tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29283726563581615252024-03-05T02:03:57.408-08:00Yumbo McGillicutty!Words and eats.Unknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger51125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2928372656358161525.post-88554816847310595722012-04-15T07:15:00.000-07:002012-04-24T01:34:13.449-07:00Salty, sweet, spicy, and simply divine.<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhGU3Ryx_wsiPhrfz1-Qavp-1URqtd1RmKDMC0xuYyuMrHrrcck4ErmbHLfD2VvKjFTj9WD5yDsI49x51E8-6cY-VE0b1HnI9wL5iyZwC9u2fYOJEY2kjRevKcyIFi4RyuPPm1W_D3Yjbrn/s1600/Kimchi05.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhGU3Ryx_wsiPhrfz1-Qavp-1URqtd1RmKDMC0xuYyuMrHrrcck4ErmbHLfD2VvKjFTj9WD5yDsI49x51E8-6cY-VE0b1HnI9wL5iyZwC9u2fYOJEY2kjRevKcyIFi4RyuPPm1W_D3Yjbrn/s320/Kimchi05.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">This is what I did on my term break:<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Went to bed late<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Got up late<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Had my heart broken by Wally Lamb (again)<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Went to the Grampians for Easter (again)<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Ate chocolate daily<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Crocheted 3/4 of a beanie/beret thing<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Worried over my youngest child, away on an
arduous camp<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Bought an AMAZING set of cheapskate knives</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Celebrated my husband's birthday<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Became addicted to kimchi<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Are two weeks long enough to develop an
addiction? They must be, because here I
am, craving mouthfuls of crunchy, salty, tangy, spicy, stinky goodness every
hour of every darned day. And not just
any kimchi, but homemade kimchi, which is like nothing you get in either
restaurants or shops. Shop- or
restaurant-bought kimchi is all right, but homemade is not anything you can
call "all right" – nothing you can be ambivalent about. It is either love with a violent passion, or
completely turn away from.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">This term break began with the discovery of
<a href="http://www.maangchi.com/">Maangchi</a>, whom I promptly fell in love with, for her skills, knowledge, warmth,
sultry voice, and her honest and earthy enjoyment of everything she eats. And it continued with trying a few recipes
out here and there. And then it
culminated with my first batch of kimchi, made in desperation out of stuff I
didn't want to throw away.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 10.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="color: #262626;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">I came home from the
Grampians (see What I Did on My Term Break, above), and had my usual
shock-horror response when I saw the contents of my refrigerator crisper, which
I'd totally forgotten about before I left. Even though I'd never made kimchi
before, I decided to make it out of the things that most desperately needed
using: a bag of discounted coleslaw mix I'd bought on impulse, a bunch of bok
choy whose outer leaves were beginning to wilt, carrots, and a couple of
bunches of spring (green) onions that were papery on the outside but still had
sweet and tender centres. </span></span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhlV79J85qYR3tsLJcIdCS9ohEXvEG4OUgl8NJQ19dfMlHnQgAtqj-cB3n5l8cYNYyp_4FBF2ROP0zHt8-my9RlCfzZFhMSRZ1AwY39OROYdvQew60hdnDwITIg04lMOq43MFDvrv0YcxkF/s1600/Kimchi09.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhlV79J85qYR3tsLJcIdCS9ohEXvEG4OUgl8NJQ19dfMlHnQgAtqj-cB3n5l8cYNYyp_4FBF2ROP0zHt8-my9RlCfzZFhMSRZ1AwY39OROYdvQew60hdnDwITIg04lMOq43MFDvrv0YcxkF/s320/Kimchi09.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 10.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="color: #262626;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 10.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="color: #262626;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Obviously not
a purist's kimchi, but it was good. Even
before fermentation it was like a million plus a million times better than any
kimchi I'd ever had before: the salting
process totally removed the bitterness from the bok choy, and the flavours were
rounded and full. After a couple days'
fermentation on the bench, the flavours had deepened and I now had something
quite complex on the palate.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US" style="color: #262626;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">So I started me thinking: can you
make kimchi out of anything? The nice people in Maangchi's forums assured me
you could. I had dreams of pumpkin and
broccoli stem kimchi and all kinds of weird and wonderful things, but the first
thing that came my way was a whole pile of Chantenay carrots on special. I had this image of Maangchi munching on very
crunchy cubed radish kimchi (kkakdugi) and I knew my time had come.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US" style="color: #262626;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">By this stage, I had availed
myself of what is probably the most important ingredient making kimchi this
way: the chili flakes. Now… I am the queen of substitutions, but
after a few tries I have to say: there
is no substitute for Korean chili flakes here.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US" style="color: #262626;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjCZ-6ECk1xM7ruRboBcWV2wGlBu27bSVfauZo4e5HlLcUHe6KAZp-PMcwUCCfB7b1dsSQ8OxFCQkShGLCK41Xz3X8VLOj5qrlfCk5XQ1q1I0RiC06DMfiRCKecpJlgirRa7kLCh8ryUP-H/s1600/Kimchi08.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjCZ-6ECk1xM7ruRboBcWV2wGlBu27bSVfauZo4e5HlLcUHe6KAZp-PMcwUCCfB7b1dsSQ8OxFCQkShGLCK41Xz3X8VLOj5qrlfCk5XQ1q1I0RiC06DMfiRCKecpJlgirRa7kLCh8ryUP-H/s320/Kimchi08.jpg" width="213" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US" style="color: #262626;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US" style="color: #262626;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Chili powder won't do (it has too many foreign flavours), and ordinary
dried chili flakes are too potent (plus they don't – at least in Oz – have the
wonderful colour). If you're happy to go
to your closest supplier of Korean chili flakes, go, right now, and make this,
straight after that. And enjoy
IMMEDIATELY.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span lang="EN-US" style="color: #262626;">See, this is the beauty of
homemade kimchi, and an experience you cannot have when you're getting it in a
restaurant or out of a box: munching on
freshly-made kimchi. Yes, yes, fermented
kimchi is delicious, but freshly-made is an absolute revelation. Times like this, Maangchi says, all she needs
is the freshly-made kimchi and a bowl of rice, and I can see why. You just want to enjoy it straight away and
have absolutely nothing come between you and it, except perhaps for the
comforting earthiness of steamed rice. I
had leftover Asian-style broth from last night's noodle soup, so instead of
rice, I made a delicious potful of fluffy <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WuNrLgh2Vw0">ttukbaegi gyeranjjim</a> to go with it</span><span lang="EN-US" style="color: #262626;">.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US" style="color: #262626;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">It was Heaven. Heaven, I
tell you. Go and make kimchi now. It's quick, it's easy, you'll never be the same again.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US" style="color: #262626;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US" style="color: #262626;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Here's how.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiJ-KhGR9RvXtdE6XcGkF1iAfqqWYSUJY99tQHc-YLTKWROeWgOkNh-dGkJvlMWlflixeWIJoJu6U9H2cNGzZAu1UWXrc573ufKeYXap6v6eiVdN9RSZSbn862akKIifsmjHXyZCiUC8P9C/s1600/Kimchi01.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiJ-KhGR9RvXtdE6XcGkF1iAfqqWYSUJY99tQHc-YLTKWROeWgOkNh-dGkJvlMWlflixeWIJoJu6U9H2cNGzZAu1UWXrc573ufKeYXap6v6eiVdN9RSZSbn862akKIifsmjHXyZCiUC8P9C/s320/Kimchi01.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US" style="color: #262626;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">You begin by degorging the veg in salt and sugar.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjVtvAgKS98a2YO9ud0x2lRFhii-Bn6DgfHeARDYJLGAqpTOqfjUnGoJCb2BJM8SK83fjb2WjHztPt_FkmpR9tnZul1ZUPCs87iGTRIVBb77j9DPwoQFnEM53a8Xjb3V6_mN6sA7wktIx4X/s1600/Kimchi02.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjVtvAgKS98a2YO9ud0x2lRFhii-Bn6DgfHeARDYJLGAqpTOqfjUnGoJCb2BJM8SK83fjb2WjHztPt_FkmpR9tnZul1ZUPCs87iGTRIVBb77j9DPwoQFnEM53a8Xjb3V6_mN6sA7wktIx4X/s320/Kimchi02.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US" style="color: #262626;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Look at all the liquid that's released after just 30 minutes. You'll be draining most of this away.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiQarTY9DFaGpvznS0smROlMk16dQtt8HCcyfth0KSZAdM4eNzGnHhqn8MjGGcgNRzNFSCyIrfuK6RPbwjLM-FIy8-XVY0GpKgzUwbdrO1QO_SDOKV0a82H0rmCYv1QNaCjZmTHlpFbgwCP/s1600/Kimchi03.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiQarTY9DFaGpvznS0smROlMk16dQtt8HCcyfth0KSZAdM4eNzGnHhqn8MjGGcgNRzNFSCyIrfuK6RPbwjLM-FIy8-XVY0GpKgzUwbdrO1QO_SDOKV0a82H0rmCYv1QNaCjZmTHlpFbgwCP/s320/Kimchi03.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US" style="color: #262626;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Dump the other ingredients on top…<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg3BRmGw60p-FVhuU9XHa4TrpbbhuY137yzItMpTw40KbYT4DKYrBSVWZ-JcBj2F7Sj5Dd7y-MjVbRFUlYDhU1YDUZBybSnZBfZIbBmfIRyD0bxHxPbOZuaTJ9itZyQzP31H-mg-HMUZNkD/s1600/Kimchi04.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg3BRmGw60p-FVhuU9XHa4TrpbbhuY137yzItMpTw40KbYT4DKYrBSVWZ-JcBj2F7Sj5Dd7y-MjVbRFUlYDhU1YDUZBybSnZBfZIbBmfIRyD0bxHxPbOZuaTJ9itZyQzP31H-mg-HMUZNkD/s320/Kimchi04.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US" style="color: #262626;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">... and then just mix the heck out of it. Hands are quickest and easiest, but wear
rubber gloves. I don't want to hear that
you mixed this with your bare hands and then tried to remove your contact
lenses and thought your eyes were going to melt off. Not that I speak from personal experience or anything.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiinLHCPJ0i3dW9NTFF5IeOSyVv0dDhU3ybh9LTynMi14VsPQQGh5P07iSYCEKDAmds0KtaIxwnqw5eP4a8a8HGWsEUaIJbJjI0m0ogoyuFgXqX8FUBHdytBYHzX7VSOY5aCwg8c_npKnNF/s1600/Kimchi07.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="194" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiinLHCPJ0i3dW9NTFF5IeOSyVv0dDhU3ybh9LTynMi14VsPQQGh5P07iSYCEKDAmds0KtaIxwnqw5eP4a8a8HGWsEUaIJbJjI0m0ogoyuFgXqX8FUBHdytBYHzX7VSOY5aCwg8c_npKnNF/s320/Kimchi07.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US" style="color: #262626;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">You can eat it right away or refrigerate it, or put it into a
container to ferment for a couple of days before refrigerating. Either way, it'll be salty, sweet, spicy, and </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #262626; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">simply divine.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US" style="color: #262626;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><b>CHANTENAY CARROT AND RADISH KIMCHI WITH GARLIC SCAPES</b><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US" style="color: #262626;"><o:p><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">I used to think that kimchi was just a condiment or side dish. Well, it is, but it's so much more than that. Think of it as one of your essential ingredients. Once you realise that not only can you eat it as is, but also add it as one of your special touches to whatever it is you're making, you'll never go back.</span></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US" style="color: #262626;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><i>Ingredients:</i><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US" style="color: #262626;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">1 kg Chantenay carrots, small as you can get them<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US" style="color: #262626;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">1 kg white radish or daikon<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US" style="color: #262626;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">3 tbsp sugar<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US" style="color: #262626;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">2 tbsp salt<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US" style="color: #262626;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">4 spring (green) onions, chopped<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US" style="color: #262626;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">1/2 bunch garlic scapes (shoots), cut into same length as
carrots<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US" style="color: #262626;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">6 cloves garlic, minced<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US" style="color: #262626;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">1 tsp minced ginger<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US" style="color: #262626;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">2/3 cup Korean chili flakes<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US" style="color: #262626;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">1/4 cup fish sauce<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US" style="color: #262626;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><i>What you do:</i><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US" style="color: #262626;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">1. Cut the tops off the
carrots, and place in large bowl. (If
some carrots are extra large, cut in half.)
Peel radish or daikon, and cut into sections as long as the
carrots. Cut each section into six or
eight wedges, and add to the bowl.
Sprinkle over sugar and salt, mix, and allow to degorge for 30 minutes,
stirring now and then.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US" style="color: #262626;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">2. Drain vegetables,
reserving the liquid. Add remaining
ingredients plus 1/3 of the liquid you drained off, and mix well. Your hands are best for this, but please –
wear rubber or disposable plastic gloves!<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US" style="color: #262626;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">3. Kimchi is ready to
enjoy straight away, but you can also ferment it (in fact, you may want to do half and half).
To ferment, pack into a sturdy container, jar, or large Ziploc bag. Leave at room temperature for 1-3 days. Kimchi will be fermented when it begins to
smell sour; it may also display bubbles on the surface. Once fermented, store in the refrigerator.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEivqR3FJ_5aB2X1X9_6_rxDDTRtJ9dVCxaK4Nz58ZAcym6GGOECxkyavwYgsIg9HKMqxsdCVe-a6A0_oj2ynn27nUfgVCBXs-Gv3xFT666YmQCxA1cA1iwoFf2zllh_fMHCyvnUPJI7e5h1/s1600/Kimchi06.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEivqR3FJ_5aB2X1X9_6_rxDDTRtJ9dVCxaK4Nz58ZAcym6GGOECxkyavwYgsIg9HKMqxsdCVe-a6A0_oj2ynn27nUfgVCBXs-Gv3xFT666YmQCxA1cA1iwoFf2zllh_fMHCyvnUPJI7e5h1/s320/Kimchi06.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Yumbo McGillicutty!</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2928372656358161525.post-18558433085900760832012-04-12T07:17:00.000-07:002012-04-12T07:27:59.122-07:00Vibey's Gallery of Not Altogether Useless and Rather Fun Kitchen Gadgetry<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">I do love me a gadget, whether electric, mechanical, or just hand-pushed. Gadgets aren't necessary - they're not equipment, not <i>batterie de cuisine</i> - but there are times when you could weep with gratitude that you have them. That olive pitter you only use once a year? Tell me you won't want to kiss it when you have to pip 10 kilos of cherries.</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br /></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">But there are other gadgets. Silly gadgets. Gadgets that are the equivalent of toys for a person whose favourite playground is the kitchen. When I've had a hard week, and find myself in a variety store with enough pocket money to have a good time, I will usually migrate to the kitchen section, and when the variety store happens to be Japanese, the playthings are quite something.</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br /></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Wanna see?</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br /></span><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgLcyBcNiZ2DXwXGUqQUAjubuNFXg-vpjXeX8_ZK7i7pPjhM8QC-G0IZMlZm_XA-DUkWtzzxp6s8NNGzAsEhkxl_Sj__i3We1k8CzXpp3BU2nQPqGuAoBLo0YjzWHC66dSlVl4u1-oN_z4t/s1600/Gadget01.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="264" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgLcyBcNiZ2DXwXGUqQUAjubuNFXg-vpjXeX8_ZK7i7pPjhM8QC-G0IZMlZm_XA-DUkWtzzxp6s8NNGzAsEhkxl_Sj__i3We1k8CzXpp3BU2nQPqGuAoBLo0YjzWHC66dSlVl4u1-oN_z4t/s320/Gadget01.jpg" width="320" /></a></span></div>
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">I haven't made onigiri in decades. But when I do finally make onigiri again, I want them shaped like a heart and a cherry blossom, dammit!</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br /></span><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEipjlWlV08e5M_6scEj0x_M6m2BmWvWAFPb3rvrp_z0oYMfRi8btLb9RfjT6TOHZTY7tfh5ng0mCoc_nJskT0EDIfgpuXyJgZabRzX0ANfN9iURjgLtinrEtnv5rwmHEigZOg0s8u43G_k8/s1600/Gadget02.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><img border="0" height="309" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEipjlWlV08e5M_6scEj0x_M6m2BmWvWAFPb3rvrp_z0oYMfRi8btLb9RfjT6TOHZTY7tfh5ng0mCoc_nJskT0EDIfgpuXyJgZabRzX0ANfN9iURjgLtinrEtnv5rwmHEigZOg0s8u43G_k8/s320/Gadget02.jpg" width="320" /></span></a></div>
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Yes, it's a squirty bottle. But it's a squirty bottle with class, pumping out not just a single squeeze, but four fine lines with a single stroke. Mayo on okonomiyaki, melted chocolate on sit-down indoor 'smores… the squiggles make them so much better.</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br /></span><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi1YX5fnC1pAKbMb9W_zMz-GYet117O-7NBBV67gxtDu2RByvkIPglZpcBaDKdwH_clhCMLKIxPCcDizhzqZ6_UPAO73uFrlwz5RIiGr1JqaEIUOXt4kXhKaAlL_NRLPfRNRomJA3J7iCod/s1600/Gadget03.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi1YX5fnC1pAKbMb9W_zMz-GYet117O-7NBBV67gxtDu2RByvkIPglZpcBaDKdwH_clhCMLKIxPCcDizhzqZ6_UPAO73uFrlwz5RIiGr1JqaEIUOXt4kXhKaAlL_NRLPfRNRomJA3J7iCod/s320/Gadget03.jpg" width="320" /></a></span></div>
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">OK so this why the Japanese are engineering geniuses. We all know that you need both a spoon and a fork or chopsticks when you're having Asian-style noodle soup, right? So why not combine the two? Huh? HUH? Like I said: genius.</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br /></span><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjz9bWnfGY8ETZwthuqYUWr94E5T3fOPEncIPW9LYtmoYtaJlpHt5dHwJDBmeE5onDDoz6I648jJjuZEtNXX-8jonIqVj_PtT3Ca8oOu59AEHNOzEL6xkYwM7_x_mCpKwFBOh_KG22dG5Ym/s1600/Gadget04.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="226" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjz9bWnfGY8ETZwthuqYUWr94E5T3fOPEncIPW9LYtmoYtaJlpHt5dHwJDBmeE5onDDoz6I648jJjuZEtNXX-8jonIqVj_PtT3Ca8oOu59AEHNOzEL6xkYwM7_x_mCpKwFBOh_KG22dG5Ym/s320/Gadget04.jpg" width="320" /></a></span></div>
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">The fig isn't there for decoration, it's there to show you how small this loose-bottom cake pan is. In that best-selling book, Why Japanese People (Except Sumo Wrestlers) Aren't Fat Like Us*, one of the reasons put forward is that cakes are made in pans this size, which provide about 30 servings. I found this size ideal for making my son's <a href="http://yumbomcgillicutty.blogspot.com.au/2011/07/sushi-birthday-cake.html">sushi birthday cake</a>. I also bought one that's about 2/3 this size, which also made a great-sized sushi cake to feed about six of us fat Westerners. Finding loose-bottomed pans this size in ordinary kitchenware suppliers is hard; when you find them, they cost an arm and a leg. That's because they're made in Europe and the Europeans want to keep us fat. This one set me back just a couple bucks.</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br /></span><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhw5RKfKc5y6ALcFhdIpAJq3H0T2dNX-lwuZLVCHlcN-zS93PLsDJ9e-eJXAoKedtuXUovC_tkIyBYToZM3YDKazGphUWTma2ZCWLMqDgQmvh-VwIi3siu8ACz5AVahKohMmJAksx18rinc/s1600/Gadget05.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="248" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhw5RKfKc5y6ALcFhdIpAJq3H0T2dNX-lwuZLVCHlcN-zS93PLsDJ9e-eJXAoKedtuXUovC_tkIyBYToZM3YDKazGphUWTma2ZCWLMqDgQmvh-VwIi3siu8ACz5AVahKohMmJAksx18rinc/s320/Gadget05.jpg" width="320" /></a></span></div>
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">This thing cuts the crust off a sandwich and encloses the filling. The heart… the heart is to remind you that it's all worth it. The end.</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br /></span><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj1YOEwkMVBOihWXrd5-HQbghYQO-LDCHYYOM_mOH6bdDSsTSkrDnMJkxez9vOHyVGAPFcgVq-rNeCL5Y2R3ZwfFfBTHQKsk_EaY3y5msrtZY8tIkGBCC1906w4yiuRpfkUu1eoEitSYjFt/s1600/Gadget06.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj1YOEwkMVBOihWXrd5-HQbghYQO-LDCHYYOM_mOH6bdDSsTSkrDnMJkxez9vOHyVGAPFcgVq-rNeCL5Y2R3ZwfFfBTHQKsk_EaY3y5msrtZY8tIkGBCC1906w4yiuRpfkUu1eoEitSYjFt/s320/Gadget06.jpg" width="320" /></a></span></div>
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">OK, so this is not a silly gadget at all. It's actually quite cool, and I'm quite excited about having this in my arsenal. The label tells us that "When you cook pasta and retort food, you can boil an egg or vegetables by this colander at the same time." Yes, yes, but more than that. If I'm making an Asian-style broth, I can actually put my slices of ginger, garlic cloves, green onion tops and dried anchovies in this thing, and just lift it out when done rather than straining the whole shebang.</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br /></span><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgrqokyi2sPDzTRNJCBrtiwrV600y4vX2O3mljGG8y7IJnfIJSlZVnMUuGqkVl1NLSBrJa0X1TSiozvPwewd0nQs8jpD2JbxAYb7kB3bmccAYrXF_L7vuyAZCXQBYx5B_sels6d5izC62Ov/s1600/Gadget08.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgrqokyi2sPDzTRNJCBrtiwrV600y4vX2O3mljGG8y7IJnfIJSlZVnMUuGqkVl1NLSBrJa0X1TSiozvPwewd0nQs8jpD2JbxAYb7kB3bmccAYrXF_L7vuyAZCXQBYx5B_sels6d5izC62Ov/s320/Gadget08.jpg" width="320" /></a></span></div>
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Yes, it's another mould. For rice. This one-serve mould holds over half as much as the cake mould does, which again tells us Why Japanese People (Except Sumo Wrestlers) Aren't Fat Like Us*: it's OK to eat half a cake, just as long as the cake is only rice shaped like a cake.</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br /></span><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj_CmaqdpPS-T0IIMJNDfeEO40nogiZ22fhH-nNqwbG8zceDm3A70ziNP8SqTcPIjQgn3qzbNIWNvWp0g2YrU7xN7w4Qn3l7nDKo_V4Oblo82VZGoZQQSYywzTwh6I2QBaPxj18YFt-B51h/s1600/Gadget07.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj_CmaqdpPS-T0IIMJNDfeEO40nogiZ22fhH-nNqwbG8zceDm3A70ziNP8SqTcPIjQgn3qzbNIWNvWp0g2YrU7xN7w4Qn3l7nDKo_V4Oblo82VZGoZQQSYywzTwh6I2QBaPxj18YFt-B51h/s320/Gadget07.jpg" width="320" /></a></span></div>
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Another rice mould, this one for <a href="http://yumbomcgillicutty.blogspot.com.au/2010/08/recycling-fridays-omurice.html">omurice</a>. I have no idea how this is going to work, unless I make a completely flat, dry, pancakey omelette, and line the mould with it before spooning in the rice. But if I did that, then I would miss out on the ritual of splitting the gooey omelette and having it flow over the rice, and… OK, I'm taking this one back to the shop.</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br /></span><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEic-Sxt3Vb22beBtzkpd326hwQLpTdphF1ydwXOIXW9Wtlsz8S6E09JQ2v9vvoKepgwMzEnVQVWIBjgPH6xA0OGGVmbiNhqcRosNlDeEs1ycaB74wEo7dwAgznMOHOMbYl-OeU1mE6xbjs5/s1600/Gadget09.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="315" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEic-Sxt3Vb22beBtzkpd326hwQLpTdphF1ydwXOIXW9Wtlsz8S6E09JQ2v9vvoKepgwMzEnVQVWIBjgPH6xA0OGGVmbiNhqcRosNlDeEs1ycaB74wEo7dwAgznMOHOMbYl-OeU1mE6xbjs5/s320/Gadget09.jpg" width="320" /></a></span></div>
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Because I like to have wooden spoons for mustard and other tracklements at the table. Even if they are rubber wood. Whatever that is.</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br /></span><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgP3kMBuHwRP2MrCJcprTij57L6GLiR78c26RT74hg92i9uPwgFkEZU1eyzDkPY1vXMsixSKPly08V3rFZ2OSpLIhmcpW9pYzz8MYwTPrYDTQJN0xaP9noD5_8E8uTcOvJsUZZCItJTrp96/s1600/Gadget10.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgP3kMBuHwRP2MrCJcprTij57L6GLiR78c26RT74hg92i9uPwgFkEZU1eyzDkPY1vXMsixSKPly08V3rFZ2OSpLIhmcpW9pYzz8MYwTPrYDTQJN0xaP9noD5_8E8uTcOvJsUZZCItJTrp96/s320/Gadget10.jpg" width="320" /></a></span></div>
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">OK, I admit it: I have a son who expressed an interest in making his own teabags. That is perfectly normal, right? So the small ones are for him. The big ones are for me, for bouquet garni and other things I want to fish out easily from a pot at the end of cooking.</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br /></span><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEigmTvyMYGxn6mruFWsekqcjdc27r_gKv3I0NGVP-henoZC0cIDMFlzvxazBT1PD4lyeVtk-BTojONKTgNOt0NJBwKK0gUW6JnQHjp9wZfZes0vWNhDxIrwo52wcOND3qt3EEEkTq_F12bn/s1600/Gadget12.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="242" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEigmTvyMYGxn6mruFWsekqcjdc27r_gKv3I0NGVP-henoZC0cIDMFlzvxazBT1PD4lyeVtk-BTojONKTgNOt0NJBwKK0gUW6JnQHjp9wZfZes0vWNhDxIrwo52wcOND3qt3EEEkTq_F12bn/s320/Gadget12.jpg" width="320" /></a></span></div>
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Again, not silly at all. These little natural fibre brushes are so incredibly brilliant that I bought three. The notches on the side are to control the length of the brush fibres. Have them long like this, medium, or short and stubby (ideal for greasing up the pan between cr<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #222222; line-height: 16px;"><em style="color: black; font-style: normal;">ê</em></span>pes).</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br /></span><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgmab0S0QmJK2qsZxAuXuFKAWWSXuwgk5YmbF6GGOjbbfSP37FvWQxT2k3A1axNMKXsJe5iDR6Ytnab1Rml0psFIR4z5UbJ9oiPaeHuTQvCySs1Kj9hm7rRgsCM6JCCxRvz8yg9yReUcV5q/s1600/Gadget13.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgmab0S0QmJK2qsZxAuXuFKAWWSXuwgk5YmbF6GGOjbbfSP37FvWQxT2k3A1axNMKXsJe5iDR6Ytnab1Rml0psFIR4z5UbJ9oiPaeHuTQvCySs1Kj9hm7rRgsCM6JCCxRvz8yg9yReUcV5q/s320/Gadget13.jpg" width="320" /></a></span></div>
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">This very gorgeous foil paper is used for wrapping up sandwiches and bento items. One day, when I decide to be an exemplary mother, I will do that. Or maybe I'll wait until I can be an exemplary grandmother.</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br /></span><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhD6ZYjDnSW2eGCeBL7PYhAIPBLkCXKmpFqNapMeQzdHFTgz036Hl6jAOKP5ry7et25GteTkNNrGcIJ9hofF9fqoN_F_ddzBnURAl6IYAYN-MKjGCg2i93CXK71lKknvrw65nGl-JeAK5JO/s1600/Gadget14.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhD6ZYjDnSW2eGCeBL7PYhAIPBLkCXKmpFqNapMeQzdHFTgz036Hl6jAOKP5ry7et25GteTkNNrGcIJ9hofF9fqoN_F_ddzBnURAl6IYAYN-MKjGCg2i93CXK71lKknvrw65nGl-JeAK5JO/s320/Gadget14.jpg" width="319" /></a></span></div>
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">This is such a clever idea that I don't know why no one thought of it decades ago. Shot glasses are a standard measure, right? So here you have a standard measure with measurements up the sides. The measuring spoons have been feeling pretty neglected since this came into the house.</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br /></span><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEipkLufkoXy2jsVf_ZVVLXGoKN8HiMniWzgNykosMBko8nEu6uOQ39bT3MI2snQBCa2BgPBd9_sdi-TStw81gisRGAUrgZasiKyplelL45tTwIFy2taCLDZ6qBgidotb3dJ0cuMYkhCwbhe/s1600/Gadget15.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEipkLufkoXy2jsVf_ZVVLXGoKN8HiMniWzgNykosMBko8nEu6uOQ39bT3MI2snQBCa2BgPBd9_sdi-TStw81gisRGAUrgZasiKyplelL45tTwIFy2taCLDZ6qBgidotb3dJ0cuMYkhCwbhe/s320/Gadget15.jpg" width="262" /></a></span></div>
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Another gadget I am excited about. A little thingie that will grind sesame seeds for you. I love to sprinkle gomashio over everything except my All-Bran, and this is brilliant, because as you may or may not know, if you make gomashio ahead of time, it just clumps together after a few days. But I can fill this mill with roasted sesame seeds and sea salt flakes, and grind my gomashio as I need it. That is, if I can make sense of the instructions: "This commodity might change in quality by the terpene or oils and fats contained in the skin of citrus fruits such as the lemons." "Rough of sesame can be added or subtracted to the own taste by adjusting an internal screw." "Of beginning use it becomes easy to use when putting sesame in the container and turning the steering wheel though the rotation of the steering wheel may be tight." Of course.</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br /></span><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjvQIABhLEqEEANirDczKvJTPcbz2qjA5L0NnAHiplRIRW7xkpi7vl5Hjei7DNGm-T_lENuc6ItnpxsYAmnoBUCPhmWc5y0ov4_aGxHyif3d3JEjXwDq4_EHVO6FJ1sqLR2vg4F2gA9Ac-e/s1600/Gadget16.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="274" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjvQIABhLEqEEANirDczKvJTPcbz2qjA5L0NnAHiplRIRW7xkpi7vl5Hjei7DNGm-T_lENuc6ItnpxsYAmnoBUCPhmWc5y0ov4_aGxHyif3d3JEjXwDq4_EHVO6FJ1sqLR2vg4F2gA9Ac-e/s320/Gadget16.jpg" width="320" /></a></span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">These I didn't buy. My colleague Kylie brought them for me from New Zealand. They are for frying eggs in the shape of a cow, a sheep, or a kiwi (the bird, not the fruit). I wonder what made her think I would use such a thing?</span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhaNFwIzM0vRaTOWvTBWpbNIi9GwJPdKdan2b5kEO7IpjzRo93ffven3KU4ZCQtKN5cVL9MwdOThzTKB_iiexklldqHSzkirVaWEkdSjuSBu7_X2yBk5lcZuGOccSiX3YHZm6Vr-mrs9qAy/s1600/Gadget19.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="219" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhaNFwIzM0vRaTOWvTBWpbNIi9GwJPdKdan2b5kEO7IpjzRo93ffven3KU4ZCQtKN5cVL9MwdOThzTKB_iiexklldqHSzkirVaWEkdSjuSBu7_X2yBk5lcZuGOccSiX3YHZm6Vr-mrs9qAy/s320/Gadget19.jpg" width="320" /></a></span></div>
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Surely not these eggs shaped like teddy bears, bunnies, hearts, stars, cars, and fish! No way.</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br /></span><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgp4C-O-Mq5GfBof3n-S-7tng5HKCoTNF63rnjLNU0PfJX4R8lVZF5drtzZOg2mqONqrI_NYAIX1ua1P1JPWwXM5c1lXAej7zgfjjMkOs3wa5w_g0lDRxy4I3tfXaZko293gkYyBmUASIeu/s1600/Gadget17.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgp4C-O-Mq5GfBof3n-S-7tng5HKCoTNF63rnjLNU0PfJX4R8lVZF5drtzZOg2mqONqrI_NYAIX1ua1P1JPWwXM5c1lXAej7zgfjjMkOs3wa5w_g0lDRxy4I3tfXaZko293gkYyBmUASIeu/s320/Gadget17.jpg" width="320" /></a></span></div>
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">No, I didn't need another saucepan, but this isn't just another saucepan. It isn't that it's just the right size for one or two packets of ramen, but that despite being stainless steel, it's thin with a thin bottom. It's not meant to sauté anything: it's meant to heat liquids up <i>fast</i>. Faster than the mikey, with more even heat distribution. My sons, who eat ramen in industrial quantities, will use this.</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br /></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">As will I. Happy and satisfied after my little shopping spree, I can have a little play in the kitchen and a bit of a giggle while I eat my lunch. Because sometimes, we all need a little teddy bear looking out at us from our noodle bowl.</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br /></span><br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><img border="0" height="218" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhYFUB2hBsvJiLNfOH9i85lfMluFjtZNFxOzS1-guZd05_RHH28x6HaE6zFb2GbtAEWhGZ8iRe-iRKzaa48b-1J_LBNbo0EvccwS_BQFYdv5ZkN_ftdcxowCjhDHZpUfWSUw1BmmOrLyWEP/s320/Gadget20.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" width="320" /></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Yumbo McGillicutty!</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhYFUB2hBsvJiLNfOH9i85lfMluFjtZNFxOzS1-guZd05_RHH28x6HaE6zFb2GbtAEWhGZ8iRe-iRKzaa48b-1J_LBNbo0EvccwS_BQFYdv5ZkN_ftdcxowCjhDHZpUfWSUw1BmmOrLyWEP/s1600/Gadget20.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"></span></a></div>
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br /></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br /></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br /></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-small;">* Not a real book title. </span>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2928372656358161525.post-89496159966460185982012-04-10T02:40:00.000-07:002012-04-10T06:29:56.071-07:0050 posts, 16 years, one cake<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiJQSFBUlZKFmTXNxCxNYCOgV2qPGQrgXRfhyphenhyphenT8XzhqADLSyCsfp2lDu6i9Dpw95xsv9P81JOXmlZ_QodbM2NoaAwY9BqZbuv0l8JCBgSj-XzPJF6HgeIRptTEZQsP3TBX5UBrwoaYZPd5c/s1600/Raz04.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><img border="0" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiJQSFBUlZKFmTXNxCxNYCOgV2qPGQrgXRfhyphenhyphenT8XzhqADLSyCsfp2lDu6i9Dpw95xsv9P81JOXmlZ_QodbM2NoaAwY9BqZbuv0l8JCBgSj-XzPJF6HgeIRptTEZQsP3TBX5UBrwoaYZPd5c/s320/Raz04.jpg" width="320" /></span></a></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">This is my 50th post in this bit o’fun I call Yumbo
McGillicutty! – my quiet and unassuming little food blog. Fifty posts may not be much by other
über-blogger standards, but it’s got me thinking about when I got into the
Internet, about 16 years ago.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">The Internet – even though it was far more advanced and
bore little resemblance to the “first”, government- and nerd-populated Internet
others knew through the ‘70s and 80s – was quite a different place then than it
is now. It was rough-and-ready, and
looking back, quaint. And it opened up
the world for me.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">In those days, I was isolated and lonely, raising
children on acreage and holding the fort through some happy but hard days,
unable to really count on a husband who worked unspeakably long and impossible
hours. Perhaps to my detriment – I dread
to think how many hours could have been spent doing something constructive
instead of “research” that steals hours in the blink of an eye – I turned to
the Internet to draw closer to everything and everyone who was far away, and to
amass and absorb information in a way that not even a mad reader such as me had
been able to before. It was
awesome. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">One of the most awesome things was access to
recipes. Recipes for anything, courtesy
of your favourite search engine! Delivered
to your Inbox via e-mail! Recipes
everywhere! But they weren’t like you
might see them today: set up to food
stylist standards with photography to match.
