Absurdly, stupidly basic cooking questions (Part 2)

[JoNorvelleWalker]

I'm guessing if the milk were really burnt you wouldn't like it.  Nor would Migoya.

 

Disclaimer, I've read the book but don't recall the recipe.  Is it like dulce de leche?

 

 

[pastrygirl]

23 minutes ago, JoNorvelleWalker said:

 

Disclaimer, I've read the book but don't recall the recipe.  Is it like dulce de leche?

 

 

Don't think so. The full recipe calls for 4.5 kg of milk, cook to some degree of browning on the bottom of the pot, reserve 3.5 kg.  Obviously some water will boil off but the milk is still the main liquid in the gelato.

 

edited to add - @Tri2Cook, do you remember making the burnt milk gelato recipe?

 

Edited April 13, 2019 by pastrygirl (log)

[JoNorvelleWalker]

Is some degree of browning really burnt?

 

[Tri2Cook]

7 hours ago, pastrygirl said:

@Tri2Cook, do you remember making the burnt milk gelato recipe?

I did make it. I was surprised at how good it is. Amazingly good, in a simple kind of way... but the burning-of-the-milk part takes a long time. Fortunately, it doesn't require a lot of attention during that time. And I took him at his word in regards to getting those solid on the bottom of the pot burnt. They were black. You don't want to scrape the bottom during the process or when pouring the milk out of the pot. It infuses the flavor into the milk and you get it more as a nice toasty note than hardcore burnt. That's it on the left (the other is the roasted black mission fig gelato, very tasty as well)…



 

7 hours ago, JoNorvelleWalker said:

Is some degree of browning really burnt?

 

Nope. But the milk solids that sink to the bottom of the pot in this recipe should be actually burnt... or very, very dark if you prefer to word it that way. I enjoyed the result quite a lot but I also said a lot of bad words while scrubbing the pot. Should have done it at work so I could have just tossed the pot to the dishwasher section. 

 

8 hours ago, JoNorvelleWalker said:

I'm guessing if the milk were really burnt you wouldn't like it.  Nor would Migoya.

You would be incorrect. It does actually get burnt on the bottom of the pot and the result is very nice. Comes through as a nice deep toasty note rather than tasting like something burnt. I had the same worries when I decided to make it. The worry was needless, Mr. Migoya was spot on about it.

[heidih]

and now burnt salt is a thing (see Serious Eats)

[Yiannos]

52 minutes ago, heidih said:

and now burnt salt is a thing (see Serious Eats)

 

April Fools!

[Tri2Cook]

@pastrygirl I was responding in a semi-hurry earlier, was getting ready to head to work. There was one thing I did different from the recipe, I added a dose of non-fat dry milk powder to the milk while it was cooking to increase the amount of solids settling on the bottom of the pot getting toasty. I was following the Ideas In Food blog's work with brown butter solids at that time where they were adding milk powder to the butter they were browning to get a nice yield of toasty, buttery solids to play with. it seemed like it would transfer well to this ice cream recipe. Seemed to me, if the whole idea is to get flavor from burnt milk solids, then more solids couldn't be a bad thing. Most of it stays burnt on the bottom of the pot so it's not going to drastically increase the overall solids in the end result. Whether or not it actually helped anything, I don't know.

[pastrygirl]

@Tri2Cook thanks!  And just a regular pot on high heat? 

 

Honestly, I was just going to use his ratio and not follow the recipe but the story about the guy in Mexico creating these wonderful and un-intentionally avant garde flavors sold me.  Now I'm on a quest, I'll go to the thrift store and buy a crappy thin pot if it will help 😂

[Tri2Cook]

18 minutes ago, pastrygirl said:

@Tri2Cook thanks!  And just a regular pot on high heat? 

 

Honestly, I was just going to use his ratio and not follow the recipe but the story about the guy in Mexico creating these wonderful and un-intentionally avant garde flavors sold me.  Now I'm on a quest, I'll go to the thrift store and buy a crappy thin pot if it will help 😂

I wish I could remember exactly which pot I used but I don't remember picking anything for any special characteristic, it was just something I had handy.

[pastrygirl]

15 hours ago, Tri2Cook said:

 I added a dose of non-fat dry milk powder to the milk while it was cooking to increase the amount of solids settling on the bottom of the pot getting toasty. 

 

I used my reduced milk from yesterday plus more whole milk so there were plenty of solids and boy did they settle and scorch!  

 

 

I haven’t spun the base yet but it tasted ok. Tonight I rest assured I can still burn things when I want to, but I already doubt this will become a regular flavor due to the pot scrubbing alone. And scorched milk really stunk up the kitchen. I’ll spin it later in the week, I still want to see how the texture is compared to my usual high-fat ice creams. 

 

I think the recipe could be interesting as part of a composed dessert if only I could erase frustrating days at work re-making pastry cream after scorching it. I can’t dissociate the smell of burnt milk from failure.😖😂

[Toliver]

I make caramelized onions. My sister-in-law calls them "burnt onions".

You say potato...

 

 

 

 

[Kim Shook]

I am sitting here trying to figure out if I am wrong or if a recipe is written badly.  I am making a dessert on Saturday for Father's Day and one of the ingredients is listed as: "6 cups fresh strawberries, sliced".  Now, normally I would read that as: measure 6 cups of whole strawberries, then slice them.  But if you would be so kind as to look at the recipe online, you'll see it has a LOT strawberries.  So, I can't decide.  Does that look to you like 6 cups of sliced strawberries or 6 cups of whole strawberries, sliced???  Thank you so much for putting up with me.  🤔

[kayb]

I'd venture that since it says "6 cups fresh strawberries, sliced," you'd measure six cups of them, then slice them. If it said "6 cups sliced fresh strawberries," I'd say t'other way.

