M. Lucia

I just tried making pasta for the first time and I found my pasta came out too chewy. Not smooth, silky, or light. Making the dough was fine (I used about 2 1/2 cups flour and 3 eggs), rested, and I rolled it by hand. Cut out strips and hung to dry on a broomhandle for about 20 mins. Cooked for 3 mins. I think the problem may have been in either the dough consistency or my rolling it out. The dough was rolled out quite thin but I don't know if it was as dry as some others describe. Perhaps someone could offer some advice?

The paves, the lemon curd, the mousse, it's all just too much! Everything looks lovely, great madeleines Patrick. One of the great things about following this thread is it has made me interested in things I would not have considered making, like the black forest cake and madeleines. I am intrigued by the technique for the chocolate mousse, it looks so luscious. So, I've requested the book from my library (perhaps another EG'er has it?). I don't know if/when I'll be able to join in but I really look forward to getting the book.

Congratulations! I think in Baking with Julia the recipe actually tells you to look for the singing sound, it is the sign of a proper baguette.

I usually blanch my peel 3-4 times. It's ok if there is a little bit of bitterness left, it will be masked by the sugar. Also, I add a touch of orange flower water to my syrup, I think it gives it a more complex flavor. Thanks for the tip about how to peel the oranges, andie, I always have these little pieces that break off, so I will try that method next time.

The salt thing is getting too much for me. The other night it was taco salads: blue corn tacos, shredded iceberg, tomatoes, black olives, ground beef with paprika, cumin, oregano, cocoa, topped with cheddar cheese and scallions. Followed by the last of the homemade French macarons. Then last night I made: -edamame (plain, with salt) -sweet potatoes with cumin seed-orange glaze (adapted from Patricia Wells and really good) -seared scallops had with some of my mixed starter baguette and then dessert was hot chocolate with homemade marshmallows. beautiful photos all

Over the holidays we noticed a gallon of vanilla ice cream doesn't go nearly as far as it used to. I think it's because they spin so much air into it (which gives it a lower calorie count), but when you scoop it out it condenses down. We remedied this by getting our ice cream from a local homemade shop.

Count me in as a cake lover, and a fan of most cake-like baked goods. I consider layer cakes a family affair, something easily yet lovingly made. As a child I loved licking the bits of extra batter or frosting out of the bowl and helping my mother decorate the cake. I rarely order a layer cake in a restaurant because there are way too many cakes out there that are dry and dull. The cake must be moist and floverful: my birthday isn't complete without carrot cake with cream cheese frosting and decorated with marzipan bunnies. I love making cakes for parties and people's birthdays and I have a friend who insists our annual spring party wouldn't be the same without my blackberry/lemon layer cake. I also enjoy tea cakes and pound cakes and find both homemade and purchased versions to be good. beautiful cake, bleu

I have heard of the coca cola ham, in fact I think it even made it into one of Nigella Lawson's cookbooks. I've never had it but my mom says its pretty good, the coke makes a sweet caramelized sauce. Ambrosia, that Kentucky ham is beautiful. It also illustrates what I was saying about different preferences. It is much more of a ruby hue than the ham we get. My camera is no longer working, but I found a rather paltry shot of some ham peaking out of some biscuits: umm, tartiflette Thanks for the responses everyone. Generally I find most people in New York have never even heard of country ham, and many skeptics are off-put by its saltiness.

I grew up with grits, either slow-cooked or instant, with butter. Today I eat plain old oatmeal (not instant) most mornings and I love it. Occaisonally I add raisins when I'm feeling festive. Most people find this appallingly boring but it is quick and filling and healthy.

Friday: Pork and Beef Tamales (!) Spinach Salad with Mustard Vinagrette Chocolate Fleur du Sel Tarts (I love that chocolate-salt combo) Saturday: Hoppin John (Carolina rice, black eyed peas simmered with bacon, tomatoes, parsley) Individual Spinach Souffles Ice Cream Sunday: Lamb Chops done under the Broiler Green Beans, Sauteed Creminis, Hazelnuts with hazelnut vinagrette Homemade Chocolate Macarons (with chocolate ganache filling) I switched the traditional collards for a spinach souffle (basically pureed spinach and eggs) that was tasty and light. It was my first time making macarons and they came out beautifully, too bad the camera was MIA. Can't say the tamales were my own (ordered from Berryhill in Houston) but steamed them up and they were filling and delicious. Green bean salad was inspired by The Paris Cookbook, a Christmas gift.

