Panaderia Canadiense

Darienne: why would anybody bring bread to a baker? Or cake, for that matter? And yet it happens all the time. Much to my distress, really, because it's never very good bread or cake.

My mother would also be appalled. On the other hand, where ELSE would one make these notations? I also make note of successful variations right on the recipe page. Mom will laboriously copy out the recipe onto a piece of A5 paper (we have packs of it just for this exact reason), then add her notes at the bottom of the copy. I've got a binder or two filled with her rectified recipes, but it's frustrating because she won't even put a postit flag into the cookbook of origin to indicate that one has to go to the binder. Hence my preference for direct notation. They're my cookbooks, and I see no reason not to correct them directly.

I've asked very nicely for a 24" diameter hardwood turntable on teflon bearings. However, my real Christmas present arrived on Friday - a second fridge for my bakery!

I do, I do! I'm assuming you're choosing a lunchbox for yourself... I love my tiffins. I've got several different sizes, and some with three or four decks, so I can choose my tiffin based on how many courses there are in my lunch and also how long it will be before I eat said lunch. All of mine are stainless steel, although I'm now starting to see tupperware-style tiffins for use in microwaves. The stainless-steel ones are perfect for reheating in toaster ovens. My experience has been that if soup goes into the bottom tier of my tiffin hot, it will still be quite warm when lunchtime rolls around, and the heat from the steam of it helps to keep the second tier, the main dish, warm. Above the main is the salad course, and dessert is on top. (And you can see why my four-decker tiffin gets the most use!) I'm helped by a tropical climate - if I leave my tiffin in the sun, my soup will never get cold. (And you can see why my pair of double-decker tiffins get used - a pair for the hot, and another pair for the cold). And there's also the lovely option offered by almost every comedor in the country - you bring the tiffin, we'll fill it up. Snadra - there are tiffin delivery services here! One simply leaves one's tiffin at the restaurant that's offering delivery, and they bring it to you at lunchtime, filled with all manner of goodies. Not sure that's so applicable to Dakki, though.

Cooked ramen with some leftover 3-cheese beschamel stirred in, then topped with shredded Bondel and au gratin and baked. It was more amazing that I would have thought.

I notice more the difference between "fresh out of my neighbour's cow and boiled a bit" and "UHT" than I do between carton and plastic.

Look carefully at the store-brand milk. It will list a pasteurizer, which will likely be the same as one of the "brand" milks. They're not any different, really, just in different packaging and possible less expensive. On the other "premium" milks you might notice a difference in flavour - that will be down to what they feed their cows.

In Canada, there's only the tradition of giving thanks for a good harvest and a summer that didn't kill off the crops (which happens more that we'd like to admit, especially on the prairies where tornadoes and windstorms are common, along with flooding). And of course the huge meal - which we eat almost a full month earlier than the Americans, in fact two weeks before Hallowe'en. The timing has to do with Canada's shorter growing season, since Thanksgiving up north is a harvest festival (the American one, I think, also celebrates the fact that the natives saved the settlers from starvation; Canada has no such founding stories attached to its celebration.) In my family there are specific things that are served in the meal, but that's a personal thing rather than a cultural one. I don't consider it to be T-day without stuffed bird of some sort (usually a big chicken), roasted winter squash, and pumpkin pie for dessert. It also doesn't feel quite right unless there are waffles for breakfast.

Okeedokee, here's the recipe - clicky linky! It was in the Traditional Foods of Nova Scotia thread, of all places. NS Black Fruitcakes are more candied fruit and nuts than they are batter (at least, done properly that's the way they are), and they're aged at least 3 weeks in the booze of your choice. My gran swore that it sould be black rum; I believe in brandy de Jerez. I have clients that want their cakes soaked in whiskey, and another who has specifically ordered and pre-paid for cognac. So long as it's a clear spirit, I'd say it's fair game, although I have my doubts about sake, arrack, and cachaca. The flavour comes across as sweet, caramelly, and with the character of both the fruit and the sugars that you use in the making. I always make this the setpiece of the dessert menu, because to serve it properly you really ought to dim the lights back to just the table candles, then pour a shot of your preferred liquor over the cake and light it on fire. I've done this often enough that I can light the liquor in the snifter, then pour liquid flames over the cake - a bit of theatre with dinner! Burning the surface this way also does this nifty caramelization thing with the crust, which I am quite fond of. This is what the cake looks like.

I'm in what is basically one of the world's highest deserts. If it's not cloudy, it cools down to about 15 C at night (if it's cloudy, it stays about 5 degrees warmer.) However, this menu is predicated on an outdoor wood oven. If I'm not there by then, it will likely be quite different, simply to avoid roasting ourselves along with the meal. I do have a recipe for the fruitcake - and now's the time to start it, too. Let me rummage around - I think I posted it around here somewhere.....

