David Chang

a big mess of an attempt at chocolates using polycarbonate molds and ganache filling. ganache was 2:1 chocolate to cream. dark couverture @ 70%. tried my best to temper it right but the results were still streaky. very difficult to remove them from the molds. maybe silicon would be easier next time. ganache needs to be in semi liquid state or else the bottoms will not be covered properly.

@Troble may i offer you some advice when making neopolitan pizza? the dough does not look properly fermented. if the dough ball is the size of a baseball, it should almost be double the size when its time to stretch. it may be the dough recipe you are using, or perhaps not enough time fermenting. but there needs to be a puff (cornicione) on the crust for neopolitan. this crust is airy and open crumb. it will totally expand once the dough hits the stone. this is a single i pie i made today. i also used caputo blue and some bread flour. i noticed you have trouble with the shape. fret not. you don't need to do any slap stretching or toss dough up in the air like they do on TV. what you can do is heavily dust the dough ball and press down on the ball with your fingers and slowly work the circle while maintaining an even base and even crust thickness. take your time with this. if the shape is poor, it will come out like an amoeba. if things start to be sticky, throw some flour on and keep shaping. if the bottom sticks, through some flour on a pastry card and lift the sticky spot out. the only time i lift the dough off the marble is to put it on the pizza peel for toppings and launching into the oven. i use both my fists to lift it and gently place it on the peel. and lastly, the temperature. i'm cooking on gas in the alfa with floor temp at around 850F. i have done it on the kk at around 650F. I would say 650F is the absolute minimum for neopolitan. but regardless which oven is used, when the dough is properly made it will give you better results. the bottom should have some browning, but not so much there are burnt spots that give you bitter taste. but all of this is made possible if your dough is properly made. i use this recipe a lot (usually scaled to 3 balls). notice the fermentation times. it is usually days long and worth it. hope this was helpful.

ah yes, sg chili crab is usually mud crab, which is also available in the market, but i have never made this dish. we usually can get two or three kinds of mud crabs here. the one packed with orange roe is heaven. i don’t know which crab we ate exactly, its definitely a blue variety. the fishmonger gave us a female, rest were males, but the male crabs taste better. we steamed them.

it's crab season so we bought some live crab from the pier today.

Finally got my hands on some reasonably priced tonka beans. As a first timer, this tastes very much like cherries, vanilla, and trident cinnamon gum. I infused a tiny bit into simple syrup for a few minutes and made an iced coffee with it. To my surprise, it changed the coffee taste. It elevated the sweetness, without making it sweeter. It's almost like msg for sugary foods. The aroma is mild, but it sticks to everything it touches (knives, cutting board, hands). I made some extract and syrup in the vacuum chamber and tossed some chopped beans in sugar. I don't think the extract is anywhere near ready to use, but I think it gave it a few weeks head start.

@Syzygies ah i guess we missed each other. was there in june 2018 🫣

@Basher hong kong. it looks like a very nice unit, but its too hardcore for my needs. i'm looking for a fireplace with cooking capabilities for light grilling, kids roasting marshmallows and stuff. the fire bowl i have is rusting, but i think i can replace it when the time comes.

the more i look at this stuff, the more i'm put off by the prices. it just gets really expensive for a relatively simple setup. and i have to ship it to asia on top of the that. i think i will keep using my old pit and santa maria grill until it really falls apart..

i passed at the opportunity to buy copperware for cheap at place seffarine in fes. my wife berated me for it because i told her we would go over our luggage limit. never tell your partner about luggage limits when traveling. 😂 i didn't know "goose" was a gastronome.

hey guys, i'm looking to replace my firepit and santa maria grill that sits on top. after several typhoons, this thing is becoming a rust bucket. i'm looking for another setup to burn wood or charcoal, have adjustable cooking grates, and can withstand the elements. can't be too heavy, i will need to ship it overseas. must be coffee table high. i have my eye at the breeo. https://breeo.co/pages/backyard anything else i should be considering? thanks.

yeah they made this for the cyclists in the race, its pastry cream fortified with butter and praline. the original power bar..

This pastry is deadly high-calorie. Eat at your own risk! Recipe here:

Hello and welcome. Always wanted to visit Mallorca...

@jonj yes, the alfa covers are pretty lightweight compared to kk's, but they seem to do the job. have you bought pizza tools? i have an alfa set with ruby red anodized aluminum, but they are just OK.. i've heard good things about GI metal pizza tools..

never cooked a tri-tip either. i have to buy this cut from a restaurant wholesaler. not really available in supermarkets..

i've never cooked tomahawks before. where i am, they are really expensive, like $100-150USD for around 1kg.

recipe here: https://youtu.be/ucsRnO_LLzE oven settings: 180c. top and bottom elements. no fan. 15 min. this was my breakfast lunch and dinner when i was a poor college student. costs about $0.75 back then…

all this pizza oven talk made me toss a pizza for lunch🤓 running gas and caputo red flour. great pizza flour…

not a review, but an introduction to a double arm mixer normally found in commercial bakeries, but made into a compact bench top size.. i wish the bowl was removable and the multi speed model is really too much $$$. 😅

to make it lighter, you can remove the brick floor of the oven by prying them out with a butter knife.

@John T hi john, those two ovens are very similar in floor space and mouth. the difference being alfa is made in italy. FV in china. however i do like the cart design better on the FV, seems more practical. @Poochie high temperature breads like pizza and fougasse is ok. but i haven't had luck baking bread (450-500f) in the alfa. i think they over-marketed the heat retention capabilities on steel top ovens. it simply does not retain heat like a full on refactory dome oven to bake bread. once you remove the heat source (turning off gas or removing embers), the temp drops a degree every few seconds or so. but what i found useful to keep heat loss to a minimum is to remove the flue and place a pot lid over the exhaust. but the other problem is steam production. i have tried ice cubes in a tray, and spraying a mist of water prior to baking and it's till not enough steam. the last two methods i read about in a wfo forum i haven't tried is using rolled towels soaked in hot water. if that still doesn't work, i have the APO oven for all my steam baking needs, and i don't taste the difference between breads in gas or wood, so not going to be sore about it. dessert is also something i've haven't really made, but i've seen fruit cobblers baked with great success by others. that being said, i think it's easy to get to pizza temps, but more challenging to maintain lower temperature cooks. @MacKenzie why would the bricks explode in cold weather?

thats too bad, im in the market for one. but location and voltage prohibits me to buy from you.

chicken for lunch. i had a hard time starting my charcoal and it never got to the roasting tempa i wanted but somehow it still came out pretty good..😅

well, if i was still living in ny, we could meet half way in new haven and do a pastry/horseradish swap 😄

that integral stand has two hooks in the front to hold tools. very useful and the only model with this feature i believe..