Patrick S

I think the answer to that is that any pathogens on the poultry will most likely be present on the outer surface of the poultry rather than inside it. So all the surfaces in your kitchen that contact the outside of the poultry are potentially contaminated. When you cook the poultry, however, you sterilize its outer surfaces by bringing its temperature above 140F, and thus most likely kill any pathogens. But I think that is just a rule of thumb, and it is possible for pathogens to be present internally, in the meat, which will not be killed by a brief searing.

Adding more sugar won't hurt the final product -- it will only increase the amount of time it takes for the temperature of the sugar solution to pass ~212F. The solution will not go much further than 212 until all the water is boiled off. EDIT: I meant to write that adding more water won't hurt the final product.

Keep heating. If anything, I think you're either not using enough heat, or not allowing enough time for the sugar to heat up. The sugar cannot resist-- once you get it hot enough, it will turn syrupy, and it will brown once you get it it to the right temp. Water is not even really necessary -- I've made caramel (e.g. for creme caramel dishes) using only sugar, no water or corn syrup.

I can't speak for Marlena, but my answer to this question should be obvious from what I have already written in this thread. If one adult wants to sell a rare hamburger to another adult who wants to eat a rare hamburger, then I think you and I (and the gov't) should butt out. I would have no problem with Jack-in-the-Box selling rare burgers, so long as they featured a warning label that clearly explained the risk inherent in eating a rare hamburger. Only a few people would take the risk, and if they got sick, so be it. I might even consider supporting warning labels on everyday food products that, unlike raw milk cheeses, the consumption of which actually does contribute substantially to the burdern of disease in the US. For instance, maybe a sticker on the menu or packaging of food that says (hypothetically) something like 'This double quarter pounder with cheese (or 16oz ribeye, or plate of fettucinni, or whatever) contains 130% of the RDA saturated fat for a 70kg adult. Diets high in fat are associated with obesity, heart disease, and premature death.' Actually, bacteria can indeed by present internally in the steakl, especially in steaks which have been injected with flavor solutions (the injection itself can move the bacteria into the steak, or can simply create a conduit along which the bacteria can enter deeper into the steak). I don't know about Fla, but there are certainly pastry chefs still using raw whites in commercial settings. In fact, a few months ago, I brought this up on the pastry and baking forum, and more than one person said that they still used them, including some in commercial settings. Which is as it should be, I say. Consistent with my position on cheese, I say, don't ban the raw oyster.

The nanny-state doesn't have to be nanny-statist in all its affairs. God knows the US isn't. I mean, there are apparently much stricter controls on raw milk cheeses, which kill maybe a few to a few dozen people a year, than there is on cigarettes, which kill roughly 400,000 people a year. ← People can reasonably expect to get sick or die from smoking. There aren't many people who think they can get sick or die from eating cheese. Robyn ← Yes, which is precisely why I said that I thought that things like warning labels and FDA advisories are a good idea. After all, if the public can be educated that raw eggs and raw meat and cigarettes carry potential health risks --and clearly they can-- than they can also be educated that raw milk cheeses carry potential health risks.

Wanted to add that I liked the last cake well enough to give it a chocolate-Kahlua buttercream and serve it with Easter dinner. It was very well-liked.

I have confess to having a complete and utter disregard for the preservation of my cookbooks. In fact, if you were to take my cookbooks and shake them vigorously, you'd probably get a pile of flour, sugar and chocolate flecks large enough to bake a cake. There are also chocolate fingerprints, the occasional coffee stain, and other signs of abuse. I'd probably have been more careful if I had payed big bucks for any of them, but I haven't.

I don't do much savory stuff, but the pics here really got me craving fried chicken. So I tried the Martha Stewart recipe referenced way back in the beginning of the thread. Soaked overnight in buttermilk, tabasco and salt. Shaken in flour, baking powder, black and cayenne pepper, Fried the first batch in Crisco at 375F, which seemed too hot, so second batch was done at about 350F. It was delicious, but I will want to try something else next time. Thanks everyone for all the recipes, ideas, and testing done so far.

I'm pretty sure that the marshmallows would stick to the silpat. Also, I've used like 2:1 or 3:1 sugar to starch ratio and its worked fine.

You'll definitely need a chocolate-tempering machine, a 20qt mixer, and one of those machines that folds puff pastry. Just kidding. Wait til you win the lottery to make those purchases. Everything you need has already been mentioned. So all I can do is mention a few of the items that I resisted buying, but that, once I bought them, I realized that I should have bought them long ago. First is a good silicone spatula. Nothing allows you to scoop all the batter out of a pan with greater ease. Second is a microplane zester. I used to grate citrus with a box grater, and it would take forever. With a microplane, it literally takes seconds to zest a lemon. If you're going to zest more than 2 lemons in your life --and you should, because lemons totally rule-- go ahead and buy a microplane. Third is a digital scale. This is one of those things that can save you a little bit of time almost every time you cook. Oh, and one piece of general advice -- generally speaking, the cheapest model is indeed the crappiest, but the most expensive model is often not any better than the mid-range model that costs half as much.

