Tri2Cook

I did my first fall dessert for the year, don't know if there's anything that would be of interest to you but it's HERE.

Some very nice stuff going on folks. I just did my first fall dessert of the year... mac 'n' cheese. McIntosh apples and Stilton 3 ways. Didn't turn out as nice on the plate as I pictured it, needs more color, but the flavor is there. Just gotta work on the artsy part. Cheesecake flavored with stilton topped with fresh-made McIntosh apple butter. Stilton cheesecake mousse (pureed some of above cheesecake and folded in stabilized whipped cream) under McIntosh frangipane. Stilton cheesecake Ice cream (pureed cheesecake blended with vanilla custard) on maple-poached McIntosh tart with McIntosh juice reduction. P.S. It's not as huge as it looks. Each component is probably 3 bites, maybe 4 for the frangipane/mousse.

I thought I was the adventurous type but... no thanks!

Nutella ice cream.

You might want to find a way to cut the nutella a bit for that one. I've smeared nutella on fresh baked chocolate chip cookies just out of curiosity and found it way too sweet. Then again, I like making desserts more than I like eating them so maybe it wouldn't be too sweet for most people.

Glucose is actually what I use. Corn syrup is just usually what most people are more likely to have on hand and it works just as well (I've done it both ways) so I typed it out that way. I should know better than to do that for the egullet crowd by now.

I use: 4 c. sugar 1/2 c. corn syrup 1 c. water 1 c. butter 1 c. cream 1/4 c. sour cream 2 tsp. fleur de sel Caramelize the sugar, water and corn syrup. Add the butter, cream, sour cream and salt (I heat them all together in a seperate pan first). Cook to desired stage (I go to around 240-ish but that may be too soft for what you want to do, may want to take it up a few more degrees). Works for me but others may have something better to offer. *Sorry for the editing, I just make this stuff now so I had to think through all the numbers a bit.

I'm not going to try to play icing expert either, cake isn't my specialty (actually, I'm not sure anything is my specialty... but that's another topic) but I agree with Rob that you'd be making life a lot easier for yourself if you made a nicely decorated display cake and had some sheet cakes behind the scenes to plate.

Nice! And that "they're not french fries" line made me laugh.

I don't mean this to sound as rude as it probably will but, since you asked, the fact that it might be quicker and easier is the only good thing I can think of that would come from using jello. But then I don't like jello, didn't even like it as a kid, so I'm biased. P.S. I don't think fun with foams is played out. I can understand restaurants pushing to be the latest, greatest but at home there are no rules. If it's good and it's fun then who cares about what's "trendy".

I made a lemon cake by baking a basic yellow cake with some lemon zest added, punching a bunch of holes (like making a jello cake) and pouring still warm fresh made lemon curd over it. Afer some fridge time, I covered it with meringue and hit it with my torch to color it up a bit. Nothing fancy but it went over well. Not "light and airy" though. I don't have too many light and airy cake recipes, I'm not a huge cake fan and the ones I do like are usually dense and moist.

I didn't notice any residual bitterness from tasting the honey alone but maybe something about combining it with the other ingredients causes the problem. I'm thinking I'll make a batch using the exact same ingredients and recipe but using the agave called for in the original recipe and seeing if that confirms or eliminates the honey as the culprit.

I did some playing with this back in early summer, it's in the pastry forum HERE. I've played around with other fruits and berries since then (I was really happy with the results using local wild blueberries). I'll have to try it with vegetable purees.

I'm doing some recipe experimenting for a friend who loves chocolate and other desserts but can't have refined sugar (an allergy related thing, not diabetic, I thought she couldn't eat chocolate at all but apparently unsweetened chocolate and cocoa are ok). I made some ice cream following this recipe but replacing the agave with organic honey (for the simple reason that I know she can have the honey and I'm not sure about the agave). I wanted to use the recipe as a starting point just to get the idea of not using refined sugar where I would normally use it in my head (and on my tongue) and then develop my own ideas. The ice cream does taste good initially but leaves a residual bitterness kind of like after taking an aspirin and a little dissolves before it goes down. Any ideas on combating that bitter aftertaste? As I mentioned in the topic, it's not related to sweetness. It's plenty sweet, maybe even leaning towards too sweet.

