eG Foodblog: Chris Hennes (2012) - Chocolate, Tamales, Modernism, etc.

[Blether]

OK then. I guess we're having tacos for dinner. Despite adding far more water than the recipe calls for, the pasta dough is still too stiff, it just won't roll nicely without tearing. Alas, I am out of flour now, so I can't just redo it and make traditional pasta today, so the lasagne is now on hold until tomorrow. Doh!

I liked the idea that the solution for a pasta dough that's too stiff is more flour

Clearly I'm too late anyway, but you could put some more water into the pasta's resting bag, leave for a while to soak up, and knead some more: in short, add more water to rescue that dough. To answer your question, I use my breadmaker to knead pasta dough. (I don't own a food processor or mixer).

Of course the preferred solution is to hydrate the dough to consistency by look & feel when you first make it up. I'm interested to know, what percentage gluten-content flour MC specifies in that recipe ?

Edited February 24, 2012 by Blether (log)

[Chris Hennes]

Of course the preferred solution is to hydrate the dough to consistency by look & feel when you first make it up. I'm interested to know, what percentage gluten-content flour MC specifies in that recipe ?

I actually did try to get the consistency to the correct feel, about doubling the water quantity they called for: alas, my entire pasta experience to date has been with whole egg/no water pastas, so apparently I need to recalibrate. The recipe calls for AP flour and then a supplement of 1.2% gluten flour.

[Chris Hennes]

This evening's beverage selection, from the clearance aisle (the orange dot). I am a big fan of screw caps, so I try to support whatever vineyards are using them these days: you'll notice more than a few in my collection, among both whites and reds.

[Blether]

So they're weakening the flour back towards a pastry / cake flour... what %age of gluten is there in US AP ? On the one hand it shouldn't be too hard to work out what their final %age is; on the other, apart from flour variation it's hard to guess what might throw the quantities off so far. Even variation in egg volume isn't that great, is it ?

I should mention too, that with the breadmaker, for bread/pizza dough & pasta both, I can add water while it's kneading and it incorporates nicely (if prone to wee splashes at first as the tachometer goes off the scale. Just joking, there's no rev counter on it really).

Edited February 24, 2012 by Blether (log)

[Chris Hennes]

So they're weakening the flour back towards a pastry / cake flour... what %age of gluten is there in US AP ?

It varies pretty widely: we typically call it 12%.

On the one hand it shouldn't be too hard to work out what their final %age is; on the other, apart from flour variation it's hard to guess what might throw the quantities off so far. Even variation in egg volume isn't that great, is it ?

This being Modernist Cuisine, they call for the egg yolks by weight, not by count, so that's not the issue. I just don't have enough experience with this type of dough to evaluate it properly. When I make pasta traditionally I simply use whole eggs and flour: no water at all. So the ratios are not something I can evaluate: I wound up with a dry, sandy dough when following the recipe, so I added more water to bring it together. It still wasn't the same texture I am used to, but considering the ingredient variation that's hardly surprising.

[...] Just joking, there's no rev counter on it really).

Brilliant idea for a stand-mixer mod. I might have to add that to my project list.

[Blether]

... Brilliant idea for a stand-mixer mod. I might have to add that to my project list.

It'd go nicely with a torque-sensing CVT and a big dramatic brass engine telegraph.

I looked at the prices of Blendtec's seriously for the first time last month (after an attempted chicken liver mousse turned over-wet because the only way I could get my blender through it was by adding more cream). 350 bucks ?! Do you feel yours has been worth what you paid for it ?

[ScottyBoy]

Dude you are killing it Chris!

Edited February 24, 2012 by ScottyBoy (log)

[Dejah]

Chris: Really enjoying your foodblog here.

I was looking at your tortilla press set up. What do you use to cover the surfaces? I tie a big piece of Saran wrap on each side, but it's never satisfactory.

The "covers" you have seem to be fairly stiff?

Edited February 24, 2012 by Dejah (log)

[Blether]

... and now I remember that I asked my friend-who-knows-these-things about your cutting board question. There was a long answer, but the short version is:

"use surface battens (e.g. 2 x 4 offcuts) to keep things square & in plane. Use our old friend Saran wrap to keep the battens becoming part of the glue-up."

[Chris Hennes]

I looked at the prices of Blendtec's seriously for the first time last month (after an attempted chicken liver mousse turned over-wet because the only way I could get my blender through it was by adding more cream). 350 bucks ?! Do you feel yours has been worth what you paid for it ?

