mktye

Another thank you to the Busboys for planning this event. All the food (& drink) was wonderful. Mr. mktye is still talking about the tastiness of Mr. Dente's wings, mnebergal's butt and Busboy's sausage. Hmm, this is starting to sound like a "don't ask/don't tell" situation... Also, thank you to hillvalley the great pics and for sharing the leftovers of her wonderful tomato salad. I'm mixing it with some cubes of the leftover sourdough for lunch. Mmmm, panzanella.

See you at the park!

Hey! Are you implying my bread cannot stand on its own?!? (But I am planning on bringing some complementary spreads for the bread...) I'll have to remember this saying. Moving the time to one is fine with us. Leaving it at two is also fine. And, personally, we have no problems with dogs. Our pup does not like thunder or strangers, so she will be staying at home cowering.

I finally had the opportunity to talk with my friend about Charles County BBQ places. Her thoughts: Their favorite BBQ is T&J's on 225 between La Plata and Indian Head. She said their sauce is not overly sweet. This place is also a long-time favorite of employees of the Indian Head Navy base and Mr. mktye has eaten there before (but only had the chicken which he liked). She also said George's on 210 in Indian Head is pretty good, but they go more for the excellent collard greens than the BBQ (they prefer T&J's). Another place she recommended is B&J's on 210 (the purple building) across from the National Colonial Farm. However, she does not think they have ribs, only pulled pork and ??? Lastly, she is not a fan of Johnny Boy's on 301 either and said she finds their BBQ dry and non-descript. As to other things to do while in Charles County... The National Colonial Farm off of 210 has a nice picnic area with a great view of Mount Vernon across the river. They also have farming exhibits and heirloom breeds of farm animals (chickens, pigs and such). General Smallwood State Park in Indian Head is another option for sitting and eating the BBQ. We just need to be sure to bring the insect repellant! My friend has never been, but said that Hard Bargain Farm (also off of 210) has occasional evening concerts. More info. here. As to logistics... T&J's and George's are only about 5 miles apart, so it would probably be worth it to go to both (at the very least to try the greens at George's). B&J's is about 10 miles up the road from George's. So, if we don't mind somewhat lukewarm BBQ, we could also try to hit all three and then picnic at the National Colonial Farm.

Ditto. The SAF Gold is wonderful. From Shirley Corriher's "Cookwise": "The old German bakers' tale about a pinch of ginger was true-- certain spices do enhance yeast's activity. Small amounts of ginger, ground caraway, cardamom, cinnamon, mace, nutmeg and thyme all improve yeast activity. Dry mustard, like salt, strongly inhibits yeast growth." Then she goes on to say that a few spices, specifically cinnamon and cloves, improve yeast activity at low levels (for cinnamon, 5 to 10 percent of the weight of the yeast) but at higher levels (equal the weight of the yeast), it "dramatically reduces" yeast activity. According to the chart in the book, ginger (and I am assuming they are referring to powdered ginger) is not inhibitive, even at equal the weight of the yeast.

Glad you were able to choke down the cake. That is what I found with trying the various white cake recipes in this thread--they all produced very excellent cakes that I was more than happy to eat! A 4 of July present to celebrate independence from measuring flour by volume?!? I have an old (5+ years) Terraillon electronic scale. It easily switches from ounces to grams and has always worked well despite the abuse it gets.

More thank-you's to otello from us and Mrs. S.-- we all had a great time and are glad you got this group started. Also thank you to the busboys for the logistical assistance and to bbq4meanytime for bringing his big box of essential picnic items. When I tasted some of the BBQ sauce on a piece of that oh-so-yummy-bread, I noted there was celery seed in the sauce (but none in the coleslaw ). Perhaps this was the "off" taste in the sauce? I also concur with the general consensus of too much sweet and not enough hot. I'm having lunch this Wednesday with a friend from Port Tobacco and I'll quiz her on what is currently considered the best BBQ in Charles County. Also, I'll ask if she has any ideas for something else to do while down there (but I can already imagine her hysterical laughing...). Looking forward to the next get-together and I'll be sure to wear olive drab cargo pants and a black shirt!

This is what I suspected might help. I think my biggest problem with food photography is taking the time to get the good pics. It always seems that there are people waiting to eat/taste/serve whatever I am trying to photograph and I feel rushed (and guilty that I'm making them wait). Thank you and everyone else for the helpful input!

If it is not a problem, our friend Mrs. S would like to come along, so that would be three of us. We'll keep an eye out for your red baseball cap otello. Mr. mktye's military haircut will probably give us away, if not, our lost & confused expressions will also be a clue. Going to the park seems an excellent idea to us as long as someone leads the way--we tend to lose all ability to navigate whenever we are on that side of the Potomac. Should we bring along some chairs in case a picnic table is not available?

