dougal
-
Posts
1,279 -
Joined
-
Last visited
Content Type
Profiles
Forums
Store
Help Articles
Posts posted by dougal
-
-
One that's been sitting on my shelf ... is Paris Boulangerie Patisserie by Linda Dannenberg. It's a collection of recipes and tales from thirteen well-known bakeries in Paris ... I'm a fan of another cookbook she published, a similar collection of brasserie/bistro recipes and stories, with recipes I've found to be very reliable. ...
I gather that Ms Dannenberg writes for a (primarily) US readership.
Could I therefore ask whether she specifies quantities by weight (as the originals undoubtedly would), or whether these books have been 'translated' into cups?
I've just picked up a copy of Dannenberg's 'Paris Bistro Cooking' (2006 Gramercy).
Nice book. Very old-school look -- like its subjects.
Its metric-free, using a rather strange set of measurement units.
Most solids are either weighed (2 oz chopped hazelnuts - excellent) or by the unit (like "2 small carrots").
However Butter is by the tablespoon.
And flour, rice, raisins and raspberries are by the cup.
Where she says to use a "quart" of milk, I know she means 17% less than a UK quart ...
Yes, she certainly does write for a US readership!
I'm still looking forward to seeing the Patisserie book, but being currently offered at $33 to $60 used (and $52 to $68 from the few Amazon UK merchants with new copies), it'll be waiting until I happen upon a bargain copy!
-
The NY Times just wrote an article about Nathan Myrvold's upcoming cook book. ...
Oh ... (Or "Uh-Oh")
The book, still untitled, intends to be the authoritative reference for chefs wishing to employ so-called molecular gastronomy — adapting food industry technologies to restaurant cooking....
... it is stated that the focus has shifted from sous-vide.
Of even more import to most readers of this thread is that, rather than concerning the application of restaurant techniques in the home, the stated theme is now the application of industrial (and seemingly laboratory) techniques in the restaurant.
I should make it clear that, personally, I'm not in the market for any $300 book.
And I'm definitely not in the market for a book about "adapting food industry technologies to restaurant cooking" - however cheap it might be.
Put the two things together and its really not for me.
BUT, I certainly would be interested in an authoritative, recipe-tested, book on home (or home-relevant) sous-vide cooking.
I wouldn't have a problem with a £30 sticker and an actual £19.95 on Amazon (say $50 down to $35).
There might be a market for the £100/150 fine art printed versions of the Fat Duck book and Ducasse's Grand Livre de Cuisine.
However, that market isn't principally interested in USING those books!
Its more likely that those art books are going to be sold to restaurant customers as a souvenir, and displayed on a coffee table as a conversational cue to discussion of up-market eating.
I really don't think that those particular buyers are turned on by graphs or want to know about temperature thresholds for different bacteria.
Its a status symbol market! It just wants glossy glamour, not facts.
The main market for Blumenthal's and Ducasse's material has been when it has been republished (same page layouts, same content exactly, but a smaller page size and thinner presumably cheaper paper) and offered at a fraction of the price of the first edition.
Ducasse
£159 down to £98.81 for the original http://www.amazon.co.uk/Grand-Livre-Cuisine-Duccasses-Encyclopedia/dp/2848440007/
and the reprint is £35 down to £26 http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/2848440546/
Blumenthal
£125 down to £77.94 http://www.amazon.co.uk/Big-Fat-Duck-Cookbook/dp/0747583692/ for the original
but £35 to just £15.75 today http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/0747597375/ for the realistically priced edition.
Thus the Fat Duck book is currently selling at $25 (inc UK delivery) rather than $200.
I was struck by this Amazon UK review of the luxury first edition product
http://www.amazon.co.uk/review/R3S0PS1E4ZUKLH/ref=cm_cr_rdp_permThis book should not be called a cookbook, though I love it's title.It is a piece of art, a joke, a collector's item and a coffee table book at the same time.
Honestly, I was mouthwatering when I saw this book at a friend's place. The silver embossed thick pages, the astonishing photos, and the incredible pieces of culinary art by Heston Blumental.
But I am happy that I got it for my birthday and didn't pay for it myself.
When you are looking for a cookbook, buy something else. But when you are looking for a special foody treat: you will treat yourself to something unique with this book.
And I admire the honesty of the one that said
Well, no it ain't cheap - and neither is popping in for a meal at the Fat Duck...but how could it be? The ultimate in luxury will always come at a price ...I consider myself very lucky to have been able to eat at The Fat Duck several times and this book recalls these experiences with intense clarity. ...
