Mottmott

Wow! I just had my first taste of the Holiday Bundt cake. Just what I like in a cake. Wonderfully full flavor, light, even texture, not too sweet, but with bursts of sweet/tart cranberry. It's all I can do from cutting another piece right now. This recipe is a keeper. Well, er, um, I don't think it will keep tooo long. edited to add: I didn't glaze this, just gave it a decorative dusting of confectrioners.

Couldn't access NutritionData.com, so I don't know if that fits the bill. As for th Southern Food site, I've bookmarked it as it will be useful, but it doesn't do what I'm lookling for which is a conversion from volume/cup measurements to weight measurements. For example, a cup of flour, a cup of sugar, a cup of pumpkin puree will all have diffrerent weights even though they have the same volume. As discussed elsewhere, a cup of table salt, a cup of Morton's salt, and a cup of Diamond salt will all have different weights. Etc.

1C pumpkin weighs 244 grams, so if you have scale, use that. ← Thanks Patrick. I've already put the cake in the oven. But I did take the time to weigh out the pumpkin to make a note for future reference. For flour, I used 150g/cup. That's what Dorie uses in her Herme books, so I figured that was a safe call. Do you know if there's a website that gives weight equivalents for the volume of different ingredients? I really, really, really, really wish American writers/publishers would use weight measurements in baking books (at least). It takes so much of the guesswork out of most ingredients. I understand all the arguments about time, money for production, but what of making the cakes. When baking, I like to follow a recipe exactly the first time, though I may play about the next time. For example Dorie calls for 1 large apple. How much simpler if it were x grams or ozs. Also, in a cake like this, one wonders, does her recipe expect an apple that will tend to mush right into the batter like a Mac or hold it's shape like the Gold Rush I used. And then, too, how finely were them apples to be chopped if we are to replicate her result? OK, I'm off my hobby horse now. edited for typo

Help! help! Help needed. I'm making the holiday bundt cake which calls for canned pumpkin. My febrile brain can't decide. Which measuring cup to use? I can see pro/con arguments each for liquid or volume measurement cups. . Yes, I know, it probably won't make a big difference either way. But this is just another instance where a weight measurement would resolve ambiguity. I admit to a serious case of baking high anxiety. When I cook? no recipes, a handful of this or that, taste, adjust, and just keep going til it tastes as it should. When I bake? parse each word and comma: sifted flour, flour sifted; a cup of chopped pecans, a cup of pecans, chopped. And is that a plastic, glass, or stainless cup? Must my cups be Atco cups?

I did make the brrrr-ownies and they were okay. A little sticky-chewy and hard to cut but fairly tasty. I am just surprised to hear of some much excitment over the book when I have been so underwhelmed. I wasn't even going to try another recipe but I had received the cookbook to review from the publishers and thought I owed it another try. ← And you were going to do a review on the basis of trying two recipes?

Very inventive. The ugliness factor is a problem when you're thinking of using this for entertaining. Another possibility would be to chop it up and use it to make tartines, garnishing with the peppers.

Make "Michel Bras' Stuffed Onions". I made them last year for xmas and they were a big hit. ← That's next on my list of "to trys." I love onions and have other onion dishes up my holiday sleeve typically. (A pissaladiere and Judy Rodgers' super pickled red onions.) If the Stuffed Onions turn out really well, I'll bump the onion tart. Sometimes I'll make sweet/sour cippolini for the holidays, but I like that better than my family does.

I've wrapped mine individually as instructed & they've turned out fine. Think its the individual steaming that's wanted. Let us know how the other method turns out. ← I think you're right. There was a bit of caramelization on one of the two pieces I made. That's why I thought I'd give it a shot of heat uncovered at the end if I make them in a gratin dish. It'll be a while til I do this again as there are so many other dishes I want to try. I'm looking around for something different for T-day sides

Made the eggplant & garlic dish. Super. I used the Herbes de la Garrigue. It's so simple to make even my DILs will enjoy making it. But did I read the directions right? Wrap each piece in foil separately? As I was only doing a test run for 1 serving, that's what I did. Next time when I make a larger amount, I will put them in a gratin dish covered with foil, then uncover briefly before taking out of the oven. (I don't like having my food right on foil.)

Do you cook from scratch?

