maggiejiggs
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Posts posted by maggiejiggs
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Husband leaves tomorrow for business trip in San Franciso. Last minute, of course, needs suggestions for great places to eat, representative of the area preferred. Too late for Chez Panisse, I said, plus you can't go there with out me. Any ideas? Money isn't too big a problem this time around, lucky him.
Is he going there alone? That probably makes a difference in the kinds of suggestions that would be best.
Dinner with business associates, who he'd like to impress, I'm sure. They have the ability to move around they city, so I don't think location is desparately critical.
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Husband leaves tomorrow for business trip in San Franciso. Last minute, of course, needs suggestions for great places to eat, representative of the area preferred. Too late for Chez Panisse, I said, plus you can't go there with out me. Any ideas? Money isn't too big a problem this time around, lucky him.
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I need a great recipe for cannoli, if anyone can help !
maggiejiggs
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Thanks to all. I grew up in NJ, across the river from Manhattan. Now living in Indianapolis. Since our Colts are playing in the Super Bowl, I'm planning a Cuban party - let's celebrate our co-ethnic joys! (pork is a midwestern staple, NJ is home to me and to many Cubans, and Miami?!!!)
Maggiejiggs
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Can anyone give me an authentic recipe for a Cuban Sandwich?
Maggiejiggs
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Dorie
Perhaps my butter IS too warm. Mayonnaise is a pretty good description. How long do you hold your butter out of the fridge before creaming?
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It's only been a few days since I posted and you've all done so much I don't know where to begin.
First off has to be a big BRAVO to juliachildish -- what a spread! And, I repeat the question: How did you do this in a dorm kitchen???
When I was first married -- which is the first time I baked -- our kitchen was a converted linen closet. It was awfully tight, but I was so excited about learning to bake that I just went ahead and baked, but I don't think I ever did more than two things in a day! You must be the world's most organized person.
Becca, I'm not sure why your glaze thickened up so -- I would have said cold corn syrup, but that doesn't seem to be the case. Patrick's solution sounds like the right one -- gently melting the chocolate should have thinned it again.
I think it was probably the opposite situation with the topping on Sugar Plum's cinnamon squares. If the chocolate seemed more like a glaze, perhaps you should have waited a bit for it thicken. From the picture, it looked pretty good to me. Thank you SO MUCH for taking the trouble to answer my questions
OOps, just read more, and maybe mayonnaise more describes what my butter looks like when I get started to add the other ingredients. I'll try to remedy that and see what happens.
To members of the newly formed OGCWBFC -- the flat-cookie bakers. I'm a little confused because I wouldn't call the chocolate chip cookies puffy. In fact, mine are usually pretty flat and I think they look flatish in the book. My chocolate chip cookies are usually flat around the edges and have a little more thickness in the center. Unless you're getting wafers, I think you're ok and should just join your kids and have another cookie.
About butter -- butter shouldn't be so soft that it's like mayonnaise when you start to beat it.
Kathy, don't kill me -- there's nothing I like more than knowing that I've created a sweet-loving monster like your husband.
Patrick -- I wish had that Far Breton now. I made a batch of World Peace Cookies to bring to a friend's for dinner tonight, but now I'm wanting that Far.
Welcome Palladion.
I've got to go pack those cookies up and start out for dinner -- I'll be back.
Dorie
I'm getting wafers!!! And they taste and look like pure butter to me. Puffy I guess isn't the right word. Somewhat mounded, perhaps. I don't have trouble with other cookies, but chocolate chips are my downfall
do you think my butter is too warm before beating? Or should I try more flour? -
Well, l've tried again, and they're still flat. I chilled the dough, put the mounds on chilled sheets, chilled again, and they still spread. They are flat, and smooth looking, rather than puffy and crinkly (?) looking. My kids still love them, which is the important thing, but I can't stop wondering what I'm doing wrong. Chocolate chips seem to be my downfall, where cookies are concerned...any more ideas???
We need to form a club, Maggie -- Otherwise Good Cooks Who Bake Flat Cookies. OGCWBFC, for "short".
Well, I must say your support really does lift my spirits
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Why do my cookies turn out flat??? Followed your recipie, Dorie, for chocalate chips. But I always have this problem. My cookies melt out, rather than puff up. I can tell you step by step what I've done, but thought you might have ideas before I went thru that. They're still tasy as heck, but thin, not mounded like yours.
