JohnT

Give it a month in the jars and then pop a few - should be a lot better with age. Hope you did not overdue the vinegar! PM sent.

The only silicone I use are 12 giant muffin moulds I have cut out to be individual moulds to use in making mango panna cotta. For cake and bread tins I go directly to a factory a few kilometers from me that makes aluminium (aluminum for you US folk) bakeware. They make any size I want and are at the moment manufacturing for me a dozen 100 x 50mm round tins for mini Christmas cakes and a dozen 65 x 145 x 50mm tins, also for mini Christmas cakes. They cost a quarter of the price than the crappy tin stuff imported from China and about a tenth of the price of silicone, which has never worked for me. For sheet pans I use industrial Teflon sheets in the pans. I buy about 10 metres of it and cut out sheets to fit my pans. The Teflon lasts about a year of daily baking and works out about 1/50th of the cost of using parchment over the same period.

gfron1, I do not own or work in a restaurant, but have owned two in the past and working in the food service industry is hard work for all. Let me start off by saying that I do not think this saga you are going through is about the tip - it is being used as a bit of an excuse. A lot of the time it includes dealing with customers that are seeking attention for some reason or other, that nobody can actually fathom - not even the customer. Often, there are three sides to the story - the customers, the waiters and the actual. Firstly, you mentioned that the customer is of a specific cultural background and some cultures have a male dominance over women. Could this be the problem? The client looks at the situation that he is being served by a female and culturally tries to be dominant, whilst your waiter thinks he is a pig and does not tip in the amount he or she expects. But meanwhile, the guy was brought up to be dominant and subconsciously is doing just that, in a way he most likely does not understand or comprehend. The way to help determine what is going on - and I do not know the size of your restaurant or staff complement - is to get a male waiter to serve the patron for a few meals and see what happens. Is he as rude and trying to be dominant or does he settle down. If he settles down, you have a clue to what is going on. If he does not . . . . Well, if I was in your shoes, I would serve the guy a good meal and when it came to presenting the bill I, as the owner, would go up to him and politely ask him if I could sit at his table and have a chat, telling him that you have noticed the staff appear not to have met his expectations and ask him if all has been in order. If he answers that all has been excellent or fine, tell him that the staff are not there to be abused, that his meal is on the house but you would prefer he seek another restaurant in town for his future meals. Culturally, some males have a strange way in dealing with people of the opposite sex. I live on the bottom tip of Africa and we really have a diverse population regarding the different cultures within the different population groups and male dominance is a massive problem here. I equate it in a similar manner to an abusive husband beating up his wife in front of the kids. Often you find, when the kids grow up the male kids are often abusive to their spouse - that is, unfortunately, a sad part of life and to break the chain is extremely difficult. I honestly, reading through your posts above, do not think this is about a 9% tip - it could be more about culture, as noted above, or even sexual harassment and your waiter has just not been direct with you and is using the tip as an excuse. I ain't there, so the above is purely speculation on what you have written and experiences learnt in my previous establishments. And just as an aside, we at the bottom tip of Africa have a "norm", if I can use that word, of tipping 10% of the total bill. I have had friends from other parts of the world, where tipping does not take place, who have taken my wife and myself out for dinner and paid the bill. I have then had to quietly ask the waiter if the person paying had included a tip and often found that they had not as it is just not done in certain countries. I have then slipped the waiter his or her tip. There are also restaurants here that have a sign at the entrance or printed on their menu that all staff are salaried and no tips are required or expected. It is also illegal here to include a "gratuity" on a bill.

It looks, from your photograph, like the olive oil has leached out of your olives and coagulated on the surface. This tends to happen with ripe olives but not so much with green ones. When I have preserved olives in the past (not for a number of years now), my recipe had me soaking them in fresh water for the first week but changing the water daily. I have the method somewhere on my laptop or in one of my folders and will PM it to you if I can find it, just to do a bit of comparison to yours. Just as a matter of interest, how cold is it where you are doing the preserving?

