TheTInCook

Aside from what the others said, it could have broken from getting too warm during grinding or mixing. Also you could try adding non fat dry milk or soy protein.

I like using the peeled garlic I get in Styrofoam trays at the Asian market. I assume they break it down from a big jar of the stuff. There doesn't appear to me to be a trade off for the convenience, except I think that garlic in the skin roasts better. As for the jarred minced stuff, I've had to use it in a pinch at work due to necessity. It wasn't as bad as I'd have thought it would be, and it certainly beats no garlic at all. Pickled garlic is kinda popular now, and it's essentially the same thing.

Just put up 2kg of lemons worth of preserved lemons from the Preserved Lemons recipe from 6-174. Is that the right amount of salt and sugar (50% and ~25% respectively)? It's been a long time since I've made preserved lemons, and it seems like an awfull lot.

Tried making pressure cooker carnitas yesterday. It was the first time I've ever used a pressure cooker, so I'm still getting used to the kinks. It seems like I used too much water. I used the jus to make a batch of beans in the pc, instead of reducing it down to add to the pork. 30 minutes at 15psi gave soft meat, but it was drier and less succulent then the carnitas I've made the old fashioned way. Next time, I think I'll let the meat rest in the jus so it can reabsorb some of it. I didn't shred and deep fry per the instructions. I just crisped them up in my cast iron skillet with a little oil. I liked the ratio of crispy to tender meaty I got that way. One odd thing I noticed, is that when I went to crisp up a batch tonight for dinner, the pork sucked up the oil. Almost like it was eggplant! All in all, I think it's winner. I just need to tweak it a bit for my taste, and get more practice in with the pressure cooker.

Tarts of any kind. Spiced things. Meat pies or pasties.

Get a pizza screen. They help get the crust crisper.

I bought a 23qt Presto pressure canner from Amazon for the flexibility the size gives me. Its a jiggle top though. My understanding from looking at a some of the pressure cooking stuff is that most of it can be cooked in a container inside a pressure cooker. I hope that's true. There might have to be some adjustments for moisture, like in the peanut sauce recipe.

I second tamales, but then I'm a tamale freak. I'm going to try some of the modernist techniques on wings this year.

I agree with you that it's supposed to be a thick drink. Here in Los Angeles, we have this bakery/tortillaria/restaurant chain El Gallo Giro. I think it's Michocaon style. Their champurrado is thick, and even has little chunks of corn in it from their masa. When I make it at home, I just make a slurry of Maseca and use it to thicken the chocolate.

Thanks for the info and your blog, Liuzhou. I didn't notice any in the fresh, dried, or paste form at the market. They only had the dry split kernels for sale, kind of looking like split blanched almonds.

How do I use these? Just like any other nut in chinese cooking? I've seen two types in the market, labeled as north and south. I've no idea what the difference is.

Thanks for the info guys!

Thomas Keller is pretty definite about excluding many green vegetables from sous vide, though his concern is in part preserving color. He prefers "big pot boiling" where one cooks just to the point of tenderness in a gigantic, very salty pot of boiling water, then plunges into ice water to arrest the cooking. This was one of the better home cooking lessons from The French Laundry Cookbook, reprised in Under Pressure. Greens like collards and kale aren't usually cooked like that. They're pretty tough, so they are generally braised for a long time. They certainly don't keep their vibrant color.

Regarding the stuff cooked in the pressure cooker in the mason jars;, garlic confit, onions, etc. Do you have to use a mason jar? Can you just do it in a sv bag or a ziploc, or even just a foil covered bowl?

Made some good short/medium grain brown rice using 1.5 water to 1 rice on the brown rice setting of my cooker. I also agree with washing white rice. Cleanliness issues aside, the texture of the unwashed rice is unpleasant to me. Anybody wash their rice if they are going to fry it for a pilaf? I usually don't.

Interesting. My milk was room temp when I added the acid, and it curdled some of the milk immediately. My final result looked a lot like yours. I'll try a 2qt batch with the last of my milk.

Been reading some of the science on the direct acidification method. It appears it is key that the milk be very cold <40 deg F when adding the acid. I think that this is where both Fat Guy and I failed.

What did it look like when you added the citric acid but before you added the rennet? Did you get little curds floating in milk?

I like the cookie butter too.

I might be trying the 'no knead' brioche from Ideas in Food this weekend. Will report back if I do.

I keep it simple. 150 eggs, 100 flour, 100 sugar. Crack eggs into bowl on scale. Add 2/3's the weight of the eggs in sugar. On a parchment, sift 2/3's of the weight of the eggs of flour. Mixing method is as others describe. I do like to warm up the eggs over a burner. I don't add fat.

Now I'm more confused then ever. The stuff I got is clear. From what I've seen on the shelf, that type is usually labled Mijiu or Michui. (Though the one I took home was labled Rice Cooking Wine (yeah I know)) As opposed to the shaohsings which are brown. Interesting that the difference is slight. I don't think I could say the same for cooking with red and white grape wines. Funny how I have better access to some chinese ingredients in the USA then you do in China lol.

Just finished round two, with two dishes. Ma Po Tofu and a lackluster beef, mushroom, and oyster sauce. I added a couple of strands of 16 gauge steel wire to hold an air gap when the wok is resting on the top. The results were much better. The fire was hotter. There was no pooling of juices, but still no big wok hai. Big problem so far I think is that I don't start the fire early enough, and I don't let the fire get big enough before I start cooking. For next time, I'm going to adjust the wire so there is a larger air gap, and try elevating the chimney with a couple of bricks to get more air in from the bottom. Might try adding a fan .

When should I use one as opposed to the other? I've been defaulting to the shaoxing, but I recently picked up a cheap bottle of michiu to try out.

Asparagus and minced pork. Aromatics were the usual ginger, garlic, scallion. The sauce was shao hsing wine, huang dou jiang and some hoisin for sweetness and spice, and a touch of water to thin it out. I would have used tian mian jiang instead, had I had some.