All this talk about grills reminds me - I’ve been on the lookout for a practical solar cooker for camping trips for a while now. I have made simple box versions in the past with 2 cardboard boxes, a layer of crumpled newspaper insulation, a turkey roaster bag for the panel, and tinfoil for the reflector, but I’m interested in something more long-lasting (and ideally more packable) for long-term use.
I’d like something that I could put some soaked beans in, or some rice, and go for a hike, and come back to a cooked meal. Or toss some veggies in oil and lay them in there and come back to roasted veggies.
I’ve seen some kind of gimmicky, expensive tube versions, but haven’t tried them out. I’m thinking a parabolic one might be best, but haven’t used any of those, only seen them used at fairs and such.
Any advice from fellow happy mutant foodies? Pro and con advice greatly appreciated!
Oh, Hive Mind, I need some help. I’ve got some new silicone molds - cylinder and 3" dome - and need to use them. I’ve got a pantry full of just about anything I could need from hazelnut flour and persimmon pulp to dulce de leche, eggs, and 40% heavy whipping cream. What are some delicious things I can do to put the new bakeware through its paces? I was thinking pavlovas with a stabilized fruit mousse? some kind of domes/bombes with a hazelnut dacquoise base?
Any advice would be appreciated.
I’ve mostly seen the domes used for chocolate work, though my sister was using them for little mirror cakes. Which is apparently complicated and very popular on instagram.
A pastry chef friend uses them for small baked Alaskas and Lava cakes. He’s a modernist food sort of guy on a retro kick.
I’m a big flan of custards. 
Already did a persimmon flan with cardamom!
Hell, ya!
They really can be used to hold just about any preparation. At my last job we would fill them 3/4 full with mousse, then stick in a frozen smaller fruit gelee, fill with more mousse, scrape level and top with a disk of japonaise or dacquoise. The whole thing would get frozen and we would untold iit onto a screen on a tray and pour glaze over the top. We used many combinations of vanilla mousse and different fruits, chocolate mousse and more chocolate, coconut mousse, etc.
The website for Albert Uster products has loads of recipes, many of which use such molds. Just check out the pictures for ideas. There’s a YouTube channel called JustIn cooking, which is in French, but the recipes are given in grams and the procedures are easy to follow. They have several holiday desserts you might find interesting.
I can go into more detail if you’re interested.
Please! More detail would be wonderful!
Oh my, that is great! Thank you.
Spatchcock for the win!
We have saved up the backbones in the freezer and made stock.
spaghetti squash pad thai with fried tofu (fried in wok using a Tblsp of that delicious chili oil from recipe shared by @ClutchLinkey)
sauce is very easy - tamarind paste, fish sauce and brown sugar. topped with scallions, cilantro and chopped peanuts.
this is how it came out:
Roasted duck legs with marmalade and red pepper flakes, and Brussels sprouts. A damn fine dinner, with plenty of mashed potatoes. Tonight it’s short rib ragu over polenta, both of which will have been cooked in the instant pot. The ragu is now chilling, and the polenta will take about 25 minutes.
Turns out the konro can only fit about a single layer of the Thaan so “how much charcoal” is less of an issue than I thought. I could get a double layer up in there but it’d be touching the grate. One layer leaves about 1-2" from the food, which is kinda the sweet spot from what I remember. The grill like all grills requires a burn in, manual says to heat it up then let it cool.
@kentkb tried snuffing it out by covering with a sheet pan and closing the vents. But when I opened the cool grill hours later (like 4) the logs were still lit, about 1/3 of them left. Which worked out pretty good short term. Old logs became the center log in a new layer, along with a parafin fire starter for safety, when I heated it back up for cooking.
!
In hind sight I should have done the burn in with white people charcoal. The 5lb Thaan box is 13 pieces. It takes 6 to fill this guy. I ended up burning through 10 pieces today, and paid $12 for the box. Which is fine given it was burning for close to 8 hours, but being a new grill most of that weren’t cooking.
So we have negima (chicken and scallion), shio (just salt and pepper), and tsukune (chicken meatball). All from thighs. Lots of king oyster mushroom, and some leftover boiled potatoes.
Cooking pics.
I did not take enough pictures of finished sauced skewers cause I was running them in the house to eat them with family. I’m also reasonably sure there is chicken fat on my phone’s camera lens now. But this thing is great.
Things I learned:
Tie back your hair.
