alanamoana
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Posts posted by alanamoana
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Doddie, I have to chime in and say what a wonderful job you're doing. Tons of pictures, your adorable sons.
I lived in Korea...oh, around 1983...for a couple of years. I lived on Yongsan (the US Army base) for about two years. My dad was in the Army. What a great experience. My mom being Chinese, she definitely made it more interesting for me because shopping in open air markets was something she was used to. Bargaining made it even more fun. Do you bargain at all?
When we lived on base, we actually had to have ration cards for grocery shopping at the base commissary because there was a thriving black market trade going on for things like instant coffee and stuff. Do you see any of that where you are? From what I understand (from my sil) they still have ration cards.
Your blog definitely brings back memories. I love that you're Philipina, have a caucasian husband and are living in Korea. What an amazing world we live in, isn't it?
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sometimes during roasting, the outermost layer of the beet dries/shrivels unattractively. this might even leave one with an outer layer that texturally isn't pleasant to eat. leaving the skin on avoids that. i find that flavoring (particularly salt) permeates the skin during roasting. i tend to roast beets for use in salads which will be dressed after peeling, cutting, etc., so i don't worry too much about flavoring the beets during the roasting process (aside from salt).
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sanrensho, either silver or gold are pretty standard. the only gelatin that (at least in my experience) isn't so standard is bronze. the bronze seems to be the heaviest (strongest) that i've come across.
i would say that in the professional kitchens i've worked in, silver is probably what i've used the most.
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Fynny you mentioned this tecnique.I think I was watching a foodnetwork ( sugar rush I think ) and they were showing pastry chefs , using the most unusual methods to prepare some of the desserts etc.I think one made mojito drops in the same tecnique you described .I think is very fascinating .
I definatly second the fact that dark chocolate would have been much better for those , but the idea is superb
Was this episode
http://www.foodnetwork.com/food/show_sa/ep...7_48730,00.html
So where do I find an explanation of this technique? I don't have cable and haven't seen the show.
there's a thread in the cooking forum...i'll look for it and post a link
this is an intro thread and discussion. there are also pictures. the other technique is reverse spherification. you can do a search and find info on that in the cooking forum as well
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FG, why don't you use your restaurant connections to have them buy you bulk? You can also get decent prices from Dairyland (Chefswarehouse.com).
Making your own is also a great idea (as it looks like that's what you're doing). I've used Stroh Rum which has a distinct flavor on its own (learned about this stuff from Chris B.)...add vanilla beans and it is pretty amazing for certain applications.
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These folks have all sorts of bulk glassine and greaseproof baking cups for sale (w/custom printing as an option). They also have consumer sized packages available, too:
thanks pumpkiny, that site is great. getting closer and closer!
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He was disappointed with the outside texture, claiming that it was too hard. I thought it was good, so if anyone has any input that would be great. I'll let you know how tonight's batch goes, since we did the same day version yesterday and we'll have the overnight in the fridge version today.
you might get better response in the baking and pastry forum, but it looks to me like you might not have used any or enough steam in the initial stage of baking. hard to do with an oven that doesn't have a steam generator/injector, but doable if you're determined.
still, looks like your bf is doing a good job playing around with bread and your dinner looks great!
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even with bakers' percentages, one still has to be able to diagnose differences in how the recipe is behaving. as you stated, the environment wreaks havoc on flour and there's no real way to compensate for that except experience in working with dough to know when/how to adjust.
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so, i rushed willy-nilly into this experiment and here are my thoughts:
i like the texture of the chocolate, fun!
i would probably paint the molds first, although you can see that in most parts, the chocolate became smooth and shiny inside the mold.
i was very impatient with allowing it to set up in the mold and refrigerated it which i shouldn't have done. the chocolate cracked and instead of bars, i got individual pieces (it is very fragile since it is aerated)
there is swirling on the surface, but i don't think it is out of temper, it is just a result of it being aerated...but i won't know that until it sits for a while (maybe a day or two?).
definitely want to try it with flavored chocolate.
kerry, what kind of flavors did you use? lor-ann?
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is in mid-town...sort of far east mid-town
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also, the fact that you're reheating your caramel in order to pipe it might cause problems with crystallization.
can't it?
edited to add: following mrose's advice regarding cooking to a lower temp would solve this issue
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from what i can tell on chipsbooks, 'sweet cuisine' is a compilation-type book with lots of different pastry chefs participating.
edited to add: at $58 from jbprince, i'd get it. chipsbooks is selling it for $129.95
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hey kerry,
i should be getting my copy in a week or so.
the aero technique sounds like a very fun thing. i just recently bought an isi whip...so we'll check it out.