Exactly! That's why I have all those misting bottles around taking up space. I'm just too frugal (pronounced "cheap") to spend money on them and will probably keep using my own concoctions.

I'm unfamiliar with edible perfumes but I use scents in the way Drewman mentioned. In my case, not so much as a sales tool as an enhancer. When I do my wild mushroom soup, immediately before it goes to the table I spray a mist of truffle oil over it so there's a nice perfume of mushroom hanging over it. I've done the same with other things. I just put whatever scented liquid I want to use in those misting bottles that you pump up and spray. I keep lots of those bottles around.

I got frustrated with gingerbread construction a few years ago after spending weeks making a plan for a huge (covered the entire kitchen table) christmas castle with the main castle, walls, towers, courtyard, etc. and baking and assembling all of the components. I then got up really early christmas morning to have it assembled and ready to go when my gf's daughter got up. It all worked out pretty much exactly as I pictured it and I was happy. The little one woke up, came out of her room, was standing there with big eyes looking at the presents under the tree when a nasty sound came from the kitchen. I ran in to see what was going on and there was my gf's cat trying to find a comfy place to sleep in the castle and knocking several things over/off and causing a lot of breakage in the process. I haven't really been inspired to mess with it again since then but maybe I'll join you in this one if I can find the time. I'm not a particularly good cake decorator so I doubt mine would be anything too fancy but it might be fun anyway.

Sounds good but I'm in Canada so I guess I'll have to just keep making it myself. I don't mind making it but I'd like having the option to buy it available.

They're good in ice cream too! I've put them in many different flavors of ice cream (including Guinness).

In general (ice creams, sorbets, etc.), should it be a problem? I have a friend who can't have refined sugar (one of her many food allergies which also includes chocolate ) and I'm trying to figure out what I can and can't work with when experimenting. I'm a newbie to using agave. I have a big bottle of raw, organic agave nectar to play around with but I thought I'd borrow some egullet knowledge on the subject before getting started.

Nope, they're cherries. They're small and tannic but they make an excellent jelly. My ex mother-in-law used to make wild cherry jelly and it was awesome. She also made fig and strawberry jam, wild blackberry jelly and wild muscadine jelly. Now that I think about it, I don't miss my ex wife at all but I kinda miss my mother-in-law... or her cooking anyway. I can't get most of those things where I live now. I used to make a jelly from kudzu flowers as well, it tastes like a grape lollipop.

I can't really add anything except I feel your pain. A large percentage of people think "Duncan Hines or Pillsbury" is the definition of cake and anything else, no matter how tasty and how lovingly made, is inferior. It's your job, as a person who appears to care, to teach them otherwise... so don't give in. I don't attempt to mimic the mix because for me it's proved to be a futile endeavor, I just try for a good cake and splash it with a little appropriate liquid if it needs more moistness. Of course I have to admit that I'm not really a big cake fan and tend to view the cake mainly as a vehicle for the filling/icing/etc. so my opinion and $4 might get you a large latte but isn't worth much otherwise.

The description is hilarious! ← Yeah, I liked that too.

If you soak 'em a bit, blanch 'em in lower temp oil and park 'em until you're ready to finish them off at usual frying temps they will be crisp and tasty and hold up well (even in the popular among Canadians fries and gravy or poutine). If you want even less work, skip the blanch and drop them for 3 or 4 minutes when you put your burger (or whatever) on then let them hang until you're burger (or whatever) is ready and crisp them up for another minute or so. They'll crisp up just as nicely as the blanched version but timing is more important because they won't hold as long before going limp. I'm not trying to talk you out of your search, I'm just saying people do notice the difference (and most seem to prefer them with skin on... which means even less prep). Better tasting product for less cost is always a good thing in the restaurant business and less processed, heat 'n' eat food is good for everybody.

Maybe! I'll have to ask some more questions. Thanks!