dougal

The Bramley disintegrates beautifully into apple cake. And it makes the best Apple Sauce for pork.

No - not sprinkled with salt - you are imaging things! Served with lots of salted butter on the salty bread, yes. Having mistakenly averaged local consumption across the entire country, Blether now offers a cosmopolitan recipe as authentic - "draws culinary inspiration from Italy, New York, NE Scotland, London, Los Angeles and California" indeed! As one who has actually eaten many croissants in Paris and many butteries in Aberdeen, I can vouch for the difference in salt content. Butteries, in their home town, are salty. Really quite salty. http://www.pressandjournal.co.uk/Article.aspx/1095199 Who would ever, even in jest, describe a croissant like that? And since it was in the Press & Journal, Lindsey would know that it must be true! Blether might also be interested to see http://www.danlepard.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=1191 (I'd like to know just how much salt Sue Lawrence prescribes) and http://www.danlepard.com/forum/viewtopic.php?p=3169#3169 The important point remains that the taste preference, in the North East of Scotland, has been for food that would elsewhere be described as "salty".

High tea ...

We Aberdonians are famous for our careful accountancy! Butteries, as you acknowledge, are a local speciality, so averaging consumption across the population of the whole country is a trifle misleading! I'd suggest more like 50/year for every man, woman and child in the area! BTW, the classic Butteries came from Kelly's, in Cults. Waaaay more saturated fat than a croissant (even before being buttered), and distinctly salty, which is not like any croissant I've eaten! As to the relevance of excessive amounts of fat and salt in that specific part part of Scotland, well, we are discussing adding more salt to deep-fried food and what the locals want ...

Its stored unrefrigerated in stores (and without any protective atmosphere in the top of the bottle). There are no warnings on labels about "once opened, keep refrigerated and use within x days". It should be fine. Storing out of strong sunlight (and cool and in reasonably full bottles) should help to delay the stuff going rancid. (But that takes many months, not weeks.) In use, its overheating/burning the oil that risks spoilage. If it smells of what you cooked last, that's not a disaster. But if it smells rancid, or the oil itself has darkened dramatically, its time to change it. In which case, try and find a recycling facility. Its bad to tip it down the drain. Carefully decanting the oil should leave behind lots of bits that have settled to the bottom. (Don't be too greedy about maximising the yield of clean oil. Cleaner oil is better than more oil.) Then filtering off as much of the remaining detritus is desirable. It'll filter faster if its warm. (But 'hot' gets dangerous!) It always used to be advocated to fry some potato (or bread) to try and remove old flavours. Personally, I think removing flavoured solids is more important.

So, how many hours would you let it sit between blending and use? Currently the restaurant makes "fresh every day, if not twice a day but would the addition of salt and maybe pepper shorten the life of the batter." ?

Is that from your personal experience ? As a Scot I've cooked and lived abroad for many years and found people of all nationalities enjoy the same amount of salt that I do ← Its cultural rather than genetic, I believe, but it is the case that Scots have had a particularly high dietary salt intake. Rather than cite anecdotal evidence, I'll give a reference - From "A Review of Food Consumption and Nutrient Intakes from National Surveys in Scotland: Comparison to the Scottish Dietary Targets" (2006) at "Page 1" (its page 13 in the pdf). http://www.food.gov.uk/multimedia/pdfs/scotdietrytarg.pdf Salt consumption in 1996 was 63% above the healthy target ... and progress towards the 2010 (originally 2005) target needs new surveys for measurement "As sodium in the diet is derived mainly from processed foods and, to a lesser extent salt added in cooking and at the table, sodium intake in population groups has to be estimated from urinary sodium output. The Food Standards Agency Scotland is currently commissioning separate surveys of both sodium intake by urinary output, and NME sugar intake amongst children." (at page "56" - 68 in the pdf) As physical evidence, I need do no more than cite the popularity of the "Aberdeen Rowie" (or 'Butteries' as I knew them) http://www.sundaymail.co.uk/news/tm_object...-name_page.html

