Hassouni

Thanks for the kind words. By the way, I should also mention the closest substitute I can easily find for kashkawan/kashkaval is manchego. I much prefer it to the standard man'oushe cheese

Thanks for the shoutout, @blue_dolphin, glad to inspire you. I have that book and have made both the regular man'oushe dough and the "paper thin" marqouq dough, though used the latter dough also for mana'ish. A few of my thoughts on the book: The author mentions many ways to make mana'ish, but really in Lebanon you have the oven and the saj, and that's about it. One thing to note is that much like pizza, the mana'ish made in the oven need very high temperatures and to are made essentially like a pizza, on a very hot floor with a peel and everything. I got a Baking Steel Griddle recently, and haven't used it for the white dough, but before that I used Kenji Lopez-Alt's cast iron skillet-broiler method in the oven and those turned out pretty well. I wouldn't bother doing them any other way. Here's the result: https://scontent-iad3-1.xx.fbcdn.net/v/t1.0-9/12651167_10100503207295711_7626101389396993008_n.jpg?_nc_cat=0&_nc_eui2=v1%3AAeFZ4qRF6XIYTHJEFOqJEYHxx7ckPD91IK-4HAEev1pJDjR9nSDtHgJ8XnzaohAmPF9LiEQYX4EYTadyGYiRIpBQHSFm2o29OjQwooSeRcQFhw&oh=ce77991087aa7d8718f270d242cc1ea2&oe=5B748A4C https://scontent-iad3-1.xx.fbcdn.net/v/t1.0-9/12654498_10100503207305691_1717294120862096213_n.jpg?_nc_cat=0&_nc_eui2=v1%3AAeFpX3Eyg8tGwjTPz1gu-Rl7XvX3E9UR9I3W8mzlFeIBSdpHWH8BaAVTqaVhKpCaGUXpNt1vxFD68WgmeKXqdZm9S01VPaEn3GT28SXU7ETPAg&oh=990b2b631c9c70c0b5d73df5646a67b5&oe=5B6AF770 For the Baking Steel I've been using it more like a saj, or as the author calls it, the convex metal disk, rather than like a pizza stone. I've tried all the doughs in the book on that, and done some experimenting myself. In my opinion, the marqouq dough, the ratio of 350:160 whole wheat to white flour is a bit high, I've been doing 50:50 lately, and I've also been using Atta flour, because I think standard whole wheat doesn't get thin enough. Also I think the recipes could stand a touch more water, but that could also be differences in dough. One thing to note is that across Lebanon, there are many, many different dough recipes, and mana'ish vary wildly from shop to shop. Anyway here's what I recall as the white flour dough on the Baking Steel, saj style. Finally, I think the book is most useful for learning the culture of the man'oushe, as well as the myriad toppings and typical flavor combinations one sees. In Beirut options are typically zaatar, cheese, zaatar & cheese (often referred to just as "cocktail"), zaatar & labneh, kashkawan (kashkaval cheese), and maybe sometimes kishk, kafta, or lahme b'ajin. But at the main weekly farmer's market in Beirut, some of the man'oushe vendors have topping options that you never see at the bakeries, and I think the book does a good job exploring the depth and breadth of that.

Yeah, I'm definitely using the peeled foul. What do you mean "string consistency"? I'm not adding any water once the beans have been drained. The oil is right around 350ºF/176ºC, and is not brand new oil. The only thing would be the lack of acidity when adding baking soda, but then I've never seen a falafel recipe that calls for anything significantly acidic (I suppose onions are slightly acidic?), which is why I've also been experimenting with baking powder. I have seen some recipes that call for the leavening agent to be mixed in at the beginning, and others which call for it to be added right before frying. But whether I add it early and then let it rest or add it right at the end seems to make no difference at all.

what was your recipe? I saw something else on line about adding leavening powder (forget if soda or powder) into the mix only right before frying. would that make a difference?

I have read that article many times over - yes, starting w dried beans. Almost every recipe from Lebanon I've seen adds baking soda or baking powder or both, and over there everyone is making theirs with a mold, which when packed flush yields a disk, but always seems to puff out into a lens shape. It's worth noting Kenji's are round because he forms them round, he's not using a falafel mold.

