Tri2Cook

Word on the street where I live is that they're trying to pass something that would require purchasing a license in order to legally forage wild blueberries. I haven't been able to confirm the truthfulness of this or even the source of the rumor as of yet. One person I talked to claims it was brought up at a recent town council meeting but I don't know for sure that's the case. If it does in fact prove to be true, I (and a very large number of others) will find it greatly offensive. Especially if it's not a provincial thing and just a local money grab. I wouldn't think with most of the popular picking areas being on public lands outside of the actual town-incorporated area that the local government would have legal authority to enforce something like this... but I'm not actually sure how that works.

That's an awesome idea. I have a springerle recipe that uses citrus instead of anise that works really well with the springerle molds I have. Yet another "Why didn't I think of that?" suggestion. Obviously my brain has taken the night off. Thanks!

Thanks for the replies. I should mention that I have quite a bit of baking experience and I'm very familiar with proper dough handling, etc. I'm not saying that because I don't appreciate the help, just to save people the trouble of having to explain in that much detail. I just don't have many recipes that meet my requirements for this particular situation and thought I'd see if I could fish for a few here. The recipes I have that work well for this purpose are gingerbread variations and not really what I want on this occasion. I'll give a couple of my shortbread recipes a shot, that actually (and embarrassingly) didn't occur to me for some reason.

I have some custom made cookie cutters that are very detailed and include an imprinted design as well as the cutout. I need a cookie recipe(s) (preferably not chocolate or gingerbread-esque on this occasion but I'd be happy to see suggestions in those areas as well for future use) that tastes good, isn't a tooth breaker like some of the stuff used for building and, most importantly for this particular application, incredibly stable. I need them to expand, puff, spread, etc. at an absolute minimum because the detailing in the designs won't stand for much without becoming muddled. If I were to order the traits mentioned by importance I would say stability-taste-texture. Normally taste would be first but the main goal here is to maintain the integrity of the designs. Edible is important but I can live with them not topping a "best cookies" list if I can get the stability. Anyway, anybody got anything?

I picked it up from Heston Blumenthal's books. I'm not a chocolatier by any stretch of the imagination so I don't know if there are reasons to not use oil for that purpose (beyond the obvious that it's no longer just chocolate) but for what I do, I like the texture it provides. I usually add around 60 - 65 grams oil for every 500 grams of chocolate. It doesn't make much difference that I've noticed in the quality or quantity of the bubbles but it gives the overall piece a texture I think is closer to an Aero bar. It just seems lighter and you can bite or even slice it without it crumbling. The same affect can be achieved using cocoa butter instead of oil if not looking to change the flavor of the chocolate.

I don't know which method you're using but if you're adding oil to the chocolate (which takes it out of the "pure chocolate" category but, in my opinion, gives a nicer texture to the bubbles), the white is nice with roasted peanut oil. I also did milk chocolate with roasted walnut oil and it was pretty tasty.

I think it's much more simple than that. I think most just view it as what it is... decoration. Kinda like the ol' parsley sprig on the side of the plate. The fact that it's edible may not even cross their mind. Telling them it's edible may encourage some but let's be honest, a piece of pulled sugar or isomalt isn't really all that wonderful a thing to eat anyway. I've always assumed when using them that they were there for the look. If somebody wanted to eat it, great, but I didn't expect them to.

I guess I jumped the gun... made a key lime pie this morning. I'll have to think of something for next weekend.

I'm sorry to hear this... sometimes I wish we were all a little more invincible.

Is Modernist Pantry getting smaller packaging through an arrangement with the manufacturer or do they buy the same larger packages everyone else can buy and repackage it? The shelf life on that stuff once opened and exposed to the air is not all that long. Even unopened original packaging suggests something like a year for shelf life (with Activa, I'm unfamiliar with moo gloo). If they bought a lot initially and have had it around for a long time or repackage it themselves and don't see a pretty fast turnover, it's probably just dead. I'm not saying that's what's happening, I don't know their purchasing or turnover information, just a possibility.

One would almost definitely get a better result that way but then one wouldn't be making a piecaken. One would just be making a layer cake with a crispy component. Don't get me wrong, I'm not arguing the piecaken is a perfect thing (maybe not even a good thing, I haven't tried it). But making something that's not at all similar to the item isn't improving that item, it's making something else... which may very well be the better option in some cases.

And I of all people should have realized that. Being that I dabble in that form of humor on a regular basis... apologies for missing the joke. I didn't actually think you were disparaging a type of cuisine though. I thought (wrongly as it turns out) you were arguing against the idea of excess just for the sake of excess.

Ah yes, the ol' "let's stretch this so far into the ridiculous that it makes the other person's point seem silly" approach. Always a good strategy. I'm not claiming it should become the next big dessert trend. It's just kinda refreshing once in a while to see a dessert that isn't tiny, prissy and biased towards not being sweet. I wouldn't call this the best possible example of that but it certainly meets the criteria.

