Patrick S

That sounds wonderful. Even though I knew that freezing would tenderize the meringue, I didn't expect it to the extent that it happened. Keeping more crunch would be interesting. Did you decorate with sticks at home or are you doing htat just before serving? ← I made the sticks with the leftover meringue, but I didn't put them on the cake. My plan was to garnish the cake just before seving with tiny chocolate macaroons, but lunch ran long so I ended up just giving her the bare cake and a little container of macaroons.

I use the CI recipe, which is basically the same as the Quaker Oats recipe. The last time I made them, I added zest from one medium lemon. I loved it, and so did everyone else who ate them. I will always add the zest from now on.

I made two mini concordes monday, and I lightly coated the meringue discs with ganace before assembling them. This kept that layers more distinct, and added another texture, so that in every bite you get light-and-moussy, fudgy, and crunchy texture. I'm serving this for a coworkers birthday today.

Thanks/ I don't have any Gianduja chocolate, unfortunately, or I could just use it for a filling. I was thinking that Gianduja was just a mixture of milk chocolate and a praline hazelnut paste, and that I could make the filling with the praline paste, some milk or semisweet chocolate, and some cream or milk or liquer.

I want to make a gianduja ganache filling for some chocolate macaro(o)ns. I have some American Almond brand hazelnut praline paste to use for this purpose. Does anyone have a recipe? Thanks in advance!

I hate to disagree with you, but growth hormones themselves clearly do not cause animals to become malnourished, so I would suspect that some other factor was involved in what you observed. BST supplementation can cause cows to become a bit more lean over the first few weeks of supplementation (though not to the extent that it is an adverse health effect), as milk output increases and feed intake stays about the same. In fact, most studies I've seen have shown that after a few weeks, BST supplemented cows increase feed intake (Oldenbroek and Gansen, 1990), and that by the end of lactaction, actually weigh more than nonsupplemented cows (Chilliard et al, 1991). Chilliard et al, 1991. Body composition of dairy cows according to lactation stage, somatotropin treatment and concentrate supplementation. J.Dairy. Sc. 74: 3103-3116 Oldenbroek and Gansen, 1990. The effect of the administration of BST on the milk yield and metabolism of dairy cows in IVO trials during three successive years T.v.D.115(13):613-624. And though most sources agree that there is a small increase in mastitis incidence with BST treatment, there continues to be debate about how significant the increase really is. For instance, Collier et al (2001) reported on the effects of BST supplementation on cow health in 1128 cows from 28 commercial herds, making it "the largest single study of bST and herd health ever conducted" (p. 1098). Cows were observed at every milking for signs of mastitis, throughout one lactation. Half the cows recieved bST supplements, and the other half did not. The result they reported was that, in the primiparous (meaning having one offspring) bST group, there were 55,704 mastitis days, while in the non-bST primiparous group there was 53,961 mastitis days. In the multiparous (meaning having more than one offspring) bST group, the value was 88,590, compared to 87,075 in the control group (p. 1101). These are very small differences in incidence. And these numbers come from the largest study to date. Collier et al, 2001. Effects of Sustained Release Bovine Somatotropin (Sometribove) on Animal Health in Commercial Dairy Herds. Journal of Dairy Science 84, 1098–1108. It is important to point out in passing that BST does not cause mastitis directly. It increases mastitis risk simply by increasing milk production. All high-producing cows are at risk for mastitis, whether they are high producing by virtue of good genes, good environment, BST supplementation, or combinations of these factors. Well, the farmers themselves seem pretty certain that it is worth it, as evidenced by their rapid and widespread adoption of BST supplementation. Farmers do not pay for supplements year after year that are not worth it.

← As I pointed out, there is little or no "extra hormones" in milk from cows supplemented rBGH, and even if there were, it would be irrelevant, since BGH is not hormonally active in humans. So, pay more for milk if you like, but be aware that you are paying for a placebo that confers absolutely no advantage as far as your cancer goes. EDIT to add the following brief summary from the FDA on rBGH supplementation. Note that BGH is referred to as BST, or bovine somatotropin, which is a synonym for BGH. Emphasis is mine. From: FDA REVIEWING BST FOR COWS, SAFETY DATA BEING PUBLISHED (August 4, 1989)

The Little One requested french toast this morning:

Strawberry and framboise granita. I pureed 18ozs strawberries with 2T each water and lemon juice, 1T each framboise liquer and vodka, and 1/2C sugar. The puree was poured in an 8x8 pan, placed in the freezer, and stirred every 30 minutes or so for about 4 hours. A teensy bit sweeter than I'd like, but still nice.

Looks great, John!

What I am going to try to do is detach the heating element and underplate from the base, so that the more heat-sensitive parts of the hotplate aren't actually inside the smoker. I got a $9 hotplate last night, and if looks are not decieving, I think this can be done pretty easily.

