I haven't seen winesap in stores in decades. I got some from the farmer's market a couple of years ago and got some from a u=pick orchard last year.
I don't specifically remember offering that advice, I think the most important part of blind baking is to make sure you have plenty of pie beans.
I'm not sure what we're doing for either Thanksgiving or Christmas this year, we've told the kids that we're not making the trip to Pittsburgh this year. My younger son, the one who lives in CA, has Zeldathon (an online fundraiser) in Erie PA right after Christmas. My older son was talking about possibly coming here for Thanksgiving, but I haven't heard if that's a go or not. We may invite my wife's sister to come over for Christmas dinner.
I may drop a line to SFBI and ask if I can post it. It's a really good pie filling, but probably not anything particularly different from other recipes.
I'm making Vienna bread today.
No, it's the one I got at SFBI pastry school, I'm not sure if I can post it or not.
Winesap is a great pie apple, but it is too firm for applesauce. It is the best pie apple I've ever used. There are some European varieties that are supposed to be even better, but good luck finding any of them on this side of the pond.
I pre-cook the pie filling and then freeze it. That way it's ready to be put in a pie shell. It also works great in Irish Apple Cake.
I made a regular and a gluten-free Texas Chocolate Sheet Cake the other day, using King Arthur's gluten-free blend for the latter. I think adding cocoa masks the taste of gluten-free baked goods, but that recipe isn't vegan.
I don't think Empires are good cooking apples, though some sources say they are, they're decent eating apples, though. They have a thick skin, so they don't bruise easily and ship well. My experience has been that they don't store well, they get mushy.
They're a Cornell cross between McIntosh and Red Delicious that dates back to about 1945.
I made some chicken salad from the chicken used to make the stock. Our 18 year old cat likes the chicken, too.
Hmm, I wonder what you did differently? Overmixing is a common problem with pie doughs, as is adding either not enough or too much water. Too little water and it crumbles when you handle it, too much and it encourages gluten development, which makes it too elastic, so it fights being rolled out.
The stock is in the cooling stage now, then I'll strain out the aromatics and chill it overnight to separate out any remaining fat. I should get 12-14 quarts of stock from 2 chickens, normally I get 4-5 quarts from one chicken.
I plan to start using it by making a batch of potato leek soup, probably tomorrow or Friday.
Wound up making pepper steak stir fry for supper. Chicken stock still going, I'm trying a different process, based on the one in Rachael Mamane's book "Mastering Stocks and Broths". It is a bit more time-consuming.
I'll be making a Texas Chocolate Sheet Cake tonight for the Halloween feast at my wife's office tomorrow.
Today I'm making a large batch of chicken stock, probably 10+ quarts.
I made Veal Marsala this evening, which we had over toast.
