jackal10

In Christine Ferber's book she gives a recipe for "Old Batchelor's Jam", which is a two tone jam of a layer of wild blueberry jam topped with raspberry jam flavoured with kirsch. She says "It used to be that every household would make Old Batchelor's Jam with a fruit and alcohol base", and then describes what to me is a rumtopf except with kirsch; a crock to which fruit, sugar and alcohol were added during the season. I'm puzzled by the origin of the name. Can anyone help with the term "Old Batchelor"? Is this the name in Alsace for their version of a rumtopf? Is it a mistake in translation? Is the jam specifically raspberry and blueberry, or any surplus berries plus kirsch?

Wonderful stuff Martin. You asked for suggestions a) I'd like to see an introduction to each section that explains the principles, and maybe some master recipes,, For example one one understands he principle and concentrations needed you could vary the flavours of say foams. Examples from Midsummer House include Grapefruit and Champagne, Garlic and Bay leaf, cep, pea, strawberry, vanilla, coffee etc, the list is endless one the principle is established. b) I'd like to see some classics that use hydrocolloids, such as Jams, marmalade's, membrillo and fruit cheeses, Jellies and Pate de Fruit in the pectin section, and classic jello, hot or cold consomme, salmon or prawn mousse in the gelatin section. c) There can be many more non gelatin espuma's: carrot air for example, but also chocolate (lecithin) based such as mousse/souffle/roulade/fondant. Other lecithin based are egg yolk based such as zabaglione... d) I guess starch based systems like Turkish Delight ans any of the flour, roux or cornflour thickened sauces are out of scope, although they are hydrocolloids. If you allow them then dough might be considered as well. d) Pictures! I'm sure eG'ers can help

I'd agree with Pinot Gris - a nice Alsace one. With Oatmeal Porrdge Whisky is traditional. Usually there is cream or butter involved - what is the sauce? Are you sure the porridge is wet? It would be more usual to coat the fish with the dry oats instead of crumbs and then shallow fry it, so the fish is the major component and the oats minor. In which case any good white winem and back to a nice Alsace Pinot Gris...

1. You need some stock or equivalent to add the Umani element. I would use chicken stock, If you are vegetarian, then use either parve chicken stock (e.g Osem.Telma or Carmel) or miso or soy plus mirin or sherry.. 2. I'd leave out the fennel, cumin (umani subs) and the red pepper and paprika - the colour should come from the peppers 3. Soften onion and garlic, Butter would be good. 4. Lots more sweet peppers - maybe 6, and you did remove the seeds and rub off the char I hope The pepper puree is the thickener. 5. Salt and pepper 6. Same thing is good cold set as a gel

I suspect UK and US bacon is different Here is mine http://forums.egullet.org/index.php?showto...ndpost&p=939724

http://www.artisanbakery.co.uk/

http://www.nisbets.co.uk/products/ProductS...tGroupCode=S463 or any low end catering supplier, if you must

There are black cherry toms there hiding in the mix. I was disappointed with the black cherry toms. Their flavour and yield were nothing like as good as the other two under my conditions, and the colour is muddy and unattractive. Novelty value but nothing more. The resulting tomato puree:

Gardener's Delight, Sungold, and Black Cherry about to turn into concasse...

Fortunately Clostridium botulinum is killed by an acid environment, so if your recipe contains vinegar or lemon juice or wine its probably (but not definitely OK). Its why many old recipes and pickles are acidic. Even so I would not feed them to the very old or young or the immune challenged. Might eat them myself tho.

Not me, (Gothic hah! More like Perpendicular or even Romanesque) but that looks like Ely Cathederal, so close by.

Any courgette recipe Peeled, seeded, cut into batons and stir fried In Pimms Facepack Lord preserve us from cucumber cups

What details and pictures do you want? http://forums.egullet.org/index.php?act=ST...t=0#entry412944

So far: Pasta sauce/tomato puree Raspberry and redcurrrrant (summer pudding mix) Red and whie currant jelly Mint jelly Pickled cucumbers Pickled shallots Pickled radish pods Coming soon: Greengages Peaches

This is part of a larger question, of how long to ferment and prove the dough, and that depends on the sort of bread you are making, what the yeast or sourdough culture characteristics are, how much of it you use, level of salt and sugar (which inhibit) and the dough temperature I'm sure others will correct me. You might find it instructive to put some of your dough when you have mixed it into a straight sided glass jar or glass tumbler and mark the level. Loosely cover. Keep it at the same temoperature as the dough you will bake. When the dough has expanded to two and a half to three times its initial volume, its ready to bake. This is for plain white - wholemeal or bread with additives rises less. That gives the total of fermentation plus proof times. In general you want to bulk ferment until the bread dough is saturated with CO2, and little bubbles and the structure are beginning to form. When you can just see the bubbles its time to shape and prove. So when you cut into the dough with a sharp knife and can can see little bubbles starting to form its time to stop folding and start shaping. For my sourdough in my kitchen (about 80F) the total time is about four hours from end of mixing to baking, I usually split it into 1 hour bulk and 3 hours proof. Straight yeasted dough takes about half that, about 2 hours total. I try and get 3 or 4 folds or turning into the bulk fermentation period, so every 15 or 20 minutes or so. Sometmes I only give it one turn every half hour. Its not critical. If you retard (put the dough in the fridge) you have to reckon on the cool down time. For a 1Kg loaf I reckon that is about 2 hours, so retarding overnight is about equivalent to 2 hours proof at room temperature for that size loaf, Retarding (in a loose plastic bag) will give you better flavour, better crust (little bubbles), and make timing easier and less critical.

