scott123

*dry* bread crumbs + eggs (found in all recipes) + milk (found in most recipes) = a paste. P.S. Not that there's anything wrong with a meatloaf burger. If given the choice between a grilled meatloaf burger and a pure meat one, I'd take the meatloaf burger any time (as long as the onions are pre-cooked- have I mentioned how much I hate partially cooked onions? )

I've been contending for years that brining meat gives it a deli meat quality. I like watching Alton Brown and agree with him most of the time, but when it comes to brining, he and I part ways. I'm with Harold Mcgee on this.

Here's my theory. By adding cooked onions, you're adding water. Water + protein (as witnessed in stirred custards) = higher temperature for coagulation/full protein denaturation. Just a theory Also, this could be just me, but I find raw onions on a burger wonderful or cooked onions in a burger (or meatloaf) magnificent, but raw onions in a burger that end up partially cooked... not my bag. A raw onion has a wonderful crispness and a freshness and a cooked onion a sweetness/depth flavor. But a partially cooked onion...

Isomalt is about 60% as sweet as sugar, so it may not work for savory applications. Polydextrose produces most of the textural qualities of sugar and is only 10% as sweet. Getting it to work in a machine, though, could get tricky.

As Anthony said, if you increase the sugar/decrease the flour/egg, you'll increase the chewiness. Pumpkin's fibrous nature always seems to produce somewhat puffy cookies. If you find it getting impalatably sweet without achieving the chewiness you're aiming for, you might want to track down a less sweet form of sugar like regular corn syrup (not karo) or glucose syrup. Both are superb at creating chewy baked goods (great in chewy brownies, btw). It's tricky, you might get the right consistency by backing off the pumpkin a bit, but at the same time, you may not have the intensity of pumpkin flavor that you're looking for.

I can't really tell you just how popular Montignac is in France. The French are not nearly as "faddy" (is that a word?) about their diets and its not a subject that comes up when we talk to our friends. Also, the GI thing is so close to a normal French diet that they don't have to do much to be on it. Its interesting that where we live in the South West the local diet features lots of GI, but also lots of fats (in fact a great cookbook on the regional cusine is called "Goose Fat & Garlic") and, of course, wine. The life expectancy around here is just about the highest in the Western world. So much for the latest fad. So much for the latest nutritionist's ideas. IF we followed that stuff we'd all starve. So, as I said in my previous post just more or less follow Montignac , live well & ENJOY a long life. ← Ah, yes... there's no backlash against innovation because, for the French, low GI is so close to the status quo. That makes perfect sense. Believing that butter/saturated fat can be good for you can get you labeled as a heretic on this side of the ocean, but over there, these things probably never fell out of favor.

How popular is low GI/Montignac in France? Here in the states, interest in this type of diet has pretty much plummeted in the last year or so. Late 2004/Early 2005 was the peak and it's been downhill ever since. From what I can tell, we're at rock bottom. The lack of interest has nothing to do with it's effectiveness. It's a combination of two things. 1. A backlash against innovative thought. 2. A fickle public that tries on diets like a new pair of jeans The numbers may never go back to 2004/2005, but they will rise from here. As long as the diet works, people will follow it.

I would put in some detective work at the store. Even if they no longer supply them, they may have a name/number for a supplier. If you track down the company/bakery that makes them, you might be able to get a list of ingredients. Also, if you can get it, nutritional info is helpful for reverse engineering as well. Who knows, you might even be able to find another store that sells your favorite doughnuts or even find a commercial source for the glaze itself. Without the ingredients list, the odds that you'll be able to create a perfect duplicate of this glaze are pretty slim, imo.

Anvi, there's no need to be sorry. Our ideas were being challenged, not you or I personally. At no point was I aware of any animosity directed towards me and I hope that you can say the same. *Extending a hand* What do you say... friends?

LOL Khoya based, huh? *sigh* Alright ; Even though gulab jamuns rank in my top three favorite desserts, I know almost nothing about kaala jamuns. I invariably have to move the kaala jamuns aside while reaching for the gulab jamuns in the refrigerated case of my grocer. The one difference that struck me, and again, this may only be local, but the KJs appear to be a couple shades darker than the GJs. The GJs I'd place in the roasted peanut spectrum (with a little more orange) and the KJs closer to dark chocolate (again, with some more warmth). Also, is 'kala jamun' acceptable? If memory serves me correctly, that's how my grocer labels them.

Anvi, you made the blanket statement, not I. This statement makes it very clear that a paneer based gulab jamun cannot exist. I never disavowed the possibility of gulab jamun made without paneer. You've taken my quote entirely out of context. Within my experience, at the restaurants I've been to and the grocers that I've shopped at, 'paneer is an ingredient across the board.' I didn't say "the only way is my way." You did. Gulab jamun can be made with paneer or it can be made without. Neither can be summarily dismissed.

