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isomer

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Everything posted by isomer

  1. Hi andiesenji, The purpose of sifting the flour three times is to aerate it, which is why your cake rises higher than when you don't sift the flour. Same with beating the bejeesus out of the eggs (beat them until they just start to fall) - you are strengthening the protein structure and whipping in as much air as possible.
  2. How about a SOG Autoclip? They're not expensive, and very good quality. It's about the equivalent of a paring knife.
  3. My favourite thing to make with boneless/skinless chicken thighs is oyakodon. Great comfort food, takes only minutes to make, and uses mostly pantry ingredients.
  4. Chris, if you get a salamander in your home kitchen, well.... I'll be mighty jealous. Man, that is an amazing idea!
  5. I got this book a couple of weeks ago, and have been liking it quite a lot. The big advantage to these recipes for someone making chocolates at home is that there are no difficult-to-obtain ingredients in any of the recipes. Ok, except coconut fat for the meltaways, which is a bit hard to find. Also, the instructions are very clear, and the illustrations actually illustrate the techniques! My only two complaints, and they are minor, is that there are no metric weight measurements, only imperial, and that there is no mention of water activity or shelf life for the various recipes. In any case, here is a riff off of his basic chocolate ganache truffle: An homage to the best cookie in the world, these are World Peace truffles
  6. I don't know about you, but it's far too dangerous (healthwise) for me to keep a batch of World Peace Cookies on the counter. They're far too addictive. So normally I only make them when I plan to give away most of the batch and just keep a few around for nibbling. So in the interests of health, I tried an experiement. I cut 3 cookies from the log, put them on a plate, and microwaved them on 70% power for about 90 seconds. And it worked!!! They cooled on the plate, and were almost as good as out of the oven! So now I can keep the cookie dough safely out of reach in a vacuum bag in the freezer, and make as few cookies at a time as, uh, needed.
  7. isomer

    Seventh Taste?

    Some raw oysters have a metallic taste. I'm thinking specifically of Belons (European flat oysters) which taste a little bit like licking a battery, but not in an unpleasant way... at least not to me.
  8. This weekend I made black olive "cheeks" (puccia) from Daniel Leader's "Local Breads". They came out wonderfully. I think this is a very underrated bread book. It's easily my favourite.
  9. The Cooking Issues blog suggests that soaking them is not only OK, but better: Crowded Wet Mushrooms. A Beautiful Thing.. Go figure....
  10. Congratulations, Kerry. The room looks fantastic!
  11. They are indeed air-tight enough to keep smells from fenugreek, mace etc... away from everyhing else. That's what I use them for.
  12. Kerry, recipezaar insists you can make a roux in the microwave. I've had this bookmarked for years, but still have never tried it. Probably worth a shot!
  13. I think you're referring to Pasquale Brothers.
  14. My girlfriend watched - quite perplexed - as I weighted ingredients to the gram in the beginning, and then at the end said "well, the dough is a bit too wet", and dumped in a handful of flour to fix it. I don't think the problem is so much the kneading for me (i knead almost entirely with the mixer), but rather in the choice of grains for the breads that are about 40% other-than-flour (for example multigrain struan or multigrain hearth bread). Different grain mixtures absorb different amounts of water. So the same recipe with a different grain mix yields different hydration bread. Having said that, I really enjoy the book, and I bake from it all the time. But I would be very frustrated if this was my first bread book. My favourite bread book is Daniel Leader's "Local Breads". Artisan breads from across Europe. My family thinks I was an artisan baker in a former life. The truth is, I just make the breads from the book
  15. If you look here at cooks.com you will see that many of the low-calorie dressings are based on yogurt, cottage cheese, and low-fay mayonnaise for thickness and body. I haven't tried any of them, so I don't know how well they work, but it's an interesting idea...
  16. Most useful thing I've bought this year is an Apex sharpening kit from EdgePro. It's absolutely fantastic.
  17. Thank you Aloha Steve. I had no idea that WS had demi. I called Cumbrae, and they do too, so a bit of comparison shopping, and I'll be all hooked up again. Thanks guys!
  18. Thanks for the pointer to Cumbrae's, Matt. I had never even heard of them before. I'll check them out. Eatrustic, I agree! I *much* prefer to make my own demi, but lately I simply haven't had the time. And fwiw, I find the better than gourmet demi to be very good quality.
  19. Does anyone have a source for demiglace for retail purchase in Canada? I love the More Than Gourmet demi, but they tell me they can't sell to Canada anymore! I tried Bonewerks as well, and it's the same story
  20. Shalmanese, you need to hold a Beefsteak!
  21. Looks fantastic, Kerry! I'll bet you can't wait to get in there and get set up.
  22. BakeWise references the recipe from "A Baker's Odyssey" by Greg Patent: 454g butter 482g flour 1 tsp salt
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