Patrick S

Well, my stand mixer does have hydraulics and a large subwoofer, and sure, I do pipe choux paste from a jewel-encrusted pastry bag, but my pastry pimpology leaves much to be desired.

Did you coat the cake with powdered sugar before you rolled it up? When I make rolled cakes, I cover the top with powdered sugar, then invert the cake onto a towel, then coat the other side of the cake with powdered sugar, then roll it up. When I do that, I havent had any release problems.

After I baked mine, I turned the oven off and let them sit in the oven with the door cracked for about 15 minutes. You might want to try that.

Generally speaking, farmed salmon are slightly higher in heart-healthy omega 3 fatty acids per serving, and lower in mercury, than their wild counterparts. On the other hand, farmed salmon are a bit higher in POPs (persistent organic pollutants) than wild salmon. The most widely discussed POPs are the PCBs, and some people have claimed that farmed fish, by virtue of containing more PCBs, will increase your risk of cancer. Most experts, on the other hand, disagree with this claim, noting that 1) PCBs are not even known to be human carcinogens (studies of people occupationally exposed to high PCB levels has failed to reveal higher cancer risk), and 2) that in any event the levels of PCBs in both farmed and wild salmon are far below those considered to pose a health risk.

Maybe I'm reading her wrong, but it looks like RLB is saying that while a few people have claimed that there are such differences, there are actually many possible causes for variation between sugars (i.e. other than cane vrs beet origin), and that, in her words, "[m]ore extensive scientific investigation is required to come to a definitive conclusion." This would be a good experiment to conduct some weekend. I personally am skeptical that significant differences exist, mainly because I have made many cakes and sugar syrups with both beet and cane sugar, and not observed those differences myself. But maybe I haven't been observant enough. Nonetheless, a blind test, maybe even a double-blind test, would be enlightening. By double-blind, I mean neither the baker nor the tasters would know which sugar is which. Someone not involved in baking or tasting would repackage the sugars so that no one knows which cakes/candies are beet and which are cane until the votes have been cast.

Sugar is 99.95% sucrose whether it is derived from cane or from beets. I've heard people claim there are perceptible differences, but I've never noticed any myself!

I've tried her All Occasion Downy Yellow Butter Cake, and I'm sure it isnt what you're looking for. Its a fine cake in its own way, but it doesnt have the " totally insubstantial, melting crumb" you're looking for.

Thanks, Daniel! The buns were nothing special, really. Sandwich buns from Kroger deli. They're 25 cents a pop, always fresh, taste and look good. They've always worked great for all my "squishy bun" applications. I sliced and toasted them on a 350F griddle with a teensy bit of butter, with a ramekin sitting on top of each slice.

For dinner last night, we had simple, soul-nourishing cheeseburgers. The patties were 50/50 chuck and sirloin, formed thin (~1/3"), and topped with cheddar and balsamic glazed onions. Trying to please the little one who loves fast-food burger, we used a seasoning that is supposed to be that used by McDonald's: 4T salt/2T Accent/ 1t black pepper/ 1/2t onion powder. I have to admit, they were good! For dessert, we're still eating the brownies I made a few days ago.

Very pricey! Amazon sells 1lb bags of Bensdorp cocoa for $6.50.

Thanks! Medrich's cocoa brownies are great, but I liked the bottom (Malgieri's) brownies better. For the moment, they're my favorite. To call them fudgy would be an understatement. People often call cakey brownies fudgy, but these really are fudgy, especially when they're cool.

Interesting tidbit on botulinum toxin: it is by far the most poisonous of all known poisons. The rat LD50 for pure botulinum toxin (the unit dose per body weight which kills half the subjects) is 5-50 ng/kg, while that for arsenic is about 700 mg/kg. Since 700mg divided by 50ng equals 14,000,000, botulinum toxin is about 14,000,000 times more potent a poison than aresenic.

I planned to photograph the thing all in one piece, honest! But as I was setting up my camera, the brownie seduced me, and I had to take a bite.

Brownies. The top brownie is cocoa brownie with ganache. I was "contracted" to make "something chocolate" for a birthday party, and this is what they got. The pic is of the brownie I got to keep. The bottom brownies is Nick Malgieri's Supernatural Brownies, made with chocolate.

NO. Just kidding... sort of. I am scared of anything that hints of making pastry or dough or baking. ← Given what we've seen of your cooking skills, I don't think your fear is well-founded. You'd knock it out of the park. It does take some time, but you'll be amazed by how great puff pastry made with butter tastes. For a much quicker but still delicious, all-butter, puff pastry approximation, you could try 'rough puff.'

I'm also of the opinion that the only thing in a can of RediWhip worth consuming is the NO2. . . Your lamb burgers look killer.

I am not an expert in agricultural economics, but I have read that the US market price for sugar is 2 to 4 times that of the world market price, and that this state of affairs is maintained by steep tariffs on imported sugar. So all congress would have to do to prevent a shortage, if it came to that, is just relax tariffs a little. According to a trade policy analyst from the Cato institute: Link

Whenever a recipe calls for milk, I would use whole milk, since the higher fat content may be essential. You could probably use 2% milk, but it wouldn't turn out as . . . creamy.

I've never made a vanilla ice cream that did not have a cooked custard base, so I can't tell you what the difference is. But I'd be awfully suprised if the uncooked versions are as smooth and rich! If you're looking for a recipe recommendation, may I humbly recommend Sherry Yard's recipe from The Secrets of Baking? Its da bomb, which is to say, delicious.

I need a glass of milk after looking at that! How did you likethe recipe?

The smoke can get awfully thick using the broiler too, at least if you are putting the steaks close to the element. viaChgo, I have a wimpy vent too, and have set off many the smoke alarm in search of delicious steak. The Ducasse method is a great alternative, but doesn't work well with all steaks (works best with massively thick rib-eye). If I don't want to smoke out the house, I try to get the heat just below the point where I get lots of smoke, somewhere in the medium-high range. It is possible to get a decent caramelization without too much smoke with a little practice.

Rabbit tastes like chicken, and so do frogs and alligators. But ostrich, oddly enough, tastes like beef, according to this article (PDF format).

Granted you'll never get BBQ from a crock-pot that is as good as what you can get from a smoker, I still would like to see some more advice on how to get the best approximation from a crock-pot or an oven. Grub, I don't know if this is considered authentic or not, but eGullet member =Mark has a recipe for South Carolina Mustard Barbecue Sauce that has elicited raves from everyone who's tried it.

Consider me converted! To be honest, I've only tried two other choux recipes before this one, and neither one was all that good. But these do actually taste good all by themselves. I think they will make for awesome gougeres. I baked a full batch, filled half of them with a whipped cream peanut butter "mousse," and put the other half in the freezer. Thanks so much for bringing this recipe to our attention!

Abra was discussing an error in a cookbook where the volume and weight measures were not equivalent: