Milk Street Q&A

Answered by Lynn Clark

Hi Lori - Since these are meant to me more of a bite-sized cake, we did not test these in a larger muffin pan so we aren't sure what modifications would need to be made to adjust the recipe. Also, one of the hallmarks of friands (or financiers) is the balance of textures between the soft, cake-y interior and the crisp exterior. With a larger size, we fear that balance would be lost. If you decide to go ahead and try it, we assume the baking time will be longer in order to get the centers baked through. There's a chance that the exterior may over brown in that time so you might want to keep a piece of foil at the ready in case they are browning too much and need to be covered. Good luck! The Milk Street Cooking Team

Answered by Lynn Clark

Hi Becky - These should be fine to freeze. Just make sure to thaw completely in the refrigerator before cooking. Best, The Milk Street Cooking Team

Answered by Lynn Clark

Hi Chris - If you check out your supermarket's international food aisle, you may find Goya brand finely ground cornmeal or another brand like Caribbean Rhythms or Iberia. If you do decide to use the food processor, just make sure not to overprocess it. I would use the pulse setting and process a little at a time to make sure it doesn't go too far. Best, The Milk Street Cooking Team

Answered by Lynn Clark

Hi Joshua - You could make a blueberry-based sauce to go with meat - duck and pork, in particular would pair well with it. Here is an example from The NY Times. Best, The Milk Street Cooking Team

Answered by April Dodd

Hi Mary - thanks for reaching out! We apologize for the delay in responding to your question and hope that your Sunday dinner came out great. The cook time adjustment here will depend on whether your Boston Butt is small because it has been cut down to size (for example, cut in half cross-wise, also called "split"), or whether it is simply a smaller, but whole, cut of meat. In the former case, the cook time shouldn't need to be adjusted, as the diameter of the pork butt isn't changed. In the latter case, where you have an entire pork butt that happens to be on the small size, you can plan for 1.15 hours per pound of meat. So, you are right that a 5 pound pork butt would require between 5-6 hours in the oven. We would love to hear how long you ended up roasting yours for and how it came out! -April D.

Answered by Lynn Clark

Hi Jean - It's 42 grams. In our testing, 1 cup of cocoa weighed 85 grams. Therefore, 1/2 cup is technically 42.5 grams. We simply rounded down in this case. You can find the various weights from our testing on this chart. Best, The Milk Street Cooking Team

Answered by Lynn Clark

Hi Carlos - We aren't sure the exact pan we used but it's an aluminum pan with a traditional finish (not nonstick). You can often find these at a baking supply or restaurant supply store. This one from Williams Sonoma would work too, despite it saying it can only go to 450 degrees. This warning is probably to prevent you from broiling in it, but we think it would be OK at 500 degrees. Best, The Milk Street Cooking Team

Answered by Lynn Clark

Hi Carlos - Here is the recipe for Chèvre Cheesecake with Black Pepper Crust. In the future if you are looking for recipes that were featured on the TV show, you can go to the TV tab on the website and find the episode you are looking for. When you click on the episode it will show you the video for the episode, a description of the episode, and links to the recipes featured in the episode (you will find these on the left and right hand side of the page). Best, The Milk Street Cooking Team

Answered by Lynn Clark

Hi Helen - All dried cherries are actually tart cherries so whatever cherries you find in the supermarket should work in the recipe. Best, The Milk Street Cooking Team

Answered by Lynn Clark

Hi Susan - That seems pretty warm to us. A professional proofing box is usually between 80-90 degrees and yeast does its best work in that temperature range since it will proof at a slower rate. For most bread dough the proof setting on your oven will work (though you will need to shorten proofing times), but we wouldn't recommend it for this recipe. One of the key qualities of this recipe/dough is the long, slow rise and fall and rise. We think this would happen too quickly with the temperature so high and would negatively affect the final focaccia. While a typical focaccia might rise for one to two hours, our dough rises for 5 1/2-6 hours, during which the dough rises, falls, then rises again, a process that leaves it looking and feeling blown out. This produces more gas than a shorter rise. Though some of that gas depletes over time—resulting in less dramatic oven spring when the focaccia first hits the hot oven—the remaining gas, combined with the steam and gluten structure, creates more and larger air pockets in the dough. Hope that helps! Best, The Milk Street Cooking Team