jumanggy

In my mind tuile batter is very flexible but not very stretchable. Geometrically you'll always come up with excess material when you place a circle on a demisphere. Maybe the bunching could be minimized if the baked tuile was draped over the bottom of the mold rather than the inside. If that's the way you do it already, maybe you could just use a mini brioche tin-- it would be a neat container with the bunching minimized by the flutes. I am guessing it will be a long while before you make another pistachio cake anyway

I love the way you make your pate sucree, Rob-- it's very clean. (Left a comment about your lemon tartlet on your blog.) The pistachio tuile is your recipe? If there was some way to minimize the browning on the edges while keeping the cookie crisp, it'd be a great way to make faux leaves. (Aside: yeah, I've seen pictures of you and you definitely can be carried by the wind! Dessert-makers everywhere are jealous.)

Among those I own: Chocolate Desserts by Pierre Herme (Greenspan) and The Art of the Cake (Healy and Bugat)

Yup, Jamie vs. Mario this January 6. So.... Is there a betting pool? Much as I love Jamie, I'd say Mario would win it. I would love to watch it, though! We only get repeats of ICA here, it would probably take months or years before I get to see it. I just watched an episode of Jamie's Great Italian Escape. He visits a monastery in Farfa with a famous ancient herb garden, but he's disappointed to find that the garden's been neglected and almost dead, and the monks' great cooking tradition has been replaced by tinned vegetables and fish fingers. I think at one point Jamie was about to cry as he was expecting good food in exchange for early morning prayers and chores (The monastery used to be inhabited by close to 70 monks, but now there are only 7. Their excuse for not caring about food much is that they're now too busy to tend to it, which I completely understand when you're trying to manage a massive structure when there are only a handful of you.) Anyway, he raises enough money to buy new herbs and revive the garden while teaching the youngest monks the basics. At one point, the young monk in charge of the food asks Jamie sheepishly to help him make risotto as the others requested it. When I saw the monk follow Jamie around with notebook and pen in hand, writing instructions diligently, I think a little tear came out of my eye It was very sweet. I can't wait to hear what you guys think of the show when it airs in a week.

Hi Poffertjes, congratulations on your pregnancy! Avoid the following: raw or undercooked eggs, unpasteurized dairy products, and meat not thoroughly cooked. Usual food safety hooha (washing fruits and vegetables, defrosting properly); special precaution regarding contact with cats. I'm just following WHO guidelines, which are generally multi-culturally friendly. Of course, other responses will probably be more specific

Hmm, I live in a country where Jell-O is not as ubiquitous, but I've always thought the word "pudding" was used very loosely to refer to any self-sufficient custardy dessert in the States (that's at least one of the definitions). It's not as though Jell-O would be very successful marketing instant pastry cream

TarteTatin, you know what might add injury to insult? Your friends coming over to this thread and relating their horrific meal with the undercooked flan-thing! You should definitely give a short description of anything new on the table, with a disclaimer ("this doesn't have as much sugar, as we're trying to watch our blood glucose..." etc.). More probable (than them signing on to eGullet, heh) but equally as enraging would be your friends spreading the word on how you served them poorly made food. Liz, at least your grandfather has all his choppers intact (I assume). My grandmother, sometimes out of fear, sometimes honestly, no longer has hers, and uses it as an excuse not to eat some things I prepare (like fibrous/ leafy vegetables). Cathrynapple, MILK? UNSEASONED POTATO MUSH? UNSEASONED WHITE CHICKEN MEAT? That is horrible. It almost serves them right for being so horrible to your parents-in-law. That is like a meal that's prepared by a stove-literate 5-year-old. And some eGulleters might even have children that young who can prepare better food than they do

I have one of those electric kettles where the heating element is inside the kettle itself, so I have no problem with time (boil water, pour in pasta pot, put lid on, boil another kettle, bring everything back to a rolling boil over the hob all in 8 minutes). I'm curious to see what everyone else's experimentation has resulted in How about... Placing the dry pasta in the pot while you bring the water to a boil? How much time could be saved then?

GENIUS!

Hmm, thinking about it, it might. Sorry-- I actually have a similar problem figuring out how to treat my natural wooden rolling pin. I get concerned if any microscopic butter or eggy-dough residue might turn rancid. So far, I just flour really well--no problems. (I hope someone with more expertise answers soon

Nice! I would think a food-grade mineral oil would be the solution (similar to the ones you'd use on a beautiful wooden cutting board), but that's just a guess-- for all I know just scrubbing is enough

Another small criticism: it's a bit salad-leaning (not salad-heavy, though). Among the episodes, you have: Strawberry (salad), Bean (salad), Carrot (salad), Courgette (salad), Onion (salad), Summer Salad, and Summer Brassicas. It seems that there is indeed a new season! I've visited the Official Channel 4 Site and there are descriptions for a few episodes I haven't seen-- Mushrooms, Game, Winter Greens, and Chili Peppers. I don't own the "companion" book so I don't really know how much material they prepared.

Wrong approach divas! Instead of Tabasco sauce, you should have gone the dessert route and used it to fill an empty shortcrust pastry Never mind the macaroni, it's a sweet cheese custard pie.

