Lisa Shock

Could be almond flavored pastry cream. Have you tried asking them what it's made of?

Doesn't salt decrease the life of fryer oil?

You might also wish to consider a gift of a scale.

Could the filling be frangipane, like the filling in pithivier? The dough could be: Blitz Puff Puff Danish Croissant

Are any firm enough to cut into squares? Are the right-hand ones darker, or is it just the photo? I think the ganache method preserves some chocolate flavor, since chocolate does burn at 120°. In regular fudge, it has a little protection from other ingredients. The two lower pieces appear to have a cracked crust, is there a crust or is it a result of how they were formed/cut?

One of the newer, early 20th century, creamy/smooth kinds of fudge is made with sweetened condensed milk. The basic formula is: 14oz (1 can) sweetened condensed milk 16-18 oz dark chocolate or chocolate chips 1tsp vanilla You simply heat over low heat and mix. To mimic the canned milk product one could make a heavy sugar syrup that's fairly heavy on corn syrup/glucose to prevent crystallization. Some soymilk powder could be added to the syrup. Margarine could be added to the mix during the melt.

What about compound butter? In particular, using butter you made yourself?

You can try it with certain margarines or shortening, but the mouthfeel won't be there. Food industry people have been trying to do the same thing for a long time to extend shelf life and cut costs. I think there's a reason that you don't see commercial dairy-free fudge. It's not like, say, shortbread cookies, where you can get a workable, though inferior tasting, product by using shortening. I'm a vegetarian (I do eat dairy and eggs) and have come to accept that there are certain foods made possible only via animal products (gelatin-based mousses come to mind) that are simply not going to be part of my diet.

Well, most ganache contains cream or butter and a lot less sugar, usually just what is contained in the original chocolate. So, since there's less of it, the sugar isn't as noticable in terms of mouthfeel, and, it doesn't start out as a super-saturated solution that wants to form large crystals.

Replacing the recipe's butter with cocoa butter will just give you a bittersweet chocolate bar like you started with. Chocolate is just cocoa solids mixed with cocoa butter according to the buyer's specifications. Adding more cocoa butter to bittersweet chocolate will just give you more chocolate with a different 'split'. Adding sugar will lower the % of chocolate. If you keep adding more sugar, at some point the chocolate bar (in or out of temper) will simply become chocolate hard candy or a crumbly pile of sugar crystals cocoa butter and cocoa solids -depending on how it's handled. Fudge is a combination of untempered chocolate with a super-saturated sugar solution. The sugar wants to make large crystals which would give a very grainy, chunky texture. The fats and protein surround the sugar crystals and help keep them small, giving a smooth texture. The butter also becomes solid at cool room temperature, helping the confection stay together and giving it flexibility. Related topics include tabling poured fondant, and cooking with chocolate. Essentially, without the fat & milk, what you will get is chocolate flavor poured fondant. -Which is a perfectly acceptable product. When it has dried and firmed up it has a crumbly texture.

They prevent the fudge from being chocolate hard candy.

You mentioned that you held the molds...hot hands by any chance?

Hope you get better soon!

Couldn't you just serve it with a dill flavored beurre blanc or hollandaise instead of the canned soup? The canned soup + dill sounds like a bad combination to me...

I just saw Sandra Lee making garlic oil without acidulation or heat, and recommending keeping it for up to two months in the fridge on her Money Saving Meals show. Maybe she should have paid better attention in class at the Cordon Bleu -and of course some one at the Food Network should be checking these recipes for safety.

While in Japan I was surprised to discover that what they mean by 'coffee cake' is cake flavored with actual coffee. I also recently had a woman from India ask me for a good coffee cake recipe because she misses 'cake with a good strong coffee flavor.' I personally don't like coffee, so I am not interested in making such a cake. I was just wondering about how common this use of the term is outside of the US. -And, if it refers to a particular type of product or is as loosely applied as it is here. The cake I tried in Japan was the cake style, with coffee flavoring the streusel. I enjoy both styles, but have not perfected a recipe for either. When I lived in Santa Fe (high altitude) I would use the one egg high altitude cake recipe from the 1980's Joy of Cooking and add an improvised struesel topping of butter, sugar, flour and nuts with a dash of nutmeg & cinnamon. At sea level the recipe is really different, even after adjusting and changing the volume measurements to weight measures. So, I haven't been happy about this for 14 years and am looking forward to seeing what others post in this thread. Happy Baking all!

