Mike Nolan

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  • in reply to: Calling all bakers! #12374
    Mike Nolan
    Keymaster

      Commercial bakeries used to keep 2 kind of flour on hand, bread flour and cake flour, so blends of the two were not unusual. I would think a 50-50 blend of bread flour and cake flour would wind up with a protein content at the low end if not a bit below that of AP flour. (13+8)/2 = 10.5

      Personally, for cookies I use bleached AP flour. (That's about the only reason to keep bleached flour on hand.)

      in reply to: Skirt steak the new \“in\” steak #12373
      Mike Nolan
      Keymaster

        Skirt steak is often used for fajitas, I've seen packages of meat labeled as 'fajita meat', though whether or not it was skirt steak was not indicated.

        You're supposed to cut it cross-grain.

        in reply to: Skirt steak the new \“in\” steak #12370
        Mike Nolan
        Keymaster

          There's outside skirt (IMPS cut 121C) and inside skirt (cut 121D), I believe inside skirt is considered the better cut.

          It is supposed to have the membrane removed.

          See Skirt Steak Cuts

          This article suggests that what you will find in stores in the USA is usually inside skirt.

          There are sites that have meat identification flash cards, but I don't know how detailed they are.

          in reply to: What are you cooking the week of May 6, 2018 #12366
          Mike Nolan
          Keymaster

            Tonight is baked skinned bone-in chicken breasts on a bed of mirepoix and red pepper, with some white wine, a little parsley and fresh thyme.

            in reply to: What are you cooking the week of May 6, 2018 #12359
            Mike Nolan
            Keymaster

              Pancakes for supper here tonight.

              in reply to: America Bakers at the Fête du Pain #12344
              Mike Nolan
              Keymaster

                There's something wrong with your link.

                in reply to: Skirt steak the new \“in\” steak #12333
                Mike Nolan
                Keymaster

                  I remember when stores had trouble selling skirt steak even though it was one of the cheapest cuts on the shelf, now it's one of the higher priced cuts.

                  And yes, it can be very tough, but that's true of more than a few cuts of beef if not cooked correctly. Part of the science of cooking is knowing what cooking methods to use with each type of food. Making it taste and look good is where the art comes in.

                  in reply to: Michel Suas wins Janes Beard Award #12330
                  Mike Nolan
                  Keymaster

                    The cookbook awards for 2018 are also out. One of the nominees in the 'single subject' category looks interesting, it's a 300 page treatise on Stocks and Broths.

                    in reply to: Americans Qualify for Bocuse d/Or #12329
                    Mike Nolan
                    Keymaster

                      The recipes used for the Bocuse D'Or are so over-the-top that I can't imagine any restaurant ever offering these dishes, even The French Laundry. (The French Laundry Cookbook is also packed with over-the-top recipes.) This is cookery at its finest!

                      in reply to: Stella Parks and Texas Sheet Cake #12327
                      Mike Nolan
                      Keymaster

                        That's a very different recipe from the one that mine is based on, which seems have been moved to this URL: Texas Chocolate Sheet Cake

                        The batter is much thicker and the frosting uses regular sugar and milk rather than powdered sugar and buttermilk. Not gelatinizing the flour by pouring the hot butter/cocoa/water on it would change the texture a lot, too.

                        If you search for Texas Chocolate Sheet Cake, there are a number of different recipes. Some of them use Dr. Pepper in the batter, which would be a very Texas-like thing to do.

                        in reply to: What are you cooking the week of May 6, 2018 #12322
                        Mike Nolan
                        Keymaster

                          I made stuffed peppers today, with these HUGE red bell peppers that I got at the store over the weekend. The two of us didn't finish even one of them, but they should make great leftovers.

                          in reply to: What are you baking the week of May 6, 2018 #12317
                          Mike Nolan
                          Keymaster

                            I've used a cornstarch glaze on rye bread, never really understood why people like it, but I don't understand the Dutch Crunch topping that some people rave about, either.

                            I used a combination of egg whites, honey and water to stick the poppy seeds down on my hot dog buns last week, that worked really well. (But that recipe calls for an egg yolk so there's an egg white to use up.)

                            I'm tempted to try a honey/butter topping with a seeded loaf to see how that works.

                            in reply to: Gluten-Free Carrot Cake #12300
                            Mike Nolan
                            Keymaster

                              I've had pretty good luck just substituting a gluten-free flour for wheat flour in things like cake recipes, like the GF Texas Chocolate Sheet Cake I made a couple of weeks ago.

                              I've never seen anything about gluten in powdered sugar, though people with a corn allergy can't use it because of the cornstarch. My wife has a co-worker with celiac, she was telling me about something that might have wheat in it that surprised me, but I don't remember what it is. I'll ask her about it in the morning.

                              in reply to: What are You Baking the Week of April 29, 2018? #12299
                              Mike Nolan
                              Keymaster

                                It's not too hard to create duplicate posts, especially if you hit the submit button more than once. (And most computers will occasionally mis-interpret a keyboard press, resulting in a double submit even if you don't hit the key twice. Things like credit card processing systems try to check for this, but I don't think WordPress does.)

                                in reply to: What are You Baking the Week of April 29, 2018? #12293
                                Mike Nolan
                                Keymaster

                                  The last time I made cream cheese frosting I made a lot more than I needed, so I just put it all in a pastry bag and stuck it in the refrigerator, it's very good on graham crackers.

                                Viewing 15 posts - 6,106 through 6,120 (of 7,569 total)