Can you describe the biscuit for us or point us to a photograph of one on the www? I passes through DIA last year and had breakfast at a restaurant that served my eggs with what they called a "biscuit" but turned out to be what I know as an English Muffin. Cannot remember the name of the restaurant though.

Can somebody who has actually made or eaten a Merveilleux please assist: is the meringue dry throughout or is it the type that is a bit "chewy" in the centre? I have never eaten a Merveilleux (or seen one other than in a photograph), so have no idea. I will be doing the meringues tonight and would like to ensure that they turn out correctly. On another point, referred to in posts above, I wrote to "Joe Pastry" and received a reply that the temperature of 248F was a typo and they have rectified the error to read 238F on the web page. John.

Lapin d'or, thanks for the info. I actually found my old recipe just after your post was received and it has 5ml BP per 150g cake flour. I must admit I have not made a Victorian Sandwich for a few years, actually since 1979. We used to make small ones in the hotel I worked in, by the hundreds! They were baked in small 7cm moulds and we used to cut them and do strawberry, apricot, black cherry, chocolate buttercream and vanilla buttercream for the Argentinian tourists, it was always amusing watching them load up at the buffet - they used to take the biggest plates available and pile roast meats, veg, curry, fish and one of each dessert on the same plate. We stopped putting out ice cream and chocolate sauce as that used to be put on top of the roast meats. Ah, those memories! John.

It has been a number of years since I made a Victoria Sandwich cake and now these posts have stirred up the memory of the simple cake. I have been hunting for my recipe which I kept in a folder, but cannot find it. So, I did a quick Internet search and most recipes for the VS cake use SR flour, which I do not buy or keep. So, does your recipe use cake flour or SR flour? And do you use soda or baking powder in it and if so, what quantities in relation to the butter, egg, flour, sugar mixture? Hopefully I will find my misplaced recipe folder. John.

No, I am not sure and maybe I should have said that it "appears" to have an error in it. There are two reasons I say this. The first is that a recipe I have for French buttercream, which I have made a number of times, says to bring the sugar syrup to 115C and immediately cool the pan to prevent the temperature rising. Secondly, I looked at the photograph with the thermometer in it reading 239.8F and the caption says "Oops, a little too hot".So I am not sure - maybe a bit confused and trying to ascertain a correct temperature. I think what I will do next week is experiment and make two batches - one at 114C and one at 120C - and see the difference in the results. John

If anybody follows the method for the French buttercream in the joepastry.com link above, it has an error in it. It mentions, when making the sugar syrup: "While the mixer is going, prepare your sugar syrup. Combine the sugar and water in a saucepan and bring them up to 248 degrees Fahrenheit." I think the temperature should be 238 degrees F, which is the softball stage (114 C). John.

FauxPas, thanks for that and the further link to the French buttercream. And yes, 3 cl is 30 ml which is 2 metric tablespoons. I will try and give it a go next week! John.

Oh yes, please can somebody do a translation, it would be greatly appreciated. John.

I use a recipe found here http://www.melskitchencafe.com/sweet-and-sour-chicken-updated/ but just substitute the chicken with pork neck. It is a relatively simple recipe that you can cut the amount of sugar to your taste. I also serve it on a simple stir fry rather than rice. John.

Pam, I think your recipe is for soft pretzels. I have not made the hard ones for about two years but I do remember that I had to dip them in just plain boiling water (no bicarbonate of soda or sugar) for about 30 seconds then onto the baking tray, coat them with about a 50/50 egg yolk/water wash and sprinkle the salt on. I think using sugar in your dip bath is only used for making the soft kind - it caramelizes way before the dough has cooked through properly and able to crisp properly. Do an Internet search for "crisp pretzel recipe" and you should find something to work with. Another thought is to drop your temperature to about 325 with your industrial fan oven. John

Glad you liked it. It comes from an elderly Cape Malay woman who has a small spice shop near me. She is like a computer and has everything stored in her head - not a written recipe to be seen! I go in to chat to her every now and again and if I need a recipe, she just rattles it off whilst I scribble it down. I will be trying her mince Samoosas and vegetable Samoosas soon, which she gave me the other day. They are also a mild spiced snack which Merkinz may think about for pre-dinner finger food with that glass of beer or wine.

