When buying replacement cartridges for your seltzer bottle or siphon, be aware that there are two different types of identically-sized gas cartridges that you can buy at gourmet or party supply shops. One is specifically made for seltzer bottles and contains CO2. The other is made for cream whippers and contains N2O, a.k.a. dinitrogen oxide, […]
READ ONWhere to acquire the makings of a do-it-yourself soda fountain? Seltzer bottles (soda siphons) can be had at most Target stores, or on the Target web site. Places like Williams Sonoma have them, but you can pretty much guess what the main drawback is there: price. At a discount store, you can expect to pay […]
READ ONI’ve always thought that one of the great missed opportunities of the high-end dessert scene is the classic soda fountain. From where I sit, sodas, phosphates, malts and the like are wide open territory to an enterprising restaurant pastry chef. I can imagine a three-part dessert in some chic eatery composed of a key lime […]
READ ONA couple leftover brownies, some unused ice cream mix, a little peanut butter…sounds like peanut butter brownie ice cream to me. For all those who are having trouble with icy, crystal-filled ice cream this summer, try peanut butter. Commercial peanut butter has all kinds of emulsifiers in it to keep it from separating, and those […]
READ ONWhat do you get when you mandate that the government purchase seven and a half billion gallons of ethanol? Really, really expensive ice cream. Such are the strange and unexpected wages of micro-managing energy policy. Maybe leave it to the market next time, Saxby.
READ ONBefore I change topics today I thought I’d try to bring a little closure to some of the broader points I’ve been making about home baking over the last week. One of the things I like about a blog so much is that like most other types of long-form writing, it’s as revealing to the […]
READ ONFor big, thick decorative curls, you need to melt your chocolate completely, spread it evenly on the back of a sheet pan with an icing spatula, then gently scrape it up into ribbons when it’s partially set. I usually harden the chocolate in the fridge once it’s spread, then let it sit at room temperature […]
READ ONSo here you have Dorie Greenspan’s French Chocolate Brownie, a little (or a lot) of homemade banana ice cream, and what Saveur magazine might call “a touch of whimsy” (i.e. a few chocolate curls). It’s definitely an uptown version of the classic American brownie I did last week for the 4th. What’s the difference? First, […]
READ ONWhat with all the safety problems the Chinese have been having with their food exports, a new “get tough policy” has just been announced. Just how tough is the new policy? Pretty tough.
READ ONI can sense it in the ether…so many of you out there looking askance at the Dorie Greenspan book I’ve been pushing the last several days thinking: So what’s the big deal? There’s a new baking book released about every other minute these days. What makes this thing so special? Well, for those of you […]
READ ON