Weekly Cooking (and related issues) Thread

[Jamestown1630]

Caneles (or Canneles) de Bordeaux are a traditional French pastry, soft and custardy on the inside, crispy on the outside, and flavored with rum.

Traditionally, these are made with a special mold; and you can still do them this way, or make them in simpler, modern variations. Some sources indicate that the best molds to use for this are copper ones; but you can buy them now in other materials. Amazon has the traditional copper:

as well as carbon-steel and silicone molds. You can also use small, oven-safe custard cups.

For authentic canneles, the inside of the mold is coated with beeswax, for which you will need food-grade beeswax. But again, there are modern recipes that don’t use it.

Chef John Mitzewich of 'Food Wishes' does use beeswax, but does them in a regular muffin pan; I think these would be great for a Christmas brunch:

http://foodwishes.blogspot.com/2017/10/caneles-de-bordeaux-crispy-baked-french.html

A couple of weeks ago, we did a thread on Brazilian chicken croquettes, a street food favorite. But Brazil also has a famous pastry, ‘Bolo de Rolo’, or ‘Guava Roll Cake’, from the state of Pernambuco - (which reminds me a little of our Maryland 'Smith Island Cake' in a different shape ;-)

This recipe comes from the website ‘Brazilian Foodie:

http://brazilianfoodie.com/2011/11/bolo-de-rolo/

-JT

[SamAdams76]

(2) pasture raised eggs
(1) pat of Kerrygold grass-fed butter
(2) thin slices swiss cheese
(1) english muffin

Heat skillet and drop in butter and watch it melt (quickly)

Cut english muffin in half and put in toaster

Crack and drop in the two eggs

Flip eggs after a while (about 90 seconds)

After 30 more seconds, take english muffins out of toaster

Put one thin slice of swiss cheese on each muffin half

Remove eggs from pan and put on english muffin half

Put other half of english muffin (with cheese) on top

Now you have egg & cheese muffin

Eat

You can optionally add bacon and pepper.

[V K Lee]

Cream Puffs to make a Croquembouche

https://www.bonappetit.com/test-kitchen/how-to/article/how-to-make-croquembouche

And just about any fruit cake, re-gifted or not is much better when soaked in Rum for a few weeks. Never tried on a white fruit cake, only the dark ones.

[CottonBall]

That sounds like a great show. I loved the two fat ladies. Are these women or men?

[CottonBall]

Sounds good, especially since I just harvested a whole bunch of apples. It kind of sounds like a Dutch baby?

[CottonBall]

I love clear gel. Are used it for the first time last year when I was canning apple pie filling. It holds up to the heat the way cornstarch doesn’t, supposedly. It sure made a pretty filling though - nice and clear, whereas the cornstarch turns cloudy in the jars.

[CottonBall]

Looks like I’m not the only one that doesn’t do fancy pastries. I’m reading a lot about lamb and the two fat ladies :-). LOL

[CottonBall]

Paris Brest
I figured I would share one of my favorite recipes. It’s actually much easier than it looks, as long as you have a mixer to whip up the pastry. It’s A Choux pastry shaped in a circle – meant to be a bicycle wheel, something to do with a race from Paris.

My husband likes the almond version, so I always add about a half a teaspoon to a tsp of almond extract to the cream. And then I put slivered toasted almonds on top of the pastry before baking it. They stick pretty well.

Ingredients:

Choux Pastry:

1 cup (130 grams) all purpose flour

1/2 teaspoon (2 grams) salt

1/2 cup (113 grams) unsalted butter

1/2 cup (120 grams) whole (full fat) milk

1/2 cup (120 grams) water

1 teaspoon (5 grams) granulated white sugar

4 large eggs, at room temperature (lightly beaten) (total weight 220 grams (without the shells))

Egg Wash:

1 large egg (55 grams without the shell)

1/8 teaspoon salt

1/2 cup (50 grams) shaved almonds

Whipped Cream (Chantilly Cream):

1 1/2 cups (360 ml) cold heavy whipping cream

3/4 teaspoon (3 grams) pure vanilla extract

2 - 3 tablespoon (25 - 40 grams) granulated white sugar, or to taste

Garnish:

Powdered (Confectioners or icing) sugar

Instructions:

Paris Brest: Preheat your oven to 400 degrees F (200 degrees C) and place the rack in the center of the oven. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Draw an eight inch (20 cm) circle on the parchment paper to use as a guide when piping the choux pastry.

