Tri2Cook

Well... I went straight to the site, I'm always interested in trying new chocolates, and ran straight into that all-too-familiar "no shipping outside the U.S." disclaimer. So I'm out of luck for a tasting but this is still cool. Best of luck with it.

This may be a dumb question but I don't mess with meringue for the purpose of just being a stand-alone baked meringue very often so I'll ask anyway. I'm trying to figure out if it's possible to make dry (or at least firm) baked meringues using a liquid sweetener (honey or agave nectar) instead of sugar. They would be thin, small and will probably contain coconut. Making an Italian meringue using honey or agave to replace the water and sugar (I've done it with honey before for buttercream), piping it in thin discs and baking it like standard meringues seems like an obvious starting point but I've never actually done it. I would prefer crisp but can live with firm and chewy. I have no problem with experimenting for this one but I've found that most things I'm curious about have already been done/discussed/brainstormed/conquered here so I thought I'd ask in case I can save myself some time.

Kerry, I made the apple cake saturday night after work. It's been my breakfast for the past two mornings as well as an after work snack. It's really good and it's also easy to grab a piece with cup of tea while I'm stumbling around at 5:30 am trying to get out the door. I haven't tried it with jam and cream yet, it's so good on it's own that I haven't thought of it. Only a fairly small chunk left tonight... probably won't survive to be breakfast tomorrow. Thanks again for the recipe. Edit: fixed the "I'm tired" spelling errors.

I like fruitcake but it's definitely a once a year thing for me. I have to have one every year (don't care if it's dark or light but actually prefer non-booze versions) but usually by the end of it I'm glad it's gone and don't think about it again until the next year. I'm a little ashamed to admit that I've never made one, I usually manage to receive one from somebody. Maybe this will be the year I'm not too lazy to make my own... or maybe I'll just wait and see if I get one.

Looks good... any chance it's not a secret recipe?

A well made buttermilk biscuit. Plain, simple ingredients and yet extremely frustrating if you don't have "the touch"... and I don't. I have no difficulty with laminated doughs, cakes, pastry shells, choux, etc. but can still manage to make a heavy mess out of a batch of biscuits while a little old lady standing right next to me that's never even heard of "laminated doughs" using the same ingredients and same oven can make big, fluffy pieces of biscuit perfection.

I'm not too concerned with seizing. Maybe I should be but I've never had difficulty with liquids in chocolate, even in small amounts, as long as it all goes in the top of a double boiler at the same time and I leave it alone until the chocolate is melted. Once the chocolate looks pretty much melted I give it a stir and so far, so good. Maybe I've just been lucky. My main concern is whether a fruit puree would alter the chocolate in some way that wouldn't allow it to support the bubble structure. But you're probably right, there's probably not much point in going to all of that trouble when a few drops of oil will solve the problem. It would have to be a pretty strong, well concentrated puree to give enough flavor without adding a large amount anyway. Edit: On rereading this I definitely did not mean it to sound like I was disagreeing with Kerry and choux on the subject of chocolate seizing (which is exactly how it sounds). My chocolate skills aren't close to that of Kerry or choux and I will defer to their advice without hesitation. I'm just assuming I've been lucky with proportions or maybe the chocolate powers-that-be have watched over me because I've committed that sin many times. I'm going to go with the oils as advised. Thanks.

Awesome Kerry, beautiful as always. I have a question for you, I finally had success with the aerated chocolate. Worked perfectly, full of bubbles and very creamy in texture as it melts in the mouth. This was with the method from the book, not H.B.'s version (but I do have a set of those vacuum bags on the way). I don't have a picture, it was at work and was devoured, but I just used 64% Schokinag because it was handy. What I want to figure out is how to get fruit flavors into the chocolate. Are flavoring oils my only good option for something like this? I'm worried purees (even concentrated) would alter the chocolate too much for the process but I really don't know. I know H.B. adds a little peanut oil to the chocolate for his version but oil and puree are two different beasts. I guess I could just try it, it wouldn't be the first chocolate and cream chargers I've wasted learning this one.

