I'm not sure whether to be glad or sad: In **200 Skills Every Cook Must Have**

M

marilynfl

Moderator
...there were only TWO out of 200 that I haven't done:

1. Boning a shoulder of lamb, mainly because I don't like lamb.

2. Butterflying a leg of lamb: reason= (see above).

Of course, I'm not sure just how valid or worthy this book is because here are the (paraphrased) instructions for cooking polenta:

1. Bring required water and salt to boil.

2. Whisk in polenta and reduce heat

3. Add butter and milk and beat for several minutes until polenta is cooked.

Ya. This is EXACTLY the kind of skillful and informative step by step instructions I'm looking for..."to turn a good cook into a great cook."

 
...and I may be a snob, but I don't consider *buttercream* to be real *buttercream*

unless a simple syrup is boiled and used, rather than just mixing powdered sugar with butter.

 
I agree. . . the "usual" butter cream around here, consisting of butter and. . .

powdered sugar with some sort of flavoring, all beaten together, cannot hold a teeny-weeny candle to French or Italian butter creams, made with the cooked sugar syrup. Rose Levy Beranbaum's Neo Classice French Buttercream is to die for--and pretty easy to boot!

 
Yes...it's a deep ivory color with yellowish tones...definitely not pure white like

Swiss Meringue.

But good grief, the flavor is SO MUCH BETTER than powdered sugar icing. I cut my buttercream teeth on this exact recipe and Alice Medrich's chocolate buttercream and never looked back.

Well, I did make my favorite powdered sugar once more and it was such a disappointment in taste. And it had cream cheese and an egg yolk and sour cream along with the cocoa, so it was interesting on its own. But still can't hold a candle to melted chocolate and lots of fat.

 
Do you use a balloon whisk or a paddle? And how much chocolate do you use?

I've been using ganache because I have become so lazy - so easy just to dip the cupcakes or pour over a cake - but this sounds easy and interesting. Not that I have done much baking but I am feeling the urge.

 
lucky me, I had already posted Alice's original way back when: 2008

You don't need 13 oz of chocolate though--you can still get a high quality icing with 8-10 oz. Just reduce the water amount by a few TBL (edited: you would remove MORE than 1 TBL) if you do reduce it.

Note...the basic buttercream is made first, then the melted chocolate is added. Make sure the chocolate isn't hot. This freezes so beautifully.

I actually take ice packs (from my long suffering frozen-shoulder days) and wrap them around the KA mixer bowl to cool it down faster after adding the hot syrup.

http://eat.at/swap/forum1/91142_Alice_Medrichs_Chocolate_Buttercream

 
Lana, Marilyn, please consider trying the Neo Classic Butter cream at cheezz's link above. . .

You do NOT need a candy thermometer; when the syrup comes to a boil as described in the recipe, it is AUTOMATICALLY at the right temperature. Due to this, I find the recipe is very easy. I won a special cake contest at the LA County Fair years ago using this recipe for the frosting and the rest of the cake came from recipes in "The Cake Bible" by Beranbaum as well. In the book she give instruction on how to flavor the frosting with other things besides extracts/eau de vie; my frosting for the contest was a mocha flavored one.

"The Cake Bible" is a great book if you have not seen it--do exactly what she says and you will have perfect cakes. Very good recipe writing, and she explains stuff amusingly as well.

 
mistral, I have made Rosie's neoclassic. And love it! So glad I had

perfect initial experiences with both the vanilla and the Medrich chocolate versions, because I've had them break since then and didn't panic.

It IS a little obscene the amount of butter that goes into them. I used to make cakes for our library volunteer parties and they would be in awe of the icing. I think because they were so used to grocery store cakes that use shortening and don't leave such a rich taste in the mouth.

 
I make french buttercream (with boiling honey instead of sugar) weekly for my macarons, and if you>>

beat the egg yolks enough before adding the boiling sugar or honey, it will come to an almost white when finished. not snow white, but just off-white. If your yolks are really deeply coloured, they colour will be darker. I buy really cheap eggs, so the yolks are relatively pale.

 
Don't know a current answer to that. My *Alice* books are pretty old and back then

she was VERY SPECIFIC about the fat ratio in chocolate percentages. If you wanted to use a lower % than her recipe called for, you had to adjust both the fat and sugar amounts.

So since white chocolate doesn't have any cacao liquor/solids in it, I'm not sure how it would react. But I "think" a good quality white chocolate (like Lindt or Valhora) would work since it's added at the very end.

One more thing: I've "whiten" yellowish white chocolate by adding "BRIGHT WHITE" gel food coloring. I was making peppermint bark and wanted the contrast to be brighter.

 
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