 

[Okanagancook]

I think because of the comma they mean measure the whole strawberries and slice them

 

6 cups whole strawberries, sliced

[gfweb]

32 minutes ago, Kim Shook said:

I am sitting here trying to figure out if I am wrong or if a recipe is written badly.  I am making a dessert on Saturday for Father's Day and one of the ingredients is listed as: "6 cups fresh strawberries, sliced".  Now, normally I would read that as: measure 6 cups of whole strawberries, then slice them.  But if you would be so kind as to look at the recipe online, you'll see it has a LOT strawberries.  So, I can't decide.  Does that look to you like 6 cups of sliced strawberries or 6 cups of whole strawberries, sliced???  Thank you so much for putting up with me.  🤔

I read 6 cups whole strawberries which are then sliced.

 

But that's a LOT of berries. The photo looks more like 6 cups of sliced strawberries.

 

I also wonder from looking at the photo if the thing is actually slicable without falling apart. Maybe if the slices are really thick...

 

And I think I'd macerate the berries first

Edited June 14, 2019 by gfweb (log)

[pastrygirl]

47 minutes ago, Kim Shook said:

I am sitting here trying to figure out if I am wrong or if a recipe is written badly.  I am making a dessert on Saturday for Father's Day and one of the ingredients is listed as: "6 cups fresh strawberries, sliced".  Now, normally I would read that as: measure 6 cups of whole strawberries, then slice them.  But if you would be so kind as to look at the recipe online, you'll see it has a LOT strawberries.  So, I can't decide.  Does that look to you like 6 cups of sliced strawberries or 6 cups of whole strawberries, sliced???  Thank you so much for putting up with me.  🤔

 

I think you could get away with 6 cups of berries, sliced after measuring.  Say the slicing and the balsamic packs them down to 4 cups of balsamic berries for your two layers of mascarpone mix which are 1.5 c each.  That's more berries than cream, and you still have the 12 more berries reserved for garnish, which could be another 2 c if they're large. 

[Okanagancook]

29 minutes ago, gfweb said:

I read 6 cups whole strawberries which are then sliced.

 

But that's a LOT of berries. The photo looks more like 6 cups of sliced strawberries.

 

I also wonder from looking at the photo if the thing is actually slicable without falling apart. Maybe if the slices are really thick...

 

And I think I'd macerate the berries first

 

The recipe instructs to macerate in vinegar.

i don’t bake I am clueless otherwise.

[gfweb]

19 minutes ago, Okanagancook said:

The recipe instructs to macerate in vinegar.

i don’t bake I am clueless otherwise.

LOL I didn't get that far. I was working from the photo which looked unmacerated. You are supposed to read the recipe?

[liuzhou]

... this why the rest of the world doesn't use 'cup' measurements.

[Kim Shook]

5 hours ago, liuzhou said:

... this why the rest of the world doesn't use 'cup' measurements.

Exactly.

[Anna N]

18 minutes ago, Kim Shook said:

Exactly.

 Yeah. I was trying to imagine 6 cups of our local strawberries each of which is hardly larger than the top joint of my thumb and 6 cups of imported strawberries some of which are the size of a small lime.

[Katie Meadow]

A good recipe is one that doesn't assume the reader is stupid, but also one that can head off ambiguities at the pass. Those directions should have been a red flag to the editor, if one existed. If not specifying the weight, then at least the volume measurement should be according to sliced strawberries, which would likely be accurate enough for the dessert in question. @pastrygirl your first job must have been writing SAT math questions. If a strawberry leaves the station at......

[Kim Shook]

OK, so, back to that damn strawberry icebox cake recipe again (this better be worth it) - the directions say "In a large bowl, beat mascarpone cheese on low speed until fluffy. Add cream, sugar and vanilla; beat on medium until stiff peaks form."  Now, normally I would beat the mascarpone, add the sugar and vanilla and then beat the cream to stiff peaks in a separate bowl and fold that into the mascarpone mixture.  Will I really get stiff peaks if I do it their way?

[pastrygirl]

2 hours ago, Kim Shook said:

OK, so, back to that damn strawberry icebox cake recipe again (this better be worth it) - the directions say "In a large bowl, beat mascarpone cheese on low speed until fluffy. Add cream, sugar and vanilla; beat on medium until stiff peaks form."  Now, normally I would beat the mascarpone, add the sugar and vanilla and then beat the cream to stiff peaks in a separate bowl and fold that into the mascarpone mixture.  Will I really get stiff peaks if I do it their way?

 

It should work.  Mascarpone is just thickened cream to begin with, so there is plenty of fat to make a stable foam (your stiff peaks). You need minimum 35% milk fat to whip nicely.

 

 

[Kim Shook]

5 hours ago, Kim Shook said:

OK, so, back to that damn strawberry icebox cake recipe again (this better be worth it) - the directions say "In a large bowl, beat mascarpone cheese on low speed until fluffy. Add cream, sugar and vanilla; beat on medium until stiff peaks form."  Now, normally I would beat the mascarpone, add the sugar and vanilla and then beat the cream to stiff peaks in a separate bowl and fold that into the mascarpone mixture.  Will I really get stiff peaks if I do it their way?

Well, I screwed the damn thing up.  The layers were supposed to be ladyfingers, cream, strawberries, ladyfingers, cream, strawberries, cream.  You notice there is a middle layer of ladyfingers?  Yeah, I missed that and I'm guessing that they add some much needed stability. 🙄   We'll see tomorrow, I guess.  This could end up being Bowl Cake (that's what we call cakes that fall apart and end up being served in a giant glass bowl).  Sigh.