Mjx

I'm not getting the 'vinegar to soften' thing; generally, to tenderize something, it goes in a mildly basic solution, since acids tend to have to have an opposite effect (although they can break down meat surfaces and turn them mushy). How is this working out, compared to soaking it in a non-acidic bath?

It seems unlikely that Dutch processing has that much effect on any lingering nutritional value in processed cacao, which undergoes enough heat processing to break down antioxidants, not to mention, even if you're eating something that has lashings of cacao in it, it's still not going to be so much that it's bringing significant nutrient value to the table (I freely admit that I do not specifically eat chocolate-containing things for their health value ) The other way around: 'Dutched' involves treating the cacao with a base (it will usually say 'processed/treated with alkali' on the packet), which makes it less red and less acidic.

The protein percentage will matter any time you have a specific texture in mind. If you want chewy, rugged, open-structured bread, you want a high percentage of gluten; if you want a finer, more delicate crumb, you want a lower percentage (although adding fat will move the texture in that direction, too); if your goal is more general (e.g. texture not of particular importance), protein content isn't such a huge deal.

That is so lovely, and somehow baroque-looking! Regarding the thickness of the pasta, I'm wondering whether relatively thin, but rough-surfaced tagliatelle would work with this.

I'm really sorry, I don't know how I missed your post from well over a year ago, but (although I'm certain you now have a scale) I have the CJ4000 model. Still love it. I now have my heart set on the JSVG20 unit.

I did once find myself in a situation where courtesy demanded that I eat chocolate cheesecake. It was a horrific and nauseating experience (because I don't care for cheese, and admittedly find the entire concept of cheese in sweets appalling). I'm clearly the wrong person to ask about this. Yep, that's brilliant stuff (it's not individually wrapped, by the way, but in packets). I once tried some with licorice in it, at Keflavik airport, I believe, and that wasn't so great, although the fact that I like both licorice and chocolate kept it from being a true End Times experience for me.

I've noticed the flour mix tends to affect the length of time it takes to get everything well-blended. Incidentally, not only do I mix however long it takes for full mixing, but I do it with a mixer (Yes. I know. Some regard this as heresy. But I started using a mixer ever since I broke my dough loop, and never switched back).

Yes, please!

Orange flower water does vary considerably in strength/quality. I've come across orange flower waters that made me feel like I'd been slapped across the eyes with a plastic flower, but the ones that are actual waters (hydrosols), as opposed to water or water/alcohol blends with scent added, are lovely (assuming you care for the scent of the flower in question in the first place), although you do need to keep them refrigerated, and use them within a month or so of opening the bottle. I use the orange flower water I have (which has a distinct but not very powerful scent) by the spoonful, and it isn't always teaspoons, either: Wednesday night I felt the distinct need for something margarita-ish, and what I made included a tablespoonful of the stuff. Much as I love the scent of orange flower, heavy perfuminess makes me queasy and headache-y, but this smelled wonderful.

Would using a heated wire to cut it help reduce breakage?

There's a discussion of these units in the VacMaster VP210 vs. VacMaster VP112 topic (yep, the 215, too).

If you know/calculate the cubic capacity of your tray, and you have have an accurate measuring container (e.g. marked lab beaker), you can then translate the milliletres into cubic inches or centimetres (e.g. 50 mL = 50 cc/3.051 cubic inches). From the two measurements, you can determine how the chocolate is going to fit into the tray. You can you use this conversion calculator: http://www.onlineconversion.com/weight_volume_cooking.htm

When I've had more garlic than I was likely to use before it started going off or sprouting, I've frozen it in various forms and states (whole, sliced, minced, put through a press; raw, browned in various ways). For cooking purposes, it works out fine, and takes up very little space in the freezer. I put it in a small bags, and press it as flat as possible, so taking a out just little out is nice and simple. Freezing ruins up the texture, so I wouldn't use it for fresh applications (apart from the pressed garlic, possibly). I've never looked for frozen garlic, but it probably exists. The jarred stuff has a texture I find unappealing (which would no doubt vanish in cooking, however), and takes up more room and costs a more than freezing your own; the occasional botulism issues associated with it pretty much put me off it all together.

Food companies are all about making money, it's no surprise that they're having R&D and marketing do their damndest to create something irresistible. And feeding children significant amounts of food that's going to damage their health is clearly irresponsible, unless it happens to be the only alternative to starvation. The thing is, if someone decides to have children, they're responsible for prioritizing their well-being, even if it involves a hell of lot of frequently thankless work. Regardless of what food companies do, parents, not food manufacturers, are responsible for most of what their kids eat. No one want to see their kid's eyes well up with tears, or have a screaming meltdown (depending on the kid's preferred negotiating style) because they want to eat a bucketload of crap and the parent is saying NO, but that's just part of being parent. Can I see decent parents caving in and letting a kid eat maybe one of these a month? Sure. Nothing wrong with occasional crap. If these showed up in a kid's lunch box several times a week, I'd start wondering about the parents (Are they silly/weak enough to really believe their kid when she says 'I hate you!' because of the lunch choices? Do they simply not think their kid's health is worth the hassle of arguing about lunch?) For Lunchables to be cheaper than making an analogous lunch from scratch, the quality is just not going to be good. Plus, the ones with fruit are only ones that don't look guaranteed to to give Junior a promising head start on chronic constipation.

