LindaK

My thoughts exactly.

Okay, so I'm sitting here with the book and recipe in front of me and here's what pops out immediately: the outer later is not 100% butter, it's 14 oz unsalted butter and 1-1/4 cup all purpose flour. So it's obviously very delicate but not a layer of pure butter. the inner layer is mostly flour (3 cups) with a stick (4 oz) of butter, as well as some vinegar, water, and salt. So while the folding technique produces the traditional many-layered pastry, it differs from the classic recipe in that the two layers both have butter and flour, the difference being that each layer has a different fat/flour ratio. Quite ingenious. I wonder why the high-butter layer is on the exterior. The next time I'm feeling ambitious, I'll give this a try.

How do you roll it - Commercially I've seen machine-made puff pastry made that way but that was using a mold in a hydraulic press and to my eye and taste, the process did not produce what I consider a superior product. During the tour we were able to see how the product looked between "presses" and to me the butter looked unevenly applied with bare patches of dough. (This was at the old Interstate Bakery in L.A. - I think it was on Vermont - closed in mid-'80s) My question--what is the use of "reverse puff pastry"? All I can imagine is melted butter everywhere! I still remember many years ago the first time I made the classic recipe, I was totally unprepared for how much time it took and how physical it was--especially the need for pounding the dough to soften it so you could roll it before the butter melts. I'll admit that I usually cheat by making pâte demi-feuilletée, but when I want the real thing, the 3-turn method is my standard.

Oh my, much as I'm enjoying the tour of Beirut, your "unsuccessful" trip to the Barouk nature reserve was really remarkable. That shop selling honey and the "full bar in the mountains" look like worthy destinations in their own right. Thanks for a blog full of unexpected and delicious food delights.

The home cooking looks just as delicious as the meals out. The kubba and green beans have made me really hungry. Are you tempted to do much cooking yourself when you're in Lebanon, with all that gorgeous produce? Also, I was surprised to see the zucchini with the blossoms attached. How does Lebanese cuisine use the blossoms?

I want a place like Al-Falamanki in my neighborhood, too! That's quite a menu. I notice that among the salads are a couple featuring "wild thyme." What kind of a salad green is that, it isn't just the herb, is it? Also, what do you get when you order "sizzling birds"?

Fantastic! Just the vicarious vacation I need. Though at the moment, sitting here with my morning coffee, what I really want is one of those za'tar croissants, the flavor combo sounds amazing. I'm so looking forward to this, thanks for bringing us along.

Laura, I tried your roasted garlic technique and it worked really well, though with a little less carmelization than one gets from the traditional method. I have not tried Modernist Cuisine's recipe for 2 hour garlic confit but if the photo is accurate it looks like they're aiming to carmelize the whole clove.

Great wok setup. Is that a fire extinguisher I see behind the mise? Here's a heretical question: does the fact that you need to lift the wok off the flame during cooking mean that your flame is too hot? The food looks fantasic.

Observed recently on a local diner menu, two separate items: a reuben and a grilled reuben. The latter cost a dollar more. Unbelievable.

It looks like I’ll be in London in early April, Easter weekend actually, visiting friends and their daughter (now 13 yrs old). On previous visits, meals out have been casual lunches or early dinners scheduled around tourist activities and the daughter’s bedtime and general attention span. This year, I thought I might treat them to something more ambitious for lunch, either on Saturday or Easter Sunday. My friends are well-traveled food lovers, the daughter well-mannered and not picky, but still a kid who won’t want to sit through a long tasting menu. I’d love recommendations for a comfortable place with excellent food that will satisfy all ages. There are so many great reviews for both restaurants and pubs here, but often so sophisticated that it’s hard to know whether they’d be a good fit for all of us. Looking for somewhere in London proper or a short (< 1 hr) drive from town. I’m assuming that anything on Easter Sunday will require advance reservations, hence my early start with this question.

You go through 5 lbs in two weeks for only two people? That's a lot of masa. How often do you cook Mexican food, and what do you usually make? Love the tamales and the chocolates, btw.

Good to know. Smuckers used to have a low-sugar apricot preserve that was my all-time favorite--then they changed the recipe, I think by using a sugar substitute to keep it low-sugar but noneless make it very sweet. Disgusting. I will try these to see if either resembles my old favorite. And Sylvia, I can't believe I haven't tried the Trappist apricot yet, thanks for the recommendation.

Those stores are huge! A Whole Foods recently opened in my neighborhood, and it's all of 13,700 SF, about the size of that aisle of chiles that you showed us. I'm really envious of your selection of Mexican ingredients. Since we got the tour, I assume you'll put them to good use this week. Looking forward to it.

The old Toas-Tite sandwich press has been reborn and looks like fun. Some background in the New York Times: Return of the Toas-Tite

Stonewall Kitchen's Wild Maine Blueberry Jam is incredible. Dense with the tiny, flavorful Maine berries. I don't know if Trappist Preserves jams and marmalades are widely available outside of New England, but they're excellent, produced by St. Joseph's Abbey in Spencer, MA.

Even with the warm winter, it's too soon for a crocus this far north--I wish! Heidi does a good job taunting us with these posts, I can't guess this one either. The Italian cookbook has me stumped.

Ditto, and to your family for letting us intrude, esp. Mrs. Sheepish on your birthday. I don't know how you did all that cooking with frozen water pipes. Looking forward to more from Wales in the future!

A pressure cooker is the only way I now make beans and stock. Simple, fast, and with stock, vastly superior to what I've produced with traditional methods. I've yet to get much past the beginner stage, so I'm interested in other suggestions.

A most excellent blog. I'm in awe of your farm as a hobby, it looks like a lot of work to me. I must try baking some of that "spotted bread", it's just the kind of thing I like with my morning coffee. I'm curious about other Welsh food traditions and specialties. Any local cheeses?

Spotted last weekend: dedicated equipment for baking 6 cupcakes.

I understand this. There are long stretches when I'm not inspired by any of the new offerings, and they're awfully expensive to buy half-heartedly. However, I almost always find something interesting among the older and out-of-print books that I find in used bookstores. Most of the cookbooks I've purchased in the last year or two have come from these places.

These are on my shelves and I like them all, each has a different style. I probably use the Ozan book the most. Sultan's Kitchen: A Turkish Cookbook - Ozcan Ozan Classical Turkish Cooking: Traditional Turkish Food for the American Kitchen - Ayla Algar Spice: Flavors of the Eastern Mediterranean - Ana Sortun I really do need to get one of Claudia Roden's books...

David, I've baked hash as a way to gently reheat a large batch made in advance for a crowd. But the operative word is "reheat." To get hash the way I like it, it needs to be fried up in smaller batches first so that there are some crispy bits throughout. Then I generally put it into a large gratin pan to reheat later and for serving. I can't speak to the egg question, though. In theory, I don't see why not. I usually reheat the hash at a low temp, not sure if that's the best temp for cooking eggs.

Anna, in my very limited experience, I've found that for my tortillas to puff, the dough needs much more water than is usually indicated in most recipes. Maybe it's not the traditional or correct way to make tortillas but it works for me, so I'm sticking with it.