They were just… recipes. Recipes
that were sometimes backed up with lovely words that made you want to cook that
thing, right now, but more often recipes by people whose judgement and taste
you’d learnt to trust by virtue of their presence in a particular forum or
noticeboard, where Experience and Knowledge was a beacon.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Look at me.
Getting nostalgic over the Old Internet.
But there were people who taught me so much and have been proven by time
to be unforgettable. “Limey Rik”, a
teetotaller who compulsively made vats of wine from whatever he foraged each
year: dandelions, brambleberries. Marie from Countrylife, whose knowledge of
bread baking was encyclopaedic. And Raz,
whose grammar and spelling were woeful but whose every home-style recipe was
guaranteed to make the people you cook for forget that things such as grammar –
or even language! - “Mmm… mmm!...” – exist.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">It was Raz who first posted a recipe for something called
Spanish Bar Cake. I’d never had it
before, but she posted my favourite part of a recipe besides the eating: the anthropological context. She said it was a standard in A&P grocery
stores in the U.S. Here in Australia,
I’d never been to an A&P store, much less had the cake, but even though the
cake seemed nothing special to me, I trusted Raz, and I was intrigued that
enough people rhapsodised about it, were nostalgic about it, and wanted to
reproduce it at home. So I made it, and
understood why they did: it isn’t a cake
for sissies. It is Serious Cake. Very sweet, very spicy cake. Dense cake.
Happy-to-be-home cake. Not for
dessert, but for chowing down.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Raz said, “Eat it, drink milk. Makes a complete dessert meal. Protein, fat, carbohydrate, pleasure.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Yes, I wrote that down.
Now, it’s history. When Raz first
posted the recipe, it was one of just two or three recipes for Spanish Bar Cake
on the Internet. Since then, it’s been
reproduced countless times in many websites, and the name of its original
contributor has been lost to the virtual sands of time. Or whatever.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">But I remember. I
may be reproducing the recipe yet again, but I’m returning credit where credit
is due. I don’t know who Raz is, or was,
but she shared something with me that has been part of my life now for 16
years, and part of my kids’ lives, and who knows? Maybe my kids’ kids and theirs. None of us in the U.S., none of us giving a
damn about no A&P. Just the cake.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">A slice for you, Raz, and a nice cuppa herbal tea
(although I did have a piece with a glass of milk for breakfast a few days
ago), and a slice for everyone at the birth of this super information hyper
highway who took the time to share a special recipe, and the reason it was
special. Because of you, the food
blogosphere would not be where it is today.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhkkfzHab19eTo9r1cARvRRJo8kopiLPEyOl5ZKXbiL_sTdjBrRoYzUqfpQEf0dE-AIBbf1e37JV_YKjEiJDCvvH2gniRwC_W-dNRMp768JTSW5ym8kn1nBrSW056QFwBi0T4Ml9x8SwLnR/s1600/Raz02.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhkkfzHab19eTo9r1cARvRRJo8kopiLPEyOl5ZKXbiL_sTdjBrRoYzUqfpQEf0dE-AIBbf1e37JV_YKjEiJDCvvH2gniRwC_W-dNRMp768JTSW5ym8kn1nBrSW056QFwBi0T4Ml9x8SwLnR/s320/Raz02.jpg" width="290" /></span></a></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<o:p><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br /></span></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><b>RAZ’S SPANISH BAR CAKE</b><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">This is Raz’s original recipe, almost as exactly written
back in the day. Raz didn’t include milk
in the original recipe, but you may need it due to the variables in homemade
applesauce: if it’s too thick, you’ll
need milk, if it’s more liquid, you won’t.
Remember, however, that this is a dense cake with a dense batter, so add
just enough milk to slacken it, not liquify it. <br />
<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><i>Ingredients:</i><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">2 1/2 cups Plain flour<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">1 tsp. bicarb soda (baking soda)<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">1 tsp. baking powder<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">1/2 tsp. salt<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">2 tsp. cinnamon<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">1/4 tsp. ginger<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">1/2 tsp. nutmeg, freshly grated for preference<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">3/4 cup butter<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">1 1/2 cups sugar<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">2 large eggs, beaten<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Milk, as needed<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">1 tsp. vanilla essence<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">1 cup chunky applesauce, homemade is best<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">1 cup plump raisins<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">1/2 cup roughly-chopped walnuts (opt.)<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">For the icing -<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">250g. cream cheese<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">4 tsp. butter<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">2 1/4 cups icing sugar<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">1 tsp. lemon juice<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><i>What you do:</i><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">1. Grease and flour rectangular cake pan, or brush with <a href="http://yumbomcgillicutty.blogspot.com.au/2011/01/essential-ingredient-bakers-secret.html">Baker's Secret</a>. Preheat oven to 175oC.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">2. Sift dry ingredients together, set aside.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">3. In mixer on high speed, cream butter and sugar
together. Add eggs. Blend well, then turn to low speed, and add
vanilla and applesauce. Add raisins, and
dry ingredients. Mix with a wooden spoon
only until dry ingredients are moistened, then stop. If necessary, add a little milk to slacken
mixture slightly.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">4. Turn mixture into pan, and bake for about 45 min., or
until cooked when tested. Leave to cool
in pan, and cover with icing, making squiggle patterns with a fork.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">* To make icing,
beat all ingredients together well.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br /></span></div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjTYuGNyugDF5oValXJhqE0hCeoazwbarHXiN9uCuONjLmKZ3wBQZ96S-5tTAnhKuvu0VT1LncqXuGcN6uDQcX9GRf8pUzzVcAWX-7iLdhAVwasxXv9qC3hMLrIde5PvjdQpKHPNgmgs3dr/s1600/Raz03.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><img border="0" height="186" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjTYuGNyugDF5oValXJhqE0hCeoazwbarHXiN9uCuONjLmKZ3wBQZ96S-5tTAnhKuvu0VT1LncqXuGcN6uDQcX9GRf8pUzzVcAWX-7iLdhAVwasxXv9qC3hMLrIde5PvjdQpKHPNgmgs3dr/s320/Raz03.jpg" width="320" /></span></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Yumbo McGillicutty!</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<br /></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2928372656358161525.post-86548816372500525392012-03-08T22:25:00.001-08:002012-08-14T00:17:35.023-07:00Turning and Two-minute Toum<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiWpUnmbPqDafVmQ185CXIFIpGtLnxttNPNGzseNO-eOSOc4-N015F0OrRCaaflTktONvP9BTv102E7b5IBq6Gcd8jdCVYvieLiEELP_jFGlQJ2DduvXk-h3bkK7MiReOGNAJ2LYsH9V6s0/s1600/Toum01.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="263" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiWpUnmbPqDafVmQ185CXIFIpGtLnxttNPNGzseNO-eOSOc4-N015F0OrRCaaflTktONvP9BTv102E7b5IBq6Gcd8jdCVYvieLiEELP_jFGlQJ2DduvXk-h3bkK7MiReOGNAJ2LYsH9V6s0/s320/Toum01.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<span lang="EN-US"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">We've all wasted food, but let me tell
you, you know nothing about wasting food until you've been in a professional
cookery class on Turned Potato Day.</span></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<span lang="EN-US"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">For those of you who are too young to
remember Nouvelle Cuisine or spent the 80s trying to master beurre blanc,
turned vegetables are vegetables – usually roots and tubers – that are
"turned" into five- or seven-sided barrel shapes with a turning knife
(or ordinary paring knife if you're a Turning Genius). It is not something that is relevant any more
(when was the last time you saw a turned vegetable?) or something that you can
learn in a few hours when you've also got another six precision cuts to learn,
but still, it's in the curriculum, so we give it a go.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<span lang="EN-US"><o:p><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br /></span></o:p></span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh_BuYChEwPXVbmNGafT8YgRU2Mqu3xeCG3P5kITQyhpGWb5GdruJr2NjBb4PH0MgGqSpxwmoZFmZBU72wLX9mxjFc4Hp2Dfqwhj53xSPsiZY-E8IjNRSnNO7eLZ71nWlYXVpstQcfJxI6T/s1600/Toum04.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh_BuYChEwPXVbmNGafT8YgRU2Mqu3xeCG3P5kITQyhpGWb5GdruJr2NjBb4PH0MgGqSpxwmoZFmZBU72wLX9mxjFc4Hp2Dfqwhj53xSPsiZY-E8IjNRSnNO7eLZ71nWlYXVpstQcfJxI6T/s1600/Toum04.jpg" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<span lang="EN-US"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">I show the students a video. Then I demonstrate. Once.
Twice. Three times. These kids try. And fail.
Fail so spectacularly. They fear
cutting towards their thumbs, they fear the long continuous cut, they fear
gripping the veg. One potato looks like
Headless Yoda. One student thinks the pile
of trimmings she's got<i> is</i> the turned potato.
I send them to get more potatoes.
The pile of potato trimmings – not peel, actual potato flesh – grows and
grows.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<span lang="EN-US"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">While they try and fail, I chop up the
potato trimmings and throw them into a pot for potato soup. While I chop, I remember when I learned to
turn veg. I'd already had the obligatory
lesson on turning vegetables but the turning moment, so to speak, was during a week's work
experience at Mietta's in 1993, when Mietta was still alive and her restaurant was one
of Melbourne's flagships. Mietta's had a
traditional French kitchen brigade (read: arrogant, tough, and properly sexist
towards women in the kitchen) and a traditional French menu. No vegetable was ever served in its original
form. Spuds were sliced thickly and then
cut into rounds with a scone cutter.
Perfect baby turnips were shaved.
And carrots were turned. So my
real lesson on turning veg happened when the sous chef pointed at a 10kg bag of
carrots and said, "Turn those!"
By the tenth carrot, my turning was pretty damned perfect. (And I suffered. That amount of turning meant that I ended up
with microscopic cuts all over my thumbs from the motion of stopping the
turning knife. Not a problem, until the
sous chef got me to shell 10kg of Moreton Bay bugs immediately afterwards. Ever had an infection on your thumbs? Not nice.)<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<span lang="EN-US"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">But I digress. <a href="http://www.lovefoodhatewaste.nsw.gov.au/">I hate waste.</a> I use up the potato trimmings for a soup that isn't altogether a
success, and while I'm putting it in the coolroom, I notice the leftover falafel
from a barbeque we catered a few days ago.
They won't see another day, the students prefer the leftover sausages
for their lunch, so I decide to take them home for dinner.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<span lang="EN-US"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">They're pretty good falafels, but
because they were made to not offend teenage palates, they are on the bland
side. So I decide to make some Lebanese
garlic sauce to go with them.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<span lang="EN-US"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgCl9SpCggEaJ4EMviLLRIMMybeky41Wa5Vt3i2yv1beeFpXyiEMG1obRnot5HT66YtfwTGYdnhkZCoeL3rFWu8gHeR_IMOZ_BEXFs139XQs2pPkJekHic9u14rUSxirXzcJW9776lYBxY4/s1600/Toum05.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="239" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgCl9SpCggEaJ4EMviLLRIMMybeky41Wa5Vt3i2yv1beeFpXyiEMG1obRnot5HT66YtfwTGYdnhkZCoeL3rFWu8gHeR_IMOZ_BEXFs139XQs2pPkJekHic9u14rUSxirXzcJW9776lYBxY4/s320/Toum05.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<span lang="EN-US"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Toum, toom, or zait b'toum is the Holy
Grail for garlic lovers. It's what aioli
should be but isn't since it's been discovered and reinvented for non-Spanish
palates. It is garlic extreme – there's
not even a drop of olive oil to detract from the garlic flavour – and in my
house, I have to stop people pouncing on it with a spoon.</span></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<span lang="EN-US"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">For many years, I relied on my Lebanese
friend Lily for it, because every time I made it, it would curdle, to the point
where even though my children would still eat it, they would call it Garlic
Fail. Until the fateful day when I found
<a href="http://thefoodblog.com.au/2009/10/toum-lebanese-garlic-sauce-recipe.html">Fouad's recipe</a> and I was able to turn out an entire canister full of Garlic
Win. The family rejoiced and grabbed
spoons.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<span lang="EN-US"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Fouad's recipe is foolproof, and ideal
for when you need a large amount of toum – I'll keep on using it for the rest
of my life – but despite the food processor, it takes considerable care and
time. It is the only thing I make in the
food processor that actually heats up the motor. And Fouad has since posted a quicker and
easier way to make toum for smaller quantities, but after <a href="http://www.seriouseats.com/recipes/2011/10/two-minute-mayonnaise.html">a recent article on mayonnaise</a> in Serious
Eats, I suspected - sorry, Fouad! - that I could do better.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<span lang="EN-US"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">I did. Last night's toum took two minutes
flat with the stick blender - including the time it took to gather ingredients and peel garlic. And it was full of win. Not just garlicky, but white, perfectly
fluffy and of such enviable texture that I could have cut it with a knife. The leftover falafels went from being
falafels to Those Little Round Things We Can Put Garlic Sauce on. No waste.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<span lang="EN-US"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjafS8m1SU5RFg5va2lPjpKZ2N1T4rId0xAMudz9oYXQtGMGL0wPefLkLbW5y4Z80VGxwBVa-woltColKfS_6hzX4UyduTxq7LPgU5Jb73qUWsWD3mK0nkjFAfnhsy4VEPPiTBVzJI0zgLA/s1600/Toum03.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjafS8m1SU5RFg5va2lPjpKZ2N1T4rId0xAMudz9oYXQtGMGL0wPefLkLbW5y4Z80VGxwBVa-woltColKfS_6hzX4UyduTxq7LPgU5Jb73qUWsWD3mK0nkjFAfnhsy4VEPPiTBVzJI0zgLA/s320/Toum03.jpg" width="239" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> </span></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<span lang="EN-US"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><b>TWO-MINUTE TOUM</b><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<span lang="EN-US"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">No joke – this toum will take you two
minutes flat, if that. You're after a
light, fluffy texture, and this recipe will give you that without any effort
whatsoever. No streaming oil in, no
stress about how the emulsion will happen.
Just put the stick in and watch the magic happen. The technique is easy, but if you're nervous, check out the Serious Eats video. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<span lang="EN-US"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">(Makes 1 cup approx.)<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<span lang="EN-US"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><i>Ingredients:</i><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<span lang="EN-US"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">6-8 cloves garlic, peeled<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<span lang="EN-US"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">1 tsp. salt<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<span lang="EN-US"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">1 egg white<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<span lang="EN-US"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">1 tbsp. water<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<span lang="EN-US"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">1 tbsp. lemon juice<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<span lang="EN-US"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">1 cup (250ml) neutral oil (not grapeseed)<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<span lang="EN-US"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><i>What you do:</i><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<span lang="EN-US"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">1.
Put the garlic and salt into the canister of your stick blender
(immersion blender, stab mixer – whatever).
Stab a few times to process the garlic to a paste. Remove stick blender, pour in remaining
ingredients, and allow to settle for about 15 seconds.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<span lang="EN-US"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">2.
Put stick blender back into canister, resting it on the very bottom, and
switch on. Mixture will begin to
emulsify from the bottom up. When it's
2/3 emulsified, slowly begin lifting out the stick blender. By the time it reaches the surface, all of the
mixture will be completely emulsified and fluffy. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<span lang="EN-US"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br /></span></span></div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiXr-xPKmlv_IqsTNacN2hR-FUmgP2WMW0wr13N9F1LEFTWRZCyRMh31vyaKGPRouiI_5aNUX25TfQs7mSa2rhpVB3JeJnhFw_oVmMIqfxeD-nlpAc_4s7Fmd5GnxPw1QHftKiN8cfCTCo8/s1600/Toum02.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="263" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiXr-xPKmlv_IqsTNacN2hR-FUmgP2WMW0wr13N9F1LEFTWRZCyRMh31vyaKGPRouiI_5aNUX25TfQs7mSa2rhpVB3JeJnhFw_oVmMIqfxeD-nlpAc_4s7Fmd5GnxPw1QHftKiN8cfCTCo8/s320/Toum02.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Yumbo McGillicutty!<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: small;"> </span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com105tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2928372656358161525.post-74122593667345351072012-01-05T05:12:00.000-08:002012-01-05T05:30:28.664-08:00How to do summer without sizzling like a silly sausage<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEijv9H1M27HWR2VoUgx9Wg2t7ReS0ZBicVCc8NxPNrdRTe6RbFVr_jnfEbuGrAFg_7SuFIemiR3iSHHYP6IZ1gSH2EvH8lsjr3LShy9sNa9k96-aqM_kR8SAwEsosO0HP6jacLIGHeBbYgU/s1600/Snags05.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEijv9H1M27HWR2VoUgx9Wg2t7ReS0ZBicVCc8NxPNrdRTe6RbFVr_jnfEbuGrAFg_7SuFIemiR3iSHHYP6IZ1gSH2EvH8lsjr3LShy9sNa9k96-aqM_kR8SAwEsosO0HP6jacLIGHeBbYgU/s320/Snags05.jpg" width="213" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Summer means barbequing.</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">
</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">That is, grilling.</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Why?</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">I mean - I understand the concept of <a href="http://yumbomcgillicutty.blogspot.com/2011/01/tarty-tuesdays-classic-tuna-pie.html">eating outside</a>.</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">I understand the concept of not
heating up the kitchen.</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">What I don’t
understand is why, on a day so hot that birds are falling fully cooked from the
skies, some poor sap has to lean over glowing coals and volcanic rock and
flames, drip-basting meat with his own sweat, and pretend that this is the
perfect way to cook in warm weather.</span></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Think about it:
those barbeques and grills get way hotter than your standard burner,
your standard skillet, or heck, even your standard
carbonize-you-at-closer-than-twenty-paces wok.
OK so barbeques and grills don’t heat up the kitchen like an oven does,
but at least you don’t have to lean over an oven, flipping slices of eggplant
every two minutes so they don’t self-combust.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">So, much as I like them, summer barbeques don’t make all
that much sense to me. My heart always
goes out to the aforementioned poor sap, particularly when the poor sap is a
Sap on a Mission, like the venerable Sausage Sizzle.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Despite what <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xn_CPrCS8gs">Hoges</a> may have said back in the '80s, the thing that is
thrown most often on Aussie barbies isn’t shrimp, but sausage. Putting a few snags on the barbie is pretty
standard – on their own, or as part of a range of grilled meats – in the home,
but outside the home, a sausage sizzle is one of the most common fundraisers.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Go down the street, go to the hardware store, and chances
are that your local fire brigade or primary school will be having a sausage
sizzle fundraiser. $1 or $2 will get you
a sausage in bread, with lots of nicely browned onions on top, and your choice
of sauce. Yes, it’s cheap, so yes, you
can afford to give up another $1 or $2 because the guy (almost always it’s a guy)
has been sweating over that hotplate since 9.00am and sizzling along with the
sausages because his wife is in the Parents’ Association and she’s told him
he’s got to do it or he won’t get any nookie for another month and HE DESERVES
IT.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">At home, when it’s truly hot, my barbeque stays under
cover. But sausages in bread are
expected in summer, so sausages it is, with exactly the same flavour if not
better flavour as barbequed, courtesy of my electric frying pan. No heating up the kitchen. No working over a hotplate. No constant watching. No sizzling except what should be sizzling in
the pan while I’m sitting on the verandah, feet on my own poor sap’s lap,
chatting a little dozily while we make the ice clink in our drinks. Barbeque schmarbeque. Feels like summer to me.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br /></span></div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj7iNKQK_4CLcUMEHUmFiWXou5x0AhdvvrXkXr1Ys0PFh0ya8SgqeS2UMMOBK4TndukIopx_R6CXRpf1K6db-7DqgITHk7zFK-uieUmjvQ0B3Gn32JbfwRkkXv2zcvLe5xk7ioLpv0G1E14/s1600/Snags01.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj7iNKQK_4CLcUMEHUmFiWXou5x0AhdvvrXkXr1Ys0PFh0ya8SgqeS2UMMOBK4TndukIopx_R6CXRpf1K6db-7DqgITHk7zFK-uieUmjvQ0B3Gn32JbfwRkkXv2zcvLe5xk7ioLpv0G1E14/s320/Snags01.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Just three easy steps, I promise. First, chuck everything into your pan. (No, you're not imagining it, my sausages here are two different colours. Half are pork and half are beef.)<br />
</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjgvsINJMRHCLilziPL4YtCCdROBav-5E_TavAyfNrT0mVZRRlWCZ6rD0K-DgSnnd-2mlZfT4cJxkbZAHM0DPRJ5haDh6St0DkvZ0RauO6vZ1z0JZvdz3nkCHcOPVBM2VaXrJaQVAuCoF16/s1600/Snags02.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjgvsINJMRHCLilziPL4YtCCdROBav-5E_TavAyfNrT0mVZRRlWCZ6rD0K-DgSnnd-2mlZfT4cJxkbZAHM0DPRJ5haDh6St0DkvZ0RauO6vZ1z0JZvdz3nkCHcOPVBM2VaXrJaQVAuCoF16/s320/Snags02.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">All right so at the end of Step 2, it pretty much looks like a dog's breakfast. But it'll come good. Promise!</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhuW-fiEjl0GKV6DTXM8WhVpilp-PKRU9K5L5pCH_aMBx-b8xm4UbwJtpMPBL4V1iC9bCpc03teUkHsTORvO8_NdoZb8D7z_FcvsNIc3IGY69klsBdAiGpB7aqkNNimsFyE66QQi3wU1Rci/s1600/Snags03.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhuW-fiEjl0GKV6DTXM8WhVpilp-PKRU9K5L5pCH_aMBx-b8xm4UbwJtpMPBL4V1iC9bCpc03teUkHsTORvO8_NdoZb8D7z_FcvsNIc3IGY69klsBdAiGpB7aqkNNimsFyE66QQi3wU1Rci/s320/Snags03.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">See? Toldja it'd come good! Now where are those hot dog buns?...</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><b><br /></b></span></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><b>THE SAUSAGE SIZZLE – MINUS BARBEQUE</b><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">This is such a low-effort, forgiving recipe – fiddle with
the quantities, add ingredients, make it in advance, keep it warm – that it’s
perfect for those lazy summer days. If
making it advance, however, it’s best done to the end of Step 2; they are best
browned just before serving. What I like
to do is keep the sausages warm in the pan, pile split buns in baskets beside
them, provide ketchup and mustard, and just let everyone help themselves.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">(8 servings)<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><i>Ingredients:</i><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">1 kg. high-quality, high meat content sausages, such as
pork, beef, bratwurst<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">1 kg. onions<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">500ml beer (what kind isn’t really important, as long as
you stay away from the dark stuff – I actually used a non-alcoholic “brewed
beverage”)<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">2 tbsp. seeded mustard<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">1 tbsp. oil <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">To serve: hot dog
buns or other bread, ketchup, mustard, and other condiments of your choice<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><i>What you do:</i><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">1. Prick sausages
several times. Place in electric frying
pan or a sauté pan large enough to hold the sausages in a single layer. Slice onions very, very finely (a food
processor or mandolin is the thing to use here) and add to pan along with
remaining ingredients. Stir briefly to
combine.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">2. Bring to the
boil with (or over) high heat. Cover,
and reduce heat to low. Simmer until sausages are cooked through and onions are very tender –
about 20 minutes.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">3. Uncover and
increase heat to medium high. Cook,
stirring occasionally, until liquid has evaporated. Keep cooking, stirring regularly, until sausages
and onions are golden. (Be careful when
stirring: cooked sausages can break
quite easily.) Serve sausages and onions
in buns or bread with your favourite condiments.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br /></span></div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjSqkZZovy7vmTbc74OANeXEmxi8TyHJeRXhj87TveEfNVpPHczdwgX9sXPdk_s8Jio1uvXXAa2MCjqOtOXqpWUf5AtDyuA0ut8iFOq4ABmc3GBM0a0W89ApQJk1pNIA-Sdv6DYIlKqRB9e/s1600/Snag04.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjSqkZZovy7vmTbc74OANeXEmxi8TyHJeRXhj87TveEfNVpPHczdwgX9sXPdk_s8Jio1uvXXAa2MCjqOtOXqpWUf5AtDyuA0ut8iFOq4ABmc3GBM0a0W89ApQJk1pNIA-Sdv6DYIlKqRB9e/s320/Snag04.jpg" width="213" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Yumbo McGillicutty!</td></tr>
</tbody></table>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2928372656358161525.post-33838021907375038992011-12-30T23:40:00.000-08:002011-12-30T23:40:25.293-08:00Self-raising flour: what it is, how to make it, and other questions on which the world hangs. Or not.<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
<o:OfficeDocumentSettings>
<o:AllowPNG/>
</o:OfficeDocumentSettings>
</xml><![endif]-->
<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
<w:WordDocument>
<w:View>Normal</w:View>
<w:Zoom>0</w:Zoom>
<w:TrackMoves/>
<w:TrackFormatting/>
<w:PunctuationKerning/>
<w:ValidateAgainstSchemas/>
<w:SaveIfXMLInvalid>false</w:SaveIfXMLInvalid>
<w:IgnoreMixedContent>false</w:IgnoreMixedContent>
<w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText>false</w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText>
<w:DoNotPromoteQF/>
<w:LidThemeOther>EN-US</w:LidThemeOther>
<w:LidThemeAsian>JA</w:LidThemeAsian>
<w:LidThemeComplexScript>X-NONE</w:LidThemeComplexScript>
<w:Compatibility>
<w:BreakWrappedTables/>
<w:SnapToGridInCell/>
<w:WrapTextWithPunct/>
<w:UseAsianBreakRules/>
<w:DontGrowAutofit/>
<w:SplitPgBreakAndParaMark/>
<w:EnableOpenTypeKerning/>
<w:DontFlipMirrorIndents/>
<w:OverrideTableStyleHps/>
<w:UseFELayout/>
</w:Compatibility>
<m:mathPr>
<m:mathFont m:val="Cambria Math"/>
<m:brkBin m:val="before"/>
<m:brkBinSub m:val="--"/>
<m:smallFrac m:val="off"/>
<m:dispDef/>
<m:lMargin m:val="0"/>
<m:rMargin m:val="0"/>
<m:defJc m:val="centerGroup"/>
<m:wrapIndent m:val="1440"/>
<m:intLim m:val="subSup"/>
<m:naryLim m:val="undOvr"/>
</m:mathPr></w:WordDocument>
</xml><![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
<w:LatentStyles DefLockedState="false" DefUnhideWhenUsed="true"
DefSemiHidden="true" DefQFormat="false" DefPriority="99"
LatentStyleCount="276">
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="0" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="Normal"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="9" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="heading 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="9" QFormat="true" Name="heading 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="9" QFormat="true" Name="heading 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="9" QFormat="true" Name="heading 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="9" QFormat="true" Name="heading 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="9" QFormat="true" Name="heading 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="9" QFormat="true" Name="heading 7"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="9" QFormat="true" Name="heading 8"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="9" QFormat="true" Name="heading 9"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" Name="toc 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" Name="toc 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" Name="toc 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" Name="toc 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" Name="toc 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" Name="toc 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" Name="toc 7"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" Name="toc 8"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" Name="toc 9"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="35" QFormat="true" Name="caption"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="10" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="Title"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="1" Name="Default Paragraph Font"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="11" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="Subtitle"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="22" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="Strong"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="20" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="Emphasis"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="59" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Table Grid"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Placeholder Text"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="1" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="No Spacing"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Shading"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light List"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Grid"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Dark List"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Shading"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful List"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Grid"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Shading Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light List Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Grid Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 1 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 2 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 1 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Revision"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="34" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="List Paragraph"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="29" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="Quote"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="30" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="Intense Quote"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 2 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 1 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 2 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 3 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Dark List Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Shading Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful List Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Grid Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Shading Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light List Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Grid Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 1 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 2 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 1 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 2 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 1 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 2 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 3 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Dark List Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Shading Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful List Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Grid Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Shading Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light List Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Grid Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 1 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 2 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 1 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 2 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 1 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 2 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 3 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Dark List Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Shading Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful List Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Grid Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Shading Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light List Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Grid Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 1 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 2 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 1 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 2 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 1 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 2 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 3 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Dark List Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Shading Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful List Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Grid Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Shading Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light List Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Grid Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 1 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 2 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 1 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 2 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 1 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 2 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 3 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Dark List Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Shading Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful List Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Grid Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Shading Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light List Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Grid Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 1 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 2 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 1 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 2 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 1 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 2 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 3 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Dark List Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Shading Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful List Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Grid Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="19" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="Subtle Emphasis"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="21" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="Intense Emphasis"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="31" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="Subtle Reference"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="32" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="Intense Reference"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="33" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="Book Title"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="37" Name="Bibliography"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" QFormat="true" Name="TOC Heading"/>
</w:LatentStyles>
</xml><![endif]-->
<!--[if gte mso 10]>
<style>
/* Style Definitions */
table.MsoNormalTable
{mso-style-name:"Table Normal";
mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0;
mso-tstyle-colband-size:0;
mso-style-noshow:yes;
mso-style-priority:99;
mso-style-parent:"";
mso-padding-alt:0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt;
mso-para-margin:0cm;
mso-para-margin-bottom:.0001pt;
mso-pagination:widow-orphan;
font-size:12.0pt;
font-family:Cambria;
mso-ascii-font-family:Cambria;
mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin;
mso-hansi-font-family:Cambria;
mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin;}
</style>
<![endif]-->
<!--StartFragment-->
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhrszLlIT4mmSheEovX5s0UJmV7Ea9YH9bzUkn8DouIfKpxmiUqOMJfLBdN2rns2bFnzWrhnVnbLZrd89PBibucnnSTQPYW8zDO4BgKm1xnp-2w15Ee38wzCXAaEqUlVooZb61j-BBvyE9N/s1600/SR.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhrszLlIT4mmSheEovX5s0UJmV7Ea9YH9bzUkn8DouIfKpxmiUqOMJfLBdN2rns2bFnzWrhnVnbLZrd89PBibucnnSTQPYW8zDO4BgKm1xnp-2w15Ee38wzCXAaEqUlVooZb61j-BBvyE9N/s320/SR.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">A bag of self-raising flour is a common sight in pantries
across the UK and Australia, but the mention of it tends to send cooks
elsewhere into a bit of tizz.</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">What is
this strange and mysterious substance?</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">What it is is no mystery.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Neither is how to make it.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">SR flour is flour with a leavening agent added, so that
whatever baked goodie you’re making won’t require baking powder or baking
soda/bicarb-plus-an-acid-component to make it rise.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It’s
very handy to have lying around, but if you can’t buy it, or if you run out,
