Gluten Free Conversion

Question

I am in the process of converting my boyfriend and myself to a gluten free regimen. I have had a lot of success with gluten free recipes, but I am now wanting to convert my previous recipes to gluten free ones.

My questions are:
1.) For the flour portion, is it cup for cup? (one cup of regular flour for one cup of gluten free flour)
2.) How much xanthan gum should be added per cup of gluten free flour?

Thanks for your help!

Answer

This may not be a great answer, but 'Bob's Red Mill' makes a great All Purpose gluten free flour that is 1-1. He also provides suggestions of the amount of Xantham gum to use, depending on the application (muffins, bread, pie crust, etc). Since cake flour has less gluten than all purpose, and bread flour has the most gluten...you can vary the amount of Xantham gum to simulate this without gluten.

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What is the difference between sea salt and regular table salt?

Question

I often sea sea salt sold in grinders to be used at the table, with comments about how it tastes better. What sort of taste differences would I notice using sea salt vs table salt, and what other differences might using one over the other impart?

I've also noticed people say that regular table salt is unhealthy, but that sea salt is somehow healthier for you.

Answer

I can say, as a salt snob, that sea salt is a far more flavorful product. I can't even use regular table salt anymore.

Sea salt is salt formed from evaporated sea water, is not iodized, and because it doesn't come from salt mines requires very little processing. Some people will say that because it's "natural", sea salt must be better for you. The mayo clinic seems to disagree: http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/sea-salt/AN01142

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What does adding dark rum give to a fajita stir-fry?

Question

I'm looking at a recipe for a fajita stir-fry that includes an optional 2 tbsp of dark rum. The introduction for the recipe mentions,

Latin spices combined with the optional kick of dark Jamaican rum make an interesting marriage of flavors.

What does the rum offer to the recipe? I ask because I'm not sure I want to buy a whole bottle of dark rum just for one recipe.

Answer

In the Caribbean and other Rum producing areas, you find Rum in all sorts of recipes

It is sometimes an unusual flavour pairing, but not necessarily bad. In savoury cooking it adds a semi-burnt sweetness, more like toffee or butterscotch than straight Rum

Caribbean and Mexican cooking is well blended and harmonious with many common ingredients (chilli, coriander, avocado etc.)

Considering the popularity of spicy jerk meat and Rum, the Rum Fajitas would be an interesting experiment

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How to make Latte art on a Cappuccino?

Question

It's Sunday morning and I just missed my latte art, as usual.

I have no difficulty to make an espresso with enough crema and to get a big layer of foam from my steamed milk, but I cannot achieve to draw any pattern with it. The milk just push the crema on the side.

Is there a particular technique? or maybe I'm doing something wrong?

Answer

A cappuccino is probably not what you want to try latte art on. The amount of froth in a cap will probably cause the milk to be too thick to pour with.

You want to start with your milk texture. You want stretch the milk and texture it so that it is suitable for a latte or maybe even a flat white. Correct micro foam will be integrated with the milk. It won't float on top. The surface will appear shiny and it will have the consistency of cream. For a free pour this is really important.

Crema can also be your enemy. If your beans are too fresh, it can be a bit difficult to cut through. You can swirl your cup. You can also break it up a bit with your milk since you won't start pouring immediately.

Once you can get your milk texture right, a good way to start is with some basic shapes. It can be useful to have a jug with a pronounced spout.

1) A basic dot in the middle of your cup. As you get to the top of your cup, tilt your jug a bit more to let the foam push the crema out of the way.

2) Basic heart. Same as the dot. But instead of just stopping the pour, push through the dot and slow the pour down quickly at the same time.

3) Layered dot. Starts like your basic dot. But as you increase the pour rate, wiggle your jug left and right smoothly. This will pull coffee in between the layers of the milk. Then just stop pouring.

4) Layered heart. Same as the layered dot, but pull through the dot like the basic heart.

5) The Rosetta. This is probably the iconic latte art pattern. This uses the skills of your layered heart. But you start your pour from the back of the cup with relatively large wiggles, then start to pull back and make your wiggles smaller. This gives you the curls at one end of the cup and the tapering "leaves" at the other. To finish, pull through like a heart.

Other patterns are then variations on these themes. Like the tulip, swan, multiple hearts, multiple rosettas. And some combine free pouring with a bit of etching eg. smoking dog, pac man.

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What is this Italian Cookie called?

Question

I'm looking for a recipe for an Italian cookie that I remember having as a child. Are there any good sites around that I can describe what I remember and have any chance in hell of someone helping me? Thanks!

EDIT: OK, here's what I'm looking for. The cookie is shaped like a gnocchi or cavatelli but is much bigger, about 1.5 inches long and slightly larger than a quarter in diameter. It is distinctly 'C' shaped, though. The cookie was fried, probably deep fried, and then soaked in honey. The color is a very deep, dark brown.