I use this one (http://www.amazon.com/American-Weigh-Signature-Series-Digital/dp/B002SC3LLS) I don't believe that scale would have the precision for MC@H gelato though. I ended up spending several hours last night looking at scales. I found one that would measure 0.01 gram up to a kg. It was about $200 however. And for that I could get a pressure cooker. But it would let me use one scale for all my kitchen needs. I gave up on the idea of mg scales as they are too expensive. I'm looking to get my hands on one of the Jenning models, which are priced very comfortably; definitely not $200! I have one of their models, and it's extremely accurate (I just need another with greater precision, for really small amounts).

I've heard of, but don't think I've ever seen them, and from the silly name I thought they were already for kids... no? And I could look at the company's web site, but it's more fun for me to think that rather than water, Lunchables previously included little bottles of Four Roses or Thunderbird.

Hm, that seems pretty close to what you can find in the US too. The particoloured mayhem that you find is in some places is just gimmick (to my mind, like ice cream shops that feature bubble gum and Smarties flavours), but doesn't define US doughnuts; in their basic forms, they're what you describe.

Leaving aside the spellings (which I thought was one of those advert-y things, like 'lite'), isn't there at least signficant overlap (unlike 'biscuits' or 'muffins')? I've never had a do[ugh]nut in the UK, but I didn't think that two very different things were involved, and so far, I no one has said 'Krispy Kreme? That's not a doughnut... THIS is a doughnut!' (imagine images here).

The could have been made via spherification, but (depending on how big these things actually are), they might just be a water-based liquid that beaded up on the surface.

Why do you even discuss this stuff with him ? Deeply conditioned democratic reflex? Grotesque delusions regarding my persuasive abilities? We're looking at stainless 1/6 pans, and he has this eager gleam in his eye. I'm searching for a ready-made knock box that closely resembles an insert.

Following a conversation with my boyfriend (which anyone seeing from a distance would have interpreted as my giving him the bad news that he had a day and a half to live, and would feel queasy and itchy the entire time), it seems like a designated knock box is not going to happen, but at the mention of a stainless steel insert, he perked up again. Clearly, a metal drill and carpentry need to be involved. Edward J, would you mind having a go at posting an image of yours?

I'm on the lookout for a knock box (or something that will work as one), since the pretty little wooden box my boyfriend made for this purpose has succumbed to a combination of violent blows and pesistent humidity (I was not surprised). Given the fairly hefty pounding these things are subjected to, sturdy construction seems like a must, but since I'm having a lot of trouble finding these in shops, I've been looking online, and am a little concerned, since you can't tell from images whether or not they're well made; the couple I've actually seen in person looked a litttle flimsy/prone to tipping over. So, I'd love to hear about any units you particularly recommend (or would warn against, for that matter). Also, anyone using something that is not a dedicated knock box, which has turned out to be a great solution? Thanks! M.

I've made experiments with cooking down milk or adding powdered milk to regular milk, and liked the results, although I've never done this with any degree of precision (I have some recolleciton of reduging the lik to half its original volume), so I can't offer a recipe. The mouthfeel is less unctous, but the consistency and flavour release seem similar. Of course, it isn't panna cotta any longer, but 'latte cotto'doesn't have the same ring. I also tried making a panna cotta using coconut cream. Not sure where it went wrong, but it was vile.

We ate at several places when we were in Berlin last July, but the one I remember best is Peking Ente. I don't know whether we just happened to be there when they were having a good night, but the food was really good. The route there will make you feel like you're in the middle of a Monty Python sketch, and it gets crowded pretty quickly, so if you do eat there, I recommend going early.

I figure that part of being a geek is being willing, able, and tending to become unhealthily excited about MacGyvering equipment, from, you know, a pair of pantyhose and some duct tape or something, so I'd say being a food geek doesn't mean you need equipment, but it makes it fairly likely that you'll have it, whether you've made it yourself, or purchased it ready-made. My fondness for minimalism is constantly at war with my appreciation of really well-made objects and beautifully functioning tools. When I've lived on my own, I've been able to keep my 'equipment' down to a small pot, cup, bowl, dagger, spoon, and chopsticks. Now, we have a good sized collection of equipment sitting in storage boxes, awaiting our having a kitchen again. Inevitably, some was unpacked, since life just sucked without it (the Silvia, the grinder), but things seem to have added themselves to the collection, despite the fact that there's almost no place to put them: a vacuum sealer, couple of silicone baking mats, an iSi whipper, an oval Dutch oven, chocolate moulds. My boyfriend has had a fondness for tools/things with buttons and switches of every description since before he was able to talk, and in the face of that, my ascetic half didn't stand a chance. Not sure whether I'm a geek. Although 'geek' has pretty much lost any stigma it had a couple decades back, I wouldn't describe myself as a geek, since that's what the kids who also enjoyed punching me during recess called me, but pretty much everyone I know seems to describe me that way, so I guess..? I just do things. Then wipe/scrape up the mess