Tri2Cook

I'm pretty happy with the flavor and texture of the above posted cheese. Here's rhe problem... since it set up, it's started pushing out liquid. I'm leaning towards the peppers being the culprit. I've used pickled jalapenos before but I pureed them in with the stick blender, I left these diced. I'm thinking the cheese setting up put the squeeze on them. The only other thing I did that I've never done before is the cream cheese but I can't think of any reason that would cause a problem. Any thoughts?

Decided to stay more towards the "for slices" ratios. It's a play on pimento cheese. Used the liquid from a jar of roasted red peppers plus water to equal 225 gams. Heated it with 36 grams sodium citrate and melted in 250 grams cream cheese with granulated garlic, granulated onion, black pepper and cayenne. When the cream cheese was mostly melted, I worked in 400 grams pepper jack and 400 grams sharp cheddar. When that was melted I hit it with the stick blender to smooth out the remaining little lumps of cream cheese then stirred in the chopped roasted red peppers. Seems fine so far, I guess the real test will be when it goes on the burgers and starts to melt. The idea to work in some mayo at the end with the peppers passed through my head but I decided to save that experiment for another day with a smaller batch in case it causes any issues. For this batch, the cream cheese is standing in for the mayo.

Thanks! I've done queso sauce texture and slices texture but this is my first shot at something kinda in between.

Does the "thick and flowing when warm" result in a texture similar to cheese whiz when not warm? I want to get something spreadable but not runny. Wasn't sure if that would be the right level or maybe split the difference between that and the "best for slices?" Experimenting is fine with me, asking first in case somebody already knows is cheaper and easier. 😁

Because I said in a previous post that I'm not completely happy with the new Chocolat Chocolat website and that's a company I've always had good experience dealing with, i'm going to update to it seems to be a work in progress so I'm gonna be patient with it. The cocoa butter is back, different brand (Belcolade) but similar packaging and pricing. There still seems to be some bugs to sort in the menu unless they've intentoonally closed off the "products" listiing (or my phone's just not displaying it but I don't think it's that since the other categories are all showing). Products can be found through the search function though. So anyway, no.real point other than my usual option for cocoa butter is back and a stand-by for my unhappiness with the new site.

Thanks! I'll look into that. I may not be opposed to the idea of 10 kg quantities in the relatively near future. I'm leaning towards a serious push at the bean to bar stuff just to see if it'll catch on locally. There's been a shift in the local customer base fairly recently since the new medical center was built. People coming here that are used to things not available here. I've seen business ventures doing well that wouldn't have lasted 2 months here 5 years ago. Gonna spend the hot weather months playing around with ideas and try to jump in with both feet as soon as it starts cooling down. Assuming I can find the gumption, that is. That's been my biggest hurdle the past few years, lack of gumption and round tuits.

Food trends are like sports stars/teams... everybody loves 'em when they're the new kid at the top but when too many people get onboard (the sport star/team starts to win too much) there starts to be a backlash and it becomes cool to not love it. The cool kids want what's cool to be theirs and when too many non-members start to "get it" they have to move on to something else.

Less is less... but sometimes less is better.

Anybody have a good in-Canada source for cocoa butter, preferably in callet form? I was using the Barry Callebaut callets from Chocolat Chocolat but it no longer appears to be available there (though I could be wrong, really not enjoying their website change... it's much slower and more difficult to track things down now). I found Choctura brand on the Qualifirst site at $79 for 2 kg so not much out of line from what I was already spending, just completely unfamiliar with the brand/quality.

I use Callebaut chocolates almost exclusively. A choice largely based on price but I wouldn't use it if I didn't like it even with the lower cost. I keep my chocolates in large plastic pails so I don't have the original packaging but the 811 is the 54.5%, right? It does fine for me for shelling. I have a slightly strange working relationship with all of the Callebaut varieties I use, they all feel like I'd like them to be thinner when I'm doing the shelling but the shells always end up nice and thin so I think it's just in my head. I need to work with some other chocolates at some point just as a comparison.

I like bourbon, prefer it over all other whisk(e)y I've tried, but my tastes in bourbon are like my tastes in most other spirits... not as refined as they probably should be. I only drink spirits in the context of cocktails and I'm not a big fan of many of the glass full of one booze with half a drop of something else added to whisper in the general direction of being a cocktail type drinks so a lot of the pricey spirits feel like wasted dollars in the context they'd be used by me. Without going to the cabinet to verify, I believe I have Jim Beam Black, Wild Turkey 101 and Maker's Mark right now.

For those who've played around with it, any consensus on the best type of non-dairy milk powder for making dairy-free milk and white chocolate? I'm trying to stay away from the coconut flavor that comes with coconut milk powder. The plan right now is to get a bag each of soy and rice milk powder and see which I prefer, just interested in thoughts and other options from those who've already done it.

