Food and Food History A la Carte
We were talking about leftovers – and then specifically about leftover bread.
Needless to say that one of the best ways to use up leftover bread is – as I said at the time – French toast.
So let’s talk about French toast. Or eggy bread, if you prefer that name. Continue reading “Still Looking at Leftovers: Bread, Part 2”
It was a quiet weekend – well, a quiet weekend as long as you weren’t driving at Silverstone , riding in the Tour de France or playing on Centre Court. As I was doing none of these things, I was having a quiet weekend and on quiet weekends, I often take the opportunity to bake and I knew what I wanted to tackle this weekend.
You see, earlier this week a friend from work brought a recipe to my attention – a recipe for Gin and Tonic cake. over on Pudding Lane, a British cooking blog. Gin and Tonic? A drink cake? I was not unfamiliar with the booze soaked cake concept. Remind me to tell you about effect of rum soaked pound cake on people from my past. It’s terribly amusing. But that’s for another time.
I pondered the cake. I read the recipe. I decided that this was something I was going to try. After all, my in-laws and a good many of my acquaintances are all about a good gin and tonic. To here them discuss it, it sounds the most refreshing drink in the history of drink. So, it sounded like a great idea for summer cake. It was a classic pound cake from a proportion point of view and I’m all about pound cakes as many of you know.
So Gin and Tonic cake was my intention. Until Saturday.
When I started to think, “well, but I don’t drink gin and tonic. Why couldn’t I swap in the making of one of my drinks?” And then it occurred to me, the lemon-infused vodka!
You see, several weeks back, we’d taken some half decent vodka, popped a mess-o-lemon rinds and a bit of bruised lemon grass into the bottle and left it to infused. We tasted it. DAMN it was smooth. It eventually took on SO much flavor from the lemon rinds that you could easily have just popped an ice cube into it and enjoyed it with no mixer at all. What about a twist on the drink in cake form?A Lemon Vodka Twist!
And so I did. I made a few changes beyond the choice of booze. I used caster sugar instead of granulated for the drizzle (I find it dissolves a bit better). I used SLIGHLTY less lemon juice since the lemony-ness of the vodka was VERY intense. Continue reading “‘When Gin’s Not Your Thing’ Lemon Vodka Twist Cake”
There are three things that are inevitable in my life: Death, taxes, and that at some point in my day, I will reach for a lemon. Actually, perhaps four things, as it’s also inevitable that at some point in their blogging life every food blogger must write a post extolling the virtues of the lemon. And here I am, to do just that.
There’s an old saw that goes “If Life gives you lemons, put nine in a bowl.” I’d have a better use for every one of those lemons. Lemons are so absolutely essential to how I cook and how I live in my kitchen. It’s not that I want all my food to taste lemony, but rather that they’re so dang useful. They’re the cornerstone of my cooking. I never don’t have at least one lemon to hand, even if it is a scraggy quartered thing lurking in the nether recesses of my fridge.
In fact, once when taking part in a radio program about matters foodie, I was asked “What food item do you always have in your kitchen?”, and instead of answering something appropriately glamorous like “Pink Himalayan Sea Salt” or “Truffle Infused Honey”, I heard myself say “A dried up quarter of a lemon in my fridge. Inevitably.” Continue reading “The Inevitable Lemon”
A couple of weeks ago, I was brought up short by a moment of hubris.
What happened was this: A very dear friend, who has known me as well as my family since college and with whom I, in fact, used to live, came to stay the night. On her last visit we had sampled a local Vietnamese place so this time we’d be eating in. Thence came my moment of hubris. Secure in the knowledge that my culinary prowess would thrill her whatever I made, I asked “What would you like me to cook?”
Never do this. You’re hosting a dinner, not taking requests at the cocktail lounge out by the airport.
Don’t put people on the spot (unless they’re family, in which they’ll likely demand a given dish before you’ve even asked). Guests somehow never say “Oh I’m sure whatever you make will be divine!”, thus freeing you up to make the fiendishly impressive Middle Eastern feast you’d been planning. Instead, they will ask for precisely the dish you just cooked last week and can now barely bear the thought of. Or worse, they’ll say what my guest said: “Oooh! How about you make your lasagna?”
My lasagna? What could she be thinking? I don’t have a lasagna! I’ve never made a lasagna in my life. And that’s what brought me up short: I HAD NEVER MADE A LASAGNA IN MY LIFE. Continue reading “The Tale of The Lonely Lasagna”
A few of years ago, NPR aired a segment called “Happy Birthday, Dear Mayo — We Hold You Dear” in order to mark the 250th ‘birthday’ of that useful and ever-present condiment, mayonnaise.
Mere condiment? Did I say condiment? Isn’t it so much more than that? It is the stuff of culinary creativeness. I don’t even like the stuff that much and even I admire its usefulness. It is the basis for sauces, the glue for salads, the moistener for many a sandwich – even a home remedy for aching joints.
That last one is according to Wikipedia and while I’ve not heard that myself (and I’m well aware that Wikipedia isn’t 100% to be counted on) why would someone make up something that weird and that random? We shall take it as given until someone makes a case otherwise.
There is no existing culinary celebration of mayo on any list I’ve found. So I am, partly because I can and partly at the request of a friend whose hubby puts mayo on everything, declaring that May 21st is, from this day hence, to be known as Fabulous Foodie Mayo Day. (insert sound of cheering crowds here)
And so that we all know what we’re talking about by then, I’ve dug around and herein lay bare the truth, the assumptions and the mechanics of mayonnaise, our fabulous food friend. Continue reading “The Myths and Making of Mayonnaise”