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Chris Hennes

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Posts posted by Chris Hennes

    Oven vent losing heat?

    in Kitchen Consumer

    Posted

    The thermostat controls how hot it gets , so blocking wont let it get any hotter

    Bud

    :laugh::shock: Thanks for the reality check, Bud. Excellent point. So the solution is to re-calibrate your oven. Dunno how yours works, but my oven dial has a screw on the back of it that I can use to physically change where the various temperatures are. Or, just turn the dial up as far as it will go before going into "broil" mode, if that's how yours works. If it still doesn't hit 500, then consider more drastic measures.

    Wybauw : Fine Chocolates 2 (Ganaches)

    in Cookbooks & References

    Posted

    i'm a little pissed, but amazon has this book on special right now for USD$62.37.  it isn't in stock yet, but if you pre-order, you're guaranteed the special price.

    damn.  if only i had a little patience!

    edited to add:  they also have a 5% pre-order special...so you can get the book for $59.25

    i hope someone takes advantage of this offer...

    That was the impetus I was waiting for... just what I need, another book about chocolate :huh: . Thanks for the heads-up.

    Dinner! 2008

    in Cooking

    Posted

    Mmm that looks good!

    What kind of wrap did you use? And how did your flavour your pork & mushroom?

    The wrap is just a flour tortilla from the refrigerated section. The principal flavorings are Hoisin and soy sauce, but there is also ginger, garlic and sesame oil. It was a tasty recipe, though I thought serving it with a hoisin dipping sauce was overkill in the sweetness department.

    HappyLab where did you get your guanciale? Home-cured? I've been meaning to try that recipe, but I haven't gotten around to it. It looks great.

    Brigid Mary is that recipe from his Bread Baker's Apprentice book? It looks a bit like a thin-crust pizza, one of my favorites.

    Dinner! 2008

    in Cooking

    Posted

    Shelby those pork chops look great!

    I'm working my way through the 7 lbs of leftover pork roast from last night. My wife is back out of town, so I can eat all the mushrooms I want. Tonight, I had the "Chinese Pork & Mushroom Wraps (a.k.a. mu shu pork)" from January 2008's Fine Cooking.

    gallery_56799_5710_62830.jpg

    Lunch! (2003-2012)

    in Cooking

    Posted

    Based on last night's pork roast, I followed the January 2008 Fine Cooking recipe for "Grilled Roast Pork Cubano Sandwiches":

    gallery_56799_5710_63314.jpg

    I definitely recommend this one, although I think you need to cook them over much lower heat to get everything warmed up at the same time, or you need to pre-warm the meats, etc.

    Oklahoma City Restaurants

    in Southwest & Western States: Dining

    Posted

    I always look on the bright side: for OKC, this is that property is insanely cheap, i.e. I can have a gigantic garden and greenhouse. Coupled with FedEx service this means that I can do a lot of great cooking at home. But I like to eat out, too! I don't necessarily need "high class" all the time, but having the option would be nice.

    Reducing

    in Cooking

    Posted

    i know i'm a little late to the party, but i would love it if someone could explain this to me?  i know it's very common to reduce to concentrate flavors.  so, what's the deal here?  ; )

    Some of the flavors in a well-made stock are quite volatile: slamming it on high heat for a long time will concentrate the essential stock flavor (chicken, beef, etc.) but any subtleties added by herbs, etc. will be cooked away. Even some of the main flavor notes will change when cooked like this. It always pains me to have to reduce a chicken stock that I carefully attended for four or five hours, monitoring the flavors until it was just right. I should probably keep some "cheap and easy" stock on hand for those situations, but I never think to do so...

    Dinner! 2008

    in Cooking

    Posted

    Tonight my wife was in town, so we had a pork roast from last month's Fine Cooking: it was pretty good, although we both thought the fennel and apple dressing was too sweet. I should have tasted it before serving, I think it could have been fixed with some cider vinegar and a bit of salt. This was a Niman Ranch Saratoga Roast, which was substantially larger than what the recipe called for, so I also should have tweaked the cooking temperatures, since by the time the center was 145F the pork was overcooked, to my taste. Good thing the NR pork has so much fat!

    gallery_56799_5710_96414.jpg

    Lunch! (2003-2012)

    in Cooking

    Posted

    I have to applaud that.  Those noodles look FANTASTIC.  And now, at 11:30 at night, I want pasta... :blink:

    Thanks, Erin. Today's lunch was a little less ambitious: leftover beef chili with cheddar, wheat thins, and a healthy dose of Sriracha---

    gallery_56799_5710_47355.jpg

    Bananas and molded chocolates

    in Pastry & Baking

    Posted

    I am looking to incorporate banana into several of my molded chocolates. Do most of you use a banana puree? I tried using a few fresh bananas and some confectionary sugar to make a puree, then mixing that into my ganache. I found the shelf life to be very short though..only about two weeks. Any help or tips?