CAPE-MALAY CHICKEN CURRY Ingredients: 1 large chicken, jointed, or 1.5 kg chicken thighs (I use boneless thighs) salt & milled black pepper vegetable oil 2 large onions, roughly sliced 4 star anise 1-2 green chillies, seeded and finely sliced 2 sticks cassia or cinnamon 5 ml crushed garlic 5 ml crushed green ginger 15 ml roasted masala (see below) 5 ml turmeric 5 ml ground cumin 5 ml ground coriander 2 ml ground cardamom 3-4 large ripe tomatoes, skinned and chopped 500 ml coconut cream Method Remove and discard the chicken skin. Season meat with salt and pepper. Heat a little oil in a large saucepan and fry the onion and star anise until the onion is golden. Stir in the chili, cassia or cinnamon, garlic, ginger, masala, turmeric, cumin, coriander and cardamom and sizzle for about 30 seconds – don’t burn. Add the tomato and coconut cream. Add the chicken to the pot, cover and simmer very gently for about 1 hour, until cooked. Check and adjust the flavour if necessary. Tip the curry into a warm dish, removing the star anise, garnish with coriander leaves and serve with yellow rice. ROASTED MASALA Ingredients: 150g coriander seed 125g cumin seed 50g dried red chillies 25g black peppercorns 2 cinnamon sticks, broken into small pieces 5g whole cloves 15 ml cardamom pods, slightly crushed 25g turmeric powder 25g ground ginger powder Method: Place the coriander, cumin, chillies, peppercorns, cinnamon, cloves and cardamom into a dry frying pan and roast, tossing now and again, until the mixture is aromatic. Remove from the heat and mix in the turmeric and ginger. Allow to cool and then grind fairly finely with a pestle and mortar or coffee grinder. Store in a screw-top bottle in a cool dark place. This makes about 400g but can be scaled down to make about 100g. The curry can be put into a number 3 potjie - borrow one from a Saffer in NZ. For those who do not know what a potjie is, it is a small version of the pots that the missionary's were supposedly cooked in, in Africa. It is bulbous in shape, made out of cast iron and has three legs - the bigger the number, the bigger the pot.

PamR, just out of interest, you bake 7" cookies for a theater. Is this a movie theater or an arts (playhouse) theater? Secondly, you say 7" and I presume this refers to 7 inches - if so, wow! Never seen a cookie that size! Do you supply them packaged in cellophane or just loose? Sorry for the questions, but I have not been to a "movie" for over 30 years and our local theaters (live plays) do have very small coffee shops but not much in the way of something to eat/snack. Something for me to investigate!

You are not quite correct about South Africa curries. Yes, there are a lot of Indian style ones due to the Indian population in the north eastern region of the country (Kwa-Zulu Natal). However, there is also a large population of Cape Malay people in the Western Cape region who make a very different curry known simply as Cape Malay Curry. It is a far milder curry, using different spice mixes compared to the Indian curry. Do a search on the net for "Cape Malay Curry" and you will be surprised. I will try and dig up a recipe and post it for you later in the day.

Anna, this link should show you a "robot pack" of peppers https://shop.pnp.co.za/b2c_pnp/b2c/display/(cpgsize=9&layout=5.1-6_2_4_85_86_8_3&uiarea=1&carea=4F3D665E48198570E10080000A050131&cpgnum=1)/.do?rf=y ( hope it works). Back to my kitchen. Today I did a test batch of passionfruit shortbread slices - I am also trying to expand my selection of fingerfood for meetings and other catering events. The recipe was from the Australian Taste web site (http://www.taste.com.au/recipes/26803/passionfruit+slice?ref=collections,finger-food). I should have read all the comments before venturing with this recipe as they were awful and nothing like the photograph on the web site. Afterwards I did read the comments and found a lot of people had the same results as I did. The idea is appealing but I think I will try a proper shortbread as a base and then use the same topping. Sorry, no photographs from my end as the slab is in the garbage for the morning collection. John.

