balmagowry

That's something that varies from one book to another. There will generally be clauses in the original publication contract specifying whether the author retains international rights or whether they're part of the package granted to the publisher (and if so under what conditions). So you'd start by contacting the publisher; if they hold the rights you deal with them; if they don't they should refer you to the author's agent, who will be able to tell you whether the rights have been sold, and if so to whom. And you take it from there.

Yup, communication and courtesy are of course crucial. That understood, it's not that unusual an arrangement, for special occasions and/or very special cakes. Here's my wedding cake story - in which I can't remember who asked whom to handle what how, but I do know that the restaurant was quite used to doing this and had worked with this particular baker several times before. Don't remember whether they charged a cutting fee - probably. Fair enough - especially since we didn't have to pay for the cake.

I pay a lot of attention to the plates upon which I serve various foods ... I like the color of a glossy black, square plate against the gravlax or the sushi, which are now signature dishes ... I like a pure glossy white porcelain plate, in a shape other than round, to enhance my oriental meals ... simple, yet stark and pristine, which sets off the dish ... I eschew using my highly decorative and festive china pattern, which I received when I got married many years ago, because they are almost too colorful and detailed. the pattern Oh, but how pretty they are ("like Moorish palaces and Chinese pagodas," not that they're really like that, but that's me with the quotation compulsion, sorry). Spose this should really be on the other garnish thread, now that there is one, but anyway I think there are a lot of meals which lend themselves to a look of sumptuous overkill. Some of our fancy stuff in Gilgo is way more ornate than that, garish even, and you wouldn't want to use it for that day-to-day pork chop or hamburger - but it's fun for a party and a special meal, like breaking out your glad rags. EDIT to add: for the most part I concur with those who don't use a garnish unless it's relevant to the food - sprinkling chopped chives on a bowl of cold soup. I must plead guilty, however, to the occasional profusion of parsley or rosemary sprigs purely for decoration. In my own defense, though, I don't ever do that on individual plates - just on a serving platter, where I think a certain amount of artistic license is fair game. The only instance I can think of where I use an inedible garnish (again ONLY on the serving dish) is at Christmas, when I make a nut roll (no verb there, wiseacres) which is presented on a long board, with powdered sugar (snow, don't you know) sifted over it and holly sprigs tucked around it. It's pretty, dammit! Is that so wrong? (Have picture somewhere - will dig it out and show later.) I am careful, however, to eliminate all holly from the servings before handing them around.

Welcome to eG, pierke! It's a good point, but there's an emotional element that overrides it. Sort of like that fine old line that defines marriage (this also applies to my dog) as "the triumph of hope over experience." Somehow, no matter how many there are already, the impulses to create recipes and/or to seek them out keep overriding our common sense. It's always fun and fascinating to compare different versions of the same dish, or to consider the evolution that led to an entirely "new" one. It's also interesting to see new groupings and juxtapositions of otherwise old material. If there is nothing new under the sun, there is also nothing so old that it won't bear re-examination in a new context or from a fresh perspective. You could argue (Lewis Carroll-like) that all the books have already been written... but people keep writing new books, and other people keep wanting and buying and reading them. If you doubt that the same is true of cookbooks, I can point you to a thread on this forum where people routinely confess to cookbook acquisition even though they already possess hundreds or even thousands of volumes. (EDIT: Ah, Suzanne beat me to it and put in the link.) There is always the attraction of new insight: the Big Name chefs often have something original or wise to say even if the recipes that illustrate it are not always innovative. Not that this is limited to the Big Names - but they are the ones who can confidently command high production values and an eager readership. And as long as there's an eager readership... there will be cookbooks and food books. And vice versa, it appears. Can't complain.