I've just taken what seems to be a (UK) closeout bargain deal on a FoodSaver V2860. Including delivery, it was only about £10 more than most of the what-brand offerings on eBay, and less than 1/3 of the (UK) cost of the meaty prosumer type of unit spoken of so highly in this thread. I have upgraded from a year-old basic (auto-only) FoodSaver. The V2860 provides - a wider seal than my old basic model (looks very like 1/10") - an optional 'moist' (hotter or longer?) sealing setting - a 'pulse' vacuuming facility (push to pump, release to stop, repeat as required) and a 'just seal it' button. (There's full auto as well.) - a pump with three speed settings - and a roll-holder and cutter blade - which I now admit is actually worthwhile. Being able to 'pulse' down the bag, and change to slow speed for the last few pulses, taking as much time and care as one cares to before committing to sealing, combined with the wide seal and 'moist' seal setting, really does work BRILLIANTLY for liquids and 'wet' stuff. I'm delighted with the thing. I really can't imagine a home user could need more. And at the closeout price, great value. If they aren't long gone, well worth looking out for, I'd suggest.

No - its you that wants beer flavour. However, I want lightness and crispness. And Heston Blumenthal, Tom Aikins and plenty others will tell you that crispness and lightness are indeed helped by carbonation. http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/life_and_...ticle631377.ece "Extracted and adapted from In Search of Perfection by Heston Blumenthal (Bloomsbury £20)." http://www.florigo.co.uk/latest-news/tom-aikens-london/

Ummm. Salt is a preservative, but that ought not to be the point. The point about using beer in the batter is supposed to be the carbonation. Heating the batter drives off some gas, supposedly making the batter "lighter" (or rather, foamy - which has a lot of effects, including allowing the very outside layer to be quite thin/hot/crisp.) The problem I see is that leaving it sitting around all day will lose a lot of the CO2. Flat beer doesn't help to make 'light' batter. I suspect that, if anything, salt might make it go flat faster. But I really don't think it ought to be sitting around all day. (Keeping it cold will better preserve the dissolved CO2, but might alter your ideal cooking times and temps.) I'd suggest a taste test between absolutely freshly made and several hours old batter. And using different beers. For this job (if not for drinking) fizzy should be good. It may also be necessary to point out to international readers that the Scottish taste preference is for LOTS of salt! However, thinking commercially, if this really is 'one of your best sellers', then you mess with it at your peril. If the customers like it (whatever you might think), beware of changing it unless you intend finding different customers! Perhaps the development thinking would best be concentrated on those offerings that are less popular?

I have been enthusing about induction for several years! However, my point (in reply to the thread starter) was simply that those induction units are completely unsuited to being controlled by a plug-in PID controller, like your SV Magic. Why? Because it controls by switching the power to the heater on and off. And you know exactly what happens to the induction unit when the power goes off!

It does sound like a very strange dietary regime indeed. Before anyone could pass any informed comment on additions or substitutions, it really would be necessary to know something of what dietary components (as opposed to foodstuffs) were being restricted. Knowing something of the supposed health condition would be a requirement for consideration of what components ought to be restricted. Sorry, not enough information given.

Induction (in a real world commercial product) requires internal control electronics. So there is a commercial advantage to offering it for sale with an electronic, rather than a mechanical, 'user interface'. Which is totally unsuited to being controlled 'upstream' by your external sv controller. You will not find a cheap induction unit that retains its settings while the power supply is interrupted. There might be potential for a real hardware hacker to dismantle an induction unit and incorporate a PID controller, but neither of us are ready to go near that sort of stuff. If you are looking to use an external PID sv controller, then you need to seek out a really simple heater for it to take charge of. Any controls just get in the way -- hence the advice to turn any thermostats to maximum. The ideal for those devices is just a plain heater element ... and no control more sophisticated than the simplest mechanical switch! The forerunners of the current portable single burner induction units had a single traditional electric ring with a 'dumb' (mechanical) thermostat. One of those units might be a possibility. Or maybe even an electric hotplate ... However, the sensible thing would be to start with your rice cooker, and find your feet with sv. Then later, maybe, you could consider using your controller with a bigger pot ... Particularly with a long thread (like the sv one), its well worth using the 'search within this thread' facility -- located near the bottom left corner of every page.

