Wholemeal Crank

Surely such a brownie could be created--but if it is going to be just fudgy chocolate, in other words, chocolate diluted iwth nothing but flour, sugar, egg, and butter, well, I'd rather have the straight chocolate. Or limit the diluents to butter, egg, and cream, and make a mousse instead. I only make brownies if I want to play chocolate off on something else--nuts, fruit, spices, different textures of brownie part vs frosting, etc.

Today, Pouchong from Ten Ren teas, a not-too-fancy grade (from the website, it looks like it is a '3rd grade'). Trying to think of how to describe it. I've been loving this tea for some weeks now, drinking a lot of it when I'm not drinking pu-erh. It's like a green tea that has been tamed a bit, without the bitterness that so often lurks in wait behind the sweet front of a green tea.

Finally had a litlte more time to brew some of the new pu,, and while I didn't have enough for the full timings suggested above, I did do 4 serial brewings of a broken bit of the cake, not the fines from the bottom of the box, and it was indeed quite nice. Don't know what I did so wrong that first bit--if it was using the crumbs, the cooler than usual water, or something else, but this was a nice pu: a little light on the fruity aftertaste that my other one has, but still, earthy, gentle, and a little sweet, not at all bitter.

Confession of a pu-abuser: had no time today to make tea, but really really wanted some, so popped a rishi pu-erh tuo cha into my thermos, added hot water from the office water cooler (temp unknown, scalding but not near boiling), and headed down to clinic. It brewed up pleasingly, despite the unorthodoxy, and remained tasty and drinkable right to the dregs. Not that I recommend this, or would try it with anything but a trustworthy pu, but I do so love a tea that rewards even abuse with such goodness. Also added a few shots to the pu flickr set showing the remarkable difference in texture between my two pu cakes, the one I was discussing first on the right, and an older, a little less expensive pu cake on the left. The left one is denser and delicious, the right one, less dense; the jury is still out on the quality: http://www.flickr.com/photos/debunix/3744672109/ closer up: http://www.flickr.com/photos/debunix/3744680087/ and the label on the older one http://www.flickr.com/photos/debunix/3744664959/

Didn't get a chance today to work with the new pu-erh, but did make a batch of the first large cake I bought. I still have about 2/3 of this one, and it was interesting to handle it right after the other one. It is very much denser, smoother surfaced, about the same darkness--so presumably also a cooked version--and utterly lovely, night and day from that first cup of the other one. I broke off just the usual amount of pu--bet there's a good scale somewhere nearby in one of the nursing units where I could measure a sample, if no one was looking--and made it in three infusions, after one quick rinse, pouring all together into my thermos, and drank it right through a notoriously boring 90 minute meeting. Sweet. I paid about $35 for this one, at a shop a few doors down from the Ten Ren where I got the latest one. I am sure the Ten Ren pu will be better when I try it again--can't imagine they'd want to damage their reputation by carrying poor quality pu. Still, this was just a good reminder of how lovely the puerhs can be. I will try the other again, giving it a more proper try, but have to be careful about those first short steepings--if I really use water right off the boil, the risk of a scalded tongue is quite high, so carefully, carefully! Will bring this one home so I can share pics of this vs the other one. Unfortunately, I think I threw away the nice little label with the number key from this one--if there was one.

First question: besides tradition, what is the value of the gaiwan in this sequence, vs the other pot? As long as the leaves are covered, and have some breathing room--so they're not swelling up above the level of the water--how does the gaiwan differ? Then on to quantities--for 3 teaspoons--three times what I used--you're using 9 x 4 ounces=36 ounces of water, about 12 ounces per teaspoon, seemingly a bit less than I used, but if part of it is still compressed, and really weighing six grams, a similar or higher ratio of tea to water, but using it in a very differently timed sequence. Any problem with simply using your fingers to break up the cake? that's how I've been breaking the pu I have at work--breaking off a chunk, then worrying that a little until it divides, usually horizontally, into pieces that are about the right size. And the timings are interesting, implying drinking a lot of water over a short time, since there has to be an empty cup ready for the next infusion. I'll try this next time.