For you, into the City for a decent meal. For me, to China 46! Hey, we don't exactly starve out here... wait a minute, is that an invitation? Want me to let you know when I'm testing recipes for Paula Wolfert? After all, there's only 2 of us, and the recipes are for 4 or so. You'd definitely be welcome. Of course, you'll have to promise to autograph Lobscouse for me. Twist my arm. It's a deal! (Guys, lemme tell you an ill-kept secret. When you diffidently approach an author, holding a well-thumbed copy of said author's work in your grubbies, and apologize for the imposition of requesting an inscription... it is only great self-control on the author's part that keeps him from bursting into gusts of giggles or howling maniacal laughter. You are not imposing; you are complimenting. Authors like to sign books and meet readers. And they should. Any author who feels put upon by such a request deserves to be forcibly reminded what it would be like to have no readership at all.) Though China 46 sounded pretty tempting too....

Like, y'mean, some kind of daring New Indo-Japanese Fusion thing? Uh-oh. My brain is full. I'd better go home now.

I beat you to it. Waaah. I hate you. EDIT: yeah, Owen, that's all very well, but here I was showing off my great knowledge of botanical and Native American lore, only to find that I'd been scooped by an accomplished researcher, and all I can say is, what's the point of knowing anything in this vershtunkene world, eh? Grumble growl mutter.

Yes, please! Japanese, Vietnamese, Thai, Korean, Indian (Mongo has my senses vicariously awhirl this week), Szechuan, Hunan, Hakka, Fukien, Mexican, stinky cheeses, anything garlicky and powerful and redolent. I'm not sure where my comfort level is on the Scoville index: I define "over-spicy" as "so spicy that the peppers are all you can taste"; short of that, though, I'm happy. Subtle - yes, that too (see above, for the most part). Subtle AND powerful at the same time - yes, absolutely. And also simple and relatively bland, on occasion. (Mashed potatoes in times of stress, anyone?) I haven't much use for pointless things like sago, and (as frequently documented all over this board) I could happily spend the rest of my life without eating another helping of lutefisk. And no, I can't say durian grabs me. Oh... you didn't ask about those, did you. But they're almost the only things I can think of that don't sound interesting and tempting to me.

For you, into the City for a decent meal. For me, to China 46! Hey, we don't exactly starve out here... wait a minute, is that an invitation?

Hey, I forget - where are we headed again? 12.32 miles on the way to... what?

Yes! there was also a recipe for paneer - forgot to mention that. How timely, what with Mongo's blog. So am I right in hoping that lemon juice or some such acid will do the job? I'm not really dying to rush out and get the powdered citric acid if I can accomplish the same thing with a fresh lemon - one assumes that that is what was used traditionally before we figured out how to process and dehydrate and so on. And at least both rennet and milk thermometers are affordable investments. I haven't yet found a source of liquid rennet, but in that instance I'm not above using the tablets if they're easier to find. (Suggestions as to where to find the liquid?)

What a useful piece. Thanks, Beans! Hey... I see he covers Zubrowka; I would like to draw attention to the fact that I have come through with the answer to the mystery of bison grass - only a year after the question was raised (hey, what can I say - I wasn't here in time to get to it sooner). Please notice it and be pleased, somebody! I was all proud of it and everything.... :snif:

Oh, eG is great work avoidance all right - but those of us who don't work regular hours have the great advantage of being able to use it for that purpose 24/7. 3:00 AM on Saturday? You betcha, there I am avoiding away. For some of us, there is no hump-day.

Here's more. I've now seen another translated recipe which calls for fr frais and says to substitute cottage cheese. So obviously I'm not the only one who was confused! I think I understand now where we might not be talking about exactly the same thing with regard to fr frais as opposed to fr blanc. Yes, one comes with whey and the other without, but both are drained, to different degrees, as they're being made. The whey that comes with the blanc is actually a relatively small proportion of the whey produced when it is made. It does get drained, just not for very long. I don't remember exactly what the ratio is; hope to be able to show and tell soon - soon as I get a hold of some rennet. It comes back to me now that we didn't have liquid rennet when we played with this before - we used the tablets that came with junket - that's why I couldn't picture the liquid. (Oh, this is a long time ago!) Will use whatever I can get. I think the tablets are still available. The lemon juice trick does work, supposedly, but produces a more fragile cheese. Have seen fancier recipes which call for powdered citric acid, which I assume serves the same purpose. Cool! I never knew this: combinations of the three coagulants (rennet, citric acid, yogurt) can be used to produced different types of cheeses, including feta! The citric acid, BTW, seems to be the additional "step" required for mozzarella. Wonder if you can make ricotta out of any of the wheys or only out of the mozzarella kind. This too I think I'll have to find out. OK, here endeth the cheese lesson for now. Back to work.

