Fernwood

"How good is the temp control ?" "how do you regulate the temp of this thing and how might you check that with a thermometer?" I believe one has to approach this more like a grill or a broiler than an oven or a true fryer. There is not a stable volume of air/water/oil to maintain at any particular temp. There is lots of radiant heat = infrared radiation and the food cooks fairly quickly; take it out when it's done. (edited for formatting)

I have gotten into the habit of salting poultry at least a day in advance. I usually keep chickens and the like salted, but covered, in the fridge a day before I know I will cook them. I suppose it wasn't necessary for this application, and I may try a period of aging without salting. I learned this from Judy Rodgers's The Zuni Café Cookbook. She has an excellent discussion under the heading "The Practice of Salting Early". I generally keep things wrapped so I don't call it dry-aging but early salting of all meat/poultry has become my standard practice, whenever possible. I do think it improves texture, juiciness and flavor. And the proteins keep better, if they should have to wait a couple of extra days before cooking. [Edited to make Amazon link work.]

The cake is flavored with lemon zest and extract, plus lemon juice in the buttercream. I think the implication is that she likes the tang of buttermilk with the lemon flavor of the cake but that whole milk will work, if that's what you have. Or you might choose to substitute other flavoring for the lemon and prefer the blander milk. Edited to clarify the various lemon elements.

I might think that, when shaken, the drink can be moved over a relatively large amount of ice quite rapidly. If a smaller amount of ice is submerged while stirring, the heat transfer to the ice is slower and there is more time for additional heat to be picked up from the environment.

In medicine it is used as a laxative. You're probably looking for culinary uses but, a word to the wise....

Oh, I love seeing all these inventive goodies! My French is good enough for some of the text, but clearly much specific vocabulary is lacking. I followed the link for le divorcé and then moved on to the page for their gland. Who could resist that name? But, not knowing what gland (Fr) actually means, I found the sharp-ended shape and creamy-green color vaguely alarming. Thank you for the Wikipedia link; I feel better now, even if it doesn't look all that acorn-ish to me. Fern

Maybe something (perhaps otherwise imperceptible) has changed in your water chemistry?

I generally do my pies in Pyrex and bake them sitting on a heavy aluminum pan. Do I need to make any adjustments in instructions for pies in foil tins?

Thanks for all the advice! Today I ran to TJ's and tonight I have a crust thawing so that tomorrow I can bake something with it and Friday I can call the store to order a pile of them for next week. In an email to the teacher who coordinates the visit of the Chinese group I mentioned store-bought crusts, provoking the reply "No rolling pins???" I think we should have some rolling pins available but my goal is complete pies for all within the time allotted. Using the apples that the kids just picked is the heart (I was going to say core!) of the project and I think the less fuss with the crusts, the better. I do have a Norpro Apple Master and I hope to recruit a couple more. In my hands a vegetable peeler is more efficient for just a few apples but the cranked gadget is less fatiguing when you have pounds and pounds to go through and I'm sure the kids will enjoy it. I only ever peel with mine; maybe I should test the slice/core function this weekend. The room has a sink, thank goodness! I think our counters will be ordinary folding "banquet" tables; I'm wondering if I should try to cover them with anything (what?). I will recruit cutting boards, bowls, knives and other utensils from the parents who will be assisting. I did assume that foil tins are the way to go. Then I thought about how bend-y they can be under the weight of a two-crust pie and considered asking host families to bring in pie plates. Then I thought about how distracted everyone will be by all the other issues around having the Chinese guests and went back to Plan A. [Maybe they don't all have pie plates anyway. I have about eight, but I suspect I am not average that way.] I could look for some shallow boxes to put under them for transport; even just sturdy flat pieces cut from cartons might do. Better ideas? We will need recipe/instruction sheets and to make sure baking info goes home with the pies. I use some milk and cinnamon/sugar on my top crust but I think we will give instructions for that step at home. What else do I need to think about? Toliver, I am sure we will take pictures and I hope I will be able to post some. Stay tuned.

