paulraphael

Interesting. Does he explain why it works?

Bingo! Thanks so much. Don't know why I couldn't find that before. 2 are on the way.

Just a few possibilities, some of which have already been mentioned: -dough should be rolled out, not stretched. Rolling it out a bit wide and then actually compressing it a bit to fit in the pan is ideal. -gluten needs to be relaxed. mixing the dough as little as possible, using as little water as possible, and giving it as much time as possible to rest, both before filling the pan and then before baking, are ways to achieve this. it's very easy to use too much water. unless you're already on top of this, I'd try using 2/3 as much water as you're currently using. The dough probably won't hold together. Put it in the fridge, covered, for 20 minutes and try again. The flour needs some time to fully hydrate. -add less water along with the fat. i don't like to go as far as using shortening, but I'll use a high buterfat, european style butter (84% to 85% butterfat). Tastier results, better texture, and less shrinkage.

Dark pumpkin tart: http://recipes.egullet.org/recipes/r2050.html After three seasons of playing around I finally nailed it.

Sure, but why not come to that conclusion after at least trying it the way the chef intended. This thread is interesting to me, because I've enjoyed sushi mostly in the American fast food fashion ... the way I was taught, with a blob of wasabi in my soy sauce. I could defend it by saying "it's the way I enjoy it," but in truth it's just my habit, and I have nothing, including the chef-prefered way, to compare it with. Next time I go for sushi I plan to try some of the ideas I've read about on e.g.: sit at the bar, take the chef's suggestions, and don't drown the fish in horseradish.

Stoneware's a very slow conductor. Almost certainly a step in the wrong direction. I was hoping for blue steel or blackened steel. Or some good oven-proof spray paint.

I've done this, but it's a fussy, annoying workaround. And it's a compensation for a pan that just isn't performing correctly. Good bakeware browns the food at the rate you want.

I've been wondering about that. The thing is, I almost always make tarts, and the only dark tart pans I can find are non-stick (the idea of nonstick tart pans annoys me so much I can't bring myself to get one). I did a quick search for French blue steel tart pans but didn't find anything. I may paint the outsides of my tinned steel pans black.

Yeah, the Taylor's kind of lame, but I can't say for sure what's better. My guess is your trouble has been with the probes. If water gets into the unsealed space between the probe and the wire, the thing goes crazy. When I replaced my first one, I found it worked fine with the probe from the new one. Now I'm just anal about keeping the connection dry when I wash it. Maybe you can buy spare probes from the company. The question is, do other brands have the same problem. I don't know. Other brands definitely appear to have better ergonomics. The Polder that I saw looks simpler and easier to use (no actual experience with it, though).

I bake a lot of tarts, and use the standard french tinned steel pans. But the pans don't seem to work that well. I've jumped through every imaginable hoop, but can never get the parts of the shell covered by the tin to brown enough. The tinned steel either insulates too much or it reflects too much radiant heat. Are there materials that might do better? I'd like to avoid the siliness of non-stick, if possible. I did a quick google search for blue steel or blackened steel and didn't find anything. Or .. what about blackening the tin? Anything I could do on the outsides of the pans that would permanently darken them?