you can make yours in a trice.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">The proportions are:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText" style="text-align: center;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><b>2 tsp. baking powder for every cup of flour</b><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Sift together a few times, or if you’re a hard case like
I am, just whisk it all vigorously for a minute or so.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Make it in bulk to have it ready to go when needed, or
make as much as you need for what you’re making at the time.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">OK, so I realise this is a piker’s post.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>After all, it’s the last day of the year and
I am in proper vacation mode right now.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>More or less, I am:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">a) not cooking, just subsisting on AWESOME leftovers<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">b) sitting in front of the telly watching all the DVDs I
got for Christmas<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">c) crocheting<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">d) reading thick summery novels, and/or<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">e) any combination of the above.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">So it’s like… <i>yawn</i>... Yumbo McGillicutty?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Whassat?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">In my defense, however, this is a well handy hint, and
I’ll be posting some recipes requiring SR flour soon.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>So there.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Happy New Year everyone!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>May 2012 be full of all good things for you and yours.</span><o:p></o:p></div>
<!--EndFragment-->Unknownnoreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2928372656358161525.post-18328641383045757532011-12-19T06:01:00.000-08:002011-12-19T06:01:46.266-08:00The things we do for love<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
<o:OfficeDocumentSettings>
<o:AllowPNG/>
</o:OfficeDocumentSettings>
</xml><![endif]-->
<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
<w:WordDocument>
<w:View>Normal</w:View>
<w:Zoom>0</w:Zoom>
<w:TrackMoves/>
<w:TrackFormatting/>
<w:PunctuationKerning/>
<w:ValidateAgainstSchemas/>
<w:SaveIfXMLInvalid>false</w:SaveIfXMLInvalid>
<w:IgnoreMixedContent>false</w:IgnoreMixedContent>
<w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText>false</w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText>
<w:DoNotPromoteQF/>
<w:LidThemeOther>EN-US</w:LidThemeOther>
<w:LidThemeAsian>JA</w:LidThemeAsian>
<w:LidThemeComplexScript>X-NONE</w:LidThemeComplexScript>
<w:Compatibility>
<w:BreakWrappedTables/>
<w:SnapToGridInCell/>
<w:WrapTextWithPunct/>
<w:UseAsianBreakRules/>
<w:DontGrowAutofit/>
<w:SplitPgBreakAndParaMark/>
<w:EnableOpenTypeKerning/>
<w:DontFlipMirrorIndents/>
<w:OverrideTableStyleHps/>
<w:UseFELayout/>
</w:Compatibility>
<m:mathPr>
<m:mathFont m:val="Cambria Math"/>
<m:brkBin m:val="before"/>
<m:brkBinSub m:val="--"/>
<m:smallFrac m:val="off"/>
<m:dispDef/>
<m:lMargin m:val="0"/>
<m:rMargin m:val="0"/>
<m:defJc m:val="centerGroup"/>
<m:wrapIndent m:val="1440"/>
<m:intLim m:val="subSup"/>
<m:naryLim m:val="undOvr"/>
</m:mathPr></w:WordDocument>
</xml><![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
<w:LatentStyles DefLockedState="false" DefUnhideWhenUsed="true"
DefSemiHidden="true" DefQFormat="false" DefPriority="99"
LatentStyleCount="276">
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="0" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="Normal"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="9" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="heading 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="9" QFormat="true" Name="heading 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="9" QFormat="true" Name="heading 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="9" QFormat="true" Name="heading 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="9" QFormat="true" Name="heading 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="9" QFormat="true" Name="heading 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="9" QFormat="true" Name="heading 7"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="9" QFormat="true" Name="heading 8"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="9" QFormat="true" Name="heading 9"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" Name="toc 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" Name="toc 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" Name="toc 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" Name="toc 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" Name="toc 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" Name="toc 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" Name="toc 7"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" Name="toc 8"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" Name="toc 9"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="35" QFormat="true" Name="caption"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="10" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="Title"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="1" Name="Default Paragraph Font"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="11" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="Subtitle"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="22" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="Strong"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="20" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="Emphasis"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="59" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Table Grid"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Placeholder Text"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="1" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="No Spacing"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Shading"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light List"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Grid"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Dark List"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Shading"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful List"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Grid"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Shading Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light List Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Grid Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 1 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 2 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 1 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Revision"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="34" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="List Paragraph"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="29" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="Quote"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="30" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="Intense Quote"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 2 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 1 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 2 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 3 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Dark List Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Shading Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful List Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Grid Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Shading Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light List Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Grid Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 1 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 2 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 1 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 2 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 1 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 2 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 3 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Dark List Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Shading Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful List Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Grid Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Shading Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light List Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Grid Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 1 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 2 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 1 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 2 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 1 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 2 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 3 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Dark List Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Shading Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful List Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Grid Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Shading Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light List Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Grid Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 1 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 2 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 1 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 2 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 1 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 2 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 3 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Dark List Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Shading Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful List Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Grid Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Shading Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light List Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Grid Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 1 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 2 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 1 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 2 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 1 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 2 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 3 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Dark List Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Shading Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful List Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Grid Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Shading Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light List Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Grid Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 1 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 2 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 1 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 2 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 1 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 2 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 3 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Dark List Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Shading Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful List Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Grid Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="19" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="Subtle Emphasis"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="21" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="Intense Emphasis"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="31" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="Subtle Reference"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="32" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="Intense Reference"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="33" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="Book Title"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="37" Name="Bibliography"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" QFormat="true" Name="TOC Heading"/>
</w:LatentStyles>
</xml><![endif]-->
<!--[if gte mso 10]>
<style>
/* Style Definitions */
table.MsoNormalTable
{mso-style-name:"Table Normal";
mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0;
mso-tstyle-colband-size:0;
mso-style-noshow:yes;
mso-style-priority:99;
mso-style-parent:"";
mso-padding-alt:0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt;
mso-para-margin:0cm;
mso-para-margin-bottom:.0001pt;
mso-pagination:widow-orphan;
font-size:12.0pt;
font-family:Cambria;
mso-ascii-font-family:Cambria;
mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin;
mso-hansi-font-family:Cambria;
mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin;}
</style>
<![endif]-->
<!--StartFragment-->
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiCGB7n7I26057S6bwOxmiiygx7KSK6Xu-0Z32gnRQI3ScRhirPWB2Ae3DWbL_vLlZ7LHxH4p256tI2pxEoEr7jv6QADAUVbKkeyjrGhzlMkvwft1vjdOcbxiVWHzc4pnkTcK_xfYP-WNp9/s1600/Parfait01.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiCGB7n7I26057S6bwOxmiiygx7KSK6Xu-0Z32gnRQI3ScRhirPWB2Ae3DWbL_vLlZ7LHxH4p256tI2pxEoEr7jv6QADAUVbKkeyjrGhzlMkvwft1vjdOcbxiVWHzc4pnkTcK_xfYP-WNp9/s320/Parfait01.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">My wacky mother and her wacky family and, in fact, a huge
percentage of her wacky generation and culture have a belief that ice cream is
digestive.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It was common that after a
meal she would ask, “A little digestive ice cream?”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>If the meal was huge, as it invariably was,
the conversation would go like this:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">“Would you like some ice cream?”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">“No, I can’t, thank you.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>I’m too full.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">“But it’s a digestive!”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">It probably helped that she loved ice cream so much.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>She may have loved other sweets, but she was
fine without the them; on the other hand, the house was never without ice
cream.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>So one Christmas, when ma’s
friend Lily came to stay with us and brought the dessert, a “frozen Christmas
pudding” composed of chocolate ice cream, dried fruit and spices, she was in
hog heaven.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>As she was the following
year, when she decided that for dessert she would make a frozen sweet called
Parfait Fantastique, from the redoubtable "La Petrona".<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">It was round about that time that two important things
happened:<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I stopped merely being my
mother’s kitchen hand and actually started cooking stuff, and my best friend,
Brian, started celebrating Christmas with us.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Why are these two things important, and how are they
related?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Because thanks to Brian, that
very first dessert I made has been THE SAME DESSERT I’VE MADE EVERY YEAR
SINCE.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This has been going on SINCE
1984.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Even though I HATE THE BLOODY
THING.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Even though I TRIED MAKING
SOMETHING ELSE ONE YEAR (“Yes, that was very nice,” Brian said, patting my
shoulder, “now can we go back to parfait next Christmas?”).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Even though I am allowed to make as many
other desserts as I like, but I CANNOT LEAVE OUT THE PARFAIT.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Even though my sister hosts Christmas every
other year I still get to bring dessert, AND IT IS PARFAIT.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Why the fuss?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>All
the recipe is, as you can see, is something that crossed ma’s parfait and
Lily’s frozen pudding, and I can’t stand the sight of it.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Make no mistake, though:<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>it is actually quite good.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Brian, pretending to be Donkey in Shrek has,
since Shrek came out, greeted the appearance of the Christmas dessert with,
“Parfait’s gotta be the most delicious thing on the whole damned planet!” and I
have to admit:<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>it is delicious, festive,
and light enough to follow the heaviest Christmas meal (and help digest it,
thank you ma). <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">So last week, I made the yearly parfait.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Grudgingly, as is the yearly custom.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But my grumbling and whingeing and whining
fell flat.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>See – Brian is not here.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Brian moved to England last year, and where
he is people love him and wine-and-dine him as is right and good because it is
nothing less than he deserves, but I’m over here having a freakin’ existential
crisis because of this stupid parfait.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Because my grumbling is nothing without his badgering me and cajoling
me.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Because he won’t be here to look at
me after having a mouthful, hunch his shoulders and mouth out, “YUM!”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Because he’s not here to have a third helping
and the rest of my own helping after I’ve had the obligatory, grudging
spoonful.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Because he may conceivably
hate the dessert as much as I do but may have been wise and clever enough to
realise long ago that this is one of our games.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Because he bugs me into submission and there’s no one in this world that
I enjoy giving in to quite as much.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Because
he’s not here to remind us that parfait is the most delicious thing on the
whole damned planet.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Because the
tradition of the parfait is precisely the same age as the tradition of
Brian-for-Christmas, and having one without the other is just not the
same.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Because truth be told, come
Christmas, I don’t want to do without either.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjTyxph03JIUirF5YnoyEC8LDn6WOolSQB6Zg6nw4Q1Zsjs8drYKqfQeN4kw7ShFaJKGx4-GQnFnJ285rLmDKynBF2EczBK8v6CSCUgs0D0JmKyj-EKO4_RulcMyUtDmBFqb-jBjuZu5P6z/s1600/Parfait02.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="269" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjTyxph03JIUirF5YnoyEC8LDn6WOolSQB6Zg6nw4Q1Zsjs8drYKqfQeN4kw7ShFaJKGx4-GQnFnJ285rLmDKynBF2EczBK8v6CSCUgs0D0JmKyj-EKO4_RulcMyUtDmBFqb-jBjuZu5P6z/s320/Parfait02.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><b>PARFAIT NOËL</b><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">You can make the parfait up to a month before
serving.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Keep well wrapped, however, in layers of both plastic wrap and foil.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And don’t be
tempted to halve the recipe:<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>despite my
personal misgivings, I can assure you that it will get eaten!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">(16-24 servings)<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><i>Ingredients:</i><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">1/3 cup slivered almonds, toasted<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">1/3 cup red and green glacé cherries<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">1/3 cup chopped (candied) peel<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">2/3 cup raisins (or raisins and sultanas, half and half)<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">1/3 cup currants<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">1 tsp. mixed spice<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">1/4 cup rum, or apple or orange juice (if using fruit
juice, you can also add 2 tsp. rum essence if you like)<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">1/2 tsp. cinnamon<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">1/2 tsp. nutmeg<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">3 tbsp. cocoa<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">8 eggs<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">350g. sugar<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">4 cups cream<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">1 tbsp. gelatine<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">1 cup milk<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">2 tsp. vanilla essence<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Red and green glacé cherries, extra<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><i>What you do:</i><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">1.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Combine
almonds, cherries, peel, raisins, currants, mixed spice, and rum or juice in a
medium bowl.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Cover with plastic wrap,
and allow to macerate and swell overnight.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>(If you're pressed for time, you can place these in a microwave
container, cover, and cook on HIGH for 5 min.).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>The next day, mix in cinnamon, nutmeg, and cocoa.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Set aside.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">2.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>With an
electric mixer, beat eggs and sugar until very thick and pale.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Add vanilla.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>In a separate bowl, beat cream until soft peaks form.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">3.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Scald milk, and
sprinkle over the gelatine.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Whisk with a
fork to dissolve.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Add gelatine mixture
to eggs and beat well.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Fold in
cream.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Divide mixture in two, one rather
bigger than the other.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Fold fruit
mixture into the smaller quantity.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">4.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Place extra
cherries in a decorative pattern in the bottom of a two large loaf or bundt
pans, or three medium pans.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Carefully
spoon in fruit parfait mixture, and place in freezer about 15 min., until
thick.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Carefully spoon in vanilla
parfait mixture.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Cover with plastic
wrap, place in freezer, and freeze a minimum of six hours or overnight.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Allow to soften in refrigerator one hour
before serving.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Unmould and slice to
serve.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<o:p></o:p></div>
<!--EndFragment-->Unknownnoreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2928372656358161525.post-19528953977439672782011-12-18T15:10:00.000-08:002011-12-18T15:41:13.343-08:00Mamá's Pan Dulce (Panettone)<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEihW-K8czqizBm2n-nKfPgZTnC6Fl1cA9YdIQKv8mZ1EBSqEP6JMpAsF75q4W5xYfVejJEQ2axJsPIbQqNwaKuJ7xEpgJBQqHUezu7cNGmpv0u45PXF97lS0QBlxf6tTIPQVz7mAdpHPXfS/s1600/Pan+dulce+10.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEihW-K8czqizBm2n-nKfPgZTnC6Fl1cA9YdIQKv8mZ1EBSqEP6JMpAsF75q4W5xYfVejJEQ2axJsPIbQqNwaKuJ7xEpgJBQqHUezu7cNGmpv0u45PXF97lS0QBlxf6tTIPQVz7mAdpHPXfS/s320/Pan+dulce+10.jpg" width="200" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">My mother died twelve years ago. It’s strange:
in those twelve years there have been hard times when I’ve hoped and
prayed for a sense of her presence and received nothing. And times when I’ve not consciously wanted
any such thing and unexpectedly been given it.
So obviously, the subtleties of communication with passed-on loved ones
are totally lost on me. When I don’t
want to leave it to chance, when I want a shortcut to connection and memory and
loving vibes, I open up Ma’s cookbook and cook.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Opening up Ma’s cookbook is invariably a bittersweet
experience – particularly seeing her beautiful strong script before infirmity
made her elegant hand shaky – but nonetheless curiosity always gets the better
of me. It isn’t just a cookbook, but a
book where she jotted down all kinds of things, including clothing designs and
the measurements of the women she was making them for. This means, alas, that I know what my
measurements were back in 1985. Dammit! Not all tears are for you, ma!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">But I digress.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">It is the time of year when I open up her cookbook and
make her recipe for <i>pan dulce </i>and give thanks.
In Spanish, <i>pan dulce</i> means “sweet bread”, which means that throughout
the Spanish-speaking nations you will encounter all kinds of sweet breads
called pan dulce. In Argentina, however,
it only means one thing: the traditional
sweet Christmas bread that the myriad Italian migrants brought with them. Panettone.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjwhUPh2PxKWkQM03jXqL10_aGvt3NZwGeMww0pnZ9_uZ9030VNNyKsBNfs7jz9X5HlCWZWx3ViUAg9-la_swEyh9NaslPQOIbyGJiZBTvLuB2Qw0orL4xZ9pfhEHSCttOq_AhcYDoEg3m3/s1600/Pan+dulce+.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjwhUPh2PxKWkQM03jXqL10_aGvt3NZwGeMww0pnZ9_uZ9030VNNyKsBNfs7jz9X5HlCWZWx3ViUAg9-la_swEyh9NaslPQOIbyGJiZBTvLuB2Qw0orL4xZ9pfhEHSCttOq_AhcYDoEg3m3/s320/Pan+dulce+.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Homemade panettone bears only a passing resemblance to
the (admittedly tempting on account of the fancy packaging) bought ones. Commercial ones are airy and dry, with the
occasional raisin for interest. Made at
home, they are rich, studded with fruit and nuts – particularly pine nuts –
throughout, and most of all, fragrant.
The moment I combine orange blossom water, vanilla, and brandy, the
combined scent, heady and exotic, rises up to my nostrils and I whisper, “It’s
Christmas”. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Despite the yeast, pan dulce/panettone is also a boon for
the harried cook. While we all know that
fruitcakes and plum puddings need to be made at least a month in advance to
mature and be at their best, panettone doesn’t.
It can be made the day you intend to eat it, or the day before. Or a week before, and kept wrapped in
cellophane. Or six months before and
frozen. Leftovers are rare. Any that don’t get snarfed make the world’s
best French toast or bread pudding.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh5cKgGHHEi9z2q_Tua2YK20Jh-ka8XgeGxHYYFz0bGMPR3Ch5v-SK6IzhCNp_JZzyYx_xVLfwsnky38FwOUI6iXV6lWoyMOzRT9By9QHigz2DLUjqk_X1KdjQLUY9FNvXbyehh97CZu8l3/s1600/Pan+dulce+08.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="281" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh5cKgGHHEi9z2q_Tua2YK20Jh-ka8XgeGxHYYFz0bGMPR3Ch5v-SK6IzhCNp_JZzyYx_xVLfwsnky38FwOUI6iXV6lWoyMOzRT9By9QHigz2DLUjqk_X1KdjQLUY9FNvXbyehh97CZu8l3/s320/Pan+dulce+08.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">The instructions for this pan dulce/panettone are for a
mixer, but it isn’t necessary.</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">This
isn’t a particularly difficult dough to work, it’s just that because I usually
make a minimum of six loaves, I’ve streamlined the process.</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">And I’ve streamlined the recipe, too.</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">You should hear the conversations I have had
with Spirit Ma over her imprecise recipe:</span></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">“How much fruit, Ma?”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">“As much as you like.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">“What do you mean?”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">“As much as the dough will take.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">“Sigh… OK. How
many loaves will this make?”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">“One. Maybe
two. Or three.” <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">“What about the brandy?
The mazahar? The vanilla?”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">“Enough.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">“Of course. How
hot should the oven be?”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">“The normal temperature.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Death never stopped a person being frustrating. Or providing you with the best darned
Christmas treat you ever had.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjgFErXqceHZQhQrBUhAnMb_RYibXEtwEjsTti873znBWYvE2GV5LQ9Uf9N7xC0QJo6h1X_OS_MFVaL_XyZ2pM7GkpOVDffGAmYfBlcUQnr_gZ0t2wpSgtMYvvrIu7Oh60bjNuggGfs2wQq/s1600/Pan+dulce+09.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjgFErXqceHZQhQrBUhAnMb_RYibXEtwEjsTti873znBWYvE2GV5LQ9Uf9N7xC0QJo6h1X_OS_MFVaL_XyZ2pM7GkpOVDffGAmYfBlcUQnr_gZ0t2wpSgtMYvvrIu7Oh60bjNuggGfs2wQq/s320/Pan+dulce+09.jpg" width="213" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><b><br /></b></span><br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><b>**********</b></span></div>
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><b><br /></b></span><br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhn8V1rw8bNwi93qIW7YeTqbqajlKD503ldAMXYxdt6aNGzQHijs_xwQcw_2Lg-Jr697MdnyL2og1utPm937kL8PJR-1Ai9XIX8jX4hfwaXy22u-NrCLIFzWMmlSTvzdXjBDJUyHEFYkuyr/s1600/Pan+dulce+01.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="196" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhn8V1rw8bNwi93qIW7YeTqbqajlKD503ldAMXYxdt6aNGzQHijs_xwQcw_2Lg-Jr697MdnyL2og1utPm937kL8PJR-1Ai9XIX8jX4hfwaXy22u-NrCLIFzWMmlSTvzdXjBDJUyHEFYkuyr/s320/Pan+dulce+01.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The fruit doesn't have to be perfectly spread, just relatively even.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgPPRDgxheQ9gJUGBE0YHd7e6qQoHWlEBlc_LMSpyEMLY1_Sny7yylOjo5uZFaIxTcw4R1-hMy-UxZowLRtiCUv6e3-5SP472ZCgT44k5E8PNUn3lVgMuF5y7I55D7yrdqqkjJrhozMH_-T/s1600/Pan+dulce+02.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="311" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgPPRDgxheQ9gJUGBE0YHd7e6qQoHWlEBlc_LMSpyEMLY1_Sny7yylOjo5uZFaIxTcw4R1-hMy-UxZowLRtiCUv6e3-5SP472ZCgT44k5E8PNUn3lVgMuF5y7I55D7yrdqqkjJrhozMH_-T/s320/Pan+dulce+02.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">When you've finished rolling, folding, and rolling and folding again, the fruit should be evenly distributed throughout. Remember: each mouthful must contain tidbits!</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiKHpE09YMOPIF-1hXvUiLp9KJ4wEmcPpC37tevWbtbATelSInSsQwhcONFv5d2ZOMbpBHpWMpKu38M0SoCPmjCGI8w00wFHpZ8qSfLVaSIzhJ_s8UrXTv4PlMir-5mz0UIPU9sbJ_3VqWV/s1600/Pan+dulce+04.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiKHpE09YMOPIF-1hXvUiLp9KJ4wEmcPpC37tevWbtbATelSInSsQwhcONFv5d2ZOMbpBHpWMpKu38M0SoCPmjCGI8w00wFHpZ8qSfLVaSIzhJ_s8UrXTv4PlMir-5mz0UIPU9sbJ_3VqWV/s320/Pan+dulce+04.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The scaled balls of dough in their giant paper cases. I actually imported these, which yes, makes me a little insane since carrying them as hand luggage through a 14-hour flight without them crushing is the stuff of which Hollywood blockbusters are made.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgMcFk06iM1QjxSdB7e9o1e7DTvb9WCZD05yhyphenhyphen4Ch399FH-cO-VdbuLjPODKXdZ15gCJEA5LmNLGhAMAW_D08usy5FNHImgFQx6tRtjikfnEkRaJ9HaO0JYUOXjmCXhZIbtahtE57vKsyND/s1600/Pan+dulce+05.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="253" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgMcFk06iM1QjxSdB7e9o1e7DTvb9WCZD05yhyphenhyphen4Ch399FH-cO-VdbuLjPODKXdZ15gCJEA5LmNLGhAMAW_D08usy5FNHImgFQx6tRtjikfnEkRaJ9HaO0JYUOXjmCXhZIbtahtE57vKsyND/s320/Pan+dulce+05.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;">Slashed and brushed with eggwash (yes, you're right, I need a new scalpel).</span></div>
<div style="font-size: medium;">
<br /></div>
</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiabn5XM4OsNENLEl6rJKi60WmUAEHrToZR4Zp1_8MfxQY3YJ5s8raTCLYg2u0SiZ38SdIb0CdHCvRcaMtJDBhPpDCLd3JXiYHZt1Z2ZQ0yfeDTcWu-iFg8Snw56JAk1YHdUTuU4Oxjpk-c/s1600/Pan+dulce+06.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiabn5XM4OsNENLEl6rJKi60WmUAEHrToZR4Zp1_8MfxQY3YJ5s8raTCLYg2u0SiZ38SdIb0CdHCvRcaMtJDBhPpDCLd3JXiYHZt1Z2ZQ0yfeDTcWu-iFg8Snw56JAk1YHdUTuU4Oxjpk-c/s320/Pan+dulce+06.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Behold! Burnished perfection.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><b><br /></b></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><b>MAMA’S PAN DULCE (PANETTONE)</b></span></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">A word on the “fragrances”. First, the brandy: while it gives a particular flavour, the brandy’s
real role here is to react with the yeast and give it a boost. This is much needed since this is a dough
rich in butter, sugar, and eggs, which affects a dough’s ability to rise. (No, you cannot use extra yeast: it’ll just taste yeasty and overferment the
dough, giving you a dry, and crumbly loaf.)
Next, the orange blossom water (mazahar): I have used a lot here, but depending on the
quality, you may need to use a lot less.
As a rough rule, the smaller the bottle, the stronger it is. If you buy yours in tiny 50ml bottles that
cost you a decent amount of cash, you may only need half as much, but my big
500ml bottle isn’t that concentrated. On
no account, not EVER, substitute orange extract; use the zest of an orange,
instead (but make it a point to find mazahar before Christmas next year). <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Makes 3 loaves<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><i>Ingredients:</i><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">1 kg. flour, plus a few tablespoons for the fruit<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">2 1/2 tsp. instant yeast<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">1/4 tsp. salt<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">150g. sugar<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">150g. butter, softened<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">3 eggs<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">1 cup warm milk<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">1 tbsp. brandy<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">1 tbsp. orange blossom water (mazahar)<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">1 tsp. vanilla essence<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">500g. mixed dried and candied fruit, and nuts (see below)<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Eggwash<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">1/4 cup melted butter, extra<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><i>What you do:</i><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">1. Place flour,
yeast and salt in mixer bowl. Give a few
turns with the K beater. Add sugar, and
give another few turns to combine. With
motor running, add butter. Mix until
butter is mixed in. Add eggs, milk that
has been mixed with brandy, orange blossom water and vanilla, and enough water
to make a soft dough. Replace K beater
with dough hook, and knead for 5 minutes.
Place dough in a greased bowl, cover, and allow to rise in a warm place
until doubled.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">2. Toss mixed
fruit and nuts with flour. This will
allow them to disperse evenly through the dough. Turn the oven on so that it is just barely
warm. (If you have a gas oven, the
pilot light is enough.) Tip dough out
onto floured work surface and pat out flat.
Distribute fruit over the surface and roll up. Roll out with rolling pin; fold in three, and
roll out again. Repeat this a few times
to distribute fruit through dough. Scale
dough (see below) and divide in three.
Form dough into neat mounds and place in paper panettone moulds or tall
greased pans. Place in oven and allow to
rise. When breads are 3/4 of the way to
doubled, slash tops with a scalpel or samurai-sharp knife, and brush carefully
with eggwash.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">3. Place breads in
warm oven and crank it up to 180oC.
(This method of only partly rising and putting into gradually heating
oven givens oven spring like nobody’s business – trust me.) Bake 30 minutes, until risen and lightly
golden. Drizzle with melted butter and
bake another 15-20 minutes, until tops are deeply coloured and breads sound
hollow when tapped on the base. Cool on
wire racks completely before serving.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><b>NOTE:</b> The fruit
and nuts you use are up to you, but you should include some glacé/candied
fruit, lots of pinenuts, and chopped walnuts or pecans for bite. “Scaling” is a fancy term for weighing out
individual portions of dough to get a consistent size. To scale these loaves, I weighed the dough
(it was about 2.4kg) and divided that number by three (800g). I divided the dough in three and weighed each
portion to make sure it weighed 800g. Behold, three loaves the exact same size.</span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi7IApWUI7wlNp2JBCDhhNgeQgyN3z_7ZB_S84rKa2oW6QvKn90yFVbVD7c5bcdR7TpdBkvjOsGuMe65WNsnDN1F5pzxAebYHcnLbkiSlgtc3aTGSOXwFUPv0ny1KA6FJZuo9-KkbMbvvvl/s1600/Pan+dulce+07.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="290" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi7IApWUI7wlNp2JBCDhhNgeQgyN3z_7ZB_S84rKa2oW6QvKn90yFVbVD7c5bcdR7TpdBkvjOsGuMe65WNsnDN1F5pzxAebYHcnLbkiSlgtc3aTGSOXwFUPv0ny1KA6FJZuo9-KkbMbvvvl/s320/Pan+dulce+07.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Yumbo McGillicutty!</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br /></span></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2928372656358161525.post-34635354901878396012011-12-11T05:33:00.001-08:002011-12-11T05:45:08.115-08:00Fruit Mince Pinwheels<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjEt4HgnxqokB6JlJ6BTh7ESEZbkUe83kVcUlx8Xkq3BZtJdf3NyStIJTjEKJlyz-mXV5HsUuCeJLqRoKF3eu1vHbkPg5hIOzPXQ8qyCddtfqvPXY5JUh6TMiAi1H88EZ3IXJRiy8jwDZRd/s1600/Pinwheels01.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjEt4HgnxqokB6JlJ6BTh7ESEZbkUe83kVcUlx8Xkq3BZtJdf3NyStIJTjEKJlyz-mXV5HsUuCeJLqRoKF3eu1vHbkPg5hIOzPXQ8qyCddtfqvPXY5JUh6TMiAi1H88EZ3IXJRiy8jwDZRd/s320/Pinwheels01.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">I was getting ready for an afternoon of making mince
pies. As I made the rich shortcrust, I
imagined them topped with pastry stars and hearts. I imagined them warm and sticky from the
oven. I also imagined rolling pastry,
cutting out circles, stars, hearts, preparing pans, lining umpteen tartlet
cases, filling them, topping them, baking them, and repeating the process until
I either a) ran out of fruit mince, or b) started screaming uncontrollably.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">I mentioned my afternoon's
plans on Facebook, and my old friend Anita replied with, </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">"Mince pies made like pinwheels, a
variation I plan on trying this year…"</span></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Zing! Novel idea,
and suddenly the afternoon looked a lot let arduous. I'll
make half as pinwheels, half as pies, I said.
