[Mike Nolan]

You might show her the KAF microwave lemon curd recipe, it's fairly easy to make and very good on scones. (I can't post the scones recipe my wife uses, though, because she got it from a caterer on the condition that she not distribute it.) Because it's very high in acid, lemon curd keeps well in the refrigerator, for at least a week, if it lasts that long! We have one Meyer lemon that is starting to ripen on our tree, I'll use it to make a small batch of lemon curd. (It looks like we're going to get at least a half dozen lemons next year, we've already had that many set fruit.)

However, don't try to double the recipe, it takes 4-5 times as long to cook and is more likely to get lumpy. I always strain it through a mesh, that way if you get any egg that overcooks, you strain the chunks out.

[Mike Nolan]

I've used Merlot for Boeuf Bourguinon, you should be fine. The key to good Boeuf Bourguinon is to not let the wine dominate the flavor profile, I find it works well to balance the wine with beef stock, if I use 2 cups of wine I use 2 cups of a good beef stock. (I make my own stocks.)

I keep several bottles of Lindermans Shiraz and Shiraz-Cabernet wine on hand, these are Australian wines that IMHO makes a very good Boeuf Bourguignon. (I've had it at several French restaurants, I think mine is better.)

The shiraz grape got a bad reputation a while back, but the wine writer for the Wall Street Journal recently reviewed several reasonably priced Shiraz wines quite favorably.

I've also used Merlot for coq au vin. Remember that both Boeuf Bourguinon and coq au vin originated as peasant dishes where the wine and extended cooking time were needed to tenderize a tougher cut of meat. (Coq au vin was traditionally made with an old rooster, but good luck finding one of those for sale, a capon is probably as close as you'll get.)

They say you shouldn't use a wine in cooking that you wouldn't drink. Well, I don't drink much wine at all, and I'm certainly not about to buy a $50 bottle of wine for cooking, but both Shiraz and Merlot would be similar to the house red wines you're likely to get by the glass at a restaurant.

For cooking with white wine, I will use a reasonably priced white Zinfandel or chenin blanc.

[Mike Nolan]

If it makes you feel better, it looks like everyone got the one on April 1st (3 step dredge) right. I will admit to having used the wrong hand to do the next step too many times! My most common mistake is wanting to use my left hand (my dry hand) to flip the meat over once it has been put in the egg. One trick that seems to help me remember which hand is which is to put a disposable glove on my right hand but not on my left hand.

Tomorrow's quiz is on baking chemistry. Hopefully everyone will get it right.

[Mike Nolan]

I've made a few of them, the timing is very tricky, if you're not careful you wind up with half-cooked batter, but you can tell your guests it is a lava cake 🙂 , or an over-cooked rubbery cake. (They make it look so easy when they do it on 'Chopped'.)

It works best when it is small, which is why they're usually made in a ramekin.

I find the hardest recipes to get right are the 'brownie in a cup' ones. Not sure why. But you can cover up your mistakes with ice cream!

[Mike Nolan]

That one kind of surprised me when I was researching it, too. But it does explain several things about prepping, cooking and eating kale.

[Mike Nolan]

Being a catalog house is challenging these days, Amazon and WalMart are busy trying to take all the air out of everyone else's balloon. And serious bakers like us haven't been KAF's focal point for a while. I can get KAF flour cheaper from walmart.com than I can from KAF.

[Mike Nolan]

Have you tried putting semolina in your pizza dough? That's a trick I learned from a Chicago pizzaiolo years ago.

[Mike Nolan]

We'll be in PA in early summer spending some time in Pittsburgh as well as in Valley Forge. So, if it is in stock I might be able to get a 50 pound bag of clear flour for you then, though I don't know our exact schedule yet.

I've noticed one thing with clear flour, though, the breads I make with it tend to go moldy much more easily than ones made with AP or bread flour, or even freshly ground whole meal flour. I'm not sure why.

[Mike Nolan]

Most of the heavy syrups (molasses, glucose, honey, barley syrup, corn syrup) have similar weights per cup. Maple syrup tends to be a little lighter because it generally is not quite as dense a syrup, it depends on how much it's been boiled down.

There's also some variability to honey, but it is generally somewhat denser than maple syrup. Interestingly enough, while many sugar solutions, including maple syrup, are measured using the 'brix' scale, where the higher the number the more sugar is present, honey is measured in terms of the percentage of water in it, so the lower the number the higher the percentage of sugar.

[Mike Nolan]

This question was inspired by the candy-making class I took last weekend.

One of the optional items to bring was a scale, though the only ingredient in any of the recipes specified by weight was chocolate. We did have to measure corn syrup for each of the recipes we made, and as we all know, that's a messy job.

I seem to recall having read that CIA students start out by memorizing a lengthy list of weight-to-measure equivalents of various ingredients. (Michael Ruhlman's book, perhaps?)

Anyway, there will probably be future quizzes that deal with weight-to-measure equivalents for ingredients we all use frequently.

[Mike Nolan]

I saw that, but I don't need either semolina or pastry flour right now. (And they're out of the small bags of white pastry flour, the 25 pound bag isn't eligible for free shipping.) But I'll keep it in mind for when I need to order more.

I can order a 50 pound bag of semolina for about $55, including shipping, from another supplier. I may check with the local Sysco office to see what they stock at some point. (My former neighbor is the head of that office, the last time I checked they still allow walk-in orders.)

[Mike Nolan]

About the only things I order from King Arthur any more are their white pastry flour (because locally I can only get whole wheat pastry flour) and semolina. They had their $3.14 shipping sale on March 14th, and I couldn't find $31.40 worth of things I wanted.

I can get semolina from other suppliers at a lower per pound price, but only if I buy 25 or 50 pounds at a time, and that's several year's worth for me, though my wife has been willing to have me make pasta more frequently lately because it doesn't seem to spike her blood sugar as much as other carbs. I may start ordering it by the case from Bob's Red Mill, especially when they have one of their reduced/no shipping charge offers, since none of the local stores carry it, though they carry a number of other Bob's Red Mill items. I used to be able to get Hodgson Mill semolina, but I don't see any of their products locally any more.

Is what you're looking for confectioner's sugar without the cornstarch in it? That's hard to find in the USA, even in bulk through restaurant and bakery supply houses. While Kitchen Krafts has one that uses maltodextrin instead of cornstarch, it's still terribly pricey.

[Mike Nolan]

I probably should have tented the ham, used a lower temperature or taken it out earlier, the top edges are, well, crunchy. That's more likely to happen with a pre-sliced ham. It still tasted good, though my wife cut off the crunchy part.

[Mike Nolan]

I've got it set so that the next day's quiz should be released at 12:30 AM every day. (Central time.)

[Mike Nolan]

Once you have the lavash, which we can buy at the grocery, making a lavash pizza is easy. This is a 14" diameter lavash. (I've made lavash a few times, the trick is to get it rolled out really thin so it gets crisp.)

I put the lavash on a big sheet pan, I start with some chunks of havarti cheese, add some shredded mozzarella, then I put on 1 small can's worth of mushrooms and about 6 artichoke hearts that have been quartered. I didn't have any fresh tomatoes today, otherwise I'd have sliced it into thin slices and put them on as well. (The picture below is from one I made a few weeks ago.)

I throw it in the oven at 425 degrees for about 5 minutes to get everything warm, then switch to the broiler for a few minutes to brown the cheese a bit. We use a pizza cutter to cut it into six pieces.

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