Dark Pumpkin Tart Serves 12 as Dessert. If you're getting sick of pumpkin pies, try this. Great depth of flavor, great texture, and the sophistication of a French Tart ... a balance of crust and filling that I prefer to deep-dish pies. 2 partially cooked tart shells, 9 to 10 inches 1-3/4 c pumpkin puree* 1 tsp ground cinnamon 1 tsp ground nutmeg 1/2 tsp ground allspice 1/4 tsp ground or grated ginger 1 tsp teaspoon salt 2/3 c brown sugar (preferably dark brown)** 1/4 c honey (half light, half dark)** 1/2 c heavy cream 1/4 c whole milk 3 eggs, lightly beaten *Fresh is best. I like to use sugar pumpkins, cut in thin strips and roasted, in order to evaporate as much moisture as possible. Puree and strain. ** The flavor profile will be strongly influenced by the sugar and honey. Dark brown sugars like dark muscovado, and a blend of honeys that includes a dark one like chestnut, will give the darker, more intense flavor that sets this recipe apart. Directions - while tart shells are prebaking, mix pumpkin, sugar, honey, and spices in medium sized heavy saucepan. - stir over medium heat and bring to a light boil. keep stirring until mixture thickens (about 5 minutes) - reduce heat. - in a small mixing bowl, beat the eggs until yolks are broken and well mixed. set aside. - after removing pie weights from tart shells and putting back in the oven, you have a few minutes for the final steps. add milk and cream. Turn up heat and stir until it begins to simmer. turn off heat. - temper the eggs and mix: pour about half the hot pumpkin mixture into the eggs while stirring rapidly. mix it all together before the eggs get a chance to curdle. -pour the egg/pumpkin mixture into the saucepan with the rest of the pumpkin mixture and stir thoroughly. - oven should be on from prebaking tart shells. set to 375° -pour mixture into tart shells - put tarts in the oven on bottom rack - tart is cooked when center still jiggles when shaken, but does not slosh around, and edges of shell are well browned 25 to 30 minutes. I go longer rather than shorter, in order to help crisp the bottom of the shell. -cool on cooling rack I like to serve warm. Heating pieces on a hot skillet right before serving will help crisp the bottom of the shell. Keywords: Dessert, American, Intermediate, Fruit, Tart ( RG2050 )

I've tried it on a pizza stone. Even tried preheating the stone to 550 degrees and then turning down before putting the pie/tart in the oven. If anything it's been a little better just on the rack. I'm getting a little frustrated with the difficulty of browning tart shells on the bottom. I'm using tinned steel, which seems to be a favorite with bakers, but it just doesn't brown the bottom well. I'm considering finding a way to blacken the bottom of the pan (edge of the ring/disk) on the outside. With pies I've had a slightly easier time ... pyrex seems to let the radiant heat do its thing.

Ditto. I never understood the need for a sifter. A strainer seems to do a perfect job. It might be a little slower, but time saved while cleaning it usually more than makes up for that. In general I'm against single-purpose gadgets. Unless they really do the job a lot better than something else, and it's a job I need to do a lot.

Just stop looking down.

Ask Tammylc ... she has 88 lbs of it!

Great tip, thanks. At some point I might team up with some other NYC chocolate lunatics and split a 5kg box.

By the way, how are you getting Cluizel for $10/lb? Is this in huge bulk quantities? At Chocosphere it's $17/lb in 2Kg blocks; $16/lb in 5Kg blocks. If I could get it for $10 I'd bathe in it.

Hype. Stupid hype at that.

I usually use some combination of Valrhona Guanaja (very deep, complex flavor profile, but not much aroma), Manjari (brighter, fruitier, strong aroma), and whatever unsweetened chocolate I have around (usually Callebaut or Valrhona). This is for desserts that I'm willing to spend a few extra bucks on. For lesser occasions I've just been using Callebaut or El Rey bittersweet chocolates. I'm not completely happy with them because I find them to be all low notes ... I don't get the interesting fruity or wine-like overtones I get from the Valrhona. One of these days I'll try some of the others that are being suggested here.

Chocolate is prettty personal! I'd suggest ordering a few different kinds and making something basic, just to see what works out for you. Some things to consider: -Price, obviously. You may decide on a compromise between greatness and affordability if you're really looking for a single do-everything chocolate -Cocoa solids content. I think something in the 64% to 70% range is most versatile -Ease of melting and tempering. Most of the chocolates I've used were easy, but some can be a pain. And if you're doing any couverture, you'll definitely want to try out any chocolate before commiting. -Flavor balance. This is the most subjective. Some recipes call for a deep, powerful chocolate taste, others do better with something bright and fruity or floral. If you're going for a single chocolate, something in the middle might be best. I'd offer suggestions of specific types, but I have more experience using and blending chocolates closer to the ends of the spectrum. None of them strikes me as a perfect do-everything chocolate.