Oh dear, the young lady needs some education on nutrition and the benefits of oatmeal!By the way, those are scrumptious looking cookies. Also, here in South Africa we call them biscuits - we do not have baked goods called cookies - a cookie would be a sexy young lady. But then we do have some weird names for certain everyday "things" such as a traffic light is called a robot. A "robot pack" in a supermarket is a pre-packed bag of three sweet peppers - one each red, yellow and green. John.

Thanks for the complement.The oven has a steam function that is plumbed into the municipal water supply via a charcoal filter to try and eliminate the chlorine in the water. It takes 600 x 400mm commercial trays. I use it mostly for producing desserts, cakes and biscuits for coffee shops and restaurants. I use the steam injection for bread only. We have a very mild climate so I can prove and do my rising naturally almost all year round. On the 50/50 wholewheat/bread flour loaf I mix the dough for 4 minutes, rest for 10 minutes and then mix again for 4 minutes, all in a bowl mixer with hook. I then remove the hook and let the dough rise for just over an hour in the mixing bowl. I then plonk it onto my counter and stretch it out and roll it up to get an even roll, then cut it for the pans, put it in the pans and let it rise again for half an hour to three quarters of an hour before it is put in the oven and baked for 40 minutes @ 180C. The flour is all stone ground from a small mill up-country. I do add 2 teaspoons of salt, a tablespoon of honey and a tablespoon of sunflower oil to the mix, with 10g instant dry yeast. I have never tried making a sourdough or breads using a bigga, but will one day when time allows for me to experiment a bit. A few years ago I was given a digital book (PDF) by Daniel T. DiMuzio called Bread Baking, An Artisans Perspective, which I found quite good in solving some of the problems I had when I started baking bread. Happy baking, John.

Blether et al, yes, I have been baking for a number of years and do a few loaves a week for own consumption. I normally do a 50/50 loaf of 500g wholewheat and 500g white bread flour @ 70% hydration. this gives me either one large loaf and one small loaf or three small loaves - all pan breads. I have not yet mastered posting on this forum but will attempt now. This one was baked this morning in a 100 x 100 x 300mm pan. There was another that went to the young lady who helps me once a week. The completed loar Showing the crumb I am not sure if I have to resize photographs here or if it is automatically done when posting. I did a resize before posting, just in case. John

Blether, just out of interest, what type of oven are you using. I ask this as I use a Grandi Forni convection oven and would like to try your recipe but need to know if I need to cut my temperature by 20 degrees. The oven I have is found here http://www.anvilworld.com/product.htm?productID=94 I always have to adjust either the temperature or baking time when doing any baking. John.

Okay, here is a versatile finger-food dish I use for catering for small meetings. You can make savory or sweet using the same base. Get a loaf of fresh sliced white bread and cut the crusts off of each slice - chop up the crusts and feed the birds. With a rolling pin, roll out each slice as thinly as possible then take a metal pastry (cookie) cutter and cut out as many rounds as you can that will fit into the bottom of a mini muffin pan so that the round goes a bit up the side, about a quarter of an inch or so. Brush with EVOO and bake in a hot oven for a few minutes to get the bread to crisp. Take out and let cool on a rack. You now have little cups that you can use your imagination to fill. You can pipe a dollop of pastry cream into them and add a sliver of fruit or pipe a dollop of ganache. They can also be filled with smooth cottage cheese and topped with a slither of smoked salmon or filled with a small dollop of chicken mayo. Anything you can think of. The base keeps crisp and does not go to mush if baked long enough. Sorry, not too much baking involved, but they are quick and easy to make.

Those look like "Calcutta" - (Capsicum frutescens), the most common chili available in supermarkets in South Africa. They were brought here by the Indian immigrants for their curry spices and are grown everywhere. I put one in every jar of pickled onions I make to add a bit of a kick to the onions. They grow 3 to 4 inches in length, are hot and will turn red if not harvested too early. Dry them out, whizz in a blender for a few seconds and you have chili flakes to use to enhance many a dish (just a pinch needed or you may have take-off).