jackal10

The issue is not what is the best. The right ingredients can be flown anywhere, and there are skilled bakers all over. The issue is what is the average standard, and IMHO the average bread in the US (and much or the world) is pretty awful - factory made, and full of chemicals. France, and french influenced palces such as former colonies like Vietbam, have in general better, fresher, bread.

I must disagree. Besides I don't think there was a value judgement implied. Seeing everything as "better" or "worse" seems to be a US cultural hang-up. French wheat and US wheat are different - different climate, different varieties, different growing conditions, different farming practices. This means that french flours tend to be softer (lower gluten content) than US flours. The local breads have evolved to make advantage of the flours. Softer flour means the bread stales quicker, but has a softer, looser interior texture - bigger holes. You can't support such a texture in a large loaf, hence a baguette, baked twice daily. The people near Lake Como produce Cibatta, for similar reasons. So making a baguette with US flour means you get a different loaf to that made with french flour, just as making, say a San Francisco Sourdough with European flour gives a different result, even with San Franciso leavan (I've tried). Not better, or worse, just different. If authenticity is the criterion, then, of course, only bread made in the place of origin with local wheat is "true", same as any other local food, such as cheese or wine. Personally I rejoice in the differences.

Tweed jacket would be perfect in London in May. It doesn't really get warm until late June. As Flanders and Swann say "April brings the sweet spring showers, On and on for hours and hours. Farmers fear unkindly May Frost by night and hail by day. June just rains and never stops Thirty days and spoils the crops."

You are right! One watt is a joule per second. I use an electronic thermometer with a cable that goes through the oven door. I bought it originally from http://www.meilleurduchef.com/, but I see Amazon sell them from Pyrex, CDN and other makers. The wire that goes through the door is the key thing, and the single thing that improved my cooking the most. I prefer ones that just measure, rather than being too clever, though I can see that remote wireless displays/pager might be useful. However I guess these would be on the same band as my wireless phones, wifi etc - its getting crowded there.

Yes, they apply to all meats. In particular for poultry long slow cooking at 60c/140F allows the legs and thighs to cook, without overcooking the breast meat. Fish, as I say above, has a lower transition temeprature, more like 45C/110F

Two reasons: a) The flour. French flour is much softer than US bread flours b) Baguettes are designed to be eaten within a short time of baking. Local artisanal boulangeries bake small batches all day, and people buy and eat them at the next meal, if not sooner. They stale within a few hours. This does not fit with the US food distribution industry or consumption pattern. The compromises needed to make a product last mean its a different loaf. Even supermarkets with in-store bakeries have to make compromises (flour improvers, lower hydration, part-baked frozen etc) to make a loaf that can be baked with the equipment or labour available, that achieves the necessary economic economy of scale, and that lasts until the customer eats it.

There are various self-heating coffee cans. Two stocked locally are Nescafe (developed at the University of Southhampton) and one called Powerdhot which also has sugar and guaranja. Surprisingly palatable, even if a bit expensive, and rather heavy to carry if hiking or camping. The heating principle seems to be the reaction between water and an anhydrous salt, rather than anything pyrotechnic. Even though the can is quite well insulated, the coffee only gets warm rather than actually hot.

John Tovey's Apple with Tarragon cream (adapted by JL) Apples: Half a Granny Smith each, peeled and cored Fill the core with: Soft cheese with herbs and garlic. Either use a commercial one like Boursin, or whizz up cream cheese, butter garlic and herbs Pour over: Tarragon cream Double Cream mixed with a little tarragon vinegar. If you want, you can make it like a creme anglais. Decorate with a sprig of tarragon.. The original sat on a bed of date puree You could make a mini versions from cubes of apple with a small hole for the cheese cut with a small baller. I'd also recommend Warm apple pizza: Pizza base, thickly sliced peeled apples, lots of butter and sugar. Bake like a pizza until the top begins to brown. Slice and eat Drink champagne mixed with fresh apple juice, 50:50

