sheetz

These were my 2nd attempt at the pineapple buns. Getting closer. You can actually make out the pineapple pattern on some of them.

For the filling, I use basically the same method as Cook's Illustrated does in their pumpkin pie recipe, which is to cook the filling minus the eggs on the stove until boiling,then using some of that to temper the beaten eggs before combining everything together and pouring into the prebaked crust. Using this method the filling sets so quickly there's little time for the crust to get soggy.

When I make pumpkin pie I blind bake the crust virtually all the way through (probably 95%) then take it out of the oven to cool for a minute before brushing half an egg white on the inside. Then pour in the hot filling, place a foil ring over the top to protect the crust edges and finally back into a moderate oven to finish. If you are worried about overbrowning the crust you can try either reducing the amount of sugar or increasing the acidity in your crust recipe.

Instead of the typical fattening stuff for dessert I made the poached bosc pears from Eileen YF Lo's The Chinese Kitchen. Very light and refreshing.

For wife cakes the filling would likely be a sweetened blend of winter melon puree and glutinous rice flour. I've never eaten winter melon filling in a mooncake before so I don't know what the texture is like. Is the texture similar to lotus seed paste or rubberier like wife cake filling? ETA: You say the winter melon paste is expensive to make, but winter melon itself is quite cheap. Therefore I would have to think the winter melon is blended with something more expensive, maybe lotus seed paste, aka leen yung? Would adding winter melon puree to the lotus seeds when making leen yung achieve the desired result? Tepee?

I actually don't own the book. Right now I'm just trying out some of her recipes that I've found on the internet to see how I like them. They do seem very authentic. Some online recipes: http://www.leitesculinaria.com/recipes/coo...k/kung_pao.html http://www.uktvfood.co.uk/index.cfm?uktv=c...chef&iID=530777 http://www.theeagle.com/food/101503sichuan.htm http://www.leitesculinaria.com/recipes/coo...reen_beans.html http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?...FDGGG3D9RB1.DTL

Kung Pao Chicken a la Fuchsia Dunlop

I tried making pineapple buns today. Aside from their enormous size (I got lazy and made 6 buns out a recipe meant for 12) they tasted just fine but as they baked they lost the nice pineapple look that I spent so much time scoring into them. Anyone have any suggestions how I might fix this problem?

Chicken Chow Fun with Black Beans

I can pinch a penny as well as anyone can. In addition to what others have said, I also recommend shopping at your nearest Aldi. There are several locations in Wichita and they usually have the best prices on staple items. I'm always amazed at how little money I spend for so much food whenever I go there. The produce is generally on the ripe side, but that's fine if you eat them within a few days. Eggs, milk, baking supplies, and chicken are generally much cheaper there than any place else.

Only if you use slices from 5 fresh red chilies. ← I prefer using the dried ones.

KA unbleached is not really the ideal flour to use for pastries. It has a relatively high protein content (hence a higher gluten content) of 11.7% which is close to that of some bread flours. Regular supermarket bleached AP will actually give you a better pie crust than KA unbleached AP. KA does produce pastry flours which would work far better. This article about differences in flour is a good read. http://www.post-gazette.com/food/20011220flour1220sfnp2.asp

Gosh, everything looks so good! And I need to lose all the weight from overeating this past week. Dejah, here's my tentative recipe: CHINESE EGG TARTS Water Dough 100 g AP flour 50 g cake flour 20 g sugar 5 tsp vegetable oil 1/2 egg, beaten 3 T water Oil Dough 150 g cake flour 50 g butter or margarine (butter tastes better but margarine is easier to handle) 175 g lard 1. For the water dough, mix flours and sugar together, then stir in egg, oil, and water to form a soft (but not sticky) dough. Add more flour or water if needed. Form into a rectangle roughly 5 inches by 7 inches, wrap with plastic, and refrigerate for 1/2 hour. 2. For oil dough, blend cake flour, softened butter/margarine, and lard to form a paste. 3. On a lightly floured board roll water dough into a rectangle roughly 8 inches wide by 14 inches long with the short end nearest to you. Spread lard paste on the bottom 2/3 of the water dough, leaving a 1/4 inch border around the edge. Fold the top third of the water dough onto the lard paste and the bottom third over that, just like folding a business letter. Pinch the edges to seal, making sure there are no air bubbles. Wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate for an hour, or until the fat has firmed up. 4. Once the dough has firmed up roll it out again into 8 by 14 inch rectangle and fold again like a business letter. Wrap in plastic and refrigerate for 1/2 hour. 5. Repeat step 4. 6. Once again roll the dough out into a rectangle, but this time fold it into quarters. To do this fold the top edge to the center and then the bottom edge up to meet it. Then bring both sides together like you are closing a book. Wrap in plastic and refrigerate. The dough is now ready for use. To make the tarts 7. Roll the dough out to 1/8 inch thickness and cut to fit whatever tart molds you are using. (I use this one.) Press the dough to fit the molds, making sure to keep away from the cut edges. Refrigerate for 1/2 hour. 8. After 1/2 hour the dough will probably have contracted a bit, so press it again up the side of the mold until it goes slightly past the edge of the rim. Gently fold down the edge of the dough to form a slight lip at the top. The point of doing this is that you want the dough to be very thin because it will puff up quite a bit during baking while also pulling back from the rim. 9. Fill the tarts 2/3 to 3/4 full with custard filling. (I haven't yet decided on a recipe I like) and bake in a 300F (150C) oven on a preheated pizza stone for 20-25 min until the custard is nearly set.. Turn off the heat and rest in the oven for an additional 5-10 min until set. Remove from the oven and cool for 20 min.