Do you start with a new (not hot) cookie sheet for each batch of cookies going into the oven? If not, the cookies will melt out before cooking. That has just been my experience.
Well, l've tried again, and they're still flat. I chilled the dough, put the mounds on chilled sheets, chilled again, and they still spread. They are flat, and smooth looking, rather than puffy and crinkly (?) looking. My kids still love them, which is the important thing, but I can't stop wondering what I'm doing wrong. Chocolate chips seem to be my downfall, where cookies are concerned...any more ideas???
Another point, they are very greasy when they come out of the oven, making me wonder what I'm doing with the butter. Overbeating? Needing more flour? I sure need help
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I recommend portioning your cookie dough into spheres and chilling them before baking if you want a mounded shape.
Thanks for the last two posts. No, I've never chilled my cookie sheets, have tried chilling the dough, but not the individual sheets, with mounded dough. Will try both. Always wonder if my butter is TOO warm before beating, or if I beat not long enough or too much. I have success with other cookies, but the chocolate chips have got me
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Why do my cookies turn out flat??? Followed your recipie, Dorie, for chocalate chips. But I always have this problem. My cookies melt out, rather than puff up. I can tell you step by step what I've done, but thought you might have ideas before I went thru that. They're still tasy as heck, but thin, not mounded like yours.
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I've just been visiting Aix-en-Provence and simultaneously reading MFK Fisher's beautiful memoir of the town (A Map of Another Town). In her book, Fisher repeatedly refers to a drink she calls a "vermouth-gin", which she apparently drank quite a lot of. I don't believe she ever uses the term "martini". When I had a drink at Les Deux Garçons, where she had some of these "vermouth-gins", I was too chicken to try to order one, but I have a feeling if I had done so they wouldn't have known what I was talking about (Fisher was writing about her time there in the 1950s). Is anyone familiar with this "vermouth-gin" term, and how it might differ from a martini? 50-50, perhaps?
We were at a wedding in Cambridge, England, and though I love the beer, I really felt it was time for a martini. We were in a pub, and the Slovak waiter (we're not the only multicultural country in the world) said he knew how to make an American martini. Here's me, imagining the world of James Bond, of course. So he proffered me his martini, a 50/50 mix of gin and vermouth
A guest in the establishment offered this explanation, so don't quote me
Pub licenses are restricted, so the liquor comes out in shots (ounces or such), and so they can't just squirt a hint of of vermouth into it. The only place I got a legitimate martini was in London in our hotel bar (not a pub). So, I can't tell you for sure, but maybe this is why Fisher was drinking vermouth-gin, even in France.
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And, a stock based brown sauce is not a deglaze. It is, in fact, a very different animal.I agree completely with boar_d_laze. You don't want to reheat your steak, or roast it, BBQing is a whole different beast, as is stock vs a deglaze.
I'm sorry but you're both wrong. What's in stock that isn't in fond? Rien. Nada. Nothing. With stock you brown bones/bits of meat at a high temp, the collagen/amino acids form a fond in the pan, you deglaze it with water, combine everything in a stockpot and simmer for 12 or more hours. With fond, you pan fry the steak, collagen and amino acids are released, and you deglaze the bits that stick on. The only difference is simmering. Simmering actually gives you a greater depth of flavor due to the maillard reactions occurring during the prolonged exposure to heat. Simmering will also extract more collagen, providing a more unctuous mouthfeel than deglazing. Neither the greater depth of flavor nor the increased collagen output differentiates stock from deglazing, though. They are both the same animals.
Pan drippings + water = reduced stock
Collagen, amino acids and maillard reactions. All of the building blocks that make up wonderful sauces.
Maggie, if you read my initial post, I never recommended re-heating meat. As far as BBQing differing from pan frying... with both you've got intense, quick-cooking heat, resulting in browning and the formation of a crust. I'm not talking about mesquite chips here. I'm referring to two ways that provide a lot of heat to a steak in a short amount of time. Other than the obvious grill marks, the two methods are not that different.
Toni, shallots vs. onions is a subjective thing. Shallots are traditional. I just happen to love caramelized onions with beef. If you like shallots, saute those in the beef fat. I don't think I'd do both, though.
