curls

These were cooked sous vide and then seared. When I do them this way I don’t always score the skin. When I cook them solely on the cooktop (or cooktop plus oven) I do crosshatch cuts thru the skin. Now that I have a case of duck breasts in the freezer, I’m trying out various cooking methods and trying to figure out what my favorite way is to cook them.

I also love a well done crust! I was quite offended (not really) when my husband suggested that it was burned... not even close to burned... that is flavor!

Thrilled to finally get an ear on a loaf of sourdough! Love baking it in the CSO vs. a dutch oven. The next time I bake multiple loaves, I am planning to try @Ann_T's trick of starting the loaves in the CSO and then moving them to a larger oven to finish baking (so that the top of the loaf is farther from the heating element).

Meant to post this back in July but just getting back to posting images. A duck dinner cooked in one of my Darto pans. Was very happy to find that Restaurant Depot stocks frozen duck breasts at far less than supermarket prices. All the duck fat is being saved in the freezer for future potato cookery (and other potential uses).

Tried the King Arthur Sourdough Cinnamon Crumb Cake and added a cinnamon sugar sprinkle after I added half the batter. The crumbs were not as tender as I would have liked but no one else complained. Recipe link: https://www.kingarthurbaking.com/recipes/sourdough-cinnamon-crumb-cake-recipe

Apparently that David Lebobitz recipe for a fruit cake/tart was popular with a lot of us! Here is my version with blueberries & peaches from https://www.davidlebovitz.com/moelleux-of-summer-fruits-cake-recipe-plums-peaches/.

Small batch of peach jam that I put up in August. Was gifted some peaches from a colleague's backyard tree.

@teonzo those flavors sound delicious and intriguing. That is a lot of fruit to forage and jam! How many jars of jam did you make? Will you go thru them all or are you selling or gifting jam jars?

We have used Freddy Guys Hazelnuts at least twice during the eGullet chocolate workshop. Delicious hazelnuts from Oregon.

It definitely helps to have a good appliance shop. When I got my Wolf oven they asked me which knobs I wanted (red or stainless) and I used their Wolf installer. Prior to delivery they worked with my general contractor to make sure the range would fit between the cabinets, line up with the countertop, and that the gas hookup was in the right location. On installation day, everything went perfectly and they gave me both sets of knobs and some stainless steel cleaner. I never want to do another kitchen renovation but this one went extremely well. It’s been about seven years and I still love my kitchen.

https://gizmodo.com/the-death-of-bon-appetit-is-proof-media-companies-have-1844701822

Beautiful bon bons @pastrygirl! I’m waiting for cooler weather; it is 95 F in my area. While my work space has AC and is in the 70s, it is difficult to deliver chocolates when it is so hot. Hope I struck the appropriate amount of complaining about the weather. 😉

Are you keeping track of how much your starter grows? Does it double or triple in volume within a 12 hour window? Have you tried baking bread with it without the addition of commercial yeast? Give us more information about how it behaves and more people will weigh in with their advice. Or perhaps it is doing well now...

Seriously! My answer is nothing. Jeesh.

Followup article with additional information from the owner, Jessica Koslow. Still so hard to believe that they thought this practice was acceptable and safe. https://la.eater.com/2020/7/13/21323422/sqirl-jessica-koslow-statement-moldy-jam

https://la.eater.com/2020/7/13/21322591/sqirl-mold-jam-jessica-koslow-workers-unhappy-unsanitary-toast-los-angeles-news

Is your pizza dough rising without the use of commercial yeast? If it is then I think your sourdough starter is fine even though it doesn’t float.

Enjoy Key Biscayne; a beautiful area! I grew up in Dade County Florida and miss the grapefruit and mango trees we had in our backyard. Wonderful to be so close to the beach! Also lots of delicious Cuban food in that area. If your new place doesn’t have hurricane shutters, I highly recommend that you get them. It is so much easier to use them vs. finding & securing wood over all your windows.

Try contacting Renee at https://www.chocolat-chocolat.com/home/

Search and you shall find... https://forums.egullet.org/topic/123427-reporteg-chocolate-and-confectionery-conference/page/3/ https://forums.egullet.org/topic/142372-adapting-caramel-recipe-for-bon-bon-filling/?do=findComment&comment=1871030

For bread storage, I wrap well and freeze. Defrost in fridge, keep in a freezer ziploc in the fridge, and toast before eating. Definitely not the same as fresh baked bread but this way it doesn’t stale or get moldy. Of course, I enjoy a few slices of bread the day it is baked while the crust in nice and crunchy.

Do you put the buckets in the fridge or freezer? How quickly do you go thru 50 pounds of flour? Trying to figure out if this is something I should do or if my flour would go rancid before I used all of it.

Chris, how do you store your flour?

A GN pan is a Gastronorm pan... more info on Wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gastronorm The US version is usually called a hotel pan and the standard sizes are in inches (vs. Gastronorm pan are sized in mm). https://www.webstaurantstore.com/52489/stainless-steel-steam-table-pans-and-hotel-pans.html

Haven’t made anything yet from this book but have it on the kitchen table... need to start thumbing thru and picking out some recipes.