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The Ten Most Recent Posts By ren

From Talk

Shrinking pie crust -- what gives?

Wonder if anyone can tell me what might have happened and how to prevent it from happening again:

A few days ago, I mixed a batch of pie dough (standard, all-butter, food processor), chilled it a few hours, then rolled it out to line my glass pie pan. I wrapped it well and froze it. Last night I moved the pan to the fridge to thaw, and then today set it out for an hour or so to come to room temp before blind-baking.

I baked it my usual way: prick with fork, line with foil, weigh down with dried beans, remove foil and beans for the last 10 minutes or so. Nonetheless, when the crust was ready to come out, the whole thing had shrunk: the pie crust is laying in the pie pan like a mismatched nesting bowl: the edges are holding it up (they didn't shrink), so it sort of hovers over the bottom of the pan.

I filled with pumpkin pie filling and and baking that off now anyway (whatever happens, ie., if it collapses, will still be edible).

But does anyone know what happened? Thanks in advance.

From Talk

Most irritating/dumbest food advertising?

Just saw it again, the Healthy Choice commercial where the chefs "add flavor to taste." It bothers me so much I can feel my life expectancy shrink a little everytime I hear it (ironic, huh).

Hoping I can get over it by a) sharing and b) seeing if there are worse out there.

The Ten Most Recent Comments By ren

From Required Eating

Seriously Delicious Holiday Giveaway: A Year of Chocolate

Dark. Today I found 99% to try.

From Required Eating

Seriously Delicious Holiday Food Giveaway: Russ & Daughters

exactly that: smoked salmon, cream cheese, good bagel. i live in texas now, and have had to say goodbye to bagels...

From Required Eating

Time To Drink More Guinness—Pubs Are On the Decline

Is the Irish pub on the wane too? Wouldn't ale be a better choice to support the Brits?

Actually, I love that in virtually any city in the western world (and no doubt many in the eastern), you can find an Irish pub. It's like the embassy for drinkers.

From Talk

Egg salad...what's your secret ingredient?

Mayo and mustard (and salt/pepper). The best is using Kewpie mayo (2d best being Hellmans). Then on sandwich bread. I like it English style, with cress, but I'm not going to buy cress myself.

From Talk

Cooking club information to share?

Not a conventional sort of club, but you might check out the Daring Bakers circle. I'm sure there are quite a few around this site, but I know the blogs Tartelette and Cream Puffs in Venice are run by some of the original members.

From Talk

Favorite no-bake treats?

Wow I'm an idiot: I never made them before (only had them from my mom) and I always supposed they were no-bake. But I was wrong. So I retract from this discussion, but stand by their deliciousness.

From Talk

Favorite no-bake treats?

Magic Bars, or whatever you may call them (I think they are called Dolly bars in some places). Recipe available on a can of Eagle brand sweetened condensed milk and also here:
http://www.eaglebrand.com/detail.asp?rid=650

Everything delicious. You might call them kid stuff, since they are quite sweet, but I never met anyone who disliked them (except for those weird anti-coconut types)

From Talk

Emergency Turkey Day plans -- Help!

Don't forget about turkey pieces: whole breasts, or if that's still too large, you can find cutlets. There are also legs and thighs available. That way you can pick what you like (dark v. white).

Most other sides can easily be scaled down.

From Talk

Green Bean Casserole...

Ooh, Thomas Keller has his version, as well, on New York mag's site:
http://nymag.com/restaurants/articles/recipes/greenbeancasserole.htm

I tried it 2 years ago and thought it was great. but I used creminis, not cepes (budget).

The hardest part is making the shallot rings for the top, but they are so delicious, and not all that hard, really.

From Talk

KitchenAid Artisan Mixer vs. KitchenAid Pro Mix

Oh, and you will probably want to find a good illustrated book or online source for learning to mix doughs by any method. A stand mixer is, of course, faster and more powerful than the handheld. If you're still learning to bake, you'll need a good teaching guide to show you what to look for (under/overmixing can have serious consequences for cakes), and no mixer will tell you that.

One web resource I like is baking911.com. The layout and organization is a bit confusing, but there's a lot of information--and photos--there.

Responses to Comments by ren

From Required Eating

Cook the Book: 'The Perfect Scoop'

Cinnamon Ice Cream with chocolate cake.

From Required Eating

Why Wedding Food Sucks

My awful wedding food experience is a good lesson for all!

I went for a tasting about 2 months before the wedding. We were married a restaurant renowned for good food, because good food was a must for us!

Anyways, a week before the wedding the managers changed. I met with the new person, who was nice enough. We went over the menu and costs and all was good.

The day of the way, our food was half the size as what it was on the night of the tasting and one of the items was totally different (and not as good) as what we requested. People ended up ordering food from the restaurant. It was horrid!!!

I assumed the chef was the same, but, I guess not.

So, if anything changes with your caterers or planners DEMAND a new tasting - free of charge of course!

From Eating Out

Houston's Doesn't Suck: What's Your Favorite Slightly Fancy Chain Restaurant?

Hi Ed. I just found this post while trolling the web for Houston's Key Lime Pie recipe/ingredients. I waited tables in the Rockville, MD Houston's from 1993-1995. Having seen Houston's and more than a dozen independently-owned restaurants from the waiter's side of the table, I agree with everyone's positive comments about Houston's. It's one of my go-to spots when I want to treat myself (and I live in Manhattan).

Although more personal non-chain restaurants are great, only Houston's made me memorize each ingredient in every dish before letting me serve a customer. We had line-up every night where we were quizzed on the number of ounces in the coho salmon and the marinade for the Houston's Hawaiin ribeye. I learned how to give 110% to a job and what to expect as a guest in a restaurant.

From Eating Out

Houston's Doesn't Suck: What's Your Favorite Slightly Fancy Chain Restaurant?

I love Houston's. Plain and Simple. It's never disappointed and If I was forced to choose a place for my last meal, this would be it. Want to know why?

From Talk

Chili beans. An oxymoron?

As a Houstonian, no beans was started by CASI and is for competition so that judges don't fill up on fillers. Any hearty, home-cooked, "just like mom made" chili has beans and the pretentious cook-off crowd can get over it.

From Required Eating

Seriously Delicious Holiday Giveaway: A Year of Chocolate

Dark for sure.

From Required Eating

Seriously Delicious Holiday Giveaway: A Year of Chocolate

Milk for everyday, but dark when I want The Good Stuff.

From Required Eating

Seriously Delicious Holiday Giveaway: A Year of Chocolate

Dark - even since I was very young!

From Required Eating

Seriously Delicious Holiday Giveaway: A Year of Chocolate

the darker the better...

From Required Eating

Seriously Delicious Holiday Giveaway: A Year of Chocolate

Mmm...dark, dark, DARK, preferably with a bit of chile powder to deliver the final blow.