Chat Files: Wither chewiness?

Eka: hey, i have a baking question

I'm trying to make tarallis for my mom, and they're supposed to have kind of a slightly chewy cookie consistency

but I tried a recipe and they came out more like traditional biscuits or biscotti

Cerulean: ok, what's your question?

Eka: so I'm trying again and trying to get the finished product chewier

I'm replacing some of the eggs with egg yolks, and replacing some of the sugar w/ brown sugar

do you think I should use a different kind of flour too? the recipe clls for AP

Cerulean: you might try just straight adding an egg yolk instead of replacing whole eggs with egg yolk

the whites have a job to do too.

Eka: ok, can do

Cerulean: are you letting the dough rest and chill before you shape and cook it?

Eka: yup, for an hour

but the thing is, except for the stick of butter and the eggs, there is NO liquid in the recipe

Cerulean: I'd also try letting it sit as long as you can get away with.

butter and eggs are liquid, though.

Eka: yes, I'm just wondering of it could use a little more

the dough is so dry I almost can't keep it together to roll into circles

Cerulean: an extra yolk will help

you are using real butter, not margarine, right?

Eka: yup

Cerulean: and brown sugar has more moisture and more chew

and when you soften the butter, you do in on the counter and don't oversoften, right?

oversoftened butter changes texture

Eka: hmm, ok, i didn't know that

i'll try changing those few things and let you know what I get

thanks!

Cerulean: I think with liquids that are thick like eggs and butter, letting it rest longer so they can really soak into the flour will help a lot.

Also, bring your eggs up to room temp while the butter is out softening so everything starts the same temperature.

Eka: can do!

Eka: our recipe changes worked! the tarallis are perfect!

Cerulean: Woot!

Moar Chat Files! C is for "Can I get a Doggie Bag with this Cupcake?" Edition

::Cerulean has a status message up noting that cookies are due to be the next nostalgic dessert fad::
Fyn: cookies eh?
too bad i'm terrible at baking!
Cerulean: I was just thinking about it in relation to the cupcake fad, you know?
Cookies - cheaper, more portable, equally feeding your inner child.
and no fucking fondant icing. (I hate Redacted - woman is making a career out of ruining perfectly good cupcakes!)
Fyn: fondant icing, really?
i haven't seen that
there's a cupcake store by my work
i investigated it yesterday
the cost is ridiculous
but it's hard to hold back when the cupcakes looks so moist and full of icing
though i didn't buy any
Cerulean: You can make cupcakes at home Fyn!
Fyn: seriously, for the price, i'd rather get a giant slice of cake
yeah, i don't eat cupcakes unless someone else makes it
Cerulean: Don't succumb (also most of the store bought cupcakes I've seen as part of this fad look all dry anyway.)
Fyn: cuz i eat one
Cerulean: amen for slice of cake.
Fyn: the ones yesterday looked crazy moist
i feel that the giant slices of cake are a fad as well
Cerulean: also, I don't understand why people say cupcakes are easier to eat. I think they're way messy. Frosting all over the place, bottom half getting all unstable when you're more than halfway done. And it's not like you can eat 'em with a fork.
Fyn: giant slice of cake is $5
bleh
Cerulean: so are the effing cupcakes!
Fyn: that's why i don't get the cupcakes
the ones i saw yesterday were gigantic
and they were $3.50
Cerulean: re: gigantic: it's the muffin problem. Once it gets popular they start getting big for no reason.
Why are muffins so huge nowadays? it makes no sense.
(in bakeries, that is)
Fyn: we're a fat and greedy nation
Cerulean: (although now they sell bakery sized muffin pans for home use and it makes me nuts.)
Fyn: otoh, i love bakeries
there's a really good bakery by my house
S, P, and I went nuts on slices of cake last friday
Cerulean: mmm, baked goods.
I realized the other day that this summer I will be able to make pies that Baby B. will be allowed to eat!

Puttering!

Giving the blog a bit of a facelift because I'm tired of squinting at it. Now perhaps I can shed my latent blog-procrastination and post once in a while.

Food meme, continued by Fyn

Now for Fyn to do this meme!

Courtesy of: http://www.verygoodtaste.co.uk/uncategorised/the-omnivores-hundred/

1) Copy this list into your blog or journal, including these instructions.
2) Bold all the items you’ve eaten.
3) Cross out any items that you would never consider eating.
4) Optional extra: Post a comment here at www.verygoodtaste.co.uk linking to your results.

1. Venison
2. Nettle tea
3. Huevos rancheros
4. Steak tartare
5. Crocodile
6. Black pudding
7. Cheese fondue
8. Carp
9. Borscht
10. Baba ghanoush
11. Calamari
12. Pho
13. PB &J Sandwhich
14. Aloo gobi
15. Hot dog from a street cart
16. Epoisses
17. Black truffle
18. Fruit wine made from something other than grapes
19. Steamed pork buns
20. Pistachio ice cream
21. Heirloom tomatoes
22. Fresh wild berries
23. Foie gras
24. Rice and beans
25. Brawn, or head cheese
26. Raw Scotch Bonnet pepper
27. Dulce de leche
28. Oysters
29. Baklava
30. Bagna cauda
31. Wasabi peas
32. Clam chowder in a sourdough bowl
33. Salted lassi
34. Sauerkraut
35. Root beer float
36. Cognac with a fat cigar
37. Clotted cream tea
38. Vodka jelly/Jell-O
39. Gumbo
40. Oxtail
41. Curried goat
42. Whole insects
43. Phaal
44. Goat’s milk
45. Malt whisky from a bottle worth £60/$120 or more
46. Fugu
47. Chicken tikka masala
48. Eel
49. Krispy Kreme original glazed doughnut
50. Sea urchin
51. Prickly pear
52. Umeboshi
53. Abalone
54. Paneer
55. McDonald’s Big Mac Meal
56. Spaetzle
57. Dirty gin martini
58. Beer above 8% ABV
59. Poutine
60. Carob chips - does eating a raw carob count?
61. S’mores
62. Sweetbreads - dude, I bought this and had to throw it out when we moved
63. Kaolin
64. Currywurst
65. Durian
66. Frogs’ legs
67. Beignets, churros, elephant ears or funnel cake
68. Haggis
69. Fried plantain
70. Chitterlings, or andouillette
71. Gazpacho
72. Caviar and blini
73. Louche absinthe - just last month, and it totally tastes like licorice
74. Gjetost, or brunost
75. Roadkill
76. Baijiu
77. Hostess Fruit Pie
78. Snail
79. Lapsang souchong
80. Bellini
81. Tom yum
82. Eggs Benedict
83. Pocky
84. Tasting menu at a three-Michelin-star restaurant.
85. Kobe beef
86. Hare
87. Goulash
88. Flowers
89. Horse
90. Criollo chocolate
91. Spam
92. Soft shell crab
93. Rose harissa
94. Catfish
95. Mole poblano
96. Bagel and lox
97. Lobster Thermidor
98. Polenta
99. Jamaican Blue Mountain coffee
100. Snake

This list makes me move a lot of things to the top of my to-eat list: black truffle, pistachio ice cream (which I can make w/ my fabulous ice cream maker), snake, mole poblano, rose harissa, lapsang souchong, and of course, those forsaken sweetbreads!

Now, onto making stir-fried chicken livers with Chinese garlic chives! Now why isn't that on the list? Recipe to follow...hopefully.

Food Meme!

Courtesy of: http://www.verygoodtaste.co.uk/uncategorised/the-omnivores-hundred/

1) Copy this list into your blog or journal, including these instructions.
2) Bold all the items you’ve eaten.
3) Cross out any items that you would never consider eating.
4) Optional extra: Post a comment here at www.verygoodtaste.co.uk linking to your results.

The Cerulean Hundred:

1. Venison
2. Nettle tea
3. Huevos rancheros
4. Steak tartare
5. Crocodile
6. Black pudding
7. Cheese fondue
8. Carp
9. Borscht
10. Baba ghanoush
11. Calamari
12. Pho
13. PB &J Sandwhich - NA: allergy
14. Aloo gobi
15. Hot dog from a street cart
16. Epoisses
17. Black truffle
18. Fruit wine made from something other than grapes
19. Steamed pork buns
20. Pistachio ice cream
21. Heirloom tomatoes
22. Fresh wild berries
23. Foie gras
24. Rice and beans
25. Brawn, or head cheese
26. Raw Scotch Bonnet pepper
27. Dulce de leche
28. Oysters
29. Baklava
30. Bagna cauda
31. Wasabi peas
32. Clam chowder in a sourdough bowl
33. Salted lassi
34. Sauerkraut
35. Root beer float
36. Cognac with a fat cigar - Cognac yum, cigars icky.
37. Clotted cream tea
38. Vodka jelly/Jell-O
39. Gumbo
40. Oxtail
41. Curried goat
42. Whole insects - Does eating these items unintentionally count?
43. Phaal
44. Goat’s milk
45. Malt whisky from a bottle worth £60/$120 or more
46. Fugu
47. Chicken tikka masala
48. Eel
49. Krispy Kreme original glazed doughnut
50. Sea urchin
51. Prickly pear
52. Umeboshi
53. Abalone
54. Paneer
55. McDonald’s Big Mac Meal
56. Spaetzle
57. Dirty gin martini
58. Beer above 8% ABV
59. Poutine
60. Carob chips
61. S’mores
62. Sweetbreads
63. Kaolin
64. Currywurst
65. Durian
66. Frogs’ legs
67. Beignets, churros, elephant ears or funnel cake - yes, yes, yes, and yes
68. Haggis
69. Fried plantain
70. Chitterlings, or andouillette
71. Gazpacho
72. Caviar and blini
73. Louche absinthe
74. Gjetost, or brunost
75. Roadkill - not unless I killed it.
76. Baijiu
77. Hostess Fruit Pie
78. Snail
79. Lapsang souchong
80. Bellini
81. Tom yum
82. Eggs Benedict
83. Pocky
84. Tasting menu at a three-Michelin-star restaurant.
85. Kobe beef
86. Hare
87. Goulash
88. Flowers
89. Horse
90. Criollo chocolate
91. Spam
92. Soft shell crab
93. Rose harissa
94. Catfish
95. Mole poblano
96. Bagel and lox
97. Lobster Thermidor
98. Polenta
99. Jamaican Blue Mountain coffee
100. Snake

Actually I did better than I thought I would. And I'm really really glad that cheese with maggots in it is not on the list.

Chat Files: Restaurant Week Edition

10:12 AM Fyn: Hi Miss [Cerulean]

10:13 AM me: Hey Miss [Fyn]!

I finally had a Restaurant Week meal that was awesome!

Fyn: which steak place was it?

10:14 AM me: Ruth's Chris at the Pier V.

10:15 AM It was kind of loud, but the food was good, and it was a great deal.

The whole meal cost as much as only my steak would have if it hadn't been restaurant week.

10:16 AM And they have very good floor managers. When my steak first arrived it was overdone, and I was fretting about whether to send it back and a floor manager just...appeared and asked me straight up if it was cooked right, and when I said it was overdone, he took it away and got me a new - perfect med-rare steak in a matter of minutes.

10:17 AM I started with the lobster bisque and liked that, too! I am always proud of myself when I eat seafood.

10:18 AM Fyn: nice!

10:19 AM the whole idea of really good floor managers is amazing to me

really great steak, i presume?

10:20 AM me: oh my GAWD. It was so good.

I was glad I'd gotten the petit filet, so that I didn't totally stuff myself. And that the plate was so hot, lest I lick it.

And I got bread pudding with whiskey sauce - yum!

10:21 AM J got gumbo for his app, but I gotta say....it was good, mine is better.

10:22 AM Still, it was great to have a restaurant week meal that I really felt reflected what a normal meal there would be like.

For Your Consideration: Corn Dogs are Awesome

Morningstar Farms Veggie Corn Dogs: I did a (totally scientific) taste test last night, and I'm a believer. All the mustard vector of a corn dog without having to eat mechanically-separated meat byproducts. They are scrumdidilliumtious!


(Just please god, don't make them in the microwave.)

Totally unnecessary update: Chat Files!

Cerulean: I have a * a plan* for tonight's dinner.

Fyn: yes, yes?

i have one and half peking duck carcass

what kinda soup can i make w/ it?

Cerulean: duck soup!

I really have no idea, just wanted to yell "duck soup"!

my dinner is not exactly gourmet, I warn you.

Here's the thing: I love corn dogs.

But I think hot dogs are gross.

It's a dichotomy that has burdened me my whole life! Sorta.

So, the vegetarians at the beeeeeach were telling me that Morningstar makes vegetarian corn dogs - and P., the frigging lumberjack, who loves meat like I love breathing - couldn't tell it was a veggie corn dog until he was told.

(at which point he spat it out, 'cause that's how serious he is in his distain for non-meat products.)

So I'm making vegetarian corn dogs and corn on the cob.

I'm going to pretend I'm at a state fair.

Fyn: i didn't know you disliked hot dogs

did you try the morningstar corn dogs? i am intrigued.

also, alton brown totally has a corn dog recipe

Cerulean: I'll let you know how the corn dogs come out tonight.

I imagine that as long as the batter is good, I will like them. Corn dogs are basically an excuse to eat deep fried corn bread dipped in mustard. Yumz.