Darienne

Who else can I tell? Yesterday I made Alton Brown's Serious Vanilla Ice Cream, as cited on Cookbooks for Ice Cream & Sorbets (not exact name) and it is incredible!!! Today it is still soft enough to scoop...set the freezer at -4 degrees F as instructed. This recipe is lower in whipping cream than many and has no eggs! Good-O for caloric intake which is already high enough. Of course, I substituted my glace kumquats...what on earth could I really do with them? ...for his peach preserves, and added chopped pecans. Yummm (means 'yum') I am so excited! A terrific success!!!

Love this topic! My DH and I have his and her digital scales. Of course. And his and her pots and pans and knives. As for measuring cups and spoons, I thought I could get away with only one set of this and that while in Moab, but soon was off to the local stores to buy seconds. And then still needed to borrow second 4 and 8 cup pyrex measures for candying stuff and making lollies for the kids. Miss all the endless small stainless steel bowls I have at home. Am using ugly green plastic things.

OK. I followed your "Do ten things to help eGullet" and the information there still doesn't tell me what to do to get them to attach my order to eGullet. I am not very computer savvy. Edited many minutes later: I see now that you gave me the 'eGullet' link to get the mixer. After much frustration, many errors on my part, I finally concluded business by ordering one KA machine. Oh my.

Thank you all for all that incredible information...especially for the reviewing organizations I had never heard of before...very new to this area of endeavor. Ed bought me the Hamilton Beach 62695 a couple of days ago, and we still haven't used it. But after all the reading and investigation, I think we'll just keep it. I need a hand mixer daily. Back to making ice cream today. We are two hours away from the nearest shopping area (and $50) and all the other handmixers which we have found in Moab are of the discontinued and lower quality nature, for instance, there is only the KA 5 speed which gives no more value than the HB. And there is no Cuisinart, no Braun, no Oster. You pay for the red rocks in the lack of shopping. Tourists don't buy handmixers. This is not worth driving myself crazy any longer. I'll get a KA top quality when this one gives it up. Again, my grateful thanks to you all.

Any chance you could give me the year or even issue of Cook's Illustrated? The Moab library lists the periodical in its holdings and I'll go tomorrow to see if I can locate the equipment test.

Thanks for steering me to the comparison table. Unfortunately the information was all pretty superficial as one would expect when KA is trying to sell them all. I remain in hand mixer confusion for now...am still pondering it all. The problem remains that although Moab appears to have a fairly large number of different hand mixers, they are all older models. Furthermore the CR listings are only up to 2005. Tomorrow I go to the library which says it holds Cook's Illustrated.

Thanks tsquare. One more piece of information. My last two (burnt-out) hand mixers have been B&D and the lowest setting on them was the same as the one you describe on your Oster/Sunbeam/?. Live and Learn. I'm going to have to convince my DH that numbers of watts and amperage is not the only thing to go by. It seems that EVERYONE says...go forth and purchase the KA. OK. (I need more smiley faces available for my moods )

Thanks for that link. Laurie, the new baker at the local Village Market, will love to see that photo! What a hoot!

Thank you so much for that information. The mixer has not been used yet and I'll tell my DH what you said. We had only Consumer Reports to go by and that information was not in it. We can't get Braun, Cuisinart or Oster in Moab, and I am not sure which B&D model it is which is available. (That's the one which just burnt out after one year. I think I was not aware of just how restricted in use these hand mixers are) Price is not the problem with the KA...if it is the 7 speed one...DH does not like the amperage thing. However it plays out, thanks so much for the information. I'll note the "Cooks Illustrated" from now on. CR is not the best for kitchen stuff. Its ratings criteria are not always really applicable.

True, at least in my case. My GE is at least 25 years old. I'd like something less homely, but it just won't break. .6 amps @ 110 volts = 66 watts, such a small number (in comparison the the competition) that it's no wonder that KA wants to disguise it. On the other hand, these are all describing power consumption, not power output, which, as a cook, is what should concern you. Much depends on the efficiency of the mechanical design. It's very possible that a KA could outperform any of the others, for the same reasons that a 189 hp Lotus can beat the pants off a 300 hp Mustang GT. ← If there is one thing Moab has that is wonderful, it's the thrift stores ... However, in all the years visiting Moab...or our home town in Ontario, I have never seen even one second hand hand mixer. Stand mixers...a few ancient ones...but nary a hand mixer. I think hand mixers just die a lonely unmourned death. I did as much research on this one as I felt it deserved, and then the DH went out and bought me a Hamilton Beach hand mixer for $24.99. 6 speeds...more than sufficient. 275 watts...who knows? A pig in a poke. Waiting for me at home is new 1000 watt 7-quart Cuisinart. DH likes big. Not much point in fighting it. ps. as noted earlier, we also have a very ancient hand mixer at home which also refuses to die.

Amazingly enough we found more handmixers than we thought possible : KA, Proctor Silex, Black & Decker, Farberware, Hamilton Beach, West Bend, and a couple of basically no-namers. All the mixers were $15 - $27 ...except for the KA which was $70. HOWEVER while all the inexpensive mixers listed their wattage from 125 at the bottom end to 275 at the top, the KA did not, but listed .6 Amperage which my DH says is nada. A West Bend stand mixer on sale for $70 listed its amperage at 3 amps. Now, says my DH, that might be worth buying. I borrowed my next-door-neighbor's ancient Sunbeam for last night's dessert=dinner, and she offered to lend it to me the entire time we are here. Funny how the ancient ones just keep plugging along and the new fandangled ones burn out over mixing water it seems. I don't know what to do...

