Milk Street Q&A

Answered by Elizabeth Mindreau

Hello David, We would not recommend dry-brining beyond 24 hours, because the meat will begin to cure and become tough. We also would not recommend seasoning the meat with a spice rub at the same time as the dry-bine. The spices will not penetrate the meat as the salt does and could become dull and muted. It's best to add the spices after you remove the dry-brined meat from the refrigerator and let it sit for an hour before roasting.

Answered by Elizabeth Mindreau

Hello Nicole, Our Oven-Poached Salmon with Thyme, Dill and Vermouth would be a wonderful main dish for a pescatarian Thanksgiving, it would serve a crowd and is versatile enough to build a full meal around. We also have a variety of delicious steamed fish recipes that you could check out on our website. For a vegetarian main, we have a several roasted whole cauliflower recipes, including this Chermoula-Roasted Whole Cauliflower, on our website as well as an elegant Butter-Roasted Cabbage with Citrus, Hazelnuts and Mustard. You could also put this stunning Zucchini and Chickpea Salad with Tahini Yogurt at the center of a meal. Another option is to build a meal around a hearty soup, one of my favorites is Chickpea and Harissa Soup (Lablabi). You could use vegetable broth in place of the chicken broth and omit the hard-boiled egg garnish. This Spicy Peanut and Vegetable Stew is another great option. We also have braised and roasted vegetable dishes like the Ligurian Potato, Green Bean and Mushroom Gratin. These are just a handful of the possibilities you have to choose from. Look around on our website and books for more ideas. Best wishes for a happy holiday!

Answered by Elizabeth Mindreau

Roberta – we are so happy that you enjoy the German-style Winter Squash recipe! We believe that no cook is a lazy cook and there is no shame in using substitutions! I just spoke with the developer of this recipe and she said that although we say not to use canned squash in the recipe headnote, she thinks it should work just fine. If the canned squash is really wet, she suggests putting it in a fine-mesh strainer lined with paper towel or a coffee filter to let the water drain off. You only need 1 cup (230 grams) so remember to weigh/measure that out. We have not made this recipe with canned squash, so we cannot say for certain how it will turn out. Let us know how it goes!

Answered by Elizabeth Mindreau

Hello Phil, We are so pleased that you and your family enjoy the Roasted Chicken with White Wine Jus recipe. You can definitely double the recipe with a couple of nuances. Doubling the recipe will produce twice as much fat from the roasted chickens. Deglaze the baking sheet with half of the wine (3/4 cup) before pouring it into a saucepan. Let the saucepan sit to allow the grease to rise to the top. Skim most of this off before stirring in the remaining 3/4 cup of wine and reducing the sauce. It might take longer than 8 minutes to reduce by half because of the increased volume. As always, keep an eye on the visual cues in the recipe. Let us know how it turns out!

Answered by Elizabeth Mindreau

Hello Felix, That sounds delicious! I believe the recipe you describe is called pastel de pollo cubano. We found this description online (from the first link below) – "Cuban Chicken Pie is totally different from what we non-Cubans think of as chicken pie…there’s no cream, no carrots and celery and the crust is totally different, more cake-like, than short and flaky." We do not have a recipe for the pastel at Milk Street, but I did find recipes available online and in Cuban cookbooks published in English. A book called "Eating Cuban" by Beverly Cox and Martin Jacobs has a recipe that sounds just like your description. Perhaps you could find it at your local library. Here are a couple of links to recipes that also sound like your Mom's: https://goddesscooks.com/2015/11/28/pastel-de-pollo-cubano-cuban-chicken-pie/ https://folklife.si.edu/magazine/forklife-cuban-pastel-de-pollo A Get-Out-of-Trouble Pie for Trying Times Hopefully this helps you and your sister to be able to make your mother's chicken pie again. Let us know how it turns out!

Answered by Elizabeth Mindreau

Hello John, 1) Ground pork, as well as tenderloin or pork loin, would be too lean. This dish really requires the fat from the pork shoulder to make it rich and spreadable. Perhaps you could ask a butcher to cut you a 2-pound pork shoulder. Or if you can't get a small enough shoulder, you could use the amount you need for this recipe and then freeze the remaining pork shoulder and use it for something else. 2) Chris suggests getting leaf lard from a butcher rather than using the lard you usually can find at a grocery store. I've attached a link from the Spruce Eats website with information about leaf lard. https://www.thespruceeats.com/what-is-leaf-lard-2216904

Answered by Elizabeth Mindreau

Hello George. The recipes in "Milk Street Bakes" were developed using a regular stand mixer, when mechanical mixing was needed. Our online store team is currently developing information for adapting Milk Street recipes for the Anskarsum mixer. We'll keep you posted. Best, The Milk Street Team

