SnewtonBR

awesome! absolutely all I needed to know - I am a biochemist (I know, should have figured it out), but I did not notice that neutral glaze is in fact water based. DUH! ;-) thanks a million (or should I say grazzie mille?) ;-)

I've been doing mirror glazed cakes for a while, and finally decided to try a spider web effect. It "kind of worked", but of course it could have been a little better. I include a photo, it is a lemon-blueberry entremet cake. I would like to know a little more about the chemistry behind the effect - I know it is mainly due to a contrast of temperature between the freshly poured mirror glaze (at around 98F but sitting on a frozen surface, so it immediately cools down a lot) - and the hot (perhaps 125F) neutral glaze with the contrasting color. My question is - apart from the temperature, is there a difference in density that is needed? anybody knows how the neutral glaze compares to most mirror glaze formulas in terms of density? I know I could try and calculate it, but I am using a store-bought neutral glaze and the precise composition is not available. can a spider web effect be produced with mirror glaze at low temp and a similar composition of glaze at higher temperature? Probably it would not "smear" as nicely, though... I am rambling... but honestly, I've searched for more explanations on this everywhere... no luck

Hello there, everybody just wanted to say thank you for the advice and help - I made the duck confit and it turned out absolutely spectacular, one of the best dishes I cooked in a long, long time! I hope it's ok to share my post about it, I gave credit to this forum as the advice to cook 10 hours at 82 C was spot on! for those interested, here is the link http://bewitchingkitchen.com/2016/01/13/duck-confit-sous-vide-style/

I've got a torch! That could add a lot of drama to my dinner party.... yeah!

Hello, Glenn I intend to make duck confit on the 27th, but preparing the sous-vide a couple of days earlier, keeping it in the fridge as you do. I know this is an old discussion, but I'm hoping you are still around to help me out - I see many different ideas to re-heat the duck, most of them sear the skin on a hot skillet, but I am wondering if you could place it in a 350F oven to warm it up and then run the duck skin side up under the broiler? I hate to have to fry stuff when guests are around... and if there was a more "user friendly" method, I'd love to hear about it... thank you, or anyone else that might be able to help me

Hi, this is Sally, from the Bewitching Kitchen definitely ok to use other types of oil, in fact I've done the exact same recipe with grapeseed and olive oil - the taste of the coconut oil is very pleasing to me, but I know not everyone enjoys it. Also, it tends to solidify pretty quickly so the regular oils are a bit easier to work with.