Wisp

How do you pan Carnuba wax onto anything? I've tried to research how, and seen it suggested to mix the wax with food-grade acetone. I actually tried that, but it doesn't mix. Then I found that you need an "ultrasonicator" to turn it into an emulsion. My exploration of panning candy stopped with badly doubled chocolate covered almonds with no crunchy, shiny candy shell.

@liuzhou That was amazing, in a train-wreck sort of a way, and very fascinating to read! I'm still having trouble with the chef's mouth dish. How to you type a shuddering sound?

Has anyone tried out the ROTO-Q 360? It's a spring-powered rotisserie that you can put in an oven. I've used it to roast cacao nibs in the APO, and DH uses it to roast coffee beans, also in the APO. I'd be interested in how others have used it. Edit: also called a Roto tisserie

Hi, I'm new here, and noticed your post back in April. I thought you might be interested in an APO cake test that I did a while back, using boxed cake mix. My DH bought three box mixes, to lure me into experimenting. Unfortunately I can't find any photos [edit: found photos, if anybody is interested], but here are my notes. I baked them to temperature, so I wouldn't need to keep letting the steam out to check with a toothpick. I started with a 9" cake pan, then switched to 8" because two 8" will fit on a singe APO rack. The "one large crack" mentioned in the notes was actually a rift that reached to the bottom of the pan, and was maybe 5" long; but hey, the cake was done in 14 minutes instead of 29! The cake baked very nicely at 300°F/60% steam, with the 8" pan taking a couple minutes longer to bake than the 9" pan. It would be interesting to know how well this temperature and humidity setting does for other box mixes and homemade cakes. Cake test notes: cake is done at 200-210°F Bake cakes at 300°F/60% steam Duncan Hines Classic Yellow Cake Mix, 930 g when mixed, 465 g per cake 9” pan 212°F/100% steam 14 min: pale, odd looking, one large crack, very homogenous texture; I think it was at 200°F 350°F/40% steam 10 min: appeared done, but not 200°F, was raw in center 1.5” cylinder, golden brown, better taste than 212 cake where cooked 320°F/100% steam cracked 12 min: pale, multiple large cracks, a bit dry even though took out at 200°F internal temp 300°F/60% steam 15 min: perfect; very lightly browned, moist, no cracks, even texture but in a somehow better way than the 212 cake. 8” pan 300°F/60% steam; 16-17 min, 205° doneness Box instruction: 350°F/0% steam 29-33 min / 34-38

I played with making bagels in the APO last year. Made these by steaming in the oven instead of boiling, and then baking in the APO also. I've never had a true NYC bagel, so no idea how they compare. The bottoms were a bit pale, the tops were crackly in a fun way, and there are little bubbles all over the top! No seeds or toppings, just bubble. I need to try these again sometime. My picture broke; hopefully this one will work better.

Where can I find Nina's eggnog recipe??

Looks like it has potential; have you tried it?

Does anybody have a hush puppy recipe that is similar to Greenbriar's? I can trade you a good white bbq sauce recipe for it!

@Kim Shook thanks, that is my very own kitty. I imagine he's thinking "Ok, now that I'm seated at the table, surely they will serve me a nice plate of dinner!" A few minutes later, he popped up onto the table and started creeping towards the food. Nice try, buddy!

My first eggnog of the season! We usually have it without anything added. Just to make it special, I added whipped cream, and accidentally dropped the whole nutmeg into one of the glasses while trying to make it pretty! XD Here's my recipe. It is not cooked, and can be whipped up in just a few minutes. To tone down the sweetness, reduce fructose, and make it easier on the blood sugar, I substituted dextrose for part of the sugar, and added some Benefiber. Of course you could just use all regular sugar (by weight since dextrose is fluffy) and leave out the fiber if you prefer. Same-Day Eggnog Ingredients 36 g (0.18 cup) sugar 12 g (4 tsp) instant clearjel 0.125 tsp table salt 1 pinch accent 95 g (0.83 cup) dextrose 36 g (0.43 cup) Benefiber 338 g (1.39 cup) whole milk 58 g (0.18 cup) Karo 68 g (4 large) egg yolk 5 ml (1 tsp) Vanilla extract 2.5 ml (½ tsp) vanilla bean paste .62 ml (1/8 tsp) almond .62 ml (1/8 tsp) butter rum extract .6 g (.25 tsp) Freshly grated nutmeg 350 g (1.46 cup) heavy cream Directions Combine sugar, instant clearjel, salt, and accent in the pitcher of a blender and blend until finely powdered. Add dextrose and Benefiber, pulsing a few times to mix in. Add milk, Karo, egg yolks, vanilla extract, vanilla paste, almond, butter rum and nutmeg, and blend until smooth. Add cream and pulse the blender until just combined, unless you want to froth it up and increase volume. Pour into glass milk bottles and chill, or straight into serving glasses. If it has been sitting in the fridge, shake before serving.

Thanks everybody! I'm looking forward to it!

I was reading about pretzel salt on "The Fresh Loaf", followed a suggestion to do a google search on "pretzel salt wax", and was mesmerized by a discussion I found here. I didn't know this website existed, and here was someone panning salt with carnauba wax, and mailing it to someone else who did a series of pretzel bakes to see how it turned out, and actually posting follow-up photos on how the bake went! I am now hooked. I also have done a pretzel test some time ago, comparing the different coating, dipping, boiling methods that I've come across; baked baking soda is ok; lye is the best. I read a panning thread, and someone suggested using an Ankarsrum (Magic Mill) turned on its side; this is something I've tried already! It kind of worked, but I don't know what I'm doing. It made lots of doubles when I tried chocolate almonds, and also flung jelly beans out at me when trying that. I may make a shield for it to deflect them back into the bowl. However, polishing was a failure; I don't understand the airflow and temperature control needed, and likely need to learn more than just that. I've been making milk chocolate from home-roasted nibs lately, and would really like to candy-coat them with bright, shiny colorful shells. I've also been tinkering with making candy using 4:1 dextrose to sucrose ratio instead of all sucrose, with some success. My food dabbling is on my own time, after my "day job". It's fun and interesting figuring out how to do things.