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RE: Rent-a-don report

Well, at least a SMIDGEN of a clue I've got... Probably more. MUCH more.

Astrophysics I know NOTHING about (you could write a book about all I DON'T
know about that!), but food I DO know about... Lemme explain. I've been
cooking for over ten years at a 'high level' -- ever since I was at the
Baltimore International Culinary College (where I learned the basics), I've
been reading about and practicing my cooking skills, and refining them
through continuing education classes like the Gourmet Cooking class I am
currently attending. (For those that have seen my software collection, you
will have a special appreciation for this next line...) My cooking resource
collection is LARGER than my software collection! Check this:
http://makeashorterlink.com/?S1945548, for example.

My comments about Don's work were mostly centered around how the various
components of his meal hung together and their interaction... I'm sure that
the individual food components were well-executed -- I've tried Don's
Amaretto Cheesecake and found it to be quite good. Menu planning, though, is
something that is surprisingly difficult -- it's something that can still be
a challenge for me. I question the component choices, especially the variety
of citrus components.

Beyond that, there was the usual amount of jabs from The Drew (tm)...
Nailing Dr. Don for misspelling "medley", not listing all of his
ingredients, the listing of my past grades, and Don making the folks WORK
during a "Rent-A-Don" experience are all Grade-A vintage Drew.

Love,
-drew

P.S. The idea of the "art in a can" dessert is cute. If you want to
caramelize condensed milk (it's wonderful!), it's best NOT to boil it in the
can for the following reasons... You cannot determine when it's done (since
you cannot see into the can without opening it), and there is the very real
(trust me) danger of the cans EXPLODING if the pot boils dry (which it may
do if you forget to check it during the 3-4 hour (!) cooking time). You can
get better results using a bain-marie which allows more control, allows you
to flavor the caramel if you wish (some ginger or vanilla in there toward
the end of cooking can be quite nice), and is considerably safer.

Picture this... You open the can that you boiled to find that it's not quite
done enough. What do you do? Fire up the bain-marie and finish it off! So,
kitchen wisdom tells you that you should START it in something that can
FINISH it, because that's Less Work (tm). That's part of the point of
mise-en-place.

> -----Original Message-----
> From: Don Smith [mailto:dasmith at rotse2_physics.lsa.umich.edu] 
> Sent: Tuesday, March 12, 2002 5:00 PM
> Subject: Re: Rent-a-don report
> 
> > I would appeal it if I were you Don.
> 
> Well, if he had one smidgen of a clue, I might.  But seeing 
> as how (a) he wasn't there, (b) he clearly missed the point 
> of the assemble-it-yourself salad (for one thing, Jessyka 
> doesn't like blue cheese, and was thereby able to adjust the 
> amount of blue cheese on her salad, thus making the eating of 
> it more pleasurable than it would have been if I had just 
> decided how much she was going to get, for another, it was 
> part of the point that the meal provide its own means of 
> engaging creatively with it, rather than having everything 
> handed to one on a platter.  One delightful meal I read about 
> once was an actual work of art, with each course referencing 
> some period in the history of art: dessert was a can of 
> condensed milk, but the label had been carefully steamed off, 
> and the can had been boiled just enough to get the contents 
> to carmelize.  Then the label was re-attached and the can was 
> served with a can-opener and a spoon.  I think that's a 
> *brilliant* idea.  But if Drew can't open his mind to new 
> possibilities, well, that's his loss, not mine.) and (c) he 
> didn't step back and see how the dishes linked together to 
> provide a coherent whole for the evening, I really don't 
> think his attempt to grade me is at all relevant.  I'll go by 
> the reactions of the people who were there, thank you very much.
> 
> :-P
> -- 
> Don Smith                          Robotic Optical Transient 
> Search Experiment
> donaldas at umich_edu                                
> http://xte.mit.edu/~dasmith/
> 
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