JohnT

I am sorry, for an "environmentally friendly" web site, selling/promoting an unnecessary item that will just fill up land-fill sites some more, I scratch my head. What is wrong in using a normal metal bread tin - and then reusing it for the rest of your life and then somebody doing the same with it once you are gone! I still use some of the baking tins my mother used 70 years ago!

@Lauren24 welcome, and please post the recipe!

Good article Chris. However, we all learned or were taught the "correct method" to produce a certain product and that knowledge is taken as "gospel" and passed down to others at a certain time. And there is nothing wrong with that if it produces the required product. I spent three years in the 70's being trained by a Swiss PC and his instructions for producing meringues was slightly different. Firstly, we used only large eggs in the pastry kitchen, so our excess whites were from them. My recipe from him was: Always make sure the mixing bowl and whisk were spotlessly clean - use only stainless steel. Make sure all the egg whites were at room temperature. For every egg white use 60g caster sugar - not standard granulated sugar. For every 6 egg whites, add 1 large pinch of salt. When whisking the mixture and it appears that the sugar is fully incorporated into the egg white, make sure this is so by taking a pinch and rubbing it between your thumb and finger - it must not be grainy - the sugar must be fully dissolved. Baking of meringues was always the last bake of the night. Bake @ 80°C for 1 to 1.5 hours (we had convection ovens with very strong fans) with all vents open. When baked, switch off the oven and crack the oven door when baked and go home - the meringues were removed and boxed by the bread and croissant teams who started work at 04:00. If baking large bases for Pav, we added a few drops of white vinegar to the meringue mixture, which then left the inside ever-so soft - he called this "American" meringue - I never found out why and have never heard this expression since. So, my teachings were slightly different to yours, but the results, I am sure, are just the same. As you mention, meringues are not "baked" as such, just dried to a crisp. I find it always strange that so many recipes on the net call for quite a hot oven, which, if you follow the instructions, will result in a brown or burnt meringue - they should be pure white if no colouring is used.

I normally make a 1.2 kg mix of pizza dough, divide it into 4 x 300g and just freeze in an oiled bag. If I want a pizza I defrost 1 bag and let it rise on the counter for an hour or so before rolling it out. The 300g portion makes a 30cm to 35cm diameter, thin pizza base. The actual pizza takes 8 minutes at 250°C - and that's with quite a healthy topping. It feeds 2 with some leftovers. For the yeast, I only use a half teaspoon of instant yeast.

Okay, found the YT link. This is a scary documentary! It is in English.

Just heard on the radio that German chemicals giant Bayer has signed a $66 billion (58.8 billion euros) takeover deal with US genetically modified (GM) seeds firm Monsanto.

To all the chocolate lovers, manufactures and those experimenting with chocolate - have a happy day! So, to celebrate the day I have an order for a batch of Chocolate Peppermint Crisp Tarts for one of my retail outlets. What are you doing to celebrate the day?

Rob, good luck with the launch of your book and with your new beginnings in St.L. Foraging, where I live, is seen slightly differently to what it is in the US of A and not many of our restaurants appear to consider it as a means of supplementing a menu. Our best foraging experts are the nomadic San people, a fast declining population of hunter - gatherers (aka Bushman), who survived centuries until the Europeans arrived! They left a wealth of information in the form of rock paintings in their shelters. A fat steak for dinner - about 2500 years ago!

I agree 100%. Brownies made by subbing fat with apple sauce are not worth the experimentation. IMO they are really, really, really bad!

We have both BK and MD franchises in South Africa. I have never tried a BK meal as they were caught subbing part of their beef with horse meat a couple of years ago. Horse meat is illegal in South Africa for human consumption due to certain disease reasons and the fact that there is no registered abattoirs here for horse meat, which means no checks on the meat, disease or quality. When MD opened their franchises here about 20 years ago, there was an ongoing PR campaign on how all their staff had been sent to the US for training and management had also spent weeks there on quality control, management and how to run the franchises "the American way". That all turned out to be a PR load of BS. About three months after the first franchise opened in my area a friend suggested we stop off and get a couple of burgers one lunch time. I must admit it was the most delicious slab of cardboard I have ever eaten - very similar to the beef flavoured ration pack biscuits we used to have during the Rhodesian war - you had to drive a truck over the biscuits after soaking them in water overnight to be able to eat them! To be honest, I really do not know how anybody can eat either of the franchise offerings - they really are not good to eat or for your health. Not here anyway - do not know about the US or anywhere else as I am not willing to punish my body by trying.

Get it hot, burn off last residue and use a wad of crumpled old newspaper. Be very wary off wetting the newspaper as it will generate steam and you do not want steam burns!

Good billies that! I used to make my own for years but have not done so for the last few years. I do quite a bit of baked goods for my butcher now and he makes about 200kg of beef biltong and about 100kg of "droëwors" (dried sausage) each week, with me being a regular customer! His "droëwors" is too salty for me but his biltong is really good. I prefer it not too dry with a good side of fat and cut very thin. The stuff is addictive! Hope you enjoy it - it is good with a nice cold larger or even a cold cider.

@Anna N Is your billies from Florence Meats? If so, next time you are there buy a small pack of smoked snoek, remove the bones and make a "Snoek Pâté". Simple and quick to do and it goes well with fresh bread or toast.

@Patrick S, just to get a bit of perspective on your Vanilla Cream Hemispheres, what is the diameter and thickness of your Sablé Breton bases. They do, like other desserts and sweet things you post here, look darn good and well assembled. They have great visual appeal and would appeal to my palet as well. Well done!

