3 cups apples, coarsely chopped
3/4 cups sugar
1 1/2 cups 80 proof brandy
one 4" cinnamon stick, broken
Directions:
In a large screw top jar, combine all ingredients. Cover Tightly. Invert jar. Let stand for 24 hours. Turn jar upright, let stand 24 hours. Repeat turning process until sugar dissolves.
Store in a cool, dark place for 4-6 weeks. Strain through a cheesecloth into decanter.
(Update: 2/27/2008) This jar has been sitting under the sink for quite some time now, although the lid is now really stuck. I haven't been able to decant it into a clean jar. *sigh*
The Anatomy of Spaghetti
I've never understood the allure of marinara sauce or the eating of pasta with it without meat. Maybe a vegetarian can explain it to me. There is a proper way to prepare a meat sauce, but sadly, I have yet to find a restaurant that even comes close to the Hsi family standards of making spaghetti sauce. Cooking for one isn't really that big of a challenge, except when it comes to this particular dish. When I make spaghetti, it's like I'm making it for the family again. What ends up happening is that I'll make a batch that'll maybe feed 4-6 people and freeze half the sauce and eat the rest over the course of the next week or so.
The marianara sauce, I'd always believed, is a base. People don't eat sauce bases. That's like sucking on a boullion cube then drinking a quart of water to make soup in your stomach as everything churns around. "Spaghetti sauce" is more like a stew in texture and composition. It's a tomato-based stew, IMHO. Of all the possible ingredients to go into the sauce, onions are not one of them. Unfortunately, there's only one way to get around the onion ingredient in pre-made marinara sauce, and that's to make it from scratch. But, not tonight 'cause I'm hungry and the jar of "spaghetti" sauce is available in my pantry.
There are some things that make me happy when I see a marinara meat sauce:
a) I see meat
b) There're no onions
c) Lots of shrooms!
The ingredient list:
6 garlic cloves, chopped
1 lb ground beef
One 25 oz jar of marinara sauce
One 14.5 oz can of tomatos
8 oz white/brown mushrooms, quartered
2-3 tbsp red/white/or rice wine
2-3 tbsp soy sauce
1 tsp (or more) oregano
sugar, to taste
2-3 bay leaves
Prep and cook time for the sauce should take no more than 30-40 minutes, 'cause ya don't want to overcook the beef.
The "sauce" should look like it's 1/2 meat, 1/2 mushrooms, 1/2 sauce, and 1/2 everything else.
Ahhh.. dinner time.
Yeah, yeah. The pasta. I like the fusili (spiraly) pasta. Ya start both at the same time. Pasta takes a few minutes more to be al dente, fully cooked but not overly soft.
The order of operations:
1. Heat 2-3 tbsp cooking oil (I used olive oil, only 'cause it's the only oil I have) over medium-high heat
2. Add the chopped garlic and stir until the garlic has slightly browned
3. Remove the garlic to a small bowl (nobody likes burned garlic in spaghetti sauce)
4. Add the ground beef and stir until it is nearly browned everywhere
5. Turn heat down to medium and add the marinara sauce, tomatoes, mushrooms, and everything else.
6. Cover and simmer on low-medium heat for the remainder of the time until the pasta is done.
The marianara sauce, I'd always believed, is a base. People don't eat sauce bases. That's like sucking on a boullion cube then drinking a quart of water to make soup in your stomach as everything churns around. "Spaghetti sauce" is more like a stew in texture and composition. It's a tomato-based stew, IMHO. Of all the possible ingredients to go into the sauce, onions are not one of them. Unfortunately, there's only one way to get around the onion ingredient in pre-made marinara sauce, and that's to make it from scratch. But, not tonight 'cause I'm hungry and the jar of "spaghetti" sauce is available in my pantry.
There are some things that make me happy when I see a marinara meat sauce:
a) I see meat
b) There're no onions
c) Lots of shrooms!
The ingredient list:
6 garlic cloves, chopped
1 lb ground beef
One 25 oz jar of marinara sauce
One 14.5 oz can of tomatos
8 oz white/brown mushrooms, quartered
2-3 tbsp red/white/or rice wine
2-3 tbsp soy sauce
1 tsp (or more) oregano
sugar, to taste
2-3 bay leaves
Prep and cook time for the sauce should take no more than 30-40 minutes, 'cause ya don't want to overcook the beef.
The "sauce" should look like it's 1/2 meat, 1/2 mushrooms, 1/2 sauce, and 1/2 everything else.