I think Jamie's Italy was indeed shown in the US, maybe it was broadcast by it's alternate title, Jamie's Great Escape? In any case, I seemed to always catch the episodes where the locals are dissing his avant-garde food and he saves the day by cooking very traditional dishes. I own the companion book, "Jamie's Italy," and the recipes are very classic and rustic, since that was the moral lesson of the series If you liked the "Cook With Jamie" book, then you're sure to like "Jamie at Home"

Also, you have got to love that there's none of that "garbage bowl" business (kidding!)-- whatever food waste he makes outdoors, he flings to the side. Excellent. There's also food prepared inside, though. Though I wonder how many people he will actually inspire to make tomato ketchup at home. I've heard they filmed much more than 14 episodes, going through the four seasons. What we're seeing is really a sampler, and they could show more if they renew the show. I really hope they do, but since the complete 13-episode DVD has already been released, I wonder if it's pretty much over.

Hi Justin, I've seen all the episodes, including the Christmas special where he cooks a goose and a turkey (there's an extremely boring 8 minutes of chatting with Gennaro at the end). The entire 13-episode run was shown on Foodtv Canada and Discovery: Travel and Living. I think it's not produced by the BBC (Fresh something, I forgot). This is one of the best (non-pastry) cooking shows I've seen in a while. The pace is very relaxed (unlike Oliver's Twist); it really inspires you to start growing your own and enjoy "the simple life." The sounds of birds chirping in the background and the sunlight shining through the trees gives the show a unique atmosphere. The food always looks good (of course stylists have worked their magic on it by the final shot-- but the look is always natural).

That's one of the first things I learned on the P&B forums... Valrhona is always Dutch-processed I'm guessing most European cocoa is Dutch-processed unless otherwise stated.

Great topic, Rob (and: thank you as well!) Everything I know about Pastry and Baking I learned in 2007! Last year I could only really make chocolate chip cookies, plus everything I retained from watching "Baker's Dozen" as a kid and "Sweet Dreams", but only in my mind. This is the year I learned by doing. Cake: butter/pound cake, genoise, dacquoise, cheesecake, joconde, clafoutis, some piping and decorating, french and American buttercreams Cookies: rolled cookies, finally! Pastry: pate brisee, pate sablee, pate a choux, working with puff pastry (I couldn't ever make it... too hot in these parts) Bakin' Bread (well... to some extent.) Extras: lemon curd, mirroire glaze, ganache, pastry cream, mousse, crepes, meringue, classic fondant, rolled fondant, dulce de leche, souffles. ... And I couldn't have gotten the courage to do any of them without eGullet and you lovely P&B folks. (Obviously I'm the kind who has to hear about everyone's experience with something to minimize failure as much as possible, heh) I'm buying Healy and Bugat's The Art of the Cake as sort of a cheaper alternative to Friberg/Gisslen. Trying to push my limits this coming year!

I have to say, freezing the egg whites untouched is the way to go. But there are a few freezable end products that won't suck after thawing-- white butter cake is one. Angel food cake will be fine in the freezer for a week. Italian meringue buttercream too. Make all the components of a wedding cake, haha

My mom did ask me to bake all her give-aways, but that's pretty much it. The only people I'm going to give gifts to or cook for are the ones under my roof. If my friends want some holiday food, they can give me a call and I'll whip up something glorious for them-- but I won't give them anything they don't ask for. Everyone receives too many sugary treats as it is. We have tons here that I was pretty much forced to eat until I said that they can just give it all away to the neighbors or the neighborhood rugrats because I refuse to be a garbage disposal unit this year! Much more cheery to do the decorating (and yes, even entertaining) and not expect gifts from anyone/ stress out over giving gifts to everyone

Good points, everyone. I shudder at the thought of rodent hairs in my chocolate, as I HATE rats (not to say that the rodents they speak of *are* rats), but I guess not enough to stop eating chocolate. Hah. Besides, Drosophila are pretty clean

I would say any custard would be nice, but since you want to give them away as gifts, I suggest making Yema, which can be shaped into spheres or pyramids, then rolled in sugar or quickly coated in simple caramel for a crackly coating and wrapped in cellophane. (That's my Filipino contribution to this brainstorming

That's a great idea, Duncan! Also: your macarons look absolutely perfect, so I can't argue with your method

[Mr.Burns]EXcellent.[/MrBurns] Annie, those are beautiful! Thanks for the demo. I've never tried making a roll before (right now the main deterrent is how expensive the filling can get). Uh-oh.. the image with your production line in the back is making me all sorts of excited. That's a bad sign!

Yeah, I actually could've saved a bit of money with natural almonds-- maybe even skinned them myself-- but at the time, I didn't know how to blanch almonds, I don't know if raw almonds would work with the recipe either and I couldn't risk a flop for my party but if it's just me and my family, yeah, rustic works! Thanks for the compliments alanamoana! EDIT: I didn't know that about almond meal! I'll take note for next time. (Does that work on macarons too? I hope the rough parts aren't heavy and sink to the bottom during baking.) I was just following Dorie's recommendations I'm absolutely floored by your compliment, alana! Thanks so much!