SethG

I had a bit of a disaster the other week with Suzy's Cake. We were bringing the cake to a party, and I didn't have much time to let it cool after I baked it. So I was going to slide the cake, still in the pan, into a paper bag and bring it to our friends' house, but the pan was hotter than I expected, and I somehow managed to drop it upside-down into the bag. The cake mostly unmolded from the pan in chunks, deflating quite a bit. I scooped together what I could, and it still tasted great. But the way the cake was setting in the pan (still really oozy in the middle) made me question Dorie's instructions. I've had similar problems with Dorie's Best-Ever Brownies from Baking With Julia. If you take her instructions literally, removing the cake/brownies from the oven when the chocolate is just barely set in the middle, I find that it never really firms up acceptably and remains too oozy (undercooked). Have others had the same experience, or is it just me? Also, I made Pierre's lemon tart from the Desserts book. I forget, is there a lemon curd thread where this is discussed? Anyway, the lemon cream, which I've made twice now, is just out of this world, but both times my lemon cream hasn't had the rich yellow color of the cream in the tart in the photo on page 114 of the book. Mine comes out quite a bit paler, I think a little closer to the color of the cream in the photo of the crepes on page 91, but still a little paler than that. I was wondering about others' experience with this too.

I've purchased it at the Esposito's in Carroll Gardens, Brooklyn. It's not out for display, but they'll sell you some of theirs. It isn't frozen.

Those all look great, folks. I have to try out that Concorde. I have so many egg whites in my freezer, just sitting there.....

I made corned beef. I thought you were replying to a question about corned beef, not pastrami. That explains why you mentioned more sugar than I remembered putting in. I thought the amount in the corned beef recipe was good. It does sound like there's a lot in the pastrami. I agree with you: I can't see why a brisket would need a longer cure for corned beef than pastrami. Maybe Michael can tell us.

As I noted above, I made the corned beef following the recipe exactly and I thought it came out wonderfully. I don't have the book with me, but I believe it calls for a five day cure, not three, and my brisket didn't need any more time. I also wouldn't change the amount of sugar, but that's just personal taste.

FWIW, my classic dill pickles came out great! Delicious, crunchy, a touch of spiciness from my fresh pickling spices. I can't wait to try it out with kirbys from the greenmarket in season. I'll also make 'em hotter.

Hey, good luck. I used to smoke a pack plus every day, but I haven't had a cigarette since January 1, 2001. Five years ago, and my identity as a "smoker" seems very remote to me now. I may have had an easier time quitting than some people, because I somehow managed to become a smoker as an adult. I did it for several years, but not ten or twenty. Still, it wasn't easy: after quitting once for nine months, starting again, and trying (cold turkey each time) four more times, I finally licked it. I could detect no change in my taste buds. I did perceive-- or imagine-- the toxins oozing out of my body after I stopped. The hardest part about quitting for me was the temptation to cheat. It seemed like you were doing fine, which led to the feeling that you could sneak one in, and then there you were, smoking again! I was successful once I determined never, ever, to succumb to the temptation to just try a puff here or there. But for other people, I'm sure they can handle the addiction differently. Once again, good luck.

I've had some similar frustrations with RLB's stop-n-start method. Today I used a Flo Braker method that I think I may try with RLB's buttercreams. After you froth up your egg yolks with the mixer, you bring the mixer bowl containing the yolks and the whisk attachment over to your oven. When the syrup reaches the target temperature, you pour the syrup right into the middle of your yolks, and beat like mad, by hand, with the whisk attachment for a few seconds. Then stick the bowl and the whisk back on your mixer and continue. It worked very well for me.

Can't compete with the lop yuk, but the corned beef came out great. Best I've ever had, although a little saltier than I'd like. Ridiculously easy, and an amazing transformation of a brisket.

I've finally gotten started with my book, but with some very basic stuff: I'll have corned beef next weekend and dill pickles in a couple weeks. I'll try bacon and duck prosciutto next.

Caught Daisy's show about Puerto Rican Pot Roast this evening. It looked fantastic. (And yes, it includes olives.) I'll definitely try this. Her general fawning over firemen went way over the top, but the show was a touching tribute to her fireman father nonetheless.

I thought about trying that too, but I worried that in the time it would take to measure the temperature your yolks would partially curdle from the contact with the hot syrup. Beranbaum advises you to add a small bit of syrup and beat right away, then to repeat with more syrup.

Well, sounds like my butter was too warm-- I tend to let it soften a lot. I don't understand why that would make the final buttercream thinner, though. I'll also try boiling the syrup a little longer. I haven't been adding other liquids, but thanks for the advice, Ruth. Another question: I know the syrup is quite hot, but I suspect it doesn't bring the raw egg yolks to a high enough temperature to kill salmonella. Beranbaum doesn't say one word about the issue. Anybody have an opinion about that?

