Smithy

That meal looks delightful to me. I'm sure it was a very rare treat for the med student. Sorry if this is a silly question, but how will you transfer those little loaves out of those beautifully lined baskets? Do you flip the loaves over onto a baking sheet and then transfer to a stone? (I'd have flour all over if I did that.) Or will you be able to pick them up once they're risen without deflating them? Edit: maybe I'm overthinking the "place directly on the stone" comment. I flip my floured loaves onto a paddle without scattering too much flour in the process. Well, I did say the question might seem silly.

Thanks, Mick, for the links and recipes. I'm enjoying your blog. I'm alternating these days between yeasted breads and sourdough breads, getting a feel for both and cross-pollinating, so to speak, between various courses and books. Today (starting yesterday) I made my first attempt at an epi (wheat stalk shape) loaf for friends who know they're in for an adventure whenever they come for dinner. The dough is 80% hydration, fermented overnight. I have this question in to the teacher, but I'll ask here also: does "pain a l'ancienne" (please forgive the missing diacriticals) refer to the overnight/several night fermentation, the hydration level, or something else altogether? Before baking, I feared that it would be nothing more than a blob: By the time it was done, I was feeling better about it. It looks more like a crankshaft than a wheat stalk, but tastes better than either.

That looks beautiful, FauxPas! I love the color. It's a salute to the memory of the much-lamented and sorely-missed apricots noted above. We have a windfall of Real Strawberries right now, from a farmer about 50 miles south who trucks the stuff up the same day they're picked. They're red all the way through, tender, juicy and packed with flavor. So far I've been pigging out on them and sharing them around with friends and neighbors while they're still good (they don't keep). However. with the next bucketful I may try making a small jar of non-gelled refrigerator preserves. What would be the optimum amount of sugar so the fruit keeps and the flavor isn't overwhelmed? Should a small amount of acid be added to brighten them? The purpose would be to have a nice strawberry sauce for the occasional toast or dessert topping. I've never liked commercial strawberry preserves, but a few home cooks have demonstrated that it can be done well.

Impressive! Thank you.

Do you have any photos of all that in the Remoska? If not this meal, then another would be nice. It doesn't look big enough to handle all that. Has it operated and cleaned up as easily as you'd hoped?

Are you asking whether: a. anyone has installed both gas and induction, or b. compared the two side by side, or c. whether there are dual units? I could imagine installing a standard gas oven/range and having a separate induction cooktop if I had the room.

I can't give you the exact recipe because it isn't mine to give away, but I can tell you that it's an 80% hydration using the Pain à l’Ancienne Method. I think it's probably as much technique as formula. The formula and technique are from Peter Reinhart's class in Craftsy, Artisan Bread Making. I highly recommend the class. Thanks, Mick! Yes, I'd be very interested. The focaccia was my first excursion into high-hydration dough. Very interesting stuff. Please do share! rotuts, you've made my point exactly. The topic Establishing and Working with Homegrown Sourdough Starter hasn't done much since this spring. It's time for a revival.

My first effort at focaccia. To the side you can see a sourdough loaf based on Mick's 50% starter above. I'll post about it in the sourdough topic, which has been languishing.

I don't think there's a "normal" answer to your question as to how much it costs to set up a kitchen. It depends on many, many issues, including your location. When I moved out of my parents' house it was an excuse for my parents to buy new dishes (so they could give me their old ones). I had a lot of hand-me-down appliances from family and friends. I visited thrift stores. If you have thrift stores in your area and are patient, you can find amazingly good deals. To see what I mean, go look at this topic: Yard Sale, Thrift Store, Junk Heap Shopping (Part 2) and its predecessor.

Those are nifty cookie cutters. Congrats! I wouldn't worry about the porosity. Everything's porous on some level, and - as AlaMoi points out - you're baking the cookies hot and long enough to kill the unlikely bacteria that might grow there. A food-grade oil spray before use might help seal the pores if you were really concerned, but I'd be inclined to just wash them after use like any other cookie cutter. If, after some use and washing, you start noticing an off-flavor or off-smell, you'll know that the pores are retaining something.

I guess I'll have to be the one to bite: what is IPB?

50% starter! Looks like a good way to use up some starter when I've gotten carried away with refreshing but not using.

