Milk Street RecipesAsked Aug 22, 2020 by Amy T.
Hi Milk Street team - are you doing some kind of experiment with recipe writing? Your use of metric vs non for both dry and wet ingredients seems to be all over the place, even within a single recipe. Why not consistently just show both with one in parentheses? I find myself more and more taking your English measurement and pouring it into a bowl or cup on my scale and annotating the book/magazine, esp. for baking. It would also be helpful for dough recipes to put the Kitchen-Aid speed in parens when saying things like ‘ low or medium low’. KA 2/3/4 would be helpful (of course if KA isn’t on-board with the reference or another sponsor has an issue, I guess you can’t. ). Thanks!
Answered by Lynn Clark
Hi Amy - I spoke with our Recipe Editor, Dawn Yanagihara, and she asked me to pass this along:
Thank you for your note. We’re always trying to improve our recipe style to make our recipes easier to follow, and we admit that in the early days of Milk Street we may not have been very consistent about metric weights and volume measurements. Just to be clear, we give metric weights along with volume measurements in only baking recipes because weights are more precise and help ensure success in recipes that are sensitive to variance in ingredient amounts; sweet recipes that do not involve baking use only volume measurements. Our kitchen uses metric weights when developing baking recipes but also tests with volume measurements to ensure good outcomes either way.
As for your suggestion about specifying speeds on KitchenAid mixers—we try as much as possible to not be brand-specific when it comes to kitchen equipment. We hope that regardless of the brand of appliance, cookware, bakeware or utensil, our recipes turn out so well that you want to make them again and again.
Happy Baking and Cooking!
Dawn
Read MoreAsked Aug 21, 2020 by Susan B.
Hello, I’m so grateful to Milk Street for having a wonderful cooking school in Boston. The last caramel I made was Milk Street’s recipe, Caramel Oranges: the simple magic trick of turning oranges into dessert. It was an exciting moment at Milk Street Cooking School where I tried this first hand, and yes it came out wonderfully. I’ve made this recipe several times with success, since.
In trying the Salt & Pepper Butterscotch recipe my first mistake may have been to assume there was some wiggle room in choosing the exact moment to take the caramel off the heat and add 4oz of water. My 6oz, 1.24 cups sugar mixture went from a sludge-like clump where it remained for awhile, then suddenly changed to liquid, and a black smoking tar so darn fast!
My second mistake I think was subbing moscavado in, because I was out of dark brown sugar in the recipe.
Third although my saucepan is All Clad, it may not have been the right choice for equipment.
in this recipe:
# SALT AND PEPPER BUTTERSCOTCH PUDDING
Instructions:
In a large saucepan over medium-high, cook the butter and sugar, stirring, until vigorously bubbling, then continue to cook for 1 minute...
I could not get past the few seconds where my sugar and butter mixture was in a clump, then very briefly liquid and suddenly smoky black bubbles, let alone allowing it to stay in the bubbling state for one minute.
it took 3 highly dramatic tries, setting off the smoke alarms twice, and using 75% white sugar and 25% muscavado sugar to land results that were edible, which I finished up the recipe with.
The result was predictable too sweet as it lacked enough of the bitter notes in dark brown sugar, but edible.
each time it the caramel darkened more when I added the water to it. Lastly the consistency of my caramel after adding the water was very liquid, and barely thickened at all at this point., as you can see,
49334A6D-36F8-4EFE-AAFB-9F5AF7DC65EC.jpeg
An overly sweet, watery, burnt colored, dark brown liquid. And this was my best batch.
I’m so grateful for any tips you may have. If you rely on a particular sauce pan you’d like to recommend I’m interestingly to know more.
Thank you,
Susan.
Answered by Lynn Clark
Hi Susan - I spoke with Rebecca Richmond, the recipe developer, and she thinks it may have to do with the Muscovado sugar. The larger grains of Muscovado sugar (as compared to dark brown sugar) will take longer to dissolve and may be burning before they can fully melt. Likely due to the fact that there is more molasses in Muscovado than dark brown sugar. I would also try lowering the burner down to medium heat. It will take a little longer to reach the bubbling stage, but it will give you a bit more insurance against burning. You have a little bit more control over the speed of cooking and, in the event your stovetop runs a little hotter than ours, this will adjust for the temperature difference. I hope this helps! Best, Lynn C.
Read MoreAsked Aug 21, 2020 by Steve S.
The recipe is for 6-7 lb chuck roast at 325° for 2 hrs + 1-1.5 hrs.