Here are some bits that got left out. FISH Fish muscle is a lot more delicate. The structure is different to meat, and has much shorter muscle strands, interspersed with thin sheets of collagen. The secret of fish cooking is not to overcook. An internal temperature of 45C/100F will be found sufficient. EGGS Eggs cook by denaturing their proteins. They also benefit from long, low temperature cooking. The magic temperature for eggs is 60C/ 140F. Egg whites coagulate at about 60C/140 F while yolks are at 68C/155F. Cooked for 12 hours at 60C/140F the egg is transformed into something magical. The yolk hardens and is no longer runny, but it is orange and wonderfully "creamy." The white coagulates but is still very soft, like a solid custard--perfect for one of the sauces in The Big Egg List. Long cooked hard boiled eggs, coloured with onion skins or coffee, “Beid Hamine” were a traditional Sephardic food. Hamine is one of the versions of the overnight cooked Sabbath food, in which the eggs were originally cooked. Chinese spices work well LONG COOKED MARBLED TEA EGGS Crack the raw eggs all over but do not break open. Make up the following tea mixture: 1 Tbs light Soy 1 Tbs dark soy ¼ tsp salt 2 whole star anise 2 Tbs black tea 2 inch length cinnamon stick Small piece of dried orange or tangerine peel 3 cups water. Put in the eggs and bring to the boil. Cook at 60C/140F for 12 hours, ensuring the eggs are covered, topping up the pot with water if required. Peel to reveal the marbling. Look good if served on fried “seaweed” MASTER SAUCE EGGS Similar but different origin and without the marbling. A master sauce is made up in a casserole, and many things are cooked in it, exchanging flavours with the sauce, which gets better all the time. Basic Master Sauce: 2 ½ cups water 2 cups light soy 1/3 cup rice wine or sherry 4-5 slices ginger 12 points of star anise 2 oz/50g golden sugar Optional: 1 scallion chopped 1 tbs cinnamon bark piece 1 thumb size strip of orange or tangerine rind Bring to the boil. Put in the food (eggs in their shell, but the same method can be applied to meats, poultry, seafood etc) and cook at 60C/140F for 12 hours. Take out, peel and quarter the eggs to show off the colouring. Filter the sauce, and keep for next time. Heston Blumenthal, in this article in the Guardian, one of his excellent series there, quotes work at the University of Reading to show that 12 minutes at 60C/140F kills e.coli and most common bacteria. It is however temperature sensitive: it takes 45 minutes at 58C/135F. This implies it as actually safer to cook for longer at lower temperature, as the centre of the meat is more likely to reach and hold at the required temperature than the normal blast in a hot oven, grill or frying pan, which, as we have seen, leaves the inside of the meat comparatively cool and potentially still contaminated. Cooking grain proteins, like gluten, will be in a future unit, I hope.

Firstly let me thank my editors, organised and chased by Marlene, being Carolyn, Curlz and last but by no means least Andy Lynes for making it look as good as it does. The mistakes and inaccuracies are all mine. The intention is that this will build into a book length course on Scientific Gastronomy. The current plan, which is still provisional and will no doubt change as it gets written is as follows The course is divided into the following 12 sections: I. INTRODUCTION • Why cook? • References 2. The effects of heat on muscle and protein • The structure of muscle: • Dry cooking: cooking a steak, • Low temperature roasting • Wet cooking: Dr Marigolds's Pudding • Fish and Eggs • Summary of Temperatures 3. The effects of heat on cabohydrates • Introduction to a tangled web • Simple and not so simple sugars • Complex sugars and starches • Hydro-colloids - Gells - Foams • Natural sources - Flours and gluten • Digestion 4. The effects of heat on fat • Butter • Rendering lard • Chocolate (and tempering) 5. Sources and transmission of heat • Conduction of pans; frying • Radiation: grilling • Convection: boiling, baking, fan vs convection oven • Microwave tricks, electric sausages 6. Browning - Maillard reactions • Caramel 7. Colour Magic • Red: cabbage as indicator; tomatoes, fruits, meat, hemoglobin • Orange: carotene • Yellows: saffron, egg yolks, • Green: Chlorophyll • Blue: Blue potatoes, berries etc • Violets: Flower colors • Layered effects: Pousse Café 8. Basics of taste - Salty, sweet, bitter, sour - How little can you taste? (Successive dilutions) - Umami - Smell 9. Changing textures Texture clues - Emulsions and foams • Ferran Adria’s way with water • Mayo, vinaigrette, soufflé, "air" • Bread and cakes • Prawn crackers 10. Solids and liquids Physics of phase change: controlling crystal growth • Ice, water, steam: • Sorbets, and ice creams, • Jams and jellies: Pectin, gelatin, agar, starch gels, custards • Making stock, tea and coffee: solution and concentration 11. Fermentation • Bread • Beer and Wine • Yogurt and Cheese 12. Preservation • Pickling and salting • Drying • Hygiene and cleanliness The current article is the Introduction and most of Section 2. When the rest will appear is variable, and depends how much time and inspiration I get to write, but it is probably a project lasting several years. Suggestions, feedback, corrections, different topics, people to help write welcome.

