patris

Ah, memories. The whole experience trying to order from Croquade was not great, as I remember - I put in the order, they cancelled it the next day because they didn't have the product, then they hung on to my money for something like a month while I kept asking when they would refund me, until I disputed the charge with my credit card company. Great melters, bad customer service!

Around these parts, the Amarena cherries show up around the beginning of the winter holiday season - I start looking for them in late October/early November and as soon as they show up I always snag two or three jars, because they're never around for more than a week or two.

That fruit spread is one of my favorites - it is definitely on the tart side, and for me it doesn't have the wateriness (for lack of a better word) of a lot of spreads sweetened with fruit juice. I love it on a toasted, buttered waffle.

Yes, I did use frozen puree - Wegmans carries Goya brand and it works beautifully.

I did juice them (key limes), cursing the tiny little things all the while.

Funny - I have been eyeing the Ooni but I don’t yet have a place to put it. Rest assured though, I am fully vaxxed and quite anxious for a long-overdue visit when the border reopens!

They kept for probably a couple weeks before they started to go grainy. We had them enrobed in chocolate, which no doubt helped them keep their texture. We only made what we would sell (took orders ahead of time), so storage wasn’t a concern. They were packaged by the half pound in heat-sealed cello bags.

You're welcome. I'm glad you liked them. Everything looks so great - lucky neighbors!

Of all the events in my life lost to COVID this year, this is the one I miss the most! Thank you @curls for reaching out. Assuming things get back to normal by then, you can bet @Kerry Beal and the elves will be back at it next December.

I've been very happy with Cocoa Supply - https://www.cocoasupply.com/. Seems to be good quality and prices are excellent.

No trouble at all!

Quick update on tours: Fowlers does not do tours outside of one per year in October, for which they charge admission (the proceeds go to charity). Watsons does not do tours at all. Still waiting to hear back from Landies, but Platters does factory tours by appointment for groups of 20 or larger. I am in the "trading voicemails" stage with their person, and am hoping they might make an exception if Landies falls through and our group is smaller than 20.

I hadn't thought of Landies - I will reach out to them!

I'll make some preliminary calls just to see what the best option might be and wait until the schedule and master class attendance is sorted then!

I will look into arranging a factory tour. Fowler’s would be ideal as they are in the same industrial park as Tomric, but I think they only do one tour a year and it’s for charity. I’ll check it out though. I suspect we’d have better luck with another company, Platters, which is a bit north of the city. They have a large production facility and I believe their production area is viewable, so I think a tour would be more in their wheelhouse. They do make sponge candy and other confections on site and have a large enrobing line. Watsons would be another good choice - they are very well known here and also make sponge candy. Any sense of what day/rough time frame would be right?

I have made it a few times (small batches, not commercial kitchen sized) - I will definitely second the slow cooling. I turn my oven on the "warm" setting for a few minutes, just enough to warm it up a bit - maybe 130 degrees or so? - and then turn it off. Once I have quickly stirred in the baking soda I pour it without scraping into a well-greased pan, pop it in the warm oven and let it cool completely (for several hours or overnight) with the oven door closed. It keeps good volume but, like @curls said, there is quite a bit of non-aerated product all around the edges, with the sponge in the middle. I generally use a 9 x 13 pan for a single home batch but if I made it more often I would probably consider getting a smaller square, high-sided pan to see if I could get more usable product. The recipe I use does not include gelatin but I am considering trying it with - I'm a Buffalonian and the texture of the sponge candy that is ubiquitous around here (like Fowler's, featured in your linked video) is super tender and airy, and I suspect the gelatin is responsible for that. Mine is good flavor-wise, but can be a little harsh and shreddy on the tongue and palate.

just let me know your favorite flavors (knowing they don’t always have everything) and I will do the rest! My house is equidistant from Tomric in the opposite direction from the hotel so I will pick them up one or the other morning on my way to Tomric. oh yeah - @Kerry Beal I should probably ask you to put my sister Chris and me on the list!

Paula’s is 10 minutes from my house; I’d be happy to pick them up. For those who are unfamiliar, Paula’s makes extremely... substantial donuts. Lots of flavors, great quality, always fresh.

Have you tried Barkeeper's Friend? I use the liquid version of it on my glass cooktop all the time and it works great. I haven't gone long enough between scrubbings for anything to get really polymerized on the cooktop, though.

I am going out to dinner with friends in about an hour and a half and I am very sad that nothing like this is on the menu at our chosen restaurant. It looks DELICIOUS.

I have been using the paragon for a few weeks now and while I don't think I would use it for anything requiring real temperature precision like caramel, it has become my go-to for things like grilled sandwiches (rapid precise, 350 F, up to 5 minutes per side) and scrambled eggs (220 F), both of which turn out pretty close to my platonic ideal. I have also caramelized large batches of onions a couple of times - 275 F for as long as it takes to cook them down - maybe a couple hours?, stirring every now and then. It seems to hold a relatively consistent temperature over a long period of time - something that I did not trust my old Burton induction hob to do. I also use it for making things that need to simmer a while - I really appreciate being able to dial in a temperature and know that it will bubble away in a relatively narrow temperature range rather than the burner cycling on and off like my smoothtop range does. It was so much less expensive than the hob I bought years ago, and cooks so much more evenly, that I am perfectly OK with not depending on it for things where precision makes or breaks a recipe. EDITED TO ADD: I do not find the app particularly useful. I can set a timer to remind me to flip my grilled cheese sandwich - I don't need my phone to tell me when to do it. If the app had a larger library of recommended temperatures I might find it more useful, but it is not a resource to which I turn at this point.

Heading out shortly to a small gathering at a friend’s house with a few goodies. Rob’s Wedding Tartlets (caramelized red onion and Stilton), idea courtesy of @Kerry Beal; macarons filled with raspberry Prosecco white chocolate ganache; and volcano chocolates filled with salted caramel ganache and dusted with silver and gold interference powders. Looking at them I think they look more alien eyeball than shimmering delight, but what can you do. Happy New Year to all - may 2020 bring each of you more of what you cherish most!

Yippee and Merry Christmas! I think I understand what you are saying, but forgive me if I am telling you to do something you have already tried. There is a little button on the right hand side of the sensor - facing away from you if you have the mat on and the sensor on your right. Press that in for a second; the bluetooth icon will flash three times on the face of the sensor and the display on the unit will flash "Sync". From there you should be able to select your cooking mode and get started.

These look wonderful! I love that pastry dough - it’s my go-to for tartlets. Mine always rise/bubble up in the center while they are baking, despite a good docking. Yours look like they didn’t - do you have a trick, or do my eyes deceive me? One other question: I have never in my life made a custard tart so I don’t know what a good ratio of eggs to cream would be. Can you point me to a reliable recipe? I’d love to make these for Christmas.

When @Kerry Beal was here a couple of weeks ago I fully intended to make charred broccoli reubens for us, but time and other activities got in the way. I finally got around to making one for myself today. Broccoli florets lightly steamed and then charred under the broiler; Swiss cheese; a sauce of mayo, ketchup, and horseradish (I added a bit of Dijon and next time will also add a dash of Worcestershire sauce); and sauerkraut, grilled on good rye bread on the Paragon. Eaten with some veggie chips and washed down with a glass of V8, a tasty and comforting way to start my holiday vacation. There’s quite a bit more broccoli in there than it looks - it’s not all cheese, I promise!