ElsieD

I still think of a meal I had in 1972 with my then husband in Oslo, Norway. It was in the hotel dining room and the place was very formal. Strangely, we were one of only a few couples in the place, which was huge. A piano player set the mood and we had reindeer filet, served like a chateaubriand. The meal was served tableside and our initital reaction was that the portions were rather small. We finished our meals and were mightly surprised when our dirty dishes were cleared, the table was completely reset and back came our waiter to serve us our second helpings. How they kept the food hot I don't know but is was as hot and fresh tasting as the first serving had been. The food was wonderful and I still replay that evening in my mind. The second most memorable meal was in New Hampshire at a place called Inn of the Long Trail or something like that. I remember the house made pickled herring which is the best pickled herring I have ever had. The rest of the meal (whatever it was) I remember as being excellent but it was the pickled herring that was the stand-out.

My husband is fonder of CI than I am as he is interested in the science of things whereas I'm more interested in the recipes and CI doesn't have that many really interesting ones. That said, if I want to make something that I want to be sure will turn out, I will often turn to CI as no recipe has ever failed me. As far as magazines go, I prefer Cuisine at Home. It too, has no advertising but a more interesting range of recipes. I had a problem once with getting CI's magazine - I think a shipment to Canada went astray and it is next to impossible to find someone to talk to. I was testing their recipes at the time and finally wrote to the person in charge of that - she didn't get back to me either. If it is customer service you are looking for, don't count on getting satisfaction from CI. We subscribe to both the magazine and their web site as I like to be able to go on-line and print off a recipe rather than looking through their annual books (which we do get and enjoy) and having it on the counter while I cook. We have some of their The Perfect...."cookbooks but no longer get them as we found that most of the recipes are available in the annual books. With regards to ATK, I can't stand how, at the beginning of each show, they show a dish in it's sorry state, whether purchased or made from some "other" recipe. I find that a trifle arrogant not to mention it makes me feel like they are assuming their audience are idiots. And Cook's Country magazine? Is there a Paula Deen lurking in their somewhere?

Hello again, Chris: I forgot to ask you if the book "Charcuterie" is actually practical for the average person or if one needs advanced cooking/smoking skills? Is the book mostly concerned with meat? I also enjoy making chocolates - do you have a book called "Chocolates & Confections" by Peter P. Greweling? He is a master confectioner at the Culinary Institute of America. All the ingredients in his recipes are broken down by weight, both metric an imperial and also by percentages of the total. So, while the recipe as stated makes a lot, (usually around 150 pieces), the recipes can be easily scaled down. Thought you might be interested. Keep on cooking...................... Elsie

Hi Chris: Is there any chance you can post the recipe for the bacon you made? Or is that too much work? I have made bacon several times in the past using a dry cure for 7 days and then smoking it in my Bradley electric smoker. I would then take it back to the butcher I bought the pork belly from and he would slice it for me at no charge. I'm curious to know what you put into the cure and the temperature of the smoker and how long you smoked it for. I used to smoke the bacon for about 4 hours - longer than that and it was too "smoky" if you know what I mean. Thanks, Chris. Elsie

I presently have a T-Fal deep fryer and so far have been using it only to deep fry potatoes (sweet and regular). If I were to start using it to fry say, chicken wings, can the oil then be re-used to deep fry something else? Or does deep frying chicken wings or, say, jalepeno poppers, mean that the oil must be discarded? I have never seen this adressed anywhere and would appreciate some input. Thank you.

OOPs...meant to say thinned, not tinned.

I believe double cream has a fat content of 48% and I have never seem it in Canada. What we can buy here in our local spermarket is clotted cream which has a fat content of 55%. Maybe you can use that tinned a bit with whipping cream?

Hi: I have now baked two loaves from my fist batch of dough. The first batch was only so-so (very doughy) so I went back through all the comments (and copied and pasted all comments of specific interest into a word document for future reference) to see what I might have done wrong. The second loaf I baked using Chris's method - covered for 20 minutes and uncovered for 15. The result was amazing - just a beautiful loaf, with nice holes on the inside and a crispy crust. I can't wait to bake another although my waistline can. I covered the dough with my kitchenaid stainless steel bowl which worked very well as it has a handle which made removing it after the first 20 minutes very easy. And oh, yes, it was baked on parchment on a pizza stone that I had preheated. When I removed the bowl I also removed the parchment. I am anxiously waiting for the mail to arrive as I am hoping the book will come today. Meantime, I am off to a restaurant supply store to buy a proper 5 quart container and maybe see if they have a stainless steel bowl with a handle that is not as tall as the kitchenaid as the kitchenaid only clears the broiler element by about an inch which makes removing the bowl from the oven rather awkward. Thanks to all who responded to my pleas for help both on this board and by way of personal messages. It was (is) much appreciated. Elsie

Okay folks, I've just made up a batch of dough and am giving it the appx. 2 hour rise. Once it has collapsed and I'm ready to put it in the fridge, can someone tell me how necessary it is to put it in a 5 quart container? Looking at it in it's current bowl (the one from my kitchenaid) it seems like overkill to put it in a 5 quart container. Or does it rise that much in the fridge that it needs the room to expand? I realize I may be just having a case of beginner's jitters, but I really would like to know.

Welcome, ElsieD! A cloche is usually a clay enclosure (think of a terra cota pot) that you pre-heat and bake the bread in. It is designed to mimic a stone oven as it not only holds the heat really well, but holds the heat close to the baking loaf (as opposed to your oven walls). The primary advantage of a cloche is that it is much easier to get that crispy artisan crust that many people like. Forgot to mention that you can use plastic wrap in the fridge, I do it all the time. If you're worried, you can always buy one of those large plastic containers (like they sell at Sam's Club, etc.) and just leave one corner cracked. But I've never had a problem just using plastic. If you do use a dish towel, I would suggest moistening it first. When I first started making bread, I would only cover my bowl with a dry towel. When I returned to punch down or shape the bread, there would always be a thin crust on top of the dough. ← Tino, thanks for your response. I should have thought to look cloche up on the internet but didn't think of it. Do you think a kitchenaid cast iton enameld pan would work? Elsie

Hi: I have just joined egullet and have just finished reading all the posts re: artisan bread. I have ordered the book and my questions may be addressed there, but I plan on making up a batch before the book arrives. I have two questions: What is a cloche? What do you cover your dough with in the fridge? I know that you are not to cover the container with an airtight cover, but do you use loosely drapped plastic wrap? A dish towel? If the latter, will it dehydrate the dough? Thanks for answering these questions.