hansjoakim

Certainly! Here you go: 7 ounces flour (200 g) 1 3/4 ounces corn starch (50 g) 4 ounces butter (110 g) 5 Tbsp milk (7.5 cl) 2 whole eggs 3 tsp fresh yeast (12 g) 3 tsp sugar (12 g) 1 1/4 tsp salt (5 g) After the dough is mixed, refrigerate it for at least 1 hour before rolling it out.

It turned out quite alright actually. The dough uses a bit more eggs than a pâte sucrée, so it's easier to use to line a deep pan with it (in this recipe, I used a 6 cm deep cake pan). There's not too much sugar in the dough, so with the higher hydration, it's a bit like a hybrid between brioche and a regular pâte sucrée. Not quite as sweet and crisp as a pâte sucrée, but not as buttery as a brioche. I was quite surprised as well that there was no mention of cooking the flan batter after adding the flour to thicken it. I didn't cook it, because I was hoping it would set up during baking and because I wanted to try the formula "as written" in the book before fiddling around with my own takes and twists on it. I tried one tart with the flan, as written in the recipe (i.e. not cooked), and (naturally) this turned out to be way loose and jiggly, with no real structure to it whatsoever. For the second attempt I switched it out with a vanilla pastry cream (thickened with cornstarch) and that worked.

Dear Nathan, I hope you will enjoy your trip in September! This is often a wonderful time of year to visit Norway, as the temperatures are still mild and there's still plenty of sun in the evenings. One restaurant that's received a lot of praise and buzz recently is Maaemo (http://en.maaemo.no/). I've never been there myself, but heard comparisons with Noma in Copenhagen. Maaemo received two Michelin stars within 14 months of opening, and is centrally located in downtown Oslo. Dag Tjersland is the chef and owner at Baltazar in Oslo (http://www.baltazar.no/ristorante/en). Tjersland used to live and work in Tuscany in Italy, and his food is sophisticated, modern Italian. Norwegians love Italian food, and this is probably the best Italian restaurant in Oslo (perhaps even in the country). Highly recommended. There's also Bagatelle (http://www.bagatelle.no/index.php?lang=_eng), previously run by Eyvind Hellstrøm of Bocuse d'Or fame. Hellstrøm left about three years ago following a rift with the owner, but the place is now gradually getting back to its former glory.

Hi everyone! Last weekend I decided to try the recipe for banana pie (tarte à la banane) from Ducasse's amazing pastry and dessert volume of «Grand Livre de Cuisine». The recipe is given on page 86 in the English edition of the book, and it looks pretty straight forward; as a matter of fact, it's probably one of the very easiest recipes in the entire book. In short, the tart consists of a yeasted pâte sucrée dough, a banana-raisin filling and a layer of vanilla flan. When I read through the instructions and compare them with photos and presentation given in the book, I have a feeling that something is missing. Looking at the cross-section of the tart, it looks like the tart has a lid on the top as well; either the tart dough is rolled out with enough overhang so this can be folded over the top to make a lid, or a separate dough is rolled out and cut to make a lid prior to baking the tart. I tried the latter for my try on this tart, but the top layer did shrink a bit, causing some of the flan to spill out and making the whole tart not very elegant (although no less delicious). Do any of you have any idea how this tart could be put together to approximate the lovely photo in the book? Also, the recipe for the flan – is there a typo there? I whipped it together, and it turned out way too liquid, so I replaced it with some vanilla-flavoured pastry cream instead... The recipe for the flan reads: 1 cup milk (25 cl) 1/2 cup heavy cream (12.5 cl) 2 egg yolks 1 egg 3 ounces sugar (85 g) 1 1/3 ounces flour (37 gr) 2 1/3 ounces egg whites (65 cl) 1 pinch salt 1/2 vanilla bean The milk and cream is brought to a boil with the vanilla bean, then cooled. Egg and yolks combined with sugar and flour, then combined with milk and cream. Egg whites whipped and folded in. Thanks for any tips!

Thanks, Linda, and thanks also for starting this thread in the first place! I cooked the cod in a pan over medium heat until it started to get flaky and felt cooked through - say roughly 3 mins per side. I feel that thicker slices are easier to cook by browning them quickly in a pan before finishing off in a medium hot oven for 8 - 10 mins (again until it starts to look flaky on the sides). I hope to see more of your own salt cod experiments soon, Linda Thanks for the report, EatNopales! I found the pastry + salt cod combination interesting, and after googling "bacalao en hojaldre", found a blog post with a recipe that looks quite delicious: Bacalao en hojaldre con salsa de piquillos.

I've been cooking quite a bit with salt cod lately; today a delicious salt cod loin with lentils, salt pork and cauliflower.

