mkayahara

Now that I've finally acquired a large mortar and pestle, I returned to the library and checked out this book again, to make the red curry paste. Clearly I'm still getting the hang of pounding in a mortar and pestle, because the resulting paste was more fibrous than smooth. In particular, the pieces of skin from the chillis didn't really break down. Maybe I'm just not pounding long enough? In any case, I thought the resulting red curry chicken was pretty tasty, though it had way more coconut milk than was necessary. My husband thought it a little bland, since his usual red curry chicken recipe calls for the same amount of curry paste in half the amount of coconut milk.

You know, Baron d'Apcher, I don't disagree with you, except in one regard: I would argue that whipped cream is possibly the worst application for a whipped cream siphon, mostly because it provides you with no control over the final texture. I cringe at the thought of an Irish Coffee being topped with N20-dispensed shaving foam, rather than the flowing, silken cream that should float gently over the mingling coffee and whiskey like a cloud over honeymooning lovers. Mais passons. My knowledge of the finer points of charcuterie is pretty weak, so I'm unclear on the distinction between a liver parfait and a mousse. Would you be willing to explain why whipping or the inclusion of cream are to be deprecated in a parfait? Thanks!

It depends on the type of sherry: finos and manzanillas, to my mind, degrade at about the same rate as dry vermouth or Lillet, while sweet sherries and amontillados last longer. I mean really, what's an amontillado going to do? Oxidize?

Looks like cretons!

I'm not tremendously familiar with the chemistry of reduction in wine, but if it's truly reduction, can it just be solved through exposure to oxygen... i.e., decanting?

And, they also make faux foie gras... Anybody ever notice that some of the most vocal supporters of the shark fin ban were also the most vocal opponents for banning foie gras. I hate the PETA extremists but you've got to credit them for consistency. Foolish consistency blah blah hobgoblin blah blah. I don't think it's inconsistent to believe that finning sharks and throwing them back to die is inherently cruel while force feeding ducks and geese is not, or that finning sharks and disposing of the rest of the carcass, even if you killed them first, is wasteful. Not to mention the relative sustainability situations of sharks versus, you know, ducks. Edit: Misquote.

For those of you who didn't get the chance to see it in theatres, it's worth noting that it was released to DVD and Blu-Ray yesterday. I found it rather inspiring, so I'm definitely going to pick up a copy! (Yes, I still live in a pre-Netflix universe.)

I was in Toronto on the weekend, so I stopped into a restaurant supply store in Chinatown (Tap Phong, for those of you who know it) and picked up this little beauty. It's smooth stone, made in Thailand, was labeled 8" (though the inside of the bowl measures about 6.5" across), weighs more than 18.5 pounds, and has a capacity of about 5 cups. It cost me CAD$40 which, reading back over this thread, was maybe a bit higher than necessary, unless prices have moved considerably in the past couple of years. I'm assuming I can use it for most of my mortar-and-pestle needs, though I bought it primarily for making Thai curry pastes at the moment. Do I need to do anything to it before using it other than just wash it out? Does it need to be "seasoned"?

Oh, I don't doubt that at all! I'm just wondering whether it's been empirically shown that people like 2g/oz better than, say, 1.7g/oz or 2.2g/oz? Sure, this is certainly the case. For what it's worth, I'm roasting my own coffee once or twice a week (from Sweet Maria's, lately), grinding immediately before brewing in a Baratza Maestro Plus, using just-off-the-boil water (I've measured it at about 205F, though sometimes I stop it as low as 195F, before it reaches the boil), and brewing for 4 minutes in a French press. Wait, what? What I'm saying is that I currently use about 1 gram per oz of finished coffee, so the price difference of going from there to 2 grams per ounce is approximately double. My standard morning routine consists of making a 1.5-litre French press which, at $17/lb, would cost about $1.87 a day the way I make it now, but $3.74 a day if I doubled the amount of ground coffee going into it. To me, that's a pretty substantial difference, though maybe I would end up just cutting back on my consumption. And I'm pretty comfortable enjoying the ratio that I use. I was just curious as to why it's so far off what appears to be a "standard" ratio. Yeah, I was talking about French press. Sadly, my espresso machine is sub-par (it's a Saeco Aroma, sold in the US as a Classico, I think), so I'm not really working with standard dosages for it. I just play with the ratios that work for the equipment I've got.

Where does this number come from? This isn't the first place I've heard it, but it's about twice the strength I've been making my coffee at. When I tried a cup the other day at this ratio (20 grams of ground coffee for a 10-ounce cup), I found it to be unpleasantly intense. (Not bitter, just very strong.) Not to mention how expensive it is! Even the Specialty Coffee Association of America recommends only 1.6 grams per ounce in the cupping guidelines. So what gives?

Not quite the same thing, but maybe you could use this foie gras mousse as a jumping-off point?

All of that pre-made ingredients at Williams Sonoma is so expensive. But ya know what, people buy it. Today, I bought some Jam there, I paid 3.74( on clearance). regular price was 14.95. The only igredients are blueberries( not even the wild ones), cane sugar and lemon juice. Its good jam, but no way worth 15 bucks. I shake my head when I see Sloppy Joe starter or Chili Starter for 15.00 a jar. Their bundt cake mixes are 19.95( and you still need to add 3 sticks of butter and eggs). Ridiculous. It is ridiculous. Fortunately, you often can get items on sale. On a whim, I bought some mulling spices there a few years ago (on sale), and even though it was nothing but a bunch of cinnamon, allspice, dried orange peel and cloves, they were very tasty mulling spices. Plus they came in a nice little tin that I've been able to reuse!

