cdh

Sounds like a liability-driven commercial decision about publishing recommendations in line with "commonly accepted industry practices", e.g. the ServSafe thing. Publish contrary advice, and if somebody gets sick from doing it wrong, then there is a potential for liability. If the advice is in line with ServSafe, the potential for liability is minimal. Under Pressure was published before Modernist Cuisine and all of its scientifically rigorous temp/time tables... those may have been a game changer on the liability front...

Mine works fine. And I'm quite happy with it so far. No issues with the back panel at all. And what have you been doing with it that requires cleaning it? A week of heating water, unless you have a well that doubles as a mineral spring, isn't going to gunk up your coils with minerals. If you really hate yours, you have options: 1) complain to them and get another one if the back panel problem is really a mfg defect; 2) ebay it and make it somebody else's problem if you don't feel like keeping it.

Already? They're running early this year.

Breweries have boiled beer in copper kettles for hundreds of years. No mass extinction events in the beer drinking population have occurred.

If you're going to think like that, there's no point in asking for help from someplace people might actually know something... knowledge tends to elevate the horses.

Sorry if I came off as undiplomatic, but your question was equivalent to asking what could replace a flavor extract, and presenting nothing that could as options. Then emphatically refusing to go beyond your stated possibilities. Sorry if you didn't know that Ouzo is essentially anise extract... but is it, and none of the booze you've got handy would replace any part of ouzo other than the ethanol, which is clearly not the point of the addition. And getting your back up and refusing to go shopping when a bunch of people suggest it is never going to help you get a decent result, particularly when it is baking. Recipes for cooked stuff are suggestions. Recipes for baked goods are magic formulas that you do not deviate from if you want anything like the desired result.

yeah... ouzo is such a specific flavor that your question is kind of like asking how to make vanilla ice cream, and then saying you don't have any vanilla, refuse to acquire some, and want to know if almond extract, or chocolate will be a good substitute.

None of the above. If you won't get a minibottle of sambuca or such like, it won't be the same cake. Might be a fine cake with rum or whisky... but quantities needed and end result are not going to be predictable.

W00t! Sansaire's first batch went into the containers today. So they're on the slow boat from China now, and will be with us soon, hopefully! Can't wait to play with mine when it gets here.

Nowadays finding _bad_ wine is actually pretty difficult. Manufacturing defects have largely been engineered out of winemaking. Everybody pays attention to the acidity balance and corrects, nobody fails to let the fermentation finish, infections with nasty unexpected bugs are rare... nowadays it seems to be a matter of taste. Finding somebody who makes their zin extra stemmy may not float your boat, but some people love that extra vegetal tannin...

Playing with my crock of Diep9 oude genever and have found a tasty one: 1.5oz genever, barspoon Ferrand curacao barspoon Pineau des Charents squeeze lime stirred over ice

A little googling led to this fascinating page. Quick summary: no good for ganache... use it in curries. Use the coconut milk for the ganache.http://cooking.stackexchange.com/questions/11793/could-coconut-cream-be-used-to-create-a-non-dairy-ganache-for-whipping

Got the one I ordered as well. From a cursory one over, it feels no less sturdy than my Bron... since it is a gift, I'm not going to try it out... but it doesn't look or feel cheap.

I grabbed a bottle, or more accurately a crock, of Diep 9 Oude Genever in the New Hampshire liquor mart while passing through New England recently. Very tasty stuff. Has a better flavor profile than the US formula Bols or Boomsma I've previously tried. Pleasant to consume straight out of the freezer, neat, in a little glass... like the dutch gin I was first introduced to long ago. Worth trying if you get the chance. Now will have to see how it performs in cocktails.

hmmm... first, candy thermometers are for hot sugar work and measure up in the 300-400F range. Chocolate work happens in the 80-95F range, so you've probably got something that can measure the temperatures right already. Your heat source and means of control are more important. If trying to enrobe the filling seems too much of a risky learning experience to you, why not just make ganache truffles coated in cocoa powder or crushed nuts or smashed up praline, or toasted coconut, or decorative sugar sprinkles, or ice-cream-sundae jimmies, etc. You could do a very pretty variety of options without having to set a single cocoa butter crystal by expert temperature manipulation.

The brand of the gadget in Shel's original post is MIU or so says my receipt... which appears to be a European competitor to Bron and friends. I'm very happy with the Bron I randomly lucked into in the JBPrince clearance bin for $30 10 or so years ago. But I've got relatives for whom this looks like an ideal gadget gift.

Looks like a bargain to me. Well reviewed on Amazon, and solid looking. Perhaps somebody might get one for xmas... and a pair of kevlar gloves to go with it.

oooh! Want!

All too true. Better to wait for a well engineered product than to be beta testers. I am still looking forward to getting mine whenever it arrives. (Just crossing my fingers that it is not subject to Nomiku type delays.)

Looks like we're getting delayed for a retooling. Hope the 60 day push is all that's needed to get these out to us.

While we're being snippy and pedantic with Wikipedia's assistance, porcelain enamel is not porcelain, so the argument that Le Creuset and friends are the subject of this question is moot. Glad to hear that people have encountered the stuff that the question was about. Not surprised to hear that it isn't so great.

Staub and Le Creuset are enameled cast iron... enamel isn't ceramic. I've never heard of ceramic lined pans, but I'd be very very wary of its longevity... ceramic has the breakability of glass.

Sad news. He had an interesting perspective on many things. He'll be missed.

They have been responsive on the comments page at kickstarter. Perhaps a note posted there that says "Yo! I've been waiting a week for you to read your email and get back to me about my order..." would spur some response.

Looking forward to trying this myself once my Sansaire arrives.