Season 3 premieres tomorrow night, so I am working on stocking the bar and planning canapes!

Thanks for the tip, and the kind words! I will try adding malic and citric acid next time. I'd like to point out that it's really hard to photograph something where the outside edges have one pattern, but the inside chunks have another.

I was kind of surprised at how none of the masters recognized these former contestants from the show. Even if I didn't watch TV, if I were asked to be on a show I would check out old episodes to decide whether or not I wanted to appear or not.

I made the Aspic de Pommes last night, unmolded it today. The recipe is essentially applles boiled in sugar with a touch of lemon juice and a shot of rum added at the end, garnished with candied fruit. Yes, the recipe actually calls for red and green candied cherries. Before making this dish, I took a look around online and discovered that it's like many aspics: simply not made much any more. I read Julie Powell's blog entry on the recipe; her attempt did not solidify. I also happened to watch an episode of The French Chef from the early 1970's where Julia made a tart tatin and it had two very interesting portions: her tart came out soupy, and the only apple variety she mentioned that I recognized was Northern Spy. So, I was prepared for potential disaster, and very aware that modern supermarket apples are nothing like the apples of 1961. I followed the recipe to the letter in terms of ingredients. I chose to go with Granny Smith apples because of their high pectin content. I peeled them with a ceramic peeler, then cut & cored them, reversing Julia's direction on prep. I noted that she specified a 12" enameled skillet (the popular non-stick option at the time: 1961 was the year the very first teflon pans were sold in the US, they weren't in stores when the book was being written) and recommended continuous stirring during the 20 minute cooking time. I got my apples cooking and noticed that they didn't need much stirring and burning was out of the question -which was a bit disconcerting. I had them on a low boil with a few bubbles coming up every few seconds. They formed a mass which floated on an inch+ of boiling liquid. I flipped the slices around a bit so they would cook evenly, but realized that these apples weren't really translucent as specified at the 20 minute mark. I also realized that the water content was probably too high, since there was no need to worry about burning or sticking with an inch of water. So, I turned up the heat to a rolling boil and cooked them for another 13 minutes. Note to novice cooks: texture and result is more important than precise timing in many cases. Fruit can have variable water content, and other factors like altitude affect boiling watery things, so I looked for the described result instead of the precise time. (My suspicion is that Julie Powell cooked for the recommended time, without checking to see if the mixture was scorchable.) I suspect that modern apples, with the wax that gets applied, are more watery than older apples. -Or the crop my apples came from was watery. As they cooked down, the apples became more translucent and the sauce thickened. Since I used Granny Smiths, the slices still held together which I do not think was intended because Julia's instruction was to look for the apple/sugar mixture to trun to a 'translucent mass'. If I were to make this again, I would probably use an apple like Braeburn, Pink Lady or Golden Delicious -just to have the slices break down a bit more. I added the candied fruit as directed, about 2 minutes before finishing the cooking. I used green cherries throughout to try and boost the Granny Smith theme. I cooked the mixture until it was thick enough that when I dragged my silicone spoon across the bottom a dry area remained for a few seconds. The sauce was syrupy and was reduced to about 4 tablespoons in volume. I removed it from the heat, stirred in the rum, and allowed it to rest for about 5 minutes. I sprayed my 4-cup aspic mold and decorated the bottom with candied fruit as directed. I then scooped and patted the apple mixture into the pan. It was pretty thick, like a good apple pie filling. Here's the mold before: I chilled it overnight, then warmed the bottom and tried to unmold it. It did not work, and after several tries, I used a small silicone spat around the edges to loosen it. In doing so, I messed up some of the pattern from the mold around the base. (see photo) Here's the final result: Results: 1) It held together well, and the jellied portions were perfect. The jelly was smooth, unctuous, clear, and not at all chewy. 2) The apples did not break down as much as they should have, making slicing messy. I therefore recommend against Granny Smiths, unless one makes individual portions. I would also cut the apples into small chunks. 3) IMO, the candied fruit is unnecessary. 4) This dish is super-sweet like hard candy, the tartness of the apples is almost completely gone. It does have a good solid apple flavor, but it's way too sweet to eat alone. 7) The directions call for serving with Creme Anglais, and I can see how a rich cream would balance the flavor nicely. 6) No one can detect any rum flavor. 7) I did not use the recommended bucket-shaped charlotte mold, and I wish that I had. The chunkiness of the final product isn't complemented by a textured mold. If I were to re-work this for modern serving, I would: * Eliminate the Rum, you cannot taste it. * Add a bit of fresh lemon zest along with the lemon juice. * Eliminate the candied fruit. It didn't add anything. * Cut the apple slices into smaller 1cm chunks for easier serving & degustation. * Serve it with something crunchy/nutty and something creamy. * Mold it in individual cups. * Mix apple types to get a clearer, less chunky result. Maybe ½ Granny Smith and ½ Golden Delicious. I can see this as a vehicle for additional flavors: spices, green chiles, herbs, etc. I can also easily see it as part of a plated dessert. Summary: I had fun making this dish and suspect that I may be the first person to have made it in about 30 years. The recipe worked. The directions were fairly easy to follow once I decided to ignore timing and look for the desired texture and consistency. I wouldn't make this as part of my everyday routine, but, I would make it again (with above modifications) as a holiday or party dish.