Ahhh.. dinner time.
Yeah, yeah. The pasta. I like the fusili (spiraly) pasta. Ya start both at the same time. Pasta takes a few minutes more to be al dente, fully cooked but not overly soft.
The order of operations:
1. Heat 2-3 tbsp cooking oil (I used olive oil, only 'cause it's the only oil I have) over medium-high heat
2. Add the chopped garlic and stir until the garlic has slightly browned
3. Remove the garlic to a small bowl (nobody likes burned garlic in spaghetti sauce)
4. Add the ground beef and stir until it is nearly browned everywhere
5. Turn heat down to medium and add the marinara sauce, tomatoes, mushrooms, and everything else.
6. Cover and simmer on low-medium heat for the remainder of the time until the pasta is done.
Basic Congee Recipe
This is a rice porridge with stuff in it.
If you had leftover steamed rice (white or brown), you can also use this as well. It will shorten the cook time. When the water boils, add cooked rice, then turn heat to low and simmer for 60-90 minutes, depending on thickness desired. If it's too thick, add more water. Congee has a consistency between soup and stew, appearing thick and creamy. Do not reheat this on medium or high heat, the starch in the rice will burn.
Yields:
4-6 servings, depending on how much rice and water is used
Main Ingredients:
1 c. short grain or 1/2 c. long grain rice
8 c. water, or unsalted/low sodium chicken stock
Any of the following additions:
shitake mushrooms, chopped
Up to 1-2 cups, coarsely chopped bok choy or napa cabbage
1-2 hundred-year-old egg, cubed/chopped
1-2 salted hard-boiled duck egg, cubed/chopped
dried scallops, reconstituted and chopped
salt, pepper to taste
sweet potato, peeled and diced
preserved salted/spicy turnip, thinly sliced
dry roasted peanuts
chopped green onion, as garnish
chopped cilantro, as garnish
finely shredded ginger, as garnish
soy sauce to taste, about 1-2 tbsp
Chinese rice wine or sherry, about 1-2 tbsp
Meat (choose one):
Up to 2 cups, cooked chicken/turkey/duck meat, chopped or shredded
1/2 lb boneless pork loin, cubed or minced
If using uncooked chicken:
Marinate the chicken with the 3 tbsp oyster sauce, 2 tbsp Chinese wine/sherry, 1 tbsp soy sauce, 1 tbsp white/black pepper, 1 tsp sugar, and 1 tbsp sesame oil. Chop chicken into small bite-sized pieces. Marinate for 30 min or longer. Add after rice has come to a boil.
(x-post to LJ Foodporn)
If you had leftover steamed rice (white or brown), you can also use this as well. It will shorten the cook time. When the water boils, add cooked rice, then turn heat to low and simmer for 60-90 minutes, depending on thickness desired. If it's too thick, add more water. Congee has a consistency between soup and stew, appearing thick and creamy. Do not reheat this on medium or high heat, the starch in the rice will burn.
Yields:
4-6 servings, depending on how much rice and water is used
Main Ingredients:
1 c. short grain or 1/2 c. long grain rice
8 c. water, or unsalted/low sodium chicken stock
Any of the following additions:
shitake mushrooms, chopped
Up to 1-2 cups, coarsely chopped bok choy or napa cabbage
1-2 hundred-year-old egg, cubed/chopped
1-2 salted hard-boiled duck egg, cubed/chopped
dried scallops, reconstituted and chopped
salt, pepper to taste
sweet potato, peeled and diced
preserved salted/spicy turnip, thinly sliced
dry roasted peanuts
chopped green onion, as garnish
chopped cilantro, as garnish
finely shredded ginger, as garnish
soy sauce to taste, about 1-2 tbsp
Chinese rice wine or sherry, about 1-2 tbsp
Meat (choose one):
Up to 2 cups, cooked chicken/turkey/duck meat, chopped or shredded
1/2 lb boneless pork loin, cubed or minced
If using uncooked chicken:
Marinate the chicken with the 3 tbsp oyster sauce, 2 tbsp Chinese wine/sherry, 1 tbsp soy sauce, 1 tbsp white/black pepper, 1 tsp sugar, and 1 tbsp sesame oil. Chop chicken into small bite-sized pieces. Marinate for 30 min or longer. Add after rice has come to a boil.
