FoodMan

Is this better? Is it the OG that told you malt is a bit low? Strong English Winter Ale Size 5 gallons Boil 4 gallons color 30 HCU (~14 SRM) bitterness 43 IBU OG 1.069 FG 1.022 Alcohol 6% v/v (4.0% w/w) Grain: 3 lb. 0 oz. American 2-row 1.5 lb. 0 oz. American crystal 40L 0.5 lb. 0 oz. Dextrine malt (Cara-Pils) Mash: 68% efficiency Boil: SG 1.086, 4 Gallons 6 lb. 0 oz. Amber LIQUID malt extract Hops: 1 oz. Kent Goldings (5% AA, 60 min.) 1 oz. Kent Goldings (5% AA, 45 min.) 1 oz. Kent Goldings (5% AA, 30 min.) 1 oz. Kent Goldings (5% AA, 15 min.)

Well, I got something like this. Also I could not find American Special Roast in the list to add it. Strong English Winter Ale Size 5 gallons Boil 4 gallons color 27 HCU (~14 SRM) bitterness 43 IBU OG 1.061 FG 1.022 Alcohol 5.1% v/v (4.0% w/w) Grain: 3 lb. 0 oz. American 2-row 1.5 lb. 0 oz. American crystal 40L 0.5 lb. 0 oz. Dextrine malt (Cara-Pils) Mash: 68% efficiency Boil: SG 1.077, 4 Gallons 5 lb. 0 oz. Amber LIQUID malt extract Hops: 1 oz. Kent Goldings (5% AA, 60 min.) 1 oz. Kent Goldings (5% AA, 45 min.) 1 oz. Kent Goldings (5% AA, 30 min.) 1 oz. Kent Goldings (5% AA, 15 min.) How does that sound? I still need the American Special Roast in there. Also, how important is the specified (pretty low) fermentation temps in the original recipe? Any help is very much appreciated to fine tune this.

I pretty much decided on the second one. I've already made a porter and want something different. How would I convert that to partial? I can maybe also flavor it to my liking with some orange zest and such.

I'm thinking of brewing this weekend and want to do something seasonal/fallish/even christmasy. I found this recipe for Holiday Porter that sounds promising. What do you think? I am worried about it being too spiced though. Should I change anything? Also boiling 8 gallons is out of the question. I'd need to reduce the boil volume to no more than 4 gallons and maybe the yield to 4 or 5 gallons. Any ideas? Then again there's this Winter Warmth Strong Ale that is also sounding very good.

My understanding is that instant( rapid-rise) yeast is specifically designed for single-rise breads, and should not be proofed, but rather mixed directly in with the dry ingredients. I use it for breads with a rise-punchdown-rise cycle, but I've never tried a second punchdown-rise with instant. Of course, anyone out there who knows better, please correct me! ← I love rapid rise or instant yeast and use it as my go to yeast. It is the same price at Active Dry yeast but you need to use 1/3 of the amount. Basically the above theory is what I believe happened. Do NOT mix the yeats with water and let it proof. stir it directly with the flour. I made this mistake once and sure enough, my bread was dense like yours.

Gald this thread is still alive and kicking after more than a year! It's fall, a great baking season. So, I made the Depth of Fall Butternut Squash pie. It just sounded so fallish and warm full of sweet squash, pears, raisisns, walnuts and some spice. I also added an apple that was lying in my fridge. Awsome stuff, not too sweet, very earhty, fallish and deliciouse with a scoop of Ben and Jerry's cinnamon bun ice cream! This makes a unique and tasty T-giving dessert.

Been making lots of repeat stuff here too. Over the past few weeks I made about 20lbs bacon and 5 lbs pancetta (don't like to run out ). I also had a friend join me for a sausage making day. We pooled resources and made about 35 lbs of sausage in three varieties Italian flavored with rosemary (good variation on fennel) Chipotle Mole Marjoram Kielbasa Since I've posted about these before I figured no pics or explanation needed. The only new thing I made recently was corned beef. Boy is this stuff awsome!! We ate it for a week in sandwiches, plain and for brunch in Corned beef Hash with eggs and potatoes. Seriously good and easy.

I made another side dish from this book. I need to make a good main dish soon... This was the green brussels sprouts in a sauce made from pureed peas. He advises to use frozen brussels sprouts becasue they cook fast and they do not get mushy. I loved these guys and will be making them for T-giving this year. Maybe add some crisped pancetta too.

