Kerry Beal

Eeyore's Requiem

Some apples from out the back of the house.

Are you getting the inside texture right - but just lacking the outside texture you are after? Funny how all the pictures make it look like they are bready.

Well there you go - it seemed to suggest you already had the answer!

I assume you saw this recipe?

It looks kind of bready - is there a clear seam on one side and is the folded over end clearly a part of the wrapper? These stock photos make it look like it might be battered, wrapped then battered again before frying.

Can you give us an ingredient list from the packages?

Looks like an eggroll pastry - the kind that uses the egg in the pastry - perhaps try a few of those.

Dinner for breakfast. Made up some porky gravy with the drippins' - warmed some thin slices of pork in it - reheated some roasted cauliflower.

I'm assuming this dough is something you have encountered before and that is why you are after it. Can you show us the picture of a product that is encased in this dough to clarify what you are after?

Yup - second Monday in October I think. Ties in with harvest being over. Halloween starts in August. Saw my first couple of Christmas hints over the past week or so.

Indeed - Greweling is an excellent resource!

I suspect the reason that the wild crystallization is not working for you (if you are doing it correctly) and the bastardized seed method is - is that the thermometer you are using is not accurate. You said you tested it with boiling water and it was 1 degree off of 210.8. I usually use 212 as the boiling point when testing as I am reasonably close to sea level. Calibrating at 212 doesn't tell you what your thermometer is doing at 70 F. If your thermometer is already off by a couple of degrees at 212 - it could be off a couple of degrees or more at the much lower temperatures where chocolate is being tempered. So with wild crystallization, when you think you are getting down to 27º C - you might only be getting down to 29º C and won't get the formation of all the crystals you need. But if you 'seed' down to what you think is 27 and it's actually 29 - then you are pretty darn close to where you should have been. I would suggest you get a thermometer from Thermoworks that is known to read accurately at the temperatures where you are working - then pick one of the two methods and as Tri-2-cook suggested above - 'follow the directions exactly as suggested without trying to freestyle any of it'.

Doorstop?

A lovely dinner of pork shoulder, the Carissa Potatoes roasted, and tomato salad.

Thanks

Like the look of that crumb. Would you be willing to share the recipe?

Anna is doing the Hanky Panky tonight!

Haven't decided yet! Perhaps buttermilk pie. I'll likely use some in the cheese biscuits I make for rounds on Tuesday.

Finally got around to churning the cream we had cultured - Ended up with two bowls of salted butter (Maldon salt) and almost a litre of gorgeous thick buttermilk.

My lunch - took all the little fatty bits after and rendered them down - enjoying the crispy rendered bits now and have a few tablespoons of nice beef fat for use later.

Try it on peas!

My mother made it with fresh mint (I have as well) - but I was in Penzeys one day and with my nose buried in the mint jar all I could think of was mint sauce the smell was so evocative. I have the right kind of mint in my neighbours garden - but still use the dried now.

This one is purchase - Lounsbury I think. When I make it it's malt vinegar, sugar, water and mint from Penzeys.

Lamb shoulder chop pre mint sauce. Grilled romaine.