mkayahara

FWIW, when I had this problem, the solution seemed to be "add more rennet." Even then, my curd was pretty crumbly, but it eventually came together with kneading. I wasn't heating the curds in the microwave, though; I used hot water. Our processes - not to mention milk - might be different enough that this isn't much help to you, though...

Ottawa has lots of great dining options these days. If you can get a reservation at Atelier for the period when you'll be there, you must do so. I also really enjoy Murray Street (for brunch or dinner), Courtyard (same), Wellington Gastropub and Whalesbone. Back Lane Cafe was solid on my one visit there, and very hospitable (they accommodated us on a packed evening even though there was a mix-up with our reservation). Beckta and Eighteen have good reputations, though I've not been to either. It's worth heading out to Hintonburg to visit Hintonburger. As far as I can tell, there's no point seeking out Chinese food in Ottawa.

Based on Edward J's comments upthread, I wonder if it's a Swiss thing, because the other place I've seen it called for is in the Eleven Madison Park cookbook, and Daniel Humm is Swiss. This describes céleri rémoulade, doesn't it? Céleri rave is just the French term for celeriac.

Not technically "today", but I just got back from a little trip to NYC, where I picked up a bottle of Rothman & Winter Apricot liqueur, Blume Marillen apricot eau-de-vie, and Smith & Cross rum. Looking forward to some playtime with my shaker in the near future!

I agree that a per-volume layout would be fine. I also agree that the recipe errata are the most important. That said - and here's where I get annoying - I think that errata in the text are important where they affect our understanding of the concepts. Simple typographical errors, where the real meaning is easily grasped, matter less. Of course, it then becomes a challenge deciding which are which.

Why do you not want to go with a superbag? How are the finely ground spices getting into the sauce in the first place? Would it be possible to infuse them whole instead of adding them in ground form?

The difference between mold and mother is pretty easy to see, I think. For one thing, the mother doesn't float on top of the liquid; it sits just underneath the surface. For another, mold is green or grey-green; the mother is not. I can post pictures of moldy vinegar if you like, but I don't recommend it.

I called my local wine-making shops and they laughed at me: "Why would we stock a product that could spoil the rest of our inventory?" The impression I get, though, is that wine-making and home-brewing supply stores in Canada and the US are very different from each other, so YMMV.

Same thing happened to me. For my second go-round, I used the instructions in Ideas in Food, which involves starting with a live cider vinegar as a culture. Not great if you're a purist, since the results are a hybrid wine-cider vinegar, but once it's going, you can keep topping it up with pure wine, so eventually the cider is diluted right out. I accidentally killed mine, so I really need to start another batch sometime...

No, neither of those ingredients will give the result the OP is looking for. If I had to do something like this, I'd probably start by juicing the cauliflower and mixing the juice with tapioca starch, then steaming or boiling it. But I'm hardly the most creative cook around these parts, so I hope someone else chimes in with a more elegant solution.

Plus, then you've got charcoal to play with!

Why not refill the water bottle from the tap at home or another trusted source? What's the difference if the container is ultimately placed in the recycle bin? The difference is the number of times you use it before placing it there, which reduces the number of bottles that have to be recycled.

Why not refill the water bottle from the tap at home or another trusted source?

Does that include Thailand, though? I've been wanting to break into Thai cuisine a bit, and bought Thompson to that end, but found him too intimidating, so Thai Food has basically sat on my shelf unused for almost a year. Something to bridge my current skill level with Thai cooking and Thompson's book would be useful to me.

Uh... I'm not a scientist, but if the levels of the chemicals they were testing for in the participants' urine dropped after only three days, doesn't that suggest that our bodies are doing a pretty good job of excreting the chemicals in question?

Thanks for your help, tikidoc. I just did another roast today; the first crack was very distinctive, and I think I may have even taken it a little way into the second crack. I'm trying to figure out what the variable is here, since I've been using the same batch of beans from Green Beanery. My current suspicion is that it has to do with wind: both times I've heard a good solid first crack, the air has been still, while last week's roast took place in slightly windier conditions. In any case, we'll see how this one turns out, flavour-wise. I'm down to my last half-pound of green beans, so I'll have to buy more soon, I guess! Then start figuring out the parameters for an espresso blend...

Yes it did... and I'm seriously considering not replacing my almost empty bottle because of that huge price jump. "Seriously considering"? There's no way I'm ever buying a bottle of Plymouth at that price. That's indefensible.

I buy these! I find them more convenient than measuring out the powder, and I don't have to worry about accidentally overpouring. They're probably more expensive, but I figure they don't go bad, so I tend to stock up when they're on sale.

While we're at it, we should also eliminate "sautéed" from the lexicon, since "sauté" is already a past participle.

"Hi, Domino's? Yes, I'd like to order two pizze..."

Now this is interesting: Does "journalism" inhere in the writer, or the individual piece of writing?

Fundamentally or not, I think many people can tell the difference. Again I wonder about overfine distinctions in discussions such as ("but not limited to!") this one and the one about "real" chefs -- a preoccupation with trees that obscures the forest. People have always eagerly labeled themselves things like "artist" or "writer" from precisely the one viewpoint least capable of objectivity and detachment about it. Anyone can call themselves something, but if the label is meaningful, it's by consensus of peers, customers, etc., not the self-styler. Strunk or White once said a statement doesn't become funny just by being labeled so; I think that's the same principle. On the other hand, I'm not comfortable with legal decisions being made on the basis of "I know it when I see it". I've seen that approach abused far too many times.

This is a good point, tikidoc: I haven't tried other methods, so I'm not completely sure what I'm listening for. I'm actually pretty sure that my first couple of tries didn't even hit first crack, because there was no audible cues at all. On the other hand, it can be hard to hear much of anything over the fan on the heat gun and the beans being stirred. I'll keep at it and see what I can get. I've only got a pound left of my current green beans, so maybe I'll try something different next time. There's nothing quite as fun as changing multiple variables at once!

Fundamentally, it's no easier defining "real" and "fake" journalists than it is defining "real" and "fake" chefs!

Have any of you been able to get any really dark roasts using this method? In the four times I've tried it now, I feel like I'm barely getting past first crack. I realize I'll need to do it a few more times before I feel like I've got good control over the process, but so far it seems like it gets to a certain point and then just stops, regardless of how long I point the heat gun at it. Any thoughts?