Elizabeth_11

I do agree that THAT is a problem! I was previously referring to the layout of the site itself since I apparently drive a Lexus.

Well, having never visited Charlie Trotter's before, and considering myself to be of "average" website savviness, I have to say that I find the site to be just fine. A bit bland perhaps. But bad? No way! The tour section of it alone piqued my interest enough, with or without the picture of Charlie pensively grasping his face. Besides, I doubt he really needs an "oh my god" website to lure diners or sell his food....Just my humble $.02. His food and reputation already speak for themselves. Moreover, I would assume that a majority of his present or prospective customers are more than likely already familiar with the calibur of his talent and wouldn't need a fancy "buy my food!" website to persuade them to dine there.

Perhaps if she JessicaSophia substituted strawberry puree for raspberry puree and reduced the amount of sugar a tad, then added a bit of gelatin at the end it would result in a firmer curd? Raspberry puree is also rather "liquidy" if you think about it, not to mention lemon curd uses pure liquid. Am I making sense? Wouldn't this work? Also, I did a search on banana curd and didn't come up with many recipes, but I did find an "ingredients list" for a banana curd product. It listed bananas, sugar, butter, eggs and lemon. Sounds like maybe you could in fact substitute banana for other purees??? Again--just a suggestion!

Raspberry Curd (makes c. 2 c., enough to fill one 9" tart shell) 3 half-pint baskets raspberries 1/2 c sugar 4 T unsalted butter 1-1/2 tsp lemon juice, or to taste 2 eggs 2 egg yolks Puree the raspberries and put them through a fine strainer to remove the seeds. Measure 1 1/2 c. puree, heat it in a non-corroding saucepan, and stir in the sugar and butter. Taste and add the lemon juice to taste. Whisk the eggs and egg yolks just enough to mix them, then stir in some of the hot puree to warm them. Return to the pan and cook over low heat, stirring constantly, until the mixture is thick--it should reach a temperature of 170 degrees. Chill. This can be used as a cake filling, or to fill a tart or tartlets. Garnish with a little creme Chantilly Keywords: Dessert, Tart ( RG537 )

I've never tried this recipe before, but this raspberry curd recipes looks very similar to a lemon curd and I bet it's quite tasty! It would probably work well with strawberries also if you lowered the sugar amount a bit. Raspberry Curd (makes c. 2 c., enough to fill one 9" tart shell) 3 half-pint baskets raspberries About 1/2 c. sugar 4 T. unsalted butter 1 1/2 t. lemon juice, or to taste 2 eggs 2 egg yolks Puree the raspberries and put them through a fine strainer to remove the seeds. Measure 1 1/2 c. puree, heat it in a non-corroding saucepan, and stir in the sugar and butter. Taste and add the lemon juice to taste. Whisk the eggs and egg yolks just enough to mix them, then stir in some of the hot puree to warm them. Return to the pan and cook over low heat, stirring constantly, until the mixture is thick--it should reach a temperature of 170 degrees. Chill. This can be used as a cake filling, or to fill a tart or tartlets. Garnish with a little creme Chantilly.

Thank you so much everyone! Ahhh, egullet...what would I do without you guys?

Starburst jellybeans

Hi all, just wondering if any of you happen to have a recipe for a thick, firm caramel. I am making turtle bars with a caramel layer and it needs to be firm enough to cut and stay neat, but not hard. Soft, but not gooey.. I have done a bunch of searches and have come up with tons and tons of recipes, but I'm not in the mood to try them all out right now If anyone already has something I am describing I'd love to hear about it! Thanks!

For some unknown reason I began craving a huge puffed german pancake with lots of powdered sugar and fresh lemon juice. So I whipped one up and am finishing it up now. Damn good stuff.

hhmm I would imagine that a simple chocolate glaze would work---melted chocolate with corn syrup perhaps? Pour it on for the glaze and if you need a filling, maybe let it thicken up and whip it---but make sure it's not a chocolate with butterfat added! This is just me thinking out loud, however. I've never tried this but have seen the corn syrup/chocolate glaze on epicurious.com before. *edited to add that you could use the dreaded (by some) vegetable shortening/margarine type frosting with powdered sugar and vanilla, and thin it up with water instead of milk, like the bakeries use. Add some cocoa or melted chocolae to make it chocolate frosting, and you could even melt the margarine first to make it "fudgier". Some people really love that kind of frosting, others hate it--not sure which category you'd fall into! *

