Tri2Cook

Not me. I like pimento cheese and prefer it somewhere in the ballpark of what's generally thought of as the traditional flavor profile but I'm not so in love with it that I worry about putting much effort into developing my own recipe. If somebody is willing to make it for me then, at least at that moment, theirs is better than mine... because I didn't have to make it.

I used to use l'epicerie for a lot of my less common ingredients. They have a great selection and good customer service. Unfortunately, what used to be a good source with reasonable shipping charges to Canada is now a good source with outrageously ridiculous over-the-top shipping charges to Canada. The last time I put together an order with them, it was going to be $162 shipping for a $50 order that weighed about 2 lbs. I sometimes suspect some companies just decided they really don't want to mess with shipping outside the U.S. but they'll do it if somebody is willing to pay out the keister for it. l'epicerie and Chef Rubber are among the worst I've come across... which is a shame because both are really nice sources.

The one I have just says "Yellow Pectin - Genu pectin type D slow set-Z". I dug it out in case there was a clue as to where I got it and there was but it looks like I ordered it from Le Sanctuaire in the U.S. (probably when I ordered that LM pectin because it's in the same type of jar) so not especially helpful I suppose. The Le Sanctuaire is $38 less (after converting to Canadian currency) for 4 oz more but I have no idea if that would be offset by shipping costs.

I wasn't at all worried. Just admiring your work.

That's really nice... but I'm sticking with the forest green. And of course, there's no hurry at all. Getting it just means I'll have to force myself to start hand dipping things.

Opinions may not be as useful as experience but educated opinions can be very useful. Brainstorming is the tossing out of ideas and opinions based on experience and/or knowledge and often leads to all kinds of solved problems and new discoveries. I wasn't offering opinion regarding the caramel though. I based everything I said on experience. But the theme of the discussion is coffee ice cream which is what you posted about so if you're agreeable, we'll pretend I never mentioned the caramel and get on with the show. If you ever find yourself in a small remote town in far northern Ontario, I'll buy you a beer and we'll argue the difficulties of caramelizing sugar.

I wasn't suggesting making a custard is difficult, I was suggesting that caramelizing sugar is no more difficult than making a custard. The spattering caused by adding a liquid to the hot sugar is worthy of a warning, that's why I didn't mention it. But the "do a half batch to practice first" and "it's not easy" warnings are over-the-top in my opinion. There's no more or less difficulty in doing that batch full size vs. half size so it was an odd suggestion to me. I wasn't criticizing you posting it, I was just curious if they were warnings from the book. But the first reaction that seems to come from every question or criticism lately is for the person being responded to to say they're taking their ball and going home. When I post something here, I want to hear what others have to say, not what they think I want to hear. I guess I assumed that was universal.

Are those warnings from the book or your own? Just curious because it seems a bit excessive. The only difficulty involved with caramelizing sugar is turning away from it at the wrong moment and burning it or getting it darker than you wanted. Even that is given some leeway through most of the process by the addition of the water. When most of the water has cooked out and it starts getting thick and bubbling more slowly, back that recommended high heat off some and that will buy you even more time to decide if it's where you want it before it goes past. Nothing about making ice cream requires a difficulty warning but I'd argue that, if I was forced to give one, making a good custard base is higher in difficulty than caramelizing sugar. Especially with a light caramel where you're not taking it up to the edge of going from caramel to burnt. Not trying to be negative towards your post, I've just always felt it's better to instill confidence than worry or fear when teaching somebody how to cook something.

Yeah, it's just a quick and easy way to get in the ballpark. There are more accurate methods for zooming in closer on an exact match, such as you provided. I figured for something like this, the ballpark is close enough. A little too much isn't as bad as a lot too much. You can dump a little too much in a bowl or something, let it set and do a little quality control (pronounced: snacking) without getting into your production pieces.

If the recipe doesn't already tell you the batch weight, just add the ingredients together to get a total weight. If the blackberry recipe makes 1500 grams and the lemon makes 2000 then reduce everything in the lemon recipe by 25%. You probably won't get lucky and have it be a nice, convenient percentage like that but any percentage is easy to work out with a calculator.

Might have to take you up on that. Just don't tell Renee... that's where I usually get it.

Good price!

We can't spare you because we didn't actually ask you to eat it or try to serve it to you. But not liking pimento cheese doesn't require an apology, there are lots of popular things that I don't like and I don't apologize for any of them. I don't think pimento cheese was ever meant to compete with those other cheeses you mentioned, it's a thing of it's own. Your cheese list is the princess at the ball, pimento cheese is the girl in jeans and boots at the hoedown... both can be good.

Doesn't matter where the recipes come from, if it makes a cocktail and you enjoy the cocktail, it's done it's job.

Made a batch of the lemon mint ganache today. I piped it into dark chocolate shells (not planning to bother with pics because there's no decoration or anything fancy, this is just a flavor test, but pics can be done if anybody really needs to see plain dark chocolate shells to be happy today ). Initial reaction to tasting the ganache is that I'm going to wish the mint was a little more forward. It's there but pretty outweighed by the lemon so I suspect it will disappear even more with the dark chocolate in the mix... but we'll see once I get them bottomed later today.

And they make both for you and the large number of people who share your sentiment... enjoy!

Doesn't matter which tomato juice you use in a Bloody Mary, they all pour down the drain equally well. I will give it a small amount of credit though, at least it's not that vile concoction known as the Bloody Caesar. Not sure why somebody thought adding clam juice to a Bloody Mary was going to improve the situation.

I really want to ask if you're sure you weren't using it upside down... but not because I actually think you were, just because I'm a bit of a smartass.

'Tis a bold statement, that...

Bash them with a hammer and toss in your stone grinder?

Not sure how cold you're talking about. My work area stays around 20 C (68 F) for most of the year and it does fine with that. I only cool it down in the hot months when I'm actually going to be working so sometimes it gets pretty warm in the room and I don't have to do any temp adjustments on the machine to accommodate the swings. I honestly wouldn't think cold would be much of a factor in the range that anybody would want to be in the room working but Kerry would be the best person to answer that.

I've put every effort into avoiding getting into dipping. I was determined to keep everything shell molded. I caved. Those bowls look so nice that I couldn't resist, I put in an order for one in forest green. Apparently, I'm a weak, weak man. Of course, that now means I'll have to put in an order with Metal Supermarket as well because I've not needed bars up to this point. It never ends... Equipment Acquisition Syndrome is real and eGullet is the ultimate enabler when it comes to revealing new things to want.

I haven't had any of the issues you've mentioned but you're working in much higher volume than I am so I would assume you encounter different challenges than I do.

I'll so some digging but I don't think I'm going to have anything that will fit that description. I'm pretty sure everything I have is from the Ultra Sperse line and the M is the only one I have that's rated for high temps.

I'm not at all knowledgeable on thin boiling starch. I have some modified starches but I have no idea if they'd be of any use for something like this. One at least sounds interesting enough to maybe be worth a trial... Ultra Sperse M - disperses easily in hot or cold water without lumping and yields a smooth, short texture with excellent sheen and clarity. The product is extremely resistant to harsh processing conditions including intense heating, high shear, or low pH.