General

Answered by Lynn Clark

Hi Joanne - I think a lot of people (including me!) are in the same boat this year. I've only got four guests - who have both white and dark meat preferences - so I am planning to do turkey parts. A turkey breast alone is also a great choice. If it's just the two of you and you'd like both white and dark meat, why not do a chicken? You could easily make smaller portions of some "Thanksgiving-traditional" sides to make it feel more familiar. We've got several great roast chicken recipes on the website that are easy to adapt to your personal flavor preferences (their current flavor profiles are not terribly Thanksgiving-like). Hope that helps! Best, Lynn C.

Answered by Lynn Clark

Hi Daniel - We haven't tried other cuts in our recipe for Ropa Vieja, but pork blade steak or country-style ribs would work here for pork. Pork butt would work too but that would take significantly longer to cook. For lamb, I'd probably go with the shoulder and, to keep it closer to flank for cook time, try to find boneless lamb shoulder chops. It's pretty likely cook times will be different here and, since we haven't tested it, I can't give specifics. Because of this, I would recommend a traditional version of the recipe rather than an Instant Pot version so you have more control over cook times and doneness. Good luck! Best, Lynn C.

Answered by Lynn Clark

Hi Folks - Adam just sent us his recipe. Please find it below. Enjoy! Five C Quarantine Flan (Coconut- Cinnamon- Cardamom Cr.me Caramel.) 1 1/2 cups unsweetened coconut milk 3/4 cup milk 3/4 cup heavy cream Four egg yolks and two whole eggs 1/2 cup sugar One cup sugar One teaspoon of cinnamon 1/4 cup cold water Four to six cardamom pods Approx. 1/2 cup unsweetened coconut flakes Make caramel on stove: dissolve sugar in water and cook until browned and almost burnt. Take off stove and add a teaspoon of cinnamon and stir into the super-hot caramel.. (You can buy pre-made cardamom -cinnamon sugar from Milk Street on line to caramelize, but this will work as well.) Pour the caramel into the bottom of four souffle dishes. (There’s usually enough left over for two mini-souffl. dishes as well. The minis are fun to have for dieting spouses.) Using a whisk, beat the eggs and egg yolks with the sugar— you can use relatively little sugar with the egg yolks, since the coconut milk is naturally sweet. But not for too long -- just until it is a beautiful lemony yellow. Heat the coconut milk, whole milk and heavy cream in a pot. Stir in the husked cardamom pods and the coconut. Make the mixture hot and just steaming-smoking but not truly boiling. Pour the hot milks into the egg mixture ,beating all the while with the whisk to keep the eggs from cooking. Pour the egg and milk mixture, with the coconut and cardamom still in it, into the souffle cups with the cinnamon caramel hardened on the bottom. (If the mixture’s super-frothy, you can strain it through a sieve, which will leave the cardamom and coconut behind…in that case, mix them back in cup by cup. I never find this step—straining -- makes much difference, but some like to do it.) Put the soufflé's cups into a big baking dish with boiling water poured right up so that it comes to about a third of the way up each cup. Bake for approx. thirty minutes, or until set. Refrigerate. Unmold by running a sharp knife around the edge of each creme caramel and inverting onto a pretty plate. Scoop out the residual caramel, there’s always some, with the knife or spoon unto the flan. Serve with pleasure.

Answered by Lynn Clark

Hi Carrie - Most of the recipes in which you're seeing that off-center photo are from our new cookbook, Cookish. For some reason when these photos were transferred over to the website the website cropped the photos in this way rather than our usual format. Our photo and digital teams are working on fixing these photos as we speak! Best, Lynn C.

Answered by Lynn Clark

Hi Samuel - Cinnamon rolls are usually made from a rich brioche dough with a healthy amount of butter, milk, and eggs, which all contribute to the softness of the dough. In bread roll recipes I have developed over the years, I've found that using a portion of potato makes for a particularly soft, fluffy roll. This could come in the form of an actual mashed potato, dehydrated instant potato flakes, or potato starch. That’s because the starches in potatoes dilute the gluten-forming proteins, which weakens the structural network and makes it softer, moister, and more tender. I'd also recommend trying the tangzhong method. This Asian technique cooks a small percentage of the flour and liquid (water or milk) in a yeast recipe very briefly before combining the resulting thick slurry with the remaining ingredients. This pre-gelatinizes the starches in the flour, meaning they can absorb more water. The bread or rolls may rise higher, due to more water creating more internal steam (which makes bread rise in the oven — along with the carbon dioxide given off by the yeast). Additionally, having retained more water during baking, bread and rolls will be moister, and will stay soft and fresh longer. King Arthur has a great recipe for cinnamon rolls using this method which you can find here. Good luck! Best, Lynn C.

Answered by Lynn Clark

Hi Leanne - I think ideally you want to get your pudding to between 180 and 185 degrees. The cornstarch, mixed with liquid, will thicken by 180 degrees, but the egg yolks won't coagulate until between 180 to 185 degrees. So it's possible that the eggs aren't quite coagulating before you take it off the heat and, therefore, the pudding isn't thick enough. A pudding relies on both the cornstarch and the eggs to thicken. You can definitely substitute any combination of dairy you'd like. We generally use cornstarch instead of flour because flour can make the pudding a starchy taste and a cloudy instead of shiny appearance. Hope that helps! Best, Lynn C.

Answered by Lynn Clark

Hi Sara - \Could\ the cake be frozen? Sure. \Should\ the cake be frozen? I'd say "no." Here's why: this cake is like a flourless chocolate cake that is at its best when served warm. The cake is baked only until the center is just starting to set so it stays somewhat jiggly and continues to set as it cools yielding a somewhat soft and gooey center. If you were to freeze the cake I think you would certainly lose that interior texture and the cake would potentially become dry and dense. Best, Lynn C.

Answered by Lynn Clark

Hi Jeff - Generally, when we refer to a weight of cheese we are referring to the amount \before\ grating. So when we write, "2 ounces cheddar cheese, grated," we mean 2 ounces of ungrated cheese that is then grated. We do this because it's easier to buy cheese by a weight than volume measurement. You can easily cut an 8-ounce block of cheddar in half and then half again, grate it, and not have to measure in a measuring cup. Hope that helps explain it! Best, Lynn C.

Answered by Lynn Clark

Hi Jenise - Stella Parks over at Serious Eats did a great article on scaling recipes here. You will need to divide the total weight of ingredients in the recipe by the total amount of batter needed (for a 6" pan she says you will need 12 ounces of batter) to yield the multiplier. I would recommend using a scale to weigh ingredients rather than try to figure out volume measurements. This may prove tricky when breaking up eggs. To figure out weights of eggs it's easiest to whisk together a whole egg and weigh it and then remove or add to get the weight you need. See Stella's linked article for more helpful tips and clarification. Good luck! Best, Lynn C.

Answered by Lynn Clark

Hi Walt - We've never come across anything called dolecky in our travels, but we have seen kolaches. These are sweet, raised buns - sometimes with raisins, sometimes not - that are filled/topped with cream cheese and fruit. Prunes are a popular filling in these, so I'm wondering if your dessert might be your grandmother's version of kolaches? If you do an internet search for kolaches you will find dozens of versions and recipes to determine if this is similar to your grandmother's dessert. Good luck and let us know if this is the same dessert! Best, Lynn C.