Patrick S

The authors are not claiming to have discovered the wheel, or that olives contain phenols, or that phenols have beneficial physiological effects. If you just skim the headlines it may seem that way, but look closer and you'll see that it is not. What the study is reporting are experimental results showing that the effect of OO on cardiovascular function is directly related to its phenol content. Though health benefits of OO have long been considered, this is the first experimental demonstration that these benefits are mediated by phenols: Ruano et al, 2005. Phenolic content of virgin olive oil improves ischemic reactive hyperemia in hypercholesterolemic patients. Journal of the American College of Cardiologists 46(10):1864-8.

And to further confuse the expectant mother, other people are saying that garlic supplements should be taken during pregnancy to reduce risk of preeclampsia and promote higher birth weight.

We all have different dietary structures, but the way some foods are processed may be unique to the American culture. I think we're the only ones eating genetically engineered corn every day . . . ← America grows the most, but Argentina, Spain and South Africa all grow quite a bit of GE maize as well. Not sure what percentage of total maize acreage was GE in these countries however. Canada, Germany, Honduras, Phillipines and Uruguay are also growing GE corn, but in smaller amounts.

Sure is. Dacquoise and buttercream sounds like a winning combo. Was it hard to cut without squishing the buttercream out?

I wonder if the book has a recipe for pretzels?

That's priceless. I wonder if anyone else realized that that was a reference to a Dead song? Come to think of it, Saint Stephen would seem to be a good theme song for freegans.

Chocolate mousse cake from Cooks Illustrated, with raspberry sauce. This cake is basically your run-of-the-mill flourless chocolate cake, except that the eggs are seperated and the whites whipped.

Thanks for the compliments. You're sweet (but not cloying ) No, I havent been to culinary school and don't work in the restaurant industry. I'm just a passionate amateur. Daniel, thanks for the description. I'll have to get my tres leches on someday soon.

I've heard that you could get a mean grilled cheese sandwich at the Dead concerts. ← Grilled cheese and veggie burritos. Ah, memories. . .

Good stuff, Daniel and Ling. Daniel, what did you think of the tres leches cake? Is it good?

When the Grateful Dead was still around, some of the people I knew in that scene were "freegans." For most of them it was not at all philosophical, or a response to percieved social or environmental problems, but just a way to save money for more important things, like weed, concert tickets, and gasoline.

Maybe you're more sensitive to sugar than me, or used a SCM that has more sugar. They didn't taste at all sweet to me.

My absolute favorite way to use left-over turkey is Hot Browns. Pure, artery-clogging goodness!

I think the creme brulees made with pasteurized yolks didn't set well for the same reason that my attempts at stovetop creme brulees didnt set well. One possibility is that during the pasteurization process the egg proteins are partially denatured, and since the yolks are being stirred during the process, the denatured proteins don't get a chance to coagulate with each other. Thus when you make up your brulee and cook it, some of the proteins are already denatured and can not help form the protein structure that otherwise would make the custard "set." I think the same thing is going on with stovetop creme brulees. You're cooking the yolks and denaturing the proteins, but because you keep stirring the proteins cant connect with each other and form big stable structures, and you get something more like a pastry cream. You get a bunch of tiny coagulates instead of one big coagulate. Alternatively, maybe it is just a matter of the sugar being pre-mixed with the yolks, and the sugar is denaturing some of the yolk proteins? But since Jeannecake has the same problems with unsweetened pasteurized yolks, maybe not.

I've never tried Dijon in choux batter, so I don't know if it would affect the way they bake.

That looks great. Good job!

These desserts look INCREDIBLE!!! ← Ditto that. Great stuff, Alinka!

Its certainly true that most mixes have a good deal of trans-fats, and that most of our trans fat intake comes from products with partially hydrogenated oils, but you will never avoid all trans fats as long as you use butter or milk, since they contain small amounts of trans-fats as well (created by in vivo microbial hydrogenation of polyunsaturated fats). It won't affect me one way or the other, since I rarely eat anything with partially hydrogenated oils, but hopefully the industry will make the switch next year to fully hydrogenated fats that lack trans-fats altogether.

All cakes are made with chemicals. A chemical-free cake is an impossibility. 99.99% of the chemicals in our diets are natural chemicals. Sugar, flour, salt, eggs, milk, fruits, vanilla, butter -- all are composed of one or more chemicals. Water is just as much a chemical as polysorbate 60. I don't mean to nitpick, but too often people use chemical and synthetic chemical synonymously.

These choux puffs are not sweet. The 2T of sweetened condensed milk contains maybe a little over 1T of sugar, which is not enough to make them sweet. I would add about 3-5ozs of cheese to make the gougeres, and sprinkle some on top before baking.

I'm curious. Which ailments and chronic diseases are caused by pasteurization and homogenization?

No, but the recipe I used said to run a paring knife around the edge of the ramekin before you bake, to create a little air pocket between the souffle and the ramekin. I trying omitting this step on a couple of the souffles, just to see what would happen, and indeed they rose very unevenly.

Yes.

I haven't posted in a while because nothing I've made has been very exciting. Plus it is getting dark so early that I dont have much time to take shots in the sunlight. But here's a few things we've had recently. Bittersweet souffle: Ginger cake: Apple loaf: RLB's lemon cream illusion: Orange tuiles:

I know I'm not the only one around here who gets "recruited" to do Thanksgiving day desserts. This year I'm cooking for about 30, maybe more if I get the last-minute request from my boss (keepin' my fingers crossed). So far I'm doing two types of cookies, oatmeal-raisin and double-chocolate, mainly for the little ones, a pumpkin cheesecake, for the pumpkin enthusiasts, and will also be doing either some raspberry truffle cakes OR creme brulees, depending on how I feel tomorrow. What are you cooking or planning on cooking?