gfron1

This will be my year of the bean! A few months ago I was told by a Southwest cowboy that when cooking dry beans, you put the salt in only at the very end to avoid toughness. Yesterday I was told by a woman from Mexico that you should put the salt in at the end because the salt slows the cooking process down. Food scientists can correct these teachings (please), but regardless of what is really going on, it was news to me since I cook beans maybe once a year. *** Now to the food science behind it. These two may be saying the same thing, but the latter explanation seems counter intuitive to this high-altitude bean boiler. It would make more sense that salt would speed the process, unless, the salt is toughening the skin of the bean, which in turn, would slow the process. Eeegad...a logic loop. Maybe they are saying the exact same thing. Anybody know the facts?

To sell out of my cafè this year, I made some 30 pumpkin pies using a recipe that included cognac. I've had a number of customers comment about a slight banana taste. There was nothing else in the recipe that I can think of other than the cognac to cause that taste. I didn't taste the banana myself, so my theory is that cognac tricks the mind into thinking banana. Anyone else experience this?

A quarter of a pumpkin and a slice of sugar cream...mmm...breakfast good.

Today I used some three day aged dough made with LeBlanc hazelnut oil instead of olive. It was very nice...nice enough that I slathered it with some extra ganache and chomped away!

Great info. Thank you so much for taking the time to post it.

Thanks. I think its funny that I rarely use my Wagner, but when it comes time for the Fiber Arts Guild event, I always start spraying. Not quite sure what that means.

Its funny because I have all sorts of orders for pumpkin and sugar cream, and I can't help myself but to slip in some homemade candied ginger or a shot of brandy or something. It's a good thing I live in a town where I know all of my customers and know what I can push on them and keep them happy. None of my orders would allow me to do a candied bacon pumpkin pie which I know would be outstanding! Their loss is my pie this weekend!

For this months TGRWT event over at Khymos.org - Chanterelle & Apricot Chanterelle & Roasted Chestnut Dacquoise with Apricot Chestnut Pudding and Apricot Cream Now, I need to stop screwing around with goofy stuff and bake some damn pumpkin pies...or wait, maybe I can infuse some bizarre ingredient into those pies!

Glad you said that about canning. That's my project of the day. I did the fairly traditional recipe above (Amish), but added a 1/4 cup of 6 balsamic. Sounds odd, but the sweetness of 6 year went really well with the apples.

The other possibility could be that your thermometer probe moved. For example, I try to take the temp with the tip of the thermometer in the center of the post, in the center of the liquid. When I go to stir, I often set the thermometer on the side of the pot which means the tip is now resting on the hot metal of my pot. Is this possibly what happened? If so, then either your first or second reading may have been off. This is also why I really want an infrared thermometer for Christmas.

For my second entry into the pomegranate contest over at foodieblogroll, I made Pomegranate Green Tea Brownies. Ultra fudgy brownies with fresh pomegranate seeds and juice, matcha green tea, and piñon, topped with a pomegranate white chocolate ganache - following the water-based ganache topic.

I tried Andie's friends recipe. They were much better than the previous recipe, but still not as flaky/delicate as the Matiz brand. I really think its like a croissant - layers. So, I want to do this recipe again, but brush with oil, fold and re-roll, repeat. That should give it the air pockets and thinness it needs. That said, Anna and Dockhl, this is one you can try and enjoy. I brushed mine with ginger syrup again which is a great finish. And just for fun, I did a double decker filled with pomegranate seeds and brushed with pomegranate syrup. Nice but I wouldn't do it again.

Ditto - my mushed-in-the-mail cake was amazing. So here's your kick in the ass!

I've got my pot on as I type. Thanks for all the suggestions.

Wow! Congrats!

On my walk home from the cafè tonight I had a couple of ideas. First, this could be an issue of what type of flour. I used an AP that has 10.5% protein. Its my daily sourdough flour. My other thought was that the lack of refine-ness could be fixed by rolling out thinner, then folding over - creating layers. The recipe that we all agree sucks has a similar % of oil as my Matiz does, so that's not necessarily the issue. I'd like to try this with my cake flour next.

I'm assuming many of the food bloggers have seen this site that has been coming on strong lately. It's a convening place for food bloggers and has over 2000 blogs so far. Seems like nice, well thought out folks. Worth a look for anyone into the blog side of things. HERE IT IS.

Okay - those sucked! I saved mine, however, by brushing them with extra ginger syrup I had laying around after baking, before broiling. These are nothing like the packaged ones which are much more refined and delicate and tasty. So back to my original question it looks like...anyone have a good recipe?

Huh. Definitely try the Matiz brand if you can find them. My guess is that they needed more olive oil - they shouldn't be dry at all.

For what its worth, the Matiz brand tortas show an ingredient list of: Wheat flour, Virgin olive oil (24%), sugar, sesame seeds, aniseed, essence of anise, salt and yeast for the SWEET version. The savory doesn't have the sugar, aniseed or essence.

For some reason everyone is giving me their excess! First it was the pomegranates, then ginger, then...well you get the idea. I now have a huge box of apples and I was thinking I would make apple butter. But, I've never made it before. Does anyone have a recipe that is a must-do? Once I make it, I'll sneak on over to THIS TOPIC from earlier this year on what to do with it all. Thanks.

That would be nice! In fact, the ones I have include an almond version with slivered almonds on top.

I like the idea of anise extract instead of spending money on a liquor that I won't use. And Marlene, I think course salt will be too much. Their strength is in how delicate they are in texture and flavor. The sugar works because its not so shocking to the mouth. I also think it would be fun to try different oils to see what impact that has (grassy, fruity, peppery, etc).

The base is very lightly sweet, but then they sell both a sweet and savory version which basically means sugar sprinkles or not.

They look exactly like what I buy, so I'll make some this week and post the results.