Man, I so want to try this place since I read about it in both the Chronicle and the Press. Seems like a true original and unique new joint. Problem is, it's so damn out of my way.

Great looking eggplant. Another favorite snack of mine and the brother of the Stuffed Chilies in Oil I do love to use peanuts instead of walnuts though. I just love the assertive peanut flavor more in these preparations. I do like the addition of the pomagranate seeds.

Sure I have basil and lots of it. Remember I am in Houston, TX. I have two plants, one with the large wide leaves like the one you get at the store. The other is more peppery with smaller narrower leaves and they are both still nice and bushy and green. These are the first recipes I cook from the book. Both are terrific. It's also a good book to leaf/read through and is full of useful information. The fact that every recipe title has reference to the origin (Sardinia, Alba, Pantelleria,...) is a big plus for me. I also like the pictures of not just the food, but the people and places. I think it's a good buy.

Certainly you are correct about the 'no chocolate in middle eastern desserts' observation. Although -THE HORROR OF HORRORS- we do see chocolate kenafi (as opposed to the cream or cheese filled ones) in many a shop now . I certainly would not say there is a disinterest in chocolate though. It is very much used in cakes and western pastries as well as in many bonbons and other confections. Like I said, my post does not do sweets in Lebanon justice.

My most recent Italian cookbook acquisition is The Foods of Sicily, Sardinia and The smaller Islands by Giuliano Bugialli. So, last night's dinner was my first meal from the book (except for the Spinach). A Sardinian dinner...and lots of gratuitous photos Linguini with Walnut sauce. The sauce is a pesto of walnuts, parsley, basil and mint. It also has a good amount of breadcrumbs that I think can be reduced significantly. Still pretty good and tasty dish. Boned, Stuffed and rolled Sardinian chicken with a piquant sauce. The chicken if stuffed with parsley, pancetta and garlic. The sauce is quiet tangy and deliciouse made with oven-dried tomatoes (my homemade bastardization of sundried tomatoes), capers, garlic, parsley, vinegar and water. All in all, the dish looks lovely and tasted wonderful. I also sauteed some mushrooms with spinach, raisins and almonds. This was not from any book. It seemed like a Sardinian/Sicilian combo to me. I toppedit with Pecorino and it was excellent. And One more....

Lebanese Sweets I am really not going to do the sweets you can find in Lebanon any justice here. As far as I am concerned (and a few million others in the region might agree), the place called Abdul Rahman Hallab & Sons (a.k.a The Sweet Palace)in Tripoli, North Lebanon, is the best middle eastern pastry maker in the world. This place is simply unrivaled in terms of freshness, artistry and taste. I never think of driving through Tripoli without a stop here. Unfortunately, my useless brain managed to forget the camera when I did stop on this visit and the chance of taking photos of the place is lost till next time. So, here is the consolation prize. My grandmother on her way to Beirut stopped there and picked up a couple of trays of delicacies. Glad she did!! These here are ‘Znood El Sit’, meaning ‘The Lady’s Arm’. You’ll find many Arabic desserts named after women’s anatomy. I guess, they are more attractive than saying ‘Big Burly Guy’s Arms’. Anyways, these particular ones here are delicious for only a few hours after they are made. They are filo dough, brushed in butter, filled with cream, deep fried and soaked in syrup!! They are absolutely addictive when fresh. The picture above is of the usual ‘Mshakal’ (Combination) tray you get from Hallab. This one travels very well, and I made sure to bring a couple of pounds with me. All I have to do is let them know that I need them packed for travel and they’ll give me individually wrapped pieces in a strong cardboard box. The following pictures are from another well known sweet shop called Sea Sweet. There are a few of them around the country, mainly in and around Beirut. Sea Sweet makes very good western style pastries and candies in addition to their -mediocre- middle eastern stuff. They do make excellent ice cream though.

Better late than never. Here is the lost of ingredients from the packet of Shawarma spices: Allspice Cinnamon Ginger Black Pepper Nutmeg Cloves Coriander White Pepper Garlic Salt

Well, to keep the pasta reference going , I'd say they were nicely al dente. Fully cooked, but not soft or mushy and with a very slight crunch.

