Jeffrey Hamelman's BREAD is also supposed to be good, and definitely talks about the science a bit.
It is very good.
Take his recipe for Irish soda bread. He gets into which ingredients simply aren't replicable for many readers - things like not having access to the type of flour they use in Ireland, and only having lowfat buttermilk available in many areas. And he offers good, easily made adjustments or substitutions, like replacing 20% of your lowfat buttermilk with sour cream or high fat yogurt and talks about what that does for the final product.
I haven't made nearly as much from it as I would like, but I've been very happy with every recipe I have used from that book. The only small negative note that I'd offer is that the recipes tend to be written more for professionals and so often times have rather ridiculous yields (as listed will make 5-10 loaves of something, perhaps) so you'll need to do a little math to reduce many of them to more practical amounts for home baking. As long as you're comfortable with that, it's a fabulous resource.
I bought a sous vide cooker as a Christmas present to myself and it was delivered today. I went with one of the slow-cooker-esque ones vs a wand, since I don't plan on needing it to ever cook for more than 2 or 3 people and I like that it's all self-contained.
Breaking it in with some Greek seasoned chicken breasts, and I've got a rib eye steak for tomorrow night.
I made some things! Cassoulet, kale au gratin, duck fat potato gallete and an apple upside down cake. I had seven people over and there’s still like five pounds of cassoulet left! I’m fucked!
We always do something fun and slightly extravagant for Christmas Eve and this year we're roasting a whole duck. I've looked up some stuff and it looks like roasting anything else, except maybe needing to remove some fat mid cooking. We'll see!
I've started baking bread and feel like I need to get a book on it to learn about why various recipes call for different techniques, I hate just following a recipe and not understanding why I'm doing what I'm doing.
If you're interested in the science and pedantry/nerdiness of a thing in cooking, Alton Brown and Good Eats are a pretty solid go-to. He can definitely be a bit of a jerk/pedant, but he does a pretty good job of explaining the science. Once you know that part, basic recipes suddenly make a lot more sense and become a bit more flexible.
We always do something fun and slightly extravagant for Christmas Eve and this year we're roasting a whole duck. I've looked up some stuff and it looks like roasting anything else, except maybe needing to remove some fat mid cooking. We'll see!
Stuff your duck cavity with oranges. Like just cut a few oranges into quarters and stuff as many of those orange quarters into the duck as you can. This isn't for the duck, it's so that you have roasted duck-fat basted orange quarters to gnaw on afterwards.
That would be really neat. I’d have to do some research on rules and such.
I suppose I could just also set up a table at the local traditional marketplace near my hours, but I don’t imagine I have the time or means to bake that much bread in one sitting.
Fun to dream, I guess.
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UnbrokenEvaHIGH ON THE WIREBUT I WON'T TRIP ITRegistered Userregular
I've started baking bread and feel like I need to get a book on it to learn about why various recipes call for different techniques, I hate just following a recipe and not understanding why I'm doing what I'm doing.
If you're interested in the science and pedantry/nerdiness of a thing in cooking, Alton Brown and Good Eats are a pretty solid go-to. He can definitely be a bit of a jerk/pedant, but he does a pretty good job of explaining the science. Once you know that part, basic recipes suddenly make a lot more sense and become a bit more flexible.
J. Kenji Lopez-Alt at Serious Eats/The Food Lab is really good for this too
A lot of the time he’ll pick a particular dish/recipe and document a bunch of technique experiments and their results, and then present a full recipe for the best one.
Bad: Accidentally ripped open the packet of coriander seeds rather wider than I realised, so they started falling everywhere when I tried to refill my jar of coriander seeds
Worse: While panicking and trying to stop the relentless flow of seeds everywhere I dropped the jar and subsequently the packet because of course.
Good: Couldn't avoid crunching large numbers of the bloody things, at least the kitchen smells nice now
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Brovid Hasselsmof[Growling historic on the fury road]Registered Userregular
Images of V1m panicking, tipping over more and more things, flooding his kitchen with seeds and herbs in a farcical manner
Images of V1m panicking, tipping over more and more things, flooding his kitchen with seeds and herbs in a farcical manner
I currently have a couple dozen jars filled with various suchlike seasonings. The scene is repeated at least a couple of times a year in re: initial spillages, but yeeting the jar across the countertop is a new touch.
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JedocIn the scupperswith the staggers and jagsRegistered Userregular
I ordered a new bread knife, and now all my ads are for giant kitchen knives and cleavers. Apparently there is heavy overlap between people who want to cut a soft sandwich loaf and people who are going to war with a clan of ninjas in their kitchen.
I ordered a new bread knife, and now all my ads are for giant kitchen knives and cleavers. Apparently there is heavy overlap between people who want to cut a soft sandwich loaf and people who are going to war with a clan of ninjas in their kitchen.
At least you're ready to defend yourself against the Bread Ninjas.
They are made of bread, not out to steal your bread, in case that wasn't made clear.
Brovid Hasselsmof[Growling historic on the fury road]Registered Userregular
edited December 2019
My parents gave me this weighty tome for Christmas, which is great because I would really like to learn to bake well (mmmm, bakewell). Not so good considering I really need to lose some kilos but what can you do.
So I have some concentrated spearmint oil. I want to make spearmint bark out of it, but this shit is way stronger than anything the recipes online call for. I'm not kidding, this thing is in a glass vial inside a plastic jar inside a plastic bag and you can still smell it from about a foot away. This 2 ounce vial is supposedly a half acre crop harvest worth of spearmint leaves all concentrated. What do?
