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Matzo brie. Served with charoset (dates, raisins, wine, cinnamon, cardamom, rose water) and nuts, cottage cheese with honey.
 
 

@Kerry Beal, is Hubby, not a big sourdough fan?  I can understand that.  I'm not either.   I only make sourdough because both Moe and Matt like it.  
Lately, I've been just tossing the discard into a batch of yeast dough, when I feed the starter.  That way I get just a slight hint of sourdough flavour, that just enhances the bread
rather than making the sourdough flavour really pronounced. 
 
@Chris Hennes, beautiful loaf.   Love the crumb with the seeds throughout.  I need to try adding some seeds to my breads. 
 
@Smithy, the no knead turned out well.  You even have some shine on the crumb.
 
Today's bake.

750g batch at 75%.   In the fridge for 19 hours.  Left of the counter for three hours to warm up and continue rising. 

Baked in the CSO for the steam and then transferred to the Oster to finish.  
 
 

Brazilian Jubilee Cookies were recommended by my neighbor who said her mom used to make them all the time when she was growing up.   It appears they made an appearance in the 1952 Pillsbury Bake-Off, though did not take the top prize.
Using the full 2T of instant coffee granules gives them a distinct coffee flavor and a bitterness that's offset by the chocolate topping. 

 
I used butter instead of shortening and topped half with milk chocolate and half with dark chocolate.  I found it easier to melt the chocolate and spoon it on top rather than the method described in the recipe. 
Oh, and I lightly toasted the Brazil nuts after chopping them.

Some Burundi A just roasted on my Stir Crazy Convection Oven tonight. Good times. Chapeau to the green coffee coop.

So I finally tried croissants again (stuck in the house and all that  ), and I used this recipe. 
 



They turned out okay, but aren’t as open inside as I’d like. A few issues I ran into along the way. 1. I did 3 simple turns. On the last turn, the dough tore in a few places and it was incredibly hard to roll despite putting it back in the fridge to rest twice during that last turn.
2. I struggled with creating a proper proofing environment. I used my cold oven with some cups of warm water. A few times while switching out the water the temp crept up over 27C. 
3. I keep reading that croissants will wobble or jiggle when fully proved, but I can’t find a visual anywhere. There’s a video on my IG page. Does this look right? They rose for another 20 minutes or so after this point while the oven finished preheating.
 
 
4. The recipe I used had me laminate yesterday, then roll, shape, and bake today. The dough seemed really dry and seemed to crack when I rolled it. It was wrapped tightly in plastic wrap. Maybe that wasn’t enough? Maybe it dried out because of too much flour left on the dough from the bench?
 
5. I started a second batch today and I was distracted homeschooling and started when the butter was still too firm and it broke inside the dough in a few places. I let it sit for a bit and finished laminating. Is it worth baking them up or should I start over?
 
6. How do you like to shape your croissants? Notch or no notch at the wide end?
 
Thank you in advance for any advice! I did up the temperature and underworked the dough as was suggested by a few people last time—I so appreciated the tips! The good news: they’re delicious. Seeing as these seem to take quite a bit of practice to master, that might also be the bad news.

Consider, if you will, the Schnitzel.  The national treasure of Austria, the word Schnitzel is a diminutive of the word “sniz” or “slice.”  A piece of meat, pounded thin, then coated in bread crumbs and fried.  Traditionally served simply with slices of fresh lemon, a sprinkle of paprika and maybe a leaf or two of parsley.
 
Dating back to about 1845, the most famous of the schnitzels is the Wienerschnitzel (the Swiss break it into two words-Wiener Schnitzel), always made with veal.  But the Wienerschnitzel we are discussing must not, in any way, be confused with the fast food chain "Der Wienerschnitzel", founded in California in 1971, and to this day selling "wieners" - a.k.a. hot dogs - under a pseudo-Austrian affectation.
 
Opened in 1905 by Johann Figlmüller in the heart of Vienna, restaurant Figlmüller Wollzeile has been known as the “Home of the Schnitzel.”  Serving massive portions of schnitzel draped over plates and served with a side of Austrian potato salad.
 
Schnitzel isn’t always made with pork.  Nor is it always breaded and fried as we know it.  Take the Walliser Schnitzel for example.  A pork escalope with a pocket stuffed with dried apricots sautéed in white wine with ham, parsley, cheese and almonds.  The Walliser schnitzel is brushed with a tangy mustard but never coated in breadcrumbs and fried in sauté pan in a shallow pool of butter.
 
If you’ve ever trekked through the cities, towns and fairs that dot the state of Iowa, you’ve surely come across the beloved tenderloin sandwich.  A large slab of thin pork, dipped, breaded and fried, then placed between a bun that covers literally a few inches of the beast.  A Schnitzel sandwich if you will.  Served dry, with mayonnaise, maybe a few dill pickle slices and you're tasting a slice of America's heartland. 
 
