teonzo

Damn, I paid top money for priority shipping and it's still on the way? Surprises like this are one of the reasons why it's worth living, I'm happy you have such friends. This is another surprise, since China is not that famous for pastry or rum. Sugar production for export? Teo

Besides the language issues, why are you cooking this mousse? I really don't see the point of this passage. Chicken livers are already cooked and sieved, can't get any better than that. Raspberry juice is much better raw than cooked. You get an airy mousse before cooking, with an appealing color. With the oven passage you are going to overcook the chicken livers, to cook the raspberry juice and lose its freshness, to lose part of the fluffy texture, to ruin that great color. I really don't see the point honestly. They freeze well the same. Teo

COKETRAILS Coca-Cola fluid gel covered with coconut powder. This dessert must be consumed with a straw, while you open your arms like an airplane. Sorry guys, but I have a lot of fun making this kind of dumb things. Teo

Ouch! I paid 8 euro for a 7 ml bottle, pretty big difference. Sosa sells it for example, along with candied violets and dried violets. But each way you go they are really expensive. They sell a "violet flavor", but it does not seem to come from real violets. Same for all the other suppliers I tried here, lower price I found is 90 euro for a 5 ml bottle of violet essential oil. Sooner or later I'll give up and buy one, if it's as powerful as ylang ylang it could be cost effective even at that price. Teo

The first you said. You could add the essential oil at the beginning or in the middle of the recipe. In this way you could have the chance to taste it and correct the amount of the essential oil, but after that you should have to boil it to reach the desired temperature. Boiling causes flavor loss. If you add the essential oil at the end, then you limit the flavor loss. But you don't have time to add essential oil, taste (your tongue is not happy to taste something at 105-107°C), adjust and so on. You have just time to add it and pour the pâte de fruit. So you need to know beforehand how much essential oil you need to add. There are various ways to know this. One could be making various tries until you get what you are looking for, expensive and time consuming. Preparing a syrup like I suggested is another way, much quicker and cheaper. This way you know how much drops you need for 200 g, so calculating how many you need for your final product is an easy calculation. I wrote 100+100 g just for easiness: with less amount you have difficulties balancing the drops (1 drop can be enough for 200 g, if it's ylang ylang it's even too much, dividing 1 drop is pretty difficult), with more amount you waste money. I suggested a 1:1 syrup because usually it's already made in most kitchens, plus it has a similar concentration as the final pâte de fruit. This way you get an estimate on how many drops you need, but for sure you will need some fine tuning. Mostly because the pâte de fruit will not be alone, it will be part of a praline with 2 layers. There will be water migration between the 2 layers, this will cause a change in the flavor balance during the first few days (if you taste the same batch afer 1 day, after 3 days and after 5 days, then it will be different each time). Remember to use always a similar drop dispenser (same size same producer), because "drop" is a vague measure, the size of a drop just depends on the tool you are using. Citric acid is needed to shift the final pH in the window where pectin makes a gel. If the final pH will be lower then pectin won't gel, same as if the pH will be higher. Recipes involving fruit purees are calculated on average (considering the average pH of that fruit puree), so the required amount of citric acid will shift the pH measure towards the middle of the gelling window. If you make a water based pâte de fruit then you are always starting at pH7, so there won't be variations as when you use the fruit puree. This means that aiming at the middle of the window is overkill, you just need to fall inbetween. If you pick the higher number called for citric acid for the various fruits (aka the less acidic fruit) then you are fine. As you already know, if you ingest essential oils without dilution then the risks are huge, you can even die. So you need to use them with precaution. Those things are already written on each bottle, so I tend to give them for granted, my apologies. Essential oils are harmful when ingested pure, due to their concentration. I can't speak for experience (don't have any intention to try), but I'm pretty sure they are harmful even if not ingested, for example ylang ylang oil is so powerful that I think if you pour a single drop on your tongue then you risk serious damage to your ability to taste things. But if you use natural essential oils (distilled from the real organic stuff) and dilute them then there is no risk. If you make an infusion from dried rose buds, then you are getting the same molecules there are in the essential oil. If the molecules in the essential oil were always harmful, then it would be so for the infusion too. The risks in ingesting essential oils are due to their concentrations, not their composition. Essential oils are a better choice for flavor since cold distillation is the best way to get the pure flavor. But after that you need to dilute it before consumption. I'm pretty sure you already know there are reconstituted oils (like wisteria), oils from non organic stuff (risks of pesticides) and so on, so stay away from them. If you know of a cheap source for violet essential oil then please share, thanks! And tell us which flavor combinations you intend to try! Teo

