Tri2Cook

I was going to say to pull some corn off the stalk, shuck it. toss it hot water for a short amount of time and have vegan perfection... then I realized I couldn't roll it in butter. Then I thought about the Thai cucumber salad I like to have when I make Thai food... and realized it contains fish sauce. Even a nice tomato sandwich isn't the same without mayo. So I suppose I don't actually have a favorite vegan dish. Maybe hope the lawn needs to be mowed that day and send 'em out to graze?

I'm glad to hear it as well. I just assumed it was because water is what would cook off first when heating the cream. Glad I haven't been spreading that around like I knew what I was talking about.

Google tracked down a few pectin NH pate de fruit recipes including a passion fruit and a blood orange version. Haven't done them, can't vouch for them but maybe they'll help.

I've never worked with the Pomona's pectin, it's on my list since following along with Jim's experiments but as yet undone. Pectin NH doesn't have a packet of calcium, it has a calcium salt as part of the mix and thus has a fixed ratio used as is. You can decrease the thermoreversibility of NH pectin by increasing the calcium level in the solution with an external calcium source so maybe if you get the pectin/calcium ratio to be the same with both, they'll behave in the same way. But that's 100% speculation, not something I've actually researched.

I'm going to leave whether it will work or not to others who have some actual experience attempting to use if for this purpose but I use NH for making soft, thermally-reversible gels (neutral and fruit glazes and similar). It's a LM pectin (it requires calcium to gel so it isn't dependent on sugar levels, but it's calcium source is included in it's makeup which is why recipes using it don't generally call for an added calcium source) that's been modified to be thermoreversible. You now have me wondering if this may be a route to a pate de fruit-like product that can be piped.

I used to do it that way, it always worked fine as far as end result goes. I started melting the chocolate because sometimes, especially in small batches, it would cool down before all of the chocolate completely melted. I figured if I'm going to have to use the microwave or heat gun at the end to get it all melted, I can just as easily melt the chocolate at the beginning and be done with it with the added benefit that there's zero risk of overlooked little pieces of chocolate that didn't melt. I don't consider it a necessity or special technique or anything, just personal preference.

I haven't encountered that problem but I have no good advice or answers as to why that is other than maybe blind luck. I've never tried any of the fancy mixing methods. I usually just melt the chocolate, heat the liquid ingredients, dump it all over the chocolate at once and stir it in, then work in the butter. When it cools down enough, I stir in some silk from the EZtemper and pipe. I haven't noticed the silk having an immediate effect on the viscosity so I'm sticking with "luck".

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.