New Yorkers - J.A. Henckels is having a warehouse sale in Hawthorne, NY

Posted 8 November, 2007 at 12:35pm by Michael Chu

(Filed under: Cooking For Engineers, Deals)

3 comments to New Yorkers - J.A. Henckels is having a warehouse sale in Hawthorne, NY

Chelsea, November 11th, 2007 at 7:37 pm:

• I read your Cooking For Engineers site fairly frequently. I was wondering if you had ever experimented with making pie crust from scratch. I have made one only once for quiche, so it wasn't for sweet purposes. I think it would be a good potential article on CFE if you have the time or inclination, or just have a recipe you like.

Michael Chu, November 12th, 2007 at 11:59 pm:

• Pie crust is on my list of recipes to do for CFE. There is one problem that I have with it… the amount of water needed in the dough seems to vary depending on the humidity. I haven't figured out a good way of describing in words how much water to add.

Nicole Gustas, November 14th, 2007 at 4:51 pm:

• Hey, Michael!

  First off, wanted to tell you I linked to your page on brining in two of our Thanksgiving how-tos:
  http://www.mahalo.com/How_to_Brine_a_Turkey
  http://www.mahalo.com/How_to_Cook_a_Turkey

  Second, on the pie crust question:
  I tested our pie crust page (it's here: http://www.mahalo.com/How_to_Make_Flawless_Pie_Crust_%28It%27s_Easier_Than_You_Think%29), and while testing it, I learned that Cook's Illustrated suggests replacing the water with vodka. The reason? They say water binding with flour makes gluten, which makes the crust tough. A lot of vodka's moisture is from alcohol, which evaporates with the heat and creates less gluten, allowing you to add more moisture and make the crust more malleable before cooking. I did it, and it was great! It did leave me with a couple of questions, though:
  1. They suggest vodka because of its high alcohol content and flavorlessness. Vodka's usually 80 proof, but Absolut has now come out with a 100 proof vodka. Would more alcohol = more tender flakiness?
  2. For that matter, what if you used something like Everclear?
  3. And what if you used, say, bourbon in the crust of a walnut pie, or tequila in the crust of a key lime pie? Would it be yummy, or ghastly?

  I need to experiment with all these, but can't for a little while. I thought these would be useful questions for you as you embark on that page, though!

  - Nicole