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purplechick

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Everything posted by purplechick

  1. The Fanny Farmer Baking Book is good, especially for pie crust. She has clear, step by step instructions for a basic crust and then lots of variations. Same for bread and cakes, etc.
  2. purplechick

    Dinner! 2009

    That looks lovely. Are those capers? Still on their stalk? I've never seen them that way.
  3. At an international beer conference, several beer company CEOs are relaxing in the bar of the hotel. The CEO of Coors orders a Coors, the CEO of Budweiser orders a Bud Light, and the CEO of Guinness orders a Coke. When asked about his order, the CEO of Guinness says, "Well, since no one else was having a beer I figured I shouldn't either."
  4. purplechick

    Acidity

    All this talk of acidic foods reminds me of a Roman banquet I cooked a few years ago. It seems that in Ancient Rome combining sweet and sour was important at table. One recipe we made was a marinade for boiled or fried vegetables, we served it with boiled carrots. It contains garlic, vinegar, passum*, garum**, fresh mint and pepper. The cooked vegetables are marinated in the sauce for 3-4 hours before serving. *passum is raisin wine sort of similar to Amarone **Garum is a very intense salty fish sauce. The closest modern ingredient is Thai fish sauce (Nuoc mam). We enjoyed it, but it was quite intense and took a little getting used to.
  5. The majority of my organic purchases are animal products. I like organic free range meats because they taste better, not to mention the fact that it's nicer to think of them having been happy animals. I also try to buy organic butter, milk and eggs. In general, I figure the higher up something is in the food chain, the more important it is to buy organic.
  6. Thanks Charles, it's always great to get information from people who live in the place where you are going. Yes it was the Café Bräunerhof that I meant. It sounds like the atmosphere is just what I was looking for however, it's unfortunate to hear about the pastries. Is there anywhere you would recommend that would combine both old world ambience and good pastries?
  7. Hi all, so I've read all I could find on this forum about the places we will be visiting in Austria and Hungary in February (see subject line for the list). I would love to hear any updated recommendations people have. To give you an idea of what we're looking for, we like to mix things up and have a few high-end gourmet meals and also dig up places the locals like for "authentic" food. I also love shopping in markets and interesting food shops. Salzburg (2 nights) Has anyone actually been to Hangar-7? I can't decide if it sounds overblown or interesting. A new chef every month? I wonder how long it takes them to get in the groove? It sounds like in Salzburg itself Die Blaue Gans, s'Herzel at the Hotel Geldener Hirsch, Stiftskeller St. Peter, and Augustiner Brau (just outside the city I understand) are good bets. Oh, and someone mentioned Magazin. Are these still good? Any new recommendations? Schladming (4 nights) Has anyone here been to Schladming? It is part of the Ski Amade ski area. It looks like it has amazing skiing, plus you can take buses (free with a lift ticket) to any of a number of other great ski mountains nearby. Look here if you're interested: www.skiamade.com Anyway, if anyone has been there and knows about the restaurant options I'd appreciate any recommendations. I'm guessing it will be hearty traditional fare, great for apres ski. Linz (2 nights) I understand that the best Linzertorte is to be had at Haus Jindrak, is that still true? Any other recommendations for Linz? Vienna (1 night: I know! I wish we could stay longer) I think we will try to get a reservation at Restaurant Coburg. I also plan to visit Cafe Braunderhoff for coffee and pastries. If the Coburg doesn't work out, should we try for something else fancy like Steirereck or Osterreicher im MAK or should we shift gears and go for something more traditional like a Beisl (some recommended here are Zur Stadt Krems or Pontoni)? Thoughts? Budapest (6 nights) From what I've read here good places include: Bagolyvar, Fatal, Kis Kacsa, Kadar Etkezde, Aranyszarvas, and Bock Bistro We'll definitely try to pick up some Palinka at the Bosnyak ter market, along with sausages and fank as recommended. Cafe-wise I've seen Ruszwurm Cafe spoken of here along with Jegbufe and Auguszt Cukraszda, are they still good? For lunches I understand we should look for places called "etkezde" for traditional food. Any particular favorites? Thanks for your help and I promise to report back.
  8. The French have a phrase for this: crise de foie, crisis of the liver. It happens when you have too much rich food. Of course how much is too much varies with the person. If these women had never eaten this type of food before and perhaps had a normal sized breakfast and lunch not realizing they would be given a large number of courses in a tasting menu for example... I always eat a large fruit salad for lunch when I know I'm going to have a rich long meal at dinner. It fills you up because it's mostly water but it digests quickly and so you are plenty hungry for a large rich dinner.
  9. I've heard recently that Prune is popular with chefs after work too. It's at 54 E. 1st St.
  10. I used to live in Maryland (Howard County). I feel for you guys down there, it sounds like it's going to be a mad house. But still, really cool too. You could try doing some sort of theme foods. Someone upthread mentioned arugula, that's de rigeur. Another idea would be something very American (apple pie, barbecue, burgers, etc.) and then something very Kenyan. I have no idea what that would be but I'm sure Mr. Google could help you find something. I'll be watching on TV from Brooklyn. A friend has some unopened Champagne left from New Year's so we'll eat something that goes with that. Hmm, maybe sushi? That goes well with Champagne and it's pretty "elitist" too Have a great party.
  11. The high today here in NYC was 18F and it's going down to single digits tonight. I just put a big piece of top round in to marinate and on Sunday we're having sauerbraten. I'm using the recipe from "The Cooking of Germany" in the Time Life Foods of the World series. I love these old recipes, they have you brown the meat in lard . Stay warm everyone.
