stuartlikesstrudel

I recently made Crack Pie and because I used non-standard sized tins, I found myself a little short on crumb mix. It took a few minutes to redistribute and keep working it thinner without getting gaps, but in the end I made it work, and also found that the crust was more even and held together better than I've done in the past. I wonder, Jeff, if you could spend a few more minutes refining the crust when you pat it in to get more evenness...? I was surprised that it seemed to keep "coming together" more as I worked it, even though I'd mixed it well in the first place.

Not that it really helps much, but in Australia we also call these lemon pudding-cakes "Lemon Delicious Pudding", I think we get it from the Brits?

I have come from an under-salting background, and particularly as I use less and less convenience products (i.e pasta sauces) I have had to adjust my salting. Sometimes i'm really surprised and quite hesitant at how much salt I'm putting in something, but then I remember that none of the ingredients have salt "built in". I still like to undersalt a little bit both for healthiness and also because people can adjust to taste. My house isn't a restaurant, and not *every* meal needs to be bursting with salty flavor, just like super-fatty and sugary meals aren't necessarily everyday foods. An eG member made a great suggestion a while back to have a bottle of salty water mixed up that you could use to adjust salt levels. Since it takes a bit of time to dissolve and distribute evenly, I think this is a clever idea to make salt-adjusting easier (of course it wouldn't work for everything though).

Good question... I feel like I read recently (in my latest bunch of readings) that it's ok - such as if you're doing multiple batches - but I'm not really sure, and i can't find where it said so. I imagine that a bit of air would start escaping, so if you had mixed it perfectly it might become slightly overmixed, but that could be wrong too. Mine aren't perfect enough yet that I noticed the difference when I split a batch (with 10 or 15 mins until i used the second half).

Well Shelby, looks alright to me! I'd definitely eat that Your almond meal appears to be really finely done, which is good, and it seems there is some gloss on the shell, also good. You mention you've already done a lot of reading (there's so much out there isn't there?!) but I can recommend this website for some good tips and troubleshooting (i linked to page 3 of the series but they're all good to read). Also the eG thread is long and varied, as you probably discovered. If you look at a few youtube videos, some of them show the "macaronage" stirring step, which may help you find the correct viscosity for the end product. Having said that, I still don't think i've really got it right yet after 6 or 7 tries, so i think it partially just takes time. But the failures still taste good!

I think there have been some great responses already, and I particularly agree with #1 from xxchef. I am STILL trying to find a few authors/chefs whose tastes generally agree with mine, so I can trust most of their recipes without having to make alterations. I find a lot of baking too sweet and a bit one dimensional. Though I think this isn't really what you're getting at, as it's more about flavours than structure and fundamentals. But having said that, I think a lot of recipes don't get the ratios right, even for simple things. A lot of home baking, for example, "works" in that the end result tastes good, but then a professional recipe can be worlds apart. The little details are really noticeable, and I think great pastry chefs can be really selective in just how creamy they want a custard or mousse, the precise firmness of a pastry layer so the fork is resisted but cuts through, the way a cake will crumble or melt or fluff. Recently a friend made a cake using a recipe I gave him and the result was not great. Edible but just not the same. It was a VERY simple recipe and I'm still not sure what he did wrong, but it reinforced in my mind that what we're doing is reliant on so many factors and that any consistency you can introduce through recipes and specific instructions is a good thing. But apparently sometimes it's not enough

I thought of the Mozart cake as well... I've never even made it but saw it online and was surprised at the apple/chocolate combination. Must get round to it soon. I'm about to make this cake this afternoon, and I think it's going to be darn tasty. The recipe is from Valrhona so I consider that a good authority on chocolate pairings

Indian split pea fritters are pretty delicious, I think. I've made them with yellow and with green, i thought the green tasted a bit bitter but not sure. They're similar to felafel, I guess, I took them to a party and people loved them. NY Times has a recipe here that works well.

One thing you can do is to add some gluten flour to your flour... you can buy it in health shops or online, and it's made from just the inner part of the wheat and ends up being very high in gluten/protein (from memory I think it's about 75% protein). If you add a tsp or two per cup of flour, it will be comparable to a harder flour. I'm not sure if it's 100% as good, it may be a lessened effectiveness, but I'm still lead to believe it's a lot better than nothing.