Hydration (the amount of water in the dough) has a number of effects. Crudely it changes the viscosity, and hence the workability of the dough, but also the resistance to the gas bubbles expanding, and the amount of steam available to make that expansion. Roughly the wetter the dough the bigger the holes in the crumb, but too much water can make the dough sort of pudding like. You can tell the loaves that try to get a good texture from an over wet dough rather than proper gluten development, by the characteristic of thick cell walls. Most loaves I make are around 70% hydration (weight of water to total flour weight) for example: Preferment: 200g flour + 100g water (plus 10g culture) Dough: 400g flour + 320g water (+10g salt) (plus preferment) Total: 420g water/600g flour = 70% hydration. This dough will need support during proof. Different flours adsorb different amounts (wholemeal adsorbs more). Other factors affect viscosity as well, such as the acid in sourdough breaking down the starch - sourdough gets wetter as they prove. Temperature affects viscosity with cold doughs stiffer, hence cold retarded dough is less delicate and easier to handle, especially at the end of proof. Bread can range from about 55% (tight, stiff, long fermented boules) to more than 100% hydration (ciabattta, more a batter than a dough). Very wet doughs are hard to handle directly - form, shape and bake them on silicon paper. Its worth noting that you need to measure accurately. 5g difference in water (a teaspoonful) will make about a 1% difference to the hydration in the example above, and that will change the handling characteristics and the crumb structure. Bread dough is tough stuff at the beginning of fermentation and can stand a lot of abuse, but it gets more and more delicate as the structure is set up and it expands, especially high hydration doughs.

There are things that matter in bread baking and many things that do not. Here is a rough list, but not exclusive. I'm sure others will have their views: Things that matter: Time and temperature of the fermentation and proof Accurate neasurements by weight - use Baker's percentages Lots of bottom heat Steam in the first minute, but not after Hydration of the dough, in quite a small range Right amounts of salt (2% flour weight) Good yeast or sourdough culture Don't overprove If you add sugar etc it will slow fermentation Things that don't matter: Strong flour - almost any flour will do Steam after the first minute Kneading - its time and water that develop the gluten, not mechanical work

Try a starter without any berries, just flour and water. Otherwise you have to wait for the junk you introduced to drop out. Sa Sam noted above its the bugs that feed on flour you want, not those that feed on berries or sugar. Temperature is important and selects the sort of bugs you get. Around 80F is ideal

Cut your cardoons back to ground level when they have finished flowering. When the new growth starts put a large bucket over them with abrick on top (like forcing rhubarb). Backend of the year harvest and treat like celery

They are short lived tender perennials Yes you can over winter them inside or anywhere frost free You can take cuttings in Jan for an early crop. For really hot chili try http://www.dorsetnaga.com/ Over 1 million Scoville - ten times hotter than hot, Handle with great care!

There is a new cold clarification technique which involves adding a small amount of gelatine, freezing and then allowing to melt in a cofee filter http://forums.egullet.org/index.php?showto...st=0&p=1292216&

You need "Le Parfait" jars. I get mine from http://www.lakeland.co.uk/product.aspx/!3813_3814 but a google search will reveal many US retailers

What happened to the basic chocolate mouse - melted chocolate, butter, egg yolks, whipped egg whites, left to set in the fridge? Same mixture cooked makes souffle, or roulade; if you don't whip the egg white you get fondant or molten chocolate cake...

I leave it in the oven all day at 140F. SIMPLIFIED LAMB TAGINE (Slow cooked lamb stew with a sweetish spicy sauce with fruit) 1kg/2.5 lbs diced lamb (a whole shoulder diced) into 2 inch chinks 2 large onions peeled and diced 3 cloves garlic, peeled and chopped 2 tins chopped tomatoes (or 1llb peeled and diced fresh0 1 Tsp cayenne or hot chili 2tsp black pepper 1 tsp paprika 2tsp cinnamon 2 tsp turmeric 2tsp ground ginger 1 Tsp honey dried fruit Flaked almonds cilantro brown the mat in a frying pan over high heat. Sprinkle with the spices. Remove to a casserole or tagine. Soften the onions and garlic, Then add to the meat. Deglaze the pan with the tomatoes. add the honey and add to the meat. Add the dried fruit (I use apricots). Leave in a very low oven all day (8 hours+). Before serving adjust sauce for salt etc, and if too runny strain off and boil down. Scatter over chopped cilantro and if liked flaked almonds serve over cous cous or rice. with a plain salad

Its a myth, but a spoonful of sugar does wonders. (it doesn't reduce the actual salt content but fools the tastebuds. If you want to reduce salt in a recipe reduce the sugar as well. Many commercial products are still high salt and high sugar)