  12. Oh, and speaking of yeast, check to see which kind of yeast the bread machine recipe is recommending. Machine recipes often use Instant Yeast and a lot of manual recipes are written for dry active yeast. So if you are using some other manual recipes to help you decide what the proportions of yeast and flour should be, make sure they are all talking about the same kind of yeast.
  13. I've converted manual recipes for use in a bread machine, but I haven't done the opposite. I also haven't baked much in the way of sweet breads which I would imagine could be different in baking time due to chemistry. That said, here are some ideas: You may not have to change anything in terms of ingredients. The machine just does the work for you. However, different machines have different kneading capabilities. Depending on how old the recipe is it may have been made for an earlier generation of machine. If so, it may have too much yeast for doing by hand. Compare it to some other manual recipes you have and see if the proportion of flour to yeast seems the same. Or, if you like, maybe you could post the recipe here and we can look at the proportions. I don't know how much bread baking you've done, if the steps below aren't clear enough let me know and I'll add more info. This is based on a plain white bread recipe. If others have more experience with sweet breads and any differences in preparation please chime in. Combine the ingredients the normal way that you would to make bread i.e., dissolve the yeast in the liquid, add other "wet" ingredients like eggs, honey, or butter, then add the flour (but hold back about a cup to add at the beginning of kneading) and other dry ingredients. Next comes the kneading. It is usually recommended to knead for about a minute adding the last of the recipe's required flour a couple of tablespoons at a time. When the last of the flour is incorporated let the dough rest for about 10 minutes, this will make the rest of the kneading easier. After the resting, knead for another 6-8 minutes or until the dough is smooth and elastic. If there are any hard ingredients like nuts or dried fruit knead them in at this point. Let the dough rise once in a greased, covered bowl in a warm place. It takes about 1-2 hours for the dough to double in size. Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured surface and punch it down and knead for about a minute to remove air and get it back to the original size Usually next you would transfer it to the pan and let it rise a second time, again until double in bulk. However, since this is a braided bread maybe you would braid it at this point and then put it on a baking sheet sprinkled with some flour or cornmeal and let it rise a second time perhaps covered with a tea towel? That part I'm not sure of, you might look at some other braided yeast bread recipes (like Challah) and see what they have you do. Once the second rise is done, put your coarse sugar on it and bake. I don't know if you just sprinkle the sugar or if you should paint the bread with an egg wash or something to help the sugar stick. Maybe someone else here knows? An average time for baking bread is 30 minutes in a 350F oven. But since this is a sweet bread it might be different so take a look at other similar recipes to try and guess a good time/temperature for this bread. And since you're experimenting, check on it regularly as it bakes. Good luck, I hope it turns out just like the bread you remember. I'd love to see pictures.
  14. Chef Carmellini was interviewed yesterday on WNYC Radio's Leonard Lopate Show about the new book. Here's a link where you can listen. Oh, and they have also posted a list of his favorite places to shop for Italian ingredients in New York City. Enjoy!
  15. Sahadi's in Brooklyn definitely has them. If you haven't been there it's worth the trip. It's one of the best sources of middle eastern ingredients in the US. 187 Atlantic Avenue., Brooklyn Nearby subways include 2,3,4,5,M,and R at Borough Hall and A, C, or F at Jay St. Borough Hall Enjoy! Oh and while you're there stop in at Damascus Bakery next door for yummy pastries.
  16. There's a new(ish) mushroom guy at the Grand Army Plaza Green Market in Prospect Park in Brooklyn. He's got Hen of the Woods every week and lots of other yummy mushrooms too. I don't know if he would do wholesale but you could ask. Since he's selling at the Green Market he has to be somewhat local. The GAP Green Market is every Saturday. Good luck.
  17. I've been meaning to bake crackers for ages. Most of the commercial ones out there have hydrogenated oils and sugar and other stuff I don't need in them. We did find one brand that only had what I would put in it, but boy are they expensive! I found a bunch of recipes in the Fannie Farmer Baking Book by Marion Cunningham. She's got White Crackers, Graham Crackers, Nut Fruit Crackers (they have raisins and almonds in them), Oatmeal Crackers, Mexican Crackers (made with cornmeal, chili powder and cumin), Short Aniseed Crackers, Walnut Crackers, Soda Crackers, Flatbrod, Cream Crackers, Whole-Wheat Peanut Butter Crackers, Water Biscuits, Shredded-Wheat Olive Oil Crackers, and Teething Biscuits for Babies. I'd love to see pictures and hear about other people's experiences trying to make crackers.
  18. I agree. I know restaurants make more money on wine and so sometimes the waiters are instructed to ask right away if you want it, but how can you possibly know which wine you would like without deciding on food first? My preference for the order of things is as follows: Choose food Look at wine list and discuss with sommelier/waiter Choose wine Wine is brought to the table and tasted Food is brought to the table. It's nice to taste the wine when the table is uncluttered. I wonder if waiters are sometimes encouraged to try to put several of these steps together to help things go faster and thus turn the table faster. Thoughts?
  19. Long time lurker here finally coming out to post. Eeek! First of all Janet, I love your blog, it's lovely to read and you have clued me in to so many resources, thanks! I'm just beginning to try my hand at food writing and just the other day I was thinking up practice topics and came up with the idea of an alphabet of ingredients; I might write a short piece on each one. It's embarrassing, but I didn't know about MFK Fisher's "An Alphabet for Gourmets" which is now on my list of things to read. In any case, I had A is for Anchovy in my list just like you. Another offering is Asian Pears (so crisp!) Heaven help us when we get to "X!"
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