Oil Dough 150 g cake flour 50 g butter or margarine (butter tastes better but margarine is easier to handle) 175 g lard Water Dough 100 g AP flour 50 g cake flour 20 g sugar 5 tsp vegetable oil 1/2 egg, beaten 3 T water Putting it together is just like puff pastry but I can describe my procedure if you wish. I used this Nordicware tartlette pan, which is a professional quality heavy duty pan and seems to make things a little easier. I also placed the pan on a preheated pizza stone to ensure the bottoms were properly baked.

OK, these are my first pics uploaded to these forums. I've been attempting to master daan taat (egg tarts) and today I produced my best batch yet.

Most likely. The fat makes the flour absorb less liquid. In my experience, it's not rough handling that toughens pie dough so much as too much water. If you add the right amount of water you can play around with the dough quite a bit without it toughening up too much. Gluten needs water to form and if there's not too much water the gluten just can't form. Another thing you can do is replace some of the AP flour with cake flour to make it more tender. What brand of AP flour do you use? That can make a difference as well.

Maybe the amount of water needed to cook the rice is simply the amount necessary to barely cover the rice. The half inch or so of water above this level is to account for evaporation. I've noticed that the longer it takes the rice to cook the more water is needed. For example, glutinous rice cooks faster than regular long grain rice and needs a little less water, whereas brown rice takes a lot longer and requires significantly more water.

I suppose dried shrimp can be eaten, but they are generally pretty tough until they are soaked. But dried scallops are hard as a rock!

Really, Ah Leung, aside from the canned dace that's just too weird! My father likes munching on preserved ginger.

Tejon, I also made your Gramma's recipe and it turned out great! I didn't bother shaping them into crescents; just formed them into golf balls and placed them on a baking sheet. Still turned out fine, though. After removing them from the oven I brushed them with butter mixed with honey for a little added sweetness. Probably a bit too rich for me to serve every day, but perfect for a special occasion.

I'm a mere novice compared to other bakers here, but it seems to me that 5 T of water and 1 T of vinegar is way too much liquid for 4.5 oz of flour, and that's not even including the water in the butter. I think either you didn't incorporate the butter well enough into the flour or the flour you used had too high a protein content. Also, shortening will give you a more tender crust. I always blind bake my crusts for pumpkin pie. In fact I bake it till it's almost fully baked, and then add the filling warm so that it will set up quickly.

That reminds me of the Chinese version of rice crispy treats, Sai Keh Mah (Cantonese), made of fried pieces of dough mixed with syrup and pressed together into a block. How does one translate that? Riding a horse to the West?

When guests are over I spring for the better wines, but for everyday cooking I use box wine and the food police hasn't knocked on my door yet! It's true that you don't get the same complexity and depth of flavor with the cheap wines, but since I'm not complaining there's no harm done, is there? Even the late, great Julia Child recommended using dry white vermouth as a substitute for white wine. You can try the same recipe using the box wine and then a better wine and taste the difference. If you don't mind the difference in taste then who is anyone else to tell you otherwise?

jsmeeker, I use foil to blind bake my pie crusts and it turns out fine, although I do it differently than CI does. After chilling the dough, I press foil on it and place a layer of pennies on the bottom for weights. (I'm too cheap to buy weights.) I don't prick it and don't have problems with puffing. Could it be that youre overworking the fat into the flour? You do need enough gluten in the dough to give it some structure. Also, twelve tablespoons of fat is a little more than most recipes call for, but you're using unbleached AP, which probably requires a little more fat than either bleached AP or pastry flour.

No it doesn't seem sticky. I made it today so I'll let it sit overnight and see what happens. It rained a bit yesterday but today was clear and dry.