Hi JAZ, I'm not sure what quality of wrap you've got access to, but here (in Norway) I find that even the cheapest grocery store plastic wrap does the job nicely, without melting. I've been using this method ever since I read about it in Friberg's books, a couple of years ago. Minimal shrinking and no hassle.

Hi JAZ, Have you tried using plastic wrap/cling film instead of foil? This is a technique described by Friberg in his books, and works very well for both small and large pastry cases. Instead of using foil, place one, two or three layers of plastic wrap inside the pastry before blindbaking. I usually put some beans in there to serve as weights. The film shrinks somewhat during baking, but it's usually a breeze to lift the whole thing out (including the beans) once it's done blindbaking.

Thanks for all the replies! The reason I started wondering about this in the first place, was the "Stock clarifications" post on M. Ruhlman's blog: Direct link to post.

Hi all, I usually make homemade stock three or four times a year (usually veal, chicken and vegetable stocks). To store them, I usually reduce them by somewhere between 50% and 75%, and freeze them in small plastic containers. The other day, I started wondering about food safety issues with homemade, frozen stock. Whenever I need stock, I thaw the amount that I expect I'll be needing. Sometimes I end up with leftover, thawed stock. Is it safe to this thawed, leftover stock to a boil, chill quickly and re-freeze? Other times I might poach meat or fish in stock. Is it safe to re-use this poaching liquid? Could I for instance simply strain it, chill and re-freeze it?

You're right, Blether, I was a bit quick in the salt % calculation... I do like SI units. I'd also prefer a weaker brine (2% - 3%) prior to roasting. An option would be to use Grigson's recipe for glazed salted pork: Boil first in plenty of water until nearly done (to flush out much of the excess salt from the brine), then glaze and finish in the oven. Grigson has several recipes along the same lines in "Charcuterie and French pork cookery" as well.

The brine-curing technique is covered also in another book by Grigson, titled "Good Things". A preview is available via Google Books (link here). The chapter is titled "Salting meat", starting on page 67. Here, a 20% brine is used, and suggested curing times range from 36 hours for ducks and up to 10 days for pork, beef and lamb. Grigson also writes that joints can be kept in the brine for two to three weeks, as long as the brine is kept cool, below 60F.

I second that! Sliceshots, please

I am sorry for bumping this old thread, but I just received "Nose to tail" and "Beyond nose to tail", and I got a beautiful slab of pork belly curing in Henderson's brine as we speak. I'd like to have a stab at his boiled pork belly and lentils this weekend, and this thread got my attention. Henderson's brine is a 15% brine, and by the looks of it, is quite similar to the saumure anglaise described in Grigson's "Charcuterie and French pork cookery". Grigson's brine is approximately 10% if I'm not mistaken. Grigson writes that pork joints could spend anywhere from 3 to 30 days in the brine. I'm not certain if she operates with refrigerator temperatures, so since curing takes longer in colder temperatures, I bet it could be left in there even longer if the curing bucket is kept in the fridge. When it's time to cook it, she suggests simmering it in unsalted water for 5 - 10 minutes. If the simmering liquid is too salty, drain it and start over. A piece of pork belly, prepared along these lines (i.e. Henderson/Grigson), would make a piece of petit salé, correct? As such, I think it would be a good idea to rinse the meat thoroughly after removing it from the brine, and either soak it in cold water a couple of hours (suggested in "The Complete Robuchon" recipe for salt pork), or give it the simmer-and-taste treatment suggested by Grigson. Then proceed as usual for salt pork. Without having tried either yet (although I'll have tried Henderson's recipe by the coming weekend), I get a feeling that Henderson's and Grigson's brines are the wet-cure equivalents of Ruhlman & Polcyn's and Fearnley-Whittingstall's salt pork dry cures. I'm no brine expert, but I think the purpose of the Henderson/Grigson brine is to conserve (i.e. produce salt pork) rather than to season and produce more juicy meat (as you would with, say Ruhlman & Polcyn's brine recipes or similar 2 - 3% brines). Has anyone else had any luck with Henderson's pork belly recipes, by the way? There is an account of both roasted (link here) and boiled (link here) pork belly recipes at nosetotailathome.com.

Hi ...tm..., Thanks, that makes a lot of sense. It's just that as I've been reading up on the technique, the wildly differing storing times (not to mention the different cooking times; Robuchon cooks his duck legs under 2 hours, while Ruhlman wants them simmered for 6 hours) have confused me. Regarding storage capabilities, some say a week (I believe that's the case with Keller in Ad-hoc at home), some say up to a year, some stress the importance of carefully removing the jelly while others again don't even mention the jelly in the first place. I guess common sense never goes out of style, and thanks for reminding me!