TylerK

Wasabi peas, and the sinus searing salty powder left on my fingers after eating the entire can. I wish there were more wasabi flavoured snack foods around.

Thanks a lot for the responses. I'll have to read through the recipe again, but I don't recall it saying too much about why the cookies should sit before eating them. First it said that if you like chewy cookies to take them off the tray right after baking, but if you like crunchy cookies to leave them on the tray to continue cooking until they cool. Later on in the recipe it says to let them age before eating them, but I don't think it explained why. I had them stored in a plastic ziplock bag for over a week before serving them, but they were still very hard. I'll try one of your ideas next time. It also indicated that it was traditional to let the nut, sugar and honey mixture ferment for a while before even making the cookies but didn't go as far as to advocate for it in the recipe instructions. Would this also bring a textural change to the final product?

I tried experimenting with my usual Christmas repertoire this past year by trying RLBs Lebkuchen from her Christmas cookies book. For the candied fruit I used mandarin peel that I had candied. The flavour of the cookies was excellent, but I wasn't very pleased with the texture. They were rock hard. I like a crunch/crispy Christmas cookie, but not one that I need to fight to bite through. The problem is, I have no idea what these cookies are supposed to be. The history and tradition described at the beginning of the recipe drew me in, but I have never eaten them before nor seen them for sale anywhere. Before I saw them in the book I had never even heard of them. Is there anyone on here that would be able to describe the desired taste/texture of these cookies and help me come up with a way to make them better next time? What is the process that you use to make them?

Does no one season their aluminum? Sheet pans especially, I rub with oil and bake in the oven just like I would with a cast iron pan. They're almost as non-stick as the Teflon coated pans you can buy. They don't leave aluminum skid marks on my counter tops either.

It's interesting the different starches people use in their meatballs. This may be just a factor of having grown up with it, but I've always preferred the texture produced when we add ground oats to ours. A little denser and chewier than when the bread/milk is used, but to me anyway it's always seemed meatier.

Unfortunately not at the moment. I've been looking at a dual chamber wine fridge thinking that I might be able to use one of the compartments as a drying chamber, but I'm having trouble finding a place to put it. 800 sq foot condo here with a typically small condo kitchen. I'm saving for a renovation that will turn an awkward nook off my dining room into a bar... once that's done I'll likely be able to put something like that in there.

Thanks for the encouragement Would you mind describing your setup/conditions?

Thanks for the link Chris. I'm jealous of quite a bit when I browse through that thread. Food safety is certainly always important to keep in mind, but was it ever really established if the danger was that great? With the nitrites/nitrates the danger is pretty much limited to surface contamination if I'm not mistaken. I was reading through a thread on here about surface molds that was questioning how dangerous even that was.

I have Charcuterie, but I have yet to purchase Salumi. I do have one book at home more specific to dry curing, but the name escapes me right now. I'll have to check when I get home from work. I know there's some information that would help me out - I remember reading it a couple years ago in the gigantic charcuterie thread, but it's so big I'm having trouble finding the information. I'm going to keep looking, but in the meantime I was hoping to catch the eye of someone who's given it a try in similar conditions. I'll have to check out the drybag site more carefully, but without too much reading, it looks like would serve much the same purpose as a sausage casing. I can see how it would help slow down the drying process in the fridge for something like pancetta, but would it do much for an already encased sausage?

Wish I had room for the bar fridge modification. I've already looked into a lot of the equipment people use and I just don't have the space. Are you saying that I shouldn't even try or that I just wouldn't end up with commercial quality results? Given how ancient and widespread charcuterie is, why would such a precise control of conditions be an absolute requirement?

Wish I'd thought to take pictures - the day was a little chaotic with the wedding, the photos and all the cooking, but the dinner turned out great. Thanks to everyone who provided suggestions. The meat was tender and uniformly pink throughout, and the juniper really complimented the beef well. My only dissapointment was that I let the sliced potatoes sit a little too long, so the pommes Anna had a bit of a greyish tinge when it came out of the oven. No one complained, but I certainly noticed. Instead of a full on croquembouche I made small individual stacks of whipped ganache filled profiteroles and glued them together with caramel.

I've been dabbling in charcuterie over the past year or so and been fairly successful with things like fresh sausage and simple bacon recipes, but I've been thinking that I'd like to try my hand at some dry curing. The problem is, I live in a pretty standard high-rise condo and have no basement/cellar, and no space for specialized equipment. Basically I have my cupboards which are usually 66-68 F (19-20 C) during the winter and my refrigerator. Am I nuts to even think about trying this? If not, do you have any idea what my limitations would be or how I might mitigate the less than ideal conditions? Has anyone had any luck producing something edible under my conditions? I tried surfing the charcuterie index for info on dry curing but it seems to be broken. It looks like the main thread was broken up into several parts at some point, and now most of the links are taking me to the end of part 1.

