Jump to content

jackal10

participating member
  • Posts

    5,115
  • Joined

  • Last visited

Everything posted by jackal10

  1. Choux pastry Serves 22. Basic pastry for eclairs, cream buns, profiteroles, croquenbouche, gateau St Honoure, decorative swans etc 125 ml Water 125 ml Milk 100 g Butter, cut into dice 1/2 tsp Salt 1/2 tsp Sugar 150 g Flour, sifted 4 Eggs 1. Put the water, milk, butter, salt, and sugar into a large saucepan, and heat until the butter melts, then boil for one minute over high heat, stirring all the time to prevent it boiling over. 2. Take off the heat and stirring all the time, add the sifted flour. Stir like crazy to smooth out any lumps. 3. Put it back over the heat for one minute continuing to stir well. This process is important for good pastry. It dries it out a little, and partially poaches the the paste. 4. Take it off the heat and let it cool a little, until you can touch it comfortably. Beat the eggs in, one by one. 5. If you don't want to use it immediatly spread a little beaten oegg over the surface to stop it drying out. Otherwise fill a piping bag with it. 6. Line a baking sheet with non-stick silicon paper or use a silpat or other non-stick surface. Pipe out the shapes you want - buns, eclairs, rings etc. For swans pipe a bun of appropriate size, and seperately pipe a thin S-shape for the head and neck 7. Pre-heat oven to hot 425F. 8. Bake for 4-5 minutes until puffed, then reduce the temperature to 350 (or prop open the door a crack) and bake 20 minutes until dry and golden. Do not underbake, or they will collapse. Remove to rack to cool. For decorative swans cut the top off the bun part, and fill with whipped cream or pastry cream. Split the top into two and position as wings. Push the head and neck part into one end. Looks good as a fleet of swans served on a mirror, or a dark glass plate. Keywords: Easy, Cookie ( RG584 )
  2. I have a robot coupe Gelato Professional. Makes great icecream, but very noisy and hard to clean as the bowl is not detachable.
  3. Over-prooving will reduce the oven spring a lot. I assume the dough is supported during proof by a banneton or equivalent. I find it much easier if I retard the dough overnight in the fridge and bake from cold. The dough is stiffer when cold and doesn't slump as much.
  4. Bottarga di Muggine is dried salted pressed tuna roe, not cheese
  5. Maccaroni, cheese (grated framhouse cheddar), Heinz Tomato Ketchup
  6. The slashes sound fine. If you get enough oven spring they should open and grin. I assume the oven is hot enough - 440F/220C or more, and has been on long enough to heat the pizza stone and stabilise. The technique water sound just fine - that is similar to what I do. Maybe the dough is a bit dry and stiff? Why do you say they are not right?
  7. How much oven spring are you getting? Are the slashes deep enough? The dough before you slash should have a sort of taut skin from moulding and the slight drying effect during proof
  8. Use the sourdough in the sourdough bread recipe. Stretch out very thin Bake very hot.
  9. jackal10

    Cobblers

    But the fruit sinks... There are many pancake and batter recipes that do not need eggs: Very low fat pancakes or indian jalebi (sweet pancake spirals) or tempura batter (flour + fizzy water) or yeast-raised pancakes or chinese pancakes and wrappers or tortillas...
  10. Where is the bacon of yesteryear?
  11. jackal10

    Cobblers

    Eggs are good, and should be used, However I think the current definition of Clafoutis extends from the baked custardy sort to the ones with a crisper batter, more like a fruit version of toad-in-the-hole, with fruit instead of sausages.
  12. Make basic vanilla first to get used to it... Savoury icecreams are the lastest fad, easy and delicous Avocado icecream Roast Onion Icecream Grain Mustard icecream (with cabbage dishes especially) Tomato sorbet
  13. jackal10

