Tarte Au Citron et Sorbet D'Oranges Sanguines: Tips & Tricks

Sorbet D'Oranges Sanguines
(tips courtesy of David Lebovitz' blog)

• Varietals. Torocco blood oranges tend to be super-juicy with a lighter color whereas the Moro variety are the most colorful, have the most concentrated flavor, and yield the smaller amount of juice. If using regular oranges, 'juicing' oranges yield the most juice, like Valencia. Oranges from colder climates have thicker skins to protect them from the cold, too. And of course, all are affected by seasonal variations.
• Temperature. Room temperature citrus is supposed to yield more juice than ones straight from the fridge.
• Bottled vs. Fresh. Bottled works, fresh is better
• Texture. You can use champagne or sparkling wine, about 2 tablespoons per cup (250ml) to improve the consistency and keep the texture smoother.
  
• Serving. Citrus sorbets are best eaten a few hours after they're churned. If you plan to serve it another day, remove it from the freezer 5-10 minutes prior to serving.

Tarte Au Citron
(tips courtesy of epicurious)

• Not Lemony Enough? Add the zest of one medium lemon, grated very fine, to the egg and sugar mixture.
• Broil vs. Torch vs. NOA. Mixed reviews on whether or not the broiling bit at the end adds to it. Next round, we'll likely torch or opt-out of this step.
• Sabayon. We jumped the gun on adding in the three portions of lemon juice, next time, I would wait for the mixture to thicken a bit more before adding in the liquid portions.
  
• Doh! More Butter / Freeze Before Baking. The crust was a bit crumbly for my taste, I wonder if adding more butter in the mixture would have helped with that. Like k mentioned, I think we let the dough get too soft - post-kneading, pre-baking, I might put it in the fridge for about 20-30 minutes in circular format before taking it out, laying it into the pan, and baking it. Also, we should have probably left it in the oven for a few minutes longer to let it brown a bit more.

Candied Citrus Peel

• Equipment. There has got to be a better/quicker way to do this than to use a fruit peeler. I wonder if a zester would work just as well, or if the strips would come out too thin.
  
• Watch the Heat! I was a bit frustrated that the candy thermometer was nowhere near the 230°F reading on the thermometer, so turned up the heat more than I probably should have. Ultimately, I let it get past 230°F as a result. It looked decent upon cooling; however, I let it get stuck in the pot and had to figure out a way to get it out...
  
• Timing is Key. Instead, once I turned off the heat, I probably should have immediately lifted the pieces out and laid them flat on parchment paper to cool, then sprinkled sugar over them.