Just in case you missed it, there's a little thread right here http://forums.egullet.org/index.php?showtopic=116617

I wonder if 'Simple to Sensational' might be of interest? http://www.amazon.com/Simple-Sensational-J.../dp/1847373097/ The essential idea is to give a perfectly workable everyday recipe, and then show how it can be tweaked to make it much more 'special'. Bouchon is interesting. If genius really is an infinite capacity for taking pains, then Keller is indeed a genius. Its not about clever short cuts, or quick ways. Its a book that is guaranteed to push way beyond your boundaries and comfort level (unless you have an awful lot of time on your nimble hands ...) As such, its an interesting contrast to the practicality of Les Halles! Do search this site for more about both. However, I suspect that the book that would likely be the most use to you would be The Cooks Book. http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0756613027/ Even though its not really about 'bistro' cookery, as such. But it would give you plenty to think about and use in your own ways. Surprised that no one has yet suggested the classic 'Mastering the Art of French Cooking' (Beck, Bertholle & Childs). Its useful and really very deep. Elizabeth David as background reading, yes. Great scholarship, historical landmark, etc. But, from what you have written, I doubt you would think she was writing specially for you!

As will the Electrolux DLX. The advantage of the Electrolux and Bosch is that they can easily be put away in a cupboard after use. It might well be that the advantage of the "Hobart" would be in remaining on view ...

Latex over Kevlar and washable? And the latex is textured for a more secure grip? Under $10 ? That's exactly the sort of thing I was hoping to hear about! And the same thing exists on this side of the Atlantic too http://www.securitydirect.co.uk/acatalog/K...rip_Gloves.html Aaah, but its not a glove sold for oysters! http://63.84.120.4/ParkStreet/Bossweb/WebR...=7216&NavId=539 from http://www.bossgloves.com/ I think it looks like Amazon (and many others) have the unbranded version of the Flexi Pro. Anyone got more suggestions? As I've written in other threads, personally, I think that a knife like this http://www.buymilspec.com/44691.html {victorinox oyster with finger guard} with a short, broad blade and a 'finger guard' is much safer (particularly for the occasional shucker) than the long thin New England styles (which I learn really are called "stabbers" ). The finger guard protects the fingers from the sharp edge of the shell and serves to limit how far the knife can skid. That limitation combined with the short, broad and comparatively blunt-tipped blade makes it very hard to stab yourself. And reducing the risk from the blade makes things less critical for the glove. I'm sure other knives could be faster, especially in professional hands, but that's not the point for the less experienced user!

A 'Request For Comments' Has anyone any experience of these gloves? http://www.zesco.com/products.cfm?subCatID...upID=ZP99192009 Neoprene over stainless steel mesh sounds grippy and (somewhat) protective. And at $34 they are only 1/3 to 1/4 the price of 'naked' chain mail. This thing looks interesting (OK, strange) - but would, I think, require holding the oyster in the upturned palm (because of the loose material between thumb and fingers obstructing 'pinned to the table' action). Has anyone tried the product? http://oystermitts.com/index.html Or are there any better (and better value) gloves? Personally, I'm perfectly happy just using a cloth, but someone's been asking me about getting a glove ... Are there any proper 'stab-proof' (as opposed to 'cut resistant') gloves? (At a sane price.) What protective kit would suit the amateur (or novice) budget? Or to put it another way - if we had been advising a prospective 'occasional' shucker to get a glove, what glove would it be? Does anyone know what the mitt is that the chap in the Legal Seafoods video uses? http://video.about.com/gourmetfood/How-to-Shuck-Oysters.htm. Is it a regular product or something custom-made?

Really, I doubt that -- BUT -- I think I understand your perception of 'damage'. I think you are working by volume. This is not the best of ideas, if you are dealing with frothy starter. Sure, the blender flattened the foam, so you think you've got less. But actually, you've just got less trapped CO2. Because a lot of bubbles got burst (and maybe some gluten got chopped). Its no big deal, at least, not until you want to measure some out. A better habit is to ALWAYS work by weight. (Its the only hope of accuracy with variably foamy starter.)

Try this! Work as usual, but, after you have dusted your board with cornmeal, cover the board with a sheet of baking parchment, and dust the top of the parchment with more cornmeal. Then carry on as normal. Just slide the sheet of parchment (with its dough) onto your tiles. As Tino27 says, you can open the oven after about 10/15 minutes and pull out the sheet of parchment. I do this at the same time as I remove my metal water/steam dish. The bread should have 'sprung' but be barely coloured when you finish with the steam. Don't worry, it ain't a soufflé... Opening the oven for these jobs helps to establish dryer conditions for the final 2/3 of the bake. ADDED as a PS - for the determined shopper, I've heard of (but not used) a thing called a Super Peel ... http://www.breadtopia.com/super-peel-in-action/