    I think the shelf life here is primarily due to the high water content of the banana puree. Have you tried reducing it first? I generally reduce fruit purees by half before incorporating them. It changes the flavor some, so you will have to weigh that against the shelf-life benefits. Do you know the water activity of your recipe?

    Food neuroses that drive you nuts

    in Food Traditions & Culture

    Posted

    A lot of these things don't really seem to be neuroses, but more "normal" personal preferences. For example, disliking something because of its texture doesn't strike me as neurotic, or disliking certain flavor combinations, or flavors in general. I think of a "food neurosis" as irrationally refusing to eat something, the key being the irrational part. My mom's husband's insistence on only eating yellow/orange cheese, for example, even though the only difference is the addition of (tasteless, odorless) food coloring. Or Fat Guy's mom's refusal to eat brown eggs. There is no rational reason for these behaviors. That, to me, is neurotic.

    Chocolate Course

    in Pastry & Baking

    Posted

    gallery_34671_3115_3900.jpg

    My favorite garbage can in the world.  It has a nice large capacity, when you step on the pedal the lid comes up, then slowly closes again.  Saw them at Chocolate World, go for about 500 euro.  No wonder I liked it so much.

    500€ ?!? :blink::shock: Am I missing something here? It sounds like your standard pedal-operated trash can with a pneumatic valve to slow down the closing action.

    Adventures in Starting a Chocolate Business

    in Pastry & Baking

    Posted

    Thanks. How come I missed that picture you posted?!  :rolleyes: I was wondering how it got to the wax paper.  :raz:

    So, the ganache has to be bottom-coated with chocolate before putting on the chain, eh?

    Yeah, I guess I can dip them fine the way I do it now (and thanks for saying 'excellent'  :biggrin: ) but when I have like 10,000 cookies to dip in a month I go  :wacko:  It's only that high a number during the festive season though but still, with the baking and making other cookies too ...  like I said I go  :wacko: :wacko: 

    I don't think I'll ever be able to invest in an enrober. I'm just a home baker.

    10,000 cookies in a month? Sounds like you're more than "just a home baker"!! :shock::biggrin:

    Dinner! 2008

    in Cooking

    Posted

    I haven't tried that exact recipe, Chris, but I think you're right.  I always put a lot of peppers in  my white chili.

    As far as I'm concerned, if you're going to call it "chili" the principal flavor had better be chile peppers! This recipe only called for one can of pickled jalapeños, for six servings. It tasted good, but I would call it "Southwest Chicken Soup" or something like that. And I would still add a few fresh peppers!

    Whole Wheat Pasta

    in Kitchen Consumer

    Posted

    ..., but now I wonder if it would be less icky in a dish that is less about the pasta. Like a cold pasta salad or a hearty soup.

    smallworld,

    The buckwheat Soba noodle from Japan is obviously excellent in cold salad. I like Soba both hot & cold- much better than WW.

    This is true, but I bet soba noodles taste weird if you try to sauce them with a bolognese. I wonder if there isn't an appropriate use of whole wheat pasta unrelated to the classic Italian uses of standard pasta. I don't recall whether I liked the WW noodles themselves or not, only that they were objectionable in the dishes I tried them in.

    Sometimes a Sausage is Just a Sausage

    in The Daily Gullet

    Posted

    Fun? You wouldn't say that if you ever had sausage that looked like this:

    gallery_19804_437_32803.jpg

    That is indeed a sad sight... all that time, wasted! Fun?!? Frustrating, more like. I was pretty bummed when my duck breast prosciutto didn't work out; I haven't had the fortitude to press on and try again, and went back to fresh sausage for the time being. Harder to screw up.

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