For rose, best thing is using the essential oil instead of infusing dried rose buds. Essential oils are cold distilled from the flowers, you can't geta better aromatic extraction than that. Uusually all suppliers of confectionery ingredients have essential oils in their catalogue, if you have troubles finding them then try a health store. Beware that some like violet and chamomile can be pretty expensive, even some kind of rose (there are various rose varieties, usually Damascus rose is the cheaper one). Pâte de fruit is the best choice for shelf life reasons. Don't have any recipe here at hand, but it's pretty simple to create one. Pick a recipe for a pâte de fruit made with a "liquid" fruit (like orange, don't start from a recipe that calls for a thick puree), substitute water for the fruit juice, adjust the quantity of citric acid (you need to raise it to compensate for the lack of fruit acids) and pectin (if you have the Boiron table with all the fruit recipes, then pick the higher measure of citric acid and pectin). Proceed as usual with the recipe. When you reached the final temperature add the essential oil drops and food colorings (same step as the citric acid). You need to adjust neforehand for the number of oil drops, just make a 1:1 syrup (100 g water 100 g sugar) then add a drop at a time and taste. Each essential oil has a different flavor intensity: ylang ylang is STRONG (a couple drops is enough for 1 kg); lavender is medium; Damascus rose is lower. You may need to add food colorings if you want to recall the original ingredient (lavender oil is transparent like water, Damascus rose oil is yellow). You can make infusions with spices, herbs and so on, then prepare the pâte de fruit. In that case you have better to start with a syrup, aromatics diffuse way better in a syrup than in plain water. Just use a part of sugar called in the pâte de fruit recipe to make a syrup. Essential oils are better added at the end, otherwise you loose volatile aromatics during boiling. Teo

If you are talking about traditional candied cedro (like this one) then just don't try it. You need to start with a green fruit, then follow a peculiar method. If you start from a ripe (yellow) fruit then you will end with a huge disappointing mess. We discussed about it on this thread: Ripe cedro (peel and albedo) can be great in salads (fennel, arugula, so on). You can make a great marmalade. Just avoid candying it. Teo

Don't hold your breath... It's easier that French people will stop eating baguettes. They used a peculiar marketing strategy for Italy. We are the only country where it's not named Thermomix (it sounds "scary" for Italians), here it is called Bimby ("bimbo" means "child", the Y at the end gives a touch of exotic without being scary). It was marketed as a tool that helped mothers to make food for their children. It caught the attention of the emancipated female generation (the generation where the majority of females work and are not housewives) because they are/were not used to cook anything, so when they heard stuff like "with this appliance cooking a risotto will be EASY!" they fell for it, without realizing that cooking a risotto in the Thermomix is not more difficult than cooking it the traditional way, it's just a bit more expensive. For some reason people who don't know to cook think that risotto is a really difficult dish and are scared by it. If you give a look at Bimby websites in Italy then you will be puzzled, they are full of crazy methods to do everything with this appliance. Most of the times it's just a big mess (time consuming and with lesser results), but people must justify to themselves that they spent a full salary for good. Asking to their grandmothers was too difficult (and painful, since it would end with a broken rolling pin on their head). I'm not criticizing the Thermomix, it's a great machine if you know how to use it, I'd like to have one, but it's not the lifesaver for unexperienced home cooks. I would say our market is pretty unpredictable. One would think that almost each family would have an ice-cream maker at home, since they are not that expensive (much less than a Thermomix) and we are probably the population that eats more ice-cream in the world. But in reality really few people have an ice-cream maker. Slow cookers are really rare, of all the "new" (for us here) appliances I would say this is the easiest to use and more useful. Just put beans, stew, soup, whatever, it does all by itself, you just need to check after few hours without risks, what can you ask more? Oh yes, a Bimby, sorry. ISI siphons are becoming more and more popular. I have a page on my blog where I explain the basics on how to use it, I'm always impressed by how many people visits it and ask questions. In my view this is a tool only for the food maniacs, not for the average home cook. Sous vide is much much more useful than a siphon. But since all chefs use it on TV then it must be great, who cares if you spend more for the gas cartridge than for the cream you are going to whip with it. Teo