My copy has just this minute arrived. I think I will initiate it this week with my gdaughter who visits me once a week to eat and cook. I need help with choosing what to make first. As I'm snuffling away, trying to conquer my cold, drowsing away the cold pills, I look to your experience for suggestions for a recipe that will not only taste stunning, but be simple to make, and (maybe) not require me to make an ingredient run to the store. (Snuffle, snuffle). An anecdote about my 11 year old gd: we were making the sauteed broccali leaf dish so popular on eG. Just before finishing it, I had her taste it to suggest what it might need to finish the flavor. Half expecting to hear sugar or salt, I was delighted to hear, vinegar.

Thanks Patrick. You're a treasure trove of information. And wonderful pictures of wonderful confections. I look forward to them. As for refrigeration. My pate brisee took a quantum leap when I made cold my friend.

Where can one get mercury thermometers? Are they even legal anymore? I'm oarticularly interested in the standing ones that close up.

Patrick, I like this technique. What do you use to cut the circle of dough which has the correct diameter? ← I use a set of circular cutters, like this. You can also improvise and cut your dough out with things like lids, drinking glasses, large prescriptions bottles. Plastic caps from, say, pan coating spray works pretty well as a cutter. ← I just bought a set of these. I think I'll use them to make something for Thanksgiving. I'll do part of this in advance and freeze. Until now I'v only frozen dough in 1" thick or less discs, then rolled and shaped. I mostly make tarts, not tartlets. But for the holiday it would help to take it a step farther. Which do you think would be best: roll and cut dough into circles, freeze flat roll, cut, shape into tarts, freeze roll, cut shape, blind bake (fully or partially per use), freeze empty Of course all of these will take careful storage, but the thought of getting this out of the way a week or two ahead is sooo tempting. Also, mostly I bake with pate brisee, savory or sweet as I usually prefer the more neutral, sugar free crust. Is there a difference when you freeze a short crust or nut crust than when you freeze pate brisee? One last question: will I be happier shaping the blind baked shells over the outside/back of muffin tins or inside. Logic suggests that outside won't work so well for tartlets that will not be fully prebaked. Right? wrong?

Alford & Daguid's Baking at home has a recipe for a banana bread without eggs. I've had better banana breads, but if I couldn't eat eggs, this would be on my to do list. It uses about 3 cups of very ripe bananas as the liquid and yileds 2 loaves.

My advice is not to use the fluted tins unless you have a reason to do so. I find it less work to fit the dough onto a smooth surface. When making 1 tart, the difference isn't much, but for small tarts it would be much easier.

I'm so happy to see this topic. I make them from time to time. One thing I like about them, beyond eating them , is that they can be frozen so successfully. I usually bake mine, leaving them a tad underdone, freeze them on a sheetpan, then bag in plastic. I then finish them in the oven just befoe eating. Great for a solo household like mine and also for entertaining. I usually just make the basic, meat, onion, potato, tomato, olive, raisin version , but hope to expand my empanada repetoire.

Inspirational!

I'm late I'm late for a very important date! Huff, huff, puff, puff. That's what happens since I passed 50. Happy Birthday!

Now how happy I am it's ordered!

Funny how much heat this topic brings! I think nostalgia is the key to our choice here. If taste were the issue, we'd buy neither and make our own mayo, adding whatever hot sour sweet and salty is needed. For me? MW. That's what I grew up with in Philadelphia. But its use is mainly confined to potato salad and sandwiches as I've given up deviled eggs. Truth be told, I think there's more sugar in it now than when I was a kid and ate more of it.

Earlier tonight I ordered the Wolfert book, 2nd ed. (already have 1st). So I called them again and added the Strang book. I'll let you know what I see when I get it, try it. Thanks for the heads up. There are some great books out there, like Wolfert's that suck up all the oxygen so that other good books can get overlooked.

Beautiful dessert. Did it taste as good as it looks? I love such simple fruit desserts. Fortunately it's in the 1st edition. I've just ordered the 2nd, but it will take some time to arrive. Now I need to find figs like the ones I had a week or two ago.

Well, I wouldn't use margarine in baking, but, after all, I imagine that's what's in truck stop cinnamon rolls. Actually, the only cinnamon rolls I like anymore are made with croissant dough (I'm off the brioche or cakey rolls). There's a place in Portland ME that makes them that way. Superb. (For those who might have access: on Commercial St and near Fore St restaurant, perhaps even part of the same company. But get there early.) I found the book at Atlantic a couple weeks ago for !0 if I recall correctly.

Beautiful!