Three layers of cake with a pie baked inside each layer kinda requires large as part of the equation. I'm sure one could scale it Euro-style so that all of the layers fit in a 6 cm ring... but that would eliminate the pure decadence that this embodies. I don't know if it's good or not but there's no denying it's unashamedly over the top. There's something about that I appreciate.

I agree. It's fun watching the process taking place and makes it abundantly clear that I'll enjoy Rob's book immensely but will never, ever attempt to write one myself.

I knew I remembered seeing this referred to as "piecaken" somewhere. Some of the variations on that blog sounded pretty tasty to me.

Fair enough, let's try this one more time then. The quote above... that is the statement I'm contesting. Nothing in your post makes any specification as to type of recipe. "Everyday recipes" is not a specification. Some people don't bake at all, some people bake every day. My argument is that in some types of recipes, I, and I'm sure I'm not alone, can easily tell the difference. That is the only argument I was making. I'm sure in a recipe such as Porthos example with the significant amount of added salt as well as pre-salted broth, I couldn't notice the additional salt added by 3 tbsp. of salted butter. But I'm also confident that's not the type of situation the "myth of unsalted butter" was created for. It may have found it's way into that territory due to people not thinking things through when they create a recipe. "Well most of my baking recipes call for unsalted butter so it must be better. I'll specify that in this recipe." If we want to use that as the basis for the discussion and argument, I concede the point. But I'm pretty sure it's not a great stretch of common sense to realize that's not the type of situation where "the myth" was founded. In a situation where butter is a significant component of the recipe without a significant amount of additional salt from other sources, the difference is easy to notice and much more likely to be the situation "the myth" was created for. Just for the record, this has nothing to do with not being willing to have my mind changed. I'm always willing to learn, there's just nothing for me to learn in this case. I know from my own experience that in many situations it doesn't require anything special or magical to notice the difference. If it's otherwise for you, that's fine. I'm not trying to convince anybody they should use a specific type of butter for anything. I was just arguing against Porthos opening statement that the reasons for using it are a myth and your seeming disbelief that people can tell a difference.

In some cases, that's true... but I can easily taste the difference in things like cookies, puff pastry, croissant dough, pie dough, cake batter, buttercream, etc. Maybe it comes down to the particular butter available in an area but where I live, there is most definitely a noticeable difference. Porthos example of 3 tbsp. butter in a recipe also calling for 1 1/2 tsp. salt and salted chicken broth is a bit extreme for using it as a basis to declare the reasons to use unsalted butter a myth. In recipes where butter is a primary component and the amount of added salt is less prominent, the difference is obvious.

I too ate a lot of it during my college years and early working years. I don't know if it's changed like everything else (there was a time when Pizza Hut pizza, while not great, was much better than what they serve today) but I didn't mind it at the time. I accepted it for what it was... cheaper than Pizza Hut and Domino's. I can't say that there's been a time when I've thought "Hey, I haven't had Little Caesar's in years! I wish I had one!" but if there was one close to where I live, I might try it again just for fun. I might even be willing to try that bacon wrapped beast just to say I did. However, it's a non-option since it doesn't exist here.

Unfortunately, my problem isn't a lack of bravery in sharing my disasters... my problem is that I haven't done enough cooking outside of work lately to have the opportunity for disasters. I'm not proud of that.

You asked about making your own substitute for condensed cream of mushroom soup. We understand that you're not making soup, that you're shooting for maximizing mushroom flavor in a milk/cream base to stand in for the condensed cream of mushroom soup in a recipe you're tinkering with. People with experience are telling you ways to do that and, as usual, you're spending your time looking for reasons to shoot the suggestions down or making snippy remarks to those who don't say what you want to hear. Maybe try a suggestion or two before fighting against them (unless you already know what you're going to do... in which case, why ask?) and you might be surprised at how helpful people can be.

I was just too lazy... but I didn't eat out, somebody cooked for me.

And when Okanagancook says "the amount is hit or miss", you do not want to miss too far on the too much side. Xanthan, even more so than modified starches like Ultratex, in excessive amounts will leave your broth resembling something you blow out of your nose in texture.

I didn't have too much trouble with them crumbling, just enough for it to be mildly annoying. The problem I did have is going to get me in a lot of trouble with the masses though... I just didn't particularly love them. I didn't hate them, just didn't like them enough to wrestle with them again.

I'm not an expert on eating habits around the world but in the area where I live and work, Mondays are definitely the slowest day overall. Of course there is the occasional really busy Monday and really slow Friday but that's by far the minority. We're open on Mondays because our lunch crowd from local businesses is a large part of our customer base but if we were going to close on a weekday, that would be the one. If you're going to have a day that you're closed, you have to go with what's going to be the most financially sound over the entire year, not just what might be best for a couple months out of the year. I could see being open 7 days/week during tourist season in an area like where you live but that entails hiring temporary seasonal staff and banking on the tourists covering the additional expenses plus profit (otherwise, why bother?). Maybe your local restaurants have already tried it at some point in the past or talked to those who have and decided it's really not worth it big picture.