jmacnaughtan

It's not half the weight of the potatoes. It's the same weight as potatoes.

First dessert of the year! Orange tart Sablé breton Grapefruit confit Whipped orange curd Candied orange peel Toasted hazelnuts

Where I used to work, we would turn the paper with the shells on it upside down, then spray it with water and leave it a couple of minutes. That got them off OK.

I don't think those ever made it across the Atlantic, but I'm sure there's an equivalent. I do however stand by my earlier reservations against Crème de Menthe.

Sorry, I had no idea that crème de menthe chocolate chips existed. Seems like a weirdly retro flavour...

I'd be highly dubious of any recipe that calls for crème de menthe. Especially if it's in the title.

You could temper yourself a bar of cocoa butter, then microplane it in. It should have the same effect, and would avoid the lumps you get in packs of Mycryo. Admittedly, it is too expensive for professional or very regular use. But if you're just doing occasional chocolate work or small quantities, it's handy to have around. According to the label, you can even sauté in it too.

That's an expensive way to deep-fry... The point is rather that it mixes in very fast, at a higher temperature (35°C), then you just agitate it until it gets down to working temperature. Whenever I seed, I find that there are always lumps left over that need to be strained out... Also, with Mycryo it's easy to temper a very small quantity of chocolate- you can quickly temper 100g if you just need some for a decoration. Doing this by seeding is tricky. This may be the case, but I'm not sure - I've had this happen sometimes, but not others. It could be that the molten chocolate is a little too cool when you seed it. Francisco Migoya recommends blitzing it in with a stick blender, so that may be a solution.

I like it. It saves time and means you don't worry about lumps of unmelted chocolate.

I had a few things lying around to use up, so I put together a quick little orange and butternut squash tart. Orange squash tart Sweet pastry Hazelnut, walnut and Armagnac butter Almond dacquoise Powerful orange curd Butternut squash crémeux Kumquat

Try it and tell us whether it works Normally, I just throw the stalk away.

I wanted to have a go at the glazing technique discussed here - needless to say, it didn't come off as planned. Orange and vanilla cake Almond dacquoise Orange marmelade Vanilla mousse Orange curd Fortunately, I took the photo when the cake was still frozen - while it still looked good. Something must be up with my scales, recipe or calculations, because my mousse barely held itself together and slumped when it came back to room temperature. That, combined with the dacquoise that wept like a lost child and the general poor balance of the elements... Let's just say, it needs some work.

We threw a party last night, and as you know there is no party without cake. Pear bûche Roasted pear mousse Apple and hazelnut tajine Oat and walnut crunch Jackson Pollock inspired glaze

Squash is strange. It has the flavour of a fruit but the texture of a vegetable... I often do a variation on a pumpkin pie, using the sweeter ones (banana, butternut, etc.). The recipe's up on recipegullet. And a few nights ago I made a seared magret with thyme roasted celeriac and chestnut squash, with a gastrique sauce. It worked well.

I don't know about you, but making choux pastry tends to be played a bit by ear - just add the eggs until you get the right consistency.

I think you'd have to adapt your recipe to suit your product- where I was working, they refused to use liquid eggs, so someone (often me) had to break around 800 eggs every week for the paste... Maybe you're adding the eggs while the paste is too hot?

Yeah, that's candied. But just because David Lebovitz doesn't like them, it doesn't mean that yours is bad or unuseable. ETA: If you were going to candy it yourself anyway, you've just saved yourself a lot of work.

I'd go for gimlets and daiquiris. At least this way, you're sure to make friends

Add hot milk for really good hot chocolate

If you're going to throw cod into a dessert, you're heading for a car crash - think trout ice cream in Iron Chef America. Why not make a dessert that is reminiscent of the sea in terms of colours, textures and a little salt, but which will actually taste nice? This may be an exercise in lateral thinking, set by your chef... I seem to remember candied samphire appearing on playingwithfireandwater, that could serve as an interesting marine element. Pair it with a well-caramelized, well-salted kouign amann and some kind of sorbet and you could be on to a winner.

Absolutely. You're going to cook the hell out of any booze you put in a caramel, so there's no point in splashing out. Alternatively, serve a good cognac with your caramels.

It looks good. Is it just Nutella in pastry? If so, I could understand only eating a little...

The Augustiner Keller is great. Also, get currywurst from a shack.

I've seen this technique a few times, mostly on British cooking programmes. I think the idea is to use paper when you're sautéing delicate things which could easily break apart or tear, but I also saw John Torode (UK Masterchef) slowly poach a boneless chicken thigh, chill it and sauté it on parchment to crisp up the skin. It might be a good way of rendering out the fat...

Seems like it's now autumn, so I had a go at making an apple tart. Flapjack base Apple and citrus tajine Granny Smith curd Toasted oats