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baking soda also promotes browning, which adds flavor due to Maillard reactions. try making gingerbread or honey cake without it and see. it also adds tenderness and promotes spread in cookies.
if you already have it in the form of baking powder, is that enough? excess baking soda (without the acid to neutralize it) will leave a soapy taste and can lead to excess browning, correct? i know that with honeycomb recipes (peanut brittle, etc) that the baking soda aerates the mixture but if you use too much it browns very quickly and leaves a very bitter/soda-y aftertaste...
of course, if you want the flavor of the acid (buttermilk, etc.) then you shouldn't use too much baking soda because it can, during the reaction, neutralize the flavor of the acid as well...leaving you with a bland tasting product.
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based on comparisons between yeasted alcoholic beers (specifically hefeweizen..sp?) and commercial root beers...i think you could eliminate the yeast and not worry about it.
if you're not looking for carbonation, it is my opinion that leaving the yeast in would impart a specific 'yeasty' flavor which might not be desirable.
but then again, i'm just saying what makes sense in my addled mind.
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baking soda is an alkali and needs an acid to neutralize it. the chemical reaction creates carbon dioxide which leavens your baked good (air bubbles). so, since it is a lemon cake, there is probably lemon juice or another acidic ingredient included which would work with the baking soda to leaven your cake.
baking powder contains baking soda and an acid all self contained. but it also contains another acid which reacts with heat so that you get more leavening action. thus the 'double acting' on most baking powders sold today. so one reaction with moisture and another with heat.
from what i know, you can't really sub baking soda with anything. if you have bicarb (in your medicine cabinet) that is neutral tasting, you can probably use that. but i think most bicarbs (alka seltzer and the like) also contain other medicines, so are probably unsuited to baking.
the reason you use both in certain recipes:
1) baking soda to react with acid in the recipe
2) baking soda for immediate reaction when acid and base react
3) baking powder to give your baked good some bench tolerance (so that if it sits on the counter for five minutes before you get it in the oven, it will still rise once the heat of the oven reacts with the second acid)
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yeah...but it does lurk in the back of your mind somewhere.....hmmmmmmm....the food I used to call "normal" is now swell compared to what I can cook now.....
did you mean "swell" or did you mean "swill"? makes a bit of difference in the post..
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they have a large selection of hard bottomed, gusseted, non-gusseted, non-hard bottomed, plain, printed, etc. cello bags.
reasonable prices too.
but they do have a minimum order. so i have 2,000 cello bags that i just keep and use as i need them
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ptdc, thanks for the links! the british site is great, but the size isn't standard with american cupcake/muffin tins
...so close, yet so far away.
i'm checking with one of my usual purveyors of packaging to see if they can custom make some brown glassine cupcake papers.
it's pretty amazing that something so simple is so difficult to find!
thanks,
alana
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Update on this thread. I'm just working my way through the CIA book Chocolates and Confections. The author,Peter Greweling, suggests that the weight of cream be brought back up to the weight required by the recipe with milk after straining. He states that water is preferentially removed in the steeping process rather than fat so replacing it with milk is preferable to topping up with cream.
is this counterintuitive to lengthening shelf life of candies? by adding water, in the form of milk, back to your mixture are you decreasing shelf-life?
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At her request, I made the Black and White Chocolate cake for my daughter's birthday. The fillings came out beautifully and I especially liked the method for the dark chocolate one.
However I had a problem with the cake. The batter looked fine when I put it in the pans but the finished layers have a texture more like a coffecake or quick bread. When I split them I found that there were bubble holes instead of the velvety texture that appears in the photo. Cake was rather dry although it baked exactly 28 minutes as per instructions. I think I should have taken a test at about 26 minutes because it had already pulled away from the edge of the pan when I took it out.
I was very careful to not over-mix and did the final stirring by hand for that reason.
My oven usually takes a few minutes longer than recipes call for so I doubt the the oven being off temp is the problem.
based on your description of the cake, i would automatically assume it was overmixed. although you state you were careful not to overmix and that you finished stirring by hand, i think the term "overmix" can be subjective and difficult to pin down.
it could also be the particular flour you used. it might be higher in protein than the one used in the recipe. so any, even very slight, overmixing could cause too much gluten development causing the large air bubbles different texture.
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Thanks everyone. I love the mini Italian liners, but I'm really looking for the traditional American cupcake liner.
I think Confectionery House might be the source, but I'm trying to find them cheaper and in bulk.
I'll check out other leads and look into the search on eGullet again. I'm terrible at using this search engine!
Thanks again for the tips!
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Thanks enurmi...
but i do want to add, we have recipeGullet , which is specifically for putting recipes up for everyone to be able to find them. with a topic title "the quest", if anyone is searching for your chocolate chip recipe, they might have a hard time finding it with key words.
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the heavy for its size test is pretty good, so i'll second that. but i find with limes, more so than with lemons, that if you give them a small squeeze, they should be a bit tender. the harder the lime, the drier the interior.
this is all cocktail research isn't it?
Cooking with "Chocolates and Confections" by Peter Greweling (Part 1)
in Pastry & Baking
Posted · Edited by alanamoana (log)