That's a tough question: there is no doubt that the Vitaprep/Vitamix and the Blendtec are amazing blenders, basically in a category of their own. But you have to do a LOT of blending to get your money's worth. It hasn't been obvious this week, but I eat a lot of smoothies for lunch, so it's nice for that. It makes a fabulous mole, and a perfectly smooth hummus. Etc. But it is just a blender, after all. So "worth" definitely comes down to "do you cook things that need ridiculous amounts of blending power?" You may find that once you buy one your diet changes! But "worth" is a pretty personal appraisal. If you are trying to decide between a blender and snow cone maker, I say get the blender. If you are trying to decide between a blender and a sous vide rig? Get the sous vide rig.

[Chris Hennes]

Chris: Really enjoying your foodblog here.

I was looking at your tortilla press set up. What do you use to cover the surfaces? I tie a big piece of Saran wrap on each side, but it's never satisfactory.

The "covers" you have seem to be fairly stiff?

I use an modern, high-tech material formed from an extremely complex chemical synthesis of various petroleum products. (They are zip-top plastic bags with the sides and zipper cut off. 1 quart size. MUCH easier to deal with than Saran wrap, and you can even wash and re-use if you want to.)

[Chris Hennes]

"use surface battens (e.g. 2 x 4 offcuts) to keep things square & in plane. Use our old friend Saran wrap to keep the battens becoming part of the glue-up."

Saran wrap! Great idea, I've been using a wax coating on the battens: it works, but you have to keep re-waxing them. I'll switch to Saran tomorrow first thing.

[maggiethecat]

I am a big fan of screw caps, so I try to support ]

Me too. If there are two decent wines at the same price point and one has a screw cao, I'll buy it every time. When I was in Canada in January I was astounded by the terrific selection of wine with screw tops.

[Chris Hennes]

I am a big fan of screw caps, so I try to support ]

Me too. If there are two decent wines at the same price point and one has a screw cao, I'll buy it every time. When I was in Canada in January I was astounded by the terrific selection of wine with screw tops.

It gets better every year, it seems, and is drifting (slowly!) into the higher end. Not that I can afford those. But still, it seems to be a good sign. It doesn't take too many bottles of cork-tainted wine poured down the drain to convince a guy that screw caps are the future. And the present, if I have anything to say about it.

[pep.]

I looked at the prices of Blendtec's seriously for the first time last month (after an attempted chicken liver mousse turned over-wet because the only way I could get my blender through it was by adding more cream). 350 bucks ?! Do you feel yours has been worth what you paid for it ?

You think that US$ 350 is expensive? Look at the prices for high-power blenders in Europe

In Austria and Germany, the Vitamix costs 600 to 700 Euros depending on accessories. The Blendtec is even more expensive (~ 1000 Euros), but can be had slightly cheaper by self-importing from the UK. Apparently the current Blendtec importer to continental Europe is really gouging the prices.

[Mjx]

I'm curious: Are your outside bins normally wrapped in plastic? I know open bins compost much more slowly.

Nope: what you see is what I've got. I'm not concerned with the rate of decay, those bins are plenty large enough for the two of us. That said, I actually hadn't heard that closed bins were better, I thought the reverse was true. Most backyard bins are designed with ventilation slots, aren't they?

The bins I've seen haven't had a ventilation slot, at least, not that I've noticed (meaning, they could have been riddled with slots, and I completely missed it). They do have that little trap-door thing, which I suppose could function that way, though, and I've noticed it is sometimes left open. Basically, the people I know who compost either use a black plastic bin that yields black loamy looking stuff that is used in the garden, or a keep a heap of muck behind a tree, which doesn't really yield anything. How does the open bin do?

Huh. I just call it that (whether I'm making the Emilia-Romagna version or the Italian-American version) because that's what it is. For the same reason I don't call a single sandwich a "panini."

Do you call it a panino, though even when it doesn't involve a roll?

But, I suppose it actually makes sense to call the Italian-American version "lasagna" and the Italian version "lasagne al forno" as a way of distinguishing between the two.

But in Italy, 'lasagne al forno' is a pretty generic name, connected with no one, specific recipe; it's more usual for the dish to have a specific name.

I only make one kind of lasagne al forno: this one. So usually laziness prevails when I'm telling my wife what's for dinner. How do you pronounce "lasagne" in Italian? Is is more or less like the American English pronunciation of "lasagna"?

'Lasagne' sounds like 'lasagna', except it's got an 'eh' at the end, instead of an 'ah' (because it's plural: 'lasagne' are the pasta strips themselves; if you fixed yourself just one strip with sauce and so on, it truly would be a 'lasagna'). But now that I think about it, in the US 'lasagna' often gets a schwa sound at the end, which could be interpreted either way.