I have a week to plan a project making 25 apple pies with 60 teenagers, half of whom are visitors from China. The kids will go apple picking at a local New England orchard, then assemble pies to take home to host famlies to bake that evening. Now, my family thinks I make a mean apple pie: RLB's all-butter crust, apples from said orchard, a well-practiced routine in my own kitchen. Next week we will have 1 1/2 hours in a middle-school classroom to prep the apples and put the pies together. I do expect to have 8-10 American parents present to mentor the youths; I am familiar with the pie-making skills of one of those adults (besides me). I have some thoughts about the gear that will be needed but the most urgent issue on my mind is the crust. Despite my daughter's suggestion that I could make all the crusts ahead (she knows what she likes), I'm not that kind of crazy. This project is really about the cooperative experience and the participation in making an iconic American dish and this is the time for store-bought crusts. Years ago I had some experience with the refrigerated Pillsbury crusts and I thought they tasted pretty good. I once used a pre-formed frozen crust that cracked like crazy. I'm wondering if Trader Joe's has a crust; I won't be able to go investigate that until at least Friday. Suggestions, my "imaginary baking friends"? (That's what my DH calls you.) Other advice about managing this? Baking teacher is not at all my usual occupation! Thanks, Fern

We have some plastic glasses (not sure what kind of plastic) that we no longer use for gin & tonics because the lime wedges caused the surface of the plastic to get cloudy. I believe it is the lime oil.

We will be overnight (a Thursday) in Williamstown at the end of June. I would love to hear 2012 suggestions for dinner in the Williamstown/North Adams vicinity. Adults + teen, all (good) food appreciated. Fern

Wild blackberries grow like crazy in our back yard. The extremely dark color makes it difficult to judge the ripeness by eye though, with experience, one does learn the subtle signs. When ripe they are yummy right off the canes but cooking them brings out a spicy quality that fascinates me. I'm with Annabelle: If I had just a modest amount, I would probably make a fool. Fern [Edited for punctuation]

I often make the dough into logs before chilling. I like being able to form and wrap closely right away, rather than putting sheets of portioned dough into the fridge and having to package it later (busy home baker). The logs can be cut or even just broken into pieces if you make them narrow. It's easier to smash the lumps down a bit to the desired silhouette than it is to scoop out refrigerated dough.

Varier's Where to buy page for the US has online retailers at the bottom. Here is the results page for "move stool" at the Backcare Basics site. Actually, Backcare Basics seems to be based in Needham, though I don't know if they have a showroom. Now I want one! Fern

I love those Sandy Chilewich mats! (If size/resolution permitted you would see the same one under the platter in my avatar image.) Those were the first products of hers I ever saw. I ordered a few from the MoMA catalogue and when they arrived they were so handsome that I immediately ordered several more to fill our large table. Modern, elegant and practical. Fern

Doesn't Penzey's also do several versions of onion, as powder or dehydrated chunks? MelissaH I just discovered Penzeys toasted granulated onions--yum. Super convenient for quick dip/spread mixes. They have "Californian white onions, granulated", as well. Fern

PET PEEVE! And (in an effort to stay on-topic) we could count that as a mispronunciation, though I think it is really some other kind of cognitive error. Fern

Just curious: What does this mean? What was the "chocolate" then?

That link describes the ventral nerve cord which is located toward the "belly" side (inner curve) of the body. Looking at THIS image, I think it is the shrimp's circulatory system (heart, dorsal artery). HERE is a clearer illustration. Although it is a crayfish, I am pretty sure the anatomy is close enough.

Reviewed here by Rose Levy Beranbaum. She seems to like it, with a couple of caveats.

Also, those used to be half-gallon containers and then I think they were 52 oz for a while, but I guess that's probably another topic.

I used to buy a lot of Edy's and I started reading the ingredients when I noticed the absence of "ice cream" on the labels, sometime this past year. I will have to look again when I am at the store but, the way I remember it, the flavors that my children wanted had whey, and some sort of vegetable oil, and that was when I said "ick!" and bought a different brand, something that was still "ice cream". The flavors in question surely had cookie dough or peanut butter cups or similar junk mixed in, so maybe I was looking at an ingredient that was part of the add-in, rather than the base, but I decided to take a stand against products that can't even meet the FDA definition of "ice cream", which I believe is not really a very high bar. I am still faithful to Edy's "vanilla bean" (ice cream!), even though they have tried to distract me with several alternate varieties of vanilla, which are probably cheaper to produce. I shouldn't, and don't, eat as much frozen dessert substances as I used to, but teenagers seem to have a minimum daily requirement, so it's necessary to have something in the freezer.

Have you done it? Does it work to add a little gelatin to sweetened sour cream? I'd like to pipe it to decorate the top of a cheesecake. Thanks, Fern

Thanks so much! Fern