But somehow we manage to determine the single day for Yom Kippur..

Midsummer House Oh, wrong Cambridge...

As one who is perplexed, can someone please enlighten me as to the difference, if any, between a kleis and a kneidlach? Are they different regional names for the same Matzoh Ball? Is one the heavy version, and the other fluffy? Is one made with soaked Matzo and the other with meal, (or flour not in Pesach?) Is one distingusihed by the addition of onion and parsley? My version, which I have just made a batch and always known as Matzo Kleis involves soaked Matzo, an egg, an onion browned in schmalz, parsley, pepper, salt, and maybe a little Matzo meal to dry out and to roll them in before simmering in the soup. So what then is a Kneidlach? What is the rest of the ditty that starts: "The Rabbi's wife made Matzo Kleis She made them once, she made them twice and then no more..." (Note the use of Rabbi's wife, not Rabbitzin, and Kleis rather than balls or Dumplings so probably Anglo-Jewry, rather than Yiddish. I heard it from my poarents who heard it from theirs, so possibly Victorian or early 20th century. May be a parody of a popular song) Why did she stop making these delicious dumplings? What tragedy befell? Need to know...

Gewurztraminer will stand up to a lot. Some suggestions: Smoked cheese (Gewurz is a traditional pairing with smoked food) Second the Munster or equivalent smelly washed rind If the wine is quite heavy, or with some residual suger (like to older Rolly Gassman's) then Stilton or Farmhouse chedder

The herb garden is laid out as three concentric squares, with a sundial in the middle, and paths crossing top to bottom and left to right. The herbs are interplanted with old roses, such as Rosa Gloria Mundi. Outer borders, clockwide from the house Parsley (if the rabbits leave any) Chives Garlic Chives Dill Borage Feverfew Violets Woodruff curry plant (trellis with loganberries, roses, and a fig tree) Bay Scented geraniums Primroses Another BAy Lavender Marjoram Middle borders Oregano Alewort Fennels Thyme Mints (3 sorts) Sage (3 sorts) Thyme (lemon) Varigated lemon balm Soapwort Roesemary Valerian More mints (peppermint etc) Thyme Lovage Inner square - 4 big box balls on the corners Alliums Sweet Cicely Salad burnet Comfrey Verbena

Need recipies...

Some examples, specifically for Sourdoughs from Silverton.: Using grapes to make a starter. Grapes have the wrong sort of yeast on them, and the sugar gives a spurious activity to the dough. If anything the yeast on the grapes inhibit the growth of the correct symbiotic yeasts and lactobacilla. She adds wheatgerm. I don't. On the otherhand, following Prof. Calvi, a knife-tip of Vitanin C powder helps as a flour improver if the flour is fresh. King Arthur already include this and diastatic malt in their bread flour. Her dough is stiffer than mine - about 60% rather than 66% She advises 70F-75F for ferment and proofing. This is a bit cold. If you look at the scientific bit (http://www.egullet.com/imgs/egci/sourdough/science.html) attached to my egCI sourdough unit you will see that 85F is optimum. I use 30 minutes instead of 20 for autolysis. I doubt it matters much She does not "turn" the dough She advises to let the dough return to room temperature after retardation, before baking. This can take hours, and the dough can overprove on the outside, while still cold inside. I find it better to bake direct from cold for very wet doughs- you get a bigger oven spring and lighter bread, and the dough is easier to hadle cold, as it is stiffer.

