Chris Amirault

Unless you have both copious counter space and a high tolerance for mechanical kitchen clutter, you'll want to move it from storage to kitchen and back again on a regular basis, and its heft makes that a tall order. I use a heavy duty cart I found at a yard sale to roll it around (it also houses our Hobart meat slicer, which has similar issues).

Nope -- thanks!

Try doubling the preheat time for your stone. I found that I was unknowingly leaving it in too long bc the stone wasn't fully heated, not that the broiler was too hot. Good luck: if you have the time and ability to preheat a good two hours, it's a revelation.

This is the same technique as the Modernist Cuisine folks, and I've been using it (with a baking steel) for months. Though it takes some adjusting to find that broiler sweet spot, if you take the time to heat up the stone/steel it works like a charm.

I would encourage you to bring a wheated bourbon (like Maker's Mark), a rye (RIttenhouse Bottled in Bond would do nicely, as would Wild Turkey), and, if you can find it, a white dog like Buffalo Trace. That will give three very different, affordable opportunities for tasting and comparing notes. And be sure to review how to taste spirits -- a very different beastie than tasting beer or wine. Have fun!

I use either standard VacMaster pouches (especially if I want to chill pickles in an ice bath or the fridge after sealing them) or a FoodSaver vacuum storage canister. ETA: for the pickles, I just set the vacuum to 45 or 50 and then hit "stop" to seal it when the brine is boiling.

I use my chamber vacuum to do this sort of thing very often. The three procedures I use regularly are: -- pickling: make your favorite quick pickle brine (I use a more vinegary version of the Momofuku pickle brine), add the vegetable or fruit you want to pickle, and vacuum seal it at max pressure. I do this to cucumbers once or twice a week; you can toss in chiles, ginger, onions, etc. -- infusions: now that grapefruit are in season, I vacuum seal the peel w/o pith of a whole grapefruit with some strong (overproof if you have it) white rum and then use that in cocktails. You can do the same with just about anything you'd infuse into booze, but citrus peels are particularly terrific. -- french toast: I use an old FoodSaver jar and tube, put sliced bread into the jar, pour the french toast mixture over the top, cover it, and then pull it using the side vacuum "jack" three or four times. I've also fiddled around with other things -- infusing watermelon with Campari and then freezing it for adult popsicles was a hit last summer -- but those are my go-to basics. I'll be very interested to read what others are doing.

Like pizza dough -- of course! Thanks!

Thanks for that advice. I did too much damage to it from carelessness (or, one could say, from expecting higher quality) to return it in good faith for a flaw that didn't contribute to the damage.

I'd be interested to know as well. If it were one of my loaves, I'd guess that I hadn't shaped it as firmly as needed; I'm trying to find that balance between too loose and too tight. But I have far too little experience to troubleshoot with any confidence....

Kerry, thanks for starting this topic. I've been making bread from the book most weekends and am grateful for the comments here. As I'm traveling a lot these days, I haven't tried to make a levain, and my schedule has seemed to favor the overnight breads instead of the poolish or biga breads. The biggest favorite in the house thus far is the overnight white bread; most of my comments relate to that recipe. I'm using slightly too small dutch ovens (an oval LC and a round Descoware) and have a wonky oven, I should add. I've settled into half King Arthur AP flour and half KA organic AP flour as the base, SAF red as the yeast, and Morton's fine sea salt. I've struggled with burned bottoms on the loaves at 475F and thus am now working at 450F consistently. The uber-dark crust has been a bit much for us, especially as we like to make toast with this bread, so I'm pulling them a bit earlier than Forkish prefers, probably closer to 55 minutes. We have a cold kitchen (below 60F at night in winter) and so I have been using warmer water for the autolyse to hit that 78F mark. I'm making three loaves today at 150%: two slightly smaller loaves in the DOs and one larger one directly on an uncovered baking stone. Will report back.