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Donovan PuppyfuckerA dagger in the dark isworth a thousand swords in the morningRegistered Userregular
So I have some concentrated spearmint oil. I want to make spearmint bark out of it, but this shit is way stronger than anything the recipes online call for. I'm not kidding, this thing is in a glass vial inside a plastic jar inside a plastic bag and you can still smell it from about a foot away. This 2 ounce vial is supposedly a half acre crop harvest worth of spearmint leaves all concentrated. What do?
Get yourself a syringe, and substitute drops for teaspoons in recipes.
So I have some concentrated spearmint oil. I want to make spearmint bark out of it, but this shit is way stronger than anything the recipes online call for. I'm not kidding, this thing is in a glass vial inside a plastic jar inside a plastic bag and you can still smell it from about a foot away. This 2 ounce vial is supposedly a half acre crop harvest worth of spearmint leaves all concentrated. What do?
Find a jurisdiction where they rare overreliant on werewolves to detect crimes, and pick a bank to rob
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webguy20I spend too much time on the InternetRegistered Userregular
Presumably you'd dilute the fuck out of one drop of the oil before using it but I have no idea what sort of ratio you'd want.
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JedocIn the scupperswith the staggers and jagsRegistered Userregular
edited December 2019
I lightly grazed my finger while washing my new bread knife and decided to bleed for a while. Guess I'm unexpectedly prepared for the ninja onslaught even without the 20-inch kitchen machete my ads have been trying to upsell me on:
Jedoc on
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webguy20I spend too much time on the InternetRegistered Userregular
My in-laws just gave me these sweet cast iron cornbread molds. Reddit has already identified that they are old lodge brand, and at least 50+ years old. I have them in my electrolysis tank right now so hopefully sometime this week I'll have photos of them all cleaned up and cooked in!
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I recommend the book I got for Secret Satans: Flour Water Salt Yeast its been a great read
It is very good.
Take his recipe for Irish soda bread. He gets into which ingredients simply aren't replicable for many readers - things like not having access to the type of flour they use in Ireland, and only having lowfat buttermilk available in many areas. And he offers good, easily made adjustments or substitutions, like replacing 20% of your lowfat buttermilk with sour cream or high fat yogurt and talks about what that does for the final product.
I haven't made nearly as much from it as I would like, but I've been very happy with every recipe I have used from that book. The only small negative note that I'd offer is that the recipes tend to be written more for professionals and so often times have rather ridiculous yields (as listed will make 5-10 loaves of something, perhaps) so you'll need to do a little math to reduce many of them to more practical amounts for home baking. As long as you're comfortable with that, it's a fabulous resource.
I hadn't refreshed the thread yet. But yes.
Edit: This would actually be really fun.
“There goes the foreigner in our building who always makes too much bread.
It’s actually really annoying but we’re too polite to ask him to stop.”
Breaking it in with some Greek seasoned chicken breasts, and I've got a rib eye steak for tomorrow night.
If you're interested in the science and pedantry/nerdiness of a thing in cooking, Alton Brown and Good Eats are a pretty solid go-to. He can definitely be a bit of a jerk/pedant, but he does a pretty good job of explaining the science. Once you know that part, basic recipes suddenly make a lot more sense and become a bit more flexible.
Stuff your duck cavity with oranges. Like just cut a few oranges into quarters and stuff as many of those orange quarters into the duck as you can. This isn't for the duck, it's so that you have roasted duck-fat basted orange quarters to gnaw on afterwards.
Anyone have a recipe for it?
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I was also given a copy of Salt Fat Acid Heat. It’s a really neat book that already taught me a thing or two about salt.
We have a community food cart here, just s little cart they folks can put pantry staples and other goodies in for free to anybody in the neighborhood.
There's one family that does lots of baking and they'll put loaves of bread and rolls in almost every day.
Maybe you could do that?
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I suppose I could just also set up a table at the local traditional marketplace near my hours, but I don’t imagine I have the time or means to bake that much bread in one sitting.
Fun to dream, I guess.
J. Kenji Lopez-Alt at Serious Eats/The Food Lab is really good for this too
A lot of the time he’ll pick a particular dish/recipe and document a bunch of technique experiments and their results, and then present a full recipe for the best one.
For example https://www.seriouseats.com/2010/02/the-best-baked-buffalo-chicken-wings-in-oven-not-fried-appetizers.html
Making this dish was an entire production, but when I have the time I enjoy these sorts of complicated recipes
Worse: While panicking and trying to stop the relentless flow of seeds everywhere I dropped the jar and subsequently the packet because of course.
Good: Couldn't avoid crunching large numbers of the bloody things, at least the kitchen smells nice now
this has piqued my interest
I currently have a couple dozen jars filled with various suchlike seasonings. The scene is repeated at least a couple of times a year in re: initial spillages, but yeeting the jar across the countertop is a new touch.
At least you're ready to defend yourself against the Bread Ninjas.
They are made of bread, not out to steal your bread, in case that wasn't made clear.
I impulse bought a bunch of bread supplies and Flour Water Salt Yeast, so that'll all be in today or tomorrow
3DS Friend Code: 0216-0898-6512
Switch Friend Code: SW-7437-1538-7786
Get yourself a syringe, and substitute drops for teaspoons in recipes.
Too much mint can and will work as a laxative...
Find a jurisdiction where they rare overreliant on werewolves to detect crimes, and pick a bank to rob
That book is soooo good! I have a long weekend next weekend and I think I'm going to bake it up. I love their bacon sourdough recipe.
Origin ID: Discgolfer27
Untappd ID: Discgolfer1981
Origin ID: Discgolfer27
Untappd ID: Discgolfer1981
Turns out, as long as you toast it and then add some chicken stock you can put whatever you want in it and its gonna be gooder 'n hell.
I am a lazy piece of culinary shit.