    Cobblers

    What is your authority for that? The original Limousin dish may have been cherries in a flan custard (with or without a pastry base), but modern usage (e.g. Larousse 1984) defines it as "[fruit] arranged in a buttered dish and covered with a fairly thick pancake batter". No mention of eggs, and I submit fairly close to Larousse goes on to say " The Academie Francaise, who had defined clafoutis as a "sort of fruit flan" were faced with protests from the inhabitants of Limoges and changed their definition to "cake with black cherries". Never the less there are numerous variations using cherries or other fruits. The word comes from the provincial dialect word clafir (to fill)" Yorkshire puddings always have egg in the batter - that is what gives the rise. Maybe the pudding described would be even better with an eggy batter...
  14. Shaker Tomato Jam (adapted fro, "The Best of Shaker Cooking") 4lbs tomatos 16 cups sugar 4 oranges 8 lemons 3 sticks cinnamon Peel the tomatos. Add the grated rind and juice of the oranges and lemons [with the pith and pips in a muslin bag], and cinnamon sticks. Cook until thick. Add the sugar and boil rapidly until it gells on a cold plate. Remove the pips etc in the muslin bag. Remove the cinnamon. Pot into sterilised jars. Makes a bright pink confection. JL notes: Tomatos are low in pectin and acid. The pectin here is being derived from oranges and lemons. You might like to add commercial pectin, and some citric acid, for a more reliable set. Nero Wolfe's cookbook has an interesting recipe for Green Tomato Jam Tomato Curd (adapted from"Farmhouse Fare," 1946) 1lb Tomatos 6 oz sugar 3 oz butter 1 lmon 2 eggs ( I use 4 egg yolks) Stew the tomatos until tender. Sieve. Return the puree to the pan and add the sugar, butter and the grated rind and juice of the lemon. When the sugar has dissolved add the well beaten eggs, and cook over gentle heat until thick. Do not allow to boil. Pour into warmed pots and seal. Will keep 2-3 months
  15. I think this stuff ( I'm growing some) i closely related to Samphire. Boil briefly, butter, suk the flesh off the stems..
  16. I have the same problem with excess tomatos: I make tomato base for pasta sauce and other uses in the winter. You can just boil the tomatos, sieve, reduce, bottle, sterilise. I rather like Elizabeth David's recipe (from Summer Cooking) - I've just made a batch. I paraphrase, and halve the quantities, and have added garlic and sugar. Get the original, as her writing is wonderful Tomato Sauce to store 8-9lbs tomatos 6 onions 2 cloves garlic head of celery 2 carrots 8 oz butter ( a stick) 1/4 cup EVOO salt, pepper, sugar Chop the onion, celery and carrot. Heat the butter and the EVOO in a large pan and soften the chopped vegetables, until the onions turn yellow but do not let them brown. Add the tomatos and garlic, salt and pepper (about 1 Tbs salt), and 2Tbs sugar. Herbs if liked, but they reduce the uses of the finished puree. Add the tomatos, roughly cut up. Cook until the whole is reduce toa thick mass. Blend with a stick blender. Sieve. Reduce to desired consistency. Check seasoning. Bottle ( I use "Le Parfait" preserving jars - easy and elegant). Put the jars in a large pan up to their necks in water (Ms David reccomends standing them on newspaper, and putting newspaper between them), bring to the boil and simmer (Ms David says 3 hours, but HMSO advises 50 mins at 190C, or 15 mins in a pressure cooker). I boil for an hour. Cool label. You can rpeserve by drying, but I don't use nearly as nuch dried tomato as tomato concasse.
  17. In Scotland it wold go nicely with the deep fried pizza (dip in batter first to keep the topping on) and the deep fried Mars bar..
  18. From "Notes on a Cellar Book" Saintsbury 1923 The recipe intended for real punch is as follows:- Three parts rum Two of brandy One of lemon juice and six of hot water. I never knew this mixture found fault with by respectable persons of any age, sex or condition from undergraduates to old ladies, at any hour between sunset and sunrise.
  19. Have confidence in Summer Pudding. Easily the nicest of the summer deserts. (See my article in PPC or in the compendium " Wilder shores of Gastronomy") If you keep the fruit fairly dry it won't collapse. Equal quantities of Raspberries and Redcurrants. Those who add blackcurrants are heathens. Cherries (stoned) add a nice stickyness, but avoid strawberries Sweat the fruit with losts of sugar until the juice just runs. Line a pudding basin with plain white bread with the crists cut off ("Wonderloaf" is great). Fill with the fruit, cover with more bread. Weight and put in the fridg overnight. Here is the secret: Make a coulis with some of the fruit liquidised. Pour over the turned out pud to hide any white bits. Decorate with whole fruit, mint leaves etc. Yumm! An alternative BBQ desert is fruit kebabs, String strawberries, pinapple chunks etc on kebab sticks. Smother with rum or brandy butter. Chuck briefly onto grill. Maybe not for 25, tho.
  20. jackal10

    Gas Ranges

    Buy second-hand. There is not much to go wrong in a gas stove (unlike an electric stove, where the elements wear out), and the older ones were more solidly built. Mostly all they need is a good clean, and they are a fraction of the price. For example on e-bay there is Like New!! 1999 Amana ARG7800 Self-Cleaning Gas Range for $71.
  21. Nowdays the measure is fairly notional. Wines made entirely form botrysed grapes are "Essencia", and renowned for their allegedly aphrodisiac properties. A sort of 18th century Viagra, but probably just sweet and strong. and which might account for their popularity. Expect to pay around $250/bottle
  22. Too late for this year, but pick them green, before the shells form (June 24th is the traditional date) and pickle them. You won't defeat the squirrels - they get up earlier than you do. They are ruthless and cunning. You could try netting, but they chew through it. An old pair of tights over a branch sometimes works. Shotgun?
  23. jackal10

    Dinner! 2003

    Summer lunch, in the garden, under the apple trees, Nearly alll home grown or made 12 hour oven cooked BBQ style brisket Coleslaw Cucumber salad (dill, chives) New Potatoes w mint Homemade dill pickles Pepper salad Bread and cheese (Montgomery CHedder, Munster) Raspberries aand cream For supper we had a mushroom omlette, mi-cuit tomatos, and the leftover potatos pan fried.
  24. jackal10

    Fresh Herbs

    I adore lovage - but why is it so hard to find? Any place in NY where I can get it? Grows like a weed in my UK garden - 6ft tall. Can't get rid of it fast enough
  25. jackal10

    Lobster tails

    Treat them like big prawns or langoustines
×
×
  • Create New...