What are you Baking the Week of September 4, 2022?

[cwcdesign]

Aaron, there are directions online - I think we had a discussion about it on the old BC - for making your own boiled cider by of course boiling your own cider, but it’s the time, temperature and consistency that is in the directions that matter

[chocomouse]

Aaron, it's like making maple syrup! Boil fresh, tart cider for hours and hours until 1/2 gallon of cider is reduced to 1 cup of boiled cider. It will need to boil at medium-high heat for 3-6 hour. Watch it closely near the end, and stir it, so it doesn't scorch. I've read that you can do it overnight in a slow-cooker, but I've not tried that.

[navlys]

We belong to a wine club and this month's theme was Argentinian wine. To go with the wine I found a recipe for "chipas". The reviews were all glowing! It called for tapioca flour and regular flour. I weighed my flours even though the gram per cup was not the same on every site. They were tasteless. Another person made them and hers were even worse because she didn't use the tapioca flour. Maybe Argentinians have a different palate!

[Mike Nolan]

The chipas recipes I found online were all similar to pao de queijo (Brazilian cheese rolls.)

IMHO the key to those rolls is the cheese. You can also play with the herbs and spices in them. (Of course I consider garlic unnecessary in them, and when I made them for the Brazilian-American Friendship picnic, nobody complained that they didn't have garlic in them, they were too busy snarfing them down!)

[navlys]

Ok I give what was your secret? I used a cheddar mix with parmesan and sharp provolone. Did you make them in a mii muffin pan?

[Mike Nolan]

I use the King Arthur recipe https://www.kingarthurbaking.com/recipes/brazilian-cheese-buns-pao-de-queijo-recipe, but without the garlic.

I use a #60 scoop to dish them out onto parchment. In restaurants they're often much larger, but IMHO smaller is better.

I was using the 4 cheese blend that Sams Club sold (romano, asiago, provolone and parmesan), but they've stopped carrying it, and their new 'shaved cheese' blend is terrible. These days I've been using Soiree 3 cheese blend (parmesan, romano and asiago) or Bel Gioso cheeses.

I've had them with ground pepper in them and also with bits of hot peppers or pepper flakes, they're good but strong spices can clash with the main course.

[navlys]

Thanks for sharing.

[chocomouse]

I made Chewy Maple Cookies today.

[aaronatthedoublef]

Choco, making maple syrup is NOT easy. Now your family are masters at it but I've tried it a couple of times with mixed success.

But, even if I use the boiled cider (purchased or making my own) I'll have to add more water to make up for the water I've taken out of the cider so I might as well just use the regular stuff and find one I like. WF used to have a brand I really like but it has disappeared.

I made mini layer cakes - chocolate cake with coconut buttercream I made a sheet cake and used a round cutter to cut the layers. I should have frozen the layer and done a crumb coat but I lacked the freezer space. I made cake balls with the leftover cake and frosting. Apparently they needed to be rolled in frosting too!

We went to see my son's XC team run and my other son's singing group had an impromptu party so I made a bunch of oatmeal raisin cookies.

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[Mike Nolan]

Making maple syrup is one of those things that works much better on a commercial scale than in home kitchens. Choco has quite an investment in their setup.

[chocomouse]

Aaron, I'm thinking about the possible results of your boiled cider vs. regular cider experiment. I understand about the need to keep the total amount of liquid consistent with the recipe amounts. However, since a 1/2 gallon of cider is reduced to make 1 cup of boiled cider, that means you are reducing 16 cups to 1 cup. Therefore, you would need to add 15 cups of liquid back into the dough? No, I think not! I guess that is not what you are thinking of doing? You are not going to get the depth of apple flavor from regular cider that you would get from boiled, concentrated cider.

[aaronatthedoublef]

Choco, challah is complicated for a couple reasons that may not mean anything to anyone who is not Jewish or making it for Jewish friends and boiled, concentrated cider may actually be a help here. Too much juice in bread and, according to the laws of Kosher, it is no longer bread but cake. I've talked to a few people about whether or not this includes all the liquids - honey, oil, eggs, and water/juice (my cider), or if it is just the water to juice ratio. And no one has ever given me a straight answer on this. And a straight answer probably doesn't exist. We are a people who cannot decide if legumes are kosher for Passover or not (and that is a completely different set of rules layered on top of the everyday rules).

From your writing it sounds as if like brown butter and baked sugar the boiling changes the flavor and it is more than just concentrating it. I've found some recipes that will make smaller batches so I may try that but they are labor intensive and take three hours of watching and stirring so I'll have to block that out. Or I can just buy some.

Thanks

[Mike Nolan]

As a non-Jew who is interested in Jewish traditions (and those of other religions), I've always wondered about the rules regarding birds of prey. I guess eating insects and grubs doesn't count, since nearly all birds do that, but what about ducks and other waterfowl, who eat fish and frogs, and possibly some warm-blooded animals as well?

Boiled cider has some of the characteristics of other cooked sugars, so I'd say the cooking process does more than just concentrate the flavor. It might be possible to reduce the water content in a low-heat environment with less impact on the cider, but that's probably not easily done in a home kitchen.

I wonder if my brix refractometer would measure the change in cider vs boiled cider?

[RiversideLen]

The old RecipeZaar had multiple forums, including one for kosher cooking. In reading some of those posts I came to realize just how complicated the subject is.

[Mike Nolan]

If you've ever read any of Noah Gordon's novels, a number of them have lengthy passages dealing with the complexities of Jewish life and traditions, now and in the past. He seems to do his homework on them.

An older brother worked in food service, including several years working in Chicago-area country club kitchens. He said members would pick up something like a bacon-wrapped scallop at a buffet and ask with a straight face, "Is this kosher?"

I think the greatest food experience my wife and I have ever had is still the bar mitzvah dinner that one of her father's friends invited us to, at Cafe La Tour in Chicago. We lost count of the number of courses at around 15!

From my limited studies of religions, most of the major religions have internal debates over a variety of issues, with experts offering contrasting opinions. Even the Catholic Church has those debates, the Pope either can't settle them or chooses not to get involved in the differences.

I also see a lot of discussion among vegetarians and vegans over what is or is not allowed. Recently, discussions over lab-grown proteins have gotten interesting.

A friend of ours describes her daughter as 'almost vegan'. She also went through a 'mostly gluten free' phase, which I think she's still on, I think it is more a matter of choice than medical necessity.

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