Looks great Kerry! I'll have to try it. I know where he's coming from with the raisins. I was an anti-raisin person my entire life. I spent some time force-acclimating myself to them and I'm now at the point that I don't mind them being in things. That's two off the list now. I always hated raisins and raw onions and now I'm fine with the raisins and love raw onions... all thanks to just stubbornly eating them when they were in something until I learned to like them instead of picking them out. Hasn't worked for liver though, I just can't seem to get past that one. I have tried. I want to like liver (liver and onions always smells good) and pate and foie (I've wasted a lot of money trying) but it just isn't happening. But the raisins are ok now so I'll probably put them in.

Hey! Cool! Another cycling lunatic on the forums. I do a lot of cycling as well. The "Tri" in my "Tri2Cook" user name is a reference to triathlon which is my primary hobby/exercise/stress-reliever and I'm not a great runner so I put a lot of focus on the bike to keep myself in the hunt. I still think the hot and angry sounds tasty but I don't think it would meld into the overall menu as well as a couple of the others. It would be kinda like a red Ferrari in a lot full of blue and silver Mercedes and BMWs, they're all great but everybody's memory will be drawn to the sporty bright red one. I think the first one would fit in well but you have two courses with potato/parsnip immediately following it so I would probably use a different puree or put them on some sort of salad instead. Fennel maybe? Again, not criticizing. Just my personal thoughts.

Interesting idea... looking forward to hearing the verdict.

Wow! That's all... just wow.

The web site works fine, the original link was incorrect.

There are millions of people in North America, a few thousand (at best) may care that Gordon Ramsay is a world class chef and want to see the details of the food and business decisions. The rest would rather see a bunch of drama and somebody getting their arse chewed into submission. A calm, quiet "we can work this out in a fluffy, gentle manner" Gordon Ramsay with 2/3 of the show dedicated to the food would last about one episode (with luck) on primetime FOX.

Go HERE and download the free pdf file at the bottom of the page (might as well read your way down to it, they took the time to provide it so the least we can do is read what they have to say about it). It will tell you a lot about hydrocolloids, their uses and has a lot of sample recipes. You will almost definitely work out something that will accomplish what you're wanting to do from the info it provides. If you have time, browse around the site a bit too. There's a lot of interesting stuff to be found.

The Hot and Angry version sounds best of the bunch to me as far as flavors. My personal opinion is that it would look better not hidden behind the pile of lemon slices and without the sauce splashed all over the place. Not criticizing you, I'm just not a fan of huge pools of sauce and stuff all over the rims of plates and bowls. I like a clean look, a drizzle here, a dot there, to me the splashed rims and stuff make a plate look like somebody has already been picking through it.

Use whichever of those you have handy. Get the pan as hot as you want it and film it with the oil at the last second. You'll be fine. Pretty much any refined oil will hold up long enough for a quick sear. Edit: Since smoke alarms were mentioned I'll add the disclaimer that there will be some smoke no matter what you use at 500 F (possible exception of safflower or avocado if you don't let the temp go much above that and don't let it sit in the pan too long). If you oil it at the last second and toss in the beef for a sear on each side it won't be too bad with the other oils. I've never set off my alarm searing a steak and I use canola quite often.

I don't doubt at all that you thought it up entirely on your own. I assumed that from the beginning, you can feel the excitement of the idea in your initial post. I've thought up lots of ideas I've never seen or read about only to find 10,000 of the same thing already done if I run a search on google. It can be frustrating sometimes. I didn't post that picture (I don't remember where I got it, it was already on my computer) to be smug and point out that it's been done, just thought it might get you sniffing around in the right direction if you were looking for ideas on the execution. If I remember correctly, Wylie's "egg" uses of a coconut foam for the "white". You could use an iota carrageenan (unlike gelatin and kappa, it's freeze-stable if you wanted to do them ahead and freeze them) for a very soft gel or do something as simple as frozen mousse (that won't lose it's shape as it softens like a frozen custard). No special chemicals required for good ol' mousse. Of course there's the alginate sphere option for the "breakable yolk" but that's putting you in a time crunch if you're going it alone for a dinner party or group event because you can't do them too far ahead. Best of luck with it, sounds fun!

