Milk Street Recipes

Answered by Lynn Clark

Hi Richard - I’m not sure what may have gone wrong but I do know that, as Enrique Olvera mentioned in the story, the texture is more suited to serving in a tortilla or over rice than simply in a bowl as you would a more soup-like stew. This is an example of a dry braise. In a dry braise the juices from the meat and the liquid released by the aromatics are the only liquid in the braise. Since there is so little liquid the flavor is more concentrated yielding richer flavor. The tomatillos, added towards the end, will also add a fair amount of liquid but will naturally give off varying amounts depending on ripeness. Ripe tomatillos will have bright green flesh and husk and usually the smaller they are the more desirable. In this particular dry braise we use less meat since we are also adding potatoes and tomatillos. Because of this it’s really important to maintain the level of liquid in the pot by keeping it covered during the entire cooking period, which is a slightly different technique than most of our other Milk Street braises where we remove the cover after a few hours and return the pot to the oven. Again, I’m not sure what went wrong here but I hope this information is helpful! Best, Lynn C.

Answered by Lynn Clark

Hi Eli - yes, weight is what we are looking for here. Best, Lynn C.

Answered by Lynn Clark

Hi Greg - You could probably make this with pork shoulder and keep most of the recipe the same. It just won't be traditional Peposo anymore. :-) Good luck! Best, Lynn C.

Answered by Lynn Clark

Hi Kristine - I apologize for the delay in responding. We have been doing some follow-up testing to see what may have gone wrong. Does your springform pan have a dark, nonstick coating? If so, I believe that may be the cause of the issue. We generally use and prefer lighter aluminum pans in the Milk Street kitchen, which yield a more slowly-developed crust. A darker coating (especially when combined with glass) will brown faster, which is likely why your cake was too dark after just 40 minutes. If you would like to make it again using your darker springform pan, lowering the temperature to 350 degrees should solve the problem. I’m so sorry this didn’t work out the first time for you. We will be making a note of this difference in pan color going forward. Thanks! Best, Lynn C.

Answered by Lynn Clark

Hi Chris - Thanks for your question! Since our Fast and Slow cookbook focuses on electric pressure cookers and we didn't test our recipes in a stovetop pressure cooker, I can't offer an exact revision. However, I can give you some general guidelines that should help you. Since stovetop pressure cookers release a small amount of steam as they cook, some amount of evaporation occurs. Electric pressure cookers are so tightly calibrated that they do not release steam at all. This may mean you need to add a little bit more liquid, likely no more than 1/4 cup. This is especially true for recipes that are pressure cooked for more than 30 minutes. I'd say for this recipe a tablespoon or two might be enough. Also, since a stovetop pressure cooker works at higher pressure (usually 15 psi vs. 10-12 psi for electric pressure cookers) they will cook faster than an electric pressure cooker. A general rule is about 3/4 the cooking time of an electric pressure cooker. So, for this recipe that cooks at high pressure for 25 minutes, a stovetop pressure cooker would only take about 18-20 minutes. You will probably have to experiment and use a little bit of trial and error to get it perfect since all stovetop pressure cookers are slightly different. Hopefully these guidelines will help in your efforts! Best, Lynn C.

Answered by Lynn Clark

Hi Gregory - Thanks for your question. We haven't tested this recipe with other nut butters, but I would imagine cashew butter would work fine. Cashews and peanuts have a similar fat percentage and, therefore, would behave similarly. That being said, cashews are much more mild in flavor than peanuts so I wonder if the overall flavor of the tart would suffer. I'm not as sure about almond butter. Almonds have a bit more fat than peanuts. Since the texture of this filling is so delicate, I would be concerned that it would be compromised using higher-fat almond butter. What you could try is substituting cashew butter for the peanut butter in the filling and almonds for the peanuts in the topping to see if the flavor might be more balanced than simply using cashew butter and cashews. Hope this helps! Best, Lynn C.

Answered by Lynn Clark

Hi Mitchell - Thanks for your question! First, keep in mind that, as it's written, the recipe yields (4 )12-inch pizzas so you would be looking at making 8-12 pizzas at once if you were doubling or tripling the recipe. That's a lot of pizza! :-) If you want to double or triple the recipe to freeze the dough you would only have to do the warming step for as many pizzas as you would be cooking at one time. Warming the dough at room temperature likely will not work here. That is because, in most homes, room temperature is not more than 70 degrees so the dough would never reach the 75 degrees that is required in the recipe. Since the temperature is so critical here I would be concerned it would get too hot if you tried to warm an oven and create a "proofing box" for the dough as an alternative. Therefore, warming the dough in warm water is, in fact, a critical step. This dough is so great and easy to work with, though, I think it's well worth the effort! Best, Lynn C.

Answered by Lynn Clark

Hi Maureen - Unfortunately, Thai sticky rice or, glutinous rice, will not work in this recipe. The term “sticky rice” is used to refer to lots of different types of short grain Japanese, Chinese, or Korean rice. In the context of Thai cooking, “sticky rice” refers to long grain glutinous rice that is consumed most commonly in the north and northeastern parts of the country. The opaque white rice is usually marketed as Thai sweet or glutinous rice in the United States. Rice contains two types of starch: amylose and amylopectin. The amount of each starch, which is different for every type of rice, determines the texture of the cooked rice and whether it will be fluffy, creamy or sticky. Arborio rice typically contains about 15-17% amylose and a good amount of amylopectin which results in a creamy consistency. Glutinous rice has no, or negligible amounts, of amylose. Sticky rice is a starchy grain. If simmered the same way as Arborio rice (or simmered and then baked, as is done in this recipe), the grains will break down and become soft and mushy in consistency. Glutinous rice should soaked and then steamed to preserve it's texture. Thanks for your question! Best, Lynn C.

Answered by Lynn Clark

Hi Patrick - We used to call for 12 ounces of pasta because we were trying to abide by certain portion-size recommendations that call for 3 ounces of pasta for a single serving (so 3 oz. x 4 servings = 12 oz.). That being said, we are constantly reading and evaluating customer feedback and, therefore, we will now be calling for 1 lb. of pasta in our pasta recipes. Thanks for being a fan! Best, Lynn C.

Answered by Lynn Clark

Hi Beth - Thanks for your question! We haven't tested make ahead instructions for this recipe but, in general, breads and rolls freeze pretty well. For yeast doughs most experts recommend freezing the dough before shaping due to the potential for moisture loss. In the case of dinner rolls (in particular these super-moist sweet potato rolls), we prefer shaping, freezing, then allowing the dough to thaw/rise at room temperature on the day you want to bake them. It saves a lot of work on the day of and I think most people won't notice the small loss of moisture. I do this all the time with very lean dinner rolls and nobody complains! Although you could bake and freeze the rolls I think you would lose a lot of the benefits/joys of having freshly-baked rolls. If you decide to go that route, just make sure to wrap them well (either in plastic and then foil or a freezer zipper top bag) to protect them from freezer burn. For freezing shaped rolls, I like to freeze on the sheet and then transfer to a freezer zipper top bag. That way I can easily pull out a couple at a time for quick, freshly-baked rolls. Hope that helps! Best, Lynn C.