The mint should be singed via flaming chartreuse. Warm the chartreuse and set it aflame, then drizzle it over/down the mint sprig. What, you don't flame it out an atomizer like Boudreau does with Angostura?

Besides which, not everyone takes price as their only - or even primary - decision-making factor.

Mashed potato dispensers: For when instant mashed potatoes aren't instant enough. http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/technology-blog/7-eleven-ridiculous-mashed-potato-dispenser-could-u-171738860.html

My Sweet Maria's order arrived last week, so I roasted my first half-pound on the weekend, and let it rest until this morning. I started with the Sumatra Lintong Dolok Sanggul. A roaster friend who has some experience with Sweet Maria's coffees recommended I be careful with the Sumatra, recommending I take it just past first crack, so that's what I did. I'm terrible at doing formal tasting notes, but I will say that I'm very much enjoying the cup: it's got an earthy fruitiness to it, and I can see why "tree bark" appears in the tasting notes on the bag. It's also got much nicer acidity than any of the other coffees I've been roasting. This isn't necessarily the type of coffee I would want to drink every day, but it's definitely good. I also have to say that it kills me that, apart from exchange rate (which, of course, fluctuates), it's actually cheaper for me to order from Sweet Maria's than to buy locally in Toronto... even when the shipping is included.

Really? I've never found it that difficult to blanch almonds...

I would assume that they're just using it as a thickener, not a gelling agent. Can you point to an example where it calls for only xanthan but is intended to gel? I don't think this is correct: xanthan is both a thickener and a stabilizer. What it doesn't do on its own is gel. That is to say, no matter how much xanthan you add, you won't turn the liquid into a solid (even a wobbly solid like Jell-O), you'll just get a thicker and thicker (and eventually mucous-y) liquid. My understanding is that xanthan can form gels when combined with locust bean gum or konjac gum, but I've never actually tried it out for myself.

All your questions - and more! - should be answered in the docs I linked to, but for posterity's sake... Xanthan gum doesn't gel on its own; you need to use it in combination with other hydrocolloids to make a gel. It will thicken both hot and cold liquids. Yes. From a thickening standpoint, yes. The xanthan gum shouldn't affect it from a microbial standpoint, so if you're comfortable using BBQ sauce that's been sitting around for weeks, then the xanthan gum shouldn't change that. It will thicken any aqueous liquid as well as alcohol up to 50% or 60%. I'm pretty sure you couldn't included enough fat to be a problem; if you're working with an emulsion, xanthan will even help stabilize it. Xanthan gum is a popular ingredient in many bottled salad dressings, for instance.

It's pretty straightforward to use as a thickener: you add it in very, very small amounts until you reach the thickness you want! Are you trying to use it for a different application? Edit: Take a look at Dave Arnold's Hydrocolloids Primer and the Khymos recipe collection as well.

Bones are not for flavour, especially if they're scraped clean. What was the texture of the resulting stock? Did it gel?

Isn't a Hemingway Daiquiri properly served frappé style?

Thanks for the pic of the "hokkaidos". As far as I knew, Hokkaido was an island in Japan! To me, those look just like winter squash.

So I finally did get around to making one last dish from this book, but sadly it had to go back to the library today, so I guess I won't be doing anything else from it for at least a little while. The last dish I made was the jungle curry: I managed to source all the ingredients for the paste - including krachai - but had to use frozen galangal, because the store was out of stock of fresh when I went to buy it. Here are all the ingredients except the shrimp paste: I've only made curry paste once before, so I'm kind of fumbling here. I don't have a large enough mortar, so I tried using a mini food processor, since it's such a small amount. Naturally, that just sprayed the ingredients all over the inside of the processor bowl, so I ended up pounding it in my tiny little mortar in batches. This is what I ended up with: It's a lovely shade of grey from the dark grey, insanely pungent shrimp paste I was using. (And yes, I toasted the shrimp paste, though not, I think, long enough.) My impression is that this isn't pounded quite fine enough, since you can still see individual pieces of lime leaf and chilli, but it wasn't noticeable in the dish itself. The curry I ended up with: It was quite tasty, leaning toward salty and umami, with little in the way of hot, sour or sweet. The lack of heat actually kind of bothered me, because the headnote makes it sound like a jungle curry is supposed to be quite spicy, and Thompson agrees. I suppose my chillis might just be old, but I would definitely add more if making it again. (The benefit to making your own curry pastes, I suppose.) I think I've got a reliable source for coriander roots for at least the rest of the summer, so I'll no doubt try making other curry pastes at some point... I'm in Toronto in a couple of weeks, and will be shopping for a mortar and pestle then. In the meantime, I have to decide if I'm ready to move up to any of the recipes in Thompson, or whether I have to plan to check Hot Sour Salty Sweet out of the library again.

It seems I can't go more than a few weeks without roast chicken, but it's been too hot to turn the oven to that temperature lately, so I spatchcocked it and roasted it on the grill. The other two sides in my three-pile smile were zucchini cooked with tomatoes, garlic and Calabrian chillis, and new potatoes steamed and tossed with butter, chives and fleur de sel. A very nice comfort meal.