Easy. I rolled out half the
pastry, spread with fruit mince, rolled it up, cut, and baked. Then I stood in the middle of the kitchen
blinking, a bit dazed, because it had all gone by so fast. I blinked a few more times, forgot the pies,
and made more pinwheels. Total time
spent: 1 hour, which includes making the
pastry from scratch. Anita rocks.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">And sure:</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">mince
pinwheels are not as pretty as mince pies topped with stars and hearts, but
they're still plenty pretty,
and delicious either cold with a glaze, or warm with brandy butter.</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Pluds there's
the added fun that Jane Grigson identified as an essential part of the
enjoyment of a Chelsea bun:</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">uncoiling
them as you eat them.</span></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">No screaming whatsoever.
I guess I rock, too.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgirGVNuC85y0uPgYYHZobOOlPjtseE4OXBmCYjutMZsqd3tkyyj2f1GnfvcwKOEg6KD-M5dMQeder6e8Ed4id8PzqMUpiTOI0m1Q1Q67ppF1YpUTUxqMSd2ZwkOxWqq07NUYMRCDE_OJhS/s1600/Pinwheels02.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgirGVNuC85y0uPgYYHZobOOlPjtseE4OXBmCYjutMZsqd3tkyyj2f1GnfvcwKOEg6KD-M5dMQeder6e8Ed4id8PzqMUpiTOI0m1Q1Q67ppF1YpUTUxqMSd2ZwkOxWqq07NUYMRCDE_OJhS/s320/Pinwheels02.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><b>FRUIT MINCE PINWHEELS</b></span></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">You can use bought shortcrust pastry if you like, but go
on, it's Christmas! Blow it out a bit and make your own. This rich shortcrust is so much better than
anything you can buy. Mince pies and
pinwheels are great keepers and will reheat beautifully if you want to make
them ahead.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">(Makes 60 approx.)<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><i>Ingredients:</i><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">800g. pastry flour<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">375g. butter<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">6 tbsp. sugar<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">2 egg yolks<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Iced water, as needed<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">850g. best-quality fruit mince (I use a vegetarian, ie.
suet-free, one from the wholefoods market)<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">To serve: sugar
glaze (if serving cold) or brandy butter or custard (if serving warm)<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><i>What you do:</i><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">1. Rub butter into
flour until mixture resembles breadcrumbs.
You can use a large bowl, but I do this in batches in the food
processor. Mix in sugar. Add egg yolks and enough iced water to bring
mixture together. Gather it up into a
ball, wrap in cling film, and chill for 30 minutes.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">2. Preheat oven to
180oC. Line two large baking sheets with
silicon paper. Divide pastry in
four. Roll each one into a neat
rectangle roughly 30x25cm. (Don't worry about the size too
much. Important thing is to have neat edges and not have the pastry either too thick or too thin.) Spread with a quarter
of the fruit mince, leaving a little gap all around. Roll up, and pinch edges to seal. Cut into 2cm slices with a sharp serrated knife. Repeat with remaining pastry and fruit
mince. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">3. Arrange
pinwheels, cut side down, on baking sheets.
Bake 20-25 minutes, until pastry is golden and filling is sticky and
bubbling. Lift silicon paper straight
onto racks to cool. Allow to cool to
warm if serving warm, or cool completely before glazing.</span><o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br /></span></div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiF9H_IImTCaDbc2FBlOi3zqxYjhCDDveUxnSI2f7YL2pozYB9-0rceNKcVwXxmfte64g92vnQFFliiAl47Wl7mkka0dLgtYg1t7ADpsi9ffrqZmkFsugBLPPwOLDOUVHWUwHugzU2o_ZLY/s1600/Pinwheels04.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiF9H_IImTCaDbc2FBlOi3zqxYjhCDDveUxnSI2f7YL2pozYB9-0rceNKcVwXxmfte64g92vnQFFliiAl47Wl7mkka0dLgtYg1t7ADpsi9ffrqZmkFsugBLPPwOLDOUVHWUwHugzU2o_ZLY/s320/Pinwheels04.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Yumbo McGillicutty!</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br /></span></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2928372656358161525.post-26374944594296511302011-11-25T16:43:00.001-08:002011-11-25T16:52:34.056-08:00Recycling Fridays: what to do about that leftover tomato paste<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiQmp_GBsdeTLxs4HM4pV0I8Iq7PbuCSmqrloDfX2wfeUS4arpreQ6amE_x22HRUoO9I-Hor13XlnKs0Sre1DrU0EdL-RpPVzwy_PS3NCtKZjURZlfwY5df9c0maiGEEsmD8ubyyYkazXgk/s1600/Tomato+paste+05.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiQmp_GBsdeTLxs4HM4pV0I8Iq7PbuCSmqrloDfX2wfeUS4arpreQ6amE_x22HRUoO9I-Hor13XlnKs0Sre1DrU0EdL-RpPVzwy_PS3NCtKZjURZlfwY5df9c0maiGEEsmD8ubyyYkazXgk/s320/Tomato+paste+05.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">We all do things in the kitchen as a matter of course
that we never think to share with anyone because they’re so simple, until, of
course, someone asks you a simple question.
Like, “What do I do with leftover tomato paste?”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Ah. Good
question. Tomato paste is one of those
things that, unless you’re like that hard-case friend of mine who used to go at
it with a teaspoon, you only use a bit at a time of. In between those times, if the time between
the times is too long, it goes mouldy.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> The classic way to
store a jar of leftover tomato paste is to cover the surface with oil, but this
method isn’t foolproof, because every speck and skerrick must be covered with
oil. Any exposed paste goes mouldy,
which means you have to scrape all the paste off the sides of the jar with a
spatula and push it down before you add the oil. And when you spoon out tomato paste, you have
to do it all over again. And what if you
don’t want oil with your tomato paste? <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Tomato paste in a tube is absolutely brilliant, and possibly
the best thing to happen to tomato paste, but again, this massive 500g. jar
cost me the same as three of those tubes.
<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgBOTYI5ebz4OENbFMQ3UcK88JXXEPzeGOApW7brNLYkQFnTVWHxUqbZNKefPJhLKw6QzxY3RlnIkNPTnNgyXzGMYvP7qVPKrrBC4Xfw6fv9B84p5C2DfyzbYr4fyuN6gvSZJCL-Zwscqyg/s1600/Tomato+paste+01.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgBOTYI5ebz4OENbFMQ3UcK88JXXEPzeGOApW7brNLYkQFnTVWHxUqbZNKefPJhLKw6QzxY3RlnIkNPTnNgyXzGMYvP7qVPKrrBC4Xfw6fv9B84p5C2DfyzbYr4fyuN6gvSZJCL-Zwscqyg/s320/Tomato+paste+01.jpg" width="177" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">What to do?</span></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Enter the freezer, which is the friend of every cook
running through the kitchen shouting, “Can’t cook now! Cook later!” on their way somewhere
else. Times like these, with goopy,
liquidy leftovers like these that you use in small amounts, people will usually
tell you to press your ice cube trays into service. If you’ve got enough of them. And aren’t using them for ice cubes. And can actually be bothered unmoulding the
tomatoey cubes afterwards.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">I don’t, and I can’t, so I use baking trays and my trusty
silicon baking paper (which I buy in industrial quantities). Dollop tablespoonfuls onto the trays, freeze…<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhXJLa9FX7_uoaLJPyceaw7YtLYvKV219rRYFopo8UeCnCapZv8U-UsE1Qs4zGjrfj3narx7CaM_Fax-YOk9qVM59Ko8a7Y_izvJDIvT3dE5oXRdZQCj4LliA7MfqjiEpZIeA0RttEnTtKq/s1600/Tomato+paste+02.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhXJLa9FX7_uoaLJPyceaw7YtLYvKV219rRYFopo8UeCnCapZv8U-UsE1Qs4zGjrfj3narx7CaM_Fax-YOk9qVM59Ko8a7Y_izvJDIvT3dE5oXRdZQCj4LliA7MfqjiEpZIeA0RttEnTtKq/s320/Tomato+paste+02.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">and when frozen…<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiLfuky4pAir9d2Pva0N_PgcXOUE5zgj2waLsD-AZTYHAZBWzOjctGl6anbCgiuJX6qtpUJznX5Gfkfg6r-EW_GmKlXcbYs4VjWNibpxL06c6mbrXsqCMsTt-dMoJMHbL2uNfrBiWkwspCf/s1600/Tomato+paste+03.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiLfuky4pAir9d2Pva0N_PgcXOUE5zgj2waLsD-AZTYHAZBWzOjctGl6anbCgiuJX6qtpUJznX5Gfkfg6r-EW_GmKlXcbYs4VjWNibpxL06c6mbrXsqCMsTt-dMoJMHbL2uNfrBiWkwspCf/s320/Tomato+paste+03.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">transfer them to baggies.</span></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg55tCvPCG1ZnFFOQKvRuqv6SjkZU8FSkzwDQzqzMF7DteUEF5mDrLQUoAinV8Mut3wqn0gRR9JdZbBwdxxizzhqFiEauV_s0TDzVd19hN_ctqQvthUvNJFDE-_M09ERrFUiTLyZgaeVB_b/s1600/Tomato+paste+04.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="255" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg55tCvPCG1ZnFFOQKvRuqv6SjkZU8FSkzwDQzqzMF7DteUEF5mDrLQUoAinV8Mut3wqn0gRR9JdZbBwdxxizzhqFiEauV_s0TDzVd19hN_ctqQvthUvNJFDE-_M09ERrFUiTLyZgaeVB_b/s320/Tomato+paste+04.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">They are dropped, still frozen, into simmering sauces,
soups and stews, and if there’s nothing simmering, they will thaw out on their
own in a few minutes, or 15 seconds in the mikey.</span></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">If you’re feeling fanceh, you can press a fresh basil or
oregano leaf into each dollop before freezing.
Cool. And simple.</span><o:p></o:p></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2928372656358161525.post-27394392776710820082011-11-13T20:47:00.001-08:002011-11-14T00:55:45.828-08:00These are a few of her favourite things<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjHQMYr8KzirU_97JaF03dg6qHWWjeoW8bf_FHWCLIdiPsiccbtEgr1ouo5Wlp5wX1C-FzDbz7nVFKSYdTYTo4Jz-zt0d6-sDDSzSw2drYMbsmxPvubJtKZfLtgI_wmu4qfP7d0-zlv30M7/s1600/Flan09.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjHQMYr8KzirU_97JaF03dg6qHWWjeoW8bf_FHWCLIdiPsiccbtEgr1ouo5Wlp5wX1C-FzDbz7nVFKSYdTYTo4Jz-zt0d6-sDDSzSw2drYMbsmxPvubJtKZfLtgI_wmu4qfP7d0-zlv30M7/s320/Flan09.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">I have many nieces whom I love and adore, but my third
niece was my first pretend child: she
was serious and a little intense and didn’t give herself easily, but she was
always up for it with me, whatever <i>it</i> might be.
I took her everywhere – sometimes with her brother, sometimes not - and I
cooked for her and with her. We made
real jelly out of orange juice and agar-agar and set it in orange cups. She helped me make apricot jam from her
grandparents’ tree. We had barbeques
where she instructed me that her sausages should not only burst, but the
exposed meat where it had burst should be scorched almost to black.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">She turned 30 yesterday, and I asked her what she wanted
me to cook for her celebratory barbeque (at which point it should be noted that
she has outgrown her penchant for burst-and-burnt snags). Her request was something potatoey – potato
salad would be good – and something custardy.
Well, d’uh. Potatoes and custard
are two out of her very favourite foods in the whole wide world right there, along
with jelly (which my daughter took care of, admirably), bok choy, and Chinese
dumplings. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br /></span></div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgu6hWA2-zR99qKrvzGBdFrq-yNHkbl7IyAIm50QXM6rI5zlRVBeCnC4a7VUQQecp274dab5RjK99RAT_ERY3Vu4lC5GmETrqiAj0IX_9zmdlreml8fb02MmjnGWy1R-xGR-x6_3_tZlbvr/s1600/Flan12.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgu6hWA2-zR99qKrvzGBdFrq-yNHkbl7IyAIm50QXM6rI5zlRVBeCnC4a7VUQQecp274dab5RjK99RAT_ERY3Vu4lC5GmETrqiAj0IX_9zmdlreml8fb02MmjnGWy1R-xGR-x6_3_tZlbvr/s320/Flan12.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">My daughter's Broken Glass Jelly</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">For the potatoes, I decided against the potato salad and
made instead a “potato feast” comprising of many steamed pink-eye baby spuds
and four types of creamy sauce for spooning over the top: bacon, tomato and chive, avocado mayonnaise,
minted yoghurt, and toum (Lebanese garlic sauce).</span></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjgDM3G6SiuydRfTmxK0qwRptc3d6sA5LQDVnv-2wUtsDX_7nNPbrUy-k3ZONmkYS0KVBSGZwwwqQWoGDzltnXqx1qlxGvvNcTA0E33DTuWSP2u6-9GJSU8Obnnu_XeFo7gooGrLYEZ2Q4L/s1600/Flan11.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjgDM3G6SiuydRfTmxK0qwRptc3d6sA5LQDVnv-2wUtsDX_7nNPbrUy-k3ZONmkYS0KVBSGZwwwqQWoGDzltnXqx1qlxGvvNcTA0E33DTuWSP2u6-9GJSU8Obnnu_XeFo7gooGrLYEZ2Q4L/s320/Flan11.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">And for the custard, I made her the precise same dessert
I made her when she turned 21:</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">coconut
flan (</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><i>flan</i></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> as in the original Spanish caramel custard, before the French stole it and
called it crème caramel) and many, many mangoes (since they are another one of
her favourite things).</span></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">An addiction to custard – and in particular flan, of any
persuasion – is a peculiarity of all the women in my family, and it’s easy to
see why: soothing but classy, rich but
light, sweet but never cloying, it is the perfect dessert. (Yes, I said the perfect dessert: chocolate is not dessert, it is a meal.) And I am very, very fussy about my flan and
crème caramel.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">See – flan and crème caramel aren’t just about the
flavour, they are about the texture.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgDlvF2Sc3oeB2fbdeFeJfX6URC1UG4y5667-8Ovdt2ApyWWTohFrl5V_DyPBpOjk5kjd4RzTwRWe5erXbuV8tjNLSEDt557fBitdyoULSGsv3Ew2k6rRhqNbeiSpX4B3yXaGW194xEk_Hn/s1600/Flan01.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgDlvF2Sc3oeB2fbdeFeJfX6URC1UG4y5667-8Ovdt2ApyWWTohFrl5V_DyPBpOjk5kjd4RzTwRWe5erXbuV8tjNLSEDt557fBitdyoULSGsv3Ew2k6rRhqNbeiSpX4B3yXaGW194xEk_Hn/s320/Flan01.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">What is wrong with this picture? Well, there’s nothing wrong with the picture
per se, it is very nicely shot, but the dessert itself? Check out the dots all over the sides: they are air bubbles, and have no place in
either flan or crème caramel. So while
I’m sure it tasted very nice (I didn’t make this one, just found the picture on
the Internet), the texture, the mouthfeel – which are every bit a part of the
experience as flavour – would be all wrong.
What a shame.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">And so easy to avoid.
You avoid air bubbles by simply not incorporating air into the
mixture: you lightly break up eggs, and
you mix in, not beat, the remaining ingredients. And you stay the hell away from recipes
telling you to use electric beaters, blender, or food processor.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEisCNvo-C_s1osmvaS0Ke8brp4t6dgKswdXJVRKrKL5dFv8fd8o_E1vFdqCG5iTEbgpSQl6CEEGaSL8iSzHmxHhoL2dYmPY2Bo5tOmaYGZKQWhM1RxPcNjzSATIcNDiX633UrMoh1WeVW8G/s1600/Flan02.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEisCNvo-C_s1osmvaS0Ke8brp4t6dgKswdXJVRKrKL5dFv8fd8o_E1vFdqCG5iTEbgpSQl6CEEGaSL8iSzHmxHhoL2dYmPY2Bo5tOmaYGZKQWhM1RxPcNjzSATIcNDiX633UrMoh1WeVW8G/s320/Flan02.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Here are the ingredients (plus a little vanilla, if you
like). It’s a little unbelievable that
so few ingredients will make a dessert worthy of going on bended knee for, but
oh, they will. They so will.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEir_O4prQizkcfQT2vccd53TWmnl1b9KGL-p75wkmYK2HBgGcEGJIVcHHpkFvw2Yl_MuCM0-folLc0SRV8__pas8-InrDN2QA9mQ6zuoUiQbrWuwLcqy7eYSanGwfAKLhJZVrpJaqPoo2cV/s1600/Flan05.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEir_O4prQizkcfQT2vccd53TWmnl1b9KGL-p75wkmYK2HBgGcEGJIVcHHpkFvw2Yl_MuCM0-folLc0SRV8__pas8-InrDN2QA9mQ6zuoUiQbrWuwLcqy7eYSanGwfAKLhJZVrpJaqPoo2cV/s320/Flan05.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">First, you make a caramel and line a pan with it. How do you do that? <a href="http://yumbomcgillicutty.blogspot.com/2011/11/golden-brown-how-to-make-caramel-and.html">Glad you asked!</a><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<o:p><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br /></span></o:p></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEikkG_OBdKXjU4SD8eU-Z8vEILfXYA5cZjd8q6Um67KUru8PLAD8T2lrkyJGmu4d2LXnd56VnFhCINFXPBPNkSczOWtY-r6dTovpTzsNGQkomYf3aDBuVbK3dQAORzy0R_aBNs6yL37-Uku/s1600/Flan03.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="171" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEikkG_OBdKXjU4SD8eU-Z8vEILfXYA5cZjd8q6Um67KUru8PLAD8T2lrkyJGmu4d2LXnd56VnFhCINFXPBPNkSczOWtY-r6dTovpTzsNGQkomYf3aDBuVbK3dQAORzy0R_aBNs6yL37-Uku/s320/Flan03.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Next, you lightly beat the eggs. Now I am being very serious here: you just want to barely combine yolk and whites,
and this amount of bubbles, just on the surface, is about the maximum you want.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhno7pO73i5e8Bk351rLjevWGYxpdGuqbykC1cacOjWDa573qb2OEu-_v6lBcIdADAOFNOBRAmQ1RTTL7rhyphenhyphen1v41fhc2s_FvCMr52bCF1TVP6BO4JWauwMCntvGZ4oMSEY3-uIUWVz69f0r/s1600/Flan04.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhno7pO73i5e8Bk351rLjevWGYxpdGuqbykC1cacOjWDa573qb2OEu-_v6lBcIdADAOFNOBRAmQ1RTTL7rhyphenhyphen1v41fhc2s_FvCMr52bCF1TVP6BO4JWauwMCntvGZ4oMSEY3-uIUWVz69f0r/s320/Flan04.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Add remaining ingredients, combine, and again: see?
Very few bubbles.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<o:p><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br /></span></o:p></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgqkDafnQhEcvchtNT75ku_NWeEqvekzpljcR3LHoHiQ_eH10wcvyMRF2Qvg0J6-Noij6n2XFsfLzuY6pxrk6vTKeSEXH5KNJ0gRHGrvEUIDdRYFw50a6XgKCWeZcHx7OhUoofEdrnTix1R/s1600/Flan06.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="197" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgqkDafnQhEcvchtNT75ku_NWeEqvekzpljcR3LHoHiQ_eH10wcvyMRF2Qvg0J6-Noij6n2XFsfLzuY6pxrk6vTKeSEXH5KNJ0gRHGrvEUIDdRYFw50a6XgKCWeZcHx7OhUoofEdrnTix1R/s320/Flan06.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Pour into your caramel-lined mould or pan.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiZIidzpjHi_MglGZjM2rnNYxjiwfhyn1JzDG4UdlB_MB6Ol_SDuQ8Y2uG6PZTg8rv31uFRl2WXMQZ3JwZSmO5eKrUSyhNV028-a3Ng1EFXa3lEkyynWUA7xLEsuUNijmlPHKNOOyS13Zrh/s1600/Flan07.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiZIidzpjHi_MglGZjM2rnNYxjiwfhyn1JzDG4UdlB_MB6Ol_SDuQ8Y2uG6PZTg8rv31uFRl2WXMQZ3JwZSmO5eKrUSyhNV028-a3Ng1EFXa3lEkyynWUA7xLEsuUNijmlPHKNOOyS13Zrh/s320/Flan07.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Your dessert needs to be cooked <i>au bain Marie</i>, or in a
water bath. Ignore any recipe that tells
you to put in hot or boiling water:
water MUST be cold or you will run the risk of cooking it too fast and
again, wrecking the texture.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjNzGeFD3IZGsrZkO1zFVfE2ousTdkdqQ3P3Br5vDwan43Op8TF3j3k4UFxdjqn9DSOy3V0hyphenhyphenT-2z5eyezzuDkTfLlxVjV2XYFkyUfar9mKNhNbYV57ow1QrNKqHOLq83zBvp6WpP0qOBY0/s1600/Flan08.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="241" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjNzGeFD3IZGsrZkO1zFVfE2ousTdkdqQ3P3Br5vDwan43Op8TF3j3k4UFxdjqn9DSOy3V0hyphenhyphenT-2z5eyezzuDkTfLlxVjV2XYFkyUfar9mKNhNbYV57ow1QrNKqHOLq83zBvp6WpP0qOBY0/s320/Flan08.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Remove from water bath as soon as it’s done, cool, then
chill, preferably overnight, before unmoulding. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><b>COCONUT FLAN WITH FRESH MANGOES</b><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">This makes a firm flan – firm enough to cut and handle with ease. If you would like a wobblier flan, you can
use 1 1/2 tins of coconut cream.
Although we had our mangoes plain as a foil to the richness of the
custard, they are also lovely drizzled with a lime and ginger syrup just before
serving.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">(8 servings)<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><i>Ingredients:</i><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">3/4 cup sugar<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">1/3 cup water<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">6 eggs<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">1 tin (395g.) condensed milk<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">1 tin (400ml) coconut cream<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> 1tsp. vanilla
(opt.)<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">4 perfect mangoes, to serve<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><i>What you do:</i><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">1. <a href="http://yumbomcgillicutty.blogspot.com/2011/11/golden-brown-how-to-make-caramel-and.html">Make up caramel with sugar and water</a> and use it to <a href="http://yumbomcgillicutty.blogspot.com/2011/11/golden-brown-how-to-make-caramel-and.html">line a mould or pan</a>, or 8 ramekins or crème
caramel moulds. Set aside while you
proceed with recipe.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">2. Preheat oven to
160oC. In a medium bowl, lightly beat
eggs, just until whites and yolks are amalgamated. Add remaining ingredients, and stir (not
beat) with a whisk, just until combined.
(The condensed milk tends to settle to the bottom of the bowl, so make
sure that even though you’re using a light hand, you’re being thorough.) <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">3. Pour mixture
into caramel-lined mould/s. Set in a
roasting pan, and pour enough cold water into the roasting pan to come about
3cm up the sides. Bake 50-60 min. for
one mould, or 30-35 min. for individual servings, until custard is set and only
just wobbles in the very centre. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">4. Remove custard
from roasting pan, and allow to cool at room temperature, then transfer to
‘fridge and allow to chill several hours, preferably overnight. To unmould, there’s no need to loosen the
sides. Place serving plate over the top
of the custard, then flip upside down.
It will fall out without problem, and caramel will flood the top and
pool around the sides effortlessly, and look like a picture. Halve mangoes and serve with flan. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<br /></div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgDs_vfSpHnUNH0qVB4nLeu_hKcnAmYSwobE6bDNqvuFPdseMtO4ql6qeyAHSPVJQiMCE42OCKLd9Y9zrnw71JaYpio0qsDtvaC1o6ZC9tnL_F5nxJxMHM-sngkFqQceVy-lgCNxqDvY-9E/s1600/Flan10.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgDs_vfSpHnUNH0qVB4nLeu_hKcnAmYSwobE6bDNqvuFPdseMtO4ql6qeyAHSPVJQiMCE42OCKLd9Y9zrnw71JaYpio0qsDtvaC1o6ZC9tnL_F5nxJxMHM-sngkFqQceVy-lgCNxqDvY-9E/s320/Flan10.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Yumbo McGillicutty!</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<br /></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2928372656358161525.post-25683524383020166362011-11-13T15:47:00.001-08:002011-11-13T18:51:41.155-08:00Golden brown: how to make caramel and line moulds with it<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh7NHiwxm_4xX4c9BNJTu43bGlHOVzFq1V0EUJqFKEFIUiW4F-hf1KUQ_nM9mlGtxULAl0lwJqT1WBzb8YP-zVWgK_9PVSkoUaKFjadX1fAEWsABQohy-B-7QWg2dTKh_bouEVxjm4tA2Ya/s1600/Caramel+01.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh7NHiwxm_4xX4c9BNJTu43bGlHOVzFq1V0EUJqFKEFIUiW4F-hf1KUQ_nM9mlGtxULAl0lwJqT1WBzb8YP-zVWgK_9PVSkoUaKFjadX1fAEWsABQohy-B-7QWg2dTKh_bouEVxjm4tA2Ya/s320/Caramel+01.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">When I studied food science, it quickly became clear to
me that no aspect of it was as exact and complicated as sugar cookery. It’s a branch all on its own, and if you
became a food scientist specialising in sugar, you could pretty much be
guaranteed a highly paid job just about anywhere. If you were a straight man, it would also
just about guarantee that despite the inherent geekiness, you would get lucky with any straight woman on the planet. But I digress.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">That said, instructions for making caramel (ie.
caramelised sugar, not caramel sauce, not candy-type caramel) at home are
complicated by SO MUCH BANGING AROUND that I want to address this dreadful
misrepresentation.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Yeah, I said it:
banging around. Like what? Brushing sugar crystals down the side of the
pan (YAWN), adding glucose syrup or indeed any ingredient to the sugar and
water (YAWN x 2), arresting cooking with water (YAWN x 3), using a thermometer
(YAWN x 4) and repeated cautions about how “tricky” it is to cook caramel
without crystallising the sugar (YAWN x 5) and how you must wash the pan
straight away or it will be impossible to clean (YAWN x 6).<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Bullpats, all of it.
You don’t need to brush the sugar crystals down, you don’t need anything
other than sugar and water, you don’t need to arrest cooking in any way other
than moving the darned pan off the heat, you don’t need a thermometer (matter
of fact the high temperatures reached by caramelised sugar may make even a
sugar thermometer shatter), and it isn’t tricky at all – it’s easy, easy, easy.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">The beauty of making caramel is that you have your eyes
(and to a lesser extent, your nose) to guide you to make sure you succeed. The dramatic shifts that take place in the
subtle changes in temperature during the stages of sugar cookery don’t apply
when you’re caramelising sugar. If it
looks done, it’s done. End of.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">The only two rules – and they are easy ones – to remember
when making caramel are:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText" style="text-align: center;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><b>1. Dissolve every
single sugar crystal before mixture comes to the boil, and<o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText" style="text-align: center;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><b>2. Do not stir
mixture again once it’s come to the boil.
Not at all.</b><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Failing to obey either of those rules will leave you with
a crystallised mixture that nothing can salvage.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Ready to get your caramel on? Let’s go!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjPzQitklgvpu5apdfXh01oTPBrHGjPPSSHatvJsFdEuWZgAD37DfKOehtpitHp3X01rA4uEEfJIJD1liAbEDmr0MlYkz2Syv4XoUBagokvE9YJxrWrgltR-NVDp3DvWkR9366jvb0Iv6eY/s1600/Caramel+03.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjPzQitklgvpu5apdfXh01oTPBrHGjPPSSHatvJsFdEuWZgAD37DfKOehtpitHp3X01rA4uEEfJIJD1liAbEDmr0MlYkz2Syv4XoUBagokvE9YJxrWrgltR-NVDp3DvWkR9366jvb0Iv6eY/s320/Caramel+03.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><b>MAKING CARAMEL AND LINING MOULDS AND PANS WITH CARAMEL</b></span></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><i>Ingredients:</i><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">2 parts sugar (see notes below)<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">1 part water<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><i>What you do:</i><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">1. Place sugar and
water in a saucepan and place over medium-low heat. Stir occasionally until every single sugar
crystal is dissolved. (In stirring, by
the way, don’t go mad: just run a spoon across the bottom of the pan as many
times as it takes.) There is no need to
brush down the sugar crystals on the side of the pan, just make sure the sugar
suspended in the water is dissolved. Do
not allow to come to the boil.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">2. When sugar is
completely dissolved, increase heat to high and boil steadily until sugar
begins to change colour. At this point,
you may want to swirl the pan to encourage even cooking. Caramel will be ready when it’s coloured
amber to golden brown, according to preference. It will also smell caramelly (trust me on this). From golden brown it’s only a few seconds to burnt, however, so get the pan off
the heat immediately and work quickly to use the caramel. Forget about cleaning the saucepan for now!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">3. To line a pan
or moulds with caramel, quickly pour caramel into pan or individual moulds (eg.
ramekins or crème caramel moulds). With
protected hands, swirl caramel around the base and sides of the mould. Allow to set for a few minutes before
proceeding with recipe.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><b>Assorted notes:</b><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><b><br /></b></span></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">* A 3/4 cup sugar
quantity of caramel generously lines one cake or flan pan, or 6 ramekins/crème
caramel moulds.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">* My one caution
during this whole affair is to PLEASE protect your hands when lining the
moulds. It’s not necessary when cooking
the sugar, but definitely necessary when lining, for two reasons. The first reason is that the moulds get
BLOODY HOT. The second is the tyranny of
burning yourself with caramel: not only
is caramel much, much hotter than boiling water, but burns need cold water, and
if you put cold water on caramel on your skin, the caramel will solidify. Try to pull it off, and it will take skin off
with it. So be careful, but don’t
panic: in making caramel at least once a
month all my adult life, I have never once suffered a caramel burn.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">* What do you do
with that pan? Fill it up with water (it
will spit if it’s still hot, so stand back just a tad), and set it on the
stove. Bring it to the boil, and the
caramel will dissolve away. Any stubborn
burnt bits will just scrub off with a wire scrubby thing.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">* Caramel isn't just for lining moulds. Its uses are myriad: arrest cooking with cream or fresh juice (blood orange is awesome) to make a divine sauce, add to stews and braises for richness and <i>je ne sais quoi</i> like the Vietnamese do, add butter and vanilla to make gorgeous chewy caramels, or mix in roasted nuts to make croccante or no-fuss praline.</span></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjXYvnCjs47kgAXJ7JcCq2awnhOHOeuon3rTqk8Ya1LTOYbu7ebW-j7Xg_KbqD0rld2ljXYlXdga00XvoHApsiHfBskqNui2wmjF_olPKt3RjLmiRdkiIWgZfEz6iOxjuIgEL_hSmWtwhlN/s1600/Caramel+02.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjXYvnCjs47kgAXJ7JcCq2awnhOHOeuon3rTqk8Ya1LTOYbu7ebW-j7Xg_KbqD0rld2ljXYlXdga00XvoHApsiHfBskqNui2wmjF_olPKt3RjLmiRdkiIWgZfEz6iOxjuIgEL_hSmWtwhlN/s320/Caramel+02.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<br /></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2928372656358161525.post-15068636202564498072011-11-02T03:15:00.000-07:002011-11-13T20:27:14.110-08:00Hotspots and hotpots<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhcnNXvpgKl18z8t1jgXmFs1MbbslzjRyMI5jlgL9ZTOSHi779sKcKxOxZijYBT1HFernW7yGeDbw3TlKvDqdIkCg4EaTppITata88EMiPoUf6-TkW3XDMr1soAQhLuQoKLy6eL_bK74t5A/s1600/Wholefoods04.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhcnNXvpgKl18z8t1jgXmFs1MbbslzjRyMI5jlgL9ZTOSHi779sKcKxOxZijYBT1HFernW7yGeDbw3TlKvDqdIkCg4EaTppITata88EMiPoUf6-TkW3XDMr1soAQhLuQoKLy6eL_bK74t5A/s320/Wholefoods04.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">A few years ago, I left the town I’d lived in for over 20
years because there wasn’t any reason left to stay any more.</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">And because the time was right, the leaving
was easy.</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">But of course there’s stuff
you miss:</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">friends, walks along the
river, friendly faces down the street, and my wholefoods shop.</span></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Yes, my wholefoods shop.