Just tossed the Martha Stewart dutch oven I mentioned above. It had already gotten some bumps on the interior enamel and was very prone to burning on the bottom; unlike the Le Creuset dutch ovens I have, it can't be cleaned thoroughly after any rough use. I was thinking about repurposing it for use in bread baking (following the Ken Forkish book, which I think is fantastic), which requires 450-475F temperatures, so I jumped onto the internet to see if that was possible. Nope: Macy's issued a recall on them a couple of years ago, and as I have no interest in enamel shrapnel, it's in the trash.

Oh, you too, of course! I remember that big Xmas box....

I've just grabbed a bottle of Wasmund's from the bargain bin (half off at $19.99!) and am giving it a go. Perhaps it's my time spent smoking meats, but the applewood is the strongest note in a pretty cacophonous jam session, which makes this Ransom pairing seem smart. I've no Brandymel so I'll have to fiddle with subbing there.... Any other thoughts for this youngster?

Chris, can you say more about this? What was so terrific about it? Thanks in advance.

Learn how to make bread.

Exactly: bracing and crisp and terrific.

Vile? Really? Why? I've never really understood that vitriol.

Thanks to everyone who weighed in here. I ended up making ~3 liters of a hibiscus base, starting with a heated infusion of flowers, water, fresh ginger slices, cinnamon & canela sticks, allspice, clove, and three sweeteners (demerara, white, and raw agave nectar). This had to be non-alcoholic as it was the base for both a tequila punch and a simple drink 1:1 with seltzer for kids and non-drinking adults. To make the punch, I dumped 750 ml of Milagro blanco tequila over the spent shells of 8 limes and 3 clementines (reserving the juice), along with one lemon's pith-free peel, and let that sit while I mixed up the rest: ~8 oz Smith & Cross rum, ~4 oz Cruzan blackstrap rum, ~12 dashes of Angostura, ~12 dashes of a grapefruit tincture I had on hand, and ~1/4 cup of a pineapple relish I made for Xmas dinner. After squeezing out the citrus shells and straining everything into the bowl, I added 750 ml of the punch base, a liter of seltzer, and a block of ice. I go into all this useless detail merely to say that the hibiscus handled it all expertly. I had to make some adjustments as I went along, but it's really an accommodating punch base. The one ingredient that I think tied it all together was the blackstrap, but you could probably sub in a tiny amount of molasses, or very dark caramel syrup.

Bump. I'm trying to figure this out for a party in a few days. I'm leaning toward some form of a margarita base that includes a gingery, spicy hibiscus element. I also want it to be carbonated if possible. If anyone has any thoughts on this idea or anything else, I'd sure appreciate it. Thanks in advance.

Those sadly late to the party will be given pix, yes?

I probably make pickles once a week, using a basic brine (David Chang's from the Momofuku cookbook), sliced cukes and often onions, sometimes salted until wilted but often not. They disappear at the table.

I have a VacMaster VP112. Never a problem.

I use a chamber vacuum sealer for making cocktail infusions, marinating, holding par-cooked items for a day or two with no degradation, making nearly instant pickles, packaging charcuterie, sealing up liquids, preparing food for long-term freezing... and, yeah, preparing compressed items and sealing a variety of foods before preparing them sous vide. And probably a few other things I'll remember after I hit "Post." Some of the things it does are convenient and/or speedy. Some could have been done by my old FoodSaver machine. Some are unique. Some are what rotuts is calling "Vrooom." (I think. I can't quite understand most of that post.) Most are not. It's a machine with lots of possibilities, most of which are hard to appreciate until you have one -- at least that was true for me. I can't say it was a frugal purchase, but it's certainly the most frequently used kitchen appliance in our house.

Thought I'd give this topic a bump. I have typically found darjeeling... limited. But Greg Glancy at Norbu sent me a sample of Castleton Moonlight (which sounds like a Wes Anderson movie title itself) second flush 2013, and I really like it a lot. It's malty, slightly sweet, with some citrusy top notes. Going to ask for that for Xmas, I think!!