[Mette]

Cool blog - looking forward to tasting the chocs at the conference

These are the ingredients for the onion sugar:

What's the ratio onion juice:glucose:isomalt? I'm intrigued by this onion sugar business.....

[slkinsey]

I looked at the prices of Blendtec's seriously for the first time last month (after an attempted chicken liver mousse turned over-wet because the only way I could get my blender through it was by adding more cream). 350 bucks ?! Do you feel yours has been worth what you paid for it ?

That's a tough question: there is no doubt that the Vitaprep/Vitamix and the Blendtec are amazing blenders, basically in a category of their own. But you have to do a LOT of blending to get your money's worth. It hasn't been obvious this week, but I eat a lot of smoothies for lunch, so it's nice for that. It makes a fabulous mole, and a perfectly smooth hummus. Etc. But it is just a blender, after all. So "worth" definitely comes down to "do you cook things that need ridiculous amounts of blending power?" You may find that once you buy one your diet changes! But "worth" is a pretty personal appraisal. If you are trying to decide between a blender and snow cone maker, I say get the blender. If you are trying to decide between a blender and a sous vide rig? Get the sous vide rig.

I would say, however, that there are certain things you can really only do with a high powered pro blender. So eve if you want to do those things only occasionally, you may want one. And this can come even in fairly mundane form. Ever wonder how restaurants get pureed soups so silken and smooth? It's because they're using a high powered pro blender.

But, I suppose it actually makes sense to call the Italian-American version "lasagna" and the Italian version "lasagne al forno" as a way of distinguishing between the two.

But in Italy, 'lasagne al forno' is a pretty generic name, connected with no one, specific recipe; it's more usual for the dish to have a specific name.

Right. I was sort-of just speculating as to why it might make some sense to distinguish this way. But maybe it doesn't. The Italian-American version (tomato sauce, ricotta cheese, mozzarella cheese,dry pasta) is fairly distinct from most Italian iterations (my favorite of which is vincigrassi ).

'Lasagne' sounds like 'lasagna', except it's got an 'eh' at the end, instead of an 'ah' (because it's plural: 'lasagne' are the pasta strips themselves; if you fixed yourself just one strip with sauce and so on, it truly would be a 'lasagna'). But now that I think about it, in the US 'lasagna' often gets a schwa sound at the end, which could be interpreted either way.

I wonder if it came to be known here as "lasagna," in its singular form, because that's what it said on the boxes sold in the US? Generally speaking, Americans don't know that the commonly spoken form of most pasta names is the plural (spaghetti = plural of spaghetto and so on). Americans would call a spaghetto a single "piece of spaghetti" or a single "spaghetti noodle."

[weinoo]

Ever wonder how restaurants get pureed soups so silken and smooth? It's because they're using a high powered pro blender.

Of course they're probably also running it through some sort of sieve/strainer or maybe even a giant food mill.

[David Ross]

I'm sure I missed it somewhere along the way, but did you put any cream or milk in the Bolognese for the Lasagna?

[Chris Hennes]

This morning's coffee looks the same as every other morning's, I'll stop boring you with that, and start boring you with this: the construction of onion sables for tomorrow's dinner. This begins by making an onion butter, simmering 200g of sweet onion on 500g of butter for two hours. Throw out the onions, keep the butter. Anyone have any idea for what I should do with those onions? I've got to be able to turn them into some kind of lunch, they are onions cooked in butter!

Yeah, I'm cheating, only 454g of butter, not 500g (I only need 100g of the finished product anyway):

Slice the onion thin (on the mandoline):

And onto the stove:

[Chris Hennes]

I'm sure I missed it somewhere along the way, but did you put any cream or milk in the Bolognese for the Lasagna?

Yes, a cup of whole milk.

[Chris Hennes]

What's the ratio onion juice:glucose:isomalt? I'm intrigued by this onion sugar business.....

30:7:13

[gfweb]

I'm sure I missed it somewhere along the way, but did you put any cream or milk in the Bolognese for the Lasagna?

Yes, a cup of whole milk.

I missed the lasagna entirely. Where'd it go?

[Chris Hennes]

I would say, however, that there are certain things you can really only do with a high powered pro blender. So eve if you want to do those things only occasionally, you may want one. And this can come even in fairly mundane form. Ever wonder how restaurants get pureed soups so silken and smooth? It's because they're using a high powered pro blender.

Yes: if you find yourself making purees with any frequency, you might actually be able to completely justify the upfront cost of the blender in the reduced time you spend in front of the chinois.