The cookie is very dense but flaky. There was not a very strong flavor other than the honey that I recall (i.e. not anise-flavored or something strong like that). The texture is what I'm really after, I think

It is not a Zeppole (it doesn't puff up) or a Bow Tie (not as brittle in texture, certainly not as thin) or the little pea-shaped cookies (Struffoli?).

Based on our family tree these are probably going to be a Southern Italian cookie, from Calabria. But that's just a guess/hint.

Thanks!

Answer

Gnocchi shaped? I am pretty sure they are Turdilli! .

It's a traditional Calabrian recipe:

They are deep-fried:

And hot-soaked in honey too:

Same biscotti, slightly different shapes:

Bear in mind that fried cookies soaked in honey are a traditional treat for carnival and Christmas seasons all over Italy, so you may find many, many similar recipes. From http://www.marinacepedafuentes.com/2010_02_01_archive.html :

Evviva i Dolci di Carnevale rigorosamente fritti, che ricevono nomi diversi secondo i luoghi. In Toscana chiacchiere o trecce, e poi frappe laziali, castagnole romane, frittelle di riso molisane, fritole triestine, nigelan altoatesini, sfincitelle siciliane, tortelli romagnoli, bomboloni fiorentini, cicerchiata umbra e chi più ne ha più ne metta!

At left with figs syrup, at right with honey:

A full blown italian fritti feast:

Turdilli recipes in Italian

Turdilli recipes in English

Video: Making Turdilli

A shop near my house sells turdilli (hold your envy)

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Is there a special Wasabi paste/powder I should use when I'm making Wasabi ice-cream?

Question

A friend of mine once made Wasabi Ice-cream. I remember she was saying she had used some special 'Wasabi Powder' Unfortunately I can't reach her, and I wanna try to make this Wasabi Ice-cream at home..

I am wondering if it's anything special I should consider when using Wasabi to make ice-cream (wondering about the cream curdling, etc) or can I just use the standard Wasabi (or horse raddish) paste I get in the Asian section of the supermarket?

Answer

To my knowledge wasabi paste is just wasabi powder that has had the water added to it by the factory. So if you are looking at paste vs powder I would go powder. The question to me would be to make it a paste before you add it to your ice cream base or to add the powder directly to the ice cream base. I would venture to say you should be just fine adding the powder directly to the ice cream base.

Now, for the ugly truth. Pretty much all you wasabi powder sold in the US or Japan for that mater isn't really wasabi(or contains very little wasabi). It is horseradish, that is colored green and has some sort of mustard or turmeric added. And really not what I would want to try in an ice cream. Plus the flavor of the pastes are not like fresh (even with horseradish).

If I were doing an ice cream, I would want to stay away from the powder all together. I would visit my local specialty food market or online specialty market and see if I could source real wasabi. But cost might be prohibitive for you as it is very expensive. Next the good news is, there are some powders out there that are actually dried ground wasabi powder such as this one at "The Spice House". It was most likely something like this that your friend used if she did use a powder.

Anyway, I hope this is helpful to you. And good luck.

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Marshmallows are wet on the bottom as they set.

Question

I tried to follow this recipe: http://www.davidlebovitz.com/2011/07/marshmallow-recipe-candymaking/

Deviations from the recipe: - I used icing sugar instead of the marshmallow mix. - I could not find corn syrup. I wasn't sure if I could keep the sugar syrup from crystallising and for some reason I thought a bit of xanthan gum might help. - My measurements for the gelatine are probably a bit rough since my scale is not so good for strange numbers like 17g.

I set the mixture in 2 pans, one pyrex, one steel after coating the bottoms with icing sugar. After about 3 hours I checked on them and tried a bit. The texture is good but maybe a bit firm. It is really more like a floppy meringue than store marshmallows.

What worries me the most is that the bottoms are wet. I have turned them out in the meantime to let them dry out a bit. Is this normal? Can I prevent it?

Answer

It's exactly your deviation which caused the problem. Stiff meringue weeps - the foam slowly loses the egg white moisture. When you mix cornstarch in it, the cornstarch absorbs the water droplets before they have the chance to make a big wet spot. So if you use the marshmallow mix, you won't have this problem.

As for crystallization, I am not sure that xanthan gum helps. It prevents crystallization in ice cream, but there you have too much water between the dispersed particles of the other ingredients, and this water forms ice crystals. Xanthan thickens the water and makes the water droplets smaller, so they don't freeze to big, crunchy crystals. In a sugar syrup, you have it the other way round. Sugar is better soluble in hot than in cold water, so once the syrup cools down, there is too little water and too much sugar. I don't think that xanthan is capable of doing for the sugar what it does for the water. But even if it helps, it will make your result firmer than you want it, you'd have to reduce the gelatin, risking to end up with marshmallows either too firm or too soft.

The usual way to prevent sugar syrup from crystallization is to add an acid to it. This splits the sucrose molecules into glucose and fructose, which don't crystallize at the saturation sugar does. Be careful what you add, you don't want your marshmallows to smell of vinegar. Cream of tartar is the neutral smelling choice, and citric acid has a smell, but it doesn't feel out of place in most sweets.

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