There was a time when it was my shopping hotspot: 3/4 of my household food budget was spent on
fruit, veg, and stuff bought at the wholefoods’, and 1/4 at the
supermarket. It wasn’t just that what I
bought there was wholesome and cheap, but I loved the experience of shopping
there. I’m sure that there must have
been times when I was rushed and cranky and would have wished for the
convenience of rushing in and picking up a pre-packaged kilo of whatever
wholegrain goodie I needed, but I can’t remember any. I just remember shopping there as an
unrushed, almost meditative activity, like grocery shopping seldom is any
more. Go in, grab a baggie, open up a
bin full of wheat, soybeans, or oats, scoop some out with the metal cup and
fill the baggie up. Weigh out a jar
you’ve brought and fill it up with honey or tahini. Help yourself to the precise amount of herb
or spice you need from the dozens of jars on the counter. Grind your own peanut butter. Order a soft-serve banana “ice cream”, made
by running whole frozen bananas through the Champion juicer.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiQtQcBwb4fhFI8fH1VX1WC7_5LMlQGOdIx304F-xm7ODb8zOio2hFKhsukLs4PlzA2-BlcXtuBaQqCzcRcv_aAoliBqF7veTwd9cj1eh-nYypOcaceIyWVdY6eQfKWvA8z2CvErgNUfm_n/s1600/Wholefoods03.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiQtQcBwb4fhFI8fH1VX1WC7_5LMlQGOdIx304F-xm7ODb8zOio2hFKhsukLs4PlzA2-BlcXtuBaQqCzcRcv_aAoliBqF7veTwd9cj1eh-nYypOcaceIyWVdY6eQfKWvA8z2CvErgNUfm_n/s320/Wholefoods03.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">I don’t have a wholefoods place nearby any more.</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">I’m sure my diet suffers because of it (where </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><i>do</i></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> I buy </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">large quantities - but not bulk - of</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">non-GM soybeans for my unused soymilk maker?), but even if I did have
one, I wonder whether I’d get the same pleasure.</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">After all, I was a stay-at-home mum in that
small town, and although time was still at a premium, I was able to set some
aside for shopping there.</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">These days I
hold down jobs, plural, and what would I do?</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">
</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">I don’t know.</span></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">But a couple of days ago I found myself in my old
town. It is still so familiar, but I
feel so foreign in it now, except in once place. For the first time in 3 1/2 years, and urged
by my younger son who has been craving that peanut butter all this time, I went
to my wholefoods shop.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjb8UDNa__BAcca_xAQcrpHtkWl4XE295B6N1xFIfAtR6lDV1oeHZkhQsC7gAESiz9f8l6u5S-C-I7lwTz_LorE7vbAPHcVi8yRKGZab4o6hKzP5rUap9jj3sHMz51PVWpvRXhZIW9QPRdP/s1600/Wholefoods01.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjb8UDNa__BAcca_xAQcrpHtkWl4XE295B6N1xFIfAtR6lDV1oeHZkhQsC7gAESiz9f8l6u5S-C-I7lwTz_LorE7vbAPHcVi8yRKGZab4o6hKzP5rUap9jj3sHMz51PVWpvRXhZIW9QPRdP/s320/Wholefoods01.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">I scooped up burghul, quinoa, chia seed, and
three-grain porridge into baggies, let my son grind up not one, but two
containers of peanut butter and pour out some gorgeous red stringybark honey, and
bought a massive container of the best fruit mince in the world – citrusy and
rich, but without the customary suet.</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">
</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">And we had an awesome time.</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> Heaps fun. </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Sure:</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">I didn’t buy anything so
exotic that couldn’t have been picked up (albeit in smaller quantities) at the
supermarket, but would the experience have been as good?</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">My grin as I walked out of the wholefoods
shop munching on an almond-coated fresh date treat could have told you all you
need to know.</span></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiybqR7HdSr_O5cTBAfCONdZ7jZY6hlfR-dkhfOiWjgjHHlAyvUFYjkkS48NuLe8zAUb8A-_itrQAfP52sPzr-23-GXfwzc4_kbMTji_AA9TenXDhEQsUPx8ycVcq0JUkeY-cG8Q4iZq7z6/s1600/Wholefoods06.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="239" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiybqR7HdSr_O5cTBAfCONdZ7jZY6hlfR-dkhfOiWjgjHHlAyvUFYjkkS48NuLe8zAUb8A-_itrQAfP52sPzr-23-GXfwzc4_kbMTji_AA9TenXDhEQsUPx8ycVcq0JUkeY-cG8Q4iZq7z6/s320/Wholefoods06.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">A two-and-a-half-hour drive home later, I put the barley
and chickpeas I bought to good use and kept the good vibes going as the temperature
dropped outside and I cozied up in the warmth of the place – and person – I am
not foreign to these days. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><b>BARLEY AND CHICKPEA HOTPOT WITH CHORIZO AND CHARD</b><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">OK, yes: this does
contain rather a lot of oil. But it
makes for such a luscious dish and delicious juices that you’ll be begging to mop up
with good bread. Go on – thanks to all
those good ingredients, it won’t hurt you.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">(6 servings)</span></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><i>Ingredients:</i><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">1/2 cup olive oil, or EVOO and vegetable oil, half and
half<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">1 red onion, roughly chopped<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">4 garlic cloves, roughly chopped<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">4 chorizos, sliced<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">1 cup barley, washed<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">2 cups cooked chickpeas<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">1 bunch Swiss chard (silverbeet), stalks and leaves
separated<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">4 cups water<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">2 tbsp. tomato paste<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Salt and freshly ground pepper to taste<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><i>What you do:</i><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">1. Heat olive oil
in flameproof casserole over medium heat.
Add onion and garlic, and sauté, stirring occasionally, until onions are
translucent.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">2. Add chorizos,
barley, chickpeas, sliced chard stalks, water, and tomato paste. Bring to the boil, then cook at a high simmer
for 30 min.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">3. Add chopped
chard leaves, and salt and pepper to taste.
This isn’t a soup, but there should be just enough liquid left over in
the bottom of the pot to steam the chard; if there isn’t, add a little
water. (Not much - 2 tbsp.
maximum.) Increase heat to high, jam lid
on, and cook for 10-15 min, stirring once or twice, until chard is cooked
through. Serve hot. </span><o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br /></span></div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjk-2_LcPEPt-53c7XF74WSlMcal4TaKALTacCL5MsNx9BajhOd_V_3gOW_MVWuM0PX8wx0S7nuxrMDxhZJAouFytwFIQ6ZnJ6io-GRX_hgJxsgJ7PfUC-ocuHp7ffGc6jljMi_cPTXQAXE/s1600/Wholefoods05.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjk-2_LcPEPt-53c7XF74WSlMcal4TaKALTacCL5MsNx9BajhOd_V_3gOW_MVWuM0PX8wx0S7nuxrMDxhZJAouFytwFIQ6ZnJ6io-GRX_hgJxsgJ7PfUC-ocuHp7ffGc6jljMi_cPTXQAXE/s320/Wholefoods05.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Yumbo McGillicutty!</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<o:p></o:p></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2928372656358161525.post-88134474589956446132011-11-01T15:45:00.000-07:002011-11-01T15:45:29.289-07:00Tarted-up treats<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgmpvdDj79RdKmuIifOLVCHhtCP-4tuGN-xp-xJIRxcVqAHmXi_zuMvTWxZzfxTVFX4QsIPQ0Aep0euFfMT78ngHgzzl6x9_nsq0WmajgEZ_QtBvMCDU6yoyySi72Au1XX6B3xz2VttopxT/s1600/Royals06.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgmpvdDj79RdKmuIifOLVCHhtCP-4tuGN-xp-xJIRxcVqAHmXi_zuMvTWxZzfxTVFX4QsIPQ0Aep0euFfMT78ngHgzzl6x9_nsq0WmajgEZ_QtBvMCDU6yoyySi72Au1XX6B3xz2VttopxT/s320/Royals06.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">And so the day came when I wanted a no-brainer to take
with me to a Melbourne Cup barbeque.</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">It
was my day off and I was too far away in the land of the Letharges to make
anything, but I didn’t want to buy anything, either.</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">That’s how it goes when you have too much
pride in your cooking </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><i>and</i></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> you’re a bit of a cheapskate.</span></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Enter what Wikipedia calls <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chocolate-coated_marshmallow_treats">"Chocolate-coated marshmallow treats"</a>, but which go by many names around the world: Chocolate Royals here in Oz, Tunnock’s Tea
Cakes in the UK, Mallomars and Marshmallow Supremes in the US, and Chocolate
Whippets in Canada among them. I was
going to tart two dozen of these “little nippley things” (as someone at the
barbeque called them) up.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg-6HD4_JFmllDPJOz3txsIc7pYqu7xhyGH0NT2DAv7jzr8lyxGNv6uRPdDaIvkvAu-BcG8Y3XHN76UEZd_92pSuzZDARoMIsI6PihJYRAf7iyO98yRUt6XfOSdVFu0vikCFMfAxAsDJDSG/s1600/Royals02.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg-6HD4_JFmllDPJOz3txsIc7pYqu7xhyGH0NT2DAv7jzr8lyxGNv6uRPdDaIvkvAu-BcG8Y3XHN76UEZd_92pSuzZDARoMIsI6PihJYRAf7iyO98yRUt6XfOSdVFu0vikCFMfAxAsDJDSG/s320/Royals02.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Now. In
aforementioned tarting-up, I have to mention that – to the dismay of my
professional cookery teacher decades ago – I don’t do garnishes. Or rather, I only do garnishes that
contribute to the dish and/or unify the components in some way, and nothing
else. That’s why I chose the two things
in my pantry that I felt would contribute in flavour, contrast and
texture: sea salt, and toasted coconut
flakes. </span></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgEo_1NYNKvbupJA4wM4qh4Vj9d2NHbeGeE-3So09Hoi5AcsH5LMLqkcDlidvMQjr0DJPeVSediVUYnq4TJKHeoc7tJ-bCbk1x4g4xSW-_5AjlRVSuvaagnFRwT4nRjd-NNdo_YC6qNFoRb/s1600/Royals01.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="249" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgEo_1NYNKvbupJA4wM4qh4Vj9d2NHbeGeE-3So09Hoi5AcsH5LMLqkcDlidvMQjr0DJPeVSediVUYnq4TJKHeoc7tJ-bCbk1x4g4xSW-_5AjlRVSuvaagnFRwT4nRjd-NNdo_YC6qNFoRb/s320/Royals01.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Things I could have used but
didn’t because I deemed them silly and irrelevant:</span></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">* Coloured sprinkles<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">* Flowers from my garden<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">* Cupcake decorations<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">* Dust from my vacuum cleaner.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">So tart up these treats whichever way you want, but
remember that just because the melting surface can adhere just about any
non-goopy topping, that doesn’t mean it should.
What I’d keep in mind is that these treats are intensely sweet to begin
with, so not-so-sweet toppings are best.
The sea salt flakes and toasty coconut made these very delicious, and
they were just inhaled in record time.
Although children loved them, everyone agreed that the toppings made
these bikkies a very adult treat indeed.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<o:p><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br /></span></o:p></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj8VQyMYLp8N1VI5m0LkZ5ULwPUW4mYI4cB5fcEOzK1WSo4yk3zqkjXOVGZFa6TSuwmqXL3fGv5BbbAGFapVWLPATukuKzntO57ERwCHdgunS5o2o2e2noQuyCUSLqFXD_P-YIN9295l-sL/s1600/Royals03.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj8VQyMYLp8N1VI5m0LkZ5ULwPUW4mYI4cB5fcEOzK1WSo4yk3zqkjXOVGZFa6TSuwmqXL3fGv5BbbAGFapVWLPATukuKzntO57ERwCHdgunS5o2o2e2noQuyCUSLqFXD_P-YIN9295l-sL/s320/Royals03.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjT9BQc9U2V7doCWugf-FqCwUBbNrPZPw9atS6xLt7s6cRqJqEtAWXOQCIw1PBrjS7AFgn1u23VB90r7IVRuEaKLNEr1iDeoXqXqcoU2JHbEVoWn_IvlooEMW6wPA9GZtUMuBEjstmyY7O5/s1600/Royals04.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjT9BQc9U2V7doCWugf-FqCwUBbNrPZPw9atS6xLt7s6cRqJqEtAWXOQCIw1PBrjS7AFgn1u23VB90r7IVRuEaKLNEr1iDeoXqXqcoU2JHbEVoWn_IvlooEMW6wPA9GZtUMuBEjstmyY7O5/s320/Royals04.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">This is as melty as the treats should get. A few seconds under the grill, and no more, or you will have deconstructed chocolate-and-marshmallow puddles on your hands.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<o:p><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br /></span></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<o:p><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> </span></o:p><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> </span></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><b>CHOCOLATE MARSHMALLOW TREATS WITH SEA SALT AND COCONUT</b><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">This isn’t a recipe, just a technique, so just FYI, you
can blast these with your trusty blowtorch in you like, you crazy pyromaniac,
you.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><i>Ingredients:</i><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Dark (not milk) chocolate-coated marshmallow treats (see
above for various names around the world)<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Sea salt flakes<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Coconut flakes, toasted<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><i>What you do:</i><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">1. Preheat the
grill or salamander (broiler) to high.
Line a baking pan with parchment paper, and place your treats on it,
bottom side down. Place under grill or
salamander (broiler) for just a few seconds, until chocolate begins to
melt. Now – when I say “a few”, I mean,
like, three seconds. Watch them like a
hawk!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">2. Remove pan from
grill and immediately sprinkle treats with sea salt flakes or coconut flakes to
taste. Place in ‘fridge to set before
serving.</span><o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br /></span></div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhf5qrJr0k1wvWidipziyUzRRCOO9J7YoURw1Mc9tURciOBxEQXKazgxXxfyomz3Z-gkqocWS_ZjsFaoqhDelWL3ELKXuoipeDxL2J5vDG-zirkeD3TB1GTsPKQsZz8cr1eKpt4S4zuLAfp/s1600/Royals05.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhf5qrJr0k1wvWidipziyUzRRCOO9J7YoURw1Mc9tURciOBxEQXKazgxXxfyomz3Z-gkqocWS_ZjsFaoqhDelWL3ELKXuoipeDxL2J5vDG-zirkeD3TB1GTsPKQsZz8cr1eKpt4S4zuLAfp/s320/Royals05.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Yumbo McGillicutty!</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br /></span></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2928372656358161525.post-45110870006949839282011-10-18T23:14:00.000-07:002012-05-05T02:36:01.279-07:00Cake for when you're blissing<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhzkOH6BfZ4FQBAQjt2VMXXiNSFFj-rC7Qj0dGIJaAYm2EgMe0V90zLELfxlN_GYkMW8-9x2_hghpvRVsVRFEBnuZ32p4rAgQ2XQ9yDKAF6KN4ZPmqClO4iD4oXjgs9wY5RimZYLRqpNJ42/s1600/Cinnamon02.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhzkOH6BfZ4FQBAQjt2VMXXiNSFFj-rC7Qj0dGIJaAYm2EgMe0V90zLELfxlN_GYkMW8-9x2_hghpvRVsVRFEBnuZ32p4rAgQ2XQ9yDKAF6KN4ZPmqClO4iD4oXjgs9wY5RimZYLRqpNJ42/s320/Cinnamon02.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">My Baby and I love and adore our combined brood, but every
second weekend when they’re all away it’s just all about us being into each
other. We do stuff together and kinda
bliss out and have many a smug moment about how lucky we are. Oh, it’s pathetic.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">So anyway. Last
weekend after we’d blissed out and blissed out some more, I announced, “I feel
like making cake!” The cake I was
thinking of making was one I hadn’t made for many years, but daydreamed about
on a regular basis (also pathetic), and this was the day. But that’s not what’s important. Take note:
the fact that this is the cake I wanted to make on a day when I was
blissing out tells you pretty much all you need to know about this cake.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">The essential accompaniment to this cake, other than bliss,
or even just a bit of a knockabout mood, is not tea or coffee but a glass of
milk or a cup of excellent, thick hot chocolate made with actual chocolate and
not some dubious powder out of a packet.
In fact, the traditional, Mexican way of eating this cake is to dunk it
with your fingers into aforementioned cup of excellent hot chocolate. Heck – if you weren’t blissing out before you
made the cake you’d have to be after that.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiUMMoP7d89IG6Wrvi93tntZOvjrNktJvRQq_Te0sm2xlnGFiW0iFCXNRd4gboqsVuXJXDXZImPrzMG7q5CokxNT0vOo7XiBR-kKmNRHsi3dnL04_k9DFqwktA4-jxMg0IHN235Rr8aTwsb/s1600/Cinnamon01.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiUMMoP7d89IG6Wrvi93tntZOvjrNktJvRQq_Te0sm2xlnGFiW0iFCXNRd4gboqsVuXJXDXZImPrzMG7q5CokxNT0vOo7XiBR-kKmNRHsi3dnL04_k9DFqwktA4-jxMg0IHN235Rr8aTwsb/s320/Cinnamon01.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><b>MEXICAN CINNAMON CRUMB CAKE</b><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Take care: there’s a few steps involving dividing ingredients
or setting ingredients aside. But it’s
still simple and so worth it.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">(1 large cake or 2 regular cakes)</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><i>Ingredients:</i><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">560g. flour<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">375g. sugar<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">1/4 tsp. salt<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">245g. butter<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">2 tsp. cinnamon</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">4 tsp. brown sugar<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Times; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">2 1/2 tsp. baking powder<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Times; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">2 eggs, lightly beaten<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Times; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">1 cup milk</span></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><i>What you do:</i><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">1. Grease and flour
two square cake pans or one slab pan.
Preheat oven to 190oC.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">2. First, make the
crumb mixture. In a large bowl, mix
together 375g. of the flour, the sugar, and the salt. Rub in 185g. of the butter. To make the topping, take 1 cup of the crumb
mixture and add cinnamon, brown sugar, and remaining flour. Rub in remaining butter. Set aside.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">3. Add baking powder, eggs and milk to remaining
crumb mixture, and beat well. Turn
mixture into prepared pan/s, and sprinkle over the topping. Bake 25-30 min, until cooked when
tested. Cool in pan on a wire rack. Serve cut into thick squares.</span><o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br /></span></div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgIxnVEgZ4cnSGB2mq2RU35FKUT_hwSY_Km94nUFzI4o9VuWoAcN866ecoMplnUbkvkprZODHumSqBsDZ1AABL2T4XM3l3Cqo2Z9gZ7ubzm6V1EF4U2Jybp5vs3NxDfwWqQQW4BB0gnhUp-/s1600/Cinnamon03.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgIxnVEgZ4cnSGB2mq2RU35FKUT_hwSY_Km94nUFzI4o9VuWoAcN866ecoMplnUbkvkprZODHumSqBsDZ1AABL2T4XM3l3Cqo2Z9gZ7ubzm6V1EF4U2Jybp5vs3NxDfwWqQQW4BB0gnhUp-/s320/Cinnamon03.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Yumbo McGillicutty!</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br /></span></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2928372656358161525.post-66246101706015719522011-10-16T05:59:00.000-07:002011-10-17T13:33:04.381-07:00The World Food Day blog<br />
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">On World Food Day, I don’t want to write a blog as if for
my teenage students. We are all adults,
and we all know that the causes of hunger are complex and myriad, and range
from drought, to war, to the use of arable land to plant bio-fuel crops. We adults we know that as worthy, and
generationally effective, as sponsoring a child or loaning money to an
entrepreneur through a micro loan agency such as <a href="http://www.kiva.org/">Kiva</a> is, it doesn’t solve a
cataclysmic “issue” that amounts to 1 billion people going hungry in the world.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">But if you’re an adult it also means certain things. Like if you have made it to this age, it
means that you know something about trying, trying, and trying again. You probably have an inkling about what’s
important by now. You may have had
children, and know what it’s like to be gripped by the urge to protect and look
after them; it’s not too big a stretch to imagine how a parent who cannot look
after her or his child might feel. You
have probably seen changes that when you were a kid were certain couldn’t
happen without bloodshed: the demolition of the Berlin wall, the dismantling of
apartheid. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">I’m not big on guilt.
Guilt is, to me, the ultimate self-indulgence. It provides a buzz: “Ooh I feel so bad about this you can’t
believe how bad I feel I’m just totally cut up look I’ve got tears in my eyes
and I’m so earnest I’ll even post about it on my Facebook status so that proves
I’m human right?” Being human, however,
requires more than feeling, it requires action, and that leads me to the thing
I am big on.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Responsibility.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">You can stay stuck in guilt forever, but you can’t stay
stuck when you’re in responsibility.
Responsibility means owning.
Means doing. Lots of doing. So much doing that you won’t have either the
time or inclination to “click ‘like’ if you agree”.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">That’s why I’m not going to waste any time trying to push
your guilt buttons. There are people in
your life better at it than I. Instead,
I’m thinking that if you are reading this blog, there’s also a good chance that
you are used to feeding people, or that you understand there’s something primal
about providing and nourishing, even beyond the boundaries of your nearest and
dearest (else why the existence of so many food blogs that reach out to all
corners of the globe?). This is
something we all GET. We may well be
enjoying this fillet steak, or indeed this piece of bread, but we don’t like
the thought of others not having the same.
Given your druthers, you’d shout, “Fillet steak and bread for all!”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Well, maybe one day.
<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">In the meantime, let me introduce you to a people that
are rather well known for being practical and pragmatic: the British.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Oxfam UK has a brilliant campaign called <a href="http://www.oxfam.org.uk/get_involved/good_ideas/four_a_week.html">4-a-Week</a> going. This simple-as idea is designed to make a
tangible difference in the lives of people living in poverty and just involves
doing four easy things each week:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">1. Buy one more Fairtrade product<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">2. Buy one more food product from a developing country<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">3. Throw one less item of food away<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">4. Eat one less portion of meat or dairy<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhvde8vzWcEUMBCgE-9u04NV-WG8J40fxlQu9tYQcmc-NvXrFX1IBLVItMaoco1QM9eFM_1XopWVzErlOfKtswiE9xCkREbknDGJ3FscjCxoaxbRo9R9RkamqE3ggKF2D4rSyJQzuKNXD2I/s1600/WFD_Fairtrade.gif" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhvde8vzWcEUMBCgE-9u04NV-WG8J40fxlQu9tYQcmc-NvXrFX1IBLVItMaoco1QM9eFM_1XopWVzErlOfKtswiE9xCkREbknDGJ3FscjCxoaxbRo9R9RkamqE3ggKF2D4rSyJQzuKNXD2I/s1600/WFD_Fairtrade.gif" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">If you don’t know what <a href="http://www.fairtrade.net/">Fairtrade</a> is by now, you
should. It’s all about a better deal for
the farmers and workers who work to bring you your chocolate or breakfast
cuppa, and every purchase makes a difference.
