Improving my cooking skills (2004-)

[ronnie_suburban]

Did anyone see the yahoo news item about eating farmed salmon?  Apparently it's so loaded with chemicals that researchers are recommending limiting servings to about 8 oz. a month.  I will hunt it down and post a link.  In the mean time it's the wild stuff for us if there's any at Whole Foods.

Here it is Heather...a scroll down just a bit to the link in my post.

=R=

[edemuth]

Erin, are you making this Pithiviers? I'm 2/3 done making the puff pastry. I'm a little insecure about how it's going, but I think I'm doing it right.

And do you still need a recipe for Pissaladiere, or are you going with Julia?

Seth, yes, I'll be making the pithiviers tomorrow. I know yours'll turn out great! And definitely freeze 2/3 of it for later.

For the pissaladiere I'm going to go with Julia, but thanks for the offer!

[SethG]

Seth, how's the puff pastry going? I've never made it at home.

This remains to be seen. I have to fold it again later, then let it rest once more before I cut out a portion and use it.

I keep fearing I'm handling it too much, that I put in too much water, and that I'm having to press too hard and too many times with the rolling pin to get it to the appropriate size for folding. I'm worried that the dough is too hard, and that my gluten will never relax enough. I'm worried that I'm mushing the layers together so that they'll never separate again, and I'm not sure I understand how ANYONE can roll it out gently enough so that the layers will still separate and puff up in the oven.

Other than that, it's going fine! There's no way to tell, really. Is there? I've never made it before, and my dough looks just like Torres' pictures, so I'll just assume it's okay.

[hjshorter]

Bleah. Thanks Ronnie. I generally avoid farmed salmon because it tastes fatty and bland...but because it's one of my kid's fave foods I'd been getting the Costco stuff. No more I guess.

[edemuth]

I keep fearing I'm handling it too much, that I put in too much water, and that I'm having to press too hard and too many times with the rolling pin to get it to the appropriate size for folding.  I'm worried that the dough is too hard, and that my gluten will never relax enough.  I'm worried that I'm mushing the layers together so that they'll never separate again, and I'm not sure I understand how ANYONE can roll it out gently enough so that the layers will still separate and puff up in the oven.

Other than that, it's going fine!

Awww! [sending positive thoughts]

[SethG]

So, anyone make anything?

My pithiviers was decent but not spectacular. I'd say mine rose about half as much as Torres' pictured one did. It was very tasty, but the puff pastry part was denser and harder than I believe it should have been.

I might email Torres about my experience-- I read in some review of his book that he'll actually answer you if you send him a question by email (!). I don't know which of the many things I was worried about actually went wrong, so I don't know how to improve without guidance.

I made a second one, which is now sitting in my freezer, so if anyone wants to come over for mediocre pithiviers, I'm good to go.

And I made potato case salmon, which didn't go as well as it did the other time I made it. I used wild king salmon which I bought at Whole Paycheck. This fish was previously frozen, and when I started to work with it I could see what freezing had done to it. It was mushy, and hard to keep from falling apart in the pan. And I didn't think the taste was markedly better than (fresh) farmed salmon. I don't know what to do about salmon, except to have it less often until the pressure on retailers makes them demonstrate the good practices of their sources.

My Pissaladiere was good, but I used these red onions that were a very deep purple color. Last time I made this tart, the finished product had a nice purple hue to it, but this time it was almost black, the onions were so dark! Tasted fine, though.