I agree with you on chocolate covered bacon sounding a little scary but chocolate infused with bacon or sprinkled with bacon powder or something just to put the idea in the flavor sounds like it would be nice (with the disclaimer that I haven't tried Vosges bacon chocolate so maybe it's not as good as I'm picturing it).

Kinda like THIS (scroll to May 18)? Wylie Dufresne's "egg" (coconut white/carrot yolk). I like the chocolate with real bacon idea. A little unexpected twist. They think they're getting something that looks like one thing but tastes like another and suddenly there's something that looks like a copy of bacon that will taste like chocolate and Hey! It tastes like bacon too!

I made an experimental baklava tuesday night at work (after closing). I wasn't feeling too good the next day (turned out to be some sort of stomach flu that's going around here) and completely forgot about it when I left work. Then I was off yesterday after a rough night with the flu (first day off sick from work in 4 years other than an unexpected appendectomy a couple years ago but it was a stomach bug and some sounds just aren't pleasant in a place where people are eating) so I still didn't go get it. Sooo... no pics. Somebody from work called and asked if they could get into it so I told them to go ahead. A couple people liked it, the rest seemed to think I shouldn't mess too much with a good thing (which is what I suspected when I was doing it). Instead of the traditional warm spices I used key lime zest and macadamia nuts in the layers and more of the zest in the syrup. The people who liked it have never had baklava before so maybe it's a taste association thing.

Once you get it to the gelatin point in the fridge, freeze it solid then put it in the filter in the fridge. It will do it's thing. The liquid will slowly (overnight to a couple days depending how much you do/how cold your fridge is) seep out leaving a sludgy mass in the filter. You don't want to leave it out at room temp, the gelatin will just melt along with everything else and you'll have to start over.

Can't comment on the second series yet, they just started showing the first series here a couple weeks ago. Looking forward to it though.

I guess it depends on how you view it. I don't think of it as "He's taking something easy and making it difficult", I think of it as "He finds a way to get everything into the dish that he wants in it no matter what it takes". I respect that "this is what I want and this is what I will get" approach. Things are also made more complicated because, for the show, he has to figure out a way people with normal, everyday equipment can do the recipes. He could do most of what he's trying to do with half the effort in his science lab/kitchen with the multi-thousands in equipment that most of us don't have. I think a big part of this show that some may be missing is to have fun. To be honest, his methods take a little more time and care but so far none of them have contained anything that was particularly difficult. The difficult part was figuring out how to achieve it, he did that part. All we have to do is follow the instructions.

Prawncrackers - Thanks for the recipe! Absolutely delicious. Sorry I don't have any pictures this time, I made it at a friends house and didn't have my camera, but I'll definitely be doing it again. I did a duck noodle soup to accompany it served like I've had it at Thai restaurants with little bowls of assorted condiments to add as desired. spice - Thanks for the link! I tried the five spice recipe and look forward to trying one or two more. I'm leaning towards the orange tea recipe. merstar - I read through the thread and found some ideas. Thanks! mikelbarnz - Took your advice. I've got 5 breasts turning into pastrami right now. I brined them for 2 days over the weekend, crusted them with crushed pepper and cooked them in a lowish oven on monday, wrapped them tightly and have them in the fridge. This is the stage where I'm a bit nervous. I've never cured anything before and the instructions say at this point I'm supposed to leave them alone for 7 days. I'm hoping I won't discover anything rotten when I break one open next monday. I_call_the_duck - I'll keep you in mind!