I haven't checked in a while, but I seem to recall that they changed the rules back to once again allow recipes with flour as the qualifying ingredient. Her other book, Perfection Salad, is also good. Similar theme in earlier time period. ← I have a copy of Perfection Salad, and also enjoyed it. You are correct about theBake-Off -a cup of flour is one choice of two required items to enter. The last time I looked into entering there were close to 50 qualifying ingredients that were processed food products, including a line of Mexican-style canned goods, but no plain flour. It's heartening to see that they have returned to some basic baking ingredients like eggs, butter, chocolate, cocoa and nuts.

I have been thinking about this article for several days now, and realized that the Pillsbury Bake-Off has evolved along similar lines. Back when I was a kid, you could enter a recipe as long as it contained a cup of AP flour and winners had developed exciting recipes like cheese bread and chiffon pie. Now, it's all about combining various frozen, boxed, canned and refrigerator-case food products in as little time as possible. -And the winning entries aren't anything that I'd want to serve. For anyone interested in the topic, I highly recommend Something From the Oven by Laura Shapiro.

It should last about 5 days in the fridge. Some mousses freeze well, others don't. You may wish to run a small test immediately with a couple tablespoons, so it will freeze quickly and you won't waste much if it doesn't work out. Good luck!

You may want to look into getting the wide mouth jar attachment for the vacuum sealer. It's Foodsaver brand, but apparently the hose size fits several other brands as well. It's only $10 plus shipping and something which I have found to be very useful. I use my jar sealer to vacuum seal canning jars, which are very inexpensive and food safe. I have all of my dry beans, grains, seaweed, dry mushrooms, and some pasta sealed in the 1 and 2-quart size jars to prevent pantry moths. (we had a huge infestation 5 years ago, no activity since we started using the sealed jars) I routinely seal & refrigerate homemade gari every year. If I make extra mayo I seal then refrigerate. I also find that leftovers last longer if sealed before refrigerating. I have given up on plastic storage containers almost completely -the canning jars run about $7 for a case. My mom used to freeze peaches in glass jars, unsealed. They were far superior to canned peaches. So, the jars may be useful in your freezer as well, even without vacuum sealing.

I'm rooting for Keller all the way now. He clearly has a broader range of experience and education, and he is producing more complex dishes with greater variety.