Schweppes tonic (and I guess others) vary from country to country, The US version is sweeter than the original UK one. Makes it virtually impossible to get a decent gin and tonic in the US. Also reject any not containing quinine, or called "slimline" containing artificial sweeteners

Turns out that its time and hydration that are more important than heavy kneading. You only really need to knead enough to mix to an even consistency Dan's "turning" technique compensates for less kneading, but do it every hour for four hours. For single loaf batches of fairly wet dough, 20 seconds in a food processor work OK; use the regular steel blade. Do 10 without the salt added, wait 30 minutes (amylisation), then do another 10 seconds to mix in the salt. Then prove for 4 hours at 85F, turning every hour before shaping. Nancy Silverton's techniques may work for her, but your conditions, flours and ambient temperatures will all be a bit different. You are not her, and you are making your bread, not hers. Most bread books, including hers IMHO, are often plain wrong in details. Unfortunately it is often different details in each book.

Some of the glories of Passover are the cakes and biscuits. My favourites are Cinnamon Balls Coconut Pyramids Maccaroons Who else makes them?

Ch Grand Mayne is an excellent St Emillion Ch Tertre-Roteboeuf is another excellent St Emilion as is Ch Tertre-Daugay. CH du Tertre is a 5th growh Margaux. Its second wine is Les Hauts du Tetre Ch Tertre Grand Mayne is Entre-deux-Mers, mostly white

I have no connection with this company except as a happy customer, and I have their permission to forward this on. However do make a reservation if you intend to go. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------- The Directors and Company of Cambridge Wine Merchants cordially invite you to join us this St George's Day for our first annual Grand Port Tasting - the largest show of this kind to occur in the UK for over a decade. Friday 23rd April 5:00pm-8:00pm City University Club 50 Cornhill EC3V 3PD Tickets: £5 (redeemable against orders of a dozen or more bottles) (Also on April 22nd at the Hall of Wesley College Cambridge, the main tasting will be from 11am-3pm with a light lunch being served from 1pm. Also 5-6pm) On show will be the wines of Croft, Delaforce, Dow, Fonseca, Graham, Krohn, Niepoort, Quinta do Noval, Quinta do Passadouro, Quinta do Vesuvio, Romariz, Smith-Woodhouse, Taylor, Warre and more. The tasting will be focusing on the rubies, LBVs, single quinta vintages and superior tawnies/colheitas of these houses, along with several recent full vintage wines. The wines will be arranged by type allowing you to make a meaningful comparison between the various producers. Throughout the event, the staff of Cambridge Wine Merchants and the will be at hand to talk to you about the wines. For reservations, enquiries and details, please contact the Tasting Coordinator, as below. Places are limited so please reply early. Please feel free to forward this email to interested parties. RSVP Luke Webster - luke@cambridgewine.com Cambridge Wine Merchants 32 Bridge Street Cambridge CB2 1UJ Tel: 01223 568989 Cambridge Wine Merchants is a dynamic independent Company and for over a decade, a major supplier the Cellars of the Oxford and Cambridge Colleges- this role gives us exceptional access and buying power in the fields of premium Port, Bordeaux, Burgundy, Champagne, Rhone, Germany and Alsace. Consequently, our retail, wholesale and en-primeur prices in these areas are some of the very best in the Country. Contact us at info@cambridgewine.com for further details, we can email you a full list of all the Ports to be tasted, or an even fuller list of all the ports we sell.

In the middle ages people used flat breads or thick slices as "trenchers" instead of plates. If you were really hungry you ate the plate as well. Hence the expression "a good trencherman" . They also ate soup/stews, so the tradition must go back at least that far. There are also delicious steamed chinese buns (Tang Bao) with liquid centres, made by wrapping the dough round strongly jellied stock before steaming. Thus soup-in-a-bun goes back at least a thousand years, if not more...

Cook the egg for 12 hours at exactly 60C/140F. You will be amazed. (try one before seder, just in case you don't like it) Maybe a sauce and a base or filling..to go with.. see the BIG EGG List

Try some of the port finished scotches, like Glenmorangie port finished. Be sure to specify Port finished - it spends the last part of it maturation in a port barrel, which give it a sweeter finish.