In a bowl sift or whisk together the flour and salt.

Place the butter, milk, water, and sugar in a heavy saucepan over medium heat and bring to a boil. Remove from heat and, with a wooden spoon or heatproof spatula, quickly stir in the flour mixture. Place your saucepan back over medium-low heat and stir constantly until the dough comes away from the sides of the pan and forms a thick smooth ball (about 3 minutes). Transfer the dough to your electric mixer (fitted with the paddle attachment), or you can use a hand mixer, and beat on low speed a minute or two to release the steam from the dough. Once the dough is lukewarm, start adding the lightly beaten eggs, in small additions, and continue to mix until you have a smooth thick shiny paste. (You will notice that the dough will separate and then come together. Continue to mix until you have a smooth thick paste that will fall from a spoon in a thick ribbon).

Transfer the dough to a large piping bag fitted with a large plain tip (#4). Pipe a 1 inch (2.5 cm) thick ring of dough just inside the 8 inch (20 cm) circle that is drawn on the parchment paper. Pipe another 1 inch (2.5 cm) thick ring inside the first ring, making sure the rings of dough are touching. Pipe a final ring of dough on top, along the center seam between the first two rings of dough.

Egg Wash: In a small bowl whisk the egg with the salt. With a pastry brush, brush the glaze gently on the top and sides of the dough, smoothing the rings of dough. Sprinkle with the shaved almonds.

Bake for 15 minutes and then reduce the oven temperature to 350 degrees F (180 degrees C). Bake for a further 40-45 minutes or until the choux pastry is a golden brown color, puffed, and crisp. (Do not open the oven door while the choux pastry bakes or it might deflate.) Turn the oven off, leave the oven door slightly ajar, and leave the choux pastry in the oven so the shell can further dry out (about 30-45 minutes). Remove from oven and finish cooling on a wire rack.

Whipped Cream: In a large mixing bowl, with the whisk attachment, beat the whipping cream with the vanilla extract and sugar until stiff peaks form.

To Assemble: Split the pastry shell in half horizontally and remove any wet pieces of dough. Then spoon (or pipe) the whipped cream into the hollow center of the shell. Place the top half of the pastry shell on the whipped cream and dust the top of the Paris Brest with powdered (confectioners or icing) sugar.

Serves about 8-10 people.

Read more: http://www.joyofbaking.com/ParisBrest.html#ixzz4vupi42O6
Follow us: @joyofbaking on Twitter | joyofbaking on Facebook

[Aliska]

Thank you very much. If my teeth fixing turns out I'll be able to eat better. Those sound good! Somebody months back, a guy FReeper I think, made poached eggs on toasted muffins with Hollandaise sauce. Took great care in making it. Yours would be faster but I made Hollandaise sauce years ago and didn't like it, probably didn't take enough care.

But I never flip eggs heh. They will have to be basted or poached.

[CottonBall]

Ps I don’t bother with a piping bag. Don’t even have one. I just put the pastry out in mounds I tablespoons. I take a piece of parchment paper and draw a circle on it and cut it out. And put The Choux mounds on that to make an nice circle.

There’s another filling that I like better, you make like a almond pudding and let it cool and then into that mix your whipped cream. So somehow it is light and fluffy whope also having some texture and a lot of flavor. I’m sitting on my couch now I’m too lazy to go to my computer. If anybody wants it I can find the recipe. I was trying to find the exact recipe on the Internet and couldn’t find it.

[Jamestown1630]

Thanks for the tip! I’m getting ready to make my fruitcakes ;-)

[garandgal]

I’ve made this Danish Almond Puff since I was a kid...and it’s been awhile...maybe this weekend:)

Pastry

1 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 cup butter or margarine, softened
2 tablespoons water

Topping

1/2 cup butter or margarine
1 cup water
1 teaspoon almond extract
1 cup all-purpose flour
3 eggs

Glaze

1 1/2 cups powdered sugar
2 tablespoons butter or margarine, softened
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
3 or 4 Tbs tablespoons milk

Heat oven to 350°F. Place 1 cup flour in medium bowl. Cut in 1/2 cup softened butter, using pastry blender (or pulling 2 table knives through ingredients in opposite directions), until particles are size of coarse crumbs. Sprinkle 2 tablespoons water over mixture; toss with fork.
(Note: I do this in the food processor).