Look for the distinctive Fairtrade logo wherever you shop, and if you
can’t see any products where you shop, demand them. (Don’t kid yourself, however, that companies
who advertise something akin to Fairtrade without the name and logo themselves are actually doing
anything. Your morning coffee from
Starbuck’s may promise to be “ethical”, but Starbuck’s is, in fact,
self-regulating about what constitutes “ethical” and “fair trade”. Starbuck’s stopped paying a premium price for
their coffee a long time ago, and they conduct their own inspections of coffee
farms.)<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgNTz154f1WwuZ4VyBH6mHGWzbfBwIp44Fe_DNfFQdxVv1-3P-wExlC5ZQva_mBZ1d98YufYEDkMxzUeLapqOjk3QlA04MsWjBiy7k3gdoCEVJiBCK-wIXyUjbMpjBeWEHLeW_VkN7ivFDn/s1600/WFD_dev.gif" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgNTz154f1WwuZ4VyBH6mHGWzbfBwIp44Fe_DNfFQdxVv1-3P-wExlC5ZQva_mBZ1d98YufYEDkMxzUeLapqOjk3QlA04MsWjBiy7k3gdoCEVJiBCK-wIXyUjbMpjBeWEHLeW_VkN7ivFDn/s1600/WFD_dev.gif" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Yes, of course it’s good to buy local. And yes, of course food miles are
important. But let’s not be coy here and
pretend everything we eat is locally sourced or foraged. Where is your olive oil from? How about that Arborio rice you make your
risotto with? There is room in your
shopping basked for a handful of dates from the Middle East, or some lentils
from India. Don’t know what classifies
as a “developing country”? No worries, I
have a big fat list for you right <a href="http://www.ausaid.gov.au/ngos/devel_list.cfm">here.</a> <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<o:p><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br /></span></o:p></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhT1hJLbV2oDvFpyfWXcUlddI1d9ZzgtXIxpOr755AfCvZJHkR78I2r9i-Pe8N_UZ-aV23IVaaH869Rl8O1uvnbLCcJR6-q_e2DrRwiOTjpILoRYNwGhyphenhyphenB3MthY9-wOgtiRkb09uggvKpaz/s1600/WFD_throwless.gif" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhT1hJLbV2oDvFpyfWXcUlddI1d9ZzgtXIxpOr755AfCvZJHkR78I2r9i-Pe8N_UZ-aV23IVaaH869Rl8O1uvnbLCcJR6-q_e2DrRwiOTjpILoRYNwGhyphenhyphenB3MthY9-wOgtiRkb09uggvKpaz/s1600/WFD_throwless.gif" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<o:p><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br /></span></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Throwing one less item of food away is a subject of a
whole nother blog because there are so many ways to go about this. The simplest way is to buy only what you know
you’ll use. And if you don’t, use
it. Those potatoes will turn into a
great frittata, and you know curry tastes better the next day. Use the freezer. Get organised. Have a big cook-off – perhaps on Recycling
Fridays – of the stuff in the ‘fridge before you go shopping. The <a href="http://www.lovefoodhatewaste.com/">Love Food Hate Waste</a> site has lots of ideas on how to avoid
waste.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<o:p><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br /></span></o:p></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjyRjiWms5rGj7WRuzB00FdGucHReN01GpmWvx6ip34m9Un8ssG6hoUyjjKUDq_2d-sukwO3k9HAoeM0NcLWESl61Od1s2E50jbF2Yb-IeIdxP_9RU0zj4JFcgiLA_njEWNt8jfMLOY-qJ6/s1600/WFD_meatdairy.gif" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjyRjiWms5rGj7WRuzB00FdGucHReN01GpmWvx6ip34m9Un8ssG6hoUyjjKUDq_2d-sukwO3k9HAoeM0NcLWESl61Od1s2E50jbF2Yb-IeIdxP_9RU0zj4JFcgiLA_njEWNt8jfMLOY-qJ6/s1600/WFD_meatdairy.gif" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<o:p><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br /></span></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Eating one less portion of meat or dairy makes an impact
in two ways. The first is environmental,
since all that livestock must have <a href="http://noimpactman.typepad.com/blog/2007/08/why-the-no-impa.html">an effect</a>. The other one is a matter of resource
allocation. The production of beef, for
example, requires 4.8 lb./2kg of grain fed to cattle to produce just 1 lb./450g. of
beef. That is grain that could be used
for humans. A 10-acre farm can support
as many as 60 people by growing soybeans, but only two people by producing
cattle. Now – I love me some beef, but I
love me some grain, too. Give me a plate
of pasta pesto or a bourghul pilaf dotted with chickpeas and roasted peppers
and I won’t even notice there wasn’t meat or dairy. Neither will you.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Come on. Four
things a week is easy. Let’s do this. Because we're grownups, and we know how to get things done.</span><o:p></o:p></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2928372656358161525.post-61810296713003141532011-10-11T02:09:00.000-07:002011-11-28T02:37:25.160-08:00Tarty Tuesdays: Bacon and Tomato Tart<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjZX80F3qoQNPavxOQIXlpIL9XUMtR_FxIh3_2TWTj-T565ub3pp2VSdj1-05CFS83R9qRGlh0KJyeoYt7d40hcDY1dno6COGP9cGBl8YOYN3qn69HOeViLC7SJC_AJwHwWJCFjf5cZCPdy/s1600/Bacon+tomato+03.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="233" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjZX80F3qoQNPavxOQIXlpIL9XUMtR_FxIh3_2TWTj-T565ub3pp2VSdj1-05CFS83R9qRGlh0KJyeoYt7d40hcDY1dno6COGP9cGBl8YOYN3qn69HOeViLC7SJC_AJwHwWJCFjf5cZCPdy/s320/Bacon+tomato+03.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
</span></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
</span></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Sometimes I wonder why I bother posting some recipes: they’re so simple, and their ingredients are so few or unremarkable, that in an increasingly sophisticated foodie world they are likely to make the casual blog browser shrug and go “Meh,” before surfing away.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Here’s the thing, though: good ingredients only need simple a treatment. Good ingredients can make a simple dish taste absolutely divine. In this case, just one ingredient: beautiful tomatoes.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
</span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh61PQfXWdwqxEBnYNaD62xwpmXcMxowyLJudZQL1q4r-3K_Mh8zCu-gFvlmIeWt0oM5uBt15Y9KdQK2vctJV50CHo6W1biCpTOAKPVCtpqspqOg7ZIWyrdBxR75_XG9OWKMzBbSMX2UvFF/s1600/Bacon+tomato+02.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="218" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh61PQfXWdwqxEBnYNaD62xwpmXcMxowyLJudZQL1q4r-3K_Mh8zCu-gFvlmIeWt0oM5uBt15Y9KdQK2vctJV50CHo6W1biCpTOAKPVCtpqspqOg7ZIWyrdBxR75_XG9OWKMzBbSMX2UvFF/s320/Bacon+tomato+02.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Unless you grow your own, beautiful tomatoes that smell and taste as God intended are as rare and precious as truffles. When you see them, you bow your head, say a little prayer of thanks, buy as many as you can, and get them home with all due haste. Slice them up thick for a mayo-slathered sandwich, or drench them with olive oil and perfume them with basil. Or just bite into one like an apple, perhaps powdering each bite with a drift of sea salt. Any leftover ‘matas can go into this tart, which is far greater than the sum of its parts.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">A bit of a leap of faith is necessary here, because I really can’t tell you how special this tart - which was demolished in one sitting by a small number of diners that included tiny, picky eaters - is. You’ll just have to find great tomatoes, make it and eat it. Then you can tell me. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><b>BACON AND TOMATO TART </b><o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">(6-8 servings)</span></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><i>Ingredients:</i><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">1 x recipe <a href="http://yumbomcgillicutty.blogspot.com/2011/01/tarty-tuesdays-classic-tuna-pie.html#comments">Nidia's Tart Crust</a>, or <o:p></o:p></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px;">enough shortcrust pastry for a single crust</span></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">600g. small, ripe tomatoes, blanched and peeled<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">salt<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">2 tsp. olive oil<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">1 1/2 onions, sliced<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">300g. bacon, diced<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">4 large eggs<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">250g. cheddar (white cheddar in the US), grated<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">1/4 cup homemade mayonnaise or cream<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">freshly ground pepper to taste<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">fresh oregano leaves, to taste<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><i>What you do:</i><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">1. Preheat oven to 180oC and lightly grease tart pan. Line tart pan with pastry. Quarter tomatoes and remove seeds. (I did this straight into a plastic container. The seeds have gone into the freezer for the next time I make sauce.) Sprinkle with salt, toss, and place in colander to drain while you make filling.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">2. Heat oil over medium heat and add onions. (I also add the bacon rinds at this point for extra flavour and moisture, and remove them when they’ve finished rendering, whereupon hungry vultures - my sons and husband – descend and demolish them.) Sweat until translucent. Add bacon, and increase heat to high. Sauté, stirring occasionally, until bacon begins to brown. Set aside. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">3. In a bowl, combine eggs, cheddar, and mayonnaise or cream, and season with lots of freshly ground pepper – you won’t need salt.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">4. To assemble tart, line tart pan with crust. Spoon in bacon and onion, then evenly spread cheddar mixture over the top. Press tomato quarters, cut side down, into cheddar mixture. Scatter over oregano leaves. Bake for 45 minutes, until set and golden. Allow to settle for a few minutes before unmoulding and serving.</span><o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
</span></div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjNgQkGN0rjAHT15SdIR06yOuC9I6OgWLRQdtBctjhaQlh38z98oBSHGg1BukFyKs6VoGoNFfIpb2qcrLipLrgA1wrm07h9OG17epP9S5J-iBgazGPpOhz0kFpaAC5a3kLaShjlKxdZT0EN/s1600/Bacon+tomato+04.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjNgQkGN0rjAHT15SdIR06yOuC9I6OgWLRQdtBctjhaQlh38z98oBSHGg1BukFyKs6VoGoNFfIpb2qcrLipLrgA1wrm07h9OG17epP9S5J-iBgazGPpOhz0kFpaAC5a3kLaShjlKxdZT0EN/s320/Bacon+tomato+04.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Yumbo McGillicutty!</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
</span></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<o:p></o:p></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2928372656358161525.post-3338623767149066912011-10-05T21:56:00.000-07:002011-10-06T02:16:40.774-07:00Weeds and herbs and everything perturbed<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhkWN51jFxldOryooF89Z4yDnITv86YqsbPo171diO_JrrQWZWMcmeM3AJgGXYY8JMhIa1G3Th7rp2Iy1uP86jAAFM_Xal53MuikYzDinxICDtc6kAU8MwqGY7XRmnCkPD_vsZEhcmrfZed/s1600/Herbs15.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="177" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhkWN51jFxldOryooF89Z4yDnITv86YqsbPo171diO_JrrQWZWMcmeM3AJgGXYY8JMhIa1G3Th7rp2Iy1uP86jAAFM_Xal53MuikYzDinxICDtc6kAU8MwqGY7XRmnCkPD_vsZEhcmrfZed/s320/Herbs15.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Sit down and let me tell you a tale.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Up until the time I was 14, we lived in apartments. When we moved into our first-ever house in Aonach Street, Clayton, I was overjoyed: I could have pets (or rather, the pets I had could now move around)! We wouldn’t be sharing walls with other people! We could have a garden!<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgYb0YnLnBA-Ov2_2MjK2HvkQ1D0o0NEwlFxF99QovtephVvMUhvH-zEJjjYZ_gFsSJ-Wr6Ti0qHnPZXBHVJADVxuUMgwE9GWHsqht343OWZO9xv1IDsD1Igphz1lvqfweDDzRjN_35PG0A/s1600/Herbs01.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgYb0YnLnBA-Ov2_2MjK2HvkQ1D0o0NEwlFxF99QovtephVvMUhvH-zEJjjYZ_gFsSJ-Wr6Ti0qHnPZXBHVJADVxuUMgwE9GWHsqht343OWZO9xv1IDsD1Igphz1lvqfweDDzRjN_35PG0A/s320/Herbs01.jpg" width="320" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgkDbshWdMZzsf5dlZkso9bzbEZKn4rf_5_2K6F3SfEg4_HwoZ80BpQggeO6e0yz2IczHTjoUbt4ueoIbV1aNWx0KAlggo9EWJ_KvfeFAFjO240HWjk1tuX9AfpP_KNDMQbWDr8L8FOP-vf/s1600/Herbs02.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgkDbshWdMZzsf5dlZkso9bzbEZKn4rf_5_2K6F3SfEg4_HwoZ80BpQggeO6e0yz2IczHTjoUbt4ueoIbV1aNWx0KAlggo9EWJ_KvfeFAFjO240HWjk1tuX9AfpP_KNDMQbWDr8L8FOP-vf/s320/Herbs02.jpg" width="213" /></a></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">For some reason, even though I am not, never have been, and never will be anything that can even loosely be termed a gardener, it was this last point that most excited me. The backyard had already been divided in half, and one of the halves was – as befitted a neighbourhood with such a huge percentage of Italian and Greek migrants – a well-fertilised and turned-over veggie patch that only needed some seedlings for it to completely transform into a suburban Horn of Plenty.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
</span></div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhqwcuxT1GsDBFCGlHQFLqMpWtoTbROzMoiSHhjDqFHasL_xL40yJ4WdnU25BxudrFuRBsuABTnE7LK22UfG9F6nxDzdvx8Q5NOjozAnTCvQyBrdubGp1EB0d5Yy1I7bP6eXQJYbWKDRDqp/s1600/Herbs03.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhqwcuxT1GsDBFCGlHQFLqMpWtoTbROzMoiSHhjDqFHasL_xL40yJ4WdnU25BxudrFuRBsuABTnE7LK22UfG9F6nxDzdvx8Q5NOjozAnTCvQyBrdubGp1EB0d5Yy1I7bP6eXQJYbWKDRDqp/s320/Herbs03.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Parsley and basil sprouting under the artichokes</td></tr>
</tbody></table><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Like Mary in The Secret Garden, I asked mamá for “a bit of earth” and she agreed.</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">The bit I chose was underneath the juvenile pine, and for it I got a packet of mixed flower seeds that came with the Disney imprint and an illustration of Bambi, Thumper and bluebirds gambolling in fields of snapdragons and bluebells.</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">I planted them, I watered them, they grew, and it made me happy.</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">And that was the last time I had a garden – a bit of earth – that I considered completely and totally mine.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEis0i7AU4fGNwm0KfnCIDTPi4n3ekEtg5RQN2sf3HQInq3Ha_Gyy8QXA4RPHIQMGix_sJIRg_J04t3tMI3hILsmq9Sxzea3xw0u_NttG96DnZ4BGyIGcW1s9e7_XwTce3oYYLS7L7Pti6qx/s1600/Herbs08.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEis0i7AU4fGNwm0KfnCIDTPi4n3ekEtg5RQN2sf3HQInq3Ha_Gyy8QXA4RPHIQMGix_sJIRg_J04t3tMI3hILsmq9Sxzea3xw0u_NttG96DnZ4BGyIGcW1s9e7_XwTce3oYYLS7L7Pti6qx/s320/Herbs08.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEibqytoqtgXljnNXNcDVV3324UJwXpOsD_h8QbfrYkZWTkJD8_PThIb_emfHJoJiHnNZ1RSjUnLAvWGIYcolfEY4yJO94IBwlXcwc3R-epYXMK-uJdx8tn2fGi5vajjfC1ZwbQ2-el6CByR/s1600/Herbs24.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEibqytoqtgXljnNXNcDVV3324UJwXpOsD_h8QbfrYkZWTkJD8_PThIb_emfHJoJiHnNZ1RSjUnLAvWGIYcolfEY4yJO94IBwlXcwc3R-epYXMK-uJdx8tn2fGi5vajjfC1ZwbQ2-el6CByR/s320/Herbs24.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Oh – there were other gardens, but none that I ever considered mine.</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">For reasons too various, personal, and let’s face it, boring to list, I was unable to put much of a permanent stamp on any of the places I lived in the following 25 years, and despite having bits of earth for veggies and herbs, I never considered any of those gardens <i>mine</i>.</span></div><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhcG6oO9k-nq6RChypxTkAu0cpMdr1m-xYu98patzip5SckZBNnnesJ91LaKvCf4r512DP72ngIUk9NzhCiAPuzTY8M2LrcJBDo9hdBid2qFzOT9NpoWs9gbPv6F-WkX7QdCKBDhfgHS9kD/s1600/Herbs13.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhcG6oO9k-nq6RChypxTkAu0cpMdr1m-xYu98patzip5SckZBNnnesJ91LaKvCf4r512DP72ngIUk9NzhCiAPuzTY8M2LrcJBDo9hdBid2qFzOT9NpoWs9gbPv6F-WkX7QdCKBDhfgHS9kD/s320/Herbs13.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">This variety is new to me. Anyone used it before?</td></tr>
</tbody></table><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">That is, until a few years ago, when I found myself making a new start in a new house. The pull of this place was so strong that even when we’d only been in it three days and were still chin-deep in boxes, one of my sons said, “It feels like we’ve always lived here!” I had arrived somewhere I’d always wanted to be. And outside was a garden. And not just any garden. I recognised it immediately: my garden. Finally I GOT why gardeners rhapsodise about gardening. I got the satisfaction, the feeling of being at one with Life, the Universe, and Everything.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjd5OTQxdWO61Uq_CtIbXSVChbHbGQfukFDuIN2kaNcuQ5-YxaJ8DZELZU-iFpfg8XQVrU3livh-Yn5jiNEfAIL2BWlgB5mHdrzv_cBdd1fXSrUroEH7K-cX_HXKUedgqTElPu8pC8D70cz/s1600/Herbs09.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjd5OTQxdWO61Uq_CtIbXSVChbHbGQfukFDuIN2kaNcuQ5-YxaJ8DZELZU-iFpfg8XQVrU3livh-Yn5jiNEfAIL2BWlgB5mHdrzv_cBdd1fXSrUroEH7K-cX_HXKUedgqTElPu8pC8D70cz/s320/Herbs09.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">My garden is already established and I don’t touch it much, except for the one area at the very back, the one that flourishes under my touch: the herb patch.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhZBE8pzmTvYYEUHf-6IaxBpF-gclaTUjYxrde9rfQKkMM78MB0CKjJ4JnJdfB_-bE7LhvOfaNaI3pCHqMbwgePsFSUTsIIQpuY6p08eulAGS3A8BAXss8jZiGBFKUkrEqJ5ax6jrBhIzaX/s1600/Herbs04.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="224" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhZBE8pzmTvYYEUHf-6IaxBpF-gclaTUjYxrde9rfQKkMM78MB0CKjJ4JnJdfB_-bE7LhvOfaNaI3pCHqMbwgePsFSUTsIIQpuY6p08eulAGS3A8BAXss8jZiGBFKUkrEqJ5ax6jrBhIzaX/s320/Herbs04.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Now… in saying that I’m not gardener, you have to understand that it’s more than that. I actually kill things. It’s distressing, particularly for someone who actually thinks plants have feelings and respond to humans (more on this later), so I stopped trying. But the one thing I know I can grow is herbs, and here in this garden, they have grown like never before. They have grown lush – so lush that the oregano bush grew as big as my arms curved towards each other to make a circle, so lush that the mint leaves were as big as my hand, so lush that weeds barely get a look-in, except for winter, when most herbs go dormant and weeds go, “Whoo-hoo!” and take over. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
</span></o:p></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjiVZgxk5HE2ze06uyBriR2lbDFS5KH-rEWCSJn9CnBSmE7Wl6_fORWeAGG2BNZeQ2idZmCFCJTQkAWNWLlMwZU5BQu_ZQfE2drd3r00JU7PKLSbyhNLqInSuaX5MOSzh-FTdSf_TUTSigv/s1600/Herbs11.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjiVZgxk5HE2ze06uyBriR2lbDFS5KH-rEWCSJn9CnBSmE7Wl6_fORWeAGG2BNZeQ2idZmCFCJTQkAWNWLlMwZU5BQu_ZQfE2drd3r00JU7PKLSbyhNLqInSuaX5MOSzh-FTdSf_TUTSigv/s320/Herbs11.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div class="MsoNormal"><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiZEI72ThpBpEINiXOMEXU8eTxCFweiaCmxhLCWBlldNJFjrwkuhKZSULwdteb0Ik1ePdMWNODZ37fbzCRRgr_fHQ1VMJabW98L3CfYKhzUxwg8hpB7eC1wpNgRG3L2bP98FdHG4M3mTg4j/s1600/Herbs21.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiZEI72ThpBpEINiXOMEXU8eTxCFweiaCmxhLCWBlldNJFjrwkuhKZSULwdteb0Ik1ePdMWNODZ37fbzCRRgr_fHQ1VMJabW98L3CfYKhzUxwg8hpB7eC1wpNgRG3L2bP98FdHG4M3mTg4j/s320/Herbs21.jpg" width="130" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The kaffir lime</td></tr>
</tbody></table><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">And that’s where my story begins.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Some weeks ago, it is the end of winter, and my garden is a bit of a mess.</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">I make a call to Khel, the gardener who helps me whip the garden into shape a few times a year with the stuff that’s too gardenerly for me to do.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Khel comes in on Friday while I am at work. No biggie, he’s often done that. Saturday morning I go into the garden with My Baby, start poking around, surveying my domain, except… WHERE ARE THE HERBS?</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">My heart starts pounding. Every single weed is gone, but so is almost every herb. I’m not talking cut back, I’m talking GONE, roots and all. The rampant, cheeky mint, gone. The massive oregano bush, gone. Half the thyme. The chives. The rosemary. All that remains are the freakin’ nasturtium. I start taking every single deity’s name in vain. I can’t believe it. I start fighting back tears at this point, and I do something I try to never do, and ring someone while upset.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj373H4vQFnGU9ncm3WLykdGqhFMR2UDkWKWoKmjt-eFr6vbFmHGjceWAtdQ20fIaUQ6-TtRzSG8saIiS1YvykK0OVb3MXzAvjpfsGpjPsvZCVQ4JlRLxxxnCc0CttuQtp9TelH6YKxvmAq/s1600/Herbs10.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj373H4vQFnGU9ncm3WLykdGqhFMR2UDkWKWoKmjt-eFr6vbFmHGjceWAtdQ20fIaUQ6-TtRzSG8saIiS1YvykK0OVb3MXzAvjpfsGpjPsvZCVQ4JlRLxxxnCc0CttuQtp9TelH6YKxvmAq/s320/Herbs10.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">“Khel? You came in yesterday?”<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEipex1kIr4dB06Fe4xsB1VVgjnd1tcUdVWhyphenhyphenkPwZ_VF90DuXydrtjWbKH5XSQ5hzxTfkhyswWO7WwysJm8TA0X90DNnimiky-GxD8I2cIS-WgSz-u47YqRD1owuMZY825wd77Wn5y86UD-4/s1600/Herbs18.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEipex1kIr4dB06Fe4xsB1VVgjnd1tcUdVWhyphenhyphenkPwZ_VF90DuXydrtjWbKH5XSQ5hzxTfkhyswWO7WwysJm8TA0X90DNnimiky-GxD8I2cIS-WgSz-u47YqRD1owuMZY825wd77Wn5y86UD-4/s320/Herbs18.jpg" width="320" /></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">“Yeah… I cleaned up as much as I could… Did the weeding…”<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">“Where the %^$@! are my herbs?”<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">“Ohhh!... I thought I smelt something!...”<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">“You thought you smelt something? What the *&#@!??”<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">“Not all of it is gone…”<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">“$@*&! You uprooted them! The oregano, the mint… They’re gone!”<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">“The mint will be back, don’t worry about that.”<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">“And what am I supposed to do about mint in the meantime?”<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
</span></div><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj_IZBlQPLg9JJmt-kPBmHhWjfMJCK2pmmv1Ef6gwKYWbm63ExKwcAjczAvhAaOFbhi4N7R34stXc3b6nBpSMlT_YAA6cZb_-BAlv3v3MgUoPXXrBdhIYclZDvx7upm8aReMOkLNPOTXfk9/s1600/Herbs19.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj_IZBlQPLg9JJmt-kPBmHhWjfMJCK2pmmv1Ef6gwKYWbm63ExKwcAjczAvhAaOFbhi4N7R34stXc3b6nBpSMlT_YAA6cZb_-BAlv3v3MgUoPXXrBdhIYclZDvx7upm8aReMOkLNPOTXfk9/s320/Herbs19.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">My mother used to say that my father had Basil Fawlty moments, and I’m sorry to say that this is one of the not-so-admirable things I’ve inherited from him.</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">If you want to truly get a mental picture of what happened then, all you need to visualise is Basil Fawlty beating up a dead car, or howling because he’s lost money he’s won on a horse, or digging through a trifle to find a duck.</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Khel – or should I say The Murderer – had left a pile of weeds.</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">They were fragrant with the scents of at least six different herbs, and I started digging through the pile with my bare hands, weeping, crying out, “Where are you?</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">WHERE ARE YOU?”</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Oh, yeah. I had an insane moment. And because My Baby knows better than to argue with Crazy Lady (or Crazy Hippie Lady, as he would have it), he joined in, minus the tears and ranting. I found a rootlet of mint, and My Baby found a whole clump of chives.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">We talked about not paying The Murderer, we talked about never employing him again, we talked about me going to visit him with my Whacking Stick, but when the fire of my grief and anger had cooled down to embers, I knew that only one thing could make me feel better: replanting. So I went to the nursery and spent a small fortune on herbs. A few weeks later when I had a birthday, friends and family who knew of my predicament brought in beautiful gifts of herbs, and one day when I was at work, Khel snuck into the backyard and left a few little pots of thyme.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhJlPAVxP7J8_v8ewAmAEDMuoy9dLcx-sunYPuuFJhWUPA08Km_zNje4vzf3HdaPekM_jQSjaPw4qpH10uYphKwaPD-AQrKCjV-i8D4_zPRH7O-V3z1D58JY2abGJPVP5cDo3CGkWIKV8KG/s1600/Herbs16.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhJlPAVxP7J8_v8ewAmAEDMuoy9dLcx-sunYPuuFJhWUPA08Km_zNje4vzf3HdaPekM_jQSjaPw4qpH10uYphKwaPD-AQrKCjV-i8D4_zPRH7O-V3z1D58JY2abGJPVP5cDo3CGkWIKV8KG/s320/Herbs16.jpg" width="213" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjnXLU5VPlgMb31XzC8_0EmTPrdMd6cH5pe44BQgOVhCdcbzmr-Ba2O62KoTQx6c-8mHPDTZt9yn-9Xr1ltvrW0k_aMGETOqHoguHkr5PtmFTisDIb1UnVIpWJVFKKAqfk_YRN6U1HEudRp/s1600/Herbs07.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjnXLU5VPlgMb31XzC8_0EmTPrdMd6cH5pe44BQgOVhCdcbzmr-Ba2O62KoTQx6c-8mHPDTZt9yn-9Xr1ltvrW0k_aMGETOqHoguHkr5PtmFTisDIb1UnVIpWJVFKKAqfk_YRN6U1HEudRp/s320/Herbs07.jpg" width="213" /></a></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">And they’re coming along.</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">They’re coming along.</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">The mint rootlet I rescued totally regenerated (and yes, like Khel predicted, other mint is coming back elsewhere).</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">The chives that My Baby discovered are now so happy they’re flowering.</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">These pictures are of a herb garden that’s happily recuperating.</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">It’s not yet as lush as it was, but it’s getting there.</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">The herbs are happy.</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">That they are happy is puzzling to me – all I do is water them, give them worm castings, and OK, have a little chat to them – and I just find the whole thing so humbling.</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">So much reward for so little effort.</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">I am also humbled by the people who commiserated with me when this happened, who understood my insane moment, and brought to me pots full of green and fragrance.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
</span></div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjAeC7y4C0o7zCXDjzfGr2RJFI6GY0nbWzqPKmFOaGWiT2UyC8FRtC904tXHtVidaTWKVNFHb340ZxHJ-e2RhI0N5c-2j87w2M7StZPSQjVuw3dGXcbSHznXLeYyt1f2nuXWMxWXmQwZgwP/s1600/Herbs14.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjAeC7y4C0o7zCXDjzfGr2RJFI6GY0nbWzqPKmFOaGWiT2UyC8FRtC904tXHtVidaTWKVNFHb340ZxHJ-e2RhI0N5c-2j87w2M7StZPSQjVuw3dGXcbSHznXLeYyt1f2nuXWMxWXmQwZgwP/s320/Herbs14.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The Vietnamese mint that Kylie brought, going insane under the Laserlight</td></tr>
</tbody></table><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">So, with the parsley my sister gave me, and the new oregano bushes, I share with you a recipe that is indispensable to me:</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">chimichurri, the Argentine barbeque sauce.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
</span></div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEidRZNCD0r5G1H1lMI_Jc50v8Plnj-d0nvzs1j032P9_35s_-6hPAWzVfF3HUW1_tdkSViEivu0Bp76IAKbn1HAnxqY8T_4tLyWUvuMvJfFjr4-2-KRcHhjDxovb3CsiUY1JV3_rrEUmg0W/s1600/Herbs17.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEidRZNCD0r5G1H1lMI_Jc50v8Plnj-d0nvzs1j032P9_35s_-6hPAWzVfF3HUW1_tdkSViEivu0Bp76IAKbn1HAnxqY8T_4tLyWUvuMvJfFjr4-2-KRcHhjDxovb3CsiUY1JV3_rrEUmg0W/s320/Herbs17.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Variegated and common oregano</td></tr>
</tbody></table><br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiYcgyHV_8Sn4bKjRYoNC9OuPT1ma6GenyOMQI1COTKr_lUAKqZcwgXWccMXxUoJQJqzuVWWfGuoqPmLuKnaxuGAE6Eauczq9VDbiRcGaQsN2CkgSgud1rndfkYxXs7GOK3XX3cgua9NtYU/s1600/Herbs23.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiYcgyHV_8Sn4bKjRYoNC9OuPT1ma6GenyOMQI1COTKr_lUAKqZcwgXWccMXxUoJQJqzuVWWfGuoqPmLuKnaxuGAE6Eauczq9VDbiRcGaQsN2CkgSgud1rndfkYxXs7GOK3XX3cgua9NtYU/s320/Herbs23.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Alicia's parsley and mint</td></tr>
</tbody></table><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Now… as indispensable as chimi is, I don’t have it on everything.</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Argentines, as a rule, don’t, and this is something you should keep in mind as recipes for chimi become more and more bastardised, and as chimi is presented to you at a restaurant as a dip for bread.</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Bizarre.</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Chimi is, and always shall be, a traditional condiment for barbequed and grilled meats.</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">I only ever use it as a marinade for matambre, which benefits from the strong flavours (since its cooking method is poaching) and the tenderising quality of the vinegar.</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">I can’t go past Asado Argentina’s </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><a href="http://www.asadoargentina.com/chimichurri-debunking-the-myths/">excellent treatise on chimichurri</a></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">, but I just really want to highlight that any recipe telling you to strive to keep the fresh green colour of the sauce is just wrong, wrong, WRONG.</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">While there’s nothing bad about serving a chimi that’s just been made, the best chimi has actually matured and mellowed in the refrigerator for days, weeks, or months.</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">It is the reason why I make nothing less than huge quantities.</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">(Also wrong is any chimi that adds herbs more familiar to Mexican cuisine, such as coriander/cilantro, but really, to read the full rant, go to Asado Argentina).</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjXyeF85L-E6ySxk-ksImQjAqFHognvi-Bi1w4SoeeR9y2jEFCwRJ0KrTG3G4YE6eDRGVQCGq_JLLjzyUeC3CrTi46zmg6rcu82QQLMrhvSucElhsjU2G8ps7ADJDHfenc807-vSkh9E_yk/s1600/Herbs22.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjXyeF85L-E6ySxk-ksImQjAqFHognvi-Bi1w4SoeeR9y2jEFCwRJ0KrTG3G4YE6eDRGVQCGq_JLLjzyUeC3CrTi46zmg6rcu82QQLMrhvSucElhsjU2G8ps7ADJDHfenc807-vSkh9E_yk/s320/Herbs22.jpg" width="252" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgL226MQ5E60GzY0tc0cAm_wL2dYm29cW4hu7_eqn2qp64kFOrSlZzLVJ-b7k0j8GhjIjSom50-4XCJvaycOTn7IxKikyQ9sTqjTySqJ2Xu6_7OShv16CsTrDgI_apOE80QzpJu7CwKk8w5/s1600/Herbs25.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="315" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgL226MQ5E60GzY0tc0cAm_wL2dYm29cW4hu7_eqn2qp64kFOrSlZzLVJ-b7k0j8GhjIjSom50-4XCJvaycOTn7IxKikyQ9sTqjTySqJ2Xu6_7OShv16CsTrDgI_apOE80QzpJu7CwKk8w5/s320/Herbs25.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">While you do, I'll be firing up the barbeque outside and thinking about how lucky I am. Dogs, walls not joined to anyone else's, a garden, friends who understand when you go nuts… yeah. Life at 45 has much in common with 14.</span></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
</span></o:p></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg6OE5HgGUpP2lTlngj-M06cKGB4aF4ZXiBoq7QaVe3pVcpsNb2C3c5yV-_iZcdiXfafYJSn6FMqCXNFHjyg-kdl0_5I84JemItSoyW5Usta46pOUX6g9hyphenhyphenCYCloK2Uk3PNCHUhsg-DTqAH/s1600/Herbs20.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg6OE5HgGUpP2lTlngj-M06cKGB4aF4ZXiBoq7QaVe3pVcpsNb2C3c5yV-_iZcdiXfafYJSn6FMqCXNFHjyg-kdl0_5I84JemItSoyW5Usta46pOUX6g9hyphenhyphenCYCloK2Uk3PNCHUhsg-DTqAH/s320/Herbs20.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div> <span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> </span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><b>CHIMICHURRI<o:p></o:p></b></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh9PBlEkq0UfPeORSy1Q0PiyURWhyphenhyphenDv04exJIgXztZG7jmSKKwaByvoqWNBG0Cp3zv673XAsMxeNPTOoIS3QSDjPiiHQ8SnnHekEBYI_xd37GBS6z5skSX4gRNlX0sBI0kdp7OFfTUGuCaN/s1600/Herbs26.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="258" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh9PBlEkq0UfPeORSy1Q0PiyURWhyphenhyphenDv04exJIgXztZG7jmSKKwaByvoqWNBG0Cp3zv673XAsMxeNPTOoIS3QSDjPiiHQ8SnnHekEBYI_xd37GBS6z5skSX4gRNlX0sBI0kdp7OFfTUGuCaN/s320/Herbs26.jpg" width="320" /></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">This is my recipe, adapted from mamá’s, which is one of many. You can tweak it… but not too much. Here are the things you can tweak: the amount of chili is up to you. The oregano need not be fresh. The bay leaves are optional. Remember that this is not an emulsified sauce, and that’s OK, because not all the sauces in the world are French. You put it in a pretty bowl or sauceboat at the table with a spoon, and each diner stirs it up before spooning it over their meat. Chimi will keep, refrigerated, for up to a year. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><i>Ingredients:</i><o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">3 bay leaves<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">1 cup boiling water<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">I cup finely chopped parsley<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">1 tbsp. dried crushed chili<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">1 tbsp. chopped fresh oregano<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">6 cloves garlic, minced<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">1 cup good quality cider or white wine vinegar<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">1/2 cup olive oil (not EVOO - if you don’t have olive oil that’s not extra virgin, combine EVOO and vegetable oil, half and half)<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">salt and pepper to taste<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><i>What you do:</i><o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">1. Place bay leaves in a small bowl and pour over boiling water. Allow to cool to warm while you proceed with recipe.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">2. In a bowl or jar, combine parsley, chili, oregano, garlic, vinegar and olive oil, with salt and pepper to taste. Whisk together with a fork, or put the lid on the jar and shake. Add the bay leaves, and enough of their soaking water to temper the taste. The amount you use is up to you, but remember that chimichurri is meant to be quite perky and tangy. It is definitely NOT subtle. </span><o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
</span></div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj2LmNhev-qoheO_9MAl7mKUU3O8Q53L7dMI5MuYu3mVcOAV7wm0Umwe_mNzcFySuxZzxTUTluFUOmmliRyj2n3C8r_WBNg7Xl1kwBDfHgAWy_wcNZ_pzofaw87rmnafutIE98HkdCcP2Jl/s1600/Herbs27.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="280" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj2LmNhev-qoheO_9MAl7mKUU3O8Q53L7dMI5MuYu3mVcOAV7wm0Umwe_mNzcFySuxZzxTUTluFUOmmliRyj2n3C8r_WBNg7Xl1kwBDfHgAWy_wcNZ_pzofaw87rmnafutIE98HkdCcP2Jl/s320/Herbs27.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Yumbo McGillicutty!</td></tr>
</tbody></table><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
</span></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2928372656358161525.post-24885902669956991532011-10-04T04:37:00.000-07:002011-10-04T04:37:16.518-07:00The "F" word<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">In a world that <a href="http://www.ted.com/talks/josette_sheeran_ending_hunger_now.html">produces enough food for each one of its inhabitants to eat 2,700 calories a day</a>, famine is unacceptable. </span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">This isn't about guilt, and it isn't about donating money. It's about us knowing better, and being loud enough to say so.</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
</span><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><iframe allowfullscreen='allowfullscreen' webkitallowfullscreen='webkitallowfullscreen' mozallowfullscreen='mozallowfullscreen' width='320' height='266' src='https://www.youtube.com/embed/UYZWZ6N-6tc?feature=player_embedded' frameborder='0'></iframe></span></div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> Watch the vid, <a href="http://act.one.org/sign/hungry_no_more/?referring_akid=.5585358.5qrvdz">sign the petition.</a> FFS.</span>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2928372656358161525.post-34813501752557613442011-09-30T01:45:00.000-07:002011-10-06T17:39:47.399-07:00Of cakes, tradition, and competition<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjzgZ5h3bJiJEr1z3mdN7zZGTaVOB44lO2oaXYcWoJC5EjiQcQ9oqZA6p2i1iHTGil56GAPE7tX1N2qhoSyo78dso8c2B0e9FExopnL5zs1JPwUpBErK4rd6DZLB1EaxH8c_M-jV5hoTrFk/s1600/Phoebe+04.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjzgZ5h3bJiJEr1z3mdN7zZGTaVOB44lO2oaXYcWoJC5EjiQcQ9oqZA6p2i1iHTGil56GAPE7tX1N2qhoSyo78dso8c2B0e9FExopnL5zs1JPwUpBErK4rd6DZLB1EaxH8c_M-jV5hoTrFk/s320/Phoebe+04.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div class="MsoPlainText"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoPlainText"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoPlainText"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Tomorrow is Phoebe’s birthday, which makes this my second birthday outing as a stepmother. It gives one Pause.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoPlainText"><br />
</div><div class="MsoPlainText"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Blended families are interesting organisms, and particularly interesting are the times when you realise the blend includes two different sets of traditions for every special occasion from Christmas (celebrated on the 24th for ours, celebrated on the 25th for them) to birthday mornings (gentle and loving for them, many fists pounding on the bedroom door while <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m_Nz9B1XFio">Birthday</a> blasts out of the stereo for ours).<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoPlainText"><br />
</div><div class="MsoPlainText"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">One tradition that My Baby and his babies came with was the birthday cake: a mildly spiced and fluffy Texas sheet cake that they go on bended knee for. Made by the girls’ mum.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoPlainText"><br />
</div><div class="MsoPlainText"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Now. To explain my attitude towards this cake, I need to reminisce about my own previous marriage. My ex-husband’s mother was never known – at least, by her own son – as much of a cook, but one of my ex-husband's favourite foods on the whole damned planet was her cheesecake. He loved it, and she was generous enough to share her recipe, with annotations, with me. I made it once, perfected it the second time, and then it occurred to me: “What the heck am I doing?” Here was this woman, not at all confident in the kitchen, who made this one thing her son absolutely adored, and I – oh, dauntless professional cook! – was about to take it away from her. As I said to my husband at the time, “Just because I can cook just about anything, that doesn’t mean I should.” She was alive and kicking and still able to delight him with her cheesecake, so I stopped making it. Her recipe is in my hand-written recipe book. It’s an important part of family history, and my daughter made a cheesecake to her grandmother’s recipe for her father on Father’s Day a few weeks ago.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoPlainText"><br />
</div><div class="MsoPlainText"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">So it was a given that I was never going to make that sheet cake. The whole point isn’t, after all, to try to recreate the girls’ usual birthday experiences, but create fresh ones of our own. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoPlainText"><br />
</div><div class="MsoPlainText"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">And so on to the cake. That it has to be chocolate is a given, and because of my own roots, its filling is also a given: dulce de leche. Some proper chocolate frosting, and that’s it. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoPlainText"><br />
</div><div class="MsoPlainText"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Much as I love to bake, I’m not a natural cake baker and like Laurie Colwin, I too like “a cake that takes about four seconds to put together and gives an ambrosial result”. When I want chocolate cake, nine times out of ten, this is the cake I make. This, along with <a href="http://yumbomcgillicutty.blogspot.com/2011/02/cake-of-deliciousness.html">The Cake of Deliciousness</a>, is the quickest, easiest cake I know. No creaming, no beating, no folding in of egg whites. And the results are light (not fluffy), beautifully moist, with a toothsome crumb and intensely chocolatey flavour that is rare even for many cakes that contain actual chocolate.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoPlainText"><br />
</div><div class="MsoPlainText"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">That it is so rich and chocolatey is mystifying because this recipe was developed during the Depression (when it was known as Crazy Cake) and so frugally contains no butter, milk, eggs or chocolate, but you would never know. This is an excellent chocolate cake even if you’re filthy rich and can afford to decorate it with gold leaf and have it served to your girlfriends by Pedro, the fig-leaf-attired houseboy.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoPlainText"><br />
</div><div class="MsoPlainText"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Hmmm. Maybe when Phoebe is a little older.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoPlainText"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
</span></div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg3RS7BKLH3kxEvVvJgNCx2Hwqk0l060JykM3G7gnmAWj5TuCRTSM1hhBdBczf1l38bHmVINxxMVohyUhvdD34vk0D4fQN7yVmKD48GdajBbBmQw4O_K3gtKsdSpE0MnxsFlbQASs512lCE/s1600/Phoebe01.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg3RS7BKLH3kxEvVvJgNCx2Hwqk0l060JykM3G7gnmAWj5TuCRTSM1hhBdBczf1l38bHmVINxxMVohyUhvdD34vk0D4fQN7yVmKD48GdajBbBmQw4O_K3gtKsdSpE0MnxsFlbQASs512lCE/s320/Phoebe01.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Almost certain: this cake will have cracks in the top. That's the lack of eggs for you. That's why…<br />
<br />
</td></tr>
</tbody></table><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgTeryLCeA38llSFJK7LLAMytOcu7hLNHZ_zFK3oon9UNYNH3fmCYN7Gp8Gl3Yat7HK2XvOJw8ljhg_o0ICChxIHK1XbPDteNLAnXCkTsLK8w8c8Nid-25r2kKMzE_27mYhiWlgoeVQ5DZX/s1600/Phoebe02.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgTeryLCeA38llSFJK7LLAMytOcu7hLNHZ_zFK3oon9UNYNH3fmCYN7Gp8Gl3Yat7HK2XvOJw8ljhg_o0ICChxIHK1XbPDteNLAnXCkTsLK8w8c8Nid-25r2kKMzE_27mYhiWlgoeVQ5DZX/s320/Phoebe02.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">… you flip it upside down. And any smaller cracks can just be...</td></tr>
</tbody></table><div class="MsoPlainText"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
</span></div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh__782Jx4LejgLbX_-ypQiqOa5-vE9ri3Cl8-FHmNKa-4Yf7YOxiT_RTvXg_jzj47ZOZ6QdSVEjk5015y6eGsDJLOanMNoioLIPMbgyGR0SS3Uka34gKx78arHn68LYPGNv8O3Vrj2_Rtt/s1600/Phoebe+03.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh__782Jx4LejgLbX_-ypQiqOa5-vE9ri3Cl8-FHmNKa-4Yf7YOxiT_RTvXg_jzj47ZOZ6QdSVEjk5015y6eGsDJLOanMNoioLIPMbgyGR0SS3Uka34gKx78arHn68LYPGNv8O3Vrj2_Rtt/s320/Phoebe+03.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">… frosted over. You won't get any complaints.</td></tr>
</tbody></table><div class="MsoPlainText"><br />
</div><div class="MsoPlainText"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">The Easiest Chocolate Cake I Know</span></b></span></div><div class="MsoPlainText"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">(makes 1 large cake)<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoPlainText"><br />
</div><div class="MsoPlainText"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><i>Ingredients:</i><o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoPlainText"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Dry ingredients –<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoPlainText"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">3 cups flour<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoPlainText"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">2 cups sugar<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoPlainText"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">1/2 cup cocoa (unsweetened if in the US)<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoPlainText"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">2 tsp. bicarbonate of soda (baking soda)<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoPlainText"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">1 tsp. salt<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoPlainText"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Wet ingredients –<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoPlainText"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">2 cups water<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoPlainText"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">3/4 cup vegetable oil<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoPlainText"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">2 tbsp. white wine vinegar (see note below if this flummoxes you)<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoPlainText"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">2 tsp. vanilla essence<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoPlainText"><br />
</div><div class="MsoPlainText"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><i>Method:</i><o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoPlainText"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">1. Prepare a large cake tin or pan by brushing with <a href="http://yumbomcgillicutty.blogspot.com/2011/01/essential-ingredient-bakers-secret.html">Baker's Secret</a>, greasing-and-flouring, or greasing and lining with parchment. (If you intend serving the cake from the pan, you can just leave the pan as is.) Preheat oven to 180oC.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoPlainText"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">2. Thoroughly combine all dry ingredients in a large bowl. Add wet ingredients, and stir until dry ingredients are moistened. Pour into prepared tin or pan and bake until cooked when tested. (Shallow pans will require 30-40 min., deeper ones 45-60min.) Carefully unmould onto a wire rack to cool.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoPlainText"><br />
</div><div class="MsoPlainText"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><b>A note for those of you who may be nervous about the vinegar: here is a crash course in food science. For a cake to rise, it needs an alkali, and an acid. When the alkali and the acid combine, they react with each other, giving off carbon dioxide, and so gas, bubbles, rising cake. This is the way that all cakes other than yeast cakes rise. The alkali/acid combination is there in baking powder (already mixed for you), and in recipes that call for baking soda (alkali) and, say, cream of tartar (acid). In this case, you have baking soda (alkali) and vinegar (acid). You won’t be able to taste the vinegar – promise.</b><o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoPlainText"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><b><br />
</b></span></div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgCkAIGTaUYec7JYCLYEz1p0HP-PVdTiKBd2bnnK9YAVf4vpWVPa4UhOIgQ3vBFnE1Ink760JWerEvwHOR2oJE2-mS8byyGNEDiCH1GsXqou4J67AovztmltsNNUZAdf5IbaCBAQzJESsCQ/s1600/Phoebe+05.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgCkAIGTaUYec7JYCLYEz1p0HP-PVdTiKBd2bnnK9YAVf4vpWVPa4UhOIgQ3vBFnE1Ink760JWerEvwHOR2oJE2-mS8byyGNEDiCH1GsXqou4J67AovztmltsNNUZAdf5IbaCBAQzJESsCQ/s320/Phoebe+05.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Yumbo McGillicutty!</td></tr>
</tbody></table><div class="MsoPlainText"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><b><br />
</b></span></div><div class="MsoPlainText"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="MsoPlainText"><br />
</div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2928372656358161525.post-68835614274100258392011-09-28T19:25:00.000-07:002011-09-28T20:51:16.899-07:00The Best Damned Strawberry Jam You Ever Had - in 15 minutes<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjfXs1rbls06fU_6Q8udqwizIj4eYi9Behr_HNybRjmkv6p96VVLINkT2uIhtbfZuZQeGK0op4WkbQmgMSAuXV4VJtEwnu9cJm_aH68lL-3gswGTN6MrqSy955PiULj4uq48u3hGCYRkYAA/s1600/Strawb+08.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjfXs1rbls06fU_6Q8udqwizIj4eYi9Behr_HNybRjmkv6p96VVLINkT2uIhtbfZuZQeGK0op4WkbQmgMSAuXV4VJtEwnu9cJm_aH68lL-3gswGTN6MrqSy955PiULj4uq48u3hGCYRkYAA/s320/Strawb+08.jpg" width="263" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">The path to the best damned strawberry jam you ever had
is easy, with only one rule to remember:
small batches, quickly. That’s
it! No magic ingredient, no Iron Chef
skill, no banging around. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Waiting for a glut is the worst time to make strawberry jam. As soon as you increase quantities, cooking
time increases, and your window of opportunity to make the queen of all jams
slams shut, shaking the frame a little.