To answer both of your questions Kit, I think it is best to start the process the day before, however it is possible to do it in only one day with plenty of resting time between turns, proofing, etc. We actually completed the croissants in 3 days at the school when I took the course. I found that, when making them at home, it was so much easier to roll out after having been refrigerated for a good amount of time, and that sometimes the turns were too difficult with only a few hours in the fridge. So in short, the more time you have to let the dough rest in the fridge, the better. Also, Sebastien did in fact use some scraps of dough in the centers of some of them. It does plump them up, but he seemed to only throw them in for the hell of it at the end when he was using up all the scraps. It does work, but it's not necessary, and I think if you have extra dough it's an excellent way to spare wasting it. Hope that helps!

Oh, I'm so happy that recipe gave you such excellent results nightscotsman! All of your tips are great, especially baking them to a deep dark golden color. I remember all of us thinking that they were burned, or ready to come out of the oven when they were a just turning a medium golden, but Sebastien insisted that they weren't done at that point. The final product was indeed a very deep, dark golden color. mmmm croissants! I'm glad I was able to share Sebastien's knowledge with you

Being the cheese lover that I am, I must confess that I absolutely LOVE stuffed pizza. Back in high school I used to work the phones at Edwardo's pizza in the northern suburbs and one of the perks was being able to make and take home pizzas whenever I wanted. Damn they were good. But I think Lou Malnati's has one up on Edwardo's....mmmmm hot cheese. *edited to change 'deep dish' to 'stuffed' pizza. I do not particularly care for deep dish style, it's the stuffed that I absolutely LOVEEEEEEEEE. Thought you needed to know that *

Croissants 80 g water 13-1/2 g fresh yeast 67 g pastry flour 27 g sucrose 8 g sea salt 116 g milk 37 g soft butter 80 g pastry flour 220 g bread flour 231 g butter for book -create the poolish by mixing the water and yeast along with a generous pinch of sugar from the overall amount and adjust it to 70 degrees (this is where it's tricky and I'm not certain of the exact temperature the water an flour should be at, but i know the resting temp should be around 70 degrees----can anyone vouch for this number?) -cover the water and yeast mixture with the first amount of pastry flour and let it ferment until cracks form on the surface of the flour. It is important not to disturb or shake the poolish while it is starting. -scale the 231 g of butter, shape it into a rectangle and place it in the cooler. -mix the salt, sucrose, 37 g of soft butter, and the milk in a small bowl so that the salt has a buffer of fat around it and does not kill the yeast upon direct contact. -then add the rest of the flours, and your salt, sucrose, and butter mixture to the starter. Use the paddle first until it has combined. -mix with the dough hook in the first gear for 1-2 minutes until the dough is homogenized. Do not overmix. The dough should look somewhat smooth and be coming out of the bowl. It is after this state where it is possible to overwork the gluten, not before. -place the dough in a bowl and cover with plastic wrap. let rise until it doubles in volume in a warm place (24 C/75 F) --proofing it above 31 C/87 F will melt the butter-do not exceed this temp. -remove the dough from the proofer and press out the first gasses, then place it in a cooler overnight(or several hours). -in the morning pull out your square of book butter so it becomes plyable (but not too soft; beating it with a roller will do this well. -roll the dough out into a rectangle, with the middle being thicker than the edges -place the rectangle of soft butter on it. -fold the dough down over the butter, (the butter rectangle should not be in the same direction as the dough rectangle. If you were to place the butter rectangle in in the same direction, imagine rotaing the butter about 45 degrees, then fold the points over it. Place it back into the cooler until both are the same temperature. The dough should look like an envelope with the 4 points coming together (more or less) in the center. -when you start to incorporate the layers, press on the dough with the rolling pin. It is best to press down, lift, and press down again, so you get a more even distribution of butter, instead of rolling on the dough and pushing the butter out to the edges in this initial phase. Roll out the rectangle and give 2 single book folds(turns), always keeping the seam on the right side.(Your dough should be 3 times as long as it is wide when rolling it out. *the butter should not have any hard spots (chunks of butter), and working quickly in small sections up and down the dough is best. Pressure should be firm, pressing more outward than downward. -place the dough in the cooler and let rest for several hours -roll the dough to a rectangle again and give one single or double (if it allows you) book fold. -roll out lengthwise to 1/8 inch, until you obtain a rectangle. -cut 2 even strips with a knife or pizza cutter, then cut even triangles(each at about 50 g) out of each strip. -stretch each piece slightly prior to rolling the croissant. at the base of each triangle, cut a small slit, then stretch the 2 slit pieces slightly and roll. -refrigerate again for a bit, then brush it with an egg wash of milk or cream, egg, and a pinch of salt. Be sure not to coat the sides of the layered dough, only the tops. -proof again until doubled in size. My notes do not have an oven temp, unfortunately, but I'm sure the temp. is comparable to the other recipes. **note: it is very important that, if at any time during rolling, the butter oozes out anywhere or a seam opens up, refrigerate the dough. You cannot roll this dough out if it gets too warm** Whew, so there are my notes from Sebastien Canonne! Again, this takes a LOT of practice but this recipe will make the best croissant on the planet if one follows the directions. If you have any additional questions, I'll try to answer them as best I can. Good luck! Keywords: Bread ( RG476 )

