Absurdly, stupidly basic cooking questions (Part 2)

[pastrygirl]

32 minutes ago, Kim Shook said:

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.   

 

I think you made it according to the recipe and picture ... did you have ladyfingers left over, or does cream on berries on cream without a middle layer of cake just seem unstable?

[Kim Shook]

11 minutes ago, pastrygirl said:

 

I think you made it according to the recipe and picture ... did you have ladyfingers left over, or does cream on berries on cream without a middle layer of cake just seem unstable?

Well, looking at the picture and the directions again, I still screwed up - just not the way I thought I had.  The second layer of ladyfingers go just UNDER the final layer of cream.  Jeez, I even screwed up TELLING about my screw up.  LOL  I did have leftover ladyfingers.  

[pastrygirl]

sprinkle powdered sugar on it, serve it in bowls, and say that's how it's supposed to be (no matter how it comes out)

[Kim Shook]

3 minutes ago, pastrygirl said:

sprinkle powdered sugar on it, serve it in bowls, and say that's how it's supposed to be (no matter how it comes out)

Yes!!!  That is the whole concept of "Bowl Cake" - sailing through disaster with your head held high!

[JoNorvelleWalker]

Tell everyone it's a trifle.

 

[Anna N]

2 hours ago, JoNorvelleWalker said:

Tell everyone it's a trifle.

 

 And be sure to serve lots of sherry on the side. 

[gfweb]

17 hours ago, Anna N said:

 And be sure to serve lots of sherry on the side. 

That’s exactly what Julia would do 

[gfweb]

20 hours ago, JoNorvelleWalker said:

Tell everyone it's a trifle.

 

Or a fool. So many great terms for this...fool, buckle, slump,grunt, trifle. 

Edited June 17, 2019 by gfweb (log)

[pastrygirl]

21 minutes ago, gfweb said:

Or a fool. So many great terms for this...fool, buckle, slump,grunt, trifle. 

 

 

You could call it a trifle but there are some technical differences to the others.  Fool doesn't have cake, just fruit and cream.  Buckles, slumps, and grunts are batter or dough baked together with fruit rather than prepared separately and layered. 

 

Sorry, I'm kind of a pastry nerd. 🙄😊

[blue_dolphin]

I vote for calling it Strawberry Surprise 🙃

[Panaderia Canadiense]

1 hour ago, blue_dolphin said:

I vote for calling it Strawberry Surprise 🙃

 

Whenever I hear this, I keep expecting to get a mouthful and then hear the chef yell "surprise! It's raspberry!"

[Kim Shook]

So, the strawberry icebox cake turned out fine.  I'll be posting pictures and comments on the Daily Sweets thread.  Thank you all for your help and comments and laughter - it made the whole thing less stressful.  I did go to the original recipe at Tasteofhome.com and voice my opinion! 😄

[TdeV]

How does one make a gravy from the sous vide bag water? I've just removed a lamb shoulder from the sous vide and thought to reduce the liquid to a gravy, but heating it made it congeal. Smelled good, looked awful.

[Okanagancook]

One needs to strain out the denatured proteins.  Does look dreadful.

[TdeV]

Well, there really wasn't much else left. 😧 When I poured from the bag, there was 8 - 10 fl oz water. After heating it, there were, maybe, 2 tablespoons liquid.

 

Do you suppose that the congealed stuff would have released more water when strained?

 

[rotuts]

I dont srtain out SV Jus.

 

I might reduce it , might add some dry wine when reducing

 

might take it off the heat at the end and add a pat or two of butter

 

and swirl it around

 

pretty tasty for me

 

no Stars at my house.

 

but Ive been known to sir of lick the plate.

 

I do this in the kitchen w a fine edged flexible scrapper

 

then i lick that.

 

more sophisticated 

Edited August 4, 2019 by rotuts (log)

[JoNorvelleWalker]

1 hour ago, TdeV said:

How does one make a gravy from the sous vide bag water? I've just removed a lamb shoulder from the sous vide and thought to reduce the liquid to a gravy, but heating it made it congeal. Smelled good, looked awful.

