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RonC

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    Do Your Friends Think You're Nuts Over Food?

    in Food Traditions & Culture

    Posted · Edited by RonC (log)

    I was thinking more about Shaya's experience with the avocado and was reminded of a couple of personal experiences. A few years ago I was having breakfast with some people who were going to be in a course I was teaching in Texas. I was having lox with capers and one of the fellows looked at the capers and asked "Are those peas?" No one at the table had ever had capers before, so (obviously) I had to let everyone sample. The look on a few of the faces was classic but I'm not sure what the incident's experience was on the course.

    The other experience concerns of (past) foster son that we're now legal guardian for. He has VERY severe autism and has been a member of our family for 18 years now. Because of that "membership" he's been exposed to a vast variety of foods and tastes and has developed into his own foodie world. He doesn't speak, but we're confident that he knows the diet during these last 18 years has been far superior (and certainly more varied) than it would ever had been at the institution where he was before joining us.

    The "Message": Go forth and create more foodies in the world!

    Sidecar Ron

    Do Your Friends Think You're Nuts Over Food?

    in Food Traditions & Culture

    Posted

    We'll expect many more posts from you Shaya and let me add my welcome to you into the group.

    Sidecar Ron

    Thanks you, JGM, for starting this thread.  This is exactly the reason why I had to join eGullet (note:  my first post EVER!  :blush:  )  I think I need someone else to obsess with to take the pressure off my husband and little kids...

    At work I would get either a funny look or a comment 9 days out of 10  - I could see it coming, as they would blurt out, "What is that?" (um, an avocado) or "How do you eat THAT?" (um, watch me!).

    Seriously, most of the time it was ok being the class clown, but sometimes it really became tiresome and I longed for someone to have something new to share with me rather than have to answer 20 questions.

    As for friends, most of them think my husband and I are crazy when we describe in great detail a meal or a special type of honey we've discovered during our travels, but I think our visit to the French Laundry last year really pushed some of them over the edge - all we did was show them the cookbook - we didn't dare tell them the cost of the meal...

    Thanks to all of you who will hopefully keep me on my toes!

    Yama Vacuum Pot

    in Coffee & Tea

    Posted

    Rona, thanks for the offer. I have a friend who is a flight attendant for American and has the Asia route quite often. I may see what she can do. If that doesn't work, I may take you up on your kind offer.

    Sidecar Ron

    They may still be available in Japan.  I see vacuum pots around a lot, but have never looked very closely at them.  I could send you one (shipping is a risk, though--but I could pack the box in a well-padded bigger box to help protect it) for merely the cost of the pot and shipping.  If I can find one, that is...

    Yama Vacuum Pot

    in Coffee & Tea

    Posted

    I keep seeing notices that the Yama is no longer being imported to the US. I was going to buy a second one to serve as a backup to the one I have -- especially since I still have a few packs of their filters ;).

    Anyone know if it's still available anywhere? If not, hmmm what should I move on to?

    Thanks,

    Sidecar Ron

    Do Your Friends Think You're Nuts Over Food?

    in Food Traditions & Culture

    Posted

    I jokingly refer our group of motorcycle riders as "The French Chef Gang" since we include four great chefs and a sommelier. Others of us (myself included) as just along for the ride (pun intended) and the wonderful food. Hey, smoked salmon, creme brulee, and bottled water ain't a bad lunch by the side of the road. Fortunately, the sidecar serves as the lunch wagon so no one laughs at us being foodies.

    Sidecar Ron

    Crab Cakes

    in Cooking

    Posted

    DT, to a large degree, we agree with you! Usually our crab cakes are VERY simple and basic since we truly like the taste of crab, but on those VERY RARE occasions when we'd like something a "little different" I've been known to taint that great taste with a wee bit of other ingredients.

    Sidecar Ron

    I'm from Maryland.  We'd say, what do you want nuts on your crab cake for anyway? :biggrin:

    Crab Cakes

    in Cooking

    Posted

    Scuba, that's kinda what I thought. I'll just get a nice crust in my iron skillet and then put them in the oven for a few minutes.

    Thanks,

    Sidecar Ron

    Turn down the heat?

    Seriously the crab is already cooked so you are really warming them and trying to get a good crust.  I often brown on both sides and then pop into a hot oven for 5-10 min to warm through.

    Crab Cakes

    in Cooking

    Posted · Edited by RonC (log)

    Tonight I made Wolfgang Puck's "Bite Sized crab cakes with sweet red pepper sauce." They were quite good (especially the sauce) -- BUT -- the bread crumb/ground almond coating burned quite badly. (Medium heat in a cast iron skillet for 3 minutes) We've had a similar experience with nut-covering on chicken and discovered that by just slightly browning the nut-covered chicken first in a skillet and then transferring it to a high over for 10 minutes, we have success -- Yummy nuts w/o the burining and moist chicken.

    I'm going to try this with these crab cakes next time, but does anyone have a suggestion about how long to cook them in the oven and at what temperature? I'll adjust as I get experience.

    Thanks much!

    Sidecar Ron

    Faucet & Sink Experiences

    in Kitchen Consumer

    Posted

    Hope this is the best place to offer this quiry.

    We're undetaking some modest kitchen remodeling and would welcome comments on two issues.