I am quite supprised that you Americans have not stated the one food that, I am lead to believe, is 100% American – Turkey anything! Or am I wrong in this assumption?

Food and cooking magazines in South Africa are not the best and there is not much choice. We do not get many overseas magazines and the few we do get, tend to be published in the UK. The few local magazines we do get also tend to take recipes from the Internet and tend, often, to use photographs that are not local, using ingredients that are not available in the country - in other words, nobody has even tested the recipe. Thus, I seldom ever buy any food related magazine. But, it is still interesting to flip through the food sections of some of the female targeted magazines. To be able to do this, there is one solution and that is to pick your doctor well, arrive a bit early for an appointment and have your cell phone camera working. One doctor I take my wife to every six months had a really crap selection of 4 x 4 and camping magazines and I told him so. He asked for me to email him a selection I would like to see and now his waiting room has a good selection. His receptionist even thanked me. Sometimes it helps to speak your mind!

It may not look all that great — but it was! Below is one of four batches of Mozambique prawns, fried in a butter/EVOO/lemon juice and garlic with a good dash of peri-peri. Served on a bed of rice with lemon wedges!

I get about 1kg ricotta using 3 litres full cream milk (I think you call it whole milk?), 250ml cream, 5ml citric acid and 5ml salt.

Wow, C$54.56 for a goose! I have never seen a goose sold in South Africa, but that equates to ZAR601.00, which is most probably why I have never seen them sold here - I would equate that price to 10 XXL fresh whole chickens or, better still, 6 x 1kg boxes #14 - 18 giant Mozambique IQF prawns. That's Christmas, New Year and 2 x birthday celebrations for two years from the prawns alone! As a matter of interest, what was the cost of a brick of butter and what weight is it. Butter in SA has basically doubled in price since December last year and now retails for around C$3.82 per 500g brick. It looks like the chicken thighs were C$5.75 for 4, which is about double what I would pay here in South Africa for a pack of four nice large ones.

I think the Chinese for them is "dan san" (蛋散) from the research I have done. Maybe I am wrong as I do not speak or read any Chinese.

Okay, test batch made - and they really are good compared to what I have had previously in restaurants. The recipe says 10 units, but I managed to get 16 out of the dough. However, some were just a bit thick and if I had rolled out the dough more evenly and just a touch thinner, I am sure I could have made 20 out of the dough. They do puff up quite a bit when deep frying. Cutting the rolled out dough to 5 x 10cm sizes from the dough strips. Place two sheets together, make the slits and roll one side through the slit. Deep fried and dipped in the syrup. (the photo is not representing the golden brown very well) A close-up. Sorry for the quality - photo's were taken with my iPad.

@Panaderia Canadiense Can you tell us what type of base you are doing (rough or smooth and docked) and the size tray you are using. What temperature are you baking at (for the topping) and for how long? And, how thick is your raw topping? Looking at you photograph, it appears the topping is slightly under-baked as the coconut would normally just be just browning - too long in the oven will result in the tips of the desiccated coconut to burn. Somewhere in one of my old books (1950's or 60's) is a recipe for a lemon bar or tart that sounds similar to what you are trying to do. If my memory serves me correctly, I tried it once and it was a dismal failure. I will see if I can find it tomorrow and see if I noted anything down next to it.

Here is the recipe - I have scaled it down to make it as small as I could - the normal recipe is for 50 individual puddings. I have estimated a single dish size for you to bake it. Best served warm. STICKY TOFFEE PUDDING Makes 10 x 7cm ring moulds or 1 x rectangle 9" x 7" x 2" deep ceramic dish. Ingredients: 125 g pitted dates, roughly chopped 250 ml boiling water 5 ml bicarbonate of soda 15 g butter 200 g sugar 1 egg 190 g cake flour 5 ml baking powder 1 ml salt Sauce: 400g (soft) brown sugar - I use normal brown granulated sugar. 250ml cream 200g butter 5ml vanilla extract - I use 2.5ml of my double strength homemade extract. Method: Mix together the dates, boiling water and bicarbonate of soda and allow to soak until the dates are soft. Set the oven to 160°C convection (180°C standard oven). Mix in the butter, sugar and egg then sift in the cake flour, baking powder and salt. Mix all together thoroughly and pour into 10 x 7cm ring moulds. Bake for 12 minutes and remove from the oven - for a large dish check @ 20 min with toothpick to see if done. For the sauce: Melt the butter in a medium pot then add the sugar and cream. Simmer for 5 to 10 minutes until just browning / thickening. Take off heat and stir in the vanilla. Pour hot over the puddings. Makes 10 x 70 g raw mix in each 7cm ring mould, 5cm height or 1 x 9" x 7" x 2" baking dish Any left-over sauce goes well warmed on ice cream! (Ice cream with hot toffee sauce ).

From Larousse Gastronomique TOFFEE: A Canadian sweet invented in the 16th century by Marguerite Bourgeoys, who had come from Troyes in France to open the first school in French Canada. To attract the "little savages", she made a syrup from molasses which she left to cool down with the first snow of winter. This happened on 25 November, and toffee is still a traditional delicacy on St Catherine's day.

Kerry, if you cut out the rhubarb, cinnamon and cloves, you have the recipe for making the batter for my Brandy Pudding as well as Sticky Toffee Pudding. The only difference is I use butter instead of shortening and use toffee sauce or brandy syrup to make the puddings. I also add 1 tsp BP to get a bit more of a fluffy texture to be able to soak up the sauces, otherwise it is a bit too dense. And talking about toffee, I assume you know where it originates from - not England, as I always thought!