Patrick S

Ziploc's website doesn't say anything at all about off-gasing or food contamination, it merely says that ziploc bags are not designed to withstand the heat of boiling. The same page states that while Ziploc sandwhich bags are too thin to be used in the microwave, the thicker Ziploc storage and freezer bags can be microwaved. IIRC, some boil-in bags are made with polyethylene, though they may be modified to have a higher softening point than standard PE.

Sherry Yard has a recipe for raspberry ganache (this ganache is piped onto a chocolate financier on the cover of her book) that uses only butter and puree -- no cream or eggs. 8oz bittersweet chocolate is melted with 2oz butter. This is cooled to 100F, and then 1/2C strained raspberry puree is stirred in. Use at 70F. Herme has a passion fruit ganache that calls for juice, but I assume puree could be used. 1/3C cream is brought to boil, and poured over 5 3/4oz Noir Gastronomie (or bittersweet of your choice). After this is incorporated, 1/3C boiling passionfruit juice is incorporated. After this is incorporated, add 3T room temp unsalted butter. Chill until firm enough to use.

I disagee. At least, that's not how I would interpret the terms. To me, the term "ethnic market" has always meant, very simply and just as the dictionary would seem to imply, a market that specifically caters to a particular group of people associated with a particular geographic derivation or ancestry. That would include, for example, the local Italian or Armenian or German or Polish or French (or whatever) markets that are largely run by, and cater to, caucasian persons. I've never understood "ethnic market" to mean "market catering to nonwhites," and I don't think that most other people do either. ← Well, I was all set to totally agree with PatrickS that "ethnic" simply means of or pertaining to a particular group, and that the word is commonly used when referring to any group other than your own (like me being Hungarian/British Canadian would make me ethnic anywhere outside of Hungary, Britain or Canada, yes?). So off I went to dictionary.com to double-check the meaing of ethnic and boy did I get a rude awakening: ← Yes, the first and third definitions are pretty much exactly what I had in mind. As I would have expected, not a single definition defines "ethnic" exclusively in terms of skin color, though race can be one type of ethnic association (among many). I can only speak for myself, of course, but never in my life (literally) have I heard anyone use the word "ethnic" in a manner consistent with the last definition, as a synonym for "non-judeo-christian." ETA: I checked the etymology of the word "ethnic" on dictionary.com, it is almost exactly how I understood the term in the context of "ethnic market," in terms of geography. Dictionary.com says that:

2 hours passed before I realized something about what you said Jackal10.. theoretically (not saying I'll do this but it's nice to know).. if I cut the 7 ribber in half.. say 4 and 3 ribs and roast them together in the same oven, they should cook slightly faster then having the entire roast in one piece then.. since width-wise they would be of a shorter thickness.. ← They would cook faster, but (and here comes my opportunity to nitpick), that would be because you have increased the S/V (surface area to volume) ratio. No one dimension (width, length, depth) will determine cooking time (well, unless the other dimensions are held constant, which, when we're talking about cuts of meat, is often approximately the case).

Technicially an invert sugar is an equimolar mixture of fructose and glucose, so honey is somewhat of an invert sugar -- it contains almost equal parts fructose and glucose, but contains other sugars as well*. Glucose would not be an invert sugar, and regular corn syrup would not be invert sugar either, since it consists almost entirely (90-95%) of glucose. *The enzyme that is used industrially to produce invert sugar, invertase, is the very same enzyme that bees use to make honey.

I disagee. At least, that's not how I would interpret the terms. To me, the term "ethnic market" has always meant, very simply and just as the dictionary would seem to imply, a market that specifically caters to a particular group of people associated with a particular geographic derivation or ancestry. That would include, for example, the local Italian or Armenian or German or Polish or French (or whatever) markets that are largely run by, and cater to, caucasian persons. I've never understood "ethnic market" to mean "market catering to nonwhites," and I don't think that most other people do either.

Trimming the bag and pushing out the tip takes me about 1/20 the time it would take me to turn a nylon bag inside out and wash it. The only time I still use my nylon bags is if I have to pipe out something very stiff or viscous and I suspect the plastic bag might burst.