Tradition tells one that Schnitzel can also be made with mutton, chicken, pork, beef, turkey or reindeer.  Today one could stretch the idea of the protein to include a “Tofu Schnitzel” perhaps topped with a spiced mixture of lentils and harissa.   I happen to live in the Pacific Northwest where it is common for hunters to craft a schnitzel from venison or elk, the perfect treatment for lean wild game that doesn’t need more than a kiss of the hot skillet to get crispy.
 
Now the dip and fry are constant points of the schnitzel debate.  Dipped in flour, then egg, then bread crumbs is the primary technique.  Or is that egg mixed with milk, or condensed milk?  Is it a double-dip in the flour and egg?  And do we use fresh bread crumbs, panko or bread crumbs with parmesan? Wouldn’t pork lard be the best fat for frying a pork schnitzel?  Or do we use butter, shortening, canola, vegetable or olive oil?
 
As you can see we have some work to do here.  Welcome to eG Cook-Off #76 and Consider the Schnitzel. (See the complete eG Cook-Off Index here.)
 

I admit to being boring when it comes to pizza. 
I prefer the more  traditional toppings, of just Italian sausage and mushroom and sometimes with olives.  
 
 And to be honest, if we had a decent place to order pizza from,  I probably wouldn't even bother to make pizza.
I only make them because Moe and Matt like homemade pizza. 
 

I'd be happy just eating the rim.
 
I prefer an uncooked sauce and have simplified it over the years. I drain a can of plum tomatoes, pulse right in the can
with the immersion blender,  and season with fresh garlic,  dried oregano, a little basil and some fennel seed, salt, pepper and a few chili flakes. And a splash of
olive oil.
 

 
My son loves the Greek Pizza I make with potatoes. 
 

 

Tonight for dinner I made a pizza with gorgonzola, Brussels sprouts, and walnuts: probably more typical as a salad than a pizza topping, but I'd guess I'm not the first to make this combo. It was delicious. For the crust I used a simple sourdough, no frills.
 
Pre-baking

 
Post -baking (dressed with a cold salad of Brussels sprouts dressed in sherry vinegar and olive oil):

We’re having a seedling and seed shortage here, probably due to panic buying by non gardeners. Heard someone walked out of a nursery with broccoli seedlings saying “yay, broccoli in 2 weeks” yeah right. 
 
The Tibouchina is flowering, a beautiful colour. Shame about the bare patch, a product of the recent drought, it will be pruned back heavily soon.

 
We’re harvesting lots of mizuna for leafy green dishes.

 
We’ve also got lettuce (cos and butter) sufficient for current needs, a large butternut squash patch, jap pumpkin, sweet potato and regular potatoes. These first little guys are destined to be steamed and slathered in butter. I will do this while husband is in his shed, there’s not enough to share, lol.

 
We have also picked okra and two types of green beans. 
This is a huegelkulture bed, I think we’ll plant cauliflower and broccoli (if we can get seeds somehow). Behind it the kumquat tree is full of fruit, they are slowly ripening. The brandy is waiting.

 
A weird one - this is wild tobacco, should be pulled as it’s a weed. However, it’s also said to be a great substitute for toilet paper...keeping this one in the ground.

Finally got around to trying a New York Sour (or as I learned from a Wondrich tweet, a "New York Stone Sour" with the inclusion of orange juice). 

Thai yellow curry, with lots of toasted coriander seeds, coconut, lime zest, garlic, cumin, and tamarind. Cauliflower, yuba, marinated tofu, cherry tomatoes. Rice with toasted sesame seeds.
Carrot salad with scallions, peanuts, sesame seeds, chili, mint, tamarind, brown sugar and fish suace.
 
 

Masala dosa, minus dosa.  This time I served it with basmati.  The recipe is from Vivek Singh in The Guardian.  I like it so much I ordered his curry cookbook.  Cucumber raita on the side.
 
Why do I have two open jars of mango pickle in my refrigerator?
 
 
 
 

Welcome to the latest eGullet Cook-off, Chicken and Dumplings, Number 51 in our Cook-Off Series. You’ll find the complete Cook-off Index here.
The eGullet Cook-off Series has covered such far-ranging and delicious topics as Cold Soups to Ossobuco and Enchiladas.
Our last Cook-Off captivated us with the earthy aromas of a slow-braised Lamb Stew wafting through the kitchen, (and down the halls of an apartment building).
As the cold, windy drafts of January blow us into a new decade, there are still plenty of winter days ahead and that's the perfect weather to savor a favorite comfort dish, Chicken and Dumplings. (For more discussion on this classic dish, you can read through our Chicken and Dumplings Topic here).

with pork neck from the freezer I cooked a very traditional austrian dish today. simmered and served with root vegetables and fresh grated horseradish. two portions go now into the freezer with ready made meals :-(

Oh, that's exciting! I just bought a savoy cabbage with the view of making cabbage and wild mushroom rolls this Sunday (they forecast slush & snow for the weekend, so it's time to start cooking those Estonian winter classics). Meanwhile, here's a photo of some cabbage rolls with meat & rice stuffing I made last season - who said that cabbage rolls need to use white cabbage?