Sounds terrific, Paulo! I'd be really happy with that menu, they all sounds like great dishes. I wish I could be there with you It's also lovely that you're being really supportive of her as she thinks about what she eats and why, I'm sure that means a lot to her. Hope you had a great day!

Oh and what about a savoury tart of some kind... if you used bought pastry it would be easy to assemble, and an individual tart made just for her would make her feel a bit special. Make it exciting and others will be asking for a taste The flavour possibilities are endless. Mushrooms, cheese, quiche-style, tomato, etc. And I just thought of this as a hearty vegetable dish - I haven't actually made it, but bookmarked it for later. Looks very substantial and sounds like the flavours will be robust. LINK. EDIT : Oh, and this! A bunch of ideas for salads from Mark Bittman, may help if you need some inspiration

I've been vegetarian for the last few years, and I think the options vary greatly depending on how steadfastly vegetarian she is becoming, and for what reasons, as others have stated. For example, I don't eat any meat but still eat cheese with animal rennet, and gelatin on occasion. This is NOT vegetarian in the strict (correct) sense, but it's what I decided and so I go with that. Vegetarian cheese is harder to find and more limited in variety, so if she is not concerned about that, it opens up a few more options. Personally, my attitude at Christmas is that people are already too stressed and doing too much food stuff, so I want to make it as simple as I can for people. At our family Christmas, people DO enjoy preparing the food, but they're not "foodies" who will relish the opportunity to stretch themselves and make me something special, so I am always happy to eat plenty of the side-dishes and not expect something custom made for me. I'm grateful for what they prepare and want to make things as enjoyable for them as I can. If your roommate is the same, perhaps you can work out some tweaks to your existing plan to make sure she has plenty of food without having to slave away for too long. I don't know about the U.S Christmas traditions, but we have a big roast dinner (probably similar to your Thanksgiving I think) so typically I will eat lots of fresh salad (it's usually hot on Christmas day in Aus so I'm happy with that) and some good sides, like green beans, stuffed mushrooms, roast vegetables. If they're tasty and plentiful, I don't feel shortchanged... I'm eating four or five different things! More than I usually have at home for dinner The suggestions people have already given sound great. I'd be very happy to have soup with blue cheese crumbles followed by pasta or gnocchi with some salad! Otherwise, think about stuffed vegetables (maybe they're a bit old fashioned, I don't know, but I still like them as long as they're flavourful). Stuffed mini squash, capsicum/peppers, mushrooms, all good! Roasted cauliflower (in the famous eGullet style) would be great by itself or with some kind of sauce/dressing. Indian food seems odd to my thinking because I'm so used to the roast dinner, but I definitely wouldn't say no to some great dal or a curry. Trying to make a faux meat roast or something is probably my least appealing option. I say you find out a bit more of what she might like/imagine, and then just make something tasty, not focussing too much on whether it feels Christmassy or not. That's what I'd like to receive.

Well, for someone who hates cookies (if you do... my sarcasm detector was inconclusive ) you sure turn out some good ones! They look so good - you can tell they're homemade but they don't look "homemade", if you know what I mean

I find this an interesting topic... I'm coming from the same direction as Tri and expect there is a certain amount of "legwork" which simply has to be done in order to get to a good starting level. Much like with cooking ingredients, it seems that the more you use them, the better you start to understand their characteristics and where they fit into flavour/texture etc. I guess this is the "basics" that Chris talked about. With alcohol, I personally find this a bit tricky since most spirits are expensive, and I imagine that if I bought a whole bunch it would take me a long time to really get my head around what is doing what in a particular cocktail. And that's before I even start to think about differences between brands or types of the same spirit. I don't drink every day, and often prefer a beer when I do. The most success I have had in creating a cocktail (and it was very modest, let me assure you) was when I chose only one alcohol (a white rum which we already had, in this case) and built the cocktail using flavours that I would cook with together. So the alcohol wasn't really the central point in the end. Which I suppose is the case in some cocktails, but it felt a bit like cheating One major difference I perceive when it comes to drinks is that I think there is a strength and intensity that alcohol brings that really needs to be balanced and sometimes tamed to make a pleasing drink. Many cooking ingredients aren't so dramatic in this way, so the common sweet/salty/sour/bitter considerations are probably still in play, but there are new sensations at our disposal which can be taken advantage of (or left unconsidered and ruin our drinks!) I guess I just need to get into a much more disciplined drinking regime

I have done the above, as well as sushi rice a few times as well. It's probably a bit of a faux pas since I understand there are particular qualities and texture of the rice that are needed when it features more prominently in sushi, for example, but it's just so easy... Even longer-cooking types like brown and wild rice can be done, as Snadra said you just need to make sure it's really finished cooking when it thinks it is.