Whipped cream that's been sweetened with sugar is an entirely different ball game due to the freezing depression abilities of the sugar. I haven't tried it in a sauce, but I'd say, no as the unemulsified milkfat might give you an oily sauce. I guess, maybe if you knew that you were working with a partially emulsified product, you could treat it like you were adding butter and water (and some cream) to a recipe

Nope, can't freeze cream. Cream is a fat in water emulsion, emulsified by protein. When you freeze it, the water expands and breaks through the protein membrane, trashing the emulsion. This results in a watery cream, that, contrary to what some people will tell you, will stay watery, no matter how much you 'shake it.' The fat content in cream gives it an extremely long shelf life- well past the expiration date. Better to just keep storing it in the coldest part of your fridge.

Ferrero Rocher contain four elements (listed from outside to center) 1. A tempered milk chocolate mixed with finely chopped hazelnut coating 2. A wafer sphere 3. A hazelnut milk chocolate filling- thicker than nutella. I'd say halfway between nutella and a godiva open oyster. 4. A single roasted blanched hazelnut The hardest part is going to be the wafer layer. If memory serves me correctly the wafer sphere is comprised of two halves. The two halves might be glued together with the chocolate coating or possibly something else. You'll need a special molded baking pan for the wafers.

I make salt free sausages all the time that bind just as well as their salted counterparts. I've witness it with my own two eyes. How can you explain that?

The ratio would be precisely 1:1, i.e. an equimolar mixture of fructose and glucose. Something I was wondering about last time this came up is whether you can buy high-fructose corn syrup in retail quantities, because it is 1) dirt cheap due to gov't corn subsidies, and 2) is essentially the exact same thing as invert sugar, the only major difference being that HFCS is not exactly 50/50 glucose/fructose -- HFCS 55 is 55% fructose and 45% glucose, and HFCS 42 is . . . you get the idea. They are basically the same thing, just made in different ways. Invert sugar is made by hydrolyzing sucrose into fructose/glucose, whereas HFCS is made by partially converting a glucose syrup to fructose. ← Patrick, any idea what the stuff sold in grocery stores is? MelissaH ← My understanding had been that the sugar fraction of regular light corn syrup is almost exclusively glucose. However, if you read the ingredient list of some corn syrup bottles, like Karo, you'll see that they list corn syrup and high fructose corn syrup as ingredients. My best guess is that brands that don't list HFCS as an ingredient are essentially glucose syrup, but for those that list HFCS as an ingredient, I don't think there is any easy way to tell what the proportion of glucose to fructose is. ← Corn syrup is never 100% glucose. According to this page, corn syrup is always comprised of glucose, maltose, maltotriose and higher saccharides. ← Thanks for the clarification, Scott. I wonder if maltose and maltotriose, since they are essentially very small glucose polymers (di-glucose and tri-glucose, respectively), if they would possess any of the confectionary qualities of glucose? I mean, obviously very large glucose polymers (starch) don't have the right qualities, but I wonder if when you get down into the di and trisaccharides if they have the right properties. ← That's a good question Patrick. Yes, a high glucose polymer corn syrup is going to be drastically different from glucose syrup. The greater molecular weight of the higher saccharides will effect freezing point depression, crystallization inhibition, osmolality, hygroscopicity and sweetness among others. But a low glucose polymer corn syrup (High glucose/maltose/maltotriose)... that could be a different story. I'm certain this syrup would be similar to pure glucose. How similar? Well, you've got me there. I think, though, that if someone were in a jam and had to sub corn syrup for glucose syrup, they would want to track down a high DE/sweet corn syrup. The sweeter you go, the less glucose polymers you have to deal with. Not that HFCS-less corn syrups are that common, and, if someone did stumble across one, I doubt that low and high DE versions would appear on the same shelf. For the sake of argument, though, it's interesting

No paneer in Gulab Jamun, huh? I guess I'm going to have to let my Indian grocer know that they've been mislabeling their kaala jamun, for hmmmm... 15 years. And all these restaurants that mention cheese or paneer in their menu descriptions- all those menus are going to have be reprinted. Not to mention the tens of Indian websites that have paneer based recipes. Here's a small sampling: From Chennai online.com: From the Hindustan Times: From www.OurKarnataka.Com: From www.khanakhazana.com From www.MantraOnNet.com From www.punjabi.net From www.indoindians.com: ---------------------------------------------------- Wow, this is going to take a lot of work setting these people straight! But if you say there's absolutely no paneer in Gulab Jamon, then, hey, that's good enough for me

This could be the first time I have ever disagreed with a university extension service. Sure, salt, when applied to the surface of meat, extracts liquid. This liquid, much like broth, contains a mixture of substances including proteins. Up to that point I'm hunky dory. But crediting this liquid for binding together the sausage?! What?!?! When raw meat cooks it coagulates and bonds with itself. A sausage is nothing but a seasoned fatty coarsely ground hamburger shoved in a casing. Do hamburgers require salt to bind? Of course not.