Ah! OK, that makes more sense. The mention of cream cheese was actually something that puzzled me, and I meant to ask about it - glad you anticipated the question: I had picked that up from a recipe that had been translated/adapted for American use; it called for fromage frais and said something like, you can't get it here so use cream cheese instead. That wasn't what I remembered of fr frais, and that's why I figured I must be confused and fr frais might be a different animal from fr blanc. Ha! It's just that the recipe translation was lazy. OK, cool, so they are the same animal except for the different treatment at the end - like yogurt and yogurt-cheese. Good. When you adopt me you'll take me the rounds of the suppliers, and we'll compare their product to our home-made.... I'm not surprised about the stabilizers for the velouté - that's like the additives that are put into many commercial yogurts and yogurt-based things here (pectin and so on) to get a more consistent texture. Ooooh, those dirty commercial processors! Nothing in Mme. Saint-Ange. Hmph. Shall seek further. Lemon juice sure would make it easy.

If you think Boulder is moist, better be glad you don't live by the shores of Babylon, where the prevailing breeze blows in right off the ocean and everything including us is DAMP. (The more because of our prolonged rainy season, these past couple of months; this is a Good Thing, by and large, but my auxiliary cellar pump, the one wot feeds the sump pump, has burned out, so the cellar is kinda swampy right now....) Not sure how readily I can procure the requisite mangoes, but I certainly intend to try - that looks too good to miss. Thank you for beautifully detailed presentation. One question: what kind of sugar do you generally use?

Did not! Wednesday may be hump-day for the Normal Work Week, but not for the blog, which doesn't take the weekend off. That's what I meant about tomorrow being hump-day - also why I was mystified when you didn't think you'd have time to do all three dals this week. Anyway, I'll wing it and cast a vote for channa dal tonight, please. (Is this one of the recipes you gave me when we were discussing pressure cookers? I think so - must look.)

'K. For starters, here is a fromage blanc recipe that is pretty much what I remember. Here is another page which explains a bit more about cheesemaking in general. I note they talk about fromage frais as the result of emprésuration of the milk, so I'm guessing that frais and blanc are the same animal, only the latter may need to cailler longer and be more thoroughly strained???? NB I also found a discussion thread about fromage frais in which someone referred to using lemon juice instead of présure! Wow. I need to study this further. Wonder what Mme. Saint-Ange says. Think I'll look. I am assuming that the 0% fat versions are made with non-fat milk but that the process is otherwise the same. That's how it works with yogurt, at any rate. EDIT: It comes back to me that the tricky part is keeping the temperature stable - that's the problem JosephB encountered with the mozzarella experiment. Don't know how I'll do this now, as we know my pilot light is approx. 110F - at least it works for yogurt, so I assume that's the case. Hmmm. A challenge.

Haven't done it in forever - will have to look it up and do it (and can then document it for you à la eG). But the general idea is that you warm your milk to... some temperature or other - not as hot as for yogurt, I think, like 95F or so... and then you add a leetle teeny bit of rennet... and then it has to sit for a very long time (like a day or so)...and then you strain off the whey, et voilà. Hmmmm - I'm just realizing that this sounds exactly like the process JosephB went through to make mozzarella, though I think there's an extra step for that. And I don't know if you can make ricotta from this whey, though I can't imagine why not. Yup, it's different from yogurt because the coagulating agent is different. Yogurt is made by the action of various lactobacilli on cooked milk (cultures vary, but the usual mix is l. bifidus, l. bulgaricus, and b. acidophilus - can't believe I remembered all that!); fromage blanc (along with many other cheeses) is turned by rennet, which used to be from the lining of a calf's stomach, until somebody got squeamish and figured out how to make a rennet substitute from all-vegetable sources. In French (watch me show off my vocabulary) it's présure, and I bet they don't make it out of any sissy vegetables over there. I don't know why or how rennet works, because when I last used it I wasn't as attuned to this stuff as I am now. But I intend to find out! There are a couple of cool cheesemaking web pages that probably explain it - will look 'em up later on. EDIT: suddenly can't remember difference, if any, between fromage frais and fromage blanc. The fromage blanc à la crème is what I've been hankering afer, and that's pretty close to cream cheese, more or less; your fromage frais picture looks more like cottage cheese. Dang. Now I'm all curious again. Gotta go look things up. Later.

