Italian Meringue - No Weeping!

Info:

Italian meringue is made with boiling sugar syrup, instead of caster sugar. This leads to a much more stable soft meringue which can be used in various pastries without collapsing. In an Italian meringue, a hot sugar syrup is whipped into softly whipped egg whites till stiff. This type of meringue is safe to use without cooking. It will not deflate for a long while and can be either used on pies and Baked Alaska, or spread on a sheet and baked for meringues.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Meringue

Ingredients

• 1 cup superfine sugar
• 1/3 cup water
• 5 egg whites, at room temperature
• 1/4 teaspoon cream of tartar

Directions

In a small pot over low heat, combine sugar and water. Swirl the pot over the burner to dissolve the sugar completely. Do not stir. Increase the heat and boil to soft-ball stage (235 to 240 degrees). Use a candy thermometer for accuracy. Wash down the inside wall of the pot with a wet pastry brush. This will help prevent sugar crystals from forming around the sides, falling in and causing a chain reaction. Prepare your meringue.

In the bowl of an electric mixer, whip the eggs whites on low speed until foamy. Add the cream of tartar, increase the speed to medium, and beat until soft peaks form.

With the mixer running, pour the hot sugar syrup in a thin stream over fluffed egg whites. Beat until the egg whites are stiff and glossy. Spread the meringue over a hot cake or pie, and bake as directed.

For Meringue Cloud Cookies: Preheat oven to 200 degrees F. Line baking sheets with parchment paper. Dollop spoonfuls of meringue onto baking pans, alternatively you may use a pastry bag with a star tip. Bake for 2 hours until crisp. Turn off the oven and allow meringues to cool and completely dry out.

http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/tyler-florence/italian-meringue-recipe/index.html

No Weep Merigne

Never Fail Meringue
This makes a tender meringue, and it will not weep!

2 teaspoons cornstarch
2 tablespoons cold water
1/2 cup boiling water
3 egg whites
6 tablespoons granulated sugar
1/8 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

Mix cornstarch and water. Stir into boiling water. Cook until thick and clear. Let cool completely.

Beat egg whites; gradually beat in sugar, salt and vanilla extract. Beat into cooled, cooked mixture; continue beating until mixture stands in peaks. Spread on pie. Brown in preheated 375 degree F oven.

http://www.theingredientstore.com/joesplace/swap1.pl?noframes;read=7270

Turkey Brine

http://www.the-perfect-turkey.com/turkey-brining-recipe.html

2 gallons (256 oz) water
1 cup Diamond Crystal kosher salt*
1/2 cup brown sugar
4 bay leaves
1 Tablespoon peppercorns
1 bunch sage
1 bunch thyme

Chips - Salt Flavor

the older i get, the more i feel that the plain old Salt Flavored ones are the best

• when younger, bbq was my fave!
• then i moved onto funyuns and started to like the complex adult flavors of sour cream and onion
• now, i find myself most interested in salt only or if available, salt and pepper
• sounds like i am either turning white or old
  

Eggs in Bread

Eggs

Whole eggs are about 75% water, so, as with milk, bakers must be careful not to
simply substitute one for the other. Whole eggs are net tougheners, which means
that, although the yolk contains fat, enough proteins are present in eggs to more than
compensate for any tenderizing effects in the yolk.

ADD STRENGTH

Whole eggs typically are included in a bread formula to add strength to dough,
together with a bit of color and flavor. If strength is all you want, then egg whites
may be added alone, or you can use separated egg yolks to add richness and color
to the bread crumb. Whole eggs and egg yolks are also useful in another way—as
emulsifiers. Lecithin is a natural emulsifier in egg yolks that holds added fat in suspension
with the moisture in dough. This is especially important in high-fat breads
like brioche.

(from "Bread Baking: an artisan's perspective")

Tangzhong Starter Reasoning

• weakens the gluten structure in the flour
• same reasoning as roux as the longer it cooks, the less thickening power it has, which means its gluten strength is weakened...
• so if i want to really weaken the gluten power of flour, i should add more water and cook longer...
• as the soft chinese bread usually asks for pastry flour which has less gluten, this roux idea totally makes sense...
• i wonder if 1 or 2 minutes on the stovetop is enough to weaken it.
  

