paulraphael

if you're worried about uneven heating (from being close to the sides, etc.) you can always turn them and shuffle them around two or three times over the course of cooking. Kind of a nuissance, but it can solve the problems. I also recommend putting a doubled layer of foil over the breasts for the first 10 or 15 minutes. This eliminates all worries of the breasts getting overdone while the dark meat cooks. Helps with nice even browning, too. I'm indebted to James Peterson for that technique.

This is an interesting subject ... I've always wondered how people managed with this kind of thing. As a purely amateur cook and baker, I'm baffled by how anyone can make money unless they're working in a real production environment, cranking things out in multiples. Even then, it would seem like affter ingredients get paid for, the hourly wage would be ridiculous. I'm not even considering overhead. Just the other day I made a couple of tarts. They turned out pretty well ... better than most of the professionally baked tarts I've had. but when I factor in the cost of ingredients, and pay myself a reasonable wage, I'd have to charge around $40 each, wholesale! This ignores overhead, and also ignores that no one is going to pay that much for a tart. What kind of hourly wage do good bakers expect to earn?

I'd actually be concerned with things burning in the disposable pan. at the very least I'd set it on a baking sheet to provide a little more heat diffusion on the bottom. But you might have something sittting around already that would work better than that anyhow. A pyrex baking dish? a metal or stoneware casserole? a jelly roll pan? None of these can be deglazed, unfortunately. Even the cast iron skillet is sketchy for this (you might take the seasoning right off of it, which will annoy you, and make a sauce that tastes vaguely like a burnt fossil of everything you've ever cooked in there. But most things are better than those disposable pans.

I'm much less concerned with the texture of the bottome of the chicken (which I just use for stock making anyhow) than I am with keeping my pan drippings from burning. I always make some kind of pan sauce when I roast, because those drippings are so flavorful. Having the bottom of the pan covered with bird/veggies keeps it from getting too hot. Traditional roasting (on a spit) allowed for free air around the meat because the pan for the drippings was down by the embers in a place much cooler than the spit itself. But an oven doesn't afford that luxury. I gladly sacrifice a crisp bottom in the name of my jus.

I just think splattering is a part of roasting. I put the chickens on a bed of coarsely chopped onions (or anything else), and roast at 500 degrees. It splatters, sizzles, pops, and sometimes sets off smoke alarms. But the chicken is soooo good!

I've found a siginificant time increase when doing two birds, but it may have to do with the pans I'm using as much as with the number of birds. Doing one chicken I use a skillet, which is about perfect size, and has nice low sides that stay out of the way of air flow. I find it harder to manage two skillets and their long handles in the oven at once, so for two birds I've used a big clad metal roasting pan that has higher sides. I find time is close to 50% longer and browning is much less even. I think the ideal way to do it would be with two small pans that you can get fairly close to the center of the oven, but still have some air flow between them. If you have the pans and they'll fit, this would probably cook two birds in close to the same time as one.

Thanks for the responses, everyone. I made an apple tart last night and put some of these ideas to use. Worked well (though apple is less challenging than a soupier custard based tart). my plan now includes 1) prebaking and final baking with the tart pan right on a hot stone on the bottom rack of the oven 2) prebaking thoroughly, and using a ring of foil for the last few minutes to keep the rim from getting overdone 3) precooking the filling thoroughly to set it up and give it less chance to soak into the shell. for pumpkin I plan to try the cook's illustrated order of operations (cooking the pumpkin/spices, then adding milk and cream and bringing to simmer, then mixing in the eggs).

I've worked with wed doughs ... this was ridiculous. it was like glue. flour was helpless against its wrath. i thought it was trying to kill me. I'm definitely going to try this again, with a bit less water. is there any chance the cold temperatures in my house played a part in this? the yeast seemed pretty active after 24 hours so i figured things were going ok until i tried to fold it.

