Kerry Beal
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Posts posted by Kerry Beal
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Working in ER started rather early this am with a nasty accident so I didn't have time to bake. Fortunately I did get a bit of time at home so was able to put something together for the staff.
In keeping with the Around the World theme - I made wattilappam (Sri Lankan jaggery pudding). I made a half batch, steamed in the thermomix.
No cashews available - had to use peanuts.
Quite yummy!
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Your steak is stunning. What type of cheese did you use in the Aligot? Were you able to get a Tomme variety or?
Nah - white cheddar curds - only thing I'll find around here (or even at home actually) in the way of young cheese.
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Here's my aligot - not quite as stretchy as it should be - didn't really have enough curd. But still quite yummy. Made a bit of a sauce with the liquid from the sous vide steak, a bit of brandy, some lemon and mounted with butter.
My 'little' rib steak. Should provide at least couple of meals.
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Whats on the Thanksgiving menu?
SFA - well actually nothing thanksgiving related. Being on call today I may or may not get fed. I'm making some aligot (so the country of the day for me is France) and if the BBQ can be sufficiently rehabilitated I've got a nice ribeye that I sous vided for a couple of hours last night that I'll throw on to brown up with my aligot.
I think I'll settle for one dish from a country each day - rather than trying to do an entire menu.
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I'm working up north in Manitoulin again for two weeks and AnnaN issued a challenge a couple of days before I left. She suggested that while I was away this time that we should both endeavour to cook something each day from a different country.
Easy for her - she's in her kitchen at home with all her stuff - I'm up here, a relative culinary wasteland, especially after the tourists go home at the end of the summer. I have a fair number of supplies - but substitution will have to be made I'm sure.
So of course that makes it more fun - gotta love a challenge.
Initially her thought was that we should both cook from the same countries cuisine on the same day - but I think she realized that hobbled me just a bit too much so she relented and agreed that we could each do a different country on any given day.
I've brought with me the usual paraphernalia - the Thermomix, the Sous Vide Magic and the pressure cooker. I have the mini Big Green Egg that lives up here (it's just doing a nice hot burn right now to get rid of a little mold it seems to have gathered).
It's Canadian Thanksgiving weekend right now, with unseasonably warm weather - but neither Anna or I plan to cook a turkey.
On the day's that I'm not on call I'll try to come up with an interesting cocktail - again slightly hobbled by the limited booze I have available. I did bring up a couple of dropper bottles of different bitters as well as some ingredients I'll never find here. My first little issue was discovering the grocery store didn't have any limes - and wouldn't have them until Tuesday! I did manage to find a couple of piddling little specimens in the other grocery store for a rather dear price. Sadly today is one of the day's I'm on call - so no drink!
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I picked up a bottle of green Chartreuse, an Havana Club anejo reserva and a bottle of Fernat Branca.
Good stuff! It looks like the LCBO brought in yellow chartreuse but none has made it's way to stores on this end of the province. I may have to see if the local store will order it for me.
I see there are a few bottles in a couple of the Toronto stores.
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Are you thinking you want a unit that you can attach an enrober to eventually?
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I picked up a bottle of green Chartreuse, an Havana Club anejo reserva and a bottle of Fernat Branca.
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Not sure of the name on this one - it's Pimms with gin, angostura bitters and fizzy lemon. Enjoyed a first sip then set it down next to the child.
Heard it hit the ground. My mouse was under the mess - don't think it's ever going to work the same again. Kinda sticky this one.
Anyway hubby seemed to enjoy his!
Never had Pimm's #1 but my understanding is that it is a 50 proof gin based drink to begin with so if you add more gin that would be a lot of gin! I see from looking up a couple of recipes that gin is a common companion to Pimm's. Is it pretty typical to add more gin to drinks containing Pimm's? I suppose if it works then that's OK!
Does this drink have a preponderance of the fizzy lemon part of the equation?
This particular version did have a preponderance of fizzy lemon - I don't think it necessarily needs to. Was just the size of the glass I chose. More sticky stuff for the floor, the papers, the check books, the computer mouse, the TV remote...
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So we've got Leon's frozen custard from Milwaukee - not sure how far and wide their custard might be found.
Someone by the name of 'tim' is from the area and has discussed frozen custard in the past. And seems to be married to quite the baker.
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Going out on a limb here and guessing CaliPoutine. Cake looks familiar and she's living in the land of big burritos.
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Call it Sticky w/ Kid?
Good name!
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Not sure of the name on this one - it's Pimms with gin, angostura bitters and fizzy lemon. Enjoyed a first sip then set it down next to the child.
Heard it hit the ground. My mouse was under the mess - don't think it's ever going to work the same again. Kinda sticky this one.
Anyway hubby seemed to enjoy his!
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I figured that you might like an update on this: the frozen bags of zucchini weep more than a bit when thawed - so I've taken to draining off about half of the liquid before I use them. However, on the upside, the result is actually better in the death-by-chocolate cake with frozen zucch than it is with fresh.
Interesting - more 'meat', less stray liquid I guess.
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So the Cuisinart mini-prep is just too flimsy, is that the consensus? I've done some searching on the Little Pro Plus but with no luck.
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If you can find a Cuisinart Little Pro Plus on eBay or Craigslist (it's inexplicably discontinued), you'll be very happy. It's much more substantial than the mini-prep.
What Dave said! I burned through a Mini-prep in no time. But I've picked up several of the Little Pro's at thrift stores - they are as heavy duty as my DLC-7.
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Hello Everyone! As many before me have said - This is my very first post after much lurking.