Well, this is always a good sign for the food! Teo

Seems like Electrolux is betting on the European market for Anova. Home sous vide cooking is almost unheard of here in Italy, I started to see a couple of mentions in forums/blogs in the last year, only mentions and not people talking about recipes. We are something like 10 years behind. Since Electrolux has a marketing power way bigger than Anova, I suppose they estimated they can make very good profits: Italy is a virgin market for home sous vide, they have the marketing presence, with Anova they have a winning appliance, if they can succeed in making it as popular as in the USA then money will flow in their wallets. Don't know about other EU countries, but I suppose the situation will be similar. The big problem for them is that we (as Italian population) tend to be thick headed and close minded when talking about culinary traditions. Italy and France can be difficult markets to conquer for sous vide. Teo

Usually this kind of sorting is made using an oblique (very few degrees) vibrating table, with holes on the floor with increasing diameter (in this case first section 7 mm, second section 9 mm, so on). Under each section there is a different chute to collect sorted items of each size. I'm pretty sure @liuzhou got it immediately and was joking on my badly written explanation, I was joking too. Teo

Don't speak too loud, otherwise capers will hear it. Teo

I haven't found any regulation talking about that. I checked my capers package and it's not written there, so I'm pretty sure it's not required by law, at least here in Italy. Just checked the producer's catalogue and the info in Italian is "calibro" (= caliber / size / diameter). I suppose it's a label info used by this particular producer to state the caper size, 7 indicates capers that pass through a sieve with 7 mm holes, 13 for 13 mm holes. Teo

Being Italian I use capers in a boatload of dishes, even a plated dessert and a praline. My favourite one is sauteed mackerel with eggplant puree and capers. I make the eggplant puree this way: cook a couple of whole eggplants in the oven at 180° C for 60-90 minutes without piercing them, this way the skin will become hard and the inner flesh will steam and remain soft; after cooked cut in half and pick the cooked flesh with a spoon, put eggplant flesh in a bowl, blitz with hand held mixer, add olive oil while blitzing until you get your preferred texture, then season with salt and whatever pepper you prefer. This is my favourite way to cook eggplants. Another favourite is a risotto with cantaloupe and capers. Usually risottos don't fit well during summer cause they tend to be on the heavy side of food, this one is light and refreshing, it's even vegan. Prepare a stock using only the cantaloupe peels. Cut away the orange cantaloupe flesh, cut it in 1 cm dices and reserve in the fridge. After this you are left with the peels, which have an inner green side and the brown outer side. Cut away the brown side and discard it, keep the green side and use it to make a stock (gentle simmer for 1.5-2 hours). When the stock is ready then dry toast the rice: just put rice in the risotto pot, no fats nothing, just rice. Toast rice on low flame, stirring about every minute, until it's toasted (as usual for risottos, just avoid fats onions whatever). Don't deglaze with any wine, just start pouring the cantaloupe peel stock and cook as a normal risotto. About 2 minutes before the end of cooking add the cantaloupe dices. When risotto is cooked then turn off the heat and let it rest in the pot for about 2 minutes. Then add the de-salted capers (don't exaggerate since they easily overpower the cantaloupe) and "whisk" with olive oil (I'm not good in translating from Italian to English, google translator gives "whisk" as translation for "mantecare" but I'm sure it is the wrong one and don't remember the correct one). Season with salt (if needed, due to the capers) and black pepper. This risotto is ultra easy to do, very flavourful and refreshing. People tend to be puzzled when hearing about cantaloupes in a risotto, but they always appreciate it after tasting. Personally I stay away from capers in vinegar, they loose their personality. Only salted ones, the smaller the better as people already wrote. Caper fruits (see this photo) are a delicacy, but I suppose they are really hard to find outside Italy. If you buy salted capers, always remember to rinse them quickly 4-5 times, then soak them for about 10 minutes. I live alone and I use a 500 g package in about a year, but as I wrote I use them a lot. If you can find only 1 kg packages then consider using some of them as a gift, they are totally easy to repackage and can be an appreciated gift for Chinese people into exotic stuff. Teo

