5 posts tagged “cooking”

Cooks tend to be creatures of habit. When we find a cookbook that works for us, or a particular cooking program on TV that works for us, or even a recipe website that works for us, we tend to stick with what we like and browse no further.

But a few weeks ago, I decided to see how other people prepared some of my favourite recipes.

See, I learned to cook from my mother, who rarely measured anything with any more precision than she could get by pinching, dashing or grabbing a fistful.  Then I got a wonderful (though poorly organized) cookbook presented by Telephone Pioneers of Alabama called "Calling All Cooks". It's all homebrewed recipes, but has rarely failed me. My spouse, however, insisted on showing me the light.

He's a huge fan of "The Galloping Gourmet" Graham Kerr and James Beard. Now believe me, Pooky isn't strictly goumet. He's darn good at down-home-cooking too, and just this past week completely showed me up with his homemade biscuits. When we got married, he already owned his own pasta machine and food processor, and it is not unusual for both of us to give each other culinary gifts whenever gift-giving is in order.

But as I said, I was nosing around on the internet seeing how the professional chefs make some of the recipes I've been making forever to see how wrong I've been doing it. I did get a few eye-openers regarding breadmaking and how to pan-fry meat and poach eggs, but in my nosing around, I found Chef Mohr.

The link >> I HATE COOKING RECIPES <

The site invites you to  "Cook with your head, not your recipes"

His approach to cooking is somewhere between science and zen. He talks a great deal about technique and why he does things the way he does and how those techniques affect the finished product. He talks about everything from ingredients to equipment to how is the best way to melt butter without scorching it. And he is entertaining too.

But don't fear. He is not completely anti-recipe. He explains all about making sure perportions are correct, and when it comes to making breads, he refers to the recipe as a formula.

He also has a channel on YouTube, which at this time hosts 15 instructional videos. .It had many more at one time, but since the release of his first full-length DVD he has pared down the collection. It seems he is reorganizing his site and channel, but he promises there will continue to be free content

Check out his "How to make French Onion Soup" and his "How To Make Crepes". I can personally vouche for the soup because Pooky made a double batch four nights ago and it vanished almost as quickly as it took him to make it.

But about that DVD...you can find the link to order it on his website. Pooky ordered ours today and I'm really looking forward to getting it as an early anniversary present. I think Pooky is plotting and scheming a special dinner that night.

I also heard Pooky say that one of these days he wants us to go on a cooking-school holiday. Chef Mohr operates a cooking school in North Carolina...so yeah, we're looking into it. He still owes me that honeymoon ya know.

Since nobody could be bothered to look for them otherwise, I baked them into a double-batch of chocolate-covered eclaires. We had game-nite as normal, and seldom do I ever hear complaints about my culinary whims...especially the French ones.

The recipe is here, but I will quote the relevant part here.

CREAM PUFF PASTRY     

1/2 c. butter
1 c. boiling water
1 c. pre-sifted flour
1/4 tsp. salt
4 eggs

Put butter and water in small saucepan; stir over high heat until melted and liquid is boiling rapidly. Add flour and salt at once; raise saucepan a few inches above heat. Stir briskly. Mixture will come away from sides of pan and form a ball in center.

Cook and stir 30 seconds more. Remove from heat. Break 1 egg into the paste; beat fast until smooth and fluffy. Repeat until all the eggs are used.

Drop by whatever size you want (1/4 cup) onto ungreased cookie sheet 3 inches apart. Bake at 350 degrees until puffed and golden 35-40 minutes. Cool away from drafts.

That recipe doubled should yield somewhere between 14-20, depending on how large you make them.

To get the elongated shape for eclaires, I had to hand-shape the sticky mess. Ideally, you could extrude it with a pastry bag or cookie press. You want your unbaked rolls of batter to be about the size of a Twinkie.  If you do not know what a Twinkie is, then chances are you are an epicurean sophisticate who already has vast knowledge of french pastries.

For the filling, I COULD'VE made vanilla pudding from scratch, but since I was about to have my Sunday night nerd-herd over for a session of D&D, I opted to use a mix.  In the interest of not committing complete heresy, I chose the "cook-&-serve" variety of mix. For a doubled recipe, I recommend the "add 3 cups milk - serves 6" sized mix.

Once the pudding and pastries both had the chance to cool, I sliced open each pastry and filled it generously with pudding. If the pastry has properly puffed (yeah, say that real fast three times), there should be a nice spacious cavity inside each one.

For the chocolate glaze, I used this recipe.

FROSTING:

1/4 c. chocolate chips
2 tbsp. butter
2 tbsp. milk
3/4 c. powdered sugar

Melt chocolate, milk and butter. Add powdered sugar and mix until smooth. Drizzle over cooled eclair.

Serve chilled and keep refrigerated afterward. These can look really nice topped off with a bit of whipped creme and maybe a cherry.

Here's my finished product..which somehow survived the feast.

This same puff pastry can also be filled with any number of fillings..from chocolate pudding to whipped creme to chicken salad. They can also be baked bite-sized for more dainty finger-food occasions.