I am so gald I decided to do a search before starting a thread! BTW, the book we are talking about and baking from here is: Peter Reinhart's Whole Grain Breads: New Techniques, Extraordinary Flavors Those who bought and enjoyed baking from his Bread Baker's Apprentice (there is a thread here somewhere) must buy this outstanding book. I could not stop reading through it at Borders about a month ago so I went ahead and bought it. I mean he is using beer mash to make mash breads! I got to try that! Whole wheat Brioche? Defintily I need to try. The whole idea of making true whole grain breads (using zero white flour in almost all recipes) and having them turn light and tasty was a deffinit selling point. So far I have tried two recipes. The first one after reading the long intro about the 'new technique' and such which comprises about a third of the book is the good old 'Whole Wheat Sandwich Bread'. He recommends making that first before moving on. The recipe like all of them uses a soaker, a yeast starter and of course the final flour addition. Like all recipes it also requires time (2 days) but little effort. The result: Highly recommended. I have never tasted a bread made with 100% whole wheat that was so good. It was not dense or too acidic, but had a nice chewy texture, a soft crumb and a wonderful earthy taste. It also freezes very well BTW. Here are a couple of pictures: Next recipe coming soon...after I upload the pics.

Thse all sounded good to me. can you tell me more about the onion carbonara? It just sounds so...oniony. ← Not at all, it is very delicious. I mean sure it is oniony to a degree, but not pungent in any way actually I have a picture here somewhere...here I made it that time as a side dish with chicken. This picture really does not do it justice. The process is pretty simple: The onions big ones with big diameter are sliced lengthwise through the center on one side only. So the onion is intact but the leaves are all slit on one side. Then the onion is sliced crosswise into 1/4 inch thick slices. This will give you large circles that are cut on one side. Then those large circles are steamed for 20 minutes or so. This makes the circles-turned-strands soft, flexible and very mild. Those are then dressed like a normal carbonara pasta with pancetta, eggs, cheese... Hope that makes sense.

Awsome book, I love to try more things from it. So far I've tried the: Low-Carbonara made with onions instead of noodles The all crust potato gratin The Tater tots All turned out fantastic. Those tater tots especially were gone as fast as I could fry them.

Yeah, I miss these threads too and I do try to post when I do something regional. I think basically Le Crueset is cast iron, but not like Lodge. LC is enameled and is not as heavy. I think the use of the ungalzed, enamel free cast iron cookware is very chuckwagon Amercian. Of course this is merely by observation and not based on any fact.

Actually it was nowhere near as nice as Beirut! Ever been there? I also agree about the Flying Saucer, better beer (hundreds of them) and better looking waitresses. For a nice posh dining experience, I've never yet been dissapointed with Mark's America Cuisine on Westheimer. I do hear very good things about 17 though...

Lovely food Kevin. I love the chicken especially! I've never tried Pollo Ala Diavola, because my wife cannot eat spicy foods. I do love cooking in good old American cast iron skillets. Yes, Hathor, I believe it is mainly and American thing.

Just out of curiosity, if you get the chance, could you please ask one of these shops what exactly is in the shawarma shown above? (beef/lamb primarily). I have read that it is thinly sliced lamb alternated with lamb fat and some other things - lemon juice, herbs, garlic etc, but I feel it is actually made like some kind of meatloaf... anyways I would greatly appreciate it if you do get the chance to ask :-). Thanks! ← Nope, definitly NOT like meatloaf. That is the Greek version discussed above that is made like meatloaf. This one is like you mentioned made from thinly sliced lamb and beef alternated with lamb fat. The whole thing is marinated before getting on the skewer. The marinade usually has stuff like spices, garlic, onions, vinegar, wine... BTW I did buy a couple of packets of 'Beef Shawarma Seasoning' to try and recreate some of this at home. The seasoning is a combo of maybe 10 different spices. If you like I'll post what these are. My goal is to make my own blend using this packet as guide.

Tawook sandwich usually has lots of garlic sauce, pickles, tomatoes and maybe fries. Kabab sandwiches, as I mentioned above have hummus, onions, parsley, tomatoes, pickles and hot pepper paste. Sorry, no pics of Pita baking.

I believe Kafta and Kabab are more or less the same thing here, difference is in the seasoning. The Kafta will be more heavily seasoned and will include minced onions and parsley in the meat as opposed to the Kabab which is just ground meat and spices. As for Daran and Orfali...I do not know.