Well, it should not be that strange after considering this thread! First time I saw them in a pastry shop I said: "hahhahaha they look like the gloves you use for ____________!" (insert dirty description for the use of vet's gloves). Answer (showing me the box with explicit drawing): "they ARE those gloves...". Back to the topic, @JeanneCake, I would suggest you to check the ingredients listed on your mascarpone package. It's possible they are adding some gums to it to make it firmer, this could cause the troubles you are facing. If so, try another producer that doesn't add gums. Teo

What @jmacnaughtan said. If you want to incur in less troubles then you can add 30%-50% cream to mascarpone. I mean 30%-50% weigh related, if you have 1000 g mascarpone then add 300-500 g of cream. I'm talking about standard cream for here in Italy, which is 35% fat, don't know what you have for sale there in the USA. Teo

A shop gets money for repeating a recipe, most of the times created by others. A YouTube video gets money for repeating a recipe, most of the times created by others. The value for a shop is phisically creating an item and making it available to the customers. The value for a YouTube video is phisically recording/editing the video and making it available to the viewers. Teo

Here in Italy eating genitalia and related stuff was traditional up to the 50's, when most people were still farmers and definetely poor, so they ended up eating anything edible. Eating meat, even genitalia, was a luxury. Cow udders and vaginal labias were considered a delicacy, same for testicles from whatever animal. Pigs sphincters can end up still now in tripe cuts, especially suckling pigs. Nowadays it's hard to find this stuff, both because butchers and customers are not willing to deal with it. Most offal parts go directly to waste, there's no request. It's more than possible that a butcher will give you sweetbreads, kidneys, brains and so on because it's impossible to sell them and they have to pay to get rid of them, so you are doing them a favour to get them for free. Some "adventurous" butchers are still willing to carry these traditions if you ask them, but it's more and more difficult due to EU legislations. Just for example dealing with cow udders is a huge PITA because you must certificate them as mastitis free. That's a pity, I had the luck (as a curious eater) to taste some of this stuff and I always liked it. Too bad it became such an hassle to find the ingredients and someone else willing to eat them (looking for a special ingredient and then being forced to eat it alone is one of the saddest things ever). There is a good tradition involving fish too. If you go to Sicily it's quite easy to find tuna's "lattume", it's the fish spermatic pocket, if you order "pasta al lattume" you get pasta with tuna's sperm. Bottarga is prized everywhere, they are ovaries. Teo

What about most pastry shops? Do you think each and every pastry shop uses only personal recipes? I would say that at least 50% pastry shops (I'm speaking for here in Italy) never developed a single new recipe, they just copied from someone else. If the requirement for making money with food was to be restrictively creative then most professionals should have to close shop. We all build from stones created by someone that came before us, we can't claim to be purely original, neither Pierre Hermé nor Albert Adrià can claim that. We can only put our own twist, someone put a bigger one, someone else a smaller one. Just repeating a recipe written by someone else means putting our own twist, since it's impossible to make it the same way, each person unconsciously make things in a slight different way. Teo

