Bill/SFNM

[hijack] Kerry, When you sort out your bean situation, please post a note here [or in the Vancouver / Western Canada section] saying what, from where, and how it worked. We brought a pound or so of Tarbais beans back to BC from a european summer vacation and intend to try planting them in the spring, but meanwhile, what to use? The conift's aging, the homemade sausage is waiting, the weather is definitely saying cassoulet.... [/hijack] cheers Derek ← I recently made up a big batch of cassoulet from scratch using duck confit sous vide and Toulouse Sausage from Paula's book (although not her recipe for cassoultet). I used French Tarbais beans for the first time and couldn't detect any benefit over less expensive and more available white beans. Bill/SFNM

What an amazing thread. I had my first cannele recently in the Perigord. I was totally unprepared for the incredible taste and texture. I can't wait to try to make them. Stephanie Alexander has two recipes in her book, Cooking and Travelling in SW France, one from Regis Marcon and the other from Paula. Quick question if anyone is still following this thread. How do I season new tin-lined copper molds? TIA.

KA meat grinder attachment does a fine job for small batches. It is important that the chopping assembly be very well-tightened (a plastic wrench is included for tightening and loosening) and that the meat be very cold, even partially frozen, to avoid smearing the fat. BTW, if you ever want to make sausage, the stuffing attachment for the KA meat grinder is worse than useless, IMO. I grind whole packer brisket for burgers, but I like plenty of fat. Great flavor. Bill/SFNM

Mark, I soften frozen banana leaves by passing them over an open flame, just until they turn a darker shade of green. This makes them pliable and fragrant. Bill/SFNM

From the "necessity is the mother ..." department, I was making the Creme de Potiron (p. 67) this weekend and had run out of homemade chicken stock. I had a carton of store-bought stock to which I added some leftover duck confit gel (p. 201). I used one cup of confit juice to 3 cups of stock. I would say the results were even better than using homemade stock. Bill/SFNM

I got the burner here. It is hooked up to 20# propane tank which is under the counter. Bill/SFNM

This generates a fairly large amount of smoke and airborne grease (you can see a little of it in the photo). I hope you're planning on having an industrial-strength hood/ventilator. Bill/SFNM

Sometimes, an object which does everything does none of them very well. High-heat wok-cooking was so important to me that it was distorting the whole selection process. After a great deal of research, I decided that a red-hot wok was best relegated to outdoors: much higher heat and less mess inside. Indoors, I have a 36" dual-fuel Wolf range - great burner control,self cleaning oven with a "stone" mode for baking bread. Outdoors, I have a 60,000+BTU wok burner that I can also use for deep frying, lobster steaming, and other messy tasks such as browning meat for braises. This burner cost me $60 (the wok was $9) and produces results that I doubt I could ever achieve on an inside burner: Bill/SFNM

I will heed the advice to stick with the bread flour and increase the hydration. Thanks for the help! My thinking in using a higher-gluten flour was based on my earlier attempts to make this bread using 00 pizzeria flour which has a slightly lower protein content. This flour was not able to develop an adequate gluten structure at this high a hydration. I understand that protein content is only one of many variables of the flour affecting this, but the bread flour was a big improvement over the pizza flour. Bill/SFNM

Save room for macarons at Pierre Herme. I though I knew what a macaroon was. Was I wrong!! White truffle and hazelnut ones should be available now. Not to be missed. Bill/SFNM

Not sure about cooking classes, but the Yucatan area meets many of your requirements. The cuisine is one of my favorites of the many fabulous Mexican regions. I would use Merida for your base, staying away from the tourist beaches. You'll have more great restaurants, archaeological sites, nature preserves, etc. than you could ever see in eight days. Something to consider. Bill/SFNM

In Hamelman's "Bread" book, he uses 74%. Silverton's looks to be about the same, maybe a little less depending on the hydration of the starter. The best ciabatta I ever had was in a little bakery in Liguria where I watched them forming the loaves. The dough was clearly very sticky but they were able to handle it with their hands using lots of bench flour. But what you say makes sense and I'll steadily increase the hydration to see what happens. Thanks! Bill/SFNM

I am new to eGullet, but have been baking breads for a long time. One of my current projects is to perfect Ciabatta using no commercial yeast. I'm currently baking them in my conventional oven, but my next step will be to try them in my wood-burning oven. My approach is based loosely on Nancy Silverton's. Formula is: Giustos Bread Flour: 100% Water (including starter): 70% Milk: 4% Salt: 2.75% Olive Oil: 4% Natural Yeast starter (no commercial yeast): 15% of entire dough Here is a photo after a 6 hour room temp fermentation and 3 day retard in the refrigerator. The rubber band marks the starting point. Probably more of a rise that you are used to seeing, but at 7000 feet above sea level, those critters get a lot of volume: Here is one of the loaves baking on parchment paper which is removed after 15 minutes. Here is a baked loaf: Here is a cross section of the crumb: The flavor and crust are just what I'm looking for, but I want to get the crumb a little lighter. Next batch will be with Giustos Hi-Gluten flour and little more water. Suggestions welcome. I hope I can contribute and learn much here. Bill/SFNM

I'm new to eGullet, but have been cooking from this book for about 6 months. Having just returned from a cooking school in the Perigord, I could cook and eat this kind of food everyday. My question is about the "Chicken in a Pot" (page 144) which is served with steamed vegetables and green sauce (page 145)- a deeply satisfying meal. My problem is with the green sauce, which breaks every time I make it. Has anyone else experienced the same problem? Anyone see anything in this simple sauce that could be the cause? Any ideas how to fix it once it's broken? TIA. Bill/SFNM