Sounds like the dough is a bit dry. One way to remedy this is to wrap the dough with a damp warm cloth and rest for about 30 minutes. It should hydrate. At this point don't knead anymore, simply run through your pasta machine.

The right pasta dough is tricky and requires a bit of experience. Your instinct to stop was correct. At the same time let the dough tell you what it needs: moisture or flour. And rest is always welcomed.

Good question. Much depends on the heat, the lower, the slower, but also the better. For a brown roux, and especially a Cajun roux, low and slow is preferred. Also, for large amount it takes much longer to cook the mixture. Understand that there was a time when rouxs ruled, and the saucier would take all the time necessary to bring out the best nutty profile of the flour and butter solids - even the quality of the flour and butter or lard made a huge difference. Rouxs don't serve the same purpose anymore, but thanks for putting in the spotlight.

So, it's up to you: low and slow, or let's raise the heat a bit.

Knives, even Japanese, don't have to have a two stage bevel, but this does produce a better cutting edge. However, it does take a very steady hand to achieve it. Rod systems are easier to control, but don't produce that fine glassy edge like hard and ultra fine whet stones, and you want this for a bevelled edge. A sharpening guide that can be attached to the knife (Lee Valley, I believe, sells them) to achieve a consistent edge will work.

Unless adding whole meats to your sauce, then longer cooking does not make sense. But on its own too long a cooking will take away from the tomato flavor and simply concentrate the sugars in the sauce. It does become a matter of taste, but a fresh tomato flavor is more often desired, and this means less cooking time.

Arborio or carnaroli rice are best for risotto methods. They both don't steam very well (swell up way too much) or work well as a pilaf. But the rest of the experimenting you've done sounds interesting.

Good questions. And this tells you how tricky beurre blanc is, and how much experience you need to handle all its nuances. Your instincts to add water were right, but you may have to balance it with lemon juice for flavor. This sauce thickens as it cools, so it really likes to be made and used right away for optimal consistency.

You can never over-reduce a gastride too much, as I've seen some chefs reduce it dry (au sec).

Don't worry about pouring the sauce over hot food, but again, good question.

So, Manille, imagine after a few tries at this sauce, you'll be a beurre blanc expert.

Some people, especially Italians who love things simple, love tomato sauce simply to taste of tomatoes, and not much else. However, we often expect more. So, add more. Use the sauce as your base and elaborate it with ingredients you like: spicy sausages, peppers, more garlic, chilies, olives, capers, tuna, etc. Remember, cooking starts with a fundamental base, then you can build on that as you please. Some need more building blocks, some need less, depending on taste.

Run it under warm or hot water and wring it.

Two possibilities. 1) The dough needed some rest before rolling - this minimizes shrinking. 2) The dough dried out a little, which explains the undulations. I recommend resting the dough wrapped with a warm cloth at room temperature for about 1 hour before rolling. Also, check to see that the machine's rollers are totally parallel. But keep at it. It takes a few tries to roll like a pro.

With boning knives you need to basically focus on the top third of the blade. Since it curves, curve the action of sharpening as well to get an even edge.

It is normal to get a bit of a concave on your stone - you just want to minimize it. They do sell a special stone to grind down and flatten stones, but by simply rubbing two stones together you achieve the same result.

I'm sure a drop or two won't hurt, and it will help prevent foaming. As an instructor i've noticed it's better to tell people to avoid doing something that might and will be abused and end with compromised results. A drop can be interpreted as a teaspoon, and even that much is a no-no.

Not sure what Muir Glen means by this...except I suppose they DON'T use chemically made citric acid. I've used their tomatoes with success. But, again, if citric acid has to be used, whether naturally derived or not, means the tomatoes lacked the right sugar content to preserve WITHOUT citric acid. However, some tomato types and areas they are grown may require citric acid for safe canning.

You'll have to test and see as brands will differ. But I would still salt the chicken inside-out, though less liberally.

Having a rack is definitely an option, but its advantage is that it allows for even cooking, especially for bigger birds or ones with lots of fat which are ideally cooked on the side and turned rather than just on its back and in a pool of hot fat. Using a bed of mirepoix is somewhat of a compromise as at least the vegetables will create some sucs of their own. Also, you can get sucs by simply laying out a few necks along with some mirepoix while the bird above roasts evenly.

So here's another case of choice and experience. You're given two ways from two reliable sources. But by making a simple adjustment, both ways now achieve the primary results - sucs and even cooking. This is what cooking is all about: we learn, do, reflect, think, re-do, dialogue, experience, share. Believe me, once you get to the latter stages, what I call the grandma stages of cooking, its the most rewarding experience in all of cooking!

Just had great coffee this morning.

A couple of possibilities here. One, the dough needed just a bit more flour. Also, make sure when bringing the dough together, there are no pockets of flour inside the dough. It appears you were also perhaps too delicate bringing the dough together - a bit of gluten is good, too much will make them tough. Finally, let the dough rest for at least 20 minutes before cutting and rolling. The longer the rest, the better the flour absorbs the moisture evenly. So, a bit more flour, more deliberate bringing together of the dough, and longer rest before cutting.

Gnocchi - what a delicate thing, eh?

Firstly, be weary of taste tests - citric acid fools the palate in thinking the tomatoes are better. The best tomatoes are the ones picked at their prime, and San Marzano tomatoes are intended to be tasted only after they have been cooked, not raw (in fact, they are not ideal tomatoes eaten raw).

Bobby, you've solved your consistency issue with your first solution - the one with the most common sense. If you were cooking the sauce for a long period of time, say with browned meats in it, your second solution would then work perfectly.

Keep up your problem solving skills. Remember, the best cookbook you'll ever own is the one you write yourself from trial and error in your OWN test kitchen.

Tough one without visuals. I'd start with the backbone, and cut along it from both sides with a scissor to remove it. Open up the quail and start ripping off the rib cage with your fingers, and use your scissor rather than a knife (quails are small enough for this) to clip off shoulder bones and hip bones. Then simply take it as far as you'd like with the thigh bone and wishbone. Our pro students have to do it for the first time, but they get pretty good at it after 3-4 others. You do eventually feel your way around it.

No problem with drying pasta, even with egg in it; however, it must be completely dried and never stored in the refrigerator. Also, when cooking the dried pasta, make sure to cook it long enough so it is tender.

Store-bought pasta that comes in nests means it has egg in it - the protein in egg makes the pasta curl - so there are no issues with dried pasta with egg, as long as there's no moisture around.

If you're going to hold the gnocchi for any length of time, best to simply pre-cook them, cool them in ice water and immediately lay them on a tray with a touch of olive oil. Then can then be stored in the refrigerator for at least two days. Simply reheat in sauce, with no need to dunk them in simmering water again.

Uncooked gnocchi can rest on a floured counter for a couple of hours, but don't transfer them to a refrigerator because they can absorb moisture and become sticky.

And you can actually freeze and reheat stocks as often as you please without compromising much of its flavor or safety. In fact, refrigerator stored stocks can be boiled, cooled, dated, and restored to extend shelf life in the fridge. This kills bacteria and a practice used often in the industry to avoid having to throw out a precious liquid.