Fernwood

Which edition JoC, please? I don't find this in the book in my kitchen (1997) but I have at least 3 others readily accessible.

This is indeed the secret!

I'm hitting a paywall for the SF Chronicle but David Lebovitz has a recipe 'adapted from Nichole Accettola' that calls for 200 g butter, 200 g sugar, 100 g corn syrup, 300 g flour, etc. Are those the ratios you used?

There are batters that depend on the reaction between baking soda and acid for leavening--this activity would not stand up well to freezing which would disrupt the delicate foam of CO2 bubbles from that reaction. In typical chocolate chip cookie dough, I believe the main effect of the soda is to balance the acidity of brown sugar and promote browning. This is about adjusting the pH, not leavening--not likely affected by freezing.

Also, I'm really sorry to see that this never made it into RecipeGullet. Abra's blog (linked) raves about it but doesn't have the recipe posted, either. Does anyone know a source for something similar?

Would love to try this myself but we don't see so many citrus varieties in our suburban Connecticut markets and I don't know about a source for Seville oranges. Are they unusually delicate in storage? I'm thinking my daughter might be able to find some in NYC and bring them to me around end-January or early-February.

In my experience (in New England, well-known chili destination 😉), they will be fairly consistent within a single purchase. At times I stopped buying jalapeños from certain supermarkets because they were so bland. I thought maybe they had been bred for "jalapeño poppers", usually found as a bar snack.

I have seen (elsewhere) a couple of claims that Hollandaise can be refrigerated and very gently reheated to an acceptable texture. Is this real? I am not interested in modernist additives but I do have a good immersion blender. It would definitely make my Easter dinner prep easier if I could start the Hollandaise on Saturday.

Old topic but persistent problem. I have been throwing out some older silicone spatulas because they come out of the sink or the automatic dishwasher clean, then develop a greasy surface film while they sit in the drawer for a few days. I think it's mostly cheaper ones that get really icky. Some brands--I can identify Mastrad specifically--seem to hold up better. I can clean it off before use but I can't help thinking that something is absorbed into the material and then leaches out again and presumably this is also happening while the spatula is in contact with the food (ick). I have been wondering for years whether everyone sees this or if it is promoted by something in my kitchen (water? cooking fats? detergent? karma?). Anyway, I would love recommendations from people who have experienced this for brands that are more resistant. I think the Mastrad items are very good quality but I would love a couple of smaller spatulas with thinner edges; the Mastrad ones are rather sturdy. ETA I'm looking at a Di Oro set online but it's hard to tell anything about the edge profile.

A decade of canelé obsession: Please help with cannele recipe

Got some Ruby chocolate from Trader Joe's and made some goodies for my Valentine. I tempered ridiculously small amounts of both chocolates by nuking and seeding, with reasonable success, piped from zip bags onto parchment and threw some crumbled freeze-dried raspberries (also TJ's) on top. Very amateurishly improvised but I was pleased with the result.

Available at Trader Joe's, if that's accessible for you.

If you haven't seen it yet, don't miss The Terrine Topic, including many awesome projects by @Baron d'Apcher. It's a veritable museum of terrines!

I bake my pumpkin pies (at home) on the bottom rack on a preheated heavy aluminum griddle but it sounds as though that is not applicable to your conditions. I agree that the dough may be moister than necessary. My crust has the same fat % (I use butter) but only 28% water.

Yet again I forgot to photograph the cookie platters for our holiday party, so I made a demo plate for (virtual) sharing. We keep making the same assortment year after year because we can't agree to cut any of them. Sugar cookies (vanilla + lemon); Ginger Spice; Pistachio Cranberry shortbread (+ orange); Coffee Snaps; Spritz (vanilla + almond); Golden Bars (brown sugar & pecans); Meringues (peppermint + mini chocolate chips). My daughter made this batch of meringues so tiny that it's tempting to grab them by the handful. We will not discuss how many of these cookies made it back into the tins.

I must have gotten six emails from DHL with that phrase and I giggled at every one. (easily amused, I guess)

Thanks, Paul. I have read your underbelly posts about coffee and coffee ice cream with fascination and I will be interested to hear what you have to say about the coffee at O Cafe.

I have heard the same saying with "electricians" for "mushroom hunters". Both versions make sense to me.

Anyone familiar with this little joint in the Village? I assume some Brazilian roots because of items like pao de queijo and brigadeiros on the menu. I would love to know about the coffee in the latte my husband brought me--such a bright flavor, not at all like typical espresso of my experience. At home in CT we have access to a pretty great local roaster with quite a range of coffees. I wish I knew about the coffee in that O Cafe latte so I could try for something similar from Willoughby's.

The link in the first post doesn't seem to work for me(?).

Now that DHL has made contact they have become my most constant correspondent. I think today's second email was to notify me that my package has cleared customs in Miami. I particularly enjoyed this line: "Description: FLYING PAN STEAL" 😉

Any joy? Email today from DHL says mine is scheduled for delivery next Monday.

I feel the same way and I have wondered if it's one of those things where there's a genetic variability in being able to smell a particular aroma compound, or at least in how intensely it's perceived. Papaya never did anything to hurt me but I couldn't stand it as a kid, found it rather nauseating. It wasn't something I was routinely exposed to growing up in New York but we went to the Bahamas once when I was around 11 years old. Every morning at breakfast I would say No papaya, please--I'll just have the second course (no memory of what came after the fruit) and every morning they served me the papaya anyway and I had to sit there and smell it until it was removed. Ick! Green papaya is fine in SE Asian food but I guess those Bahamian ones were nice and ripe....

Where I live it's much easier to find a selection of balsamic vinegars than it is to find white grapefruit. Wish I could grow my own!

It looks like a piece of art glass! All the mangoes in my market are either plain yellow or a standard red-green combo color scheme. I have never seen such a showy one. ❤️