I think you're right -- this chemical industry site lists all the following as synonyms for nulomoline: So I suppose these are just different brand names. Which makes sense, since invert sugar can really only be one thing -- a 50/50 mixture of glucose and fructose. And that makes me wonder -- isn't invert sugar essentially the very same thing as high fructose corn syrup? The most widely used variety of HFCS is 55%fructose and 45% glucose, which is very close to 50/50. They are produced in a different ways-- HFCS starts with a glucose syrup and converts some of that to fructose using enzymes, whereas invert sugar is made by splitting sucrose molecules into glucose and fructose also using enzymes (invertase)-- but unless I'm missing something, the end result would appear to be the same thing.

What, if any, is the difference between nulomoline and trimoline?

Poured fondant is semi-liquid, and is poured over the cake. Rolled fondant is like clay -- its rolled out and placed on a cake. ← I have the rolled fondant. Which one is better, or is it just preferance? ← I don't use fondant very often, but I imagine each version has its virtues. With cakes I think rolled fondant is more widely used. Poured fondant on the other hand can be useful as a glaze for cookie, eclairs, petit fours, etc.

Poured fondant is semi-liquid, and is poured over the cake. Rolled fondant is like clay -- its rolled out and placed on a cake.

Very nice!

The recipe will yield enough to cover a 2-layer, 9" cake. And that's allowing for several spoonfuls for, um, quality-control along the way.

I love pirouettes. I like the tiramisu idea. I bet they'd be good crushed up and folded into some buttercream for a center cake layer. Another idea would be to do a concorde, and replace the middle meringue disc with a layer of pirouettes, and then garnish it with pirouettes instead of meringue sticks.

I've made double batches that took forever to reach room temperature, and even with a single batch it has often taken longer than 5 minutes to reach room temp. RLB says to beat for a few minutes, and then, if its still warm (which it always is), continue beating on low for as long as it takes to come to room temperature. That's what I usually do now. But in the past I have beat the meringue for a long, long time on high speed, and never had a problem with it seperating.

I didn't realize this, but apparently transglutaminase is widely used in the food industry -- not only for "restructured" meats like sausages or chicken 'patties', but also in pasta, to make it stronger, and some dairy products, to make a creamier texture. Seems like TG might be useful for more than just meat glue. For instance, I'd be interested to see what effect it had on egg white foam and mousses and such made with it. There is also a product called Fibrimex, which is a 20/1 mixture of the clotting proteins fibrinogen and thrombin, that is being used for the same purpose, though I have no idea how it compares to TG.

Maybe. It depends on how deep you want the curd to be. Assuming that the internal diameter of the crust-- the volume you want to fill-- is 9.5" (assuming the crust takes up 1/4" of the internal diameter of the 10" pan), and that the FC recipe yields 2 cups of curd (which is about 28.8 cubic inches), your filling will be 0.4" deep. In other words, a cylinder with a volume of 28.8 cubic inches and a radius of 4.75" will have a height of 0.4".

Has anyone tried using cheesecloth to strain the seeds out?

Nice! Your assembly is very neat, and I like the idea of cocoa nib brittle.

Great stuff, Natasha and alanamoana! I need to try more variations on panna cotta . . . And thanks everyone for the compliments on the mousse bombe! You are all the greatest friends and colleagues a baking buff could ask for!

JGarner's recipe, converted to grams, is as follows: 128g almond flour 28g light brown sugar 184g confectioners sugar 10g dutch process cocoa 90g egg whites Whip the whites with 35g of the confectioners sugar to stiff peaks. Process together the remaining ingredients, sift them, fold them into the meringue, pipe out the macarons, let them sit for 30 minutes, and bake.

Yes, though of course it was Nicole Kaplan that posted the recipe originally.

Thanks, CB and Cheryl!

I don't know which is most reliable -- the ones from ala cuisine, Nicole Kaplan, and JGarner are all pretty reliable -- but I'm sure the least reliable is the one from Chocolate Desserts by Pierre Herme. Don't get me wrong -they are my favorite recipe, they seem more moist and chewy and less crunchy than the other recipes, but they often develop cracks and wrinkles and sometimes dont develop feet.

FWIW, I tried Amanda Hesser's vanilla bean loaves recently, which are kinda pound-cakish and similar to Becca's -- while I liked it, I much prefer Becca's. Both are sweet and have that good crust, but Becca's seemed much more moist.