I've made the Neoclassic Buttercream from The Cake Bible several times, and every time it comes out thinner than I'd like. Usually I'm adding chocolate, so the thinness is not a problem; it actually allows me to add more chocolate! But when I made a coffee buttercream using the recipe I got unacceptably thin results. RLB's buttercream replaces some of the sugar and all the water in classic buttercream with light corn syrup, which reduces technical difficulties in making the hot syrup and also allows you to forget the thermometer. She has you simply bring the sugar/corn syrup mixture to a rolling boil, and then take it off the heat, and beat it into the egg yolks. I try to measure accurately, and I'm using a pyrex liquid measure for the corn syrup. I'm also trying to be scrupulous about waiting for the mixture to come to a real rolling boil. I'm starting to suspect that my dry measuring cups aren't accurate, and that I'm adding too much or too little sugar. Could this be the cause of the problem? Which one, too much or too little sugar? I'm thinking too little sugar would make the syrup contain too much water and therefore make it too thin. Right? Any thoughts would be appreciated.

I like the show too. I've made her flan, and while it came out well, I'd say the beginner should not attempt caramel for the first time using her instructions. She gives no real pointers for success with what can be a very tricky thing. Also her recipe made a surprisingly large amount of custard-- way more than I could fit in the specified pan. The stuff on the show tends to be heavy, fried foods that look great.

Thanks for being here. In its November 2005 issue, Harper's magazine published an article by Frederick Kaufman entitled Debbie Does Salad: The Food Network at the Frontiers of Pornography. The article prominently featured a taping of your show and contained several on-the-record quotes from you, but I had the feeling reading the article that you were either deceived by Mr. Kaufman or simply never told the angle on food television he wished to explore. I figured you had to have felt a bit betrayed when he described your show as "dump-and-stir television," and when he suggested in support of his (in my opinion sophomoric) porn analogy that the food cooked in your shows simply can't be replicated as well at home and that actually making the food isn't the point anyway. Can you share any thoughts with us about how this article came to be and your opinions on it? Do you think that the article, while unfair to a show of substance like your own, might actually be pretty close to the mark in describing where the FoodTV network is headed?

Over here I posed a general query about the DeLonghi meat grinder attachment, but have seen no responses. Anybody on this thread have an opinion about it?

I just ordered my pink salt, so I guess I'll have to temper my enthusiasm for a few days. I also went ahead and ordered this meat grinder. Seems like a bargain at $1390.00. I figure it's big enough to double as an activity table for my kids. Just kidding.

I just got my own copy of Charcuterie and I'm totally pumped to get started with it. My first projects are likely to be bacon or pancetta, corned beef, and duck prosciutto-- then I hope to move into sausage. I've already had the pleasure of confiting my own duck and pork and making gravlax, but otherwise I'm a total newbie. The book is a pleasure to read. I can't think of another cookbook that presents a cooking art with such romantic flair. When you open Charcuterie, you really get swept up into the historical significance of the methods described, and feel a connection to people who lived not so long ago, but who seem another species entirely from the supermarket shoppers of today. Congrats to the authors. Beautiful work.

Dude, be careful. If you like the job and trust is important to these folks, you might be revealing far too much about them here. I hope you've thought all of that through. I hope you have, because I'm really looking forward to hearing more too!

Heh. Next time I make ganache, I'm positive I'll be hummin' "We gonna rock down to Electric Avenue. . . ." The fact that I knew exactly what you were talking about is probably proof that I watched too much MTV as a child. ← I'm glad I'm not the only one.

I was reminded this week that a year has passed with no publication date in sight for Bakewise! Anyone have any info? A Google search turns up nothing, Amazon has no listing, and B&N says it was published in 1924(!). I made her tunnel of fudge cake the other day for a party. The Times article and the accompanying recipes are still accessible a year later. I thought the cake was good but it is absurdly sweet. (The overwhelming amount of sugar is what keeps the cake from solidifying in the center.) Mine was pretty loose in the middle, but it didn't run the way Shirley's does in the picture that appears next to the Times article. I guess I cooked it a couple minutes too long, but I was grateful; it made for easier serving.

Nice Gateau, Patrick. After a long hiatus I finally got back to Pierre on New Year's Eve, making Nayla's tart for a small gathering. I would have liked to try it with the optional creme Anglaise, but I only had time for the sweetened whipped cream option. I loved the tart. I found the crust dough quite difficult to work with, but the recipe makes an ample amount for patching and pasting, and also for laying it in extra-thick as Dorie suggests. I ended up rolling the dough out in pieces and pushing it into my tart pan, but it baked up just fine and I think I much prefer the taste of the Nayla's tart dough to the chocolate/almond dough used in the Grenobloise. I know it isn't one of baking's biggest challenges, but I still take great satisfaction from a perfect ganache, spread out in a crust like the shimmering surface of a lake. (Right before Eddie Grant steps off the couch and plunges in! (If you know what I'm sayin'. )) The tart was perfect for New Year's Eve-- all class, pure luxury. And Pierre's crust makes it better than most chocolate tarts. Edit: Holy shit, Patrick, that Mozart looks sensational!

If you can't afford the terrine mold, just use a loaf pan with relatively straight sides.

Nice work, Ling. Looks great!