Yes, I did indeed used the poolish method when using Jacques' recipe, despite the fact that his directions specify otherwise--still turned out great! Here is the link in case you want to check it out; his does not require a scale and also has a recipe for danish, pain chocolat and almond cream filling as well. : http://www.foodnetwork.com/food/recipes/re...6_20294,00.html Glad I could help! Have fun, it may seem daunting but after a couple of tries it should become easier. It's not likely that the first batch will be successful, so be prepared for that. The biggest problem is usually butter leaking out of the layers which completely will destroy the flakiness factor. You should be able to slice into the baked croissant and see lots and lots of layers. If you cut it in half and there are large gaping holes, you have rolled out the dough too thinly and the butter has leaked. It's better to do fewer turns, with noticeably less-- but still in tact layers, than it is to push your luck with too many turns and wind up with a buttery, gushy mess resulting in no flakiness. It's pretty much a judgement call as you go with the rolling. You'll know a good looking dough when you see it, and if you can do an extra turn without jeopardizing the butter, go for it! Just my two cents!

Just wanted to add that when I tried to duplicate this at home, I used the Jacques Torres recipe since I do not have scale (I know, I know, I REALLY need one ) and it turned out really well. I simply used his ingredients but followed this technique.

Alright here is the recipe from my recipe book I received at the French Pastry School, along with the directions: 80 g water 13.5 g fresh yeast 67 g pastry flour 27 g sucrose 8 g sea salt 116 g milk 37 g soft butter 80 g pastry flour 220 g bread flour 231 g butter for book -create the poolish by mixing the water and yeast along with a generous pinch of sugar from the overall amount and adjust it to 70 degrees (this is where it's tricky and I'm not certain of the exact temperature the water an flour should be at, but i know the resting temp should be around 70 degrees----can anyone vouch for this number?) -cover the water and yeast mixture with the first amount of pastry flour and let it ferment until cracks form on the surface of the flour. It is important not to disturb or shake the poolish while it is starting. -scale the 231 g of butter, shape it into a rectangle and place it in the cooler. -mix the salt, sucrose, 37 g of soft butter, and the milk in a small bowl so that the salt has a buffer of fat around it and does not kill the yeast upon direct contact. -then add the rest of the flours, and your salt, sucrose, and butter mixture to the starter. Use the paddle first until it has combined. -mix with the dough hook in the first gear for 1-2 minutes until the dough is homogenized. Do not overmix. The dough should look somewhat smooth and be coming out of the bowl. It is after this state where it is possible to overwork the gluten, not before. -place the dough in a bowl and cover with plastic wrap. let rise until it doubles in volume in a warm place (24 C/75 F) --proofing it above 31 C/87 F will melt the butter-do not exceed this temp. -remove the dough from the proofer and press out the first gasses, then place it in a cooler overnight(or several hours). -in the morning pull out your square of book butter so it becomes plyable (but not too soft; beating it with a roller will do this well. -roll the dough out into a rectangle, with the middle being thicker than the edges -place the rectangle of soft butter on it. -fold the dough down over the butter, (the butter rectangle should not be in the same direction as the dough rectangle. If you were to place the butter rectangle in in the same direction, imagine rotaing the butter about 45 degrees, then fold the points over it. Place it back into the cooler until both are the same temperature. The dough should look like an envelope with the 4 points coming together (more or less) in the center. -when you start to incorporate the layers, press on the dough with the rolling pin. It is best to press down, lift, and press down again, so you get a more even distribution of butter, instead of rolling on the dough and pushing the butter out to the edges in this initial phase. Roll out the rectangle and give 2 single book folds(turns), always keeping the seam on the right side.