The Frying Pan

8:23 AM

I tried making banana ice cream using bananas in a traditional custard, it didn't work well - too starchy! Didn't get enough banana flavor from the bananas.

@gdd Hahaha, "sobbing uncontrollably"

@GdD yes, that's common with raw bananas

Try heating them first - many do it in the microwave

use as ripe bananas as possible

and ideally, heat enough bananas to be able to remove most of the fruit flesh and only use the brown liquid that seeps out of them

I would still add some mashed fruit flesh for an ice cream, it will give body.

@rumtscho, I will give that a shot sometime, it sounds like a winner! I save brown bananas and put them in the freezer for banana bread, I could use them for ice cream. My next project is peanut butter cup ice cream!

@adamaero there is no special chemistry involved. You mix water into food, you end up with food molecules swimming in the water. A simple mixture, no reactions happening. In practically all cases, also no building of weak bonds.

@GdD yes, bananas which are good for baking banana bread are the best for using in other kinds of projects too.

And I wanted to ask you, seriously, do you hate handheld mixers that much?

I do have a stand mixer now, but grew up withough knowing that they existed

and yes, the stand mixer tends to get better results even at the same wattage for a model from the same brand as the handheld one, but I suspect this might also have to do with my reduced patience with the handheld mixer.

I've never tried a whisking blender, only have the normal kind

I love hand mixers @rumtscho! I love my stand mixer as well. Stick blender sets are extremely useful

and for some stuff I actively prefer the handheld mixer - the logistics are somewhat easier, and especially for small amounts or sticky mixtures, I can get everything mixed evenly.

8:38 AM

I don't have a hand mixer, but a stick blender with a whisk attachment ans it works brilliantly

I admit that, with my hand mixer, I always use the whisk attachments and never the dough hooks

so it is probably equivalent to a stick blender with a whisk attachment

If you love them, why would you be sobbing :)

I said if I had to choose between them, implying I could only keep one

@GdD ah, so I didn't get the joke right! I interpreted it as, if you were forced to forego the stand mixer, you would be sobbing.

9:05 AM

@rumtscho, I could have phrased it better

9:26 AM

@GdD the original phrasing still hit the mark in the sense that it made me laugh :)

5 hours later…

adamaero

2:31 PM

Wasn't asking about "special chemistry", just potential argot. In some arcane dusty cookbook it exists. I believe it ;)

1 hour later…

3:41 PM

@adamaero Sometimes, someone's just trying to have a conversation :/ Also sometimes, is that the best have already had the same issues that you're having... and got past them by using the ingredients they're using, which is why they're the best. So no, I don't know if rice milk is 'the solution' but it's a possible solution, which is a much better place to start from than 'no idea' :P

Also, if you've never had it, rice milk (that I've had anyway) does tend to be 'thinner' than other plant milks, so this isn't quite as much a stab in the dark as it first appears

I do have a copy of McGee on Food and Cooking, but it's not where I am at the minute

@Ash Mmmmm... Cinnamon swirls :D Eats

3 hours later…

user15026

6:40 PM

@Mithrandir24601 I am so proud of those rolls.

ah!!! Looks delicious!
<adjusts plans for the the holidays>

It’s this time of the year when I go foraging for the first new growth. Today was easy: harvesting weeds in the neighbors’ garden. Herb butter with garlic and lemon peel.

Aegopodium podagraria

Aegopodium podagraria (commonly called ground elder, herb gerard, bishop's weed, goutweed, gout wort, and snow-in-the-mountain, and sometimes called English masterwort and wild masterwort) is a perennial plant in the carrot family (Apiaceae) that grows in shady places. The name "ground elder" comes from the superficial similarity of its leaves and flowers to those of elder (Sambucus), which is unrelated. It is the type species of the genus Aegopodium. This species is native to Eurasia, and has been introduced around the world as an ornamental plant, where it occasionally poses an ecological threat...

user15026

6:57 PM

@Stephie My secrets were a) putting cinnamon in the dough, b) mixing the cinamon and brown sugar with the softened butter and spreading it like a paste instead of like...sprinking it over the butter, and c) glazing while fresh from the oven. :D

@Ash Have you ever used a water roux?

user15026

I have not!

user15026

(I don't own a thermometer, so that would be tricky.)

Nah, you don’t need a thermometer. Just mix cold, then bring to a boil. You get a pudding/flan. Let cool and then use it in the dough.

adamaero

@Mithrandir24601 I have no idea what you're referring to related to best. I wasn't asking for solutions. That's what I've been saying the whole time. I'm not asking a material question. It's about semantics.

There is such a cooking concept as thinning agents, right?
> Not asking for ingredient recommendations (material)

But on a related note, I'm gonna try water as the "thinning agent" today :)

7:13 PM

@adamaero Not sure whether anyone explicitly considers this a ”concept”. Or uses a specific term.

I would simply “do” - add liquid until the consistency is right.

yesterday, by adamaero

Bare bones vegan ice cream, frozen bananas, require plant milk and other thinning agents...like what?

^ To me, that's exactly asking for thinning agents

user15026

@Stephie Cool! I might give that a go sometime.

user15026

@adamaero Not everything is going to have fancy categorical terminology.

user15026

And yeah, it sounded like you were asking for advice on what you could use as another thinning agent.

But whatever, you're the one with the question. I was just 1) trying to have a conversation in a chat room and 2) trying to point out that there's a possibility that if you used something like rice milk as part or all of the plant milk, you might not need to use any other 'thinning agents', such as water, going by past experience of having tried exceptionally good vegan ice cream

@Ash Mmmm... sounds (and looks) so good! :D

user15026

7:23 PM

@Mithrandir24601 This whole shelter in place thing has been good for my baking. Today I'm making a mocha loaf cake for a friend who works in a local hospital that I am going to leave in her mailbox later today.

@Ash Yeah, I bet - I'm just too busy working from home - I was supposed to be heading off to the US next week (there's a chance you might remember that I've been planning this for the past couple of years?) but that's not happening now :/ Maybe I'll get to do some more next week... Nice though! :D Wish I could try some of your baking!

user15026

@Mithrandir24601 Yes, I remember you mentioning it.

user15026

If I could share, I would. :)