And there's a variation on that "I've been there" theme
This was a gift for my husband on our anniversary. I didn't realise the book was SO big and to be honest, had no idea of the content but having eaten in the restaurant a couple of years ago, thought it would go down a storm. ...These buyers are NOT chefs or restauranteurs.
I really don't think that that 'practitioners' are very interested in $300 books.
But fashion-concious status seekers certainly are!
-
... I need a back-up plan. What's the most minimal mincemeat I can make from scratch?
You'll get the basic idea from http://www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/1157/boozy-mincemeat
but don't get too hung up on exact proportions.
From the ingredients listing on the jar of Waitrose (nice UK supermarket) own-brand in the cupboard, it is (by weight) 50+% sugar, 25% apple, 25% raisins/sultanas/currents and just 3% (veggie) suet. IMHO, it could do with more of the vine fruits. I reckon they've stewed a lot of the apple with dark sugar (and spices) to make the required dark and sticky 'sauce'.
They've got some strange stuff in among the tiny quantities. Of those I didn't mention, orange oil, ginger and even the least of the ingredients, star anise, are fairly understandable, however even tiny quantities of acetic acid (vinegar!), coriander and dill are rather surprising to me.
But, as sold, it contains no alcohol. Unsurprising for cost engineering!
Absent the candied peel (6% in Waitrose's), you could perhaps very finely grate a bit of citrus zest (how about mandarin orange?), and add some more sugar or syrup! (You've just got to get the sugar to dissolve somehow - no gritty crystals!) Thinking on that, a drop of honey or invert sugar/syrup surely wouldn't do any harm.
Whatever bits (like the raw apple in that BBC recipe) you might care to add, they need to be cut to a size smaller than the currants/raisins/sultanas.
The impression should be of those vine fruits in the dark boozy syrupy sauce glue. Really, everything else is just a background/carrier for the fruit. I think the suet must be the last vestige of the actual minced meat (but a little very finely diced hard apple should counterfeit the appearance). BTW, I learned from the Waitrose label that the Veggie Suet is made of palm oil sunflower oil and rice flour!
As a quickie and for added opulence, I'd be pre-soaking/plumping the fruits in the booze before mixing them with anything else.
-
Little as possible, really.
The extreme is to poach it without having the poaching liquid contact the salmon.
Do that either of two ways -
-- steam it
or
-- vacpack it and poach it sous vide style in the bag. Then the quantity (and flavour) of the liquid in the pan doesn't matter at all -- but I'd use a big pan of water to keep the temperature steadier.
Put your wine or a slice of lemon inside the bag. Use less, it does more in close contact!
Use the juices in the sauce for the pie.
If you are cooking it some more in the pie, undercook at the poaching stage.
The "bring it to the boil, turn the heat off and let it go cold" method is usually advocated for whole fish, to be served cold. It makes for a very moist/succulent cold fish.
-
You don't need to find (or pay for) "Induction Compatible" labelling.
When you go shopping for pans, take a fridge magnet with you.
If the magnet will stick to the pan BASE, then that pan will work fine on induction.
And if it won't stick, move on.
Very many stainless pans are fine.
Another occasionally useful trick is to use a cast iron pan, flat griddle (or somesuch) on the induction and place your working pan on top of that. (Using it kinda like a heat/flame diffuser.) The iron doesn't need to be moved often, so its easy on the back and muscles. Because its going to get rather hot, plain cast iron is a pretty good choice for this job.
You lose induction's fast response (and likely energy efficiency too), but its a good trick to remember for the odd occasion you might need it.
PS - copper's thermal conductivity isn't a help with induction. So Copper pans with an induction-happy base are going to look different, but perform very similarly to stainless.
-
Elderflower Cordial.
-
I'm sure you are correct. But they are in Denver Colorado. In the US of A.
Harters immediately previous post may not be plain enough ... so, to restate his point -
IT WOULD BE HELPFUL IF, WHEN SUGGESTING SUPPLIERS IN THE USA, posters in this forum area could PLEASE REMEMBER TO INCLUDE DETAILS OF SHIPPING COSTS, TO THE UK AND DETAILS OF UK CUSTOMS CHARGES, IMPORT RESTRICTIONS, ETC.
-
And Spiceworld is also UK based! http://www.spiceworld.uk.com/index.php?cPath=10
-
... Is homemade mincemeat necessary? Or can I get by on jarred?
Bought-in should be fine ... (but... !)
Mincemeat needs to be marinated for as long as possible, so the jar is an excellent shortcut - if its available to you.
BUT, that doesn't stop you from making your own additions ... whether that be extra spices, a bit of brandy (or rum or whisky or Grand Marnier, etc), extra candied citrus peel or whatever.
