Comments for Syrup and Tang

Comment on Burn your hot cross! It's time for something Swedish by Lynda

Lynda — Tue, 07 Feb 2012 23:24:19 +0000

A Swedish friend brought these to my dinner a few days ago. OMGoodness are they wonderful. She sliced them in the center sideways, rolled out the marzipan then loaded
them with whip cream…wow, what a crowd pleaser. Had one saved which hubby and I
shared first thing the next morning over coffee…it was even better when we were hungry as opposed to being too full after dinner. Just cardamon me anytime.

Comment on La Macaronicité 3: the more reliable macaron recipe and a few tips by Greg

Greg — Sat, 04 Feb 2012 22:22:27 +0000

Great inspiration, thanx. I used the 'more reliable' version. First time I didn't pay enough attention to the recipe. Made another batch today sized to 160g eggwhite. With my spacing this was 4 cooking sheets, and as I only have 2, I made the 2 sheets first, and covered the remaining meringue with cling-wrap directly on the surface. The first 2 sheets weren't optimal and quite a lot of the shells came out cracked, velved and not flat on the top, and without a symmetrical foot. However when making the last 2 sheets the meringue seemed to have changed character after the resting time, the shells 'floated' out much mure nicely. I tried the first sheet at 160c conventional oven-mode and the last sheet 140c hot-air. The last sheet came out perfect, all beautiful shells with a nice little foot. Stuffed half of them with prune/armagnac/chocalate filling and the other half with plain ganache. Greg/Denmark

Comment on Of ovens and baking (and macarons) by Joanne

Joanne — Fri, 27 Jan 2012 03:40:24 +0000

Lovely bakers….
I hava crappy old type 6 oven…. and use Italian method. For sticky bottoms…. I cool for 11 minutes fan forced at 160 Celcius, in the middle of the oven, then move to the bottom at 145 Celcius for 3 minutes. I take the tray out and leave them on the oven rack, and put the tray on the top shelf so they don't go brown. Works a treat, and I turn out about 120 macarons a night this way. Yes I know, I need a life…

Comment on La Macaronicité 5: macawrongs and macarights, macarons day and night by Patricia

Patricia — Mon, 23 Jan 2012 03:41:45 +0000

I've been working on making a consistently good macaron for months– consistent is the operative word here. Basically I have these issues and would appreciate your advice. Using the French method I have tried both gas, gas with fan, electric, electric with fan and I just bought a counter top electric convection because my home oven was just too spastic. If I keep the convection temp at 150-160 for 11 minutes the cookie browns too quickly around the edges (crunchy) but less time and the center appears dark and collapses (looks like wrinkles), the feet are large and protrude out too far, and my lavander cookie looks a peculiar shade of brown. I tried lowering the temp to around 140-150 for a longer time (18-20 minutes) but the top slid off the feet into a gooey mess. The best but not great attempt was start at about 175-180 and immediately turn down to 150 letting the temp come down gradually– still had some of these dark spots in the center that were too soft and chewy. In all of this there was very little hollows– just this uncooked looking splotches and wrinkles. Some of it resolves with filling/aging. I thought maybe the almonds were too damp so I tried drying them in the oven for a bit before using and that had no effect on the final product. Do you have any idea what the heck is going on? I tried the Italian method and still had the dark spots and they were very chewy. Those I just tossed immediately.

Comment on Canelés de Bordeaux (or: my love of copper moulds) by Guy

Guy — Tue, 17 Jan 2012 05:41:17 +0000

Hi Duncan,

So happy to find this post. I ate my first Canele in Paris last month. So strange that I've never heard of them before.
Anyways, I was hooked and the minute I came back to the US, I bought 6 molds and Bee's wax.

I've made them today and they rose up out of the mold. That's how I found your blog.
Second batch: I put them on the stone and used the bee's wax as you suggested but they still were coming out of the mold and never came back.

Reading your post, I now understand that it should be related to heat @the bottom of the mold. Since putting the molds on the stone didn't help, I'm curious to hear what you think about turning the stove up to 220 for the first 10-15 minutes. It usually what you do with breads.

Thanks again for this post,

Guy

Comment on Keeping your knives sharp by Huy

Huy — Thu, 05 Jan 2012 05:57:01 +0000

The one positive aspect to sharp knives and accidents is that I have found cuts with sharp knives may be deeper but they are also a cleaner cut so they heal much nicer. (that said i have only ever dried a knife with the edge inwards to my fingers once, lesson learnt!)

Although the process of sharpening a knife on whetstones can be tedious and difficult to master, it is quite rewarding. I started with some cheap crap knives just to get used to the technique and then moved onto my more expensive japanese knives. Now i get OCD and will spend a whole night sharpening my knives twice a year.

A person once told me, a steel keeps the edge nice, but the stone makes it proper.

Comment on Keeping your knives sharp by karen brown

karen brown — Sun, 01 Jan 2012 05:06:54 +0000

Dull knives are far more dangerous than sharp ones, as you are more likely to slip whilst hacking away with a blunt one. I was taught to use a whetstone when I was very young, which works beautifully on carbon steel (all we ever had when I was a kid), but these also remove a horrendous amount of steel over time. When I first started buying myself decent knives, I tried to sharpen them regularly with the whetstone, but the composition of the metals in modern chef knives is a whole different kettle of fish. I finally got a "Chefs Choice" electric sharpener, the one with three slot, one a grinding edge, the others honing wheels. I do all my knives weekly, so they never get to the stage that they need a whole new edge ground. It is only after doing this for twenty years, that I've noticed any appreciable loss to the blades of one or two knives. The secret is a light touch, often. And if I have to replace a knife or two in my lifetime, the joy of a beautifully sharp edge alway at hand, then so be it. Cheers from NZ, Karen

Comment on Keeping your knives sharp by Rachel

Rachel — Fri, 30 Dec 2011 05:13:12 +0000

Hi Duncan,

A dull knife is truly horrible to behold, let alone slice with. I usually get my knives professionally sharpened once a year, however, I was given a Scanpan pull-through sharpener as a birthday present and have used it happily since. It's not something I'd usually consider. Perhaps with knife sharpeners (and many other products) it's a case of 'your mileage may vary'.

Comment on Keeping your knives sharp by michele

michele — Thu, 29 Dec 2011 03:18:11 +0000

I too have always thought very sharp knives were dangerous in the kitchen. Reading your article
and how it is safer to prepare a meal with a sharp knife make me think about it.

Comment on Keeping your knives sharp by Harry

Harry — Tue, 20 Dec 2011 08:31:14 +0000

Every few weeks, an old man strolls down the street I work in, in the middle of Paris, pushing a strange contraption around, bellowing out something my French isn't good enough to catch, and ringing a very large, loud bell. He's possibly one of the last rémouleurs, or knife grinders still working here. I'll have to bring my blunt knives to work one day and dash out when he comes past!