Woods

I found serveral on Google that say the same thing, but here's one of them: Cherry Cobbler 1/2 cup butter 1 cup all purpose flour 1 cup white sugar 1 tsp. Baking powder 1 cup milk 2 cups pitted sour cherries 3/4 cup white sugar Preheat oven to 350 F. Place butter in a 9/13" baking dish and place in oven to melt while oven is preheating. In a medium bowl, stir together 1 cup flour, 1 cup sugar, and baking powder. Mix in milk until blended, then pour batter into the pan over butter. Do not stir. Rinse out bowl from the batter & dry. Place cherries in bowl and toss with 3/4 cup sugar and 1 tablespoon flour. Distribute the cherry mixture evenly over batter. Do not stir. Bake for 50 or 60 minutes until golden brown. The above is not my grandmother's, but it is very similar, and my sister insisted that it works, so I guess I'll give it a shot. She says the baking powder causes it to rise above the fruit. ← This is almost identicle to my grandmother's recipe. The batter is similar to crepe batter. She lived her whole life in south central Florida in the middle of orange groves. She was known for her grapefruit cobbler. I've made this hundreds of times over the years and usually cut back on the butter with no problems. Woods

There is a recipe for amandine aux figues at recette-dessert.com. It looks like a butter almond cake.

I don't think there is a way to do it neatly. I asked our chef while in school about cutting daquoise cakes and he said you can't do it. Its even worse with japonaise. I made a conversation tart the other day that has a caramalized royal icing topping. It shatters! So maybe there isn't a definitive answer? Woods

If you are a good cook at home go for the culinary skills lab. I did the professional pastry arts course there and it is excellent. The have a 20 hour version, I think. Woods

Its not that hard to make. For most applications you can use quick puff. Woods

It sounds awful but you can't get more 50's American than that! Woods

I use Curacao instead of GM because of the price. Dark rum and kirschwasser are my main ones. Sometime brandy.

I graduated in Baking and Pastry from L'Acadamie de Cuisine and we used Labensky's ON BAKING. I find it a great reference and have tended to go to it over the CIA's book.

Jay, I still mourn the loss of the Oriental Market at Piney Branch and Univ. They were the only place with a wide selection of teas, ceramics and about anything else you wanted. LA Mart just doesn't do it justice and neither does Han Ah Rheum. I do get our vegs and fruit and HAR though. There is a place east on Univ across from Patel Bros. Indian that I haven't checked out. Woods

Last night was diplomat pudding flavored with rum and triple sec. Delicious and a great way to use up stale bread and cake.

Wonderful idea. I think the two editions of this book are of the best cookbooks in the last 30 years. I tend to like books that present food in its social/cultural context. I would love to be involved in cooking our way through. Woods

I made gateau anglais from The Art of the Cake because it was easy and rummy. Very good and indeed easy and relatively quick to put together. The rum flavoring with currents was just right. Woods

Pear pie is good with a quince added too.

I agree with all above but weights in grams are a must. I have been so dissapointed in various recent books (even Dessert University) that have no weights. I think its helpful to know what sized pans were originally used, if only to know yield of the recipe. If ingredients are exotic it is nice to give alternatives, however, that is probably only necessary if you are writing to the general public. I only use reicpes as guides so no matter if the author thinks that it is soy oil or nothing I may try something else. I like recipes like are in Bilheux and Escoffier books. Timelines are good as a starting point for production schedule. There is no reason to reinvent the wheel everytime. Woods

I haven't ever had this problem Sugarella. I both refrigerate and freeze them. I have even made angel food cakes that work fine with them. Woods

"Real people" who have medical/physiological problems or who just want to eat in a more balanced way use these numbers for a guide, not as true facts.

Thank you Paula. I will do it and, importantly, remain authentic! Thanks again for the revised book. I recieved it Thursday and it looks great. Woods

Thank you. I'll show this to my wife and maybe she can accept it. Thanks for the link too. Woods

Hello, does anyone know where I can find the nutritional values for some of these supposedly high fat dishes? I ask because Paula Wolfert says, in her newest edition of "The Cooking of Southwest France", that properly made cofit is not as fatty as one would think. Any ideas? Thanks, Woods

Hi, sounds like a great time! Your crust was tough because of working it too much after adding the water. Instead of cutting the fat in with knives use your finger tips of a mixer with the paddle. Toss when you adding the water. Precooking the fruit will help you get the right amount in the crust with out all the excess liquid. Pie and tart crusts that practice. I always use classic pate brisee for pies and there are recipes everywhere or I can post one for you. Keep on trying and go the library and look for some baking and/or pie books and see how they do it. Practice is the key. Good luck. Woods

Hi, Piazzola is right about too much flour. You need to use the resistance of the dough to the table surface to shape the dough. When I first started I know I tried to hard to force the dough into a shape. That is self defeating. I finally learned that you coax the dough into shape. If you watch shapers in a bakery it looks like they are slapping the dough around and being rough. If fact, they have a very light touch. Shaped dough doesn't have to be tight, just shaped into to what you want. For boules try tucking under all around then place that side down and coax the dough in a circular motion to round. If you over do it the top will split. If you are putting the boules in baskets, drop them in and pinch the bottom if is loose. If you are fermenting them on sheets it doesn't matter. Practice is the key. Good luck. Remember, it may not look perfect but it will be good to eat. Woods

I too agree the plum kuchens are a great vehicle for winter fruit. You could use apples, quinces, cranberries, even grapefruit.

I tend to make all my doughs wetter than I used to. Make sure that dough is well kneaded. If you are using rye and ww it will be stickier. I never do anything but flour the baskets. I worked in commercial bread bakery for a while and we made extremely wet doughs that went into baskets without sticking when risen. Dusting was done with medium or light rye flour. It is normal for the dough to deflate some when you handle it. It is not, however, like a sponge cake. If you have well developed gluten structure it will rise in the oven. Start the loaves at a high temp and after the intial oven spring you reduce the temp to bake it. Steam also helps. Good luck, keep practicing! Woods

I made feta the other day. I used cow's milk but will use goat's milk next time. Its expensive but worth a try. The feta fresh is very good but more spreadable than commercial feta. The taste is wonderful. I added lipase which gives an earthly flavor. The recipe says to age for 4-5 days after salting so I'll see. Woods

I ordered some. They arrived quickly, are moist, and smell and taste fine. I will definintely reorder as this company makes the difference between using beans and not. Woods