Instead of the remarkably fresh flavour of this jam, you’ll have cloying
sweetness. Instead of a glorious ruby
red, the jam will be dark and impenetrable.
And instead of gorgeous chunks of candied strawberry on your piece of
bread, you’ll just have a smooth mass, since the longer cooking time will break
the fruit down. (If ever you have a glut
of strawberries that need to be preserved, I strongly recommend the
freezer. They may lose texture but not
flavour, and your options for using them are much wider; you can even make jam
from a cup or two of the frozen fruit.)<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">I’m not a microwave devotee by any means, but I’ll go on
the record as saying that this jam is better than anything you could ever make
on the stove. Truly-rooly. Hand on my heart. It illustrates the best thing about
<a href="http://yumbomcgillicutty.blogspot.com/2011/09/preserve-jam-marmalade-and-jelly_06.html">preserving in the mikey</a>: freshness and
spontaneity. Have a punnet of
strawberries? Make jam! One punnet is just enough to make one
decent-sized jar, or two smaller ones, in the time it takes for you to have a
cup of tea, and indeed, you can sip your tea as you work. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">So you can make a jar.
Make one often. And you’ll
thereafter wonder what the heck that stuff on the supermarket shelves is. And presented with even the most expensive
commercial “gourmet” jam, oh, how you’ll scoff.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<br /></div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjwFlnbneuCjFnTfB5M73WnAmtODOlll-yBfJ65bIVHUoz_ByjBsb37u-V2wzQxhJgQkg4rfQNESJv9vTzCRrp5pMG8Ee688llSAMC_M_yW3IVMqIawVi-_ZgT5Bkwcr-DKuMtt2Rwwh-fb/s1600/Strawb+01.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjwFlnbneuCjFnTfB5M73WnAmtODOlll-yBfJ65bIVHUoz_ByjBsb37u-V2wzQxhJgQkg4rfQNESJv9vTzCRrp5pMG8Ee688llSAMC_M_yW3IVMqIawVi-_ZgT5Bkwcr-DKuMtt2Rwwh-fb/s320/Strawb+01.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Local winter strawberries: they weren't ever going to be good eating - at least, not without some serious doctoring - but they make a jam that is far greater than the sum of its parts.<br />
<br /></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhgyUSgxBNLUkgkS4fQxCieOisjTzB5SVOKIo-Ywu4fS1FTdTF7a2xc1mKwwZuUK1yZ_5Zn2vFWX5I2BmPc5rI7ITayi9gDVdXf9dw4dgHr98IJLeb1PfmSoNJtiDPKzrVoEpTYMaSqMFzl/s1600/Strawb+02.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="220" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhgyUSgxBNLUkgkS4fQxCieOisjTzB5SVOKIo-Ywu4fS1FTdTF7a2xc1mKwwZuUK1yZ_5Zn2vFWX5I2BmPc5rI7ITayi9gDVdXf9dw4dgHr98IJLeb1PfmSoNJtiDPKzrVoEpTYMaSqMFzl/s320/Strawb+02.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">No, put the spoon and the clotted cream down, you can't eat them yet.<br />
<br />
<br /></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgmKyMZxcDTnrfAXDsIa5OJ5aoq48m4F85-onSZ4fAqhIMc5zYy7PbCmJ-S-PpEVEjQJMsWkSKdDlFKKsezMmablzviva5xfkZa5tW0CL7hlnyr5bukCUbfVN7CzV6Yb-NHca1SbOuIheAt/s1600/Strawb+03.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgmKyMZxcDTnrfAXDsIa5OJ5aoq48m4F85-onSZ4fAqhIMc5zYy7PbCmJ-S-PpEVEjQJMsWkSKdDlFKKsezMmablzviva5xfkZa5tW0CL7hlnyr5bukCUbfVN7CzV6Yb-NHca1SbOuIheAt/s320/Strawb+03.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The bigger the bowl the better, and if it's bigger than this, great. Seriously. As big as will fit in your microwave, no matter how small the batch of jam is. The reason why is visible on the sides of this bowl.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<o:p><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br /></span></o:p></div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiNe_G_gO0xN5Qx4jXy8V9awqLlghpFOl_eaxeoWRagzTSe-caFeZNKv6f4bzzFpCQGtPVHIqzA5MOKgoU0X9eUxZyudCutBM0WaY4mzjaVMDJgzqgd9tlSDhluJmobEIYOyVlWbsu3yndn/s1600/Strawb+04.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiNe_G_gO0xN5Qx4jXy8V9awqLlghpFOl_eaxeoWRagzTSe-caFeZNKv6f4bzzFpCQGtPVHIqzA5MOKgoU0X9eUxZyudCutBM0WaY4mzjaVMDJgzqgd9tlSDhluJmobEIYOyVlWbsu3yndn/s320/Strawb+04.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">These viscous bubbles, along with the spoon test and…<br />
<br /></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg-X3XJCj0QVJJcptDod0qD1op77QloAySNC2XP4dlUGQBA1K3En-zmxO3N7IBLtus-YJEaFnr5HwAr9aEzkgU8xiASlC2WRqlScYjR-At_2B6uTxzQEigt0LRJQ6565ti1u90xelEdToHH/s1600/Strawb+07.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg-X3XJCj0QVJJcptDod0qD1op77QloAySNC2XP4dlUGQBA1K3En-zmxO3N7IBLtus-YJEaFnr5HwAr9aEzkgU8xiASlC2WRqlScYjR-At_2B6uTxzQEigt0LRJQ6565ti1u90xelEdToHH/s320/Strawb+07.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">… the saucer test, means that…<br />
<br /></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEju3oukzhDG64BBQJKQzJH7LNYRYpumVufyO51fSTQbvYQ4_hLurYvQqUMjlroGyuZVdY8Ewb8bfcWjiLs95pbklN7K1fgQtbcDXxZFGeGOrSw7-S9Rd9C4JTJ1Pr2ot_ufxQK_DZMwkQ7v/s1600/Strawb+05.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEju3oukzhDG64BBQJKQzJH7LNYRYpumVufyO51fSTQbvYQ4_hLurYvQqUMjlroGyuZVdY8Ewb8bfcWjiLs95pbklN7K1fgQtbcDXxZFGeGOrSw7-S9Rd9C4JTJ1Pr2ot_ufxQK_DZMwkQ7v/s320/Strawb+05.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">… the jam is ready to pot up.<br />
<br /></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgNXULgDSibQlevqlQGZULZZy2ZoZX22YK2MFcZMBldfKc6qe6scVkPd3UeNrraoADn-gut_n73Tx66lYPG5JqEXI_evUL1BOCLlvp7nYE_NmQ-HsswXH9UfyVjO_YkjcqakkiF6wJ53F82/s1600/Strawb+06.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgNXULgDSibQlevqlQGZULZZy2ZoZX22YK2MFcZMBldfKc6qe6scVkPd3UeNrraoADn-gut_n73Tx66lYPG5JqEXI_evUL1BOCLlvp7nYE_NmQ-HsswXH9UfyVjO_YkjcqakkiF6wJ53F82/s320/Strawb+06.jpg" width="213" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br />
Yumbo McGillicutty!</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><b>THE BEST DAMNED STRAWBERRY JAM YOU EVER HAD</b><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">(makes 1 medium or 2 small jars)<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><i>Ingredients:</i><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">250g. strawberries (2 cups approx.)<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">1 1/2 cups sugar<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">3 tbsp. lemon juice<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><i>What you do:</i><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">1. Hull
strawberries and cut any extra-large ones in half. Put them in a large microwave-safe bowl with
sugar and lemon juice. Cover, and cook
on HIGH for 5 minutes. Stir to dissolve
sugar.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">2. Cook,
uncovered, on HIGH for 10 minutes, stirring occasionally, until jam reaches
<a href="http://yumbomcgillicutty.blogspot.com/2011/09/preserve-jam-marmalade-and-jelly.html">setting point</a>. Allow to cool for 5-10
minutes, then give jam a final stir (this step is optional, but allows the
pieces of fruit to be evenly distributed through the jam). Pour into <a href="http://yumbomcgillicutty.blogspot.com/2010/08/hot-sterilized-jars-in-2-minutes.html">warm, sterilised jars</a>, and seal.</span></div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2928372656358161525.post-67926504242748300742011-09-14T01:27:00.000-07:002011-09-14T01:41:49.835-07:00Posh pudding<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi49fzpFepAWC01ebfm8pfHqMWqnc34thSHakVFKkitAflX2uIIiZgY3zILMBJdAUvvG6uN2NJpPkO29qKZUJMnGi5cpsr7xZDPzR8vqUYpzy4x8YdpsaJX5tJh6Vp8uFlvM4XvvK4TkVgZ/s1600/Chocolat01.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi49fzpFepAWC01ebfm8pfHqMWqnc34thSHakVFKkitAflX2uIIiZgY3zILMBJdAUvvG6uN2NJpPkO29qKZUJMnGi5cpsr7xZDPzR8vqUYpzy4x8YdpsaJX5tJh6Vp8uFlvM4XvvK4TkVgZ/s320/Chocolat01.jpg" width="259" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Chocolat Liégeois is hot chocolate, French style, ie.
totally, completely, over the top. Hot
chocolate, a scoop of vanilla ice cream, Chantilly cream over the top. But wait, there’s more if you so desire. Chocolate sauce drizzled over? Chocolate sprinkles? Oh, why the heck not.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">But the country that invented the term <i>trompe l’oeil</i> also
invented another Chocolat Liégeois: a creamy dessert served in gorgeous coffee
cups, goblets or milkshake glasses to look – <i>quelle surprise!</i> – like <a href="http://parfumsdecampagne.over-blog.com/article-36254745.html">the hot chocolate bevvie</a>. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Chocolat Liégeois is, hands down, my favourite chocolate
“spoon sweet”. Chocolate mousse? Pffft.
Forget it. All it will take is
one spoonful to see that this is soul food at its most seductive. The silky and rich chocolate layer may be called
Crème Viennoise, but the rest of us will recognise it for the rather posh
version of chocolate blancmange or (in the US) chocolate pudding it is. Denser and creamier, it pushes all the right
buttons for We Who Love Chocolate and relegates mousse to the “yummy but wimpy”
corner where it belongs.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">It is also the easiest thing in the world to make, and it
is nice and adaptable: you can fiddle
with the fat of the milk, add additional flavours, and play with the
chocolate. For my friend Stella’s 40th birthday,
I made a couple hundred shot glasses of Chocolat Liégeois, half with dark
chocolate, half with white. White
chocolate is not my cup of tea (or Chocolat Liégeois, come to that), but they
were both yummed up – no leftovers whatsoever.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">Chocolat Liégeois</span></b><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">(Makes 6 chocoholic servings.</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">You’ll see from my pix that I made these in
shot glasses: the amount below is enough for about 30 shots.)</span></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">The egg yolks are optional, but I strongly advise you use them: they give additional silkiness.</span></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><i>Les ingrédients:</i><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">For the Crème Viennoise –<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">1 l. milk<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">4 tbsp. cornflour (cornstarch)<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">2 tbsp. sugar<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">300g. dark cooking chocolate, chopped<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">3 egg yolks<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">For the Chantilly cream –<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">300ml thickened cream<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">3 tbsp icing sugar<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">1 tsp. vanilla essence<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><i>La méthode:</i><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">1. To make Crème Viennoise: whisk together milk,
cornflour and sugar in a saucepan, and stir constantly over medium heat until
mixture simmers and thickens. (You
probably already know this, but it bears repeating: cornflour/cornstarch mixtures MUST come to
the boil. Don’t fear lumps or curdling,
just keep stirring. If you don’t, you
won’t get the proper texture, and to add insult to injury, will have a
floury-tasting mixture.)<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">2. Remove mixture from heat.</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Add chocolate, and stir constantly until it
melts.</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Lightly whisk egg yolks, then add
a few tablespoons of the hot mixture, stir, and add to the pan.</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Return saucepan to a low heat, stirring constantly, for about a minute or until mixture coats the back of the spoon.</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> Working quickly, p</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">our chocolate mixture into six goblets or clear coffee cups, or just
ordinary coffee cups if you want to give your guests a nice surprise when you
bring out the “coffee”. Place in refrigerator to cool completely.</span></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">3. Chantilly cream: combine all ingredients, then beat
with electric beaters until firm peaks form. Pipe into pretty swirls onto the
Crème Viennoise.</span></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Et voilá, c’est prêt! Très facile et très miam! Bon
appétit!</span><o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh0rpBq6WoZDBhfwJNs7w3e6av-o9LmtEvgEkgCYYyab57bs_5rpgk8II9LfAOB26FYj0V8E8E26317taf16PaIWZHbFD2cr-jU5ffgautoTPfU0qIYptClx6rvuq2BsDOlMUItx5xl0wkt/s1600/Chocolat02.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh0rpBq6WoZDBhfwJNs7w3e6av-o9LmtEvgEkgCYYyab57bs_5rpgk8II9LfAOB26FYj0V8E8E26317taf16PaIWZHbFD2cr-jU5ffgautoTPfU0qIYptClx6rvuq2BsDOlMUItx5xl0wkt/s320/Chocolat02.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br /></span></div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2928372656358161525.post-4985658450939419252011-09-06T23:52:00.000-07:002011-09-06T23:55:12.281-07:00The preserve, jam, marmalade and jelly tutorial #3: preserving in the microwave<br />
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">
</span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgxC9tEOOydd6KErnZtEA7buITpYo_rOu8mxPJp5BtTjJfGU_qD785ahfoRZRqQ4IimNwUCOUnkp3V_ErChXJd2Fj7FlJobhe9y1fq6yEV-fLXBMh6Lj6RM_M80AgIopPq9X4Vo4dALOqkU/s1600/Tutorial+%25233+01.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgxC9tEOOydd6KErnZtEA7buITpYo_rOu8mxPJp5BtTjJfGU_qD785ahfoRZRqQ4IimNwUCOUnkp3V_ErChXJd2Fj7FlJobhe9y1fq6yEV-fLXBMh6Lj6RM_M80AgIopPq9X4Vo4dALOqkU/s320/Tutorial+%25233+01.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Maybe what’s been putting you off making preserves is
lack of time along with a belief that you need a bumper crop to go ahead. If so, let me reacquaint you with that
television-shaped appliance on the bench.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br /></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Ladies and Gentlemen:
the microwave.</span></div>
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><div>
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br /></span></div>
Beyond heating up leftovers and dissolving gelatine, a
microwave oven comes into its own when you use it to make preserves. The brief cooking times mean that microwave
preserves have the freshest, liveliest taste of any preserve you are likely to
taste.</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
You don’t have to wait for a bumper crop: in fact, it is best to make small quantities,
since larger quantities would necessitate longer cooking times and spoil the
fresh-flavour bonus that you are after from the mikey. With the mikey, you can make your preserves
for the week by just using what you may have lying around the house: an orange and a lemon will make a jar of
marmalade, and a tin of peaches can be transformed into jam, relish or chutney
in the twinkling of an eye.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
Get into the habit of preserving, roping in children and
spouses as necessary. If you incorporate
it into your routine, you'll find that less and less fruit and vegetables will
go to waste; you'll save money; and you'll always have a spur-of-the-moment
gift when you go visiting or need to say “thank you”.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<b>What you'll need:</b><o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
1. A large,
microwave-proof casserole. (Use a large
casserole, preferably with straight sides, even when making a very small
amount. As preserves cook in the
microwave, they begin to rise up and up like prisoners bent on escape; if the
casserole isn't big enough, it will spill.)<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
2. A wooden spoon.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
3. <a href="http://yumbomcgillicutty.blogspot.com/2010/08/hot-sterilized-jars-in-2-minutes.html">Clean, sterilized jars or glasses</a>, free of any chips or imperfections, with their own
lids, or Vacola Kleer-view covers. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<b>Adapting recipes</b><o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
When adapting a conventional recipe for the mikey, the
first thing is to reduce the water when cooking the fruit. The minimum amount of water is a couple of
tablespoons (for berries), and the maximum should be enough to cover the fruit
(marmalades). If you follow the
step-by-step instructions, comparing sugar and fruit ratios as in <a href="http://yumbomcgillicutty.blogspot.com/2011/09/preserve-jam-marmalade-and-jelly.html">Tutorial #2</a> and making the necessary adjustments, you should have no trouble. To use tinned or bottled fruit, follow guides
below without the steps that involve cooking the fruit. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<b>STEP-BY-STEP JAM AND CONSERVE</b><o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
1. Prepare fruit
by cutting away any blemishes. If
necessary, peel, pit, or de-seed. Cut
into pieces (small for jam, large chunks for conserve).<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
2. Add lemon juice
or citric acid if needed (see <a href="http://yumbomcgillicutty.blogspot.com/2011/09/preserve-jam-marmalade-and-jelly.html">Tutorial #2</a>).<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
3. Add water.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
4. Place in a
large, microwave-proof bowl or casserole, and cover. Cook on HIGH until soft and pulpy.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
5. Measure fruit
pulp, and re-heat to boiling.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
6. Add <a href="http://yumbomcgillicutty.blogspot.com/2011/09/preserve-jam-marmalade-and-jelly.html">required amount of sugar</a>. Stir until sugar is dissolved. Add any spices or flavourings you may desire.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
7. Cook, uncovered,
on HIGH, until setting point is reached (15-20 min).<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
8. Skim off any
scum, and fill <a href="http://yumbomcgillicutty.blogspot.com/2010/08/hot-sterilized-jars-in-2-minutes.html">warm, sterilized jars</a> to the brim. Fit lids on IMMEDIATELY. Label, and store in a cool, dark place. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<b>STEP-BY-STEP MARMALADE</b><o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
1. Wash fruit,
slice thinly. Cover with water, and let
stand overnight, or for several hours.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
2. Place fruit and
water in large microwave bowl or casserole, cover, and cook on HIGH until rind
is tender (6-10 min.).<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
3. Measure pulp,
then reheat to boiling. (If you would
like less rind, strain out as much as you need to before measuring.)<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
4. Add <a href="http://yumbomcgillicutty.blogspot.com/2011/09/preserve-jam-marmalade-and-jelly.html">required amount of sugar</a>. Stir to dissolve.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
5. Cook,
uncovered, on HIGH until setting point is reached (15-20 min.).<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
6. Skim off any
scum, and fill <a href="http://yumbomcgillicutty.blogspot.com/2010/08/hot-sterilized-jars-in-2-minutes.html">warm, sterilized jars</a> to the brim. Fit lids on IMMEDIATELY. Label, and store in a cool, dark place.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<b>STEP-BY-STEP JELLY</b><o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
1. Wash fruit and
chop roughly, leaving on skins, cores, pips, etc.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
2. Place in large
microwave bowl or casserole, and cover with water.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
3. Cover, and cook
on HIGH until soft and pulpy (6-8 min.).<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
4. Pour into jelly
bag, or fine strainer lined with a clean, wet Chux, and let stand overnight (or
several hours, at least). Do not press
or squeeze fruit, as this will cloud the jelly.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
5. Measure liquid.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
6. Heat liquid on
HIGH until boiling, then add <a href="http://yumbomcgillicutty.blogspot.com/2011/09/preserve-jam-marmalade-and-jelly.html">required amount of sugar</a>. Stir to dissolve.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
7. Cook,
uncovered, on HIGH until setting point is reached (15-20 min.).<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
8. Skim off any
scum, and fill <a href="http://yumbomcgillicutty.blogspot.com/2010/08/hot-sterilized-jars-in-2-minutes.html">warm, sterilized jars</a> to the brim. Fit lids on IMMEDIATELY. Label, and store in a cool, dark place.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<b>STEP-BY-STEP CHUTNEY AND RELISH</b><o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
1. Prepare fruit
and vegetables, as required.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
2. Add remaining
ingredients except sugar and vinegar.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
4. Cook, covered,
on HIGH until fruit/vegetables are tender (8-10 min).<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
5. Add sugar, and
stir until dissolved.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
6. Add vinegar.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
7. Cook,
uncovered, until thick (20-25 min.).</div>
</span><br />
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<br /></div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2928372656358161525.post-64276465805258299672011-09-03T06:30:00.000-07:002011-09-03T06:34:41.040-07:00The preserve, jam, marmalade and jelly tutorial #2: set<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgA1ZQK47EXj_GZo5LSHeiq0w6T6kUBLQv9iAG1odz7mb-Ni4ooNsTTUO2cO_OqgUCWB2UqNKCG9vI3fxr4zeKi9qMNnEXLLO8MI-slqma5ytDNl-NagCNJWuec2AdklXeuWx4u7yZHJl-F/s1600/Tutorial+%25232+01.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgA1ZQK47EXj_GZo5LSHeiq0w6T6kUBLQv9iAG1odz7mb-Ni4ooNsTTUO2cO_OqgUCWB2UqNKCG9vI3fxr4zeKi9qMNnEXLLO8MI-slqma5ytDNl-NagCNJWuec2AdklXeuWx4u7yZHJl-F/s320/Tutorial+%25232+01.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Perfect set passes the upside-down test!</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Most good jams or jellies have good “set”:</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">a gelled consistency with a slightly firm
texture and resistance to the spoon.</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Set
is achieved with pectin and sugar.</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">A
properly set preserve isn’t just a delight to eat, but it also means that it is
safe to keep, unrefrigerated (before the seal is broken, natch) for a long time
– we’re not talking weeks or months, but years.</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">
</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">This is because pectin and sugar “bind” the fruit’s juices, preventing
them from spoiling.</span><br />
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Set is what sets apart, so to speak, the great preservers
from the wannabe’s. A preserve that’s
been properly cooked to setting point will have great texture, a mellow,
complex flavour, and beautiful jewelled colour.
Set will also ensure that whoever eats it won’t keel over from a bout of
food poisoning.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Now – I did say that “most” good jams or jellies have
good set. Some don’t, because the fruit
they are made from is too low in pectin; a loquat jelly, for example, will have
a super-light set. If you’ve made it
properly, that doesn’t mean it’s a bad preserve, just that you need to use it
quickly and refrigerate it once opened.
<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Let’s look at pectin and sugar in turn, and then talk
about how to test for set.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhY7VQ2LMzHXdPg7jqWyMAch87MinY7LrHb9I_oeFmGHN_5Lv6wGAoO841zeoyHZO6muvboeOHQ0_X6sYeYv4_UH4SG0GPkMWB7V08DVpYbgoTQUwDEW3h8JnsFu0TwpdEflY14hRVE_H2V/s1600/Tutorial+%25232+02.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="255" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhY7VQ2LMzHXdPg7jqWyMAch87MinY7LrHb9I_oeFmGHN_5Lv6wGAoO841zeoyHZO6muvboeOHQ0_X6sYeYv4_UH4SG0GPkMWB7V08DVpYbgoTQUwDEW3h8JnsFu0TwpdEflY14hRVE_H2V/s320/Tutorial+%25232+02.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<o:p><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> </span></o:p><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><b>PECTIN</b></span></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Pectin is an acidic fruit fibre. All jams, jellies, conserves and marmalades
need pectin to set. Not all fruits
contain this in significant amounts, so you need to fix the balance by adding
lemon juice, citric acid, or “insurance” in the form of an apple or two. (Apples – even ordinary table apples – are
high in pectin and will ensure the set of just about anything you’re potting
up. Because they break down easily and
their flavour is so mild, they are virtually undetectable in preserves with
another key flavour.)<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">You can also add commercial pectin (Jamsetta here in Australia),
but I personally do not recommend this. It makes the end product too tart, and
does not allow for the mellow flavour of a well-made conserve to come
through. It can also absolutely wreck
the texture of your preserve. Don’t be
fooled into thinking you need pectin just because you see it in 99% of the
preserves – even posh preserves – that you buy.
Commercial manufacturers add pectin because it means they can arrest
cooking earlier, which gives them a higher yield and profit.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">A list of the pectin content of fruits follows. If you are making your
jam/marmalade/jelly/conserve from sweet, overripe fruits, or those low in
pectin, add one of the following:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">1. 2 tbsp. lemon
juice per 4 cups fruit.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">2. 1 tsp. citric
acid per 4 cups of fruit.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">3. Commercial
pectin, as per manufacturers' instructions.
(But please – learn to make preserves without it first!)<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">FRUITS HIGH IN PECTIN:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Cooking apples<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Crabapples<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Quinces<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Raspberries<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">All citrus fruits<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">FRUITS MEDIUM IN PECTIN:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Apricots<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Blackberries<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Under-Ripe Cherries<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Loganberries<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Greengages<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Ripe Plums<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Pineapple<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Rhubarb.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">FRUITS LOW IN PECTIN:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Bananas<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Ripe cherries<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Figs<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Grapes<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Peaches<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Pears<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Strawberries<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><b>HOW MUCH SUGAR?<o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Don't guess. Not
enough sugar will lead to spoilage or food poisoning, and too much will ruin
the flavour and texture of the preserve.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><b>Sugar Ratios for High and Medium Pectin Fruits
(conserves, marmalades and jams)<o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><b>
</b></span></div>
<table border="1" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="MsoTableGrid" style="border-collapse: collapse; border: none; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-padding-alt: 0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; mso-yfti-tbllook: 1184;">
<tbody>
<tr style="mso-yfti-firstrow: yes; mso-yfti-irow: 0;">
<td style="border: solid windowtext 1.0pt; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; width: 118.8pt;" valign="top" width="119"><div class="MsoPlainText">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">FRUIT PULP <o:p></o:p></b></div>
</td>
<td style="border-left: none; border: solid windowtext 1.0pt; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; width: 78.0pt;" valign="top" width="78"><div class="MsoPlainText">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">SUGAR<o:p></o:p></b></div>
</td>
</tr>
<tr style="mso-yfti-irow: 1;">
<td style="border-top: none; border: solid windowtext 1.0pt; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; width: 118.8pt;" valign="top" width="119"><div class="MsoPlainText">
1 cups <o:p></o:p></div>
</td>
<td style="border-bottom: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-left: none; border-right: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-top: none; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; width: 78.0pt;" valign="top" width="78"><div class="MsoPlainText">
1 cup<o:p></o:p></div>
</td>
</tr>
<tr style="mso-yfti-irow: 2;">
<td style="border-top: none; border: solid windowtext 1.0pt; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; width: 118.8pt;" valign="top" width="119"><div class="MsoPlainText">
2 cups <o:p></o:p></div>
</td>
<td style="border-bottom: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-left: none; border-right: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-top: none; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; width: 78.0pt;" valign="top" width="78"><div class="MsoPlainText">
2 cups<o:p></o:p></div>
</td>
</tr>
<tr style="mso-yfti-irow: 3;">
<td style="border-top: none; border: solid windowtext 1.0pt; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; width: 118.8pt;" valign="top" width="119"><div class="MsoPlainText">
3 cups <o:p></o:p></div>
</td>
<td style="border-bottom: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-left: none; border-right: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-top: none; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; width: 78.0pt;" valign="top" width="78"><div class="MsoPlainText">
3 cups<o:p></o:p></div>
</td>
</tr>
<tr style="mso-yfti-irow: 4;">
<td style="border-top: none; border: solid windowtext 1.0pt; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; width: 118.8pt;" valign="top" width="119"><div class="MsoPlainText">
4 cups <o:p></o:p></div>
</td>
<td style="border-bottom: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-left: none; border-right: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-top: none; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; width: 78.0pt;" valign="top" width="78"><div class="MsoPlainText">
4 cups<o:p></o:p></div>
</td>
</tr>
<tr style="mso-yfti-irow: 5;">
<td style="border-top: none; border: solid windowtext 1.0pt; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; width: 118.8pt;" valign="top" width="119"><div class="MsoPlainText">
5 cups <o:p></o:p></div>
</td>
<td style="border-bottom: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-left: none; border-right: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-top: none; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; width: 78.0pt;" valign="top" width="78"><div class="MsoPlainText">
5 cups<o:p></o:p></div>
</td>
</tr>
<tr style="mso-yfti-irow: 6;">
<td style="border-top: none; border: solid windowtext 1.0pt; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; width: 118.8pt;" valign="top" width="119"><div class="MsoPlainText">
6 cups <o:p></o:p></div>
</td>
<td style="border-bottom: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-left: none; border-right: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-top: none; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; width: 78.0pt;" valign="top" width="78"><div class="MsoPlainText">
6 cups<o:p></o:p></div>
</td>
</tr>
<tr style="mso-yfti-irow: 7; mso-yfti-lastrow: yes;">
<td style="border-top: none; border: solid windowtext 1.0pt; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; width: 118.8pt;" valign="top" width="119"><div class="MsoNormal">
7 cups <o:p></o:p></div>
</td>
<td style="border-bottom: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-left: none; border-right: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-top: none; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; width: 78.0pt;" valign="top" width="78"><div class="MsoNormal">
7 cups<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Courier; font-size: 10.5pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
</tr>
</tbody></table>
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><b>
</b></span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><b>
</b></span><br />
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><b>Sugar Ratios for Low Pectin Fruits (conserves, marmalades
and jams)</b><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">
</span></div>
<table border="1" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="MsoTableGrid" style="border-collapse: collapse; border: none; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-padding-alt: 0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; mso-yfti-tbllook: 1184;">
<tbody>
<tr style="mso-yfti-firstrow: yes; mso-yfti-irow: 0;">
<td style="border: solid windowtext 1.0pt; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; width: 118.8pt;" valign="top" width="119"><div class="MsoPlainText">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">FRUIT PULP <o:p></o:p></b></div>
</td>
<td style="border-left: none; border: solid windowtext 1.0pt; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; width: 78.0pt;" valign="top" width="78"><div class="MsoPlainText">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">SUGAR<o:p></o:p></b></div>
</td>
</tr>
<tr style="mso-yfti-irow: 1;">
<td style="border-top: none; border: solid windowtext 1.0pt; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; width: 118.8pt;" valign="top" width="119"><div class="MsoPlainText">
2 cups <o:p></o:p></div>
</td>
<td style="border-bottom: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-left: none; border-right: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-top: none; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; width: 78.0pt;" valign="top" width="78"><div class="MsoPlainText">
1 1/2 cup<o:p></o:p></div>
</td>
</tr>
<tr style="mso-yfti-irow: 2;">
<td style="border-top: none; border: solid windowtext 1.0pt; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; width: 118.8pt;" valign="top" width="119"><div class="MsoPlainText">
3 cups <o:p></o:p></div>
</td>
<td style="border-bottom: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-left: none; border-right: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-top: none; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; width: 78.0pt;" valign="top" width="78"><div class="MsoPlainText">
2 1/4 cups<o:p></o:p></div>
</td>
</tr>
<tr style="mso-yfti-irow: 3;">
<td style="border-top: none; border: solid windowtext 1.0pt; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; width: 118.8pt;" valign="top" width="119"><div class="MsoPlainText">
4 cups <o:p></o:p></div>
</td>
<td style="border-bottom: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-left: none; border-right: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-top: none; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; width: 78.0pt;" valign="top" width="78"><div class="MsoPlainText">
3 cups<o:p></o:p></div>
</td>
</tr>
<tr style="mso-yfti-irow: 4;">
<td style="border-top: none; border: solid windowtext 1.0pt; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; width: 118.8pt;" valign="top" width="119"><div class="MsoPlainText">
5 cups <o:p></o:p></div>
</td>
<td style="border-bottom: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-left: none; border-right: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-top: none; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; width: 78.0pt;" valign="top" width="78"><div class="MsoPlainText">
3 3/4 cups<o:p></o:p></div>
</td>
</tr>
<tr style="mso-yfti-irow: 5;">
<td style="border-top: none; border: solid windowtext 1.0pt; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; width: 118.8pt;" valign="top" width="119"><div class="MsoPlainText">
6 cups <o:p></o:p></div>
</td>
<td style="border-bottom: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-left: none; border-right: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-top: none; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; width: 78.0pt;" valign="top" width="78"><div class="MsoPlainText">
4 1/2 cups<o:p></o:p></div>
</td>
</tr>
<tr style="mso-yfti-irow: 6;">
<td style="border-top: none; border: solid windowtext 1.0pt; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; width: 118.8pt;" valign="top" width="119"><div class="MsoPlainText">
7 cups <o:p></o:p></div>
</td>
<td style="border-bottom: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-left: none; border-right: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-top: none; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; width: 78.0pt;" valign="top" width="78"><div class="MsoPlainText">
5 1/4 cups<o:p></o:p></div>
</td>
</tr>
<tr style="mso-yfti-irow: 7; mso-yfti-lastrow: yes;">
<td style="border-top: none; border: solid windowtext 1.0pt; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; width: 118.8pt;" valign="top" width="119"><div class="MsoNormal">
8 cups <o:p></o:p></div>
</td>
<td style="border-bottom: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-left: none; border-right: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-top: none; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; width: 78.0pt;" valign="top" width="78"><div class="MsoNormal">
6 cups<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Courier; font-size: 10.5pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
</tr>
</tbody></table>
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><b>Sugar Ratios for Jellies</b></span></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">
</span></div>
<table border="1" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="MsoTableGrid" style="border-collapse: collapse; border: none; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-padding-alt: 0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; mso-yfti-tbllook: 1184;">
<tbody>
<tr style="mso-yfti-firstrow: yes; mso-yfti-irow: 0;">
<td style="border: solid windowtext 1.0pt; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; width: 118.8pt;" valign="top" width="119"><div class="MsoPlainText">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">LIQUID <o:p></o:p></b></div>
</td>
<td style="border-left: none; border: solid windowtext 1.0pt; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; width: 78.0pt;" valign="top" width="78"><div class="MsoPlainText">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">SUGAR<o:p></o:p></b></div>
</td>
</tr>
<tr style="mso-yfti-irow: 1;">
<td style="border-top: none; border: solid windowtext 1.0pt; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; width: 118.8pt;" valign="top" width="119"><div class="MsoPlainText">
1 cup<o:p></o:p></div>
</td>
<td style="border-bottom: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-left: none; border-right: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-top: none; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; width: 78.0pt;" valign="top" width="78"><div class="MsoPlainText">
3/4 cup<o:p></o:p></div>
</td>
</tr>
<tr style="mso-yfti-irow: 2;">
<td style="border-top: none; border: solid windowtext 1.0pt; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; width: 118.8pt;" valign="top" width="119"><div class="MsoPlainText">
2 cups <o:p></o:p></div>
</td>
<td style="border-bottom: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-left: none; border-right: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-top: none; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; width: 78.0pt;" valign="top" width="78"><div class="MsoPlainText">
1 1/2 cup<o:p></o:p></div>
</td>
</tr>
<tr style="mso-yfti-irow: 3;">
<td style="border-top: none; border: solid windowtext 1.0pt; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; width: 118.8pt;" valign="top" width="119"><div class="MsoPlainText">
3 cups <o:p></o:p></div>
</td>
<td style="border-bottom: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-left: none; border-right: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-top: none; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; width: 78.0pt;" valign="top" width="78"><div class="MsoPlainText">
2 1/4 cups<o:p></o:p></div>
</td>
</tr>
<tr style="mso-yfti-irow: 4;">
<td style="border-top: none; border: solid windowtext 1.0pt; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; width: 118.8pt;" valign="top" width="119"><div class="MsoPlainText">
4 cups <o:p></o:p></div>
</td>
<td style="border-bottom: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-left: none; border-right: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-top: none; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; width: 78.0pt;" valign="top" width="78"><div class="MsoPlainText">
3 cups<o:p></o:p></div>
</td>
</tr>
<tr style="mso-yfti-irow: 5;">
<td style="border-top: none; border: solid windowtext 1.0pt; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; width: 118.8pt;" valign="top" width="119"><div class="MsoPlainText">
5 cups <o:p></o:p></div>
</td>
<td style="border-bottom: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-left: none; border-right: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-top: none; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; width: 78.0pt;" valign="top" width="78"><div class="MsoPlainText">
3 3/4 cups<o:p></o:p></div>
</td>
</tr>
<tr style="mso-yfti-irow: 6;">
<td style="border-top: none; border: solid windowtext 1.0pt; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; width: 118.8pt;" valign="top" width="119"><div class="MsoPlainText">
6 cups <o:p></o:p></div>
</td>
<td style="border-bottom: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-left: none; border-right: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-top: none; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; width: 78.0pt;" valign="top" width="78"><div class="MsoPlainText">
4 1/2 cups<o:p></o:p></div>
</td>
</tr>
<tr style="mso-yfti-irow: 7; mso-yfti-lastrow: yes;">
<td style="border-top: none; border: solid windowtext 1.0pt; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; width: 118.8pt;" valign="top" width="119"><div class="MsoPlainText">
7 cups <o:p></o:p></div>
</td>
<td style="border-bottom: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-left: none; border-right: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-top: none; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; width: 78.0pt;" valign="top" width="78"><div class="MsoPlainText">
5 1/4 cups<o:p></o:p></div>
</td>
</tr>
</tbody></table>
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">NOTE: you’re
probably thinking, “That’s a lotta sugar!”
Well, yes. This is how preserves
are made. If you want to lower the
amount of sugar, understand that you won’t get a set, and will probably have to
freeze your preserve or store in the fridge.
Alternatively, you can also add pectin to get that set, but it won’t be
the same. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><b>TESTING FOR SETTING POINT</b><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">The absolute one worst thing you can do is to judge
whether a preserve is ready is to look at its colour. Many people think that if it looks the colour
of commercial jam, it must be ready, but of course it isn’t: as you now know, the cooking of commercial
preserves is arrested much earlier with the addition of pectin. You’re going to be cooking it longer than
this, because if you don’t, it could spoil, or lead to food poisoning (even if
it looks, smells, and tastes okay).<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Your best allies when judging whether setting point has
been reached are the pot, the spoon, and the saucer. These things are used in conjunction: although the saucer is pretty much foolproof,
it’s better to never test for set using just one of these methods. Optional:
if you are super-duper nervous about using such low-fi equipment, you
can also use a sugar/fat thermometer.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><i>The pot:</i><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Most jams, conserves and marmalades will have a dense
layer of bubbles on the surface when they reach setting point. Jellies
tend to acquire a slight skin, and when you move the pot from side to side the liquid moves viscously and sensuously. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhbtg2AuO588LjKy0jBUQvQiBdgHpktvm_MlzP6rEmcCI5UrF6rlBAtCo04tTbQ3uyMYtqeIfQJTjKHA6W-Zx9xEF2sIFKbYh1ZKvLQF_875tIjgYrm84ZnvmS7vJWc0OIaKwuY7vEYlouY/s1600/Tutorial+%25232+06.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhbtg2AuO588LjKy0jBUQvQiBdgHpktvm_MlzP6rEmcCI5UrF6rlBAtCo04tTbQ3uyMYtqeIfQJTjKHA6W-Zx9xEF2sIFKbYh1ZKvLQF_875tIjgYrm84ZnvmS7vJWc0OIaKwuY7vEYlouY/s320/Tutorial+%25232+06.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><i>The spoon:</i><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">You will also know your jam, conserve and marmalade is
ready by the way it falls from the wooden spoon: it falls in flakes or large drops rather than
pouring off.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiNlu07EnATgPRogtXOhCwNXWj9cRx_tAZYp1SoQuzoPhD2_oSbN5sJjVuH-VY1X5cXVmmIo11DPjaiS-gq6062u-GVWQaKHpKRaaj3rddP5JeECVxldeYs9MhVyGKdRY1QoZEutTkXTfVt/s1600/Tutorial+%25232+03.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiNlu07EnATgPRogtXOhCwNXWj9cRx_tAZYp1SoQuzoPhD2_oSbN5sJjVuH-VY1X5cXVmmIo11DPjaiS-gq6062u-GVWQaKHpKRaaj3rddP5JeECVxldeYs9MhVyGKdRY1QoZEutTkXTfVt/s320/Tutorial+%25232+03.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><i>The saucer:</i><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">While preserve is cooking, put a saucer in the fridge or
freezer. When you have cooked your jam
for the minimum time, spoon a little onto the saucer. Pop it back into the fridge or freezer. When it has cooled completely, push it with
your finger. If it wrinkles, and leaves
a clear path where your finger has been, then it's ready. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjTMpm_u1qdZT0b3lNVFyeIF4F1BBlf4IxmznJGnHGB2yBNoyz1EMRZInjcMsJ0qvauFbBg8Nfo2lIwr6ZBio3kjKmwfh1ImXtyiqm9iZMeb7YqZ0slONsd1M15K_vGHi6Zzxlmhu7j0x5Y/s1600/Tutorial+%25232+04.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjTMpm_u1qdZT0b3lNVFyeIF4F1BBlf4IxmznJGnHGB2yBNoyz1EMRZInjcMsJ0qvauFbBg8Nfo2lIwr6ZBio3kjKmwfh1ImXtyiqm9iZMeb7YqZ0slONsd1M15K_vGHi6Zzxlmhu7j0x5Y/s320/Tutorial+%25232+04.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjDNP9F9xOslTxTw5bq6oXclMpAk_9qIqpwD2RrZcR2QiWqvcT0At8dhQx0yHR4MFQCZSmyjnMoUcG2Vx_Esjwodqjv_A-YHYEeO3Q2UVYA35_3IYr1Ghd0oEZkOWjopyVMx-RpTbBpA_Jp/s1600/Tutorial+%25232+05.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjDNP9F9xOslTxTw5bq6oXclMpAk_9qIqpwD2RrZcR2QiWqvcT0At8dhQx0yHR4MFQCZSmyjnMoUcG2Vx_Esjwodqjv_A-YHYEeO3Q2UVYA35_3IYr1Ghd0oEZkOWjopyVMx-RpTbBpA_Jp/s320/Tutorial+%25232+05.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><i>Optional: the
thermometer:</i><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Every good cook’s home should have a fat/sugar thermometer. Even though I never use a fat/sugar
thermometer for preserving, it comes in handy if you’re new at this and are
nervous about getting set right. Setting
point is at 107o-110oC/220oF.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">A NOTE ABOUT “PROCESSING”: many recipes, particularly those from the US,
specify “processing”, or vacuum sealing, jams, conserves, and marmalades in a
boiling water bath. While recipes may
specify that this ensures the longest possible keeping time, I have never found
this to be necessary. (Plus, I don’t
like the idea of cooking further and losing the fresh flavour.) In about 30 years of preserving, I have never
had problems with preserves not keeping, when the seal is unbroken, for
years. If the processing step is what’s
been keeping you from making your own preserves because it’s too much hassle,
just omit it: make the preserve, eat the
preserve. Simple.</span></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<br /></div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com9tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2928372656358161525.post-65341758341191810532011-09-01T06:03:00.000-07:002011-09-03T06:42:36.949-07:00The preserve, jam, marmalade and jelly tutorial #1: the basics<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEify0Q98EMl9pSpZKehHGSZ-lTqVvHt_QrC0iTEgx6j0H_AHGhfzxW9pR5mZ5mU4XnIF1B7NgmmtanAsfYxPW7pQLhDyqF5bZgbxXa4Fp2CU18kq0ZaurBr9p18LDXvYv68vS6eO5UUmo4I/s1600/Tutorial+%25231+06.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEify0Q98EMl9pSpZKehHGSZ-lTqVvHt_QrC0iTEgx6j0H_AHGhfzxW9pR5mZ5mU4XnIF1B7NgmmtanAsfYxPW7pQLhDyqF5bZgbxXa4Fp2CU18kq0ZaurBr9p18LDXvYv68vS6eO5UUmo4I/s320/Tutorial+%25231+06.jpg" width="213" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">I was lucky, nay, blessed to be able to stay at home and
raise children while writing. Some of
the days that gave me most satisfaction were the ones I played Happy Hausfrau
and made my own preserves. I was a mad
preserver, in the early days even bottling my own fruit, but mostly it was “putting
up” the bountiful produce from the country town we lived in, in the form of
jams, jellies, marmalades, relishes and chutneys. Preserving is, hands down, my favourite thing
to do in the kitchen, and after a busy day simmering and potting I’d line up my
jars on the windowsill and admire the light streaming through the jewel tones
of this quotidian leadlight. Satisfying.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhtc9ZkJ_gGVoBZRTIfbOC56FOm_JpORlasTVsCAiW0U7P1BNLu1ABIzlo3GeQpzDmIdZcAuaXj2z2amUFuQez4G7RISmF024gc5Vr-i2eKHdpSBIfo6RbRTB48ewaECLkrsAcUDSxY0Wkp/s1600/Tutorial+%25231+04.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhtc9ZkJ_gGVoBZRTIfbOC56FOm_JpORlasTVsCAiW0U7P1BNLu1ABIzlo3GeQpzDmIdZcAuaXj2z2amUFuQez4G7RISmF024gc5Vr-i2eKHdpSBIfo6RbRTB48ewaECLkrsAcUDSxY0Wkp/s320/Tutorial+%25231+04.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<o:p><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> </span></o:p><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Those days are gone.
Not only do I work outside the home now, I actually have three
jobs. Many things have gone out the
window - including my youngest child, now a latchkey kid who has forgotten his
key on occasion - but preserving isn’t one of them.</span></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Why? After all,
making your own jams, jellies, marmalades and chutneys isn't necessary any more,
as it was once upon a time. But it isn’t
something you do because you NEED to do, it’s
something you do because it ISN’T.
Because slowing down and taking the time to do something completely
unnecessary is a luxury many of us can actually benefit enormously from. You have taken the time to do this, to
meditatively chop, weigh, and stir. To
make a statement to yourself and the world that your time in the kitchen isn’t just about getting dinner on
the table in 10 minutes. It’s about drawing people to the hub
of the home with sweet smells and mysterious sounds. It’s
about being playful, and yes, showing off.
It's about
stewardship in a time when it is becoming increasingly important to value and
use our resources. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Besides. Homemade
preserves taste so damned good.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Commercial brands -
even posh commercial brands -
may boast chunky bits of fruit or good flavour, but they can in no way compare
with the real, homemade thing. (And yes,
Maggie Beer, I’m looking at
you and your pathetic quince paste.)<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Over the next few entries I’m
going to take you through the basics of making preserves, jams, marmalades and
jellies, as well as making time. Got
your wooden spoon? Let’s go!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjAkQ3bgito-P9Zk7c0GY10s5wp410XRKNG34FG8uP_An7yvm49REZS4dIWCtOLsQexMpuw0WSpiO69gAP78BXYiopDB_x-gEPUtgyE8ZngRiiW-_IRBwkWRdR6JKKi36WEUzrKon6cF5ax/s1600/Tutorial+%25231+02.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjAkQ3bgito-P9Zk7c0GY10s5wp410XRKNG34FG8uP_An7yvm49REZS4dIWCtOLsQexMpuw0WSpiO69gAP78BXYiopDB_x-gEPUtgyE8ZngRiiW-_IRBwkWRdR6JKKi36WEUzrKon6cF5ax/s320/Tutorial+%25231+02.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<o:p><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> </span></o:p><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> </span></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><b>WHAT YOU'LL NEED</b><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">* A preserving
pan. This can be your pasta pot, or it
can be a specialised preserving pan -
it doesn’t matter. What does matter, however, is that if you see
a gorgeous copper pot you think can be used for preserving, you be sure it’s meant for preserving
purposes. Untreated copper can react
with fruit and ruin it. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">* A long wooden
spoon. Just one will do. But make it long, because some thicker
preserves are like molten lava, and the last thing you want is any of it on
your skin.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">* A saucer. This is to test for setting point (more on
this in <a href="http://yumbomcgillicutty.blogspot.com/2011/09/preserve-jam-marmalade-and-jelly.html">Tutorial #2</a>).<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">* A supply of jars
with lids, or old glasses and covers.
The best jars, I reckon, are the ones with metal lids that have a
plastic coating on the inside:
non-reactive, and boy do they do an airtight seal. When I run out of jars, I use glasses -
usually the odd glasses left over from old sets we’ve slowly gone through - and Vacola Kleerview Jar Covers. No preserver’s
home should ever be without at least one packet of Kleerviews. (Before Kleerview covers there was
greaseproof paper dipped in eggwhite.
You can try this if you like, but it’s
just one step too many for me these days.)<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><b>STERILISING AND WARMING THE JARS</b><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Your preserves need to go into hot, sterilised jars. No arguments.
It is a bane, but absolutely necessary.
The best, easiest, and quickest method is <a href="http://yumbomcgillicutty.blogspot.com/2010/08/hot-sterilized-jars-in-2-minutes.html">in the microwave</a>, but the
conventional one is to:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">1. Place jars in
large pot with cold water to cover, and bring to the boil. Simmer for 15 min. Carefully pull jars out of water.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">2. Place jars in a
low oven to dry out completely, and to keep warm (NEVER put hot preserves into cold jars).<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><b>STEP-BY-STEP JAM AND CONSERVE</b><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">1. Prepare fruit
by cutting away any blemishes. If
necessary, peel, pit, or de-seed. Unless
you’re using berries, cut
into pieces (small for jam, large chunks for conserve).<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">2. Add lemon juice
or citric acid if needed (see <a href="http://yumbomcgillicutty.blogspot.com/2011/09/preserve-jam-marmalade-and-jelly.html">Tutorial #2</a>).<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">3. Add water. You need barely enough to cook the fruit - for example, a couple of
tablespoons for a large amount of berries (small amounts of berries may need
none) to a cup or two for larger quantities of other fruit. In any case, don’t go overboard! <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">4. Simmer until
fruit is soft and pulpy.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">5. Measure fruit
pulp, and re-heat to boiling.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">6. Add required
amount of sugar (see <a href="http://yumbomcgillicutty.blogspot.com/2011/09/preserve-jam-marmalade-and-jelly.html">Tutorial #2</a>). Stir until sugar is
dissolved. Add any spices or flavourings
you may desire.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">7. Cook,
uncovered, at a fast boil, until setting point is reached (15-20 min).<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">8. Skim off any
scum, and fill warm, sterilized jars to the brim. If preserve has lots of big chunks, allow it
to cool for 10-15, give it a stir, and then turn into jars; this will ensure
that fruit is evenly distributed through the preserve. Fit lids on IMMEDIATELY. Label, and store in a cool, dark place. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh26rKpxDMamUHoFc1V13OVIFp8bhVL569EXITkXdNMCcKmBrk6dBpktf8hOT1cp1CczYVz3VpqwpNA6X3A0YB9UA8TQPMT3JaeCWaUdCbnQiN46A14_d992iKoGtJ3QEFPHu_AIeqAlCAq/s1600/Tutorial+%25231+03.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh26rKpxDMamUHoFc1V13OVIFp8bhVL569EXITkXdNMCcKmBrk6dBpktf8hOT1cp1CczYVz3VpqwpNA6X3A0YB9UA8TQPMT3JaeCWaUdCbnQiN46A14_d992iKoGtJ3QEFPHu_AIeqAlCAq/s320/Tutorial+%25231+03.jpg" width="147" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><b>STEP-BY-STEP MARMALADE</b></span></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">1. Wash fruit,
slice thinly. Cover with water, and let
stand overnight, or for several hours.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">2. Place fruit and
water in preserving pan, and simmer until rind is tender (1 hour approx).<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">3. Measure pulp,
then reheat to boiling. (If you’re a
wimpy sissy person who would like less rind, strain out as much as you need to
before measuring.)<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">4. Add required
amount of sugar. Stir to dissolve.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">5. Cook,
uncovered, at a fast boil, until setting point is reached (15-20 min).<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">6. Skim off any
scum, and fill warm, sterilized jars to the brim. If preserve has lots of big chunks, allow it
to cool for 10-15, give it a stir, and then turn into jars; this will ensure
that fruit is evenly distributed through the preserve. Fit lids on IMMEDIATELY. Label, and store in a cool, dark place.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjupOym7WOQ13_ev-nU8wNccq63eNetYQupK4w-M0Bo9OjTbvarakzUic28uziKfFyWt50c7dPvTa_MeawjsLXlkDczEYxJt45FmNDwrc8BzckC6T3h4asFnPMQqxuK8NZzLroFtl5PTzum/s1600/Tutorial+%25231+05.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjupOym7WOQ13_ev-nU8wNccq63eNetYQupK4w-M0Bo9OjTbvarakzUic28uziKfFyWt50c7dPvTa_MeawjsLXlkDczEYxJt45FmNDwrc8BzckC6T3h4asFnPMQqxuK8NZzLroFtl5PTzum/s320/Tutorial+%25231+05.jpg" width="213" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><b>STEP-BY-STEP JELLY</b></span></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">1. Wash fruit and
chop roughly, leaving on skins, cores, pips, etc.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">2. Place in large
preserving pan, and cover with water.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">3. Simmer until
soft and pulpy (1 hour approx.).<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">4. Pour into jelly
bag, or fine strainer lined with a clean, wet Chux, and let stand overnight (or
several hours, at least). Do not press
or squeeze fruit, as this will cloud the jelly.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">5. Measure liquid.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">6. Heat liquid
over high heat until boiling, then add 3/4 cup sugar per measured cup of liquid. Stir to dissolve.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">7. Cook,
uncovered, at a fast boil, until setting point is reached.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">8. Skim off any
scum, and fill warm, sterilized jars to the brim. Fit lids on IMMEDIATELY. Label, and store in a cool, dark place.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh8t4j50_MtTjJKlKKEbE2SEOJdLbizh3RIYFfn-IZ1L3ML5qldZCdVXnOINS0J086o6AIAKDS9VvLajZSB3xNqM-ZT0Xpce-G51Hx3EpigKY4kGfIa5cv5xB8ikx54mcOP83R1Z7PxdaVo/s1600/Tutorial+%25231+01.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh8t4j50_MtTjJKlKKEbE2SEOJdLbizh3RIYFfn-IZ1L3ML5qldZCdVXnOINS0J086o6AIAKDS9VvLajZSB3xNqM-ZT0Xpce-G51Hx3EpigKY4kGfIa5cv5xB8ikx54mcOP83R1Z7PxdaVo/s320/Tutorial+%25231+01.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText">
<br /></div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0