Well, I made the Claudia Fleming's Chocolate Caramel Tarts for New Years and what a disaster. Also, the camera wouldn't work so there aren't any picures. I made the tart shells and they came out just fine. The dough was very soft and sticky to work with but also forgiving, and they baked up nicely. Then the caramel filling. I burned the filling not once but twice! The first time I was careless, being overconfident in my caramel making skills. However, the second time I watched carefully, cooking slowly, and it still burned! With determination I made a third and final attempt. I added the butter and cream when the sugar was just barely beginning to color. This time the caramel seemed just right, it had the proper consistency and was the exact color of the picture in the book (I wish I had photos). The directions say to let the mixture rest for about 45 mins, however, I noticed after about 15 mins the caramel was firming up too much. The caramel is supposed to remain soft and runny but it was already hardening to the texture of caramel candies. Soon, it was way too stick-to-your-teeth chewy to be edible. I painstakingly scraped the caramel filling out of the tart shells. I made a thick ganache with Guittard bittersweet chocolate to fill the shells and topped with fleur de sel. The result was one of the prettiest desserts I have ever made. Everyone really loved them and I liked the caramel-salt combination. So the final result was that I'd never make the recipe again (though I am still a big fan of the book as a whole). But the simple chocolate tarts are keepers.

Well, I made an 8 Layer Caramel cake for Christmas, see this thread to see pictures. Coconut cake is another family favorite. Boiled custard is popular too, topped with some berries, though I am not a fan of it myself.

It looks like this place also has Kentucky country ham. We ordered ours from our family's hometown, a little place called G&W Hamery in Tenn. It came vacuum-packed and presliced so there was no fuss, but you can order whole hams as well. I know Smithfield Hams is famous for Virginia country hams. I founf this great article about country ham as well.

It's not over yet! Mixed Starter Bread I am following the recipe from Baking with Julia, with the alteration of using part whole wheat flour (trying to get in some healthy fare). This was a bit nerve wracking as I have never made such a complicated bread, and I kept having visions of 2 days of work collapsing in the oven. The first starter is made and risen: Then the second starter is made, risen and refrigerated: Making the dough (including ww flour): another rise and then shaping: another rise, more shaping, before and after baking: A baguette and an epi. I could have done a better job slashing the baguette but this was my first time doing this, lesson learned for the future. The photos don't do them justice, this was really excellent. The book says it's one of the best breads you'll make, and I have to agree that there is a great complexity of flavor, certainly the best baguette-style bread I've ever made. More to come! Happy New Year!

Unable to be in Tenn. for Christmas this year, we ordered country ham to have with biscuits on Christmas morning. When we called to order the ham, we asked if it could be thinly sliced, and the man at the hammry replied "why lady, you can read a newspaper through it." Made me miss the south. It was great and I have found a myriad of other ways to use it, subbing it for proscieutto in recipes. Why isn't this salty wonderful thing known in the north? I know there are lots of regional preferences to country ham (where you get it, how salty, how thickly sliced, how to serve). So how do you like your country ham?

Holiday Detox Soup and homemade roll followed by peppermint ice cream Having used up most of the leftovers, I look forward to being free to cook some new stuff with the new cookbooks:-)

I want to thank everyone for the advice offered. I got out some baking books to go over some kneading basics, and that rounding description really helped, I certainly wasn't doing that before. As to the chocolates, I agree there must be a way to roll them smooth when they are almost, but not quite, set. At this point, with cooking and all the holiday parties, I am considering a baking break. We have leftovers to work through, plus food gifts (stollen, fruitcake, cookies), and someone insisted on making about 5 quarts of vegetable soup and a ton of aspic (doesn't that drives you crazy?). However, I have made a mix-starter bread and will be making desserts for New Years, so I wil post some pictures of those soon. In the meantime, another cake picture: Happy New Year!

Christmas morning: Biscuits, country ham, fig jam (no time for pics) we also had Cranberry-Maple-Apple-Oat Casserole some cooking-related Christmas loot: Christmas dinner: Cheese and Olive balls cheddar, butter, flour, paprika: wrapped around green olives and baked: Rolls dough made and risen: refrigerated: shaped, risen again, and baked: Madness (i.e. getting ready for dinner): but I digress... Caramel Cake served wih vanilla ice cream

I am not quite sure what this means. I will have to check some of my baking books about kneading techniques. I am pressing with the heel of my hand, trying to maintain the round shape, pressing and turning. More updates to come, but in the meantime I could use some advice on bread baking. Shaping, how to keep th tops from browning too much, etc. (Also still looking for answers on how to make perfectly round chocolates) I know you guys are out there so please help!

Marlene, congratulations on everything! It looks just wonderful (jewelry too), thank you for letting us share in you family's lovely holiday. As a southerner, I feel I must come to the aid of cornbread dressing. In my family, dressing is not dressing without homemade stock. You should have seen the look on my grandmothers face when someone once suggested adding a can of Swanson's to her dressing. We take the giblets that come inside the turkey, some soup bones, parsley stalks, and lots of onion and celery and simmer, simmer, simmer while the turkey is in the oven. There's you stock. I think this might solve the "bland" critique. The other suggestion I would offer is crumble the cornbread more so it can really absorb all those yummy juices. I look forward to more to come. Happy Holidays!

I just made this recipe to great success. I would highly recommend the icing, as it is nice and flowy when warm and firms up wonderfully. Also see this thread on my notes, pictures from the above recipe (you may have to scroll to the end).

8-Layer Christmas Caramel Cake My mom loves "burnt sugar" cake, and I had been wanting to try this recipe, so I though I'd make it for Christmas day. There will only be a few of us, so I halved the recipe to make half a cake. I was nervous about undertaking this, but it turned out well. Luckily, it keeps for 2 weeks since it is very rich. First the butterscotch filling. Sugar, butter, cream go into the pan. Hooray, no separating this time. It did take a while for it reach 242F, but I supose I am just impatient. Add rum and vanilla to stop the cooking. Then the cake batter. A lovely quantity of rum goes in here as well. The cake batter was really thick, almost like cookie batter. The recipe says to smooth it out with a spatula, which I did dubiously. When the cakes came out my fears were confirmed: lumpy and uneven. For the next batch I added about 1/2+ cup of milk to smooth the batter out. This worked great, and the cakes looked much better. As you can see in the comparison: I sliced the layers in half because I was only doing a half cake. Now comes the layersing and stacking: I had exactly enough butterscotch, not a drop left. I think I could have made the outside smoother if I had more though. All in all a success. Here's my review of the recipe: I would make it all again with the alteration of less butter in the cake batter and some more milk, to make it the proper consistency. The tip about stacking the layers upside down and then flipping the cake over is great. The butterscotch recipe is just right for this cake, flowy when warm but firms up quite nicely. This is really rich and really good!! And the presentation is exquisite.

Happy Holidays everyone! The internet connection where I am is on the fritz, it takes about 5 minutes to load one page. grrr. So I may not be able to update y'all for a while. Here's what I will be doing and posting when I get a chance: Christmas morning: biscuits to go with the country ham, a cranberry-apple-maple-oat casserole. Christmas dinner: cheese and olive balls, rolls, brussel sprouts [to go with sweet potatoes, boeuf bourgignon (in memory of Julia)], 8 layer caramel cake. I will make some shortbreads to take to friends after the holiday. I would also like to try to make some french macarons if I get a chance. New Years: Claudia Fleming's Chocolate Caramel tarts. In the meantime, here are some questions that have come up: How to make perfectly round chocolates? What to do about separating caramel? How to keep breads from stretching or bulging in certain areas when they bake? Geberal guidance on kneading, shaping loaves, etc? Your advice is solicited!

Portuguese Sweet Bread This is one of my favorite breads, along with Swedish Limpa Bread. Our friends used to always bring us some from Virginia, and I became determined to make my own. After some research and recipe testing, I finally got what I wanted. A slightly sweet, golden loaf, good toasted with butter (though I have also been known to make BLT's with it). Bit of milk, sugar, butter, yeast, lots of flour. You have to knead until smooth, about 15 minutes. I now have total respect for bakers hands. Set to rise while I went to the movies. Shaped for the second rise. I think I added too much flour initially because the dough seemed a bit dry and wrinkly. I was worried about how it would shape up when I baked it. I made 4 rolls for us and a big loaf as a gift. True to my fears, the loaf came out mishapen. I have had better luck making uniform loaves in the past. How do I get consistent shapes? One of those basket things? Or did I go wrong somewhere when kneading/shaping? Anyhow, the rolls tasted great. A little lighter than usual, which is a good thing. Yum, the whole house has that yeasty smell.

Thanks for the encouragement! Here’s my advice on pralines if you want to make them. Do NOT follow the Williams-Sonoma recipe. I did this the first time I tried to make them and it calls for adding baking soda at the end. This will make your nice flowy caramel seize and become crumbly. If you are going to add soda (I don’t) do it at the beginning. In my experience, when making candy, patience and precision are the keys (and a candy thermometer helps). Up next, some yeast breads.