Cream is fine added ahead.
If you're going to grill, make sure you have a full tank of propane. If you run out in the middle of grilling, you're up a creek. Believe me, I know
If you have the steaks already, remove them from the packaging so they dry out a bit. Tomorrow morning, flip them so the other side dries out a bit. If you had another day, that would have helped as well. This is kind of a DIY semi-dry aging. It does amazing things for the crust. The drier the exterior, the better the crust. For people that like their steaks rare, go straight from the fridge to a blazingly hot pre-heated grill. That will give you good exterior color with a red middle. For those that like medium, remove the steaks from the fridge about an hour or two before cooking and let them come to room temp. Done like this, the rare and the medium steaks finish in about the same time.
Btw, the quality of the sauce is almost directly proportional to the quantity of stock you add. Are you sure you have plenty of frozen stock? You want a LOT of stock, which you then reduce the crap out of. It's not a thick as a demi-glace, but you still want a concentrated, full flavored end product.
No, no, you weren't the post that mentioned re-heating the meat
I understand your points regarding stock vs deglazing. However, I thought the point of the question was could this rationally be done for a large number of people. I deglaze the pan, making a balsamic reduction, which is quick and easy, and very, very different from a sauce you'd make with stock. I'm not sure what sauce you guys are talking about, didn't ever see the recipe, but just thought this a good solution for the time and ease factor.
Although pan frying and grilling are very similar, I still maintain that grilled meat tastes a lot different. I don't always use wood chips, but I always grill over charcoal, never gas, and there is no way charcoal grilling tastes the same
As I said, I had success with steak au poivre for 6. I like to use thin, boneless rib-eyes. Not only are they wonderfully tender and juicy, but they cook up quickly in the pan, can be kept warm with out overcooking while you deglaze the pan and make the reduction. And I agree - I would not bother with this recipe for any more guests. A roast or stew or grilled steak makes much more sense.
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I just got a sausage stuffer thru the mail. Got it on ebay, "buy it now," it's a Grizzley brand and looks just like the ones in Sausage Maker web site, but at $59.99, it was at least half the price!
They sell those here too:
http://grizzly.com/products/h6252
I also just bought one, but haven't received it yet. I'm hopeful.
Yes, I realized it when they sent me their huge catalog, with the most amazing machinary you'd ever want to see! I was a bit surprised after looking thru it that they sold sausage stuffers! Mine looks great, sturdy, just the same as the high priced ones I looked up. I should have included their website
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I just got a sausage stuffer thru the mail. Got it on ebay, "buy it now," it's a Grizzley brand and looks just like the ones in Sausage Maker web site, but at $59.99, it was at least half the price!
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Oven too hot. Should be below boiling - more like 160F/75C.
Egg yolks coagulate and thicken at between 150F/65C and 158F/70C, so the cooking medium needs to be just a bit above that.
You are making an egg custard: warm the cream and dissolve the sugar.
Beat the egg yolks, A tsp of cornflour or custard powder helps to stop curdling. Pour the hot cream onto the egg yolks, mix well then put into your molds. Cook gently.
Lots of different opinions on how to get a superfine caramel coating...Use castor sugar, or even cook seperatelyy (powdered sugar sifted onto a circle on baking parchment and put in a hot oven)
My oven was quite hot, but they still came out fine, just a bit quicker than the recipe said. You can substitute one tsp vanilla if you don't have the beans. And the tempering is important; don't let the cream boil, and add slowly.
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I tried making a "straight" Cremè Brulèe this weekend, with let's say "not so good" results (Sorry no pictures)
I halved this recipe I googled for.
8 egg yolks
1/3 cup granulated white sugar
2 cups heavy cream
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1/4 cup granulated white sugar (for the caramelized tops)
I mixed sugar with the yolks and whisked in my kenwood for 3-5 minutes untill I got a paste. I then added the heavy cream and vanilla, and mixed a bit more.
Below I will use the term "pan" to describe the cute little clay things you can bake creme brulee, fondant etc in.
I put the mix 4 small "pans", and the "pans" in a water bath, and placed the whole thing in the oven. that was pre-heated to 300f/150c.
At one point it looked like I was making small soufle's .-) Is this common? They actually rose to well above the top of my pans.