The ratio would be precisely 1:1, i.e. an equimolar mixture of fructose and glucose. Something I was wondering about last time this came up is whether you can buy high-fructose corn syrup in retail quantities, because it is 1) dirt cheap due to gov't corn subsidies, and 2) is essentially the exact same thing as invert sugar, the only major difference being that HFCS is not exactly 50/50 glucose/fructose -- HFCS 55 is 55% fructose and 45% glucose, and HFCS 42 is . . . you get the idea. They are basically the same thing, just made in different ways. Invert sugar is made by hydrolyzing sucrose into fructose/glucose, whereas HFCS is made by partially converting a glucose syrup to fructose. ← Patrick, any idea what the stuff sold in grocery stores is? MelissaH ← My understanding had been that the sugar fraction of regular light corn syrup is almost exclusively glucose. However, if you read the ingredient list of some corn syrup bottles, like Karo, you'll see that they list corn syrup and high fructose corn syrup as ingredients. My best guess is that brands that don't list HFCS as an ingredient are essentially glucose syrup, but for those that list HFCS as an ingredient, I don't think there is any easy way to tell what the proportion of glucose to fructose is. ← Corn syrup is never 100% glucose. According to this page, corn syrup is always comprised of glucose, maltose, maltotriose and higher saccharides. Pure glucose is 75% as sweet as sugar, regular corn syrup ranges from 30% to 60%, due to the presence of the less sweet maltose (45%) and higher saccharides which fall even lower on the relative sweetness spectrum. A commercial corn syrup without HFCS in the ingredients will never be as sweet as glucose syrup. I'm guessing that, besides sweetness, the other compounds affect other qualities as well.

Although, I've seen quite a few recipe for paneer-less gulab jamon like the one above, I've never come across the actual product, either in my Indian grocer or in restaurants. Paneer is an ingredient across the board. It could be a regional thing, though. It might help to find out the ingredients of your favorite jamon and proceed from there. Ideally, you should boil milk down to a semi-solid for gulab jamon, but, that's a lot of work. I think, though, that gulab jamon is as magnificent as it is because of the labor involved. You might be able to cheat a little and use evaporated milk, maybe... but I think powdered is pushing it. With the amount of processing milk goes through to become powdered, the taste just isn't suitable for a subtley flavored delicacy such as this. Recently I have seen solid milk in the refrigerated section of my Indian grocer. If you can track that down, that would definitely work.

Proteins 'solubilised' by salt? I'm sorry but you lost me. Fat, any kind of fat, weakens protein fibers attempting to bond. It's the reason why a well marbled steak is so tender. It's the chemistry between flaky pastry. Where there is fat, there is no adhesion. A salted sausage containing meat and fat will have the same 'protein matrix surrounding fat' as an unsalted one.

When you're shopping a Hispanic market, look for something called Narajana. That's the Spanish fo the sour oranges you want. We get them here in Florida all the time. Also worth trying is a powdered spice mix called mojo seco (dry mojo). Very tasty! ← Actually 'naranja' means orange. Sour orange is 'naranga agria'pronounced na-RAHN-juh ah-LREE-ah (the LR is a rolled r).

No problem- Hope you score some sour oranges! I've been there 4 or 5 times and I've never NOT seen sour oranges. The quality of oranges does fluctuate though. A couple times they've been kind of old looking. I have no idea when sour orange season is or where they get them from.

Mountain Dew is my favorite soda of all time. I really can't explain why I like I so much since I normally eschew artificially flavored products. Whatever the reason, it thrills me. Anyway, the caffeine in it has always caused me to bounce off the walls, and, these days, I'm not eating sugar. Word has it that diet caffeine free mountain dew exists. Somewhere. I've never seen it and I've spent a great deal of time perusing soda aisles. Has anyone else in this state seen it? Heck, I'd even drive to Pennsylvania, if someone found it there.

I've used both bottled Mojo and made my own (with sour oranges) and the homemade version was definitely superior. Canned orange juice is just never as good as fresh. Msphoebe, beef, pork and chicken are all excellent marinaded in mojo. I add a little evoo to the bottled stuff with lean meat like chicken breasts. If you ever make it across the river, they usually have bitter oranges at Twin Cities in Elizabeth