Cooking

[DeVaultSetter]

That’s odd, is it just a standard sugar syrup like the one here? Of course it would make sense if it were for just one sponge section, was a particular filling recommended for it? She also welcomes questions. 🙂
Lovely, any recipes in mind? Wikihow covers the basics rather well. 🙂
Enjoying lamb roasts over here, foil shiny side down might help with the sticking on removal, would you recommend a little oil or grease on the foil as well?

[Spastic Hamburger]

Yeah, just a basic syrup. The recipe said to stack the layers and then pour. It may work better to do the first layer, stack, then pour again.

Cool! Wasn’t aware she had a site. Good to know! And an updated version of the book is on the way. Awesome 🙂

Made a basic goat curry out of it with carrots, green peppers, and rice. Nothing fancy but it was delicious 🙂

I cooked the goat in the clay pot with the vegetables, the rice in the pressure cooker. One thing I wish they’d do is provide boneless goat but it seems traditional to sell the meat with bone for some reason. /shrug

Wouldn’t hurt to grease the foil, too. It’d also lend a good flavor to the underside of the meat. Love lamb over here. Another one I love to use the clay pot for. 🙂

[Spastic Hamburger]

So, yeah, this thing was announced: https://www.theatlantic.com/family/archive/2024/09/kitchenaid-evergreen-mixer-status-symbol/679896/

Highly impractical and expensive. For the same price, you may as well get an Ank and have a much better mixer.

Apologies for the paywall!

[Spastic Hamburger]

Okay, here’s a more public article: https://www.foodandwine.com/kitchenaid-evergreen-stand-mixer-fall-launch-8714173

Sorry about that!

Sorry, most of the critical articles from bakers are paywalled. I’ll try to find a better one. The gadget sites rave about its looks but the people who actually use it are wholly against it.

[DeVaultSetter]

Although KitchenAid are certainly expanding their design templates to accommodate an aesthetical integration in the kitchen decor, the right choice really depends on how the kitchen and contents are intended to look in the initial design phase.
Personally, all that is required from a mixer is reliability, efficiency and ease of use, – and a place to store it when done. Cleaning is also important, a self-cleaning mixer anyone?
One thing that cannot be avoided is noise, a good mixer always makes a good racket. 😛
Edit: It’s for making bread? Can it whip up a pumpernickel toast – as per Denzel?

[Spastic Hamburger]

Yeah, I always wear earmuffs when using the mixer. It gets loud! Especially when I’m whipping up egg whites or cream. Ten minutes of that is pure torture!

In theory, one could make an in-wall mixer. Would be much quieter and would like quite nice. Wonder why nobody has taken the plunge yet?

😀

Haven’t made pumpernickel yet. Probably should at some point since I quite like it!

In the mood for making something a little bit more adventurous. Any ideas?

[Spastic Hamburger]

New cookbook! Going to need to break out the recipes! 🙂

[Spastic Hamburger]

So I’ve found that paprika actually goes well in coffee. Pretty tasty! 🙂

[Spastic Hamburger]

Fun little fact: some of the Walmart brand cake pans are actually rebranded Wilton pans. When I got some pans there, someone had gotten lazy and simply slapped a Mainstays label (their private label) over the Wilton label. 😛

Those were my early baking days back in 2019 or so before I knew more about pans. 🙂

[Spastic Hamburger]

Going to try making raspberry cheesecake soon using a modified strawberry cheesecake recipe. Let’s hope it works out!

[DeVaultSetter]

How about revamping the Green Goddess Salad? There wants to be more clarity on it so bemoaned the fact there is no article for it on Salad Dressing page.
Never tried paprika in coffee – probably best without sweetener though. Is that instant or brewed?
Please share some of your newly found pan lore. 🙂
Wouldn’t it be cool if you could visit a restaurant with a feed bag attached – what are the possibilities in enhancing the table talk? A language of muffled humphs and grunts. And forget the pre-dinner drinks or after dinner cocktails, unless the bag has a siphon attached. 😛

[Spastic Hamburger]

Doesn’t appear on their list of salads, either 🙁

Always go with brewed coffee! Of course, I’m not very good at making it but it’s not too bad. 😛 Don’t like to take up my counter space with a coffee machine (got rid of the old one as it was too big) so I use a tea infuser to do the job 🙂

So these days, USA Pan is one of the better options. I upgraded all of my baking pans a few years back and they’re much better than the flimsy hand-me-downs that I had been using. Much sturdier so that won’t warp as easily (happens frequently with the low-cost aluminum pans) and they distribute heat better. My cookie sheets and bundt pans are from Nordic Ware and work really well. I still need to replace my muffin pans but I haven’t gotten there yet 😛

I’ve heard good things about Fat Daddio cake pans but never tried them myself.

