Milk Street Recipes

Answered by Lynn Clark

Hi John - I think you could definitely make a steamed cake in an Instant Pot. You'll want to use the rack that comes with your Instant Pot to elevate the cake pan up off the bottom and out of the water. I believe the largest cake pan that will fit in the Instant Pot is a 6-inch pan, which is not a standard size so you may need to buy one. Luckily, Samantha from the My Kitchen Love blog already modified our recipe for the Instant Pot! See her version of our recipe here. Good luck! Best, Lynn C.

Answered by Lynn Clark

Hi Susan - We're so glad you enjoyed the soup! We understand that it's helpful to know the nutritional information for recipes. However, we are not a health food magazine and, therefore, do not have a nutritionist on staff to accurately calculate the nutritional details for all of our recipes. Computer programs to calculate nutritional analysis are wildly inaccurate so we don't feel confident in using and publishing their results. Thanks for writing! Best, Lynn C.

Answered by Diane Unger

Hi Thomas - It's hard to answer that question since I did not test smoking while developing the recipe. I have no way of knowing what temp the pork would be at after 3 hours of smoking and I don't know what temp was used for smoking. I would guess that you could smoke it, cut it up, and proceed with the recipe and cook until tender. That would be my best guess! Good luck! Diane Unger, Director of Recipe Development

Answered by Matthew Card

Here you go. I always keep a pot of in the refrigerator. Money in the bank for quick meals. Use a bit of the oil to fry eggs! Or a fat spoonful on toasted for instant garlic bread. # Garlic Confit Start to finish: 20 minutes Makes ½ cup 1 large head garlic (about 16 cloves), peeled and thinly sliced 3 tablespoons salted butter 3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil 1 bay leaf 4 sprigs thyme In a small saucepan, add the butter, oil, bay leaf and thyme. Heat on low until butter is melted and temperature reaches 185 degrees. Add the garlic and stir to coat and submerge. Cook for 15 minutes, stirring occasionally until the garlic is tender, translucent and jammy. Pour into a bowl and set aside until cool, about 20 minutes. Transfer to a small storage container and refrigerate for up to one week.

Answered by Lynn Clark

Hi Karen - We use a 12-cup bundt pan in our kitchen, which would explain why you had a bit of extra batter in your 10-cup pan. Unfortunately, that particular recipe omitted the pan size. A good rule of thumb to ensure a cake doesn’t overflow the pan is to fill it 2/3 to 3/4 full. This will allow enough room for it to rise without overflowing. Thank you for bringing the omission to our attention. Best, Lynn C.

Answered by Dawn Yanagihara

Hi Nancy - It appears you caught a small error in the recipe. The weight for the dried cherries should have been expressed in grams, not ounces -- 168 grams, if I did the calculations correctly (math is not my forte). But when it comes to chocolate, the Milk Street standard is to express weight in ounces because here in the U.S., package labels lead with avoirdupois weight and list metric weight in parentheses. Plus, American cooks, myself included, tend to have an easier time thinking in ounces/pounds rather than in metric weight. Nonetheless, your point is well taken, and the next time chocolate comes up in a recipe, we'll reconsider our approach. Perhaps offering both avoirdupois and metric weights is the way to go. Happy baking! Dawn Yanagihara, Recipe Editor

Answered by Diane Unger

Hi Brice - In response to your question about the panade for the meatballs being too thick, I got in 5 different brands of Panko. I measured 2 ½ cups by volume of each in dry measuring cups using a dip and sweep method, then weighed each brand. The difference between the 4-C (very coarse) and Wegmans (the finest) would mean ½ cup plus 2 tablespoons difference, which is a lot. For breading a cutlet, it doesn't matter as much. I developed the recipe with 4-C brand, which weighed in at 166 grams (5 ⅛ ounces). The mixture is quite thick after you mash it, like Play-Doh, but will loosen up after you add the onion and egg. Here are a couple of other tips when making the meatballs to prevent them from falling apart: It's very important to let the crumbs sit with the water to fully hydrate the crumbs. Make sure to refrigerate the meatballs for the full 20 minutes before baking them. The cold meatballs will hold their shape better during baking. After baking, let them cool for 10 minutes on the sheet. The meatballs are still pretty soft when they are fresh out of the oven and hot. Allowing them to cool will firm them up before you add them to the sauce. Make sure your sauce is at a gentle simmer when you add the meatballs. If the sauce is bubbling too much the agitation will break the delicate meatballs apart. Hope this helps! Diane Unger

Answered by Lynn Clark

Hi Maureen - The generous size of these meatballs is their hallmark in Naples, so we were pretty dead-set on making them to scale and did not test other sizes. I imagine you could make them smaller and adjust the cooking time, I just can't give you exact timing since we didn't test it. You do want to make sure to still put them in the pot with the sauce as they simultaneously finish cooking through and flavor the sauce during this time. Hope that helps! Best, Lynn C.

Answered by Lynn Clark

Hi - Thanks for your question! Our preferred method for seasoning and cleaning cast iron and carbon steel can be found here: https://www.177milkstreet.com/discussion/discussion/comment/88#Comment\_88. Chris's preferred tool for cleaning cast iron is a grill brush with one or two, light mesh scrubber pads attached. He finds this gets the job done without being too harsh on the cast iron seasoning (like a chainmail scrubber might be). If you do get your cast iron skillet wet, the best method to dry it is to first dry it with a towel and then put it on a burner over medium-low heat to make sure it gets completely dry. Good luck! Best, Lynn C.

Answered by Matthew Card

I think we ultimately found the parsley wasn't necessary and we always aim to streamline our recipes. If you like, feel free to add!