Mjx

Metal measuring cups (the parallel-sided, flat-bottomed sort) do an excellent job, and you get an array of sizes, too.

I haven't had noticeably tannic results with this method. I've also steeped more leaves as briefly as 3 minutes, and the flavour has been intense and complex. I never boil the cream with the leaves in it: I boil the cream, remove it form the heat, add the leaves, steep, remove the leave, and bring it just to a boil once again, before combining it with the chocolate. This is exactly how I do it as well! Except I just dump the tea in and strain it out I've done that too, but putting the tea in a tea ball (or my tea shark) does makes for slightly quicker leaf removal

I've made several tea ganaches, and have had excellent results from steeping a pinch the leaves (in a tea bal) directly in warm cream for about a quarter of an hour. I forget which chocolatier recommends boiling the cream twice, but essentially, that's what I do: boil the cream, steep the tea in it, bring it once again to a boil, remove the tea ball, and carry on.

Isn't white pepper used in the same way as black pepper, but for those dishes in which little black flecks would cause the same level as horror as one experiences when seeing someone use the fish fork for the entree? ETA hat-tip to PG Wodehouse.

It seems that you include the crust when making a panade with this type of bread, yes? I don't always use the crust, but doesn't seem to make a tremendous difference one way or the other.

'Good quality' isn't particularly useful when deciding what to use in a panade, and neither is the specification of the bread as 'white' (although whole-grain breads tend to be pretty compact, I've often used bread that was somewhere between white and whole grain, with great results). The texture of the bread (and how much panade you use) seems to matter most. I've found the fine-textured sandwich-type bread tends to break down and turns pasty in a panade, making for a denser end-product, whereas open-structured 'rustic' type breads, with a hard crust and a very resilient, chewy crumb retain their texture a lot more, and make for a less compact whatever-you're-using-your-panade-in.

This stout (I've used other stouts than Guinness, and they've worked beautifully) and ginger cake is amazing. If you make it, make sure that the pot you use for combining the stout, molasses, and baking soda is huge (e.g. a stockpot; I've also transferred the stout-molasses mixture to a huge bowl, and worked in that, instead). I think it's even better with butter than vegetable oil (170g butter).

This may be insane even as a suggestion, but can meringues be made in a microwave oven (also, I'm assuming polycarbonate withstands microwave, correct)? The fact that cakes can be made in the microwave got me thinking.

She mentions here that:

This discussion may help for a start, although it is focused specifically on chocolate-making (in Australian heat): Chocolateering in warm weather

Strawberries (if you can get any that have flavour at this time of year) with black pepper and a good balsamic vinegar, and pineapple with caramel/butterscotch and a pinch of smoked salt tend to go over pretty well with a wide range of people. I have one foot in the US, and one in the EU, so to speak, and pretty much everywhere I've been, fruit salad seems to be one that is built around fruit and predominantly sweet ingredients; once leaves, animal products, and various savory elements figure in to a large extent, too, it's 'salad with/that includes fruit', rather than 'fruit salad'.

Toast and use it when making larb. I'm pretty sure using any whole grain would leave behind some residual oil, so if you don't clean your spice mill often, you might begin detecting a slight rancid note in your gound spices.

Any time

I regularly make ATK's devils' food cake with their ganache frosting, and a strained jam filling between the layers. This has been incredibly popular with people of all ages (well, between 1 and 87 years of age, anyway, including many small children). It's also very straightforward to make, and doesn't require finicky handling or storage, so you can make all the components ahead of time, and put it together really quickly. I've made a few other cakes, including chocolate ones, over the years, and nothing comes close to the enthusiasm with which this one is greeted (if are interested, but don't have access to Cook's Illustrated or their site, let me know, and I'd be happy to PM you the recipes).

Tough call, but at this moment, I'd have to say budini di riso. They're perfect on their own, and with pretty much any take on coffee, hot or cold.

If your package still hasn't reached its destination, and you were unaware of the regulations prohibiting sending alcohol through the USPS and did so, you may want to think twice before investigating this.

A bit more about the Rösle food mill: their service and warranty are great. I got mine a little over two years ago, and it worked beautifully, until one of the hooks/feet came off, a liitle while back. These feet are welded on, and one of the welds just gave way, no 'pop' or anything, just gently fell off as I settled the food mill on a sauce pan. My first thought was 'It figures, this had to happen soon after the purchase warranty expires' (two-year warranty on everything, here). But I figured it couldn't hurt to contact Rösle through their site, tell them about this, and how disappointed I was. After sending my message, I browsed the site, and noticed that they have a 10-year warranty (which I see I noticed before, and was one of the reasons I chose the brand, but I'd completely forgotten about it). It took them a couple of weeks to reply to my initial message (holidays, I guess), but when they did get back to me they said 'No problem', just send them the mill, and they'd replace it. I shipped off the damaged bowl on 17 January. I figured they'd just replace the damaged part, but this evening, I received a complete new food mill from them, discs and all. I'm really happy and impressed with their service.

The choices are the ones mentioned in the original post. In that case, just use whatever you like that is between 40 and 50% ABV; if the flavour isn't important, no need to over-think this!

I've no idea how this works with edible glitte, but real gold flakes show up really nicely: I inadvertently got a few inside a cake that I was planning on decorating with gold flakes (I couldn't resist poking about in the bag, and they stuck to my fingers, then ended up in the batter), and even this sparse, accidental scattering of flakes really stood out.

Can you give some examples of things with the sort of name you have in mind (doesn't have to be chocolate, or even sweet, I'm just trying to get an idea of the sort of feel you're going for)? My first throught was 'Shove an umlaut in there, or an 'Å' or 'Ø', since most people think of Scandinavia as a source of high quality items'.

Coating bits of somthing seems like it would involve using more whatever-glittery-substance-you-choose, but with less sparkly payoff. I admit I'm a fan of gold flakes and dust, although I've only gotten it on the inside of things by accident. The thing about gold is that it is really hard to kill the gleam of it, you get sparkle from every angle, so every tiny flake is doing a 720° job.

Starch + hot water = glue. Plus, little pieces of orzo are ideally sized and weighted to firmly adhere. Try soaking everything in/with cold water, and scraping off the orzo before tossing things in the dishwasher.

Don't even think about putting gold flakes, dust, whatever, into a mortar, unless you want a gold-leaf interior to it. My idea was that the flakes/dust be simply added directly to the fluid pink batter that is to be the swirls. Add maybe half a teaspoon, mix it well, and see how that looks, then add more, if it seems like a good idea. A combination of dust and flakes might make for the best effect, although more Marie Antoinette than Hello Kitty.

True, but since the cost is by weight, the price isn't prohibitive (e.g. gold leaf flake), and no question, the stuff sparkles.

Pure gold and silver leaf are food safe, so if you can get hold of some of that in flake form, you could give that a go.