a couple of garlic cloves and rub them all over the roast. Next, season the meat liberally with salt and pepper and ground rosemary, then put it on a rack in a roasting pan, lay several strips of bacon over it, and cook it for 10 minutes. Reduce the temperature to 250F and continue cooking until a thermometer reads 115F in the center of the roast (1 - 2 hours depending on the size of the roast). Crank the heat back up to 475F and cook until the thermometer reads 125F. (Note: an instant-read thermometer is far superior to the old-fashioned roasting thermometers with the big dial.) Remove from the oven, cover with foil, and let it rest for 15 minutes before carving.

The slow roasting insures that as much meat as possible is at the ideal degree of doneness.

If you want a more tender and flavorful roast, you can age it. Set the roast on a rack in roasting pan on the bottom shelf of your refrigerator — it should not, repeat not, be covered. Allow it to age for 5 - 7 days. During this time enzymes in the meat will both tenderize the flesh and improve the flavor. During this time the roast will also dry out on the outside. At the end of that time, use a very sharp knife to carve off the dried meat then roast as detailed above.

An aged roast looks terrible when it first comes out of the fridge, but if you cover it with anything in refrigerator it will spoil, by not covering it the moisture in the outer flesh evaporates quickly enough to keep bacteria from reproducing and spoiling the meat. Cut off the dried meat and you have a beautiful roast.

 

 Picking Out Knives Podcast, Repost [3:42m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Which knives do great chefs use? Listen now to Chef Erika and learn which knives your kitchen cannot live without. And for all the brides and grooms out there - it’s not too late to add a few more items to your registry and begin the knife collection for a lifetime.

 

 Crepes 101, Repost [5:05m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Crepes are so pretty and so fun to make. In celebration of Ratatouille, Chefs JoAnna wants to introduce you to the finer points of the crepe. Listen now and learn how to prepare crepes in this 4 minute audio cooking class, Crepes 101. Chef JoAnna gives you her insider tips on how to turn yourself into a crepe making machine in no time! Look out nutella.

RECIPES

Basic Crepe Recipe

Crepes Suzette

I do not have semisweet chocolate or butterscotch chips. What can I use instead of 1-1/3 cups (325 ml) semisweet chocolate or butterscotch chips and by how much?

Khatija asks: “What can I use instead of 1-1/3 cups (325 ml) semisweet chocolate or butterscotch chips and by how much?”

Without knowing what you’re making, I would say you can probably substitute semisweet or bittersweet baking chocolate cut into pieces about the same size as a chocolate chip. One cup of chocolate chips weighs 6 ounces, so 1 1/3 cup would weigh 8 ounces. So cut up 8 ounces of baking chocolate.

Chef Kevin