I’ve been fiddling quite a bit with sourdough starters the last couple of months, killing off several trying to perfect my growing and storing processes. About two weeks ago I began to notice something strange happening. The starters were taking longer and longer to start growing. Which is to say, they didn’t bubble up nearly […]
READ ONMy hand and arm have healed enough