In non-eclaire-related news, HAPPY DYNGUS DAY!  Now's the time to polka your buns (or eclaires) off!

...I tried making the crepe recipe myself.

The reader will note that there are no photos of the preparation.  This is because the chef did not want to get batter and melted chocolate on her camera.

The reader will also note that there are no photos of the finished product. This is because they vanished quickly.

Today at work, Pooky made the offer to convert Taco Bell into a French bistro. 

Do you think Chez Quasimodo has a ring to it?

_________

In NON-crepe-related news, tomorrow is my anniversary at the Bell. It's been 15 years now. No I'm not a manager. No I don't want to be a manager. Yes, though I gripe and groan about it soemtimes, I still like my job and 'most' of the folks I work with.

But, more on that tomorrow.

G'night...and sweet dreams!

Show us what's on your grill.

Weather did not permit grilling, but here's my holiday feast.

The beef backribs were slow-cooked in the crockpot for about 2 1/2 hours along with about 1 T of minced fresh garlic, a whole chopped sweet onion, and a dash or two of McCormick Grill Mates Herb & Garlic seasoning. Then they were transferred to a baking casserole dish, smothered with Dat'l Do It datil pepper barbecue sauce, and baked on 250^F for around half an hour.

Suffice to say this photo was a rush job. The food did not last very long at all. :D

• I've been wanting to make a proper English Trifle for quite some time, but two days ago I finally decided to give it a try. But me being me, I thought it would be even better if I challenge myself by using this as an opportunity to photo-document the recpie just like in  a cookbook.

(Actually, when I was a kid I liked to play "cooking-show")

So I'll quit yapping and just show it to ya.

Part 1 - The Puddin'

• 2 T cornstarch
• 1/2 C sugar
• 1 egg
• 2 C milk
• 2 T butter
• 1 t vanilla

In a 2-quart saucepan, stir together the cornstarch and sugar completely.

Next, stir in the egg and butter and blend until the mixture is smooth and creamy. If you do this right, your pudding ought not be lumpy.

Next, begin adding the milk and continue stirring.

Once you have added all the mlik, begin cooking over low heat and cook, stirring almost constantly. This is important, because you do not want your milk to scauld or worse yet, stick to your pan. On my gas range it only took about 10 minutes.

(For those who are wondering, the variant for chocolate pudding is simple. Just put in 2 or 3 tablespoons of cocoa powder when you are mixing your sugar and cornstarch)

Bring the pudding to a very slow boil. It will thicken in an instant if you are not watching and then scauld and stick if it thinks it can get away with it behind your back, so be ready.

Add the vanilla last. I prefer the clear artificial stuff, but any ol' 'nilla will do.

Remove from heat and quickly turn the pudding out into a mixing bowl. I recommend using a large rubber spatula because those are the most fun to lick.

(Maybe that is why I don't really have my own cooking show and have to pretend, ya think?)

Lastly, cover the bowl with plastic wrap, making sure the wrap actually touches the surface of the pudding. This keeps it from growing "skin" 

Part 2 - The Razz

After your pudding has had time to chill (about 2 hours), it is ready to join the other ingredients and be part of a trifle.

You will need..

• Angel food cake (or any light cake will do)
• raspberries (though I used raspberry preserves)
• 2 -3 cups whipped creme (nondairy works fine too)
• finely chopped nuts (optional--I recommend walnuts or almonds)

Break up the angel food cake into fingertip-sized bites.

Next, take the juice of your berries (or water down a few spoonfuls of the preserves) and add to your cake bites.

Then, mix together the pudding and about 2 cups of the whipped creme. This will make your pudding light and fluffy and somewhat mousse-esque.

Now comes the fun part.

Start by putting a layer of cake into the bottom of whatever you plan to serve the trifle in. My recipe yields 3 12 oz. drinking glasses because I am still too uncouth to own any parfait glasses.

Next, layer in a spoonful of pure raspberries or preserves. Ice cream scoop is excellent for that job.  Try not to overdo it with the preserves, becaue they are very sweet.

Then, scoop in about 3 good spoonfuls of the pudding, being careful always not to smear up the inside of the glass. You want the layers to be distinct and as even as possible.

(If you opt for nuts, put them on top of the berries before the pudding.

Keep layering as necessary right up to the rim.

FINALLY comes the whipped creme. You can just spoon it on, but if you want to be fancy-schmancy, you

can use a forcing bag and a star-tip. (If you don't have a fancy bag and tip, use a sandwich baggie with a tiny hole cut in one corner to swirl the creme onto your trifle.

Well..below is the finished product...and would you believe it matches my wallpaper perfectly? Yes, it tastes pretty good too, though a bit sweet. Next time I will pick up berries and nuts and do it up all the way.

One last thing, adding up the cost of the preserves ($1) and the whipped topping ($1) and the cake ($.60 because the bakery overbaked), the sugar, butter, vanilla eggs and cornstarch ($.50) and milk ($.90), the total cost per dessert is somewhere around  $1.35 apiece...which isn't bad at all by dessert-cafe standards.

Now that I've done trifle, I feel confident I can make a reasonably decent tiramisu for around the same price.