It was about a teaspoon of the crumbs from the cake, that were there as soon as I took off the clear plastic wrapper. Some were larger pieces and some quite small--like a basic loose leaf tea slightly crumbled but not minced like most bagged tea. And that was steeped in about 4 ounces of water, twice. Added more images to the set of the teas, steeping, and resulting brews. http://www.flickr.com/photos/debunix/sets/72157621660566348/ (I wasn't going to post these because I was not happy with the quality, but since you asked...)

Brewed 1 small batch, more or less gongfu style--not in a pretty ceramic pot, but in a glass one, with water just off the boil--rinsed 10 seconds, then two cups in succession with about 2 minutes steeping apiece. THere was a distinct difference in color between the two--the 2nd one was lighter despite longer steeping--and the 2nd one also had a thinner flavor. It was....well....essence of mud. Nothing bitter, nothing bad, just nothing sweet or otherwise pleasing along with the earthiness.

you're right, I wasn't thinking of the right questions to ask when I bought this. I did ask about the difference between a cake priced at $35 and one at $60, and she said the $60 one was both aged longer and used higher quality leaves. But that was it.

How do you tell that it is cooked? Are the images posted here, about halfway down the page, backwards? http://www.houdeasianart.com/index.php?mai...49eab04013ad847 He labels the black/brown cakes as 'raw' and the green and gray (molded) cakes as cooked.

I am not sure why the link above comes out just as 'photo', so to clarify, it is a link to my photo set on flickr that shows images of the cake and the wrappings. So I'll post it again, with a little more context: http://www.flickr.com/photos/debunix/sets/72157621660566348/ I have gotten far enough in my reading to encounter this quote from the 'pu-erh, a westerner's quest' web site: <Yunnan Tea Company standardized the trade number for Pu Erh Tea in 1976 for the purpose of export. Each bingcha has 4 digits: the first 2 digits indicate the manufacturing year, the third digit indicates the leaf grade, the last digit indicates the tea factory....> but on the back of my cake, this little identifying tag http://www.flickr.com/photos/debunix/3734071434/ has several numbers, only one of which is four digits, and the cake can't have been made in 1910 or 2010, so which, if any, corresponds to this trade number?

In part inspired by the discussion over in my other topic, I bought another cake of pu-erh today when I stopped at Ten Ren to get some more Pouchong. Photo I'd love to know what the text says and what the code means. I am sure it is not the sort of seriously aged investment-quality stuff that was the subject of the pu-erh bubble referenced in the NYT article linked a few posts above, but am curious about the grade, likely age, and whether this is a cooked or raw tea, so I can associate that info with the taste.

Didn't know there was a topic just for pu-erh. Will check it out.

All good points. Will modify the recipe accordingly.

Here's a link to the cookies http://www.well.com/user/debunix/recipes/ChocolateMint.html

That's an excellent point. i used 1/4 teaspoon of a LorAnn oil for a batch of chocolate mint cookies--1/4 teaspoon extract for 1 cup of cocoa plus about 5 ounces of bittersweet chocolate. I was guessing a tablespoon of the typical supermarket extract--maybe 1:12--but I see such wide variations in these replies here that I think all I can say is '2 to 4 teaspoons, to taste'. Will post a link once I get the recipe online.

I am working on a cookie recipe for which I am going to use peppermint oil as a major flavoring. If I want to offer an option for those who do not have access to the oil, how much more standard peppermint extract should I suggest they use? And of course the volume of the extract may throw off the fluid balance a bit, but first problems first....

I'm not a food photo pro, but I do a lot of macro photography which deals with a lot of the same issues as food shots. A point and shoot camera is just not designed for this kind of work: a built-in flash is usually going to result in a very flat picture; you don't have many options for controlling depth of field, so it's harder to blur distracting elements out of the background; and without flash, you need high light sensitivity (without a lot of noise, which is a problem for the little sensors of the p&s) and powerful ambient lighting or a tripod (but the tripod doesn't have to be fancy). THe link above that shows the strobist lightbox is a good way to go with a p&s camera, but if you're going to do a lot of this, an investment with equipment that is built to do what you want it to do may save a lot of headache.