The recipe claimed that 50-60 minutes should be enough to make the brulee set around the edges. Since this was my first atempt I didn't dare to cook them anymore, as my oven was smelling of omelets :-)
I can't imagine how such a mixture would "set" ?
The texture was very open and airy. I remember Creme brulee to be more like caramel pudding/chocolate pudding, smooth and jelly like?? Do I remember wrong? My texture was more like of a soufle or something in that direction.
Any other recipe's, pointers or answers to my questions above ?
Any other recipe's I can use my brand new torch? (I know.. I have a hammer and see nails everywhere .-)
I had great success with this recipe:
1 vanilla bean
2 1/2 cups heavy cream
8 egg yolks
1/4 cup superfine sugar
3 Tablespoons turbinado sugar
Slit vanilla bean lengthwise. Put in saucepan with cream. Bring almost to boil. Take off heat and let stand 15 minutes. Scrape seeds into cream.
Use a fork to mix together the eggs and sugar. Gently reheat cream, then gradually mix it into the eggs and sugar. Strain back into saucepan.
Place 6 ramekins in a roasting pan, divide custard between them. Pour warm water around the dishes to come halfway up the sides. Bake at 350 for 20-25 minutes til just set with a slight softness at the center. (Keep an eye on them, mine cooked a bit quicker than this)
Leave dishes to cool in the water, then chill for 3 - 4 hours. About 25 minutes before serving, sprinkle tops with turbinado sugar, carmalize with torch, then leave at room temperature before serving.
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I agree completely with boar_d_laze. You don't want to reheat your steak, or roast it, BBQing is a whole different beast, as is stock vs a deglaze.
I have done steak au poivre for six. It can be stressful if you don't have friends who enjoy the process
I served a lovely beet salad first, then we went back to the kitchen and did the steaks in 2 pans, which worked out just fine. But I prefer using 3/4" boneless rib-eyes, and I make a very quick balsamic reduction for the sauce. -
thanks all, but the props go to the inimitable charlie perry, who wrote the piece.
Sorry, but I love my wooden salad bowl, and use it a lot. I've had it at least 10 years and it smells just fine! I scrub it with soap and water, and dry it immediately. When I first got it, I rubbed it with mineral oil every few times I used it. But that didn't last long. I can't remember when the last time was that it needed oiling. To my eye and palate, a salad should either be plated and served individually, or prepared in the wooden bowl and placed on the table family style...it just doesn't seem right in a glass bowl
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Both those recipes are for the savory, bread-y zeppoles. Sorry, I should have specified I'm looking for the sweet, lighter kind.
I had a pretty good recipe that called for pastry flour and baking powder, but that hard-drive died and all was lost.
EDIT: possibly a mod could move this to the Italian forum so I don't have to cross-post it?
Here is one with baking powder. Zeppoli
I love zeppole. Now I'm going to have to try all our recipies. Luckily I still have two teenage boys at home. They'll help me to keep from ingesting all of them myself
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edsel
Thanks for the info. I have been to Shapiro's, for take out, and they are about the best deli we have here!
I'm glad I made the corned beef, since it was SO good, and I love doing my own thing
It also has urged me on to more ambitious projects - virtually everything in the book!
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Not a horrible story, like some I've read, but my grandma, who was a great cook, always prepared the Thanksgiving dinner for our extended family. I still remember my grandpa's face, while carving the turkey, as he pulled out quite a number of sheets of paper toweling. Grandma used it to dry the cavity of course, but this time forgot to remove it and toss it! Yes, of course we ate the bird, and it was wonderful as usual!
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... The husband thought I was weird to go to the trouble, even though he admits we haven't had a great corned beef since we moved to Indiana, and that it wasn't "cost efficient." I won't tell you what I told him
Good for you! Home-made is always better, even if it isn't "cost efficient".
BTW, you can get some pretty decent corned beef in Indianapolis. Ronnie can attest to this....
Ronnie needs to tell me where. Probably downtown, I don't get there enough. Live out in the burbs
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I'm sorry, but covering a wonderful ribeye with anchovies is desecretion!
It's a loose adaptation of what they do at Chez Panisse. I think it tastes great.
I thought it looked quite tasty!
San Francisco Restaurant Reviews & Recommendations
in California: Dining
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