sanantone

Any idea what chemical is being marketed on the texturaselbulli.com site as 'Fizzy'?? I have no problem buying from them but want to know what I'll be ingesting before dropping the $$.

The chocolate cake recipe I use calls for 1 cup of boiling water and I've often substituted the water with strong hot coffee. You could probably do the same with black tea. I've also made a pound cake recipe that calls for whole milk and substituted a combination of whole milk and Tazo chai tea latte concentrate. ← I second that suggestion. Although I haven't made a Chai Tea cake, I've made tons of great tasting tea infused ganaches. All you do is take whatever liquid the recipe calls for and steep tea in it before you mix it in with the other ingredients. Make sure to get the liquid back to the temp the recipe calls for before adding it in. You will need to experiment with how much tea to use in the recipe based on how strong you want the tea flavor to come out in the dish and how strong the other flavors are. Hope this helps. Lets see the finished product when its done!!

Reading this thread made me incredibly hungry for chocolate chip cookies. After much debate I tried the Unbelievably Good Chocolate Chip Cookie recipe. I was starting late so I didn't have time for two different recipes. I have been making different versions of the Tollhouse since I was 10 years old and though my "all brown sugar, extra vanilla" version was great. This new recipe beat mine hands down. In the oven: On the rack: The recipe is quite a bit different than the way I had been making mine, cold butter creamed with the sugar from the beginning, room temp eggs and what I think is a higher sugar to flour ratio. All of which made a great freaking cookie! Next is The Tejon. I like oatmeal in cookies...

My Chicken Fried Steak Take two cheaper cuts of steak about the size of your hand (beef! not chicken) and pound with a tenderizing hammer until they are the size of your foot. Salt and pepper both sides. Toss them in some flour to coat, toss them in a bowl with a couple of wisked eggs and then toss back into the flour and shake so there is hardly any flour left. Heat up a skillet of oil deep enough to just cover the steaks and fry until golden. Remove the cooked steaks to some paper towels. Empty out all but a few tablespoons of the oil and add two tablespoons of flour. Cook down for a few minutes on medium low heat (don't burn the roux). Whisk in whole cream and bring to a boil. Add enough cream to get a good gravy consistency but not too runny. You can't have a bowl full of lame gravy stand up to this piece of meat. Serve with mashed potatoes and you are good to go.

Slightly off topic but elated to this posting... I make my own ring molds for plating out of PVC pipe. This is because its ton cheaper than 'professional' molds and PVC is what most new houses use for water plumbing so it has got to be safe. Am I correct in my assumption or have I been poisoning my dinner guests?

I too would suggest making your own invert sugar. It's easy as pie and you reduce your dependence on 'speciality' ingredients.

I have been cooking with Sweet Earth chocolate (http://www.sweetearthchocolates.com/) They are based in the U.S., free trade and add no lecithin so you can make chocolate for your vegan friends. Just wanted to let you know there are others out there fighting the good fight for free trade chocolate.

Hello fellow chocolate-ears. I'm a new joining eG member and chocolate dipper from San Antonio. I found you all via a search for information on Greweling's book. I had been asking for this book since it came out and it finally arrived in the form of a birthday present last week. I am self-taught and have learned to cook by working my way through what I perceive as master texts like The Way to Cook, The Professional Chef and more specialized books like Chocolate Obsession. The latter is where my interest in making fine chocolates began. It is interesting to see the different perspectives on how best to accomplish the same task and then figure out how I'm actually going to do it in my own kitchen. One recipe in the book that really intrigued me was the one for Turkish Delight. I have most of the ingredients on hand and it just looks like something fun to try out. I have a question for the more seasoned candy makers in the group. The recipe refers to thin boiling starch (60° fluidity) but doesn't give measurements from how much starch and water are required to make this. The theory section prior to the recipe says to mix water and starch and use a refractometer to get 78% solids content. The recipe says 60° fluidity and neither of which I know how to produce. I doubt the artisan candy makers in Turkey use refractometers, they probably have a water/starch ratio they start with and adjust from there. Is 60° fluidity just 6 parts water and 4 parts starch boiled for 5 minutes? Cheers! Tom