Adam, you seem to be slightly at odds with the esteemed Alan Davidson! He said (in the Oxford Companion to Food, first 1999 edition) that "in keeping with the name, lamb or mutton should be used" for Shepherd's Pie. He believed that this name only originated in the second half of the 19th century (late 1800's), with mechanical mincing machines (US grinders), however a similar (lamb/mutton) dish had its origins long before, in sheep-rearing parts of the UK. "So the common idea that shepherds ate the dish back in, say, the 18th century is probably right." Further, he writes "The term Cottage Pie, often confused with Shepherd's Pie but properly denoting a similar dish made with minced beef, has a somewhat longer history ... " (The emphasis above is mine alone.) Now, as to whether the great man might only have been engaging in a bit of whimsical pot-stirring ... well, it does have to be recognised as a possibility! He also suggests that a pastry topping was prevalent in Scotland in former times. Which does seem somewhat wilfully provocative ... The essential element however is that using precise nomenclature does provide a simple distinction between (visually) similar dishes. I don't see any advantage to the sloppiness of using either name to denote both fillings. (Other than to caterers wanting flexibility of use of leftovers, while minimising menu-printing costs, of course.) But equally, I don't (usually) feel any need to go making complaints to Trading Standards Officers ...

Two things. I don't worry too much about mixing my starter after refreshment. (Pure domestic baking - so I'm not too bothered about day-to-day consistency.) I do keep it at 100% refreshment - equal weights of flour and water, so it makes for a slightly gloopy (initially lumpy) batter (but 100% does greatly ease the mental arithmetic for thinking about hydration of different doughs). Just like autolyse and stretch-and-fold, I let it do much of the hydration/work for itself. Also to add to alanamoana's possible effects, incorporating more air/oxygen into the batter (with an immersion blender) might be expected to increase the rate of breeding of the yeast components of the starter, which might change the readiness time or balance (and thus ultimately taste) of your cultures.

Does this get you close? http://www.breadsecrets.com/blog/?p=16 Its a yeasted savoury pancake batter, using 50/50 water and milk, and half the flour weight is fine oatmeal, the rest is 50/50 wholemeal and plain ("all purpose") flour.

Efficiency. As a concept it gets misused and misunderstood. Its important to distinguish between energy used per pound of stored food (or per cubic foot of food) and total amount of energy used per day/week/month. If you want to keep food well, and reduce the amount of energy consumed, don't fill it right up! Allowing some air circulation inside the freezer is a good thing. To reduce the energy consumption for any given freezer, cool its surroundings -- within reason! In cold climates, some garages can be too cold in winter for some modern CFC-free fridges and freezers. But in the tropics, its about the temperature difference between inside and outside. If you can paint the garage roof white, that should make a significant improvement. While reducing the ventilation can be helpful when outside is hotter than inside, that isn't always the case. The freezer itself will generate heat to warm the garage. Let that heat out! Anything you can do to vent (ie lose) the hot air from the compressor and to ensure that the inlet air is as cool as possible will help to reduce the work the compressor has to do -- and that means to reduce your energy bills. You might even be able to repurpose (operating in reverse - closing when hot) a greenhouse ventilator ... If you get a Kill-a-watt meter (or an equivalent) you can monitor what the thing is using, which will help you decide what is economically worth doing to cut the bills and save the planet. A freezer, over its whole working life, costs many times more than its purchase price in electricity bills! (And the hotter the climate, the more electricity it'll use ...) Over here, its normal for decent fridge/freezers to have separate compressors (and controls) for each side. That's a better (more efficient) arrangement. Re vacuum sealers - don't touch cheapies that only 'seal' with a hot wire. They give a woefully narrow seal. You'd like something wide, the wider the better, but about 1/16" of proper seal is fine. I have a basic (full auto) Foodsaver. Its just fine. Except for liquids. Or any liquid in the bag. Hence I want to upgrade to something that gives me a 'stop-pumping-and-start-sealing-now' manual over-ride function. OK, now, take a look at the vacpack thread: http://forums.egullet.org/index.php?showtopic=51526

Just seen that Gaggia's UK operation appears to have closed down today. http://www.caterersearch.com/Articles/2009...s-buys-the.html Seems that Philips (who have bought Saeco, who own Gaggia) will handle spares and servicing. From the www.gaggia.co.uk website (still up as I write) Looking on the bright side (you have to) this could mean that there's some stock of damn good ice cream makers (and espresso machines) to be unloaded in the near future at a discount. /sigh