How cool is it supposed to be before cutting into it? It was probably below 60 degrees, because that's how cold my loft is. How did you improve your dough? Less water? Thanks!

alright, my first attempt at this was a disaster. my first ever bread disaster. the dough was so slack, so sticky, so disgusting, that i felt like i was in a grade B sci-fi horror movie. it was unhandleable. stuck to everything, especially me. when i finally threw it off of me and emptied my revolver into it ... alright, i'm exagerating. but it was bad. i'm wondering if temperature could be an issue. my place is cold in the winter. 55 to 60 degrees. i compensated for this letting it ferment longer. at 24 hours, it looked nice and bubbly, so i figured it was ready to go. aparently not. i mixed it acording to the original recipe, using pilsbury bread flower. any thoughts? would more time have helped? i was so happy about this until five minutes ago.

Technically, since most butters are only 80% fat and 17% water, 3 oz of butter and 1.5 oz of water equals 2.4 oz of fat and 2 oz of water. In order to get the ratios to 3:2:1 you would need 4.5 oz of flour, 3.75 oz of butter, and 0.86 oz of water. ← That's a good point. I've been using butters that way for a little while .. considering them 80% fat (or 85% for the good stuff, which does make better pastry), but i've never seen anything written about it. I have not compensated for the water in the butter by reducing the added water. it just seems to take so long for the water to get liberated from the butter, that it isn't available effect the handling of the dough.

How well has this worked? it's on my list of things to try. i'm inclined to try it before trying the foil ring, just because it seems simpler (and involves one less disposable item). do you think it would be worthwhile to preheat the stone to a higher temp than the baking temp? does the baking stone help the inside bottom of the shell get crisp?

I've thought about cooking longer, but I'm afraid the filling might curdle. not sure if this is a silly thing to worry about. Do you think a pumpkin pie type filling (with whole eggs, cream, sugar, etc) can be cooked on the stove until it starts thickening, but still remain pourable (like a creme angaise)? I do use an egg wash on the inside of the tart. the recipe i stole it from said to use a whole egg (with 1/4 tsp salt) not an egg white. not sure if this makes a difference. Thoughts? Maybe the filling could be cooked longer? And any moisture added reduced? ←

This isn't an original problem, I know ... I've been making tarts, especially ones with fresh pumpkin, and have been having trouble getting the shells crisp on the bottom, especially in the center. The bottoms at the edges, and the sides and rims are perfect. The filling is perfect. I've been fixing them by sliding them on foil onto a 500 degree baking stone, but there has to be a better way. Here's what I'm already doing. This all helps, but not enough: -prebaking the shell, and baking the whole tart, on the bottom oven rack -prebaking the shell almost all the way (more than 'half baked) -precooking the filling on the stove (to the point where it just starts to thicken) -filling the hot pre-baked tart shell with the half-cooked filling -i'm using a 375 degree oven, and traditional tinned steel pans. Here are some thins i'm considering: -preheating the oven and a baking stone to a high temp, then turning down to the normal temp. then prebaking the tart shell by sliding the tart pan right onto the hot stone -when prebaking the shell, after it browns a bit, covering it with a large sheet of foil to protect the top, and let the bottom cook another few minutes. -doing the same thing but with a ring of foil that leaves the top part of the shell bottom exposed (this is starting to sound too fussy, but i'm trying to think of everything. Any thoughts? How is this typically handled?

Peterson! He's the father, the son, and the holy ghost. His soup book isn't a technical tour de force in the same way as his Sauces book, but it's fantastic. The recipes are diverse and delicious, but it's written around lessons in the structure and technique of soup, so you won't akwats be dependent on the recipes. What I love about his cookbooks is that they're written to help you not need them. Even so, there are a few recipes that are so good that I make them over and over. Some of his recipes are time consuming, but nothing I've come across seems particularly difficult. It's soup, after all ... lots of good stuff mixed together. It's not organic chemistry. Definitely take his quantites for seasonings are starting points, I find he likes to go much lighter on herbs and spices than I do, particularly with spice-based cuisines like indian and north african.

A double stock will give you the same amount of stock from your ingredients as a big reduction will, but it will usually taste better. It won't suffer from the flatness that you can get from extended boiling/reduction.