Adjust your flour/milk ratio too - can't remember what the differences were, but obviously the total amount of liquid matters. The formula I gave up-thread is the one that infallibly works for me. What's not to love about infallible?

As johnnyd says, so little knowledge. Which dal is which? If I knew I could vote (relatively) intelligently. It's tough being suddenly faced with an election when you don't know the candidates' platforms. Re hump-day... one of us counts funny. By my calendar it's tomorrow. Or does Mountain Time affect dates as well as hours?

Delia again See the recipe in the above link, by the eg-definition these woud be popovers correct? But they aren't. Also they aren't domed, so how does this work? Aha! Looked closely at Delia, then delved deeper than before into the site linked by Ned, getting as far this time as the Tips & Tricks section. A few differences, a couple of them vital. One which I suspect doesn't matter too terribly much - I note that most modern YP recipes I've seen suggest using 1/2 milk-1/2 water instead of all milk. I don't usually happen to follow this suggestion, and my YP comes out brilliantly, but it is still worth noting by contrast that the Popover Expert (whose name escapes me at the moment) warns against using skim milk rather than whole milk, because it will have a deleterious effect on texture and will make the bottom bit of the popover shrink and wrinkle. Other than that, the batters are identical. This may be more important: Delia's mini-YPs are made in a muffin tin. Popovers can also be made in a muffin tin, though a popover pan is recommended; the main thing, says the Popover Expert, is that the container for each individual popover be higher than it is wide. This makes sense to me: the liquid in the batter, converting to steam and making the outer shell of the popover expand, will thus be forcing the whole mass more in an upward direction. By the time it reaches the edge of the cup more of it has been used in forming the base than would be the case in a more squat muffin tin; so there is less mass and less counteraction by gravity, not to mention more upward force acting within, enabling the skin to puff, crisp and hold its shape. I'm not describing this very well, but no doubt you see what I'm trying to say. Finally, and possibly most important of all, my bad: So... I was wrong about chilling the batter. I always chill it for YP, but apparently one mustn't for popovers. Soooo... lemme think about this. For YP you pour cold batter into hot fat, and what happens? The bit of it that heats fastest is the bit at the edge, the bit in contact with the sides as well as the bottom of the hot pan. So that bit puffs most. Getting more toward the center of the pan, the batter takes longer to heat because it is surrounded on all sides by progressively cooler batter, and only its underside touches the hot pan/hot fat. So that bit sets in its puddingy form. This seems to fit. Leads me to speculate anew re what may be happening with Jackal10's YP. Aside from the batter proportions (which I am sure are part of the problem) and the fact that he may not be chilling his batter, do we think his pan might (if relevant at all) be too big or too small? Let me see... I'm going to say... tooooooo... big. Because if the whole pud is puffing up, that suggests that the batter is responding pretty evenly to the application of heat, and that in turn suggests that the batter is spread so thin that the center can't huddle and clump into puddingy-ness (puddingitude? puddingosity?). Other variables which may or may not apply (since we're only looking at two recipes, the sample isn't large enough to suggest much of anything). Delia doesn't specify the size of the muffin tin, but she does specify the amount of batter: one tablespoon. Seems low to me, which doesn't fit with the theory we're developing, but since we don't know the size of the tin (bad recipe-writing - get with the program, Delia!) it's hard to gauge. Popover recipe says fill tin 1/2 full of batter. (More sensible because proportional to size of tin, which can be left indeterminate.) I'm sure this can be translated into some physical/chemical formula/ratio thingy which takes into account the angle of the tin sides and the square of the hippopotamus and all that other technical stuff. IAC, from empirical experience I can certainly aver that when you make a full-size YP the batter does not come anywhere near filling the pan 1/2 way - it's more a thin layer at the bottom. Wait, that may fit with Delia's tablespoon after all. Anyway, this has just about got to be relevant. Tall tin, 1/2 full of batter - batter needs to expand a lot so it climbs, climbs, climbs, puffs. Low wide tin, batter in bottom - edges climb, puff, middle doesn't have the momentum nor does it have those walls to climb or the pressure of the surrounding batter, nothing above it but hot air, so it can stay put. Then there's oven temperature, but I'm not sure I even want to open that can of worms, especially since then you have to go into altitude and humidity and stuff. But FWIW Delia starts with a slightly lower oven and maintains the temp throughout; Popover Expert starts at a higher temp but then lowers it for 1/2 the cooking time; which BTW is longer, as long as a full-size YP. But I seem to remember that I start my YP very hot and then lower oven after 20 mns or so. So obviously everyone's MMV on that bit. Delia preheats the tin and the fat. Popover Expert preheats the tin but not the fat. Hmmmm. I don't think I hold with this - I think the fat needs to be hot in both cases. I'm not going to take it into account. So there. Could be argued that Delia's using proportionately more fat ("brush generously with most of the dripping") than Popover Expert ("brush with butter"), but that's too subjective to evaluate (especially since you say Delia's regular YP recipe, which I confess I haven't looked at, calls for relatively little dripping). Skip that, then. Delia whisks her batter thoroughly; Popover Expert warns against overmixing. This may matter a lot - glutens and all that - especially as the YP batter not only chills but rests (at least an hour) between mixing and pouring, whereas the popover batter is used right away. This bears further investigation - and I'm sure our flour/ bread experts can explain it a lot more coherently and quickly than I can. Anyway... looks like temperature of batter and pan configuration are the two elements that make the most difference (jury still out on effects of mixing & resting); and the single characteristic that really determines whether the result is a popover or a YP is the degree of puffosity. And firm-osity, too - popovers are generally cooked more than YP, and their shells are therefore harder and browner. Further deponent (for now) sayeth not.