The result should be (in this order) sweet, sticky and gently aromatic with Christmassy spice notes (think ground allspice, cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves - mulled wine!). The spicing (and any booze) should be plainly detectable, but not aggressively 'up front'.
The pies should be served warm - but beware, that mincemeat filling can get dangerously hot in the oven (and hold that heat for surprisingly long). Hence baking blind, cold assembly and gently re-warming through for service does make sense.
You might lift the lids and add a drop of the booze just before they go into the oven to warm up to maximise the aroma of the booze.
In Britain you'll find mince pies with either sweet shortcrust, or (heavy-ish) flaky pastry (rather like a slightly dark, low, wide vol-au-vent). Restaurants may play about with making filo pies, but that's not what most people would visualise when you say 'mince pie'. Its a riff on the idea.What kind of pastry is ideal? ...If serving as finger food, a light but not-too-brittle sweet shortcrust pastry is probably where you should be aiming.
However, as a dessert course structural integrity becomes optional - and you can yourself riff on the make-a-dessert-course theme by perhaps putting a spot of whipped cream (maybe flavoured with yet more booze) under the lid of the pie seconds before service. Not traditional, but absolutely within the spirit.
I'd say its important that the size be at least two mouthfuls. You need to have it open to properly get those aromas. Its not like a 'pop-it-in-whole' canapé! The pastry dominates with smaller pies, and here, that's just wrong.
Lid decoration, as with a pastry star or leaf shape, or some such bit of fancy-ness, is fairly important.
Since the whole idea is excess, ideally it shouldn't look completely anonymously plain.
Hence I'd suggest that a light dusting with a snow of icing (powdered) sugar would be a minimum for presentation.
Its a lovely considerate Christmas thought, and I hope its appreciated.
-
Linda Dannenberg's "Paris Boulangerie-Patisserie" has measurements only in volume such as teaspoons and cups.
Perhaps you have the 1994 Clarkson Potter edition. The 2005 Gramercy edition has weight measures. (or the other way round.)
Thanks, however, it'd be really good to clear that one up!
Nevertheless, the book does seem to be currently out of print, and distinctly expensive for a used copy.
Sounds like one to look out for - but some patience is going to be needed.
-
One of the definitive books was put out by the San Francisco Baking Institute a year or so ago.
Advanced Bread and Pastry
...
I purchase 6 copies for my staff. ...
Welcome to eGullet!
You seem VERY enthusiastic about the book (and the school).
But do you really think it would be helpful to one such as the original poster on this thread, seeking an introductory patisserie book for home use?
I think we can safely assume that the poster does not possess a sheeter or have any interest in producing thousands of pieces at a time.
AB&P appears to be intended as a textbook for commercial (not quite artisan) practice. Most artisan bakers would run away from the book's enthusiasm for additives, trans-fats and suchlike. In fact, I'd suggest that avoiding such things was one defining characteristic of true artisan baking.
I remain convinced that (the first edition of) that particular book is too full of errors, and by turns too dogmatic, too vague and too disjointed to be considered "definitive" - even as a school-book for production operatives.
Is there yet an online errata listing?
-
One that's been sitting on my shelf ... is Paris Boulangerie Patisserie by Linda Dannenberg. It's a collection of recipes and tales from thirteen well-known bakeries in Paris ... I'm a fan of another cookbook she published, a similar collection of brasserie/bistro recipes and stories, with recipes I've found to be very reliable. ...
I gather that Ms Dannenberg writes for a (primarily) US readership.
Could I therefore ask whether she specifies quantities by weight (as the originals undoubtedly would), or whether these books have been 'translated' into cups?
-
http://www.msk-ingredients.com/ your best bet. hope that helps
Maybe "best" -- BUT no use at all unless you are "trade".
MSK are currently a TRADE ONLY supplier. We have plans to make our products available to the general public in the near future. However, we still welcome any questions or requests for advice. -
IIRC mine were £3.99 a kilo (full price) at Waitrose.
Diced, browned, casserole in an approx 95°C oven for about 5 hours with tomato, dead red wine, etc.
Lovely!
Definitely something to watch for.
Might be an idea to ask (or even phone) to try and get some reserved/ordered. Dunno how general it might be, but my branch can be very helpful with that sort of thing.
-
Now, without being too ambitious on shallow angles, you can make all your old knives (even rather 'ordinary' ones) sing almost as well!
I'd just echo the general advice that, if the knife is "pretty", its well worth protecting the 'flats' of the blade with tape - waterproof (exterior-grade) paint-masking tape (which is often blue) is what's generally recommended.