I have made coconut pastry cream before, unfortunately I don't have a recipe but I think I just used a regular formula and subbed some of the milk for coconut cream. From memory, the effect was nice. I think I added a little bit of coconut extract at the end because I had wanted a bit more coconut flavour. Next time I'd probably try infusing the whole mix with some dessicated coconut as I heated it as well.

Can someone please clarify for me what exactly non-fat dry milk is... in Australia I've seen powdered milk and low-fat, but not non-fat. Is it just that ALL the fat has been removed instead of just some? When is the difference so important (if you're adding the same volume to a recipe - lets say icecream - I would have thought that a bit of extra fat wouldn't be a problem)...

You can certainly emulsify chocolate with just oil, there's a chocolate mousse recipe that does that... but I don't know if you'd be able to get much firmness in the texture, it tends to end up pretty soft. And I have no idea about shelf life and all that stuff.

Not really cooking, but my mum used to mix sour cream with a bit of brown sugar, then pour it over grapes and let sit for a bit (not sure if sitting really does anything). Very very simple dessert and not too bad, you can kind of imagine what it will be like just a bit creamy and sweet and goes well with the grapes.

I enjoy most of their breads. I haven't tried the rye one, but their sourdough is surprisingly good (better than any supermarket one I've tried) and their raisin/fruit loaf is equally superior. They have a really thick ("cafe style") fruit loaf or a thin one. And I agree on the chocolate too... I'm sure that chocolate conoisseurs would turn their noses at it but I find it quite pleasant. I try to buy fair-trade chocolate and they have an organic fair-trade block which is much cheaper than others ($2 for 100g) which i've found very acceptable for cooking. The dark one, anyway. I don't like their fairtrade milk chocolate.

I made a fruit tart for some vegan friends last week and tried a vegan pastry cream using soy milk. I chose the most neutral tasting one I knew of, and it didn't taste beany to me. However I did also include a bit of coconut milk in it to add some fat content, so it did taste somewhat coconutty and without that, the soy may have been more obvious. The problem I had was thickening. Without eggs I had to increase the starch, and it ended up getting a bit pasty and STILL not fully thickened. But if you can use egg yolks, that wouldn't be a problem at all. In other things, you could try making flax seed goop. I haven't used it but some people report it works well in recipes where the egg is acting as a binder. It's mentioned a few times here on eG and i'm sure a google search would have recipes

I'm alright with a bunch of the tedious repetitive tasks, must be the OCD thing. Apples (peeling and coring to use in baking) take a while and that irritates me sometimes but I kind of enjoy the process itself if I have plenty of time. What gets me unreasonably irritated is when people put dishes/pans into the sink (rather than in the stacking area we have next to it) which then blocks my easy access to fill a pan with water... only takes me a few seconds to clear them out but GAH! Similarly, leaving the dishwater in the sink after washing gives me the shudders. When it gets cold there's always a film of fat on the top, and the water is all murky and slimy... how hard is it to just pull the plug once you decide you're done?!?!?!

Gap, I think you'll have to tell me your address so I can sneak in while you're out and "free up" some of that freezer space for you Sounds ridiculously delicious! I'm planning to try making a buche de noel/yule log this year... it's not a tradition for us but I like the look of them.

Wow, they all sound great. I would eat every one of those and probably want more of all of them Not to mention they look terrific... the white one on the left is my favourite i think.

One of the great things about caramel and sugar stuff is that it's so cheap to play with! If you spend an afternoon trying out different methods, looking at temperatures and similar things you will learn a lot and only spend a few bucks in the process. It's much less scary and confusing after you've done it a few times (and I'm no expert myself!). And like Kerry hinted at, cleaning pots is as simple as soaking in a bit of water to unstick the caramel/burnt stuff , since sugar dissolves in water readily.