shain

A sort of "magic custard cake" (a cake that separates into layers as it bakes). Flavored with cacao, nutmeg and a bit of cinnamon. Served warm with rum soaked dried fruits and hazelnuts. Also vanilla ice cream.

I also use potato starch quite often for those usages. It behaves a bit differently, mostly to the better. There's good comparisons of staff properties in Modernist Cuisine and in On Food and Cooking.

Kimchi jjigae. With home made kimchi and all kind of things, including potato starch noodles (quick recipe below), enoki mushrooms, vegetable stock, tofu, calamari (although I don't eat it) gochujang. Radishes with rice vinegar, fish sauce, toasted sesame, garlic, spring onion. Zucchini, mixed with salt and sugar then drained. With rice vinegar, sesame oil, a touch of garlic, peanuts. Potato starch noodles: In a bowl, mix: 90 g potato starch, 2 tsp oil, 1/2 tsp salt. Add 75g boiling water. Mix well. Knead a little. Flatten and slice into desired shape and width. Optionally roll each strand so that it has a round profile. Dust with some starch. To serve, boil until reaches the desired (chewy) texture. Wash with cold water.

Gin, limoncello, lemon juice and soda.

Here's my first attempt at actual cheese making (I only made yogurt, paneer and ricotta before). This is acid set cheese (the acidity coming from sour cream, buttermilk and cream of tarter). The acidified milk was cooked until curdles, drained well and salted. Then mixed with a bit of store bought blue cheese dissolved in sour cream. Pressed, salted and left to age in a closed container in the fridge. 5 days later I flipped it, punched holes and salted. Another 5 days and it was flipped, punched from the other side and salted again. I've been draining and letting some air in every couple of days. It now has a light blue mold scent, and the drained water is tasty (if very salty) with pleasant blue mold and lactic acid flavor. You can see some blue bits in spots.

It's mostly about the starch retrograding. Out of the oven it is fully gelated so it is sticky and holds lots of moisture. As it cools it will harden, making the bread less doughy and more chewy and firm. Ever tried cutting bread right of the oven? It often sticks to the knife, and if pressed too firmly may compress and stick together (i.e. mess the crumb). You can also see it with rice. Right off the heat it is sticky-gummy, then as it cools a little the grains become more solid. Generally, it's best to let baked goods come to room temperature, or at least close to it. You can then reheat them to recrisp the crust and/or warm and them up. The starch won't fully gelate again, so it won't become sticky. You actually can cut the bread while it's hot, it might stick to the knife a bit, but it will be able too cool faster. I haven't noticed much difference in end result. High hydration goods are more sticky while hot. That's why pizzas can be eaten hot - the crust is thin so it dries while baking. You may notice that the part under the sauce often feels doughy even though it's fully cooked. That's because it stays mositer and hotter than the crust, so it doesn't get to retrograde.

I just mix with brandy and let it sit. I might add some warm water in cases where cooking time is very short (e.g. kaiserschmarrn, crepe filling, pancakes). This helps them be more plump and less boozy.

We buy hazels (with skin) at 6.5$/lb. Walnuts are 5.4$. Peeled hazels are 7.6$. I love baking with all nuts, and I don't think any is inherently better - it depends on the use case. But I do think that pecans and hazelnuts are those that manage to come through best. Strawberry jam is most commonly used in Israel, and I enjoy it on the rare occasion it's a really good jam (ie home made - I never found a decent store bought strawberry jam). My mother used to use apricot jam, or less often plum, always home made. I'm pretty sure she never used nuts in her dough, though. And surely not hazels. I'll have to ask her.

@eugenep I'm not really sure. I don't think it's an issue with under baking. Try first soaking some plums in water to see if any bitterness becomes notable once the sweetness is diluted. If they taste good, you can try soaking the fruit in another spirit like rum, or even water. I don;t think it's an issue with under baking. Sorry that I have no concrete answer to give, never had this happen. Although I did have some terribly bitter fresh plums ruin a clafoutis once.

Ever tried making linzer with ground hazelnuts? (you should :P)

Funny, because I actually didn't care for the olives. Next time I'd keep them on the side.

Spinach shakshuka. With sirene and feta, onion, tomatoes, olives. Flavored with sumac, onion, garlic, lemon, herbs, olive oil. Sourdough bread.

Hungarian mushroom soup. Plenty of paprika, vegetables, spices, herbs. Also fire roasted eggplant with a little sour cream, toasted sunflower seeds, lemon. Served with plenty of sour cream, crisp and warm light rye sourdough. Beer.