Taping the blade isn't strictly necessary, but its good (and cheap) insurance, both against an accidental kiss with a stone and against stray bits of grit getting under the knife, on the 'blade table' of the Edgepro.
Its an amazing tool, and stupidly (because there's no great skill involved in using the thing) satisfying to use.
-
... I know that lower numbers are associated with lower protein but beside that I found very difficult to buy flours without added levain or other ingredients. ... I didn't manage to find a good, simple, high protein flour for bread making.
Is there any mill which sells ... lists all the specifications for flour (W in particular)?
...
Right. Protein does indeed tend to be "associated" with T numbers, but that is nothing to do with their actual meaning.
The T number tells you the amount of bran, as measured by the amount of ash left after incineration!
People wanting low-bran flour generally want softer, lower protein (and finer-milled) flour, so that's what they generally get with a T45, even though its not what T45 actually specifies.
All that said, French bread flours (typically at T55 or T65) are NOT very high in protein, or "W" (dough strength). Hence French bread-making styles play to the strengths of the local flours, (which don't include dough strength).
HOWEVER, high strength/protein flour CAN be found in France (I'm not saying easily) - look for Farine de Gruau, and you could get a W of over 300 (compared with 250+ for North American bread flours and 150/200 for typical farine panifiable -- numbers from Calvel: "Le Gout du Pain", pages 14/15 in mine). If you find some, you'll probably want to blend it with some farine panifiable, rather than use it straight.
Otherwise, a little Vitamin C can help a lot. Dissolve a 1-a-day tablet in a glass of water and add a few (5?) teaspoons of the liquid to a kilo or so of dough.
A useful book for picking up French bread vocabulary (and skills) is Lalos' "Le Pain: l'envers du décor". Try FNAC for it. The text is in both English and French! (And while the translation may not be perfect, its still very useful.) Its about (French) pro artisan baking. The formulas are given very strangely though, all normalised to what goes with 1 litre of water!
-
Just another thought - have you seen the mammoth Sous Vide topic in the Cooking forum?
Sous Vide provides a practical opportunity for home cook/chill (or freeze for longer storage). Although that isn't the main thrust of the thread, it does get mentioned - and SV awareness should certainly inform whatever other cooking you do! (It ain't just "boil-in-the-bag" ...)
-
The NY Times just wrote an article about Nathan Myrvold's upcoming cook book. ...
Oh ... (Or "Uh-Oh")
The book, still untitled, intends to be the authoritative reference for chefs wishing to employ so-called molecular gastronomy — adapting food industry technologies to restaurant cooking....
Every month or so, the cookbook team gathers in a conference room to review their progress. Dr. Myhrvold scans each page, points out glitches and sketches how he wants a chart to look.
“It’s basically like a software project,” Dr. Myhrvold said. “It’s very much like a review we would do at Microsoft.”
The project has grown in size and scope. Originally planned as a 300-page discussion of sous vide, an increasingly popular restaurant technique of cooking food in vacuum-sealed bags in warm water baths, the book has swelled to 1,500 pages that will also cover microbiology, food safety, the physics of heat transfer on the stove and in the oven, formulas for turning fruit and vegetable juices into gels, and more.
“And they’re big pages,” Dr. Myhrvold said.
Because he is self-publishing the book, Dr. Myhrvold does not have to convince a publisher or anyone else that such a huge book aimed primarily at a narrow of audience of restaurant chefs makes economic sense. He said the book would be out in a year, although he admitted that was also what he said a year ago.
That specific software analogy is all too apt!
The book would seem to be far from imminent.
And perhaps more importantly from the standpoint of this thread, it is stated that the focus has shifted from sous-vide.
Of even more import to most readers of this thread is that, rather than concerning the application of restaurant techniques in the home, the stated theme is now the application of industrial (and seemingly laboratory) techniques in the restaurant.
-
How about Bourdain's 'Les Halles' as a starting point?
-
Thanks for that, mkayahara - its a very wide-ranging technique book, and IMHO excellent value (particularly when discounted).
However, especially converting Dan Lepard's quantities to cups, it does illustrate the extent of dumbing-down insisted upon by US editors.
-
A question, just out of interest - I have the UK 648 page edition.
Has this excellent book been Bowdlerised for the US market, or does it still give weight measures throughout, metric first with imperial in brackets?
Does it retain Dan Lepard's comments about the advantages of metric weighing (3rd column on page 459)?
-
I am looking to take the next step in my sous vide life. ... I've been using an Auber PID and a crock pot with a Foodsaver and my results so far have been very good.
Given how much I've been cooking SV, I think it's worth upgrading my equipment. ... What will a Polyscience do that an Auber will not? Is a commercial vacuum sealer a better purchase?