Sub Cake Flour with A/P Flour + Corn Starch

To substitute cake flour for all-purpose flour use 1 cup plus 2 tablespoons cake flour for every cup of all-purpose flour. Make your own - one cup sifted cake flour can be substituted with 3/4 cup (84 grams) sifted bleached all-purpose flour plus 2 tablespoons (15 grams) cornstarch.

A/P Flour - 84 grams (3/4 cup)
Corn Starch - 15 grams (2 tbsp)

Read more: http://www.joyofbaking.com/flour.html#ixzz18mYpllq7

Flour Weight

All-Purpose Flour:

1 cup = 140 grams

1 cup sifted = 115 grams

Cake Flour:

1 cup = 130 grams

1 cup sifted = 100 grams

Whole Wheat Flour:

1 cup = 150 grams

1 cup sifted = 130 grams

Bread Flour:

1 cup = 160 grams

1 cup sifted = 130 grams

Read more: http://www.joyofbaking.com/flour.html#ixzz18mYdBikU

How to Make Your Own Cake Flour

Cake flour is something most of us don't keep around because - well - we use boxed mixes! Besides cake flour is pretty expensive. Did you know it's actually pretty easy to make a substitute that works really well? Here is the recipe - quick and easy!

Difficulty: Easy

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

• 1 3/4 cups Flour
• 1/4 cup Cornstarch

1. Mix the flour and cornstarch together, using light whisking movements with a fork or whisk. That's all you really need to do.

2. You could simply substitute all purpose flour for cake flour by taking two tablespoons of regular flour from each cup of all purpose flour. The reason for adding cornstarch instead of just using less flour is to lower the gluten content in the flour to make it lighter and to reduce the chance of your baked goods becoming tough.

3. Flour that is produced as cake flour is actually bleached to make it white and to break down the protein that produces gluten in the flour. It's also higher in starch, so adding the cornstarch is exactly what all-purpose flour needs to work as cake flour. The finer texture of cake flour is produced by longer milling so you can run the flour/cornstarch mixture in a food processor if you want that finer texture.

Read more: How to Make Your Own Cake Flour | eHow.com http://www.ehow.com/how_4532763_own-cake-flour.html#ixzz18mYBRV00

Keys to Prime Rib

• let the rib stand outside overnight to make the inside more to room temp. several hours is not enough, not even 4....in the summer ok, but in the winter, useless
• most important is that it gets enough time to rest, more so than the meat staying hot...leave lots of time for the meat to be done prior
• took about 15 minutes to rise 1 degree
• after 6 hours at 200 degrees, my meat was only at 90 degrees
• low and slow is the best method...meat was tender and no outer ring of dark
• torch is great
• score the skin to make it not shrink
• no need to cut off bone from meat prior...it is very easy to do later if i cut the huge cooked prime rib in half and use a boning knife
• salt the meat up to 24 hrs in advance or else the salt does not penetrate the skin...
• salting it lightly after the meat comes out of the oven might give that nice crunch that i love in steak.
  

Key to Ratatouille

• piperade should be more dry
• cover tightly with foil when baking to keep veggies moist and tops not dry out
• parchment allows air to get in and dries the top of veggies
• add several holes in foil after halfway cooked and fully off when reheating it should be enough to reduce the liquid
• much new liquid comes from the layered veggies, so we can let the tomato piperade reduce a lot more than i expect.
• very little salt...it gets reduced down anyway.
• 350 to reduce with foil off is fine..takes about 20 min to get a lil dried on top and reduced.275 as the instructions say seems to be too long
• think i prefer just to poke holes after 1st hour of baking at 275.
  

Steam Method for Bread

cast iron pan is best...but what if no room for the pan?

• a foil pouch and several pieces of ice should be perfect and fit easily..
• with the baking tile so hot and foil so thin, ice should make the condensation no problem