Bean haters and kale-phobes, avert your eyes for beans & greens on toast lie ahead.

Inspired by this recipe for Creamy White Beans With 'Nduja, Kale, and Gremolata Breadcrumbs on Serious Eats. 

Ginger.  The exotic, ugly little knob that releases and intoxicating perfume with flavor notes of pepper, citrus and tropical fruit.  Yet none of those words fully describes ginger.  It's only after we peel back the outer skin that we get that first waft of the unmistakeable scent of ginger.  
 
Ginger is a flowering plant whose rhizome, or root, is widely used as a spice, but also for medicinal purposes.  Ginger is part of the same family of plants that includes tumeric, cardamom and galangal.  Ginger originated in Southeast Asia, and is reported to have been domesticated some 5,000 years ago.  It became a valuable trade commodity in the spice trade, and was used by the Greeks and the Romans. 
 
Of course, we think of ginger in cuisine, and ginger isn't just used in Asian dishes.  However, a look at worldwide ginger production is also a reflection of the span of ginger across the globe.  The top producer of ginger is India, followed by Nigeria, China, Indonesia, Nepal and Thailand.  But that's just a small part of the story of ginger.  Ginger is used in all sorts of cuisines from around the world.  
 
Ginger isn't simply the knobs in the supermarket produce section.  Travel to your local Asian, Indian, International or Mexican market and you'll find different varieties and cousins of ginger.
 

 
For years I always wondered what those little spears were that garnished Japanese dishes.  Was it some sort of vegetable or fruit.  It wasn't until I became an avid fan of Japanese cooking programs that I learned about "young ginger."  Ginger that is harvested when young.  Sometimes pickled, young ginger is crisp, clean and refreshing yet not as strong as older ginger. 
 

 

Hearing none...
 

 
 
Wish I had $10,000 to lay down on a pasta extruder but I don't.  I had (and may still have) an older KitchenAid extruder that extruded horizontally.  Didn't Galileo prove that unless you were on the space station gravity affected pasta?  Extruding pasta horizontally is asking for trouble. 
 
The new kitchenAid extruder arrived tonight, and the first thing I tested was if my old Simac dies would fit.  They do!  A sad day when DeLonghi subsumed Simac.  Sort of like a capitalistic black hole.
 
 

 
Dinner was maccheroni quadrifoglio with walnut sauce.
 

I used this one: https://www.recipetineats.com/thai-fish-cakes-2/
 
Last night, salmon tacos
 

Variations on 2 recipes from Made in Spain by José Andrés. 

Broiled scallops with Albariño wine on a bed of caramelized onion and diced cured ham topped with breadcrumbs and a salad of greens, oranges, olives and anchovy with a dressing of Chinchón (I subbed ouzo), sherry vinegar, olive oil, orange zest and juice. 
 

Hello everyone, the question is about how french press is different from other types of making coffee? I do not drink it at all, but it seems like I have to know it. I saw a guide on youtube how to make a french press coffee. And can't understand the chemical process. There's no a a "tradition" or "aesthetics" if to compare with cooking coffee in hot sand in turkish coffee pot. And what about the taste?

Lachuch with warm Tzfat cheese, honey, nigella, toasted sesame, rose water.
 
 

Not long ago, Significant Eater and I were in Chicago for a few days. Which meant we had to have a dog or two...
 
'
 
With pickled jalapeños, onions, pickles, mustard, relish, etc.  Wasn't bad.
 
At home, though, or at Katz's, it's griddled with mustard and sauerkraut.  As it should be.  

I posted this on General Food Topics, but here it is again...
Do you have any questions about growing Japanese food plants - herbs, vegetables, fruits in containers or gardens?
I'm doing a project on writing up information about Japanese plants in English with my local university horticulture department, eager to hear which plants people outside Japan are interested in growing.
So ask away! You may see some of them responding directly on this forum, and I'll collate other responses and post them.

This is an example of a molasses cookie recipe from the 1950's.  The recipe calls for 2 tsp. of ginger.  I just finished baking my molasses cookies using a recipe from 1930 and I used 1 tsp. ground ginger and 2 tsp. grated fresh ginger.  I'll post a photo later.  I remember it was a real treat when Mother made warm gingerbread, but sadly I rarely make it today.  Not that I don't love it, I just never think of gingerbread.