Generally speaking, cold infusions give a different result than hot infusions: you extract more of some aromatics, less of others. Plus you don't cook the infused ingredient, meaning you get a more "natural" taste (this is evident for some herbs and flowers). As a general rule, a cold infusion gives a smoother, rounder, more delicate result. There are exceptions, some ingredients give a more bitter result (marigold or rhubarb root), others a harsher result (if you cold infuse tobacco you get way much nicotine). For delicate ingredients usually the best choice is cold infusion. In some cases it just depends on the result you are aiming for: if you cold infuse whole coffee beans then you will be surprised on the result, I wouldn't say it's better than the usual hot infusion (uhm well, I would say so to be honest since I'm not an espresso lover), it's just different. About the "cooked" sensation, it's much more limited if you cold infuse something, strain the cold infusion, than boil it, since you are not cooking the ingredient, you are heating the infused aromatics. For ganaches you can't avoid this, you would face shelf life troubles. Teo

They look like dried goji berries, it seems a clear mistake by the manifacturer (wrong product in wrong package). There are a boatloads of uses for dried goji berries, but they are an acquired taste, if you didn't like them as an infusion then it's hard to think about alternative uses. Teo

Radicchio's bitterness is present but not overwhelming. You can definetely taste it, but the overall effect is not that strange if you don't know what you are going to taste. I don't know if you ever tasted amaretti cookies, you get a similar balance: the base recipe is pretty sweet in both cases, the bitter component (bitter almonds in amaretti, radicchio in my experiment) cuts through and counterbalance the sweetness. It's a game of contrasts, where bitterness does not have to be too strong. People raise an eyebrow when hearing about this kind of stuff mostly due to food conventions (vegetables in savory, fruits in sweet), but if you think about it those are just conventions. Cacao is definetely bitter, not sweet, but chocolate is the most popular sweet thing in the world. Similar for coffee, it's a given in sweets because it became traditional. Chestnut honey is another case. You just need to avoid getting bitterness as the frontal kick, which is relatively easy when you start from a really sweet recipe (panettone has a lot of sugar). Teo

Panicio "Panicio" is a play on words between "panettone" and "radicio" (dialect term for "radicchio", the place where I live is the home of the best radicchio in Italy, we are quite proud of this). Dough is made replacing half water with reduced (30%) radicchio juice. I added candied pumpkin in place of the usual candied orange peels / raisins. For the glaze I used amaretti (the traditional cookies made with bitter almonds). This is a first try made at home. Esthetically it came ugly, making panettone at home is a huge PITA, especially when your oven it totally unbalanced (top side is 40°C hotter than bottom side). I tried a new recipe for the glaze, I don't like the traditional glazes because they break in pieces during cooking, I'm aiming for a glaze that gives a "smooth" surface, I think I'm on the correct road, but I need to make a test with a decent oven, with this one I get horrible results even with the traditional recipe. I'm happy about how it tastes, it's balanced and reflects the autumn produce of this land. I hope it will sell well when I'll open my shop. Pationkin "Pationkin" is a play on words between "panettone", "Tonka" and "Kotiomkin". It comes from a cult scene in Il secondo tragico Fantozzi, which is now part of pop culture here in Italy (if you say "Kotiomkin" to an Italian then he immediately thinks about that scene). It's almost impossible to explain if you haven't seen the movie. Dough is almost the same as traditional panettone, I replaced vanilla with Tonka beans, then replaced the usual candied orange peels and raisins with candied clementine peels (which pair better, in my opinion, with Tonka beans). Glaze is white chocolate with some Tonka beans, then the circles are candied clementine peels (the look is chosen to recall that movie scene). I'm happy with this too, final taste is not that far from the traditional panettone, pretty enjoyable. I always laugh when I think about it, this is a plus in my book. Teo

My blind guess is that butter acts like a barrier for the internal moisture in pecans, retaining part of it. If you roast them before coating then you should get drier (more roasted) pecans, this should be the difference you prefer. Next time you roast them (alone, no butter or other coatings) then try to weigh them before and after roasting, so you'll get an idea about how much moisture they loose during the process. Teo

Pistachio + apricots = UBER WIN Teo