All I can say in defence of my Black & Decker is that it is the most powerful of the cheapies...but then I have to add that I have burnt out two of them in the last year. Whereas our very old...can't remember what it is...one is ugly and unloved but it keeps on going. It's at home... So I shall look for a Kitchen Aid mixer. Today. Need it for tonight's dinner=dessert. Cheese Blintz Souffle. Thanks to you both. And if I can't find a KA, will buy one when we get home again.

I am in deepest Utah in a town without too many shopping options...that's why we love Moab...and my Black & Decker handmixer just gave up the ghost. I have a 7-quart Cuisinart standmixer at home. This is my traveling mixer. Within a day or two at most I must buy another hand mixer. Any suggestions? Keeping in mind that there are not many brands of kitchen appliances to be found here. No Wal-Mart, just an Alco and an idependent called Walker Drugs. Thanks for any help.

Thank you both. In the meantime I found a recipe for the same thing called Semiya Payasam which is very popular in the Kerala area. It has long been a favorite of my DH and we used to make it at home long ago. Now we do it again. Thanks again. Darienne

I did. I did. I got Corriher's Cookwise and every second page I am declaring...'I didn't know that'. Amazing book. I am really going to have to earn some money soon to pay for all the Amazon purchases I am making. Oh, I didn't know about books on Amazon either until January.

I looked back over several years in this sub-Forum and found little about desserts. I am looking for a recipe for a wonderful dessert noodle pudding. The noodles are the size of angel hair and I recall sugar and milk being the other two main ingredients. We had a house fire in 1995 and I lost all my notes, this pudding being in it. Thanks.

If I understand correctly, you caramelize the sugar only, with no hazelnuts in it. The crunch is sugar only. I'll look in the grocery store for the Hazelnut meal next. Thanks.

It all sounds and looks delicious (this little face does not mean 'raz'; it mean 'yumm') Thank you for the information and the inspiration. Oh my, one more thing to put on the list of things to make!!!

Thanks Lisa and Lior for further posts on this tricky subject. No, I have not tried the butter ganache yet, but will today if I can. I will also try just plain tempered chocolate. What I am trying to do is two-fold. - an experiment, more or less, with each ingredient or pair of ingredients to work out the 'crunch factor' not only theoretically, but also for my own satisfaction. - want to make a gianduja ganache with crunchy praline bits in it to use as a filling for a pair of dark chocolate discs. Kerry Beal posted a photo of this confection on Lior's thread on 'Using Gianduja'. (I don't know how to bring something from one post to another.) Mostly I just crawl/lurch along trying this, trying that, having a series of minor failures as I try each thing, repeat it with better success, etc. I have so little context in which to put any of this, never having spent any time baking in the decades of my marriage. Did not grow up knowing any of this at my Mother's knee. This is all new and exciting to me. So I learn, learn, learn... I had little idea that this world existed.

But if the butter is still an important factor and crunch is not supported by the presence of butter, then why is it that the crunch of fueilletine is preserved in a butter ganache? Am I missing some point here? Thanks.

Thank you for the information. Now this is too funny. Just now I googled 'barrier substance crunch' and guess what I got? This thread and your answer. Added: but what about the butter ganache? Does the chocolate factor overrule the butter factor?

Thank you. I like that...a barrier substance.

I have been going back looking through every post I can find about putting crunchy bits: praline, feuilletine, etc, into other ingredients and retaining the crunch factor. The answer has been that only a butter ganache will do this. So, I have been experimenting with crushed pecan praline in cream...sog (as expected) cream cheese...sog ; and now the latest, butter...sog. I did not expect sog in butter. A butter ganache is supposed to preserve the crunch factor. My next step is to put the praline into chocolate only. It should stay crunchy? Yes? Also my next-door neighbor/landlady/friend says to me...'well, how do they keep the crunch in speciality ice creams?' I sure don't know. All comments and advice gratefully accepted. (Oh, I am working up to making a gianduja butter ganache and sandwiching it in between chocolate wafers, but in the meantime am fully occupied with playing Ice Cream Lady with my new Cuisinart toy.)

Two more for me. O Amazon! Where have you been all my life? Ice Cream: The Whole Scoop by Gail Damerow (just got a Cuisinart Ice Cream maker) La Dolce Vita: Enjoy life's sweet pleasures with 170 recipe for torte, biscotti, etc, etc, by Michele Sciciolone Both oldies, but goodies.

Wow! So much excellent and useful information in this topic now. And we all do like our ice cream (and chocolate) different. I found the Cuisinart premium Vanilla Bean recipe way too rich for my taste. And now I have made a Coconut Ice cream for my friend, which I found way too sweet and way too much coconut. Interesting. She and my DH both loved it. What I am really going towards is making frozen yoghurt which I prefer to ice cream anyway, and to date that's speaking only of the commercial stuff, both ice cream and yoghurt. The little Cuisinart booklet has some yoghurt recipes and I'll try them next. Has anyone any do's and don't' s specifically for frozen yoghurt that I should know about ahead of time? Thanks.