The graininess is probably due to formation of new sugar crystals, i.e. crystallization. The easiest way to avoid that is to sub a few tablespoons of some corn syrup for some of the sugar. . . the next time you make it, that is.

Okay, having borrowed a smoker from a friend, used it a couple of weeks, and fallen completely in love with smoked food, I'm ready to get my own smoker. But instead of buying one, I'm thinking of building one similar to one that Alton Brown made on the pulled pork episode using two clay pots and a hotplate. My questions are: has anyone else made a smoker like this? If so, do you have any advice? Can anyone recommend a durable hotplate that can run on high for 12 or more hours at at time, inside a 210F smoker? I'd rather pay a little more for a good hotplate up front than have a cheap one fail in the middle of the night and ruin the smoke session.

Pepin is entitled to his own opinion, of course, but I'd have to disagree. I made my sorbet in an ice cream machine, and the melon color and taste shine right through. They do not appear in any sense to have been ruined.

We made another fruit sorbet, watermelon this time. Very refreshing, perfect for a hot summer evening on the patio.

As one of the folks who mentioned Plugra, I'm afraid I can't help with the venues you name. I get mine at a small specialty Italian store in Louisville. ← Do you get your Plugra at Lotsa Pasta? I used to live down the street from there, and I seem to recall seeing it there.

Based on the publicity around milk, I'd guess just about any US butter has growth hormones in it unless it is organic or specifically says it doesn't contain hormones. ← Actually, ALL milk has hormones in it, regardless of where it comes from and whether or not it is 'organic.' All milk has bovine growth hormone (BGH) in it specifically. Some cows, however, are given a supplement of rBGH, or recombinant BGH, that is identical to natural BGH, except that it is produced by recombinant organisms and then given to cows as a supplement to increase milk production 10-20%. Whether a cow is given supplementary rBGH or not, the level of total BGH in the milk is still about the same, because the supplemented cows use the excess BGH. It should be pointed out that neither BGH or rBGH are enzymatically active in humans because its protein structure is very different from its human growth hormone analogue. There are other issues here, for instance rBGH treated cows are more likely to develop mastitis due to their increase milk production, but personally I have very little concern about hormones in milk or butter, and would not pay more to get milk from cows that have not been given rBGH.

Sarah Phillips, an eGulleteer, runs a site called Baking911 that you may find helpful.

nan, that looks fabulous! I'll have to try that. I made vanilla ice cream and lemon sorbet for a party we had yesterday. Turned out pretty good. The splash of vodka kept it soft and creamy. Here's what the sorbet looked like:

I smoked my first brisket friday night, and I'm pretty suprised at how well it turned out. I dry-rubbed it thursday night, smoked it for roughly 8 hours on friday, then wrapped it in a foil tent and braised it at 220F for about 8 more hours. I served it with Mark's barbecue sauce at my daughter's b-day party on saturdy, and it was gone in seconds.

How are you distinguishing between chewy and soft? Mine are what I think of as very chewy and still very chewy the next day but I could see where they might be thought of as soft because they don't have any hint of crisp to the crust. ← By 'chewy' I mean resistance to mastication, basically the opposite of 'soft.' It should take more force to bend a chewy cookie than a soft one, and they should bend further without breaking, i.e. be flexible to some extent. I'm not saying the KA cookies are not chewy at all --they are pretty chewy-- just that I want them chewier.

That looks delicious! I love hot and spicy marinated beef. I have a couple of pounds of skirt steak in the freezer that I may use for that. I'll have plenty of beer around, but I may also keep a coathanger handy in case I need to launch an extraction operation for fallen beef strips. If I've had enough beer ahead of time, the rescue op might be accompanied by simulated helicopter sounds and some humming of Ride of the Valkyries. . .

I would say that KA cookies are good cookies, strong suits are appearance and taste, but still not as chewy as I would like. The cookies with the ground oatmeal were much chewier. The ones that baked for 10 minutes were too soft. 12-13 minutes seems about right.

Looks like I need to go preheat the oven, because I'm also definitely going to try this one. I'm curious to see how the vinegar and corn syrup work in a CC cookie. ← Okay, they're out of the oven. Still cooling though. First impressions: dough is wet and sticky, no taste of vinegar (good thing) once baked, nice appearance with no cracking. Yield about 30 cookies, 40grams each. First batch baked 10 minutes at 375, second batch 12 minutes. Batter: Darker cookie: Less Dark Cookie: EDIT: I used 2C rather than 3C of chips.

Looks like I need to go preheat the oven, because I'm also definitely going to try this one. I'm curious to see how the vinegar and corn syrup work in a CC cookie.