A Patric

Yes, I have used them with Thai sticky coconut rice with fresh mango slices. I mix them with regular sesame seeds and sprinkle them over the finished product. Alan

I'll be interested to hear, as odd as it may sound, if your perception of the chocolate flavor changes after letting the cake sit overnight. Alan

So that begs the question: what's the difference between a great cupcake and a great slice of a bigger cake? How do you tweak a recipe to optimize for one or the other? MelissaH ← I could be totally wrong on this, but my first thought was that the cupcakes need more liquid since itt seems to me that the larger cake held onto more of its moisture than the cupcakes did. I don't know if this would work, but that's my uninformed thought. Alan

I used 4 oz butter and 1/2 cup Canola oil. The cake has no plasticky taste. Actually, after not giving the cake the most glowing review, I have to come back and give more info. Yesterday I tried a few of the cupcakes that I made that didn't fit in the bundt mold. The review that I gave was based on these. However, today I had the opportunity to try a slice of the bundt with the ganache glaze. It is actually far better than the cupcakes. It beats the cupcakes in three areas; density, moisture, and flavor. The bundt is actually slightly more dense than the cupcakes, and I really prefer that to the lighter cake. The cupcakes were too airy for me. The flavor also seems to have developed even more, if that is possible, leaving the cake has a virtually perfect chocolate flavor in my opinion. So, I'll have to take back my review and say that this is actually very clearly the best chocolate cake that I've ever had. Enjoy. Alan

Alright, the Double Chocolate Cake is complete. I have glazed it with a thin ganache using 8 oz cream, 8 oz 60% chocolate and 2 T. butter. I ended up with one bundt cake and 8 cupcakes. It is true that the cake is very moist and has an excellent chocolate flavor, and I like it better than most chocolate cakes...but I guess I've figured out that I prefer something a bit denser than this. I was thinking that I might try making a chocolate pound cake using the cold-oven pound cake recipe from the pound cake thread and chocolafying it. or ...if anyone has a very deeply flavored (with actual chocolate added and not simply cocoa powder) chocolate pound cake recipe that is similar to Becca's pound cake in texture, then I'd be interested. Alan P.S. Thanks to everyone for the ganache help!

Well, I got the V1505 today and I am very happy with it. The pulse feature is great and allows one total control over vacuuming anything from fragile potato chips to raw meat. It is a bit more expensive than some of the other models, but it is very well designed. This is the complete opposite of the Deni sealer that I owned at one time. It was really a horrible product, and the bags were horrible too. These Foodsaver bags, on the other hand, are incredibly strong and durable. I'm looking forward to trying some sous-vide chicken soon. Also, I don't know if anyone has pointed this out, but the instruction manual actually mentions by name sous-vide cooking on page 9. It must be gaining in popularity. Alan

Dear Ling, Did you give this recipe somewhere? I am interested. By the way, I have baked that Double chocolate cake. I'm waiting for it to cool so that I can ganache-ify it. Alan

Sorry for another stupid question for the both of you, but did you use only cream and chocolate, or did you also add some sugar? I don't want to mess up a whole cake. Thanks, Alan

Dear all, I'll be making the Double chocolate cake recipe. I want to use a Bundt mold and am trying to figure out the best way to finish the cake. I have a really good chocolate butter-cream frosting, but I think that the cake might look better with a glaze of some sort. Would you say that this cake is flavorful and moist enough that a simple vanilla glaze would work well, or would you recommend something else to finish the cake? I've never done a ganache for a cake, would that be sufficiently pourable so as to coat the bundt cake well? If so, would one of the ganache recipes in Recchiuti/Gage's Chocolate Obsession book work? That's the only book I have that has ganache recipes. Thanks for any feedback. Alan

Dear all, I'm still trying to find an affordable choice for a water bath (i.e., under $100). I have seen that some have managed to procure Lauda or other brand bath circulators for under $100 so that seems to be an option. However, I don't really understand something. These baths seem to sometimes come with a rectangular water case attached to the bottom. example: http://cgi.ebay.com/Lauda-MS-M3-Heated-Wat...1QQcmdZViewItem Does the circulator itself simply lift out of that case so that I can put it on the side of a large stock pot? I have seen people with these on stock pots, so that is my assumption. Also, Pounce mentioned a Ranco ETC thermostat, and that seems like a good idea because I could plug my large crock pot into it and make sure that the temperature stays constant. However, I haven't been able to tell exactly how it works. I see that it has a probe, and that it is digitally programmed. However, I don't see if it has an "outlet" so that I can plug the crock pot into it, or if I would have to wire the crock pot to the thermostat. I wouldn't be able to do that myself. Anyway, are there any other <$100 ideas for water baths? Temperature is, of course, my main priority, but circulation is nice too. Alan

Sounds good to me, and almost all I need to know/see is that it figures heavily into my favorite Julia Child cookbook. Alan

They are good, but even better than using things like fritos is having them made with home-made corn tortillas. It takes a bit more time, but I think it really is worth it. Alan

I finally finished Steingarten's Vogue article on beans. He does experiments on bean cooking using everything we've talked about, from overnight soaks to quick soaks to no soak. He cooks with and without both baking soda and salt. He tries a pressure cooker, normal boiling, and even cooking in a double boiler. It is quite interesting what he discovers. I'd say it is worth a read for any who want whole tender-skinned beans with creamy interiors. Of course for refried beans or bean dips, it wouldn't really matter. Alan

I love butter, and compared to replacements, there is no question that even lower quality butter beats them all. However, I often use Smart Balance on toast and things like that because it actually is a healthy substitute for butter (i.e., is not partially or fully hydrogenated, has olive and canola oils, and is proven in trials to reduce cholesterol). Normally though, if I can get away with using a good quality extra virgin olive oil, then I do so. I go through almost as much olive oil in a week as I do milk. I use it for most things. That is why a book of Greek deserts is a good resource for people who like sweets, because often, believe it or not, I have found them calling for EVOO rather than butter. At any rate, it is hard to beat the flavor of the best butter I can find around here: Unsalted Beurre Baratte de Celles Sur Belle Alan

I just made some baby back rib carnitas a few days ago. I did it the more traditional way of cooking them in lard at a low heat at just under an hour and then browned them in the same fat at a higher heat. They were excellent! It took me about 3 lbs of lard for the 3 lbs of ribs. I really look forward to using the sous vide method to cook the carnitas to a tender state using a lot less fat, after which I will brown them in a pan. I think that they will be extremely tender and flavorful. I think that instead of doing a really slow cook though, that I will boil them for about 50 minutes or until tender. So, in this case, it is not the long cooking of sous vide that will be the benefit, but rather the fact that all those tasty juices will not be able to escape the meat. I'll keep everyone posted on the results. I get my Foodsaver via UPS on Wednesday. Alan

Hmmm. No, I haven't read it, but I think I will have to. I love good bean dishes and so any innovative method used by Steingarten interests me. In fact, I just made a favorite recipe of frijoles refritos from Rick Bayless' Authentic Mexican using black turtle beans, and they were delicious. He does recommend the quick soak method if you run out of time, but it does seem on second thought, as some point out above, that simply cooking them would be even faster. Alan

Dear all, Is there any luck so far with a finished product? Someone just pointed me to this thread after I mentioned wanting to try an aquarium with a circulating filter and a few fish water heaters. I am told that such heaters won't work as they apparently all have thermostats (which I wasn't aware of), so I am wondering if there is any type of heater that would work, i.e., is submersible and has a temp. control of some sort? I have read through this entire thread, and much of it is too technical for me. I don't think I would be able to build anything, so I am looking for a heater that is already fabricated. Any ideas? Thanks, Alan

I think it would have to be a heater without a thermostat, simply with numeric heat settings, perhaps 1-10, or something like that. I don't know if many exist like this, but basically, I would think that the highest heat setting on these would be pretty high so as to be able to heat a large--relatively speaking--body of water to the right temperature. My thought was that adding a few of these together could achieve the right temperature. I may be wrong though. At any rate, there should be some alternate source of (submersible) heat that would work, I just have to figure out what that might be. It seems to me that there must be something out there. Alan

This got me thinking, I wonder if it would be possible to make a cheap circulating water bath with a 5 gallon aquarium, two (or three) submergable water heaters, an aquarium thermometer, and a water circulating filter. By my estimates we are talking about $50-75 for all of this, which seems to me to be much cheaper than any water baths that anyone is looking at. Actually I have only seen prices for one bath, and it was $450, far more than I would be willing to pay. Any thoughts? Also, has anyone tried a Rival crock pot with the lid off to see what kind of temperatures it runs? Alan

Dear Bryan, I am looking at the various Foodsaver models and like the V1505 for its ability to store the bag rolls within it. However, it doesn't have the extended vacuum, but something called the "pulse feature" instead. It seems that this pulse feature could be used for the same vacuum extending. Do you know anything about this? Here is the user guide: http://www.jardendirect.com/PDFs/QS.1505_G...%20T18-0096.pdf Pulse mode is explained under "Additional Features." Thank you for your help. Sincerely, Alan

Dear all, Having just found a favorite pound cake recipe in an eGullet thread, I am now wondering about a chocolate cake recipe. I don't have the time to read through 8 pages of posts about this issue (I know, I'm selfish). So, is there anyone who has followed this whole thread who can point out any of the highlights? I assume that after 8 pages there is a cake or two that ended up becoming favorites. Post numbers would be great, but page numbers appreciated too. Thank you for any guidance. Sincerely, Alan

Okay, results: Becca's recipe makes the best pound cake I've ever had; moist, buttery, almost creamy, and with a perfect crumb. Let me clarify how I did things: 1) I used cake flour 2) I added a bit of extra salt, and this offsets the sweetness that allows for the excellent carmel-brown crust. 3) I used 5 eggs and 1 yolk 4) I doubled the vanilla 5) I cooked the cakes for 50 minutes These really are the best pound cakes ever. The cake is good both by itself, and as a base for fresh strawberry shortcake with a really good vanilla ice cream. You can trust me on that. Thanks for the recipe! Alan

I'm making your recipe right now; its in the oven. I used 5 eggs and a yolk, and doubled the vanilla like Patrick did. I have never made a pound cake because I always believed them to be boring, having never had a good one, but after reading this thread, I couldn't resist any longer. Your recipe sounded the best based on what everyone has said. No pressure though Anyway, I'll post when it is done; I'm sure it will be great. Alan

Here is a source for unroasted nibs of various types of beans: http://www.chocolatealchemy.com/Products.php#cocoabeans Alan

http://www.amazon.com/gp/search/ref=br_ss_...keywords=silpat