Were you using a "raw" or a "burnt" tuo cha? Not sure how to find that out. This is a link to the Rishi Tea web site, with their description of the tea: <http://www.rishi-tea.com/store/ancient-pu-erh-tuo-cha-organic-fair-trade-pu-erh-tea.html>

Today finally did the experiment, round 1 Used Rishi Tea Pu-Erch Tuo Cha tablets Rinsed each briefly, did not break them up Brought water to about 185 degrees Steeped tablet with 1 cup water, poured 1/3 to single cup and rest to thermos, then added another cup of water to the leaves for 2nd steeping. Repeated 3 times, net 4 samples of different rounds of steeping and 1 sample of all mixed together Then took a fresh tablet and, after rinsing, steeped it with 4 cups of 185 degree water, and let steep for 4 minutes. Tasted the results with puffed rice to clear the palate in between. Results? Not that surprising. http://www.flickr.com/photos/debunix/3625463423/ The first 1 minute steeping was thin, light, hardly worth drinking. 2nd minute steeping was still thin, notably darker, and a bit more tannic. The 3rd and 4th minute steepings were not really distinguishable, but very nice. The mix was the most rounded flavor. And the single brewing with 4 cups for 4 minutes was essentially indistinguishable from the mixed single steepings--equally delicious. The primary difference was that the mixed cup was a bit cooler by the time the larger volume brew was ready.

Yes, that does make some sense. What I have been doing is 3-4 infusions in a small pot, which are then combined into a large thermos that I drink throughout the day. So I don't really taste the different brewings one by one, nor have I tested whether the results are really different from a single larger pot brewed a little longer.

interesting point. Some of my most-re-steepable teas are the most highly compressed, but some of the straight white teas which are nearly flat before steeping also do well. It makes sense to me that many teas don't give everything on the first steeping. What I am very curious about, however, is whether there is a significant difference between tea steeped multiple times and tea steeped once for longer but with a larger volume of water--e.g., one teaspoon of tea steeped 4 times with 6 oz of water for 1 minute each vs one teaspoon of tea steeped 4 minutes with 24 oz of water Do the multiple infusions have some additional agitating effect that helps to get more good flavor out of the leaves, or is the tradition of multiple infusions simply a practical way to make use of smaller vessels for brewing?

don't have this one yet, but their flatbreads and flavors is my all-time favorite cookbook, hands down. this book was a revelation: not all bread has to be baked in a pan or as a baguette. I fell in love with it at a time when the freedom from trying to match the perfect oven spring of commercial sandwich loaves was particularly appealing. The authors describe breads from around the world that are yeasted or unyeasted; based on rye, oats, corn, rice, and teff in addition to wheat; that are festive or everyday; and they include equally wonderful recipes for things the breads would accompany. Why I keep it: Madnakash (which introduced me to Mahleb, a now indispensable spice in my kitchen); Uighur naan with cumin and onion accompanying chickpea and onion stew; sprouted apricot bread; bulgur bread; and pine-nut breads to go with pumpkin stew. And I've bought all of their subsequent books too. Since some of my favorite recipes in F&F were from western china (Uighuur Naan!), I am really looking forward to this new one. It will be in my hot little hands within 48 hours, however, now that I know it's on the shelves.

I have been frustrated by a couple of teapots with inserts that are too high from the bottom of the pot, so that they do not efficiently brew a single cup of tea--if it's too high, the tea isn't covered unless the pot is nearly full. I'm loving one I found in a chinatown shop that is actually from japan, very simple clear glass with a mesh basket insert. I like the glass to see the color variations in the brewed tea. I can see that the teaware collecting can be as addicting as the teas themselves, however, and have to firmly remind myself that there is only so much room in the cupboards whenever I see another cute ceramic/cast iron/glass pot.....and I have a nice teapot for home and for work already. As soon as the tea is brewed, I pour it off into a thermos, and resteep immediately, until the thermos is full. Then I can carry the thermos with me to the nearby offices of several other tea-loving colleagues, and to the clinic workroom where I can share more. One quart of tea can yield half a dozen happy campers.