Cheesecake turned out good. My spring-form pans leaked, though, so I need to do some additional cleanup. The leakage was fat so I didn’t see it until it cooled off when I next opened the oven. Next time I’ll put the pan in another pan to keep that from happening. 🙂

For the December holidays, I’m thinking of making a chocolate fudge cake with milk chocolate frosting. Still haven’t used my 10-inch tube pan but I will eventually!

Getting in the mood for soup. Maybe minestrone?

One can also use one of these for drinks!

[Spastic Hamburger]

Decorated my first cake for the holidays last week and it turned out great! Instead of using a pastry bag, I used one of these. Unfortunately, I didn’t think to get a picture before the cake was devoured 😛

[DeVaultSetter]

How did the choc fudge cake go?
😛 And a dalek’s eyestalk to hold the carafe! 😛
That’s a rollicking good old fashioned icing set, and oh, a picture is just what’s required to titillate the tastebuds for sure!

Obtained a packet of donut peaches or Ondines, being a popular store brand over here. Not quite as tasty a regular peaches, a good grower for a harsher climate, so an Angel/donut peach tree is on the list for autumn.
If trying your hand in the making of sourdough bread, apparently a SCOBY culture is required. There’s a fair bit of preparation in this Hibiscus kombucha cake with SCOBY already in the kombucha. Just ensure the flowers aren’t from either Hibiscus rosa-sinensis or Rose of Sharon. 😛
It’s awful when things leak. Up here over winter, knock up much of the chicken and fish preparations in covered casserole dishes to go in the stove. No matter what, there is leakage during the cooking which ensures a hard carbonised crust on the dish for a big clean up later. Have never found one which doesn’t. Foil and the like might reduce it some, more waste going in the skip though.
Also looking for a roasting dish for our handy little oven, the stores here mostly focus on plugin ones, some of which look quite nice. They all possess the plastic electrical contacts and whatnot that would unfortunately make a very nasty mess in the oven if we are not careful.
Haven’t scoured the Nordic range yet, will soon. 🙂

[Spastic Hamburger]

Turned out great!

Yeah, I’ll try to get a picture of the next one I make and decorate. Too late now: it’s already passed through the body and back to the water treatment plant 😛

Oh, cool. We don’t get those around here, only the regular Prunus persica variety (free stone and cling). Due to the weather conditions the last few years, our crop has been hit or miss unfortunately.

Another way of getting the proper culture is to simply mix flour and water for a few days in a warm environment. After a week or two, the culture should have colonized enough so that you can start using it for repeated baking. Need to get the ratio down just right, though. Here’s one recipe if you want to try your hand at it. 🙂

Yeah, casseroles boiling over is always an issue here too. I have yet to find a recipe where the quantity doesn’t risk boiling over. I think it’s just due to the recipes trying to fill up a standard pan size, with cooking times written for such. May play with things on a larger pan at some point and see if I can figure out the proper details for a system that doesn’t boil over.

In theory, I could use my pressure cooker as a roaster but it’s too narrow for a lot of things. Used it a few times and it works out rather well, though. For a roasting pan, I just use an old hand-me-down. I probably should replace it at some point, though, as it has some bad hot spots and is very lightweight so doesn’t cook evenly. Don’t use it a whole lot, though (maybe a few times a year for special occasions) so it’s not something I’ve gotten around to yet 🙂

[Spastic Hamburger]

So I’ve started using the slow-cooker to roast chicken. It works great! Either a whole chicken or chicken breasts with a bunch of various vegetables and seasonings mixed in. I just turn it to high and let it run for a few hours and presto!

Probably going to pick up some cake boxes soon to make it easier to transport them. They’ll be handy to have around!

I also need to look at getting a knife sharpener at some point.

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