Gather pastry into a ball; divide in half. Pat each half into 12x3-inch rectangle, about 3 inches apart on ungreased cookie sheet.

Heat 1/2 cup butter and 1 cup water to rolling boil; remove from heat. Quickly stir in almond extract and 1 cup flour. Stir vigorously over low heat about 1 minute or until mixture forms a ball; remove from heat. Add eggs; beat until smooth. Spread half of the topping over each rectangle.

Bake about 1 hour or until topping is set & light brown; remove from pan to cooling rack. Cool completely.

In medium bowl, mix all glaze ingredients until smooth. Drizzle over top of pastry.

[V K Lee]

My mom would soak them in rum, wrap in a clean dish cloth and watch closely for several weeks, continuing the soak periodically. Rich and moist when served - with a whipped cream dollop, positively decadent.

[Jamestown1630]

That’s very interesting - sort of a ‘gougere’ pastry going on top of the dough rectangles!

[kitchen]

There are as many definitions of lamb as there are people. The more grass and less milk, the more the meat moves to mutton. Lambs will continue to suckle until mom gives them a kick to the head. Chops from an animal that is on 80% milk, 20% grass are closer to “lamb” than meat fed on 80% grass and 20% milk. More grass, the stronger the flavor. The eye test would be that the medallion in a bit larger than a silver dollar. Traditionally, chops come from a rack that includes 7 bones, although there are very good packers that now provide 8 bone racks. Extending the cut and using older, large animals is a profit directed move. Lamb is a premium product and packers would like to make a buck.

True lamb chops are not a common fare in the local supermarket. A specialty butcher shop would be your best bet. Some of the best come from Colorado. Occasionally you may find Australian racks and they are not too bad.

If you go the rack route you can roast and then remove the meat and slice. A 7 rib rack will provide 3 “restaurant” portions. If you want to make chops you will need a few tools. A boning knife with a very thin profile, a cleaver, and a bone saw. You can cheat on the bone saw by finding a hardware store that makes meat band saw blades. Have them cut a piece to fit your hacksaw frame and punch mounting holes. Carbon steel so clean accordingly.

You can refer to the NAMPs (National Association of Meat Purveyors) book for procedures and pictures, but basically, cut out the spine bones with the saw, dividing the rack into two equal sides. Cut out the membrane between the ribs - down one side with the knife bevel floating against the bone, a rounded cut at the bottom, and up the other side. A square cut at the bottom presents a poor appearance. Traditionally a lamb chop has two ribs, with the small end three. Remove as much surface fat as you can. Cut as deep into the bone as possible with the saw, slice the meat with the boning knife, and finish the separation with the cleaver. You now have six “French” lamb chops, four with two ribs, and two with three. Pair them for serving to make equal portions.

For cooking, a very hot broiler is ideal but a sauté pan can do an acceptable job. Medium rare is, to my taste, the best option. Flavoring can range from garlic, to marjoram, or nothing. A mint jelly is traditional with the unspiced version but the Prairie Thyme Company makes a Raspberry Jalapeno Ambrosia that will knock your socks off.

[Califreak]

http://www.lilvienna.com/original-viennese-apple-strudel/

Here’s a good recipe for Apple Strudel.

I’m not much of a baker, so if I can actually make this into
something that tastes like it’s supposed to then it must be a good recipe. ;)

[txnativegop]

thank you very much!

[Jamestown1630]

That looks delicious - and I’m sure you make it well.

I think the best dishes are always the straightforward ones, with simple ingredients and great care in the putting-together ;-)

[Califreak]

It’s pretty good but yes it is a very down home basic recipe

[Califreak]

http://simplyhomecooked.com/khachapuri-georgian-cheese-bread/

I don’t remember if I posted this before.

It looks like fancy pastry but it’s bread with cheese and an egg baked into the top.

Very tasty for breakfast!

[kitchen]

Is that the story of a wife that clubs her husband to death with a leg of lamb, cooks it, and serves it to the cops and detectives? One reason we do not have leg of lamb in this household.

BTW - Eternity has been described as two people with a leg of lamb.