The comments are interesting. It seems there remains perhaps one small masa mill making tortillas in the 5-borroughs. That's remarkable given that this conversation about NY getting respectable Mexican as immigrants move into Queens and the Bronx has been going on for a decade. The numbers and density of the poulation vs. rents and infrastructure hurdles in America's most expensive city must not justify it. That said, I'd be surprised if there weren't a substantial tortilleria in Jersey by now.

JeffB wrote:The comments are interesting. It seems there remains perhaps one small masa mill making tortillas in the 5-borroughs. That's remarkable given that this conversation about NY getting respectable Mexican as immigrants move into Queens and the Bronx has been going on for a decade. The numbers and density of the poulation vs. rents and infrastructure hurdles in America's most expensive city must not justify it. That said, I'd be surprised if there weren't a substantial tortilleria in Jersey by now.

I guess I don't feel quite so bad about St. Louis not having our own masa mill. But then, the baguette options here are really disappointing at present.

Josephine--

We've got a masa mill in Kansas City *and* damn fine baguettes! Come visit!

BTW, K-State has published a report chronicling EVERYthing you'd ever want to know about masa and its production.

Geo
PS. Loved your new piece on Yunnan. Tnx!

You know you're a future LTHer when you're gumming the plate before you've even started on solid food . . .


MRB and the orecchiette @ Guildhall

=R=

Awesomeness...go Max go!!! Show uncle Ronnie how it's done!

Aha, so this is what pride feels like.

RAB wrote:Aha, so this is what pride feels like.

He really is adorable . And you know I don't say that about all babies.

Your DH ( a brit with NO time spent living in the U.S. south) crosses the threshold and correctly announces it smells like boiled peanuts. Yep, you have a pot of peanuts in the pressure cooker courtesy of Fresh Farms in Niles.

How do you do your 'bolled' peanuts, pairs? I got hooked on them one Spring break in Gulf Shores AL!

Geo

Geo wrote:How do you do your 'bolled' peanuts, pairs? I got hooked on them one Spring break in Gulf Shores AL!

Geo

The quickest is to treat them like the dried legume that they are. I just found a recipe that soaked them overnight, in their shells. Then throw them in a pressure cooker and cover with water. Add 2/3 c of salt for 3 lbs of peanuts(I like mine on the very light side of salt, you can always leave them in the brine after they are done to get them saltier). Cook at 10 lbs of pressure for 45 minutes. Let the pressure drop naturally. And they were done enough for me. I left them in the brine for about 45 more minutes and they were salty enough for me.

Without a pressure cooker cover the peanuts in a large pot with salted water. And cook on medium for hours, it's probably around the 3rd hour that I started tasting to see how done they are. That said, the pressure cooker is your friend.

Tnx! Sounds easy enough--and I just bought a pressure canner!

Geo

I can't believe that with all my trips to the south I have not had these. Oh well, another excuse to take a vacation.

That's amazing, Pie Lady! There were guys selling them on the side of the road, from stands, and from the backs of trucks--with hand-painted signs, mostly, everywhere we drove in southern Alabama. First sign I saw, I stopped, bought, ate, and was hooked! A major food group!

Geo

...your nightmares involve being in an unfamiliar ethnic restaurant where the staff doesn't speak English and the menu items, which look and smell (I love vivid food dreams!) delicious on other people's plates, are unfamiliar and the words disappear on the menu itself.

Oh, the horror!

You need to ask for the Dream Menu, which they only give to members of that ethnicity.

...you spend the day after all major holidays making stock with the leftover carcasses and bones.

...you plan on doing above after cooking a turkey over the weekend because, well, "I'm home."

I made turkey stock on Christmas day while cleaning up the kitchen. People hadn't left yet and commented how it smelled like turkey in the kitchen.

Regards,

You see an article in the paper titled "Should schools be teaching us life skills?" and you read it as "Should schools be teaching us knife skills?" and you think, "Neat idea!"

You grumble about having to order a couche, a lame, and diastatic malt powder, while doing it anyway, to try a recipe. http://instagram.com/p/uS_2_4FyR7/

Did anyone else have the same experience while reading the September/October issue of Cook's Illustrated for the Authentic baguette? The old baguette recipe appears to have disappeared from their website. It had no special ingredients and you can see from the above link it was brown and had an audible crunch to the exterior.