I don't mean to suggest that the stones are unreasonably priced. I've found some Norton combo stones that I might get someday if the abrassive paper routine starts to feel cumbersome. But I do think the maintenance gear for these knives is expensive ... stones, papers, strops, compounds, educational materials, etc. etc.. I base this on the price relative to the price of the thing being maintained. It would be very easy to spend more on the tool kit than I spent on my most expensive knife, and this is a knife that cost double what many cooks are willing to spend! The economics are going to make sense to someone who's really into knives, or at least into knife-intensive cooking, but probably not so much to someone who just needs a cutting tool. In fact, if I was moving to a desert island and could only bring one knife, it would be the German one, no question about it. If you can only have one car, you take the sedan, not the Ferrari, even if leaving the Ferari behind makes you weep!

This is the best one I've seen or used (actually made by Demeyere): http://www.shopthevikingstore.net/product-p/29642.htm It's the only one I can find with clad construction and low sides. I just ebayed my old KA roasting pan ... beautifully made stainless/aluminum, but the sides were over 3" high and interfered wtih browning. The assumption with these tall pans must be that you'll use a rack. I don't like racks, so I want sides that are only high enough to let me deglaze without making a mess.

Good point ... the swedes seem to know something too. Quite a few of the Japanese makers use some flavor of Swedish steel.

Hiromoto AS Tenmi-Jyuraku series: http://japanesechefsknife.com/TenmiJyuraku...HEIGHT:%20187px It's a sandwich of Hitachi Aogami Super steel, clad with soft stainless steel. You're right that it's not a traditional Japanese knife. This wasn't meant as a review of those, since they're intended primarily for Japanese style cooking. I don't have much use for a single bevel knife and am not interested in the traditional handle style. The Hiromoto is considered a "western style" Japanese knife, which is confusing, because what they really mean is a western-inspired shape with Japanese refinements, made with Japanese steel and blade geometry. It is different in a number of ways from a European style knife: The blade is thinner, the belly is shallower, the bevel angles are more acute, the bevel is asymetrical (though still two-sided) and the steel is harder. It can be made as sharp as any double bevel knife; the limit is how much edge fragility you're willing to suffer.

