AlainV

After weeks of hesitation, I finally bought a CF unit from Amazon.uk three weeks ago. I must be the only one who knows/use this induction burner in Belgium. In fact It is not available in this country. My unit (£ 1299 - ouch) is labelled Sage Commercial/Polyscience and develops 2400 W. I am very happy so far but to boil 2-3 liters of water I prefer to use my 3500 W "ordinary" units. The only problem is that the guarantee is no longer valid (Breville do not guaranty a unit exported outside UK). So fingers crossed for the future. PS : excuse my english - I am french-speaking

Brown sugar : you can use cassonade (beige or brune depending the molasse content). Baking Powder : poudre à lever, levure chimique ou levure alsacienne. Its all the same and is sold in small envelopes. Sweetened Condensed Milk : lait concentré sucré (NESTLE). Cream Cheese : philadephia, Saint-Moret ou Samos 99. If you need more help ... I am from Belgium Alain

I have a simple question. Many recipes state : cook vegetables (carrots, green beans, cauliflower, broccoli ...) in salted boiling water. But how much salt ? I have read concentration as little as 5 per thousand (1 teaspoon salt per liter water). However Harold Mc Gee recommends "salt in the cooking water at about the concentration of seawater, 3 %". This is a big difference. What is the correct concentration ?

"You can make Pringle style but its a lot of work. You can use a method similar to my Prawn Crackers http://forums.egullet.org/index.php?showtopic=63405, but use potato starch (and no prawns) I think the original get their shape from drying on heated rollers before frying - they starch slurry is basically printed onto the roller, The composition of the starch is such that you don't get much expansion on frying." jackal10, I just read your prawn crackers thread and would be very interested to get the recipe of your potato variation Alain

Fresh raviolis with ricotta and spinach filling with a simple cream and spinach sauce. Very tasty.

Anything in Europe maybe ? I am still trying to get popover pans this side of the Atlantic with a shipping cost less then the actual pan price Any help ?

Neil, Thank you for the answer ! I am not dissappointed at all : I am very happy with those cupcakes ! I just wanted to know if I have got the correct texture because it was my first attempt with cupcakes.

Neil, I tried those yesterday. First time with cupcakes so I don't know what I have to expect. They taste very good but are not fudgey and creamy. I checked the chocolate cake with a toothpick until it was dry. The chocolate cake is moist and spongy but the cream cheese center is cooked, not creamy. Is this a good description of the final product or did I bake them too long ? By the way, I just bought Café Beaujolais from Amazon !

I just wanted to go a step further than the recipes in non-dedicated books. But it seems the book I am looking for doesnt' exist (at least for amateur cook - I won't spend 200$ for a professional book !).

Cjsadler, Next time try this recipe. It's from Malgieri's How to Bake and I can assure you it will work Cut 8 ounces butter in 0.2 to 0.4 inches cubes. Cut 2 ounces butter in 4 pieces. Dissolve 1 teaspoon salt in 1/2 cup cold water. Put 2 cups (9 ounces) all-purpose flour in the work bowl of your food processor equipped with the steel blade. Add the 2 ounces butter and pulse 10 to 12 times (1 second pulses). Then put the small butter cubes and pulse 2 times. Add salted cold water and pulse until a ball just begins to form. You then follow the instructions given in the first post for rolling the dought. I always give the dough a night rest in the fridge and roll it on a cold marble, just to be sure butter doesn't melt. Try it and you will see Edited to say that, looking at your pictures, I think your problem comes from not cutting the second batch of butter in small cubes. So you end up with big chunks of butter instead of little flakes.

I have searched but I couldn't find a book entirely devoted to crackers and savory cookies recipes. Could you help me ?

I am just an amateur here and, for me, Nick Malgieri's Quick Puff Pastry is a great shortcut that I use all the time. The purists will say it doesn't rise so high and so evenly that real puff pastry but ... no 6 turns and no lengthy resting periods. And it taste so good compared to supermarket frozen puff pastry, made with margarine instead of butter. My simplest apple dessert : "feuilletés aux pommes". Roll the dough out to about 1/3" thick. Cut out 3"x5" rectangles and let rest in the fridge. Meanwhile, slice an apple (I use Golden) with a mandoline. Arrange apple slices on pastry rectangles, add a little sugar and bake 15 to 20 minutes at 450 F. Glaze with molten apple jelly and eat while it is still hot. Very simple to prepare and so good

Still interested

For the marshmallows, I just followed Neil's recipe (with glucose instead of corn syrup). I didn't put any flavoring (only gelatin, glucose, sugar and water) because I though it would interfere with chocolate. I managed to cut and manipulate the marshmallows cubes without the help of potato starch or icing sugar, just with an oiled knife. It would also interfere with chocolate. The final step was to dip each cube into a batch of tempered chocolate (I use Belgian chocolate of course : 2/3 black Callets and 1/3 white Callets from Callebaut) using a simple fork. The coated cubes were then put on a waxed paper until the chocolate was hard and shiny, then trimmed to remove any excess of chocolate.

