Chris Hennes

I doubt it's an issue with the eggs: a single yolk is enough to emulsify a massive amount of oil/liquid. I think the salt suggestion is probably the most likely, but I don't really know the science behind it, nor can I find a reference that suggests that too much salt will break an emulsion. Anyone?

When you tasted the final mostly-successful emulsion did it strike you as particularly salty? You can add a fair bit of salt to mayonnaise without breaking it, I'd think that at a level of saltiness that actually prevented emulsion you'd notice something amiss in the flavor.

Modernist Cuisine suggests 60°C for 72h for a "tender, yielding" texture (what you were supposed to get at 65°C/36h was "tender, flaky").

Yes, definitely. Modernist mentions a couple other possible time/temp combinations, I only quoted to you the one they consider their favorite. But in general the lower the temp the less moisture the collagen sheaths (the endomysium and perimysium) are going to squeeze out of the muscles before they are broken down.

Thanks for the suggestion: in particular this post looks like a promising method, requiring moderate oven heat and no pizza stone (only a perforated pan, which I think I own).

I'm not looking to go the high-temp route: I'm really looking for a cracker-type crust here, and crackers and baked at lower temp for longer time.

I'm looking at the thin crust recipe at pizzamaking.com that Mitch linked to above, and they talk about using a dough sheeter (if you've got one). Do you suppose a pasta roller would do the trick? I'm not fixated on round pizzas, I'd be perfectly happy with two long skinny rectangles if it meant a better crust.

was that thin pie crispy?

My theory on this (and the reason I often tweak recipes in this direction) is that the base reacting with the acid in the buttermilk dulls the flavor of the buttermilk: I want the batter to be acidic, so I don't want to react the acid with a base. I often reduce the amount of baking soda called for in buttermilk-based recipes and cheat up the quantity of baking powder.

There are two schools of sauerkraut making: one where you just add salt, and one where you add a brine. Both techniques work: stick with whatever recipe you've got.

Yeah, Sam, I think that's what I'm looking for. Mitch, does that describe Reinhart's recipe? I've thought about picking that book up but haven't pulled the trigger yet.

I'm experimenting with ways of getting the kind of pizza crust I like, which is thin and crisp. Of course, most pizza dough recipes out there seem to be sort of bread-y crusts, or for Neopolitan-style crusts, which are thin like I like, but not crisp enough (and of course there is the issue of oven temperature). Tonight I tried to use a recipe from Roden's recent Spain book for a coca dough, which winds up crisp; I had some trouble adjusting the baking time for the thickness I rolled out, which is much thinner than her coca calls for, and the fact is it just didn't taste very good. Does anyone have any suggestions for a sort of cracker-type pizza crust?

No culinary terms that I'm aware of: endomysium and perimysium are the terms I was looking for. Incidentally, Modernist Cuisine suggests 65°C for 24 hours for fresh pork shoulder or fresh ham. Edited to correct: sorry, that should be 36 hours.

Of course the only catch with cocoa butter is that it can actually be a pain to come by in small quantities. Are you working at a commercial scale, or doing home confectionery?

The connective tissue you need to worry about is the stuff holding the muscle fibers together (I forget what it's called and Modernist Cuisine is in the other room right now...). So going for a long-time sous vide or a braise-type technique is probably what's called for here. The nice thing about using SV is that you can figure out exactly what time/temp combination works best for your tastes. Maybe try treating it like you would brisket as a starting point.

Jif's ingredients are: Probably similar to what you've got available to you. I've never been that thrilled with the flavor of "natural" peanut butters, to be honest, but obviously use what tastes good to you...

As shown in this post, I just used regular Jif when I made them: it's not a problem at all, though Jif's ingredient list is none too exotic.

Wow, mine was only 250lb, that is big. Have you tried a low-and-slow method to try to break down the connective tissue? Braise? BBQ?

I use cocoa butter when I need to thin.

Extruders and rollers produce more or less totally different products, so I guess we had better make sure to mention which we are talking about in our comments here... I've never heard anything good said about the KitchenAid extruder attachment, but if IndyRob is right and they've changed the design maybe things have improved. I love my rollers, though.

Oh, completely forgot about thyme and marjoram: add those to my list, too. Cilantro is definitely not useful dried, when it gets hot here I let mine go to seed and harvest the coriander instead. It's the only herb I've got that is happier here in the winter than the summer!

I used most of mine to make sausage, actually: it makes a LOT of sausage, though! I never tried just cooking it as a whole muscle.

IndyRob, my comments, at least, were referring to the roller-style attachment, I don't have the others.

I think most of us are in agreement here: I'm curious about Nick's opinion that hand-cranked is better, though. Nick, have you used both, or are you strictly a manual-user?

To my taste, the herbs that are most useful dried are oregano, dill, and lavender. Sage is OK, but is better preserved in salt. Basil is a totally different beast, and I have never found a use for the dried stuff. Same for tarragon, chives, and parsley.