Updates: testing recipes etc for the opening of the Green Zone, and falafel is on the menu! Made up a batch that was sort of a fusion of @ChefCrash and @FoodMan's recipes - half foul half hummus (aka fava beans and chick peas), soaked overnight, added the remaining spring onions, parsley, and coriander in my fridge, ran it a single time through the food grinder attachment on my Kitchenaid mixer, then mixed it in the bowl with salt, my own choice of spices, and a generous sprinkle of both baking soda and baking powder. Texturally and tastewise, they were great, and really sock-knocking in a sandwich with proper Lebanese bread, pickles, tarator, mint, parsley, tomato, radish, and shatta, but they had zero "puff" - I'm using a falafel mold with a flat bottom, as every place in Lebanon seems to, but all the falafel there is sort of shaped like this () or like this O. Mine are shaped like this: D (I mound up from the mold, but the bottom remains flat. Here's a photo of mine: Whereas this is from one of the best places in Beirut (Abou Ziz in Hamra) https://b.zmtcdn.com/data/pictures/2/16501862/9b3419c4178199fe0076d924a626a94a.jpg How do I get that puff?? (Also, this doesn't bother me as much but how does a place like that get such light colored falafel while still being so crispy?)

Just spoke with a pretty accomplished Palestinian-American baker and he suspects in “the old country” they might use durum wheat flour. How might this affect things? PS. Made some today with just KA AP flour. Tasty but def not what I’m looking for. Bought some atta flour and will try that

Another thing to add is that the dough usually is pretty pliable, and is stretched out over a pillow with little to no pull back, as seen here (this is for a larger, untopped version but the principle is the same):

That may be worth trying. Do you think the wings could be frozen after a day in the fridge, or is it not worth it?

Hey all, chicken wing R&D time! Kenji writes that double cooking is the way to go for the crispiest wings. In his method, he "confits" the wings in oil, lets them cool, and then flash fries them very hot. He also writes that Danny Bowien does something similar, but freezes them and fries the par-cooked wings from frozen. I tried doing Kenji's confit thing but it ruined my wok (but produced great results once fried). In the second round, I par-cooked the wings in a circulator (at 150º? for 2hrs? Don't remember precisely), froze them, and fried from frozen. In both cases, the end product was really good. I know that commercial kitchens fry frozen already-cooked wings all the time - but when I did it, I got volcanic levels of oil bubbling and spattering in the first 10-20 seconds (which honestly didn't surprise me), and had I used a straight-sided pot rather than a wok, I probably would've had a grease fire. Is there something different about a commercial fryer that prevents such a violent reaction? I will be doing these at my bar in standard commercial fryers, so I'm curious how commercial kitchens avoid crazy oil flare-ups

Can one buy toasted flour in sufficient quantities? How do the end results differ from standard flour? I'm going to do some experimenting (I finally after years got a stand mixer), and will also try Atta flour and white + whole wheat

Hi everyone, look time no see on eG. I'm opening my bar very soon and want to offer fresh made mana'ish - Levantine flatbread/pizza kind of things, cooked on a saj. For those that don't know what a saj is, here you go: http://s-live.s3.amazonaws.com/image_source/19/21/19214170e3c019219eec92924e89dce33d00362e.jpg In Lebanon, sometimes they're clearly made from white flour and don't differ too much from a pizza-type dough, but the best ones are different. Here's a shot of the best I've had lately (folded in half) : It appears to be darker than white flour, and gets reeeeally crispy, without turning crackery and remining flexible enough to fold, all without being oily as they sometimes are. David Lebovitz has an interesting post about it, but he suspects it's "toasted flour" - I'm sure the bakers there aren't toasting the flour themselves - is this a thing that one can buy? Some recipes I've seen say to mix white flour and whole wheat, other recipes (usually in Arabic) simply say "wheat flour", but don't get more specific than that. Can whole wheat dough be made that thin and get that crispy? I used to cook lots of Indian food and make chapatis a lot, might Atta flour be similar to what I'm looking for? I'm not a baker by any stretch so please treat me like a novice! Thanks!