Honestly, whatever I happen to have in my cabinet at the moment. I have Beefeater, Broker's and Hendrick's right now but that could very possibly change when I need to restock.

I want to play around with using freeze dried fruit powder to bolster flavor in ganache. Specifically, in this instance, I want to add banana powder to the Michael Laiskonis banana ganache recipe. Are adjustments to the liquid ratio necessary or do you just add it to taste to the existing recipe? I'm willing to experiment, just thought I'd look for an educated starting point since freeze dried fruit powders aren't inexpensive. Pretty sure it's ok to include the recipe since he made it public himself on his blog... 475g heavy cream 2 vanilla beans 40g trimoline 780g white couverture 100g banana purée 100g unsalted butter, softened 30g dark rum

That seems to be the problem for me as well... that and a metabolism that adds a couple pounds if I stand too close to a celery stick.

Comfy food for a chilly, rainy Sunday... Nashville hot chicken, cornmeal waffle, hashbrown casserole and collard greens. The hashbrown casserole is basically the standard Cracker Barrel copycat but I use the modernist cheese sauce from Chefsteps instead of cream of chicken soup and I saute chopped onions and jalapenos in the butter and add that to the mixture.

That's why I've never seriously thought about wanting one... I'm not sure I want to hand dip dozens, much.less thousands. 😁

Yeah, it sounded a bit excessive to me too but like I said, I've never done them in a smoker. I could do them entirely in the smoker, it's mainly just to free up the space for other uses. When I do pork ribs, I generally wrap them and toss them in a 225 F oven after about 3 hours of smoke. That way I can bump the smoker up to a higher temp and toss in chickens and everything gets done at about the same time. The oven is an option for short ribs, I was just wanting to play with my new toy. 😁

Unfortunately, I can't answer that question. This is a new one all around for me, I've never done short ribs in the smoker before. I found a recipe on youtube that calls for 3 hours in the smoker at 250 F followed by 1 1/2 - 2 hours in a braising liquid in the oven at 300 F but I've never tried it.

Thanks! Sounds tasty. I'll hang onto it but I want to do this round with the smoke, it's gonna be part of a bbq meal. I found info for times and buttons for short ribs but I don't know enough about the thing to know what adjustments to make after they've spent an hour or two in the smoker first.

Just joined the instant pot crowd. I've been eyeballing but resisting for quite a while. A friend recently wanted to sell her instant pot that had, according to her, only been used 4 or 5 times before she decided she wanted the one with the air fryer instead. $40 for what looks like a brand new instant pot put an end to my resistance. So for my first project, I want to give some short ribs some time in my smoker and finish them in the IP. Anybody willing to walk me through the times and which buttons to push on the IP? Edit: it may not end up being my first project. Looking at the weather forecast for the next couple weeks, it may still be a bit before the smoker makes an appearance.

Strawberries and pumpkin shouldn't be causing setting issues with gelatin. The only thing I could find in my notes about combining gelatin and xanthan is xanthan helps with syneresis issues, I don't have anything noted about there being negative issues. I can imagine xanthan possibly helping the gel be more spreadable without breaking but I don't have any evidence to back that up. Not that I'm an expert on the subject by any means, I just invested a lot of late nights and ingredients in learning what various gelling, thickening and stabilizing ingredients do. How much base are you trying to gel? One box of gelatin in 2 quarts of liquid will produce a thickened but drinkable texture. The reason I know that is, an elderly lady my mom used to send me and my brother to help with yard work when we were kids used to dissolve a box of lime jello in 1 cup hot water then fill the pitcher with pineapple juice and keep it in the fridge as a drink. She claimed the gelatin was good for our blood. It was tasty but I didn't enjoy the thick texture... and that was at 4x the amount of liquid called for on the box to make the standard jello gelatin. For a jam-like texture, I'm thinking 5 - 6 cups might be doable with the much higher solids percentage in the purees. If xanthan gum is doing something to interfere with the gelatin creating a gel, that would be extremely interesting to me because I don't remember ever seeing that be the case.

With the disclaimer of a sometimes unreliable memory, there was a point in time when I played around and experimented with pretty much every gelling agent I could get my hands on and I don't recall any incompatibility between gelatin and xanthan. Both gelatin and agar work well with xanthan as far as I remember with (in my opinion) gelatin having a better mouthfeel and agar having better stability for storage and warmer temps.

Toast plus as much butter as it will accept without leaving unmelted butter and I agree with the article on a minimalist amount of jelly or jam. Just enough for a touch of sweet and flavor. I have zero issues with toast but given a choice, English muffins over toast every time. They maximize the melted butter holding capacity. 😁

Thanks! Actually, the issue with the corn was it took a lot of cocoa butter to get it firm enough to work with. It was softer than a gianduja initiallý, using the typical ratios.