(x-post to LJ Foodporn)
O Madeline
Among other things, I am a dessert-a-holic. When I find a restaurant that serves really good desserts, it's not unlike me to work my way through their entire dessert menu, except for those sacrilegious ones that have embedded nuts, or other undesirable flavor combinations. While I did craft a dessert tonight, I don't think I'll be sharing it with the masses, e.g., my division. It's relatively inexpensive to make, easy to do, and has very little prep time. The dessert output is what I would call a limited edition batch, which, contrary to my other posting about how I eat less than 10% of any batch; I shall have to make another exception. As I stare at my dozen cookie rejects, in their misshapen forms, they still smell delicious and just make me want to brew some decaf to scarf these down before bed. I made madelines.. with real butter, organic sugar, a touch of lemon juice (from a real lemon!), and grated lemon peel in the batter. Mmmm.. and then! I dipped them in melted dark chocolate. I'll have to see if the chocolate sets okay in the morning. With this particular dessert cookie, they just might not make it out of my apt; if they do, the cookies'll be shared with a small handful of people.
Yield: 4 dozen
Material cost: low
Mad scientist factor: **
Yield: 4 dozen
Material cost: low
Mad scientist factor: **
Food rebels
Like most people, I make daily sacrifices to my stomach. There are some types of food that just rebels against being digested in a pleasant and nourishing fashion. There is a rather short list of substances that disagrees with me (onions, colorants, preservatives, most dairy especially skim milk, although I can drink and eat organic dairy, so I must be allergic to the other-chemicals-the-dairy-industry-doesn't-want-you-to-know-about, and oil, with the least offensive oil being extra virgin olive oil); the other list are foods that I just avoid because the texture is horribly wrong, no amount of deep frying can make it taste good, or eating it reminds me that it is far worse than the worst of the sci fi scenes that show alien consumables.
I should also add that tastes evolve over time and for whatever reason lurking in my subconscious, I only started using (and enjoying) yellow mustard as a condiment at age 26, and very recently started using ground black pepper. I love nutmeg, and no I haven't consumed enough in one sitting to actually have hallucinations. I like oregano in my tomato soup instead of basil. Oregano, salt, and pepper taste really good on fried eggs. I also like a pinch of cayenne pepper in my hot cocoa. That's some tasty schtuff! Heavens forbid I should become allergic to dead side of cow, or the shucked masses of the phyllum mollusca!
(Update: 2/27/08) I only recently started using (and strangely enough, liking) powdered milk in my tea. Hmm. It's very peculiar since I'm a full-fat milk drinker.
Wahaa...!
The chisel does an interesting job of chipping blocks of chocolate into usable baking bits, although it not only went through the parchment paper, but also through several layers of junk mail.
Tonight's batch are aptly named Health-defying Chocolate Chunk Cookies, since it has three types of chocolate in the mix: dark European chocolate, dark Ghirardelli chocolate, and organic baking cocoa. The chocolate, since I use quality ingredients in my desserts, costs more than the sum total of material costs for all other ingredients combined. Unbelievable but true, this batch is still slightly cheaper than a batch of rice krispies treats.
I'd still like to try this recipe with an axe. But, I'd need to devise a way for the chocolate to not go flying everywhere when I imagine that I'm beheading despondent postal chickens or foul database processes with said axe.
Yield: 3 1/2 dozen
Material cost: moderate
Mad scientist factor: **
Tonight's batch are aptly named Health-defying Chocolate Chunk Cookies, since it has three types of chocolate in the mix: dark European chocolate, dark Ghirardelli chocolate, and organic baking cocoa. The chocolate, since I use quality ingredients in my desserts, costs more than the sum total of material costs for all other ingredients combined. Unbelievable but true, this batch is still slightly cheaper than a batch of rice krispies treats.
I'd still like to try this recipe with an axe. But, I'd need to devise a way for the chocolate to not go flying everywhere when I imagine that I'm beheading despondent postal chickens or foul database processes with said axe.
Yield: 3 1/2 dozen
Material cost: moderate
Mad scientist factor: **
Chunks vs. chips
When Ruth Wakefield first made what are now called chocolate chip cookies, she hacked a chocolate bar to pieces to as a substitution for a chocolate ingredient she lacked. Ooh that rhymes. Anyhow. The cookies should have been called chocolate chunk cookies since she used small chunks of chocolate. Having been recipe-thwarted by people's misunderstandings over what constitutes a chunk vs. how chips are used, I have crafted my own methodology of what chocolate chunk cookies are supposed to be. Daily frustrations at work, like being asked to go hunt down datasets that don't exist in our database from people who know even less about the database than I do, just make me want to beat something to a bloody pulp. I had this creative spark during lunch where it would be neat, if not frighteningly cool, if my roommate were to come home while I was madly hacking blocks of Ghirardelli chocolate to death... with an axe.