I'll be there

In pursuit of Japanese style shaking, I bought a Japanese-looking cobbler shaker from a local high-end homewares store. Turns out it's generic Chinese-made, even though the gold shaker for sale was a Yukiwa. Shaked up @RafaBlood Simple (nom nom nom), and the damn shaker wouldn't come apart. Just what I feared and why I've been avoiding Cobbler shakers for the last million years. Are the Usagi from CK or the Yukiwa cobblers better in this regard?

OK, hi everyone, it's been a while - the Green Zone has been running more or less continuously as a pop up since May 2014 and I'm now under contract to get a brick and mortar spot. Lately, I've been on my own ice capade, if you will. The bar hosting me for the longest period (on and off from August 2015 until now) has absolutely god awful ice, some of the worst I've seen. It's disgraceful in a glass served on the rocks (and shaking with more than half the shaker full or for more than 10 seconds yields a watery drink), so first I was freezing my own ice in 2x2 molds, but a trip in March to Attaboy changed my life, and I've become obsessed with clear ice. Having experimented a bit, I now do Camper English's igloo cooler with the top off trick, and lo and behold, it produces big blocks of crystal clear ice! I then carve those up and use them for rocks drinks, to the delight of me, and more importantly my guests. I've also done some experiments with shaking with a single big clear cube, as Attaboy and Sasha Petraske's former bars do, and as one particular bar in DC does. Sure enough it creates tons of aeration and lovely foam, but I can't seem to get the drinks cold enough, even after a pretty long, hard shake. Obviously more research is required, but does anyone know what's going on? I know chilling = dilution, and the drinks don't seem underdiluted, and I'd also assume that a lot of aeration means sufficient shaking has happened. I'm also becoming more and more obsessed with Japanese bar techniques, and have now watched all of Hidetsugu Ueno's videos I can find, and just received Kazuo Uyeda's Cocktail Techniques book. Obviously the Japanese shaking style is quite different both in terms of movements and the ice - I don't have a cobbler shaker so can't really try it out, but can anyone chime in on how it compares in the end result to the "single big chunk" style? I also noticed Japanese bartenders pack their mixing glasses full of ice, which I don't see often here - is there a reason? On another note, I succumbed to gentle peer pressure from @bostonapothecary (winner no. 23 of the Green Zone Challenge) and got an Alaska Ice Crusher. True to his pitch, holy shit this thing rocks. Best crushed ice I've seen, and to quote Stephen, "it eats ice". It's completely put me off Scotsman-style pebble ice, which I used to adore.

In Phoenix, check Total Wine. They have all the Foursquare Stuff (Seale's, Doorly's) as well as the Berry Brothers indie stuff

That's my friend and fellow Motörhead-lover Rachel Sergi!

This was...$18/L. Still pretty decent!

Hi everyone, long time and all that. The left two I picked up in DC, Serbian quince eau de vie ($20/L!), the lovely lovely Willett 2 yr, and some goodies from 3 weeks in Lebanon: Rhum Saint James ambre, excellent, cheap, and ubiquitous there but not Stateside; Monk-made arak from the Antonine monks of the Mar Chaaya (Saint Isaiah) Monastery, and Arak el Rif, a more high-end commercial Lebanese arak in which the anise is less subtle. I've undoubtedly got other stuff in the last several months since I posted, but who remembers...

Maison Rouge is great value cognac, glad to see someone else using it!

Apologies if this has been answered. I'm a regular reader of Kenji's SE stuff, and I've learned a ton from them in terms of technique, methods, etc. I'm not so much a recipe follower as an approach follower, and that's where I've benefitted the most from his work. Are there significant techniques, ideas, methodologies in the book not on SE? The recipes are frankly of secondary interest.

Why do you say that about the pizza? I'm not trying to be contrarian, just curious. I've made his cast iron pan pizza, and used his pre-Baking Steel cast iron + broiler technique, and both were great. I haven't used a Baking Steel, but he certainly did a fair share to popularize it and people seem to love it.

Last time I had any Stumptown was just a few months ago. The coffee was fine (I mean, better than fine, still quite high quality), but it was outrageously expensive. That might have something to do with it. Counter Culture and Intelligentsia, just to name two, are comparatively significantly cheaper.

You mean fill it till it's full?

Dave Arnold's "corrected" orange juice has popped up on a few DC cocktail menus, it might be worth experimenting with it