 

Is this a trick question?  One pours the bag water down the drain.

 

[Kerry Beal]

1 hour ago, TdeV said:

How does one make a gravy from the sous vide bag water? I've just removed a lamb shoulder from the sous vide and thought to reduce the liquid to a gravy, but heating it made it congeal. Smelled good, looked awful.

 

15 minutes ago, JoNorvelleWalker said:

 

Is this a trick question?  One pours the bag water down the drain.

 

LOL.

 

You want to heat the osmosome until it does congeal. Then strain out the congealed stuff and use the liquid as the liquid in your gravy. Typically I'll brown some flour with butter, add a bit of acid and the strained liquid to make a nice gravy. 

[Anna N]

8 hours ago, Kerry Beal said:

to make a nice gravy. 

I, on the other hand, I have never successfully made a tasty gravy this way. My freezer once held quite a population of things labelled “osmazome”. Now I make better use of that real estate. I.m wit @JoNorvelleWalker.

[Okanagancook]

If you use it unstrained I think the flavour gets muddled.  Granted, there is not much liquid which is good...means more left in the meat.

[rotuts]

I guess Im the odd man out

 

i think it makes fine gravy , and sometimes

 

a nice ' dip ' for sandwiches

 

on the other hand , for fresh beef i almost always use 130 f

 

for Corned Beef , 140 , and for chicken and turkey 142

 

not much liquid in the bag , and not a lot of solids.

 

I think you get those solids at a higher temp.

 

 

Edited August 4, 2019 by rotuts (log)

[TdeV]

Okay, I have another question. (The lamb roast mentioned up-thread was put on ice and it's now in the fridge, so no reports on texture yet).

 

I have a dinner coming up this weekend. I have a 5.4 lb lamb shoulder (raw). I had thought to do the lamb sous vide.

 

I'm having a grand time looking through cookbooks; however, most of these great recipes are not for sous vide. I'm concerned about the pot liquour; if there isn't any cooking of the roast within it, then what about flavour?

 

What do other folks do? Do you change the recipe so that the meat is cooked sous vide and then folded in to the rest at the end? Do you bypass dishes that weren't designed for sous vide?

 

(I'm reading Mourad: The New Moroccan and Wadi's New Mediterranean Cookbook and Wolfert's Morocco. Oh là là!)

 

Edited August 5, 2019 by TdeV (log)

[JoNorvelleWalker]

37 minutes ago, TdeV said:

Okay, I have another question. (The lamb roast mentioned up-thread was put on ice and it's now in the fridge, so no reports on texture yet).

 

I have a dinner coming up this weekend. I have a 5.4 lb lamb shoulder (raw). I had thought to do the lamb sous vide.

 

I'm having a grand time looking through cookbooks; however, most of these great recipes are not for sous vide. I'm concerned about the pot liquour; if there isn't any cooking of the roast within it, then what about flavour?

 

What do other folks do? Do you change the recipe so that the meat is cooked sous vide and then folded in to the rest at the end? Do you bypass dishes that weren't designed for sous vide?

 

(I'm reading Mourad: The New Moroccan and Wadi's New Mediterranean Cookbook and Wolfert's Morocco. Oh là là!)

 

 

 

I've cheated and precooked lamb sous vide when making a tagine.

 

[TdeV]

2 minutes ago, JoNorvelleWalker said:

I've cheated and precooked lamb sous vide when making a tagine.

 

Did you do anything special to augment the flavour of the accompaniments, @JoNorvelleWalker?

[JoNorvelleWalker]

1 hour ago, TdeV said:

 

Did you do anything special to augment the flavour of the accompaniments, @JoNorvelleWalker?

 

I still braise the sous vide meat traditionally in the tagine for quite a while.  As I recall the cooking times @Wolfert suggests on eGullet are a good bit longer than in her books.