Have you ever seen a skinny elephant?
A pound of peanuts has more calories than a pound of beef. It also has more nutritional value by far, being packed with vitamins, minerals and fiber.
READ ONAuthor: joepastry
Sometimes You Don’t
Of course we all know that the peanut isn’t really a nut, but a legume or bean. I don’t know why I was so disappointed to find that out as a kid. But I really, really was.
READ ONThe Fake McCoys
People who’ve made candy at home may have looked at yesterday’s posts and thought: what’s all the fuss about? Why go to all that trouble when there are perfectly good nontempering chocolates to be had? A reasonable question. Nontempering chocolates, also known as coating chocolates, are chocolates from which the cocoa butter has been removed […]
READ ONChocolate Gear
As stated previously, chocolate tempering is a tricky undertaking (it’s also fun and delicious, no matter what the results). Good gear vastly improves your chances of success. While the microwave is without a doubt the best tool for melting chocolate, you need a good double-boiler if you want to tackle tempering. Concerning measurement, you’ll want […]
READ ONThat Waxy Taste
What is it about unstable cocoa butter crystals that give chocolate that soft, waxy consistency? It’s not because “unstable” fat crystals are inherently softer or more likely to fall apart, though that would be a reasonable guess. One of the many interesting things about fat crystals is that they melt at the same temperature at […]
READ ONTemper Temper 3
The thing that separates true tempering from the rest of the so-called “tempering” that happens in kitchens is that it involves both controlled heating and cooling. Just like in metal casting, chocolate tempering means manipulating the liquid goods so that specific types of crystallization can occur. Different types of cocoa butter crystals form at different […]
READ ONTemper Temper 2
A few weeks ago I rather breezily dismissed “tempering” as just one more case of chef-show fancy-speak. Most of the time it is. It’s become a word that gets thrown around food show sets any time a chef wants a fancier word for “warming”. But you don’t “temper” a pot of chicken stock any more […]
READ ONZap It
What’s the best way to melt chocolate? Hands down, the microwave. No other melting method gives you as much control, as long as you do it slowly. You want to break or chop your chocolate up into small-to-medium sized pieces, put them in a glass or ceramic bowl, and zap it on high for intervals […]
READ ONThe Candy Arts
You may be wondering what the heck candy has to do with pastry. Quite a lot, as it turns out. As anyone who’s ever watched one of those pastry competitions on the Food Network knows, candy-making techniques make up the lion’s share of what people consider pastry nowadays. It’s actually a bit irritating to old […]
READ ONGreat Comment…
…on last Friday’s pig post. The Old Foodie points out that pigs and baking do go hand-in-hand, since lard makes such excellent pastry. And oh my yes it’s true. Lard, being extremely rich in flavor, can be turned into the best pie, quiche, tart and pizza crusts known to man. It’s also indispensable in corn […]
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