Answered by Elizabeth Mindreau

Hello. Here is information from the May/June 2019 Milk Street Magazine. If you have any more questions, please let us know. # Finding a Fat That Fits We often hear about substituting olive oil for butter. But what about in baking? Carla Kahler, of Winnetka, Illinois, asked for guidance on which recipes can handle the switch. Oil and butter often are interchangeable in savory cooking, but the swap isn’t as simple when baking. For biscuits, scones and pie pastry, in which cold, solid butter is cut into dry ingredients, oil is a poor substitute because the dry ingredients would absorb the oil, yielding a sodden dough. Cakes, quick breads, brownies and certain cookies—in which butter usually is creamed or melted—have a bit more wiggle room. Creaming involves beating softened butter with sugar, incorporating air into the mixture that helps the batter or dough rise during baking. In recipes in which the butter is creamed, oil is not an appropriate substitute because it cannot trap and hold air the way softened butter can. However, our kitchen tests show that in baked goods made with melted butter (where the butter simply is whisked with other ingredients, and rise depends on either baking powder, baking soda, beaten egg whites or a combination), oil is a reasonable substitute. Cakes, in particular, stand to benefit from oil because oil remains fluid at room temperature (unlike butter), which contributes to a moist mouthfeel and softer crumb (take, for instance, carrot cake and chiffon cake). If you’re considering extra-virgin olive oil, keep in mind that its flavor is assertive. As such, we found that it was not a good match for a plain vanilla cake—milder-tasting regular or light olive oil are better choices. But we did find that extra-virgin’s fruity, peppery notes work well with spices, citrus and chocolate. In some cases, we found that baked goods made with olive oil did not brown as well as those made with butter. Also bear in mind that butter has a water content of about 16 percent, so if you’re substituting oil—which contains no water—you may want to scale back a bit to prevent greasiness. As a guide, 8 tablespoons of butter (1 stick) contains approximately 1½ teaspoons of water.

Answered by Elizabeth Mindreau

Hello Jan. We really like ThermoWorks products, particularly the ThermoPen for temping everything from water to mix with yeast, baked cakes and bread to grilled steaks. For temping oven temperature, our Kitchen Manager recommends the ThermoWorks SquareDot cooking alarm. You can get more information by visiting the ThermoWorks website. Best, The Milk Street Team

Answered by Elizabeth Mindreau

Hello. Here is the recipe: # Crisp-Crusted Persian-Style Saffron Rice with Chicken Start to finish: 1¼ hours (30 minutes active), plus soaking Servings: 4 Tahchin is a traditional Persian dish of basmati rice mixed with saffron, yogurt and egg yolks, then baked into a cake. For serving, the rice is inverted out of the baking vessel, revealing the tahdig, or the crisp, deeply browned crust, which many consider the main attraction of the dish. Achieving perfect tahdig can be tricky, but in this recipe, a 5-cup Pars Automatic Persian Rice cooker takes the guesswork out of it, yielding fantastic results every time. Though tahchin can be plain, it often is filled with cooked vegetables or meat. Here, we make a simplified version of tahchin morgh, or tahchin with chicken. A bright tomato-onion salad is a nice accompaniment to the tahchin. —Courtney Hill and Rebecca Richmond 1½ cups basmati rice ¼ teaspoon saffron threads, crumbled 2 tablespoons boiling water 4 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil, divided 3 teaspoons grated lemon zest, divided 2 medium garlic cloves, finely grated Kosher salt and ground black pepper 12 ounces boneless, skinless chicken thighs, trimmed and cut into 1- to 1½-inch pieces ½ cup plain whole-milk Greek yogurt 1 large egg yolk 3 tablespoons dried currants 2 tablespoons salted butter, cut into 4 pieces Chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley, to serve Roughly chopped roasted pistachios, to serve In a medium bowl, combine the rice with enough water to cover by about 1 inch. Set aside at room temperature for at least 30 minutes or up to 12 hours. Drain the rice in a fine-mesh sieve, then rinse under cool running water and drain again. In a ramekin or small bowl, stir together the saffron and boiling water. In a medium bowl, stir together 1 tablespoon oil, 1 teaspoon lemon zest, the garlic, 1 tablespoon of the saffron water and ½ teaspoon each salt and pepper. Add the chicken and stir until evenly coated. In a large bowl, stir together the remaining 2 teaspoons lemon zest and the remaining saffron water. Stir in the drained rice. In the insert of a 5-cup Pars Automatic Persian Rice Cooker, combine the remaining 3 tablespoons oil and ½ cup of the rice mixture. Stir well, then distribute in an even layer. To the remaining rice mixture, add the chicken mixture, along with the yogurt, egg yolk, currants and ½ teaspoon salt. Stir well, then transfer to the rice cooker insert and distribute in an even layer; do not press or compact the layers. Drizzle in 1 cup water and dot with the butter. Cover with the lid and turn on the rice cooker, setting the timer for 40 minutes. When cooking is complete, immediately shut off the rice cooker by turning the dial to the “off” position, bypassing the “keep warm” stage. Let the rice rest, covered, for 5 minutes. Remove the lid. Using potholders, carefully lift the insert out of the housing and set it on a heat-safe surface. Invert a platter over the insert. Holding the platter against the insert, carefully invert the two together, then lift off the insert. Sprinkle the rice with parsley and pistachios.