    First, we're replacing the sink and my leaning is to go with one of those that has a large basin on one side and a small (disposal) basin on the other. We've never had one, but think it would be useful. What's been your experience? BTW, I'm like to go with enameled cast iron, but my better half is just leaning toward stainless.

    Second, we're debating between a separate spray faucet versus one of the build in types. Again, what's been your experience?

    Oh -- sure -- biases are welcome too.

    Thanks!

    Sidecar Ron

    Crumb

    in Pastry & Baking

    Posted

    I would agree the yeast is not developed enough.

    Natural yeasts are *much* slower than commercial yeast, and a lot more temperature sensitive.  I suspect both your sponge and dough temperature is too cold - should be close to 30C/90F. At that temperature mine usually takes 4 hours to prove.

    By "Barm" do you mean a beer yeast? That has different characteristics again, and is not optimal for wheat flour.  Try adding malt.

    Thank you.

    Again, it sounds like a temp issue/problem. I'll check that more carefully next time. "Barm" is just my wild yeast, flour and water mixture. I save beer for my drinking.

    Crumb

    in Pastry & Baking

    Posted

    What's your recipe and kneading/resting/proving times?

    The recipe is Reihart's from "Baker's Apprentice.

    Start with 4 oz. of barm and 4.5 oz of bread flour plus a little water. Then let rest/ferment until doubled (often longer than 4 hours) and put in fridge overnight (sometimes two days)

    Let warm up to an hour. and create final dough (20.25 oz of flour and about 1.5 cups of warm water. I stand-mixer kneed for 5 min., let rest 10 min. and kneed another 5 min.

    Let rest until doubled. Form loaf and let rest another couple of hours.

    Bake at 450 until internal temp is around 200.

    Well, there's experts far more knowledgable than me here, but here's my observations....

    While the 20 oz. of flour and 1.5 cups of water is about 60% hydration, I'm concerned about the 4oz of barm, 4.5 oz of flour, and a little water. I'd like to see that "little water" be just over 5 oz. to maintain the 60% hydration.

    As to the 1.5 cups (12 oz ?) of "warm" water, how warm was it? Wild yeast is more delicate that store bought, and temps substantially above 100 F will kill them.

    After you formed the loaf, how far did it rise? Did it double again? Did it appear as if it reached full proof?

    Lastly, temperatures are far more important than the degree of attention demonstrated by your recipe. You should be using an instant read thermometer and adjusting the water temperature to meet your final dough temperature. IOW, if your flour is 60F and your room temp is 60F, you probably need water of 90F to reach a final dough temperature of 70F (subject to the friction resulting from your mixer so really maybe 85F) The barm may not have reached room temperature after an hour......

    Thanks for your suggestions.

    Let's see ... by "little water" I meant just an oz or two. "Warm" for me is 90-100 with an instant read. What I've NOT been reading is dough temps throughout the process. I'll try that and add a little more water at the start. I believe that my proofing times have been okay.

    Crumb

    in Pastry & Baking

    Posted · Edited by RonC (log)

    What's your recipe and kneading/resting/proving times?

    The recipe is Reihart's from "Baker's Apprentice.

    Start with 4 oz. of barm and 4.5 oz of bread flour plus a little water. Then let rest/ferment until doubled (often longer than 4 hours) and put in fridge overnight (sometimes two days)

    Let warm up to an hour. and create final dough (20.25 oz of flour and about 1.5 cups of warm water. I stand-mixer kneed for 5 min., let rest 10 min. and kneed another 5 min.

    Let rest until doubled. Form loaf and let rest another couple of hours.

    Bake at 450 until internal temp is around 200.

    Crumb

    in Pastry & Baking

    Posted

    I've been into wild yeast bread baking recently and while the taste is pretty good, I'd like a better crumb. My loafs tend to be very dense. Any suggestions?

    Much thanks,

    Sidecar Ron

    Vacuum Coffee Makers

    in Coffee & Tea

    Posted

    Thanks! Price is down to low $50s now. Guess I'll spring for one and share my opinion after a few cups.

    Sidecar Ron

    Amazon has 28 user reviews of this vac pot. It receives nearly universal praise form all of the reviewers except for one or two who appear to be unaware of the unique characteristics of vac pots. Several of those reviews were by users who had owned had mixed experiences with Bodum eSantos pots or the Starbucks Utopia (which is a rebranded eSantos).

    The gist of the reviews is that it's the best electric vac pot they've ever used, seems to be well made and has corrected some of the design flaws that affect the Bodum product.

    The reviews of the device are all for a ten cup version. I don't know if there's a four cupmodel btu the four cup eSantos has a brew time that's way too short. Not as big a problem on the ten cup eSantos but even that model benefits from a small shim under one edge to increase tilt angle of the base heating element.  The reviews indicate that the B & D has a stepped design for the base heatign element and allows for a long enough brew time.

    Apparently it does leave the heat on at a bit too high a level after brewing  but IMHO you should be transferring to a thermal carafe if you're not pouring and drinking all the coffee immediately.

    Vacuvin

    in Wine

    Posted

    Hmmmm, guess this is a topic of some debate. Probably my best hope is to consume the entire bottle at one setting. Worse solutions are probably out there but probably not nearly as enjoyable.

    Sidecar Ron

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