If you are looking for the easiest no-bake "crème au chocolat", you could try this recipe which comes from the french TV series "Bon Appétit bien sûr" hosted by Chef Joël Robuchon. It is not a custard. For 3 ramequins (125 ml each) : 80 g bittersweet chocolate in big chuncks 250 ml crème fleurette (whipping cream - 30 % fat) Heat the cream until it boils then remove from the stove. Add the chocolate and let melt a few minutes. Stir with a spatula and then whisk until the chocolate has completely melted and the mixture is smooth. Put the chocolate cream in the ramequins while still hot. Cover each ramequin with foil and let cool in the fridge overnight. Serve very cold covered with grated chocolate. It is so easy and so good !

Here is my variation of Nightscotsman's fabulous marshmallows : plain marshmallows coated with chocolate When you eat them, you have first the crackling thin chocolate layer followed by the smoothness of the marshmallow. I just love it !

Dear nightscotsman, I am converted to the marshmallow cult too The strawberry marshmallows are fabulous ! I just have a question about the vanilla ones. I wanted to make plain marshmallows coated with chocolate glaze (see my other post on the chocolate glaze subject). I did use your recipe for vanilla marshmallows and omit the vanilla. Because the total liquid was less than strawberry marshmallows, I ended with a much more "chewy" mixture. Not the right one as it was impossible to put it in the pan. I then tried again, this time with the same liquid content (I substituted strawberry puree with water) and it was a success : the same texture as the strawberry marshmallows. So my question is : why this difference in liquid content between the 2 recipes ? Curious to have the answer !

As you said, "Wittamer", place du Grand Sablon is a must for pastry shop. But you can also go the the "Grand'Place" where you could buy excellent "pralines" from "Godiva". If you are a cookie lover, you have to go to "Biscuiterie Dandoy" (http://www.biscuiteriedandoy.be/) located 31 rue au Beurre, near the Grand'Place. Here you will find the best "Speculoos" and "Pain aux amandes" in Brussels. I hope you will enjoy your visit in Belgium

My mistake I checked the recipe and found that I made a mistake when converting °F to °C. So the gelatin was ok but my syrup was not hot enough. I tried a second batch and this time it turned right like expected : fluffy and stiff ! The mixture is in the pan and ready to be cut tomorrow. I can't wait to taste it

Well, for me, it didn't work at all The mixture was not fluffy and stiff after 10 minutes with my mixer at full speed. Instead it was liquid so it never sets in the pan. After 12 hours waiting, everything went in the bin. I suppose it is a gelatin problem, although I used 1 ounce (28 gr) gelatin in sheets, as recommended. Maybe the european gelatin is "weaker" than the american one ? What do you think By the way, I will try again, this time with more gelatin (half a recipe, so if it fails again, less ingredients wasted).

Thanks for the tips, Nightscotsman. Very fast. I will try the adapted recipe tonight

Nightscotsman, I would like to try your strawberry marshmallows but I can't find corn syrup or powdered gelatin here in Belgium. So I will use glucose instead of corn syrup and gelatin leaves. My questions are : - do I substitute corn syrup by the same volume of glucose, or a little less ? - is it ok to soak first the gelatin leaves in cold water and then mix them with the starwberry puree. Or will this excess water dilute the puree too much ? Hope to get your answers very soon because I am dying to make these

This is the recipe from "Les desserts de mon enfance" by Gaston Lenôtre (2001, pp 182-185). Ingredients : 150 gr AP flour 125 gr melted butter, cooled 130 gr white sugar 3 large eggs 1 teaspoon baking powder pinch of salt zest from half lemon 20 gr acacia honey Instructions : Put eggs, sugar, salt and honey in the bowl of a standing mixer. Whisk at high speed until ribbon stage. Carefuly whisk sifted flour, baking powder, lemon zest and cooled melted butter. Cling the bowl and put it in the fridge for 24 hours. After the 24 hours rest, take the dough from the fridge and put the bowl on the counter for 1 hour. Meanwhile, brush non-stick madeleines pans with melted butter and keep in the fridge. After 1 hour, fill each cavity of the pans to 2/3 with dough. Put the pans in the middle of a 220° C oven for 8 to 10 minutes. Be careful not to overcook (color must be light golden, not brown). Let cool on wires and keep in a tied fit container. Madeleines freeze very well. Sorry for the poor traduction but I do what I can (I am french-speaking)

For traditional madeleines, I use Gaston Lenôtre recipe in "Mes desserts préférés, 2001". The trick to get big humps is to refrigerate the dough for 24 hours. I use buttered non-stick pans and had no problems so far. Joël Robuchon's recipe in "Simply french" works very well too but is not true madeleines. The use of whipped egg whites and ground almonds are a characteristic of the "Vistandines de Lorraine" dough. Very light and good but not true madeleine.

Thank you all for the tips. I think it might be the oil : not enough in the pan and not hot enough. I will try more oil and hotter.