Duvel

I have some negotiations scheduled in Shanghai in two weeks. If it's still available I'll give it a try. I enjoy these "local" renditions, even if they don't compare with the real thing ... And corn - yes, on basically every pizza in Japan, together with kewpie mayo (hello, Pizza-La) or on every pizza for my four-year old that I make for him

Now that's my dinner - both food and beer. The Duvel size makes for a happy evening for two ... Wondering whether my invite got lost in the mail

Back to Hong Kong from 2.5 weeks in Germany and Spain. Tired after 2 long flights the unanimous vote of our family as to which comfort food we should have for our first dinner: Japanese (namely sushi, gyoza and miso soup). And the best thing everything was ready in less than 15 min - including the walk to pick up the sushi ... Good to be back home!

The tandoori on the website look pretty large. I have a Weber chimney and would struggle to imagine that the amount of heated coal from the chimney starter would be able to impact a heat shock to that size of tandoor. I would also be surprised if it is sufficient to prime the tandoor for cooking ...

Yes, you can introduce heated coals into the tandoor, provided that the amount compared to the total volume is reasonable. It will not bring the entire tandoor to working temperature immediately, but will heat gradually via convection and radiation.

Yes.

Sorry

On the topic of food photography: Is it my lousy phone, you using a filter or is that meatball purple ?

Gin & Tonic with an oddly coloured Gin from supposedly the neighbouring town. Flavoured with some sort of orchid derivative and also named after it. Made a nicely colorful drink, that was unnecessarily bitter. I decided not to invest in that Gin for solely novelty purpose ...

Thanks. Its pretty straightforward: make a cream ("crema Catalana") from 500 ml milk, boiled with orange zest, a cinnamon stick, 100 g of sugar, cooled a bit and then thickened with 6-7 tempered egg yolks mixed with tablespoon cornflour. Reheat until set and let cool. Stirr occasionally to retain the creamy texture. Line a baking sheet with puff pastry, brush a thick layer of cream over it and top with another large sheet of puff pastry. Brush with an egg yolk mixed with milk for glazing. Sprinkle with sugar and pine nuts. Bake at 200 oC (preheated) for 20-25 min, until golden brown. If it browns too fast, cover with aluminium foil. Let cool cool completely and serve cut into small squares.

It's the night before King's day ... Tradionally (at least in the Catalan family of my wife) this means "pa amb tomaquet" (bread rubbed with tomato, olive oil and salt) and "embotits" (assorted cold cuts): Aged Manchego. "Butifarra negra" (blood sausage), "butifarra Blanca" (boiled sausage with tongue, skin, intestines), two types of "fuet" (a kind of salami). "Truita" (potato omelette). More "butifarra blanca" - quite peppery. "Pa amb tomaquet". "Bellota", sliced freshly from a ham. "Bikinis" (grilled ham & cheese sandwiches) for the kids. Of course, around 22.30h, one of the kings arrived to distribute presents for the kids. And although I have not been always good in 2017 (), I got a little something. (after that I snug into the guest kitchen, where the bellota was hiding and thanks to my willing and very professional helper I got some extra treats ...)

@gfweb, thanks ! I have never considered that combination. Recently I came across "red eye gravy" in some other context and found it strangely appealing, so I guess I have to give coffee-based meat sauces a try ...

Intriguing... care to elaborate on the chilli/coffee sauce ?

Tonight's the night before King's day, the day when all the children im Catalunya get their presents (instead of Christmas). And they also get a slice of the "Coca de Llavaneres" - puff pastry, filled with cinnamon and orange flavoured English cream, sprinkled with sugar and pine nuts ...

Hmm ... weird. Maybe you are not taking enough ?

Try the distilled, liquid form (preferable barrel-aged). Much easier to process ...

Looks pretty good for a pourable 100% rye dough

I prepared squid stuffed with blood sausage, braised in tomato sauce. It should be an easy sell for dinner for my in-laws as well as for my brother in law, in whose house we are currently staying. Of course no one was on time for dinner (which drives the residual German in me nuts - every time). Well, realisizing that I did not had enough bread for mopping up the sauce I just ran around the corner to get some more. Stupid as I am I had the table set up already ... Coming back after a few minutes this was all I could find. Together with the sentence "Oh, we thought you were done already - you said dinner at nine ...". At least they liked it

Chicken wings - half buffalo, half BBQ sauce, with blue cheese dip, local beer and sunshine on a rooftop terrace overlooking a tiny Mediterranean coastal town ...

After 10 days of indulgence I decided that a more sensible approach towards food in general is in order. So I went to the market and bought lots of fresh veggies and cheeses. Why in the end I ended up with a Chili Dog for dinner completely eludes me. As big a mystery as who drank my entire six pack of beer in the afternoon ...

Nice idea. Are you expecting the fermentation / the final proof to take place in the inliner ? If so, does the perforation affect the shape - as most no-knead breads have high hydration I'd expect some sort of "migration". How does the final loaf look like ? The perforation part is a bit hard to see on the pictures. If the inliner doubles as a fermentation / proofing container you may consider adding a second one to the set, given the long fermentation times of NKB ...

You can use it to make stock and achieve the "I can't believe it isn't tap water" effect ...

That's correct. You need to hear it up above the melting point to properly dissolve it. Then upon cooling, it will solidify around 50 oC. I think amountwise you are good, as even with partial gelatization you are almost there. I'd suggest to take the remaining material with the added agar and reheat to simmer and cool down again. Should be fine then. Good looking disc in the pan picture. I think your guests will like that !

Good luck !

Try not to "dilute" it too much. If the mixture becomes fluid upon heating, try to stir in the agar powder directly. Will be better than adding extra fluid.