I was being bombastic, presumptuous, and opinionated, the way people who love chocolate often feel entitled to be

here's an article on just that question ... http://www.nytimes.com/2006/11/26/books/26...r=1&oref=slogin This one is much more thorough, but you have to pay for it http://select.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.htm...DA80994DE404482

Instead of a dutch oven, has anyone tried just doing this on a baking stone and covering with some kind of dome? Seems like you could use an upside-down dutch oven for this, or a big stainless or stoneware mixing bowl, or one of those domes caterers use to cover roasts. Any thoughts? seems like it would be easier than dropping dough into a pot. Maybe you'd have to preheat whatever you're using for the dome, especially if it's heavy.

I agree with the consensus here. A simple thing to remember is that pastry dough typically has 1/3 the weight of the flour in liquid. That's very little. Typical bakers percentage for sweet pastry (pâte sucrée) are 100% flour, 66% butter, 33% liquid, 10% sugar, and 1/2% salt If you don't like numbers, a way to tell if the hydration is right and the mixing is adequate is to grab a pinch. If it barely holds together, and tends to crack and crumble, you're there. As unlikely as it seems. If I can't get the dough to form a ball, I'll pile it in bowl and let it sit covered in the fridge for 20 minutes or so. That rest can allow the flour to hydrate enough to form dough. When the dough does its final rest in the fridge (at least 30 minutes, but I find 24 hours is ideal) the flour will fully hydrate and it will become manageable enough to roll out. It will also develop better flavor. As djyee said, this part is important. If you try to get it doughlike too quickly, by adding more water or by overworking it, you'll get a brick. Some other things that will help tenderize the crust are higher butterfat buttter (french farm style butter is as much as 86% butterfat, vs. 80% for most supermarket butter) and pastry flour (buy it or make your own by blending AP flour with cake flour or corn starch). Roll out and form as others have suggested (and I give another vote for Julia Child's instructions, but I much prefer all butter over her butter/shortening mix). Just make shure to work quickly, and to work the dough as little as possible. If the kitchen is warm, the dough may get sticky. If so, stop, and put it in the fridge for 20 minutes or so to relax it and re-solidify the butter. If you let the butter melt, you'll end up again with a brick. [Edited! I wrote the percentages from memory and got them wrong]

I think this mysterious "most people" who don't like dark, bitter chocolate either need some re-education, or they need to go to someone else's dinner party! I sometimes go the opposite route with chocolate desserts. If there are a lot of non-chocolate ingredients (especially butter and cream) I'll often make a blend that's as over as a third unsweetened chocolate and the rest bittersweet chocolate in the 65% to 70% range. A blend that tastes great to me in a rich chocolate marquise is about 40% valrhona guanaja (one of my faves, but can be a little dark and lacking in aroma by iteself in desserts, 40% unsweetened chocolate (callebaut or valrhona), and 20% valrhoha manjari (brighter, fruiitier, more acidic and aromatic). In other desserts where i don't want as much of a dominating chocolate flavor, I someimes use the manjari straight. It's delicious without being overwhelmingly dark or complex.

I don't know, but if I were looking I'd check out the pork store and murray's cheese (both on bleeker) and possibley citarella and loebell's. The real answer will probably be more obscure and interesting, but those are worth a try. Please let us know what you find out.

I'm not convinced of this; I have done several chickens where the only variable is brine. There has been a significant difference in browning. The brined birds seem to cook slightly faster, but brown less and also brown unevenly. It might be something specific to the way I'm doing it. The most time I've brined for is 2 hours. I'm considering dropping that to 1 and letting the bird sit out for the second hour. Does anyone think there would be health risks associated with brining for an hour out of the fridge (with water the temp of cold tap water?) I realize one possible issue is the bird not being able to warm as close to room temperature when it's soaking in a half gallon of water.

Interesting. I'd think dry salting would draw moisture out of the bird. what are you doing and what are the results? And when you air dry after brining, how much time does it typically take?