This works very well. I first learned about deglazing and building a sauce using those nice brown bits from Lynne Rosetto Kasper's radio show, The Splendid Table. My cookery made a quantum leap with that one trick, and my nonstick pans began getting much less use as a result. The cleanup as paulraphael describes was a logical extension and is my preferred cleaning method for my prize pans. (To be fair, I'll note that my darling still prefers using our nonstick cookware; he doesn't like worrying about things sticking, and wants things he can throw in the dishwasher.)

Shelby, you've especially got me jonesing for a good garden pickle. What kind of vinegar do you use? Do the pickled cukes and onions hold up well, or is this a short-term small-batch pickle? I really love being in the North at this time of year, but when I look at the fresh garden produce y'all have been getting, then see that the local farmers' fields are still at the seedling stage, I have to wonder about my judgment. :-D

What Deryn said. I have lost track of the number of gadgets and cookware that I've added to my arsenal toolkit kitchen collection since I joined the Society. There are still more to come, if I can work out where to put them. I'm happy to report that my cooking has also improved. :-) Welcome out of lurk mode! If you have questions about the workings of the forum (how to add photos, for instance, or where a post belongs) feel free to ask one of us hosts.

I complimented the deli food but the true stars were the home meals. Those salads! Those meats! And I might even become a convert to paminna cheese if I were to try Rachel's version. Mr. Kim paid careful attention to how one gets perfect ribs in an hour over the grill? Can you share what you learned? Once again, thanks for posting. It looks like a lovely trip.

What a great trip! How nice to see old friends (and have them reappear here) and fun, and great food.... The deli offerings were especially photogenic, but all of it looked great. How nice of Caroled and C and Rachel to show such hospitality! I'm sure the camaraderie was the most delicious of all.

Welcome!

The rhubarb season has rolled around again, and our newspaper was good enough to send inspiration my way for Rhubarb Frozen Custard. (Although the link is to the web site of the Duluth News Tribune, the article is by Leah Eskin and reprinted from the Chicago Tribune.) The recipe comes together easily. Mix and pasteurize this custard of egg yolks, half-and-half, sugar, salt and vanilla extract: Cook down a pound of rhubarb cut into chunks, along with sugar and water, to make a sauce: Chill both; mix them together and churn. The result is creamy, tangy and delicious. I'll be making it again, but with a couple of adjustments: 1. They say to strain the custard but not the rhubarb sauce. Although the rhubarb melts down into a nice puddle, it still needs to be pureed, or possibly strained. Mine came out with strings, as seen in this photo: I pureed it with a wand blender, but still had to pick out a few fiber clumps from the finished product. A coarse strainer might have helped remove them. 2. The recipe makes 6 cups. That's too much to fit in my Cuisinart ICE-20 (1 quart) machine all at once. I've now marked this recipe as a double batch for my machine.

I think both articles were interesting. I too would like to know of the specifics. For instance, the first day requires 56% of the calories to come from fat. Does the type of fat matter? (I would think so, but it would be nice to read.) If I were to select fruits, vegetables and meats to fit the caloric and proportion specifications, would I be meeting the goal? I agree that it's nice to see "quality" emphasized along with longevity. The holistic approach in the USC article makes sense.

I keep dithering on the color (nice choices, even though they don't have British Racing Green ), then wonder whether this is a good purchase for me anyway. Does it have a quicker response time than, say, the Taylor or Maverick thermometers I can get for roughly half the price? Is the needle probe especially wonderful? The alarm functions are nice but these days I'm most concerned with oven temperature swings, and this seems to be strictly for food temperature. Have I got that right?

My mother and I used to enjoy the malitol-sweetened chocolates at a favorite shop out her way. As a rule I dislike any alternative sweeteners, but I thought these were very good. Is there a health issue with malitol, or is it simply a matter of taste? Edit: sorry, I just reread the topic and learned about one possible health issue. I'll ask 2 different questions instead: how common is the laxative effect? (We did not experience it.) Are there more potential health issues?

There are some amusingly-named items on the menu, but others sound scary. Are they really using hypodermic needles? What the heck is a "wellness shot"?

Save $50 on the Anova Precision Cooker in honor of Father's Day by entering the code "LUVDAD" at their web site. Now I don't remember whether the Father's Day special ends on June 21 or June 23.

I heard a related story on NPR, but missed some of the detail. Thanks for this link. I'm surprised that "breaking" (liquid) eggs are usually so much cheaper than whole eggs. Does the cost of packaging per egg so outweigh the cost of breaking, filtering and repackaging said egg? It's also interesting that H.E.B. restricted the number of cartons per customer because the commercial users were buying out their stock. I applaud H.E.B. for remembering their customer base.