For me, it was oven-roasted turkey breast in an herb crust, with cheezy ramen noodle casserole and steamed veggies. Oh, and a nice heap of mango chutney. Tis the season, after all.

Funny you should ask that, Michaela. I actually have recipes that have tweaking notes at the bottom - to the effect that "if this comes out seeming too batter-ish, add more of x flour" or "add water but never milk if it's too short a dough." I do tend to tweak on the go if the recipe seems to be going sideways on me, and I try to keep notes of what I did. Usually right on the recipe, which occasionally shocks my mother, who would never think of writing in her cookbooks.

Just out of curiosity, at what point did you start thinking that the problem might be with the recipe? When I got the same result the second time 'round with no tinkering. I was using weighed flour, I had prepared my started in the manner reccomended by the book where the baguette recipe was, and I used volumetric cylinders to measure the liquids. So, I was quite sure that I wasn't off on the ingredients side, and I knew enough about bread to know when I was at fault vs. when it was the recipe. (I have other stories about recipes that are just fine and me being non copos mentos in the kitchen.) I think that what happened, at least partially, was that the recipe was developed for a humid coastal town somewhere. Things work very differently in the high deserts of the world - for one, my flour is a whole heck of a lot drier. Sourdough also seems to behave oddly up here in the rare air.

I always make a small batch first to test the waters, because I've been burned by not-so-hot recipes too many times. The one that still gets me is the first time I attempted sourdough baguette. I can't even remember where the recipe was from, but I do recall eventually giving up on it after extensive tinkering. The book's photos showed a smooth super-elastic dough, and what I got, following it to the letter, was more closely akin to a rock.

Or, you could always look for one of the legacy KA models. Mine is from somewhere in the 60's, when everything was made of steel, and I absolutely love it (I've got a 500 model). Ebay sometimes has them. Other than that, I heartily second the reccomendation to look outside of Kitchenaid and get a) a real Hobart or b) an Electrolux. My next mixers (industrials) will be Hobarts with the cranking bowl-lift mechanism.

So long as the spuds are somewhere in the happy middle between waxy and powdery, you'll be fine. If they're very powdery, you'll need more yogurt. I've never actually measured the yogurt, but I suspect it's about 1/4 cup or so given about 10 medium sized potatoes (3 for each person and one for the pot). I don't add fat - the sour yogurt I get here is made from unskimmed (ie full fat) milk, and it's so rich that it's kind of redundant to add butter.

The biggest reason I can see for basting is that it keeps the STUFFING moist. Not the bird itself - I never baste unstuffed birds, but stuffed ones MUST be basted, at least over the stuffing, or that turns out awful and lacking in flavour. Just my 2 cents from experience, nothing more.

Rotuts: it all comes down to personal preference, doesn't it? I prefer a mixture of Atahualpa and Oro Morado potatoes, skins off the Atahualpas and on the Oro Morado, in very salty water, drained, then mashed by hand with yogurt.

I've also mixed spuds between waxy and powdery; I actually think I prefer mash that way, because the texture is really rather awesome. I use a simple hand masher. So long as you make sure your chunks are about the same size going into the pot, you won't have too much of an issue with cooking times.

The cheap French press will serve you just fine - what you need is better beans and a good grinder. Then you're set. Although if you want to splurge a little, you could get a Moka.

I'd be very tempted to make mini tart shells, pack them with the rind, then drizzle chocolate overtop.

Here's a question for you liquor mavens. I am very fond of Soberano Reserva Brandy de Jerez. Recently I've noted that they've started to label their bottles with the number of the criadera (I'm assuming this is the vineyard that the grapes came from) for each reserve. What's available down here appears to be almost exclusively the 8th Criadera. I'm curious whether brandies from the other criaderas are available in other countries, and if so whether there's a big difference in flavour or quality?

I don't have pics on hand - just the dried powdered Azafran in a bottle. The rhizomes look just like turmeric or gingerroots, with a reddish-yellowish center. Next time I'm in Mindo I'll get pics - my friend Clau grows bitter cane in her garden and it always needs dividing. EDIT Fresh turmeric does indeed have a noticeable earthy flavour, even in small quantities, and a fairly robust smell as well. If it was turmeric root you saw, you would have noticed both.

I can speak to this! I can speak to this! (Geez, finally, a question I can answer.) The root you're looking for is most likely Costus lasius, which is called Bitter Cane further south. It's related to turmeric and ginger.

Seems that great minds think alike, Dejah! I too had yogurt-curry last night. However, since it's summertime for me, I approached it a bit differently... Gold Ecuadorian curry in yogurt with basil and parsely was the baste for these chicken legs, over hot coals. Served with turmeric mushroom rice and a salad.