I ordered a couche, lame, and some blades from the SF Baking Co years ago and they sent me enough blades for bread and shaving to last several lifetimes. Yards of the couch too.

Are you using the malt powder in a white baguette or whole wheat?

Darren72 wrote:I ordered a couche, lame, and some blades from the SF Baking Co years ago and they sent me enough blades for bread and shaving to last several lifetimes. Yards of the couch too.

Are you using the malt powder in a white baguette or whole wheat?

The CI recipe is primarily white it has a smidge of whole wheat. I think I got that idea from Rose Levy Berenbaum to replace a smidge of white with whole wheat for almost any bread. Most of my breads have that replacement. The CI recipe has you sift the whole wheat to remove some of the bran that some tasters noted imparted a bitterness.

I ordered everything from amazon except the couche. The CI winner for the couche was from SF Baking Institute.

pairs4life wrote: The CI recipe has you sift the whole wheat to remove some of the bran that some tasters noted imparted a bitterness.

Although all of their flour is whole wheat, the folks at Baker Miller sift it before using for just that reason.

stevez wrote:

pairs4life wrote: The CI recipe has you sift the whole wheat to remove some of the bran that some tasters noted imparted a bitterness.

Although all of their flour is whole wheat, the folks at Baker Miller sift it before using for just that reason.

While I have not had a product made at Baker Miller, I did have the lovely hand pies justjoan made with their flour. Not a bit of bitterness or any of the other negatives I associate with whole wheat flour in pastries.

There is a big difference in flavor between bran from red and white wheat, which is reflected in the flavor of whole wheat flour. Bitterness is associated with bran from red wheat. My understanding is that Baker Miller uses soft white wheat for their pastry flour.

Trader Joe's has a whole white wheat bread if you want to taste the difference in bread.

ekreider wrote:There is a big difference in flavor between bran from red and white wheat, which is reflected in the flavor of whole wheat flour. Bitterness is associated with bran from red wheat. My understanding is that Baker Miller uses soft white wheat for their pastry flour.

As I understand it, they use soft wheat for their pastry flour and hard red wheat for their bread and savory items.

Soft Wheat for Pastry Flour


Hard Wheat for Bread & Savory Items


One of their low tech sifters can be seen in the hard wheat picture just above and to the left of the hands holding the wheat.

pairs4life wrote:You grumble about having to order a couche, a lame, and diastatic malt powder, while doing it anyway, to try a recipe. http://instagram.com/p/uS_2_4FyR7/

Did anyone else have the same experience while reading the September/October issue of Cook's Illustrated for the Authentic baguette? The old baguette recipe appears to have disappeared from their website. It had no special ingredients and you can see from the above link it was brown and had an audible crunch to the exterior.

How about you read an internet post that mentions a couche, lame, and diastatic malt powder in the same sentence, and you immediately recognize exactly what it's being used for.

Independent George wrote:

pairs4life wrote:You grumble about having to order a couche, a lame, and diastatic malt powder, while doing it anyway, to try a recipe. http://instagram.com/p/uS_2_4FyR7/

Did anyone else have the same experience while reading the September/October issue of Cook's Illustrated for the Authentic baguette? The old baguette recipe appears to have disappeared from their website. It had no special ingredients and you can see from the above link it was brown and had an audible crunch to the exterior.

How about you read an internet post that mentions a couche, lame, and diastatic malt powder in the same sentence, and you immediately recognize exactly what it's being used for.

I could only post that here!

In the last week you've rendered chicken, beef, and bacon fat - beautifully clean, clear, and free of any sediment or contamination. You recognize them by color so there's no need to label the jars.

Everyone keeps asking "what's that shit in the jars in the fridge?"

Thusly saddened you realize you can sink into depression or MAN-UP and...
...bake...

Banana bread, baking soda pretzel rolls, three layer chocolate cake, Sicilian pizzas (3 and counting - the one with artichoke, leek and asiago was mind-blowing), braided Italian bread with really good olive oil and sesame seeds, working on a tart Tatin, and thinking about a Concord grape galette...

.....you take pictures of all the live sea life at the Shedd Aquarium, then head to Chinatown and ask restaurants if they are serving this? How about this? That one?