Guinness goes great with yakitori
A solid even layer of charcoal seems to be really important here. When the old charcoal in the center rung burnt down this thing seriously slowed down. Early on that reused charcoal gave me a lot of heat to start cooking early, before the new stuff had gotten it’s shit together, but towards the end the empty spot on the heat layer caused issues.
The traditional dunking in tare seems to work way, way, better than brushing it on. It just doesn’t seem to get as up in there when you brush it on. And the multiple rounds of brushing shit on just slows you down letting things burn in spots.
@kentkb You can definitely dunk this stuff to douse it. Since capping the grill didn’t work I dumped the remaining charcoal into a small pot of water using tongs. Worked just like I remembered. They bubble, hiss and float. When they stop making noise and sink they’re out. Drying on a tray in the garage right now.
So cool!
Looks great, a grill well done… I mean done well?
Cooked correctly!
You asked for this:
Ok, to make this dessert you will need several preparations. (This is one reason making this kind of thing is often left to professionals. Pastry kitchens will eventually use all of a given batch.)
You will need:
two fillings, a mousse and a creamaux or fruit jam
A cake or biscuit
A glaze
Some decor
The fillings can be any combination that takes your fancy. We will start with a chocolate pair.
Chocolate mousse
2 tablespoons butter
4 ounces chocolate, chopped (used semisweet chocolate for this)
3 eggs, separated
1 ⁄ 2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 ⁄ 4 cup sugar
1 ⁄ 2 cup cream
Melt the chocolate and butter together, stir to blend and set aside.
Mix in the egg yolks and vanilla.
Whip the egg whites with half of the sugar to a stiff peak.
Whip the cream with the rest of the sugar just to a soft peak.
Stir 1/3 of the egg whites into the chocolate mix, then fold in the rest and fold in the whipped cream.
Chocolate creamaux
55 g glucose syrup (you can use corn syrup)
55g egg yolks
300g heavy cream
155 g whole milk
200g dark chocolate
Heat the syrup in the microwave until it thins out.
Mix in the egg yolks and beat to emulsify.
Bring the cream and milk to a boil, temper into the egg mix and blend completely.
Pour through fine strainer over the chocolate and stir to blend. Pour into molds and freeze. Or, pour into a sheet tray and freeze. You want it about 3/4” deep. When frozen, cut rounds about 1”.
Chocolate sponge
Here’s a link to a great recipe with lots of technical info.
Instead of baking it as a round cake, spread the batter in a parchment lined 1/2 sheet tray (12”x17”) and bake it for 10 minutes, turn the tray and bake an additional 5 minutes. When cool, turn it out of the tray, peel off the paper and cut rounds just the same size as your big molds.
Glaze
240g dark chocolate
120g butter
30g whole milk
30 corn syrup
Melt chocolate and butter together.
Stir in milk and corn syrup.
Whisk over warm water to blend.
So, now you have every thing you need to assemble the dessert.
Pipe the mouse into the big molds until they are 3/4 full. Take one round of creamaux and drop it into the center of the mousse in the mold, pushing down to remove any possible air bubbles. Pipe mousse to fill the molds to the top. With an offset spatula scrape the top of the molds to even them off. Push one cake round onto each mold. Freeze the molds overnight.
Get your glaze warm and liquid. Put it into a pitcher
Put a wire rack over a sheet tray and unmold the mousse domes onto it, flat side down. Pour the warm glaze over the domes to cover evenly. Using a spatula lift the molds off of the rack, sliding them to remove excess glaze, and place them on a plate or tray. Chill. You can serve them as is, or you can decorate them. Pipe a small star of mousse on top, or sprinkle with toasted nuts, coat the bottom edge in cookie crumbs or sprinkles…
This assembly can be done with any combination of fillings,
King Arthur Baking sent me an email telling me their cinnamon roll recipe was the recipe of 2021.
So I tried it. It used the tangzhong method to make pillowy soft rolls that kept well, but the icing was too thick for the family, and they said they likes the flavor of my rolls better.
I received a bounty of raisins this week so I decided to try it again, but using the tangzhong method with my usual recipe. The result is shown here.
I couldn’t judge the softness of the rolls the next day, because they were gone by evening.
For me, the tangzhong method worked even tho I didn’t follow the precise scientific method. I simply used the same amount of flour and water that the first recipe called for, cooked it, and mixed it into the dough, an egg and butter enriched sweet bread. I didn’t know what would happen, but the dough was noticeably smoother and more elastic by the first rising. And it was delicious.