Sounds good!Any distinguising characteristics so we'll recognize you otello?

And how did it turn out? I almost always sift cake flour since it tends to be so finely milled and clumps together. As far as the measuring... it really depends on how the recipe is written and the practices of the author/cookbook. For example: 1 cup flour, sifted = measure first, sift second 1 cup sifted flour = sift first, measure second I just checked the KA "Baker's Companion" (where the recipe came from) and they don't even mention sifting in the recipe! However, for volumetric measurement of flour, they call for fluffing the flour, filling the measuring cup with a spoon and then leveling off the top. (As opposed to dipping the measuring cup into the flour and then leveling off). Bottom line--it is much more accurate and easier to measure flour by weight rather than volume. That is what I did with this recipe. I sifted the cake flour into a bowl on my scale until I had the desired weight of flour. Here is the eG Kitchen Scale Manifesto that goes over the advantages of measuring by weight and dicusses various types of scales and their use. I have also noticed this, but do not know the cause. I don't think vanilla can really go "bad" (as in harmful to the health) because if its high alcohol content, but I imagine over time, or if it is kept in a hot environment, the flavor can change or just fade away. That is a very good question. I've never done any side-by-side comparisons (hmmm... ), so I personally have no idea. I suspect that one reason Softasilk is mentioned so much is that, in my experience, it is the most prevelant brand in the U.S.. I hope the cake turned out well for you and it meets your expections!

Great thread. I've been having more of a technical than asthetic problem with my pictures... For the White Cake thread over on the Pastry & Baking forum, I've been attempting to take some very close pics of the various cakes to show their texture. However, since the cakes are so white, I've not been able to use the flash without gettting a huge, blurred mess. But not using the flash resulted in some loss of detail. Here is one of the no-flash pics that has been manipulated to increase the sharpness a bit and to brighten it up to real-life color. Any ideas to improve the detail? Maybe another light source? Also, I initially photographed the cakes on a dark-colored plate, but there was far too much constrast for my little Canon PowerShot S110 and the cake was a total white blob. I did have a bit better luck with the darker banana cakes when I could use the flash... One of my all-time favorite cartoons!

Thanks Trish, although I feel this pic did not come out as well as the other white cake pictures I took previously. Not quite sure why. Since the cakes are so white, I have not been able to use the flash (too much reflection) which leads to a bit of blurriness. Do you have a photo editing program? I'd be lost without mine. On the above pic, I used the program to sharpen the picture up a bit and increased the lightness about 25% to compensate for the lack of flash and to achieve real-life color. Also, if you have not seen it, there is a thread here on the eG Site Tips and Techniques forum where they've been discussing food photography at length.

Count me and Mr. mktye in! What time? Early afternoon would be better than later for us. And we'd be up for any of those places--maybe drawing names from a hat would be the best way to choose. Also, if anyone is interested in carpooling with us from the Alexandria area, please send me a PM.

Mr. & Mrs. mktye would love to attend. And do you think anything could stop me from bringing bread?!? I cannot take the chance that we'd be short on carbs! I would also like to bring asian-style sesame/peanut noodles if that is deemed a worthy dish by our apparently fearless event organizer (pot-luck coordination--I have heard of no one who has escaped from such an endeavor unscathed...).

Here is the pic of the KA Elegant White Cake: You have not had any luck in finding a recipe that works well with French flour?You can always hop on a plane to D.C. -- I have plenty of cake to share!

I finally got around to making the King Arthur Flour's Elegant White Cake and taste tested it against some defrosted Betty Crocker's Rich White Cake. I did make a couple of changes to the original Elegant White Cake recipe: 1. Used 3 tsp. of vanilla instead of vanilla and almond so the flavoring would be consistent between the cakes tasted. 2. Used 1 cup (8 oz) of butter intead of butter and shortening. (For health reasons, I no longer use hydrogenated oils.) The King Arthur cake was excellent. Good flavor and a lighter texture (similar to TrishCT's cake) than the Rich White Cake. One taster still preferred the Rich White Cake with the denser, more pound-cake like texture, but the other two of us liked the Elegant White Cake better. I found the flavor of the two to be almost identical with the only real difference being the density. I have a picture to post, but ImageGullet is down, so I'll have to post it later. My hubbie came home the other day, scowled and said: "Honey, that is not another white cake is it?!?" I was happy to answer him: "No, that is another banana cake -- I'm baking the white cake tomorrow!"