Hmmm. Am I the only one who senses the emergence of a support group here? The beauty of it is that it needn't espouse any one particular method or standard, nor need it be specifically about diet or weight loss or maintenance or gain: its founding principle is merely the desire of its members to feel good, and the constant awareness that everyone's MMV. The Wanna Feel Good Club, or something - I'm sure we could come up with a moniker that'd lend itself to a good acronym. Then we could have logos and secret handshakes and stuff! Oh - we already have the secret handshake, and it isn't secret. Well, that's cool too.

The madras curry mixes I've encountered have all been pretty mild - though their labels claim they come in several different degrees of heat.

Mmmmm... dutch baby. OK, so you're going for the form rather than the content. Fair enough. Actually, in that case maybe the most important distinction is the one illustrated in the picture in your first link: the popover is hollow. The liquid batter and the size/shape of the tin forces it to expand so that the entire popover is like the puffy/crisp edge of a Yorkshire pud or dutch baby. The latter two, because they spready out more in a larger pan, both have a softer denser more custardy center. Does that sound like a workable distinction? To sum up, then: Baking dish, hot dripping, cold batter: Yorkshire pud. Baking dish, hot butter, cold batter, powdered sugar (& optional lemon): Dutch baby. Muffin/popover tin, hot fat (usually butter, but...), cold batter, hollow result: Popover. Have to say I've never encountered a popover made with dripping, or indeed any fat but butter - but certainly concede that there are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio.... EDIT: Yes, popovers are domed - but in theory they'd work well for gravy; once you break 'em open they'll hold a hell of a lot of it. (Same as with a potato.) Wouldn't seem right to me without the softer bit in the middle of the YP... but it would at least be feasible.