How much would cooking times be reduced if making half recipe, so 3 - 3 1/2 lb roast? thx
Answered by Lynn Clark
Hi Steve - Since it's the size of the pieces of meat that matters more than the volume when it comes to cooking time, it's probably going to take close to the same amount of time to cook the pieces until they meet no resistance. I'd follow the recipe but start checking the meat a little early. Good luck! Best, Lynn C.
Read MoreAsked Aug 19, 2020 by Elizabeth S.
I’m planning to make the black eye pea stew tomorrow and only have dried- it looks as if I don’t need to soak them over night- is this true of black eye peas? Any clue how many dry equals the 3 cans asked for in the recipe? Thank you for any help you can give!
Answered by Lynn Clark
Hi Elizabeth - Since this was developed for our Tuesday Night cookbook, we always started with canned peas since they were quicker to cook. Because of this, we haven't tested this recipe with dried peas. Generally speaking, for dried beans (black-eyed peas are actually beans, not peas), we \do\ recommend soaking overnight in salted water. We did some testing on equivalencies for dried vs canned beans and you can find those results here. This article also gives our standard cooking method for dried beans. Hope this helps! Best, Lynn C.
Read MoreAsked Aug 19, 2020 by Edward Z.
Can the Piadina be made the day before eating and if so how to store it?
Answered by Matthew Card
Yes, they can be made ahead. I would layer them between parchment paper or kitchen towels and store in the refrigerator. They can then be reheated in a hot, dry skillet.
Read MoreAsked Aug 19, 2020 by Edward Z.
Can the Ricotta Cheese Cake made with semolina be made the day before?
Answered by Lynn Clark
Hi Edward - As long as you leave it in the fridge, this should be fine made the day before. Good luck! Best, Lynn C.
Read MoreAsked Aug 18, 2020 by Robert S.
Hello,
I see that the Tagliatelle with Portobellos and Chive Ricotta recipe calls for red miso. I only have white miso. Will there be a noticeable difference or do I need to add red miso to my pantry?
Thanks.
Answered by Lynn Clark
Hi Robert - I checked in with the recipe developer, Courtney Hill, and she said that white miso would also work. Not as strong a flavor as red miso, obviously, but the white miso would still be a lovely addition. Hope that helps! Best, Lynn C.
Read MoreAsked Aug 17, 2020 by Nan J.
I just made the Harcha (moroccan flatbread) recipe and 2 things were very off. First off the mixture was a batter, not a dough that could be patted out into circles and the batter was very salty...pretty inedible. When I was searching to see if anyone else had comments about the recipe (why can comments be attached directly to the recipes?) I saw the comment about the different brands of kosher salt. Mine happens to be Morton. I did weigh the semolina so am curious if the amount of water is off. Fortunately, they did cook up but are more pancake-like in texture.
Answered by Lynn Clark
Hi Nan - I'm so sorry that the recipe didn't work for you. As you've discovered, different brands of kosher salt have grains of different sizes so 11/2 teaspoons can yield different amounts of salt amongst the brands. We always use Diamond Crystal kosher salt because we like the size of the grains - large enough to pick up and sprinkle, but small enough to dissolve easily. When using Morton's you'd want to use a little more than half as much salt as called for in our recipes. As for the texture issues of the dough, a couple of things come to mind. First, did you let the semolina soak for 10 minutes before adding the butter? This is an essential step to make sure the semolina absorbs the water. Second, was the butter chilled when you added it to the semolina? Once the mixture sits for 10 minutes it should still be hot enough to slightly melt the butter so you can mix it in easier. However, if the butter is too warm when it's added to the hot semolina it will fully melt and make the dough too loose. Not sure if either of these steps is where the recipe got tripped up. I did double-check the amount of water and confirmed that 3/4 cup is correct. Let me know if I can help further. Best, Lynn C.
Read MoreAsked Aug 13, 2020 by Ambre C.
Has anyone cooked the stovetop chocolate cake in the Instant Pot and how long at high pressure? Thank you
Answered by Lynn Clark
Hi Ambre - Unfortunately, we didn't test this in the Instant Pot, but it's a great idea! Hopefully someone has tried it and can give you some guidance. We will keep it in mind for a future Fast & Slow recipe. Thanks! Best, Lynn C.
Read MoreAsked Aug 10, 2020 by Joseph S.
Can your recipe for a single pie crust be doubled? What mods need to be made to the recipe for doubling (I assume it’s not quite twice as much of everything, given other double pie crust recipes I have seen and used)?
Answered by Lynn Clark
Hi Joseph - We previously asked Christopher Kimball this question and you can find his answer here. Best, Lynn C.
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