Tri2Cook

Yeah, I suppose that would make doubling a bit of a non-issue, wouldn't it? A doubling I shall go... Edit: I suppose I should disclaimer that I don't need a double batch of brownies sitting around tempting me, just want be able to set a little aside for myself before the vultures descend.

I wish I could find a mail-order source for country ham in Canada. Amazon Canada carries one but it's $75 for a 3 lb chunk of ham that has really bad reviews from those who purchased... so I won't be risking that one.

Have you tried doubling his brownie recipes? Just wondering if his recipes work well in larger batches in larger pans with potentially longer bake times. I don't mind giving it a shot myself, plan to this weekend, just thought I'd ask in case you've already done it.

Me too. That was a favorite when it still existed.

And he doesn't know Rob... the guy who introduced us to hot chocolate with salmon marshmallow.

I like Ben & Jerry's but I'd have to be out on those even if they made it to where I live, which they won't. We can get like 3 or 4 flavors here on a good day. None of them are recent and they never change. The one with almond ice cream and shortbread cookies on one side and cherry ice cream on the other would be appealing to me if it weren't for the cookie dough core. I don't hate cookie dough but that huge core looks like a bit much.

Yeah, that was a fun lesson to learn. Working with chocolate is enjoyable but it can definitely be a heartless bitc… err… mistress. It's favorite trick is to wait until you do everything exactly like you do every other time and don't have time to redo whatever you're trying to get done and then pop out from behind a door and yell "not today".

Yeah, you said it better than I did though. I came off sounding more snooty than intended. I've just had leftovers start losing flavor and texture quality long before they showed any signs of being unsafe to eat.

I don't mean this to sound as flippant as it probably will but, in all honesty, I don't want my bonbons to last for months. Putting aside spoiling in a manner that would make you sick if you ate them, because I know that can be done, there has to be a degradation of flavor and texture over that much time. If not, I probably don't want whatever it takes to prevent all those things happening in my bonbons... because it's going to be something a lot more powerful than a bit of booze.

That's the part I've been seeing in most of the stuff I was able to find that makes me want to do the comparison. Depending on the ganache, I'm thinking there may be cases where I'd rather have a little grapeseed oil than a fair amount of additional sugar.

While doing some Kerry and Jim inspired searching regarding the Paul Young water ganache, I stumble across this quote... "I love champagne and chocolate. You warm the champagne just enough so that the chocolate melts in, then whisk it together to create the creamy ganache for the center." So it sounds like he keeps it super simple with champagne. Maybe that with some orange zest in the pot while heating and then strain it out at the end would work as a place to start.

I suppose it might at that. I'll have to do a side-by-side one of these days.

That would be my first shot. Some flavors are just really difficult to push past the cream and chocolate in the smallish amounts used in most ganaches so anything that lets me get more of that flavor in the mix is a good thing. Orange isn't difficult to keep forward, champagne, recognizable as such, is. Eliminating the cream and using puree and a neutral oil in a ratio to mimic heavy cream at Kerry's suggestion made a huge difference when I was trying to do a blueberry ganache.

I can't say I've met a frozen pizza I actually enjoyed but the kid talked me into buying the Delissio limited edition stuffed crust pepperoni pizza that showed up in the local store. I still wouldn't say I actually enjoyed it but it was probably the least objectionable frozen pizza I've tried... keeping in mind there's not a lot of choices where I live. Nothing about the pizza was great, nothing about it rendered it inedible. The cheese stuffed crust made the, usually discarded with frozen pizzas, edge crust edible. Especially after thoroughly soaking it with garlic butter as soon as it came out of the oven. My biggest problem with frozen pizzas (comparing apples to apples, not comparing to fresh made pizza) is they tend to be stingy with the sauce so they end up being on the dry side. But enough parmesan and dried chili flakes can make anything taste better.

Where a large portion of my family is from, corn pone was unleavened corn bread with no wheat flour baked in a cast iron pan. It was heavier, denser and more moist than cornbread. I personally prefer it. The stuff dropped by spoon into hot lard was hot water corn bread. It was just a mixture of cornmeal, salt, lard and boiling water. But it wasn't the Ozarks so, there again, variances based on locale and no strict definition regarding corn pone vs. bread. I don't know that the definitions I mentioned were necessarily regional. Or, at least, the region could have been very small. That's just what I remember from my youth.

I think there could be a market for it. How large that market is, I couldn't even guess. I'd be at the opposite end though. I enjoy baking, filling, etc. It's the decorating I'd rather have someone else do. I don't mess with rolled fondant enough to be skilled at it, I hate doing decorative piping, I can do it if I have to but I don't enjoy it, and I've never even attempted sugar flowers. If someone wants a cake from me, they get basic buttercream or poured glazes or they get it somewhere else.

At this point, so am I. But I'm pretty sure it has less to do with strength of will and more to do with plain ol' laziness. So if I get past that, I could be in trouble.

Just in case I was continuing to resist, Kim Shook comes in with the kill shot... and once again, resistance is futile.

I have not... and now I'm trying to decide whether I should thank you or (politely, of course) curse you for bringing them to my attention. My "things to try" list is getting much longer than I have any realistic chance of actually completing at the rate I've been knocking them off.

That's what doctors do! I have the 4 pdf files that used to be on their site but Kerry will probably be able to get them to you quicker than I can today.

shain's recipe for mulligatawny caught my attention a couple weeks ago so I finally got around to making it. I decided there was no harm in taking a couple small liberties so, in addition to his suggested cilantro, I served it with some basmati rice and a dollop of chili lime pickle. Not sure if that's blasphemy or not but it was tasty.

Yep, agar gels puree nicely. I haven't made that particular recipe from Greweling so I don't know how dense the gel is in this case but if your machine can handle it, it should do fine. Agar fluid gels can take on a lot of air when being pureed, I have no idea if that creates shelf life issues or not. I personally prefer gellan fluid gels over agar but agar works just fine. All of that is with the disclaimer that I've never used a fluid gel as a chocolate filling so I have no idea if there are other issues involved.

I must shamefully admit that that wouldn't sweeten the deal for me at all.

There's no such thing as a $21 meat loaf entrée in my world. The only way I'd pay $21 for a meat loaf plate is if it came with a steak on the side.

Harumph…