(Your dough should be 3 times as long as it is wide when rolling it out. *the butter should not have any hard spots (chunks of butter), and working quickly in small sections up and down the dough is best. Pressure should be firm, pressing more outward than downward. -place the dough in the cooler and let rest for several hours -roll the dough to a rectangle again and give one single or double (if it allows you) book fold. -roll out lengthwise to 1/8 inch, until you obtain a rectangle. -cut 2 even strips with a knife or pizza cutter, then cut even triangles(each at about 50 g) out of each strip. -stretch each piece slightly prior to rolling the croissant. at the base of each triangle, cut a small slit, then stretch the 2 slit pieces slightly and roll. -refrigerate again for a bit, then brush it with an egg wash of milk or cream, egg, and a pinch of salt. Be sure not to coat the sides of the layered dough, only the tops. -proof again until doubled in size. My notes do not have an oven temp, unfortunately, but I'm sure the temp. is comparable to the other recipes. **note: it is very important that, if at any time during rolling, the butter oozes out anywhere or a seam opens up, refrigerate the dough. You cannot roll this dough out if it gets too warm** Whew, so there are my notes from Sebastien Canonne! Again, this takes a LOT of practice but this recipe will make the best croissant on the planet if one follows the directions. If you have any additional questions, I'll try to answer them as best I can. Good luck!

Granny's Favorite Coleslaw 2/3 c salad oil 1/2 c honey 1 T sugar 1 tsp salt 1 c cider vinegar 1 medium cabbage, shredded (I like to add some purple too) 1 green pepper, finely chopped add some grated carrots (or thinly sliced)--**she didn't specify how much, so just to taste I suppose** 1 medium onion, finely chopped 1/2 c chopped celery (optional) 1 tsp celery seed ( I think we always added more) Toss together cabbage, vegetables and celery seed in a large bowl. Mix oil, honey, sugar, salt and vinegar in a pan; bring to a full boil stirring constantly. Immediately pour boiling mixture over cabbage mixture and toss together. Cover and refrigerate until cold and crisp. This coleslaw is best when prepared a day or so ahead of time. It always seems to taste better with age! It goes great with hot dogs and things like that, so thought you might be interested Keywords: Side, Salad ( RG473 )

I have successfully created croissants using Jacques Torres' recipe on Foodtv.com---but this was only after I learned the technique first hand from Sebastien Canonne at the French Pastry School in his pastries course. Being very careful not to push down on the dough, but instead, roll it carefully yet firmly so as to avoid squishing the butter out of the seams is critical. He also stressed how important it is to use a poolish (a specific type of starter) in order to obtain a more natural fermentation which results in a more developed yeast taste. I have all his notes somewhere--let me know if you are interested. I believe I also have his recipe as well---can i just tell you that the croissants he made were the most unbelievable buttery, tender, flaky things I have EVER eaten. Good god.

Thank you for the Lawrence update Ballast_Regime! It's good to hear that Lawrence was not hit by the storms; it's very unfortunate how damaging they were to other parts. I completely agree with you in terms of how enchanting Lawrence can be. That must be really cool to live downtown, I have many-a-fond memories of the Mass St. area. Where are your favorite places to eat there? It's been quite a while since I've been in Lawrence, but I remember enjoying Teller's (we'd always go there to take parents, dates, etc), Paradise Cafe, the restaurant located waaaay out there with kind of a strange name?? It was possibly by Beauty Brands or something past Alvamar??? lol, I should really know these things, it wasn't that long ago. Wheatfield's was one of my favorite stops as well....in fact the other day I had an intense craving out of nowhere for one of their signature salads. I'll admit that I do miss the late night pokey sticks probably most all along with the Glass Onion's shakes (used to live in the house right next door, as well as Campus Place). *sigh* memories....and then there was Quinton's, Brown Bear, Jazzhaus, Fatso's, Jersey's (ew), etc. etc....but that's a whole different topic lol. In any case, very cool to meet someone from Lawrence on here, and I sure hope Iowa st. doesn't get too out of hand! Perhaps one day, at the right place, I'd give the raw fish thing a go. But yes, those 2 reasons you stated are holding me back for now. Actually, the eggs thing though------those little suckers bursting, *dry heave*, don't think I could ever do that. *gag* Ok, enough of my puking gestures, nice to meet you and glad Lawrence is safe! -Elizabeth

