miladyinsanity

Hmm.... Does anybody else eat peanut root? Well, I call it peanut root. In Cantonese it's "fa sang gan." It's a peanut plant, with the nuts halfway ready to being harvested. It's supposed to help one grow taller if you start taking it at the start of puberty. Just boil it in chicken stock.

That's how I learnt too, though I guess you'd still call me a beginner. A very ambitious beginner though. I like to draw an analogy to chemistry for baking. In chemistry, there's something called an endpoint, which is when a reaction stops. In baking, it could just be cooking a choux pastry until it's dry enough. Or whipping egg whites/yolks or cream. Or beating butter, with or without sugar.

Power tools are a girl's best friend . ← Don't the Kitchenaid and the solid stainless steel rolling pin that I swear I can use to brain somebody with little effort count as power tools? To get back on topic, my brother (the one who is younger than me but the elder of the two who's in the throes of puberty) is a meat and rice sort of guy. Think the Asian version of meat and potatoes. The other one is a carbovore, like me. Pontormo, I do agree with you. My brothers won't try one bite of anything that looks or sounds odd to them--granted the carbovore doesn't eat meat, unless it's fish or crab. Don't ask, he's really strange.

I'm eating more of Andiesenji's cocoa cookies. It's very strange. My first tray was fine. But my second tray smells like popcorn. Both were from the same batch of dough. I know I last used the trays for macarons. And I did change the setting from convention to pastry, to find out what it'll do--nothing, as far as I can see or taste.

I like potatoes...but a steak is sooooo not what I consider a meal.

There's adzuki bean porridge, but that's sweet and you want savory.

I think it might have to do with how much moisture there is in the batter. If it is too wet, then when you bake it, the outside will get dry, but the inside will not be dry enough. The disparity causes the inside to fall, because it can't cling to a dry, smooth shell. I was surprised that it worked this time, because it was a rainy day when I made the macarons. I couldn't get the egg whites to stiffen as much as I would have liked.

I think this may also be related to the sugar content as well, since I get these with the higher sugar recipes but not the lower sugar recipes. I think what happens is that the outside of the cookie forms a sturdy shell that doesnt shrink when the cookies cools. So when the inside cools and shrinks, it just pulls away from the outer shell, leaving that void. With PH's, I think the shell is not so sturdy, so as the cookie cools, the shell collapses a little bit, and that's why you get a little wrinkling on the top. That's just conjecture on my part, however, and there may be some other explanation. ← Makes sense to me. Because I can tap the macaroon and there'll be a hollow sound, and the shell doesn't even crack. But the banging the cookie sheet on the table thing is supposed to deal with it, right? I know I didn't do that, because I figured that since I wasn't piping it, I would not get this problem. And now I realise why I didn't want to try the PH recipe in the first place. Our Patisserie tried that recipe and made macarons with terribly cracked tops.

Hmm.. I'll make them next weekend. I'm not supposed to have a 'pocket of air' inside each macaron, right? It wasn't there yesterday, not even after it cooled, but there was one today.

I did read that. I used nicolekaplan's recipe because my brothers were to be my tasters, and they like things on the sweet side. They loved them. I'm the one who thinks it's still way too sweet, enough so that I'm reasonably certain that the Herme one will still be the same. But I'll try that next weekend and find out.

I made macarons today. I didn't pipe them out, just used two spoons to drop the batter, because I didn't want the mess. Besides, I wasn't going to fill them anyway. I'll have pics tomorrow, but I'm quite pleased with the results for my second round, because they do have a bit of feet, they puffed up, and they have smooth tops. I did sit them out to dry (I think this is critical now) but I plan to up the baking temperature to 160 C the next time. I used nicolekaplan's proportions, but I didn't make an Italian Meringue. I do have a question though. Does anybody know how much I can reduce the sugar by? I'm willing to up the almond flour, but I'd really like to cut the sugar, because it's already tooooooo sweet without a filling.

Macarons. I made them, and this time they do resemble what I've had and seen before. (Pics tomorrow, when I have more energy, though I ought to have some given the amount of sugar in my bloodstream, and sunlight)

aka: Deep Fried Alaska? Why not? SB (probably holds the sillyness record already) ← Oops. I didn't think about that. And silly isn't always bad.

Angles are those empyreal beings with wings who fly around heaven! I used three different versions of this same post on three eGullet threads. This one, a thread about food on a stick, and one about the supposed flavor of imaginary or mythical creatures. SB (just being silly) ← Trying to earn an eGullet record of some sort? Has anybody tried deepfrying a meringue?

Oh those... I love those, but I like mine with peanuts in 'em. Wrapping the paste with the dough, which is steamed first, is a pain though. That's why I've never made it myself.

What are Angels?

Abra, is the bun you are talking about the Bao? You know, like charsiu bao etc? Or is it what Ling was talking about, the glutinous rice balls? The Zhi Ma Hu is a dessert that consists of sweetened black sesame paste--it's quite liquid. You can get it in sachet form (it's powdered and sweetened and ready to go), and just add less water than the instructions tell you to get a dryer paste with which to fill buns. Hmm... I can't get the recipe for some reason. And I've registered.

Nuked dough! OMG! I can almost taste it now! ← Hmm... What should I have for a midnight snack today....

The last time I was in Minneapolis/St. Paul, I bought a Daim cake from Ikea. For a commercially made cake, it was pretty good! I'd have bought some Daim, too, but they were relatively expensive. I'm still eating my pound cake. I'm a little worried because I'll have to make another one soon--this one is almost gone! ← Hehe.. I was at Ikea. It's a bit on the sweet side, but like you said, it's pretty good for a commercially made cake. I was good today. No dessert.

That might not matter. The way I see it, if you put in the port before the sugary cream/custard cools, then some of the alcohol might evaporate. But this also means that (assuming you belong to the group of people who believe in letting the custard chill overnight in the fridge) that it'll allow the flavors to mature together.

um, recipe, please? (if you have access to it!) u.e. ← No recipe. I bought it. I'm guessing here, but you might not need to caramelize the sugar. That's why brown sugar was specified. If that's not the case, I'd heat the milk and cream together, temper in the egg yolks, then stir in the caramelized sugar. Another possibility would be to cook the sugar together with either the milk or the cream until it turns brown, and mix it into the other dairy product which has the egg yolks tempered in. I'd definitely put the wine in last.

I had a chocolate macaron (no, it's not part of my failed experiments with macarons as Saturday's attempt didn't even get to whipped egg whites!) and a Daim cake.

That paste... If you have a Chinatown near you, Abra, ask about a dessert called "zhi ma hu." You can buy it in little sachets and add hot water, or cook them. I think.

I thought you said healthy, not hazelnut! Ice cream, lots of ice cream. My Going To Gym treat. ← "Healthy" and "Ling" do not fit together in the same sentence. ← I know! That was what made me reread the sentence. More ice cream, hazelnut this time. It's going to be the last time I buy ice cream from this shop. It's good, but I get the feeling that their percentages are wrong. The fat content is so high, it's got that icky feel to it.

To make coconut oil, you need fresh coconut milk. Leave it in the fridge overnight, then cook it slowly and the oil will 'seep' out. You'll know it when you see it, and just decant it. It's good for hair too--just rub some in, go do your stuff, and wash it out an hour or more later.