cteavin

Borrowing a page from Modernist Cuisine, I put 500ml of whole milk and 70 grams cocoa nibs in an ISI container with two charges of NO2. Eight to twelve hours later I strained. The milk is white with a grains of cocoa (which fall out on their own), but tastes strongly of chocolate -- it's white chocolate milk. As a drink, with sweetener it's delicious. But baking with it the flavour evaporates. Why, and does anyone have a suggestion on how to keep the chocolate flavour? To be more specific, I used the white chocolate milk in place of milk in drop cookies and white cake batter. In the batter the flavour is noticeable, after baking, it's gone. Baking times were between 10 and 40 minutes. The only thing I can think to do is try the experiment again with heavy cream and see if the fat preserves the flavour. Any thoughts on this?

I was running out space in my freezer, so I took the chicken feet I'd purchased for a Chinese Dim Sum dish and turned them into stock. The results are really good. There's not much flavour on their own but the texture is rich, thick, and full on the pallet. I found just a couple of recipes online for, or using, such a stock. I was wondering if anyone knows if there is a region or cuisine that does use stock from chicken feet? Lastly, every recipe I found said you must cut the nails off the feet, but I can't see why. Also, one recipe said we should skin the feet before proceeding to the stock. Does anyone have a good guess as to why? Thank you much,

Thanks. I took my ISI out the other week and have been playing with it -- a lot. I just carbonated grapes in cognac and water. I really want to make white chocolate ganache, but the cocoa liquor here a poor quality. Using vodka might give the end product more kick than I want. The other option is charging it with the cream, but in my experience the cream takes on the cocoa colour. With vodka the particles settle.

Actually, that should read NO2, Nitrous Oxide.

Hi, I've used my Isi whip cream dispenser to infuse vodka with chocolate essence by adding nibs and two charges of CO2. I can't get a good chocolate liquor in Japan, so I thought I'd infuse. Does anyone have a suggestion on spirits which would go with chocolate and perhaps a liqueur? Also, does anyone know if the oils in the nibs will diffuse in a fat like cream or milk, or plain water?

Hi, This summer I made a huge batch of candied pineapple ending with 70% sugar saturation. I had a bit more than I needed, so I brought the last container down to 80% saturation. After a few days in the container the batch at 80% crystallised. I remelted it twice, but always, after a few days, it crystallised. I dislike wasting. I put the crystallised syrup and pineapples into a 4 litter container and poured 2 litres of Myer's Rum over it. To help it dissolve I closed the container and put it in a hot water bath for an hour. The next day I tasted it and it was perfect. A week later, today, I opened up the cupboard where that batch of pineapple rum is stored and all of the crystals fell out of the rum in a thick layer on the bottom with the pineapple on top. The rum tastes of pineapple, but it's no longer sweet. What happened? I'm curious about the science of what's gone on. I'd also like to know if there's a way to permanently keep it in suspension without adding water. Any suggestions on what to do with it (filter it, remelt it before serving, etc)? Thanks,

Thank you for the reply and all the trouble. I'm starting to think my father might have been an experimenter. :-) Do you (or does anyone) have a favourite crab recipe, perhaps one that uses white wine or some other alcohol?

Hi, My father's from the Azores and when he was in the kitchen, I ate well. One of the dishes I remember most fondly was his crab. I wasn't into cooking when I was younger, so I didn't pay enough attention to be able to recall a recipe. What I do remember is that he boiled it with red wine. I recall onions and parsley in the pot, and perhaps allspice and bay leaf in the mix. I have no idea what such a dish could be called but I recently had crab (prepared in the Japanese way) and I got nostalgic. Does anyone have an idea of the kind of recipe I'm looking for? Can anyone name a dish or point me in the right direction? Thank you,

Thank you all very much. It's a good start. Happy cutting!

Thanks guys. But can either of you recommend a brand? If I start with reputable companies I can hone down my choices much more easily.

Hi, I live in Japan and would like to purchase high quality knives, specifically boning, vegetable, and paring knives. I went to kappabashi a few years ago and was sold shoddy knives at an inflated price. I'm back in the market and would prefer customer recommendations instead of some shop staff with stock to peddle. Cheers,

I'm going back to Europe for my summer holiday and wanted to know if there were any cooking or food museums on the continent. I'll be in France, Belgium, Holland, and Spain. I've done several searches I couldn't find anything on my own. Cheers, Oh, one thing I'd love to see is ANYTHING about Julia Child's time in France while I'm there a close second is Escoffier.

Thanks for the suggestion. It was just the kind of advice I was looking for. The water here is really hard. I will ask my local baker. Cheers,

I like playing around. I have The Bread Bakers Apprentice and a few others. ATM I have a biga going for Pain de Mie for tomorrow. Do you have any recommendations?

Hi, Any of you who live in Japan and have gone shopping for flour have seen the multitudinous types. I'm always lost. (I tend to chose Super King and Super Violet from Tomizawa-san.) For convenience I want to purchase flour in bulk, a 25kg bag for bread and the many multiply when you look online. I like to support local agriculture whenever possible and after a lot of reading chose http://item.rakuten.co.jp/natural-coco/usuyume25/#usuyume25 for whole wheat. For white flour there are far more types and instead of reading through each one, I thought I'd ask if anyone has a favorite for bread, a company they like, any suggestions when choosing. よろしくお願いします

Thanks. I did a search there (best site on the Net for bread), didn't see anything and thought I'd try my luck here. I did search through Google but thought if there was a name in one of the many languages in India for this kind of bread, someone here might know.

That looks great Heidih. Post pics of your finished Sarson Ka Sagg, a kind of before and after pic. ;-)

Hi, I'm not sure if this is the right place to ask, but since it revolves around the bacteria used to make idli I thought I'd ask: Are there any breads which use the bacteria that rise idli? Are there varieties of idli which use flours or other grains instead of rice? Thanks,

Thanks for the suggestions, Jenni. The season will come to an end pretty soon here, so I aim to freeze a bunch for summer. Sarson Ka Sagg is one of my all time favorite dishes, especially with the corn chapatti. Because it's warming up here I'll be starting idli production in my kitchen soon (maybe my second favorite thing -- and the fried left overs, the third.) ;-)

I ended up finely slicing half and fried them in sesame oil in a wok with a bit of soy sauce until well reduced. I spread this in a thin layer across the bottom of several plates and topped with poached salmon. It was delicious.

Soups. Really? I'd think the flavor would be too strong. Well, I went through 8 pounds of mustard greens, so I have enough stems to try a soup and a sauté. :-)

Hi, Mustard greens have come into season and I've washed 6 giant bunches of mustard greens. After tearing off the soft outer leaf I'm always left with the harder stalk. I was wondering if there was anything I could do with it, any other application or recipe some could suggest. Cheers,

Thanks for the replies. What are we skimming from the roux, the fat, gluten, or starch?

I make stocks at least once a month and I skim, skim, skim as I reduce half of it to demi-glace or veloute. I've always wondered just what it is I'm skimming off. I thought I'd ask. The first boil you get scum. What is that exactly? Reducing the strained stock there's a film that forms on top again and again. What is that? And when making a veloute are we skimming off the butter, gluten, or wheat starch? Not important questions, but legitimate curiosities. Thanks. :-)

remoulage. There's a name for everything -- thankfully. ;-) This particular remoulage is exceptionally strong as I added the chicken meat, reboiled, then strained. It's as strong as the stock but without the dimension from the veal, vegetables, herbs. Still, I think using it in place of water is a good idea. I think I'm going to freeze it in one cup ziplocks and use it as I need it. Any other suggestions are welcome.