Having grown with the go-to salad dressing being just un-emulsified EVOO and lemon, I haven't come to really care about sauces being emulsified. I guess this is also because we rarely have a very "leafy" salads. I guess I'd will prefer an emulsified sauce for this use.

Yes it's thin strands. I think it got common along with food processors that had the function to produce them. I think that they tend to produce a slightly lighter latke, and possibly a bit more crisp (I guess due to reduced cell damage. Apple sauce is not super popular in Israel, I'm pretty sure that sour cream is the most common dip. Also had them with guacamole once (not bad, but I think a smooth salsa of avocado and sour cream would work better). As for the sugar topping, I think it's mostly a children thing, but I guess I haven't grown out of it Also IMO, it must be dark brown sugar, and only a little. The salt I've only started adding as an adult.

I prefer shoe-lice cut over shredded, I also dice the onion finely rather than shred. Salted and squeezed indeed! I used to let the liquid sit and collect the starch, then figured I can just potato starch from the bag - this also makes the type of potato used less meaningful. We're not apple sauce lovers here, but recently I figured that diced cooked apples are a good sub which we do enjoy. I'll keep the sour cream if you don't want it But admittedly, my favorite way of eating them is still how I used to as a child - with dark brown sugar (and a bit of salt).

Double frying (or fry+bake) is a great technique for latkes - same idea as with french fries. I usually shallow fry. We eat the last couple of batches as is, and the earlier, now cooled batches are pan fried again when desired. I never had luck with baked latkes. Maybe try baking (with plenty of oil), let them cool, then pan fry with a little oil.

An interesting method used by Dave Arnold following a recipe in the book "Pie Marches On", suing no starch. Apples are mixed with sugar and drained. The apples go into the pie and baked. The liquid is reduced and added after baking. Seems like it will be quite foolproof in preventing a soggy bottom. I think that if I'd try it, I would add a little starch (tapioca) to the liquid, so that it will have a slightly more traditional texture. It will still be less starch than usually needed. It will also be easy to make sure the starch is fully cooked. I think this can be even more helpful with more challenging fruits - those high in water or low on pectin.

The only tapioca pudding I'm familiar with is one made of small pearls and coconut milk, served colds, often with various fruits and toppings. I dislike cold tapioca so it was never my thing. I never thought of trying it warm. Now with all due respect to tapioca pearls, starch noodles are way more fun in any application (hot or cold). Either thin ones (like rice vermicelli or mung bean noodles) or thick ones (like chendol).

Thanks. Just old school loose leaf tea.

No bubble tea topic?! We are way behind the trends. Made some with the classic black sugar boba, but added a bit of star anise. Strong tea and milk. Served hot, not too sweet.

Beautiful meals all around this thread - it's a pleasure to scroll though Cheat spinach nokedli (spätzle). Cheat because the batter is steamed then cut (rather than dropped into boiling water). Topped with cheese sauce (modernist cuisine style) of Maasdammer and blue cheese, with some milk, mustard and pepper. I made them too big by mistake, but still tastes great. "Romanian" frittatas with mushrooms, bell pepper, onion, paprika, lots of tarragon, brined cheese, sour cream, garlic. Peas with mushrooms, butter, dill, vinegar, pepper and a bit of aniseed. Semi-sweet vinegar pickles (radish, onion, cuces) with some bay leaves, mustard seeds. Served topped with fresh mint and parsley. And a dunkel weissbier.

Something inspired by Hobak-juk - Korean pumpkin porridge. I used pumpkin along with whole rice (rather than rice flour). Flavored with brown sugar, some salt and a bit of nutmeg. Also added adzuki beans cooked with sugar and mochi balls. I also made some adzuki filled mochi for snacking.

I'd guess the chives, they taste quite different when dried (a bit like the scallions used to flavor potato chips). Dried celery also tastes different, but still distinctly like celery. And dried onion and garlic are also quite distinct and familiar.

A bit late here - but my 2 cents. First, if your dates are firm, they are probably a bit old (that should be fine for baking, it's just moisture loss, only less fun to eat straight). If you have a large amount of dates to chop, you can de-seed then freeze them. They won't freeze solid, and will be easy to chop either by hand or a food processor. I also rarely use majhoul for baking. They are nice for eating because they are super plump and sweet - I love them stuffed with a piece of toasted walnut, with a cup of Turkish coffee. But they have mild flavor, and can be too soft when cooked. Dayri is really nice for baking - with caramel like flavor and less sweet, Deglet Nour is nice - floral and honey like. Try them all