Milk Street Q&A

Answered by Elizabeth Mindreau

Hello Mary– I checked with one of our baking experts and she said, "it's a better bet to find a focaccia recipe—like ours!—that is engineered to work with yeast. Subbing out sourdough to replace with commercial yeast is possible, but will require some serious calculations and trial and error will likely be involved, too." If you would like plain focaccia, omit the tomatoes and olives.

Answered by Elizabeth Mindreau

Hello Todd – I shared your query with our Culinary Director and he said that he wouldn't recommend roasting it uncovered. This is a braise, which requires moist, covered heat. The liquid might dry out in a roasting pan before the chicken is cooked through. It would be better to use 2 large Dutch ovens, covered, if you wanted to make a larger batch in the oven, but you would still need to simmer it to reduce the sauce on the cooktop. \\\* please note, this method has not been tested in the Milk Street Kitchen. As for the meat weight, 3 pounds of bone-in chicken thighs is usually between 6 and 8 thighs, depending on their size. Figuring 2 thighs per person, this is how we settled on this being enough to serve 4. Chicken on the bone does lose a fair amount of weight during the cooking process. A tagine is a classic braise, and changing the cooking method might result in mixed success. He'd recommend the traybake below, which you could make 2 of at once for a crowd, that has a similar flavor profile. https://www.177milkstreet.com/recipes/greek-chicken-potato-traybake

Answered by Elizabeth Mindreau

Hello Deb – It might be best to be cautious and wait until after the bird flu crisis as passed to make this recipe.

Answered by Elizabeth Mindreau

Hello Mark – This is an intriguing question. Thank you for sharing the story of the restaurant and the former owner, so sad. Some questions I would ask in trying to figure out what spices were used are: • did the restaurant specialize in cuisine from a particular culinary tradition or geographic region? If so, are there traditional spices or spice blends from that cuisine or region? • Are there any identifiable seeds or spices with bright colors, anything to give you clues to identifying them? Out of curiosity, what was the name of the restaurant?

Answered by Elizabeth Mindreau

Hello Richard, Thank you for watching our program, we truly appreciate it. After adding the pasta to the water in the skillet, Chris adds 2 tablespoons of the pecorino and Parmesan cheese mixture + ½ teaspoon salt and ½ teaspoon black pepper. Let us know how it turns out!

Answered by Elizabeth Mindreau

Hello Jennifer– We haven't tested making this recipe using frozen blueberries, but think it should work. We would recommend keeping the berries frozen before you add them so that their juice won't bleed into the cake. The streusel topping should absorb the juice once it bakes. Let us know how it turns out!

Answered by Elizabeth Mindreau

Hello James, With both recipes you will end up with tender, delicious ribs, the difference will be in the cooking method and the flavor profiles. With lacquered pork ribs with hoisin, honey and five-spice you will need to baste every 30 minutes for over 2 hours. The Gochijang-glazed ribs will be hands-off while the ribs cook but you will make a sauce out of the cooking juices, glaze the ribs with that and then broil the ribs briefly. Not a lot of work, but it all comes at the end right before serving. I'd recommend starting with the recipe with the method that works best for you. See how you like it and then try the other recipe the next time you make ribs. You can decide which method and which flavor profile you like best. Let us know how it turns out!

Answered by Elizabeth Mindreau

Hello Isaac – We haven't made this using all Parmesan cheese but, considering that our recipe uses a mix of Parmesan and pecorino Romano, we think it should work just fine. We also have not made this using wine, so we cannot say how this would turn out. You could experiment by adding a small amount of dry white wine (a couple tablespoons to 1/4 cup) about a minute before adding the cheese to allow for the sharp taste of the alcohol to burn off. Again, we have not tried this, so you might need to make it a couple of times to work out exactly how much wine to add and at exactly what point. Please let us know how it turns out!

Answered by Elizabeth Mindreau

Hello Ann, Are you asking for a specific recipe or for an overall substitution? For a general substitution, full-fat sour cream would be the best choice. You could also make your own very easily. Here are the instructions (bottom-right of page) from the July-August 2024 issue of the Milk Street Magazine.

Answered by Elizabeth Mindreau

Hi Stephanie – I'm checking in from Milk Street to see if you have proceeded with the making of your creme fraiche cake. I checked with the developer of the recipe and he said that it is a loose dough and that the proofing process would make it less sticky but you will still have to scrape it out of the bowl. He said it sounds like you will be fine according to your description. Please let us know how it turns out! Best, Elizabeth & The Milk Street Team