I tried another variation of the Wooley recipe, substituting milk for buttermilk and changing a few proportions. The ingredients I changed were: 10ozs AP flour (1/3 less than the original) 3.5ozs cocoa (used Hershey's dutched) 1/2t salt 1t soda 12ozs sugar 5ozs butter Otherwise, the ingredients were the same. As you would expect, the reduced proportion of flour resulted in a very dense and moist cake. Actually, the cake is on that borderline between brownie and cake. I found that I liked the flavor a lot better without the buttermilk. I like this cake a lot, though I'm not sure how versatile it would be. But if you like a ridiculously moist cake that epitomizes the phrase "fudge brownie cake," you may want to check this variation.

This may be one of those rare cases where a food additive will regain its good name. I don't know if there is such a thing as Chinese Restaurant Syndrome or not, but if it does, it seems unlikely that MSG causes it. There have been at least two placebo-controlled trials of MSG, one in healthy individuals (Tarasoff and Kelly, 1993) and one in a group of people who self-report a history of CRS (Kenney, 1985). Even though the trials used more MSG than you'd get from food, there was no significant difference in reaction rates to the placebo versus the MSG. In Tarasof and Kelly (1993), the doses were up to 3.15 grams per person. Kenney, 1985. The Chinese restaurant syndrome: an anecdote revisited. Food and Chemical Toxicology 24, 351-354. Tarasof and Kelly, 1993. Monosodium L-glutamate: a double-blind study and review. Food and Chemical Toxicology 31, 1019-1035.

Or a dacquoise disc?

Thanks Wendy. It makes me happy to hear that it was liked. What sort of strawberry flavoring did you use in addition to the puree?

I don't care for grahama cracker crust either. I always use vanilla wafers.

I'm definitely interested Sarah!

If you want to use dulce de leche for a cake filling, why don't you buy Dulce de Leche? A cooked can of condensed milk is NOT dulce de leche, it is cooked condensed milk... ← I never made DDL by the 'traditional' method, so excuse me if this question is silly. I thought the traditional recipes for DDL involve condensing milk and sugar in a pot (by boiling off the water), so what exactly is the distinction between cooked sweetened condensed milk and DDL?

Yes. But I wouldn't recommend it. I imagine smoking it would instantly result in prolonged, spasmodic coughing, airway constriction, and extreme pain. If that's your cup of tea, then go for it. Intravenous injection, on the other hand, well I dont know what that would do. Most of the effects of capsaicin are mediated by vanilloid receptors, and IIRC, these are restricted to epithelial tissue, like those that line your mouth and disgestive tract. So, I don't know what would happen if you introduced it directly into your circulatory system. Any volunteers willing to sacrifice their bodies for science?

Question: Has anyone here tried an extraction from pepper? My understanding is that capsaicin can be extracted using ethyl alcohol (e.g. pure grain). You would dry the peppers, crumble them, soak them in the alcohol, then filter the alcohol, then evaporate of the alcohol, leaving behind the capsaicin and whatever other ethyl-alcohol soluble compounds are in the peppers. I have no idea what capsaicin% the resulting product would be, but I bet it would be pretty high.

I don't think there's any reason why you couldn't do your own capsaicin extraction at home if you were a reasonably competent chemist. I dont think its illegal.

Pepper spray can be about 30% capsaicin (5 million Scoville). If anyone is interested, I'd be happy to spray some on your burrito for a few dollars.

Here's a recipe that is said to be from Martha Stewart. Keep us posted on what you find, sweetfreak.

I was really baffled there for a minute. Tasteless, crumbly, and not sweet enough were not how I remembered it! I make no claim that it is the best, but I would say it was good. As far as the Woolley cake goes, I think I'm going to try it at least one more time and substitute some milk for some of the buttermilk, maybe 50/50. It does have a lot going for it, and with a little more tinkering on the flavor it could be one I use more often.

Maybe mine would be more homogenous if I shook the cans before I boiled them. Mine doesn't turn out chunky really, its just a little thicker around the sides of the can than in the middle of the can. And I know I'm not overcooking it, because I cook it for exactly 3 hours, and its light-colored like caramel.

Favorite sweet crepe: lemon-cream filled crepes with butter-orange sauce from Desserts by Pierre Herme.