I first saw liquid nitrogen used to make ice cream in 1986... in freshmen chemistry lab. The professor, who was certainly not the originator, had been doing this "trick" for decades. It's popularity is right up there with using a liquid nitrogen-frozen banana to hammer nails into a board or throwing a bucket full of liquid nitrogen on the floor to "sweep" up the dirt and dust-bunnies. It is interesting that something seen as a pedestrian amusement in one environment is cutting-edge in another. Kudos to This/Conticini for having the insight to recognize there is an audience outside of the scientific world hungry for this type of thing. (And I, along with hundreds of other scientists, cannot help thinking: "Why, oh why, didn't I plublish it first?!?" )

Reap -- Welcome to eGullet! TrishCT's cake was the lightest of all the cakes I baked. The other cake I made from an old Betty Crocker recipe (which was very similar to Trish's recipe) was also pretty light, so I think the separately beaten egg whites are the key to the lightness. However, I did use cake flour in all the recipes, so I cannot say how they'd be with AP flour. TrishCT -- Glad the KA cake came out well for you. After your positive review, I am definitely making it later this week. skyflyer3 -- I use Softasilk cake flour.

You've been able to eat food already?!? I am just now approaching the point that I can even consider food, although some lassi sounds pretty good... Yet another huge "thank you" to Monica and the folks at Passage to India. An excellent evening. My only regret is that we could not arrive earlier (my flight from the west coast did not arrive into Dulles until 4:40) and socialize with you all more!

I may have the details slightly wrong, but I believe the production of carbon dioxide is related to the surface area of the microorganism. Yeast cells are much larger than lactobacillus cells and produce much more CO2 per cell, but the lactobacillus cells outnumber the yeast cells by something like 100 to 1. The end result is around a 50/50 contribution to leavening. Wow! I never thought it was that much leavening from the bacilli. Cool. Do you know if the book mentioned in your linked reference was ever published?

Very informative thread! I have never seen this info. before and find it quite interesting, thank you for posting it. As I said before, many (even most) cookbooks writing about sourdough contain tons of bad information when it comes to sourdough. All you're telling me is that you went to lot of unnecessary extra trouble sand ended up inoculating your starter anyway. I agree. I have worked in both biochemistry and microbiology labs and it is takes a lot of effort to maintain a sterile environment. At the very least, autoclaves (which use both pressure and heat to sterilize equipment), dedicated air handling systems and gloves are required for a somewhat sterile environment (i.e., a certain percentage of contamination will still occur). However, you can have a "cleaner" environment in your kitchen that will help cut down on the possibility of non-desirable bacteria in a new starter. And the yeast do keep one from baking up brick doorstops. Seriously though, your point is a very good one -- starters contain both organisms that are balanced in their environment and without the lactobacilli it would not be sourdough. I feel this an important aspect that is frequently overlooked. By changing variables of how the culture (or even the sponge) is maintained, it can be tipped to favor either the lactobacilli or the yeast. The temperature and percent hydration at which the culture is kept and also the frequency and percent of refreshment can all affect the balance of bacilli and yeast. My personal philosophy of sourdough: Try anything. If it works for you, do it. And if it doesn't work, all you've lost is some flour, water and time.

I can understand your frustration. If that happened to me, it would drive me bonkers until I figured it out. From a microbiological standpoint, I'm always pretty amazed at how constant sourdough cultures remain over time, especially given the less-than-sterile ways they are handled in the kitchen environment. It really says something about the vitality of the yeast and bacilli used for sourdough since they most likely have to fight off "invaders" every time the culture is opened and fed. Plus, they are also battling each other for equilibrium. If you find a solution or the cause of your "bloom" (I like that term!), I'd really like to know what you discover. Good luck!

We stopped by Pizza Paradiso while in Georgetown this last Sunday and, from what we experienced, not much has changed in the last year or so. To start, we had the special appetizer of roasted elephant garlic w/bread. It was disappointing mainly because of the lack of decent olive oil (as has been mentioned previously, also by vengroff) and the fact that by the time it got to our table the four skimpy pieces of bread (is there a local ordinance that limits the amount of bread that can be served in Georgetown?!?) were totally soaked in the tasteless olive oil. While the pizza tasted good and the crust was not totally devoid flavor (what a novelty!), the toppings were thrown on quite randomly. Over one half of our "special of the day" pizza with rosemary, had no rosemary! But these issues were quite trivial in comparison to the behavior of the staff... The woman at the table next to us dropped her 3/4-full water glass and it quite spectacularly shattered as it hit the marble-topped table. A waiter taking an order two tables over, looked up briefly and that was the extent of his concern. He walked over to another one of his tables, talked to the people there and then walked right by the table with the woman desperately trying to contain the spilled water. My husband (always super-sensitive to public scenes) gave the woman his napkin to help with the mop up, but no employees of the restaurant offered any assistance. After the woman and her friend left, the hostess bused the table and frowned at the broken glass, but no one ever did clean up the large puddle of water and ice under the table. Lovely. As my husband said: "It really sort of ruins the experience".

Congratulations!!!!