Octaveman suggested that I write about my entry into the world of Japanese knives. I decided to wait until I had a bit of experience, including learning how to sharpen. It's now been several weeks and my one Japanese knife has spawned a couple of siblings. Background, prejudices, etc.: By nature I'm not a collector, and tend to find a good, all purpose tool, and use it to death. I'd used various low and middle end European style knives over the years before upgrading to a Schaaf Goldhamster chef's knife about five years ago. This knife wowed me every time I used it, and I used it for everything from mincing herbs to slicing roasts to hacking apart chickens. In the years I owned it I sharpened it on stones once; frequent steeling kept it sharp enough to shave with. Nevertheless, all the recent noise about Japanese knife nirvana got under my skin, and curiousity got the better of me. After a mind-numbing amount of research and discussion with the sociopaths at knifeforums.com, I decided to try a Hiromoto AS gyuto in the 240mm length. This knife has been getting a reputation as an excellent value. It has a very hard, high end carbon steel edge, clad on both sides with stainless. It's available directly from Japan for $130 from Japanesechefsknife.com. Their service and shipping are outstanding. Out of the box, the knife stuck me as light (but not feather light), slim, and nimble, in spite of being an inch and a half longer than what I'm used to. Fit and finish were not quite up to the standard of the German knife, but the blemishes (mostly around the handle) were easily touched up with sandpaper. In use, going back and forth between it and my german knife, it felt sharper but not dramatically so. On a scale of one to ten, one being a butter knife and ten being Star Wars light saber, the Hiromoto felt like and 8 and the Schaaf a 7. This is where learning to sharpen came in. I bought the sharpening DVD from Korin.com, which is good for the basics. I also read tons online, and finally decided to start out with the so-called scary sharp system, which uses silicon carbide sandpaper mounted to glass, rather than using water stones. This mimics the way stones work, and while it's expensive in the long run, the intitial investment is much lower than with good water stones. I also purchased a horsehide strop from handamerican.com, which works with half-micron chrome oxide abrasive powder. The learning curve was pretty easy. I'm still a beginner, but find it straightforward to get a good edge on the blade without destroying it (so far). Needless to say, this is already more investment in time and gear that I ever would have imagined for maintaining a knife! I've now spent close to the cost of my German knife in tools and educational materials, just for taking care of the Japanese knife--and this is without having invested in real stones. An advantage is that I can tune the edge to perform the exactly the way I like. The hard carbon steel can handle angles anywhere from the 15 degree (on each side) factory angle to a scalpel-like 5 degrees. The tradeoff is fragility. The sharper angles make a chip-prone edge that needs to be babied more than I'm probably willing. What I've ended up doing is leaving the factory angles on most of the knife, but thinning the three inches near the tip to 20 or so degrees. This allows it to slip easily through onions and hard garlic cloves when push-cutting the vertical cuts, but keeps the chopping edge stout. Even at the factory angles, this is not intended to be a heavy duty, all-purpose knife. Anything hard or tough that can grab the edge is capable of chipping it. If I need to hack up a bird or chop chocolate, or hand a knife to someone not used to treating it like a surgical tool, out comes the German knife. So now, with the refined edge and mirror polish from the strop, the performance is considerably better than it was out of the box. It slips effortlessly through anything, if you can get some forward or backward motion to the blade. It really likes to slice. It does less damage to the food than any knife I've used. An apple sliced with the Hiromoto will not brown, even after 45 minutes. It doesn't bruise herbs. It goes through onions silently (none of that telltale crunching sound). It's so easy to slice things to transparent thinness that I have to remind myself no to. After experiencing all this, I expected the German knife to feel clumsy in comparison. But remarkably it doesn't. I'm amazed that this thing with the factory angles and minimal maintenance can come so close. It does all the things the Hiromoto does, just not quite as well. Sometimes the German knife requires effort. If the Japanese knife does, it means I'm doing something wrong. Conversely, the German knife does things that the Japanese one can't, or at least shouldn't. In the end, the Hiromoto has become my main knife, and the Schaaf gets used more for the heavy cutting. The best thing I can say about the Hiromoto is that it makes prep work fun. Time will tell if this is still the case after the New Toy Mania wears off. I would heartily recommend this knife, but only to someone willing to invest in learning to sharpen and maintain it. And it's a big investment, in both time and tools, compared with what you need for a softer, thicker knife. The advantage of the Japanese blade lies partly in its geometry, but largely in its ability to take and hold whatever edge that you give it. This advantage is lost if you're not playing an active role in its tuning and upkeep. These are sports cars, not family sedans. Choose acording to your disposition! Before I stop rambling, I want to mention the other two knives I bought. One is a Mac 270mm bread knife. This thing is wonderful. For $60, it's the first good bread knife I've ever used. It cuts the bread, rather than crushing it or sawing it into a pile of crumbs. When it needs sharpening, though, I'll have to send it to a pro. Luckily It's not getting hammered on every day. The other is a 3" Al Mar chef series paring knife. This is the first paring knife I've ever liked. I had a Schaaf, but unlike the Schaaf chef's knife I never cared for the parer. It didn't fit right in my hand, and I could never get it razor sharp the way I want a paring knife to be. The Al Mar, in spite of being from their inexpensive line, takes a sharp edge easily. I put a very thin, very asymetrical bevel on it, and it holds up fine ... not surprising, since a paring knife spends little time banging into a cutting board. This knife was $50 well spent.