...
Apart from (potentially) finer control, my understanding is that forced circulation would be much better when attempting non-equilibrium water bath cooking. When times are measured as a specific number of minutes rather than an approximate number of hours, the expectation is that the water in contact with the pouch will be maintained throughout at very close to the specified temperature - which won't be the case with an unassisted-convection bath (although a 'very large' bath, rather bigger than your crock pot, with manual stirring should be pretty good).
Beyond that, in general, with a circulator the bath should be much faster to equilibrate at whatever temperature you have set. Less 'warm-up' time!
There is a colossal difference between different FoodSaver models. A high end machine with manual control surely ought to be perfectly adequate for home sv (unless you are determined to crush watermelon), however a basic model can be a real pain with liquids.
Unless you are determined to crush fruit and veg, you don't require a chamber sealer.
There are (in the US) $400 machines that are basically rugged, heavy-duty foodsaver-type machines. They have a certain appeal, but I'm not sure that they extend the capabilities (for sv) beyond what you can do with a manual-control domestic model.
-
...
...So, I'm upgrading from the Reynolds handheld pump, but I'm certainly not going for a chamber system. I'm probably looking at a foodsaver model - but which one? (of the currently available models) are there other good options in the us$100 to us$300 range?
... I spent @ $350 -- $100 more than I wanted to spend, ...
...
...
It's called the Weston PRO-2300 Commercial Grade Vacuum Sealer in case you need to google....
The link still doesn't work for me ... BUT from Googling the machine does seem to be
-- beyond the budget suggested, and
-- the same (though differently named) machine as previously commended on the Foodsaver etc thread in Kitchen Consumer - Product link http://www.vacuumsealerpros.com/
That Vacuum sealer thread (only 7 pages so far)
I'm sure its a great machine, but it would be one heck of an upgrade from the handheld system!
-
Best value is (likely, IMHO, etc) going to be in an obsolete (rather than current) model, which is nevertheless still available.
Try searching eBay for
Foodsaver v28*
and you should find some interesting stuff.
I'm delighted with the V2860 bargain I found in the UK ...
ADDED: The 2860 has 3 pump speeds (inc slow - good for liquids), a manual pump-while-I-press ("Pulse") button, a seal-it-now button, an optional longer seal time ("moist") setting, AND makes a good wide seal.
Yes, it holds a roll and incorporates a manual cutter, but its the other stuff that really distinguishes it.
The various other 2800 series models get subsets of those features, I believe.
Gluten Free/Dairy Free Bread
in Pastry & Baking
Posted
Dairy products (milk and butter) are optional extras in bread-baking.
They normally come with a higher price!
They aren't needed.
Gluten and dairy intolerances (as stated) do not mean a problem with yeast.
Baking bread well is hard enough to learn, especially gluten-free, without adding the extra complication of yeast-free, or rather commercial-yeast-free - because a 'natural starter' does contains yeasts!
Use an instant-mix yeast for simplicity, but choose one that has not been loaded with 'improvers' for bread machine use. Vitamin C (whether in the form of Ascorbic Acid or Sodium Ascorbate) is an utterly benign 'improver' - so don't worry about that one. All instant mix yeasts have a microscopic amount of a re-hydrating agent (sometimes called a 'wetting agent') to help them mix "instantly". Commonly a stearate (soap) is used - don't bother about that.
But you don't need anything else added.
You do need something to generate the gases to inflate the loaf.
Instant-mix yeast is the easy way.
Or use chemical gassing agents - baking soda, sodium bicarbonate, etc - if you want a "soda bread".
But trying to breed wild yeast, and hoping that pineapple juice will provide enough acidity to select for the 'right' yeasts, is just making things harder for yourselves. Walk before you try running!
In normal bread baking, gluten provides the structural strength to hold the bread "up". Without something providing that structure, loaves collapse.
One gluten-free structural alternative is Xanthan Gum.
Despite its scary, starts-with-an-X name, its a fairly natural, and benign. product. And its commonly used in commercial gluten-free baking (and pasta). Oh, and ordinary toothpaste, and ice cream, and ... http://www.wisegeek.com/what-is-xanthan-gum.htm
You only need about 0.5% Gum mixed with the flour - thats 1/200th (by weight) of the quantity of flour.
So get a cheap digital "pocket scale" (see eBay) for accurately weighing out the tiny quantity.
Or else buy gluten-free flour with Xanthan Gum ready mixed in.
Here in the UK we can buy Doves Farm Gluten-Free Bread Flour in most supermarkets
http://www.dovesfarm.co.uk/retail-flour/gluten-free-white-bread-flour-x-1kg/