I will pretty much eat anything put in front of me (non Fear Factor-related), and am not picky at all. The only thing I can think of that I'm against eating (at least for the time being) is anything raw, i.e. fish eggs, fish, etc. BTW, I noticed you are from Lawrence, KS. I lived there for 3 years and attended KU. I miss it often! How is Lawrence nowadays? If I'm not mistaken, you guys are in the middle of a nasty storm/possible tornado----hope it's not too bad! Elizabeth

Wow, good luck. I would give my right arm to successfully pull something like this off. Sounds like you are off to a really great start; I think your line sounds excellent. Keep us updated!

Triple layer carrot cake with citrus cream cheese frosting This is my scrumptious recipe for a wonderful, very moist carrot cake. It is laced with a bit of citrus zest and frosted with a dreamy citrusy cream cheese frosting. This seems to be everyone's favorite cake that I make! CAKE 1 c sugar 1 c brown sugar 1-1/4 c vegetable oil 4 large eggs 1 tsp vanilla 1 T finely grated orange zest 1 T finely grated lemon zest 2 c all purpose flour 2 tsp baking powder 2 tsp baking soda 1 tsp salt 1 tsp ground cinnamon 3/4 tsp ground nutmeg 3 c finely grated peeled carrots (about 1 pound) FROSTING 3 8-ounce packages cream cheese 1 c (2 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature 3 c powdered sugar 2 tsp grated orange peel 1 or 2 teaspoons grated lemon peel 1 tsp vanilla extract milk or cream for consistency toasted/candied pecans or walnuts (optional) Preheat oven to 325°F. Lightly grease three 9-inch-diameter cake pans with 1 1/2-inch-high sides. Line bottom of pans with waxed paper. Lightly grease waxed paper. Using electric mixer, beat sugars and vegetable oil in bowl until combined. Add eggs 1 at a time, beating well after each addition. Add vanilla and zests. Sift flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, cinnamon and nutmeg into sugar and oil mixture. Stir in carrots. Pour batter into prepared pans, dividing equally. Bake until toothpick inserted into center comes out clean and cakes begin to pull away from sides of pans, about 45 minutes. Cool in pans on racks 15 minutes. Turn out cakes onto racks and cool completely. (Can be made 1 day ahead. Wrap tightly in plastic and store at room temperature.) Frosting: beat slightly softened cream cheese and softened butter til creamy. Gradually add the 3 cups sugar, zests and vanilla to taste. Add last cup of sugar if sweeter is desired. Add small spoonfuls of cream or milk if necessary. Refrigerate if it needs to stiffen up a bit. **I always add candied chopped pecans to the side of the cake. Simply coat the pecans/walnuts in a little bit of corn syrup and toast in the oven until fragrant. Chop them coarsely and press against side of cake, if desired.** Keywords: Dessert, Easy, Cake ( RG434 )

Word.="I concur" for all you who are not down with tha lingo

If I see a recipe for a quickbread or cake containing buttermilk, I'm usually more likely to try it than if it just contained regular milk. I find the result to be incredibly moist and flavorful, so I'm a big fan of using it. It will indeed affect the leaveners in a recipe since it is highly acidic, and milk is not. Usually recipes calling for buttermilk use only baking soda (I'm sure there are exceptions), whereas regular milk calls for baking powder. That's the main problem you would run into if substituting. I actually prefer using sour cream though in my cakes, (I find that it adds even more flavor, richness and moistness) but it does have similar results as buttermilk. Either way, I'm a big fan of buttermilk!