Has anyone tried the candying process with previously frozen fruit? I was unable to locate any fresh sour cherries this summer, but when I was at the grocery store I saw large tubs of sour cherries in the freezer section. Wondering if I should give it a try. Home-made glacee cherries taste so much better than the coloured "scary cherries" you find in the grocery store.

Thanks for the replies. The fragrance isn't overpowering, but it's there. It reminds me of a slightly floral tea. I also bought 2 kilos of almond paste today, so I'd be interested in hearing about the "proper Marzipan". I wasn't aware that it had rosewater as a component.

So on a whim today I bought 15g of dried organic rose petals from a spice shop, and now I'm looking for something to do with them. Posting in Pastry & Baking because I've started to think about my Christmas baking lately. Rose scented shortbread? Rose infused cream centre for chocolates? Any ideas/suggestions would be appreciated as well as any tips/tricks so that my baking doesn't end up tasting/smelling like grandma's perfume.

So I took some of the advice above to heart and did some more searching around and I think I have the main meal nailed down: - Juniper and black pepper crusted rib eye roast - Pommes Anna - Green beans and shallots sautéed in garlic butter. For the soup I think I'm going to try a modified version of the MCaH cauliflower soup instead of the carrot (modified since I won't have access to a pressure cooker) The salad I'm going to go with a walnut/pear/blue cheese.

Yes. It sounds great, and less effort. In case their budget won't allow for that much fillet, is there a less expensive cut that this would work well with?

In my family they've always been filled with a mixture of potatoes, dry curd cottage cheese, sauerkraut and sautéed onions. Much more flavour in my opinion than the standard potato/cheese versions. We don't fry them unless they're leftovers to be served for breakfast the next morning, and they're always served with my grandfathers famous heart attack sauce: Fry bacon, mushrooms and onion. Add cream and reduce until you have a thick sauce. It's not something you want to eat every day, but it's at the top of my comfort food list.

Thanks Alex. That does sound great. I wish I could do something like that, but I was given a directive at the start - no fish/seafood or mushrooms. My brother dislikes both. I'm certainly open to suggestions other than the roast. I just thought it would be fairly versatile and enjoyable by all.

Thanks. That looks really good. Does anyone have any ideas for something interesting I could do with the roast?

Baselerd - I have seen good reviews of that soup recipe around here. That's actually what got me thinking about a carrot soup for the dinner. Do you know what the pressure cooker brings to it besides faster cooking? I likely won't have access to one. Lisa - If this were for a big gathering I wouldn't consider it. 15 people, budgeting 3-4 puffs per person means a fairly manageable 60 or so puffs required. Maybe it was a mistake for me to call it a croquembouche though. I was not planning on the nougatine base, spun sugar or marzipan flowers. I was planning on puffs filled with a combination of ganache and pastry cream dipped in the hot caramel and formed into a cone shape. Decorated with sugared almonds and maybe some live flowers. I'll bake the puffs and make the ganache/pastry cream the night before, and I should have plenty of time before the wedding (evening) to put everything together. I didn't want to do a real wedding cake because there will definitely be one for the main reception down in Mexico, and I didn't want to compete with a professional baker as to who made the best cake.

My brother's wedding is in four weeks, and while the main event will be a destination thing down in Mexico they're doing family pre-wedding up in Calgary since a number of the bride's immediate family can't make the trip down south. Only 15 people or so. I've been asked to prepare a nice meal for after the ceremony, and I've got the skeleton of a menu planned out, but I want it to be special and I'm having problems filling in the rest of the details. I'm a pretty decent cook, but I'm not a professional chef, and the tools at my disposal will be those of a standard suburban kitchen (and a kitchen I've never cooked in before). I was hoping to get some advice on how to turn this into a memorable (in a good way) meal. The menu as it stands now: Soup (I was thinking a spiced carrot soup - there's some places around here that sell some great Indian spices) Salad (baby arugula in a lemon vinaigrette, buffalo mozzarella) Main (probably the most vague of my ideas so far - some kind of beef roast with some kind of veg. Maybe butterflied and stuffed) Dessert (Croquembouche - never tried this before, but I'm pretty good with cream puffs) Fresh bread available at every course.I haven't even started thinking about appetizers yet. Any suggestions?

Is there a particular spec on the unit I should be looking for to see if it can handle more viscous liquids?

Thanks for the response Kerry. If I can't find it in Canada then no, I'll look down south. I have ordered from chef rubber before when I couldn't find ingredients up here and I believe that the thread above does mention a model that can be bought from them. I was hoping to avoid the shipping charges if possible though since it can often add up to be more than the cost of the item purchased.

I'm hoping someone can help me out here. I'm looking to up my game on the chocolates I make for the holidays every year. The pictures posted on here of chocolates that have been made in airbrushed moulds are inspiring, but finding a suitable starter kit has not been particularly easy. Most product descriptions indicate their suitability for cake decorating, not spraying cocoa butter. If anyone who knows what they're talking about wouldn't mind taking a look at the kit in the link below and providing their opinion on it's suitability I would greatly appreciate it. http://www.goldaskitchen.com/merchant.ihtml?pid=9231&step=4