Comments on: Cooking Instincts vs. The Cookbook

By: Dagmar

Dagmar — Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

The tart sure looks lovely, too bad that the crust was such a disaster. I think that everyone should trust their instincts more, but I have to admit that I too would have followed the original recipe, because you automatically trust a top chef, especially with such a prestigious cookbook award… I’m looking forward to read about you remaking the tart with your shortbread recipe, it sounds yummy with the almonds.

By: Amy

Amy — Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

Yeah, I've had this experience before (and more than once), when following my instincts would probably have given me a better result. The photo is beautiful, though.

On a side note, I've been reading your blog for while and love it. I really enjoyed your recent post about meat and vegetarians.

By: Barbara Fisher

Barbara Fisher — Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

The thing about that cookbook, Dagmar, is I love the thing–I had never baked from it, but until this year, when I dedicated myself to learning how to make pies, I didn’t really bake desserts often. I really think that the author has a lot of knowledge and a lot of good stuff to say, and I love the way she says it, but I think I might agree with a reviewer on Amazon who said that she might have waited a bit longer before writing her “magnum opus” on desserts–she is very young.

And if she were older, she might have a bit more experience to figure out that ingredients like stoneground cornmeal are variable–some are grittier than others–and thus might suggest something more specific, like, “finely ground stoneground cornmeal” or some such. I think that the toughness of the crust wouldn’t have been quite so unforgiveable had the gritty cornmeal not given it the texture of gravel.

Amy–I am glad you like my blog, and that you liked my essay on meat eating. I am going to do another similar, in depth piece on the sustainability of vegan diets, probably sometime in August. I want to be careful and do some research and some math for that one, so I get my figures straight.

And no worries–I will definately post about the remade recipe.

By: Amy

Amy — Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

Baking pet peeve: Tart crusts that are so hard they are really meant to only hold the item together for presentation, but are never ever meant to be eaten. This seems to happen a lot with individual sized tarts, especially ones served at “nice” restaurants. Sure, you can scoop out the tasty insides, but I want the whole experience, dammit!

My first attempt at pie crusts was really good. One Thanksgiving, Mom said “You’re making the pie crusts”, set me up at the kitchen table, and yelled the ingredients and instructions to me while she worked on something at the counter. No warnings, no tips really, just let me go – and they turned out perfectly. Now, of course, I’m scared to death of making bad pie crust, which probably means I will woory myself into an utter failure at flakiness.

By: Barbara Fisher

Barbara Fisher — Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

I would bet, Amy, that those little tartlets whose crusts are made of concrete, are not actually made in-house. Yes, yes, I know that you are talking about "nice" restaurants--but a surprising number of "nice" places get their desserts off site. A lot of them use commercially available frozen tartlet crusts and then fill and top them in house.

And let me tell you--some of those ready-made tarlet crusts are just this side of kevlar when it comes to eatability. Blech.

Here is my advice on pie crust--the more you do it, the better you get at it. Just do it. Don't think too much about it, either, but it helps to keep a journal of what works and what doesn't. Me, I can keep most of this stuff in my head and adjust accordingly, but most people should keep it all written down.

That is what I had Zak do when he was working with bread dough, and as soon as he started keeping track of it--his breads improved immensely.