iii_bake

Anyone has the idea ... why some macarons are glossy and some are matte. iii

I tend to agree with Anna. I left my "very cheesy Pay cheque" half a year ago but what i did was in The Securities Brokerage business", what you made there is theirs. But when it comes to cooking n baking ( i did it for hobbies and donated what i got), i set my mind neutral.anyone i like or dislike can take them or can ask and i am willing to explain. I enjoy the world of learning, exploring and creating new things ( someting makes me believe you'd enjoy this side of life as well). Most important of all, no single recipe can be made exactly by two persons...it is each individual's blessing. You do have your own blessings. i know this will pass and you will be back a happy creative chef again. Again, i am touched by Anna's thoughts. Please take care. iii

Hi, Pardon me if this has been recommended. I have kitchen scars here n there..until a friend of mine introduced MEBO cream from China. The latest severe burn almost did not leave scar and healed extremely fast. It is from the China Institute for burns...i have tried many things but this, to me, is fantastic. ( it made me worry free on kitchen scar!) you can check this out. china institute for burns It may sound rediculous recommending this difficult to find treatment but if you have anyone who have access to China or Chinese drug store around your area...it is really worth the try. Anyone familiar with this at all? iii

It is the french Cocoa and chocolate, i saw many of Pierre Herme's recipes calling for it. I have this. It is quite dark. Just wonder how it compares to the dark cocoa. Will try. ( At the moment, CNN and BBC are casting news on "unprecendented" alleged terror plot at the UK airport...hope all is well!) Thanks

Lovely, i will now go and concentrate on my technique. I always think my chiffon never rises. About the cocoa...what do you think about Vahrona? Thanks for the clarification. iii

Glad to have posted this. I actually was waiting for the pomegranate season, but yesterday i saw them on many fruit stands. Do not know where they are from ( they are imported ones), usually i enjoy them during the beginning of the year. Next time i will really count the seeds! About peeling mango, the Royal Thai Cuisine has the way to peel it. I will try to work on posting it but the technique will not be an easy one this time, but worth to try. It is how you hold and guide the knife so that it leaves straight line pattern on the mango. When i taught this peeling mango thing, i would suggest that some of my friends and students start with peeling cucumber first ...so that they do not waste mango. And before the mango demo is presented, i will come up soon with coconut technique. And will definitely post it here. iii

Hi, I haven't made any of the recipes but it is interesting to read thru. I am not good at foaming cake technique and always wonder how i can indicate if the mixing is done thru and how can you tell that the batter is deflating too much. Is there a lot of oven spring for foam cake and does the cake shrink a lot after coming out of the oven... by how much ..30%...50%? last Q: what do you guys use for folding? I am trying to work on this but always got scared ( too face the truth of flat cake!) SOS. Thanks iii

Hi Joesan, Cud u pls connect to the link again. I did and it worked, it will flash a while and seems like nothing there...but it did come finally. About the seedless...all the plump seeds are there but there is no stone in it...you can eat them whole. ( Spanish) The one with seeds will have tiny stones and it is not pleasant to eat. ( Indian). If you have success with the web page, i'd appreciate it if u cud let me know what u think. Thanks. iii

Dear All, From my own experience with cook books, culinary magazines etc i still have not seen the pomegranate fruit prepared the way i was taught. It is easy and you can easily get the perfect seeds, fast. I do not know how to post the whole step by step article that i wrote in this forum but you can look here kaohom And, If anyone can guide me with how to post a picture, i would love to show the picture of the finished job here. I am sure those who are intimidated by this fruit will finally love it, especially the seedless Spanish ones! ( I am not sure the exact word of action for this process though...cut it opened? or just open?) iii

I am translating from the collection of regional recipes of Oretta Zanini De Vita: At the beginning of the twentieth century, at the house of Angelo Musco-famous Sicilian actor-were invited for dinner different artists. One of them being Nino Martoglio, a commedy writer. Donna Saridda, Musco's niece in law, prepared for the night a special dish of spaghetti dressed with a dense tomato sauce, spinkled with ricotta salata and enriched with fried egglpants. After trying it, Martoglio said: Donna Saridda, this is a real Norma (referring to the Bellini's Norma)! Clearly Martoglio considered the Norma a masterpiece and wanted to compliment Donna Saridda. If there are other anecdotes I don't know. ← Very kind of you, thanks. I was puzzled by Bugialli 's recipes on Pasta Alla Norma which have 3 versions...norma I, II and III. So it wook me a while to digest the opera issue...sorry. again, Thank you very much indeed

Italian is very easy to pronunce, you read as it's written! But there are sounds that are difficolt for english speakers. Gl for ex. it's one sound, g and l are not pronouced separately. Also gnocchi, which for me is a painful word to hear mispronouced, or bruschetta. Che, ghe, chi, ghi are guttural che=ke chi=ki here you can listen to the sounds http://www.askoxford.com/languages/it/toi_.../pronunciation/ For pasta alla Norma, Norma referres to Vincenzo Bellini opera The traditional pasta aglio e olio doesn't require breadcrumbs. Although many recipes in the South (Puglia and Sicily in particular) use often toasted bread crumbs to sprinkle over some pasta dishes: see orecchiette con le cime di rapa. ← Thanks. at least i pronounce the bruschetta and gnocchi right. Forgive me for being difficult to be enlightened, but how Norma is referred to the opera...does it have its own meaning and then used to refer to the opera? I will visit the web for the pronunciation and also check the dish with bread crumbs out... Thanks a lot

This is not quite the anniversary of the two years, but i just search here for this Pasta Aglio e olio...for the Pronunciation of it. Do you or anyone have any i dea? I have also been wondering about the bread crumbs in pasta recipe....is it fine crumbs or coarse? One more wonderings on Italian...The pasta Alla Norma.... Is there a meaning for Norma? is it the name? and how to pronounce. SOS

I used CIA's recipe but added the straining steps as per instruction in Pierre Herme's recipe. Maybe i took the cream out of heat too soon. Will try again, Thanks

I just made the pastry cream, straining during the process as well. I got beautiful smooth cream but a bit too runny. Is there anyway to fix this?I would love it to be thicker, it has been cooled down completely though. And, if i need this for my eclair what should be the right consistency?

Dear ChefPeon, Will defintiely work on the recipe you gave. By the way, the choux bun stuffed with cream is the cream puff? and if you pipe it the long one stuffed with cream, it is eclair...just the matter of shape? Am i correct? Best nantana

Dear Chefpeon and Etalanian, Thank you all for this. I actually i made them before coming for you guys' opinion.... Also searched the web...odd but true..only Chocolate & Zucchini's blog was worth the search; but, even i had them before...i kind of forgot how well done shoud it be... Chocolate&Zucchini's picture looks like they are a bit tender. Some says, the choux should taste a bit biscuit like. I have no problems with making the batter or baking them to hold their shapes but just curiousity...what is the perfect description. I will go n read the thread again. And thanks so much for your kind responses Nantana

Hi..the first time i had chouquette was a year+ ago in France and i kept having them everyday until i returned home. Time passed and i would like to make some now but could not settle with any recipe or even recall what made them so good. If anyone can give me some clue on this..that will be great! Should it be as firm as the eclair or a bit softer...? Does it have a bit of the egg smell...or that means it is underbaked? I used Pierre Herme's Choux Pastry recipe and baked at 220C.. I sprinkled with Pearl Sugar, can granulated be used? Thanks! Nantana

I happen to live in Bangkok. There are many types of restaurant.. mostly the recommended ones are not those the locals go to. The noodle shop on Sunkhumvit Soi 26 is the famous one. The I-sarn style ( North eastern part of Thailand) places are famous..they serve Grilled Chicken, Papaya salad, larb etc. Good I-sarn places are many: one at the end of Soi Maharlek luang where the Four Seasons Hotel is, also the palce called " Norm Jit" on Soi ekkamai Sukhumvit 61. The newest chic I-sarn is at the Paragon, the new and hip Shopping center...the place is called Cafe Chilli. If you like roast duck with good noodle and Thai-Chinese style of food...do not miss Yong Lee...at the corner of Sukhumvit Soi 15...the place is packed. If any of you need more details or contact number...please let me know.

I got both books. They really enlightened me. I am so grateful for both Peter and Jeffrey.

Dear Gary, I have not worked on the large macaron, but i experienced the wrinkles when i started my macaron project..the causes ( with my own observation) were the resting period and the stiffness of the white. However, from where i live, we have Le Notre, a branch from Paris and their large macarons wrinkle as well. I am certain that it is always perfect in Paris, large or small. I surely noticed that when i was there and also from the readings that Le Notre and PH have the process of sorting out imperfect Mc (which are not to be sold). Le Notre here sells wrinkles Macarons, rough ( not smooth) top macarons, uneven sizes etc.; especially during the festive seasons where they sales sored. I once wondered if it was because we lived in an Asian country and they thought we might not be that particular or sophisticated, any ting sandwiched together would sell! OOps ...no negative thoughts for the New Year. Good luck with your project and thank you for sharing the info.

I use Louisa 's cordon Blue version posted in this thread. And for the baking temperature, with my oven the 160 C did not work for me...they browned quite fast; so i adapted PH's version ( from his Chocolate dessert book) by heated the oven to 180 C then reduce to 160, baked without foil until the feet rose ..for a bit while..then placed the foil on the top shelf. When i made my experiment, i baked a small tray of 6 -8 pieces at a time and made notes. evidently, if the top is well heated the batter will rise and there is no air pocket. Now you have to check how your oven works. You might try the fan but watch out for the colour. By the way, i do understand the " obsession" you referred to. What i do is try to figure out the scientific effects. Hope, again, this helps. Before ending, I have to thank all of you who have participated and contributed to this thread. It did ease off my obsession and gave me clues of how i should work with my macarons!

Dear Mel, I hope this does not come as a too late a rescue. I have been wokring on my macaron colours which never came out right. I used the the fan assisted oven and no matter how low i adjusted the temperature to, the top was brown. If i would like it to be pure off white ( for vanilla ), the bottom is not done so it stuck. Here comes the part i think might be helpful to you: I decided to omit the fan and put a foil on the top shelf to cover the heat from the top. The colour came out perfect, the bottom as well. The feet were lovely but the macarons were hollow! The macaron raised beautifully and the air pocket was large. I made a few more batches to check on the folding and other factors, and I just found out that, with the same batch but different baking elements..I can eliminate the air pocket by making sure that the heat is well regulated. I took out the foil on top, let it expose to heat promptly and the air pocket was all gone. I tried a few more time and it worked quite well. I also considered that high feet come with large pocket ( so do not be thrilled with the perfect high feet..like i was). ( I alos kept one macaron from Fauchon ( spelling) from my rtip to Paris, it is now quite dried...just to check on the skin and the feet...to see how mine is doing!) Hope this helps!

Dear Austin & all, You do have good basic for this spicy salad. A few things i would like to add: 1. When preparing the meat for larb: you are right we don't fry or grill etc. But what we do is to cook it briefly with small amount of stock. The Thai term is to "ruan". The act is to put the meat in a pot under medium high heat, stir constantly to avoid sticking. You may add stock a tablespoon at a time. The finsihed prepared minced meat should have some..just some liquid. 2. Basic Isaan ( E sarn ) herbs are: Saw Tooth Coriander and Mint leaves. You do need these two to finish off the Larb ( Lur-Ar-Bur ). Surprisingly i lately found out the reason why my Beef Larb never turned out as the original Esarn version: it did not have Extremely thin slices of Kaffir lime leaves. ( I found out from my Esarn's helper in my kitchen ) So with beef, we add kaffir lime leaves. Very thinnly sliced. With duck which tends to have strong smell, chopped fresh galangal is added when we mince the duck. 3. Ground Roasted Rice and Dried chilli are "must have(s)". When making roasted rice, do use low heat. we do not want to brown the rice without proper puff ups. If you roast the rice properly, the rice will puff like pop corn ( it does not turn inside out though) Once ready, grinding is just easy. You cal just roll the pestle on it in a mortar..No pounding.. the rice will crack and be as fine as you like. If the rice does not puff, it will be hard when you do not grind it fine enough. New roasted chilli is best...when roasting, mix in some sea salt for even browning. Grind only the chilli, discard the salt. Ground roasted rice is to be added last because by the time you finish mixing and seasoning, the rice will absorb almost, if not all, the liquid. I will try to post my latest version of Larb Gravlax with pictures soon. It is on the front cover of Thai Health & Cuisine this month. Nantana

May i cut in with other problem with the brulee? I used vanilla pods and all the seeds were at the bottom. Is it supposed to be so or should it be scaterring all over in the texture? Does anyone have experience in this? Thanx!

I will also check on the French Laundry, Thnaks Karen