I'm not a pro. I don't even consider myself a terribly skilled amateur. But I am ambitious. I have a stumper that I'm hoping people here can help me solve. I'm not sure this is exactly the topic to pose it in, (perhaps the flavors topic is more appropriate) but I've been so impressed with what people are working on I'm hoping someone will have an idea.
I'm trying to make a truffle based on the Scottish dessert Cranachan (KRA neh ken). It's a surprisingly tasty dessert of whipped cream flavored with honey and whisky, toasted oats and raspberries. My friend served it at her wedding. I'd love to make this for her as a surprise for her upcoming baby shower.
I've got pieces of it figured out, I think. Reduced raspberry puree, toasted oat praline, but I'm at a loss when it comes to the whipped cream, honey, whisky analogue. It's supposed to be light, fluffy, and not overly sweet. I think the sweetness level, and body make a white chocolate ganache (butter or cream) unsuitable. Fondant would be out for the same reason. I was thinking perhaps of italian meringue buttercream, or maybe even just italian meringue?
I've looked over a couple of the books I have (Shotts, Greweling) and nothing really popped out at me as the right direction.
Might anyone have any thoughts?
Thanks in advance
Viktoria
Welcome Viktoria,
I love the idea of that flavour combination - the oat praline will help keep the crunch if you either make them at the very last minute or roll them in it.
I'd still probably start with a white chocolate truffle - Greweling's Dark and Stormy in particular. Use a not very sweet white chocolate, replace some or all of the cream with the raspberry puree.
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Decided to try the Bitter Mai Tai that Anna tried yesterday since we have many of the same ingredients in the house. Mixed up a single one and split it with the hubby.
A rather strange flavour! Didn't hate it - but not quite sure if I love it.
I think I need to taste the Smith and Cross on it's own and see what the underlying flavour is.
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A little different than that one - the loop is a bit higher up the side of the mill. I'm not sure if the lower loop is a better thing or not.
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I have an older Rosle - has a wonderfully fine plate to get rid of seeds and is a heavy duty work horse. But not inexpensive!
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No picture tonight - but made the Brother's Perryman again. Beefeater, St Germain, Campari, flamed orange rind. Yum!
Sounds good, I would like to try this! What ratios are you using?
Ounce and half of gin, 1 ounce each of St germain and campari.
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Thanks for the bubble wrap tip PedroG. Just wondering if bubble wrap copes with > 85C sous vide temperatures?
Is the FMM container a standard size? I have a DIY sous vide setup on a 1/1 Gastronorm polycarbonate container and I'm considering buying an insulated box for it. There are some called Thermoboxes (think it's from a company called Thermo Future). They an't cheap (about $50) but promise a drop of only 2C per hour and handle temperatures up to 120C. Plus I can use them to actually transport food or keep stuff cold too.
May be an option for the FMM if it's close to the GN sizes.
SVM container is a Cambro - the size he provides would still set you back a few bucks.
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Has anyone tried using the STC-1000? I know it isn't PID but they say it is good enough for practical purposes. I was thinking of building one myself since it comes out to be so cheap.
My friend is really pushing me into the SousVideMagic kit with the heater. He is seemingly afraid of the DIY options and even resistent to rice cookers. Has anyone actually used the heater? What do you think about the container they give you? Seems like it not being insulated could be a problem.
Me on the other hand an fine with getting my hands dirty and it even makes it more interesting. We are building this thing initially for Thanksgiving, to cook turkey, so I was going to buy this roaster to use since it holds 22 quarts and throw a fountain pump in there to get the water moving around. I might go to a rice cooker after that just for regular day to day usage.
The real problem kind of is price where as at $300 for the kit I'm going to have to share this with someone else but for $100 that the STC-1000 combo with the roaster would probably cost me I would be able to own this myself outright. Probably even for $200.
So what do you guys think? Should I just go for the kit or do you think I should try to build this thing? Or even a combination like getting the SousVideMagic with the Roaster. I'm also open to other suggestions that i'm not considering. Like i've seen some people use large coffee pots. I've also seen some other kits out there where you solder things together for $70 to $80 but you end up with a real PID.
I have the SVM with the heater - I love it! It heats the water amazingly quickly. I've used it with the container that Frank provided to go with it and with a big pail while up north. I was a beta tester for Frank's original SVM that I attached to my slow cooker - love the one with the heater much more. Water is ready in a fraction of the time.
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Hi everyone. I've long considered buying a guitar cutter, but the cost has been way too much for me. My hobbyist scale doesn't justify $2500, a fact I curse under my breath every time I'm faced with cutting 10 slabs of ganache by hand.
Just recently, though, I ran across this new product at Kerekes: a "mini guitar" with a 24cmx24cm surface for $650: http://www.bakedeco.com/detail.asp?id=23508&catid=371. Anyone have experience with this, or other insights? I think it's made by Martellato, mentioned in a previous post. I only cut ganache, no caramels, so I wonder if I could dispense with an all-metal cutter as bomb-proof as the Dedy. Heck, I can't afford the Dedy anyways....
Thanks in advance!
Dedy makes a mini too - but not that inexpensive. When I was looking at that mini at Kerekes site I couldn't see anymore than one set of wires for it.
Home and Away
in Food Traditions & Culture
Posted
After going in the ER and cleaning up what was left - I have the whole day to myself today - a rare treat. So I've started drinking early!
My first Sazarac. Brought up a spritz bottle of Absinthe, my posh canadian rye (I know, I know) and some peychauds bitters. The glass has been sitting in the freezer since yesterday getting chilled for the occasion. So I have the drink in one hand, my cup of tea in the other and I'm enjoying the lovely day. Gotta keep hydrated you know.