I didn't find the axe I was looking for, so alas, I didn't buy an axe tonight. However, I did acquire a 1" chisel and a strange hammer to go with it, which I will be using the hack apart this chocolate. I was quite disappointed that I couldn't find any ice picks. Those would be neat to have in my collection. Snipping apart chocolate with utility shears just doesn't seem right at all.
I want an enchanted chisel. This one is only a meager Craftsman 1d4 chisel.
Kitchen madness
So I have a little obsession with food, epicurian to be exact. No, this is not an inference to sex, but rather the devotion to the pursuit and enjoyment of good food. Thursday nights, it seems, I have spent crafting desserts in my kitchen.
I am still working on the creme bruleé recipe. My last batch came out with the consistency of densely thick soft cheese. It did bake in a water bath, I think the quantity of heavy cream was too much. I started on creme bruleé as a practice mechanism for my latest kitchen toy, a mini torch. The test of a good batch is when the sugar layer of the custard makes the sound of breaking glass with the deft strike of a spoon. I have yet to a) get the sugar to melt evenly, and b) make the custard edible.
Tonight's dessert batch is the oatmeal cookie, with a secret (no wait, I meant to say special) ingredient. Although, I doubt anyone at work will notice. They might if I ever make stollen and bring that in. I try really hard to read and follow instructions, even ones that I wrote myself. But, alas, some deviation occurred while I was madly cackling and mixing ingredients. It all started when I melted the butter entirely instead of softening it. That one step makes a big difference in the consistency of the cookie dough.
Total cook and prep time: 1.5 hours
Yield: 3 dozen
Material cost: low
Btw, one of the most expensive desserts to bake for work is rice krispies treats, by material costs alone. And, it only has three ingredients! So simple, so delicious that I have polished off entire batches by myself. Usually, I eat less than 10% of any batch. Most of it is fed to unsuspecting subjects. (insert mad cackling)
post.script. The raisins were rehydrated in dark rum. That should be interesting flavor.
I am still working on the creme bruleé recipe. My last batch came out with the consistency of densely thick soft cheese. It did bake in a water bath, I think the quantity of heavy cream was too much. I started on creme bruleé as a practice mechanism for my latest kitchen toy, a mini torch. The test of a good batch is when the sugar layer of the custard makes the sound of breaking glass with the deft strike of a spoon. I have yet to a) get the sugar to melt evenly, and b) make the custard edible.
Tonight's dessert batch is the oatmeal cookie, with a secret (no wait, I meant to say special) ingredient. Although, I doubt anyone at work will notice. They might if I ever make stollen and bring that in. I try really hard to read and follow instructions, even ones that I wrote myself. But, alas, some deviation occurred while I was madly cackling and mixing ingredients. It all started when I melted the butter entirely instead of softening it. That one step makes a big difference in the consistency of the cookie dough.
Total cook and prep time: 1.5 hours
Yield: 3 dozen
Material cost: low
Btw, one of the most expensive desserts to bake for work is rice krispies treats, by material costs alone. And, it only has three ingredients! So simple, so delicious that I have polished off entire batches by myself. Usually, I eat less than 10% of any batch. Most of it is fed to unsuspecting subjects. (insert mad cackling)
post.script. The raisins were rehydrated in dark rum. That should be interesting flavor.
Cooking, the mad scientist way
It would be fair to say that I cook primarily from "scratch". This comes from growing up in a household where packaged goods are greatly frowned upon. Not because of the time they would save with food prep, but because they are highly processed, contain too much sodium, or have food colorants and preservatives. I am an omnivore and proud of it. It is my belief that you should experience what nature has to offer at least once, be it picking up something new at the Farmer's Market, cooking a dish that you've never tried before, or eating a cuisine that is foreign to the everyday fare. So let's take quick a step back to before the era of the printing press and recipe books. The art of cooking is a learn-by-doing discipline. Just about everyone can learn it, and some do it far better than others. I'm somewhere in between those two groups. My passion comes from developing and making recipes that suit my palate needs and various food allergies. I certainly know a lot about food and what I like to eat. Let's just say that my stomach is happiest when I make frequent, daily sacrifices to it.
The Foodening
This blog's name comes from a food reference in the Invader Zim episode #23 - "The Frycook What Came from All That Space".
Here is the episode transcript on Fandom:
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