Patrick S

I think it should work fine. I would just proceed with the recipe.

I guess I'm the odd one when it comes to guittard -- I bought a 1kg bar of L'Harmonie, used it twice, and found it so unpleasant-tasting that I didnt even finish using it. I never tried it again. Maybe I got a bad bar or something. I don't like Scharffenberger much either.

Citrus oils, at least the ones labelled as "pure", are generally just pressed out of the rinds, no other ingredient added.

I live in fairly large mideastern US city, and I haven't found a single store that sells pasteurized eggs.

Callebaut "bittersweet" is something like 56%, its inexpensive, and I think it tastes fine. If you like Ghirardelli, I predict you will like Callebaut. Among more expensive chocolates, Valrhona Le Noir Gastronomie 61% is one of my favorites.

I know JohnL already pointed it out, and I know its really so obvious that it shouldnt need pointing out, but you introduced your mother into the conversation. Your snarkishnness towards John therefore seems silly and misplaced. Also, I agree with your mother's position . . . except the leaving of a 25% tip for a waiter who was apparently, by your mother's estimation, a little too scarce during the meal.

Toasting will not reverse the rancidification process -- that is caused by the breakdown of fats in the nut, primarily by oxidation. Generally, heat increases the rate of oxidation.

Wonderful, fanny!

This is also my first time checking out the completed challenge -- great work! The gingerbread fruitcake is definitely on my list of things to try.

We had baklava. In addition to the traditional ingredients, the filling also included chocolate and chopped dates. Flickrs: #1 #2

Did you use a whisk or bowl made out of aluminum, or otherwise bring the lemon into contact with a reactive medal? That's the only thing I can think of. . .

I want to make these again soon. I made these once before, about a year and half ago, when they were still known as Korova cookies. Here's a photo I took of them with my old point-and-shoot.

Umm... According to Wikipedia, the US cup is 237ml for culinary use. . . http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cup_(unit) ← 237ml is also an approximation. If we want a really precise approximation, a US cup is 236.588238ml (according to Google, anyway). Absolutely. Flour is the best example I can think of. 1C of dip-and-sweep flour from my nearly empty generic flour weighed 147g, while 1C of dip-and-sweep flour from a just-opened bag of King Arthur AP flour weighed 156g. So there we have a ~6% difference caused just by the difference in flour density (since the cup and measuring method were identical). So, there is no one, "true" weight for a cup of AP flour, there are a range of weights depending on the density.

Just for the hell of it I checked my cups over the weekend, and found that one of them is way off. My dry measure cup, 2C Pyrex liquid measure and 4C plastic liquid measure all gave cups of water weighing 235g (my scale is off -1g at 50+ grams, so the true weights are 236g). Since 1ml of water weighs 1g, all these cups have the correct volume for a US cup. However, when I checked my 1C glass liquid measure, 1C of water weighed 225g (all the liquid measures were filled so that the bottom of the meniscus was even with the top of the 1C line). I was suprised to see such a difference in volume.

I did some checking over the weekend, and found that one of my liquid measuring cups is way off. I checked my scale for accuracy, and found that it is off about 1g at 50g. The weights below are not corrected for this. 1C of water in my dry measure cup weighed 235g, which within the margin of error for my scale is perfect. 1C of water in my 2C Pyrex liquid measure weighed 235g. The cup was filled so that the bottom of the meniscus was even with the top of the 1C line on the cup. 1C of water also weighed 235g in my plastic 4C liquid measure. However, in my 1C Oven Basic liquid measure, 1C of water weighed 225g when filled so that the bottom of the meniscus was even with the top of the 1C line, and 220g when the meniscus is level with the bottom of the 1C line. Also I did some tests with AP flour, and found something interesting. 1C of dip-and-sweep flour from my nearly empty generic flour weighed 147g, while 1C of dip-and-sweep flour from a just-opened bag of King Arthur AP flour weighed 156g. So even if you use exactly the same cup and method of measuring, differences in flour density will still introduce quite a bit of variability in volumetric measurements.

Are there heating pads that can keep caramel that hot? You dont mean the type of heating pads you would use for a sore neck, do you? They wouldnt generate nearly enough heat to keep the caramel fluid. A stove burner, which you're likely to be making the caramel on anyway, would work just fine.

what about surface tension and the ability to "overfill" a dry measure with liquid, particularly viscous liquids? ← Just get your eye level down to the level of the top of the cup, much as you would do with a liquid measuring cup, and fill to the top of the cup as best you can. My interest is simply whether there are significant differences (i.e. more than a few ml) in dry measure cup volumes.

I don't know if I'll be able to get a picture worth posting, but the caramelized apple bread pudding was really delicious. I used 4 Galas (instead of 3 -- the ones I had were kinda small) and when it was done I glazed it with apple jelly.

Actually, Joisey, there are an abundance of studies, using a variety of designs, showing that the frequency of GI side effects after consuming olestra-containg chips is about the same as for regular chips, at least when consumed in quantities which are typical for most chip-eaters, which is why the FDA rescinded the GI warning label requirement in 2003. These are reviewed pretty exhaustively in the FDA's final ruling on the matter, which you can find here.

Doritos with olestra are still on the market, at least in some flavors -- I had some not too long ago.

I wonder if that value is a mean of many lemons, or from one random lemon? Obviously some lemons yield much more juice than others, so there cant be one weight that applies to all lemons.

There is another source of error that I hadn't considered, and that is differences in cup volume. I checked my measuring cup last night, and when it is filled with water, it weighed 235g, and since a ml of water weighs one gram, that means the cup has a volume of 235ml. Assuming the weight is accurate, of course. A cup should supposedly have 236.58ml. But apparently there is a little bit of variation from "cup" to "cup." I'm curious if others did the same test what you would get for the weight of 1C water in your dry measure cups. ETA: I checked RLB again last night, and she specified that the cup she used was exactly 236ml. She also says what kind of scale she used for her measurements -- an extremely accurate Mettler lab scale.

Oh, that's easy! A medium onion is bigger than a small one, but smaller than a large one.

The caramel will only get darker if you get it hotter than you did when you caramelized it. You should be able to keep the caramel at 300F for a long time with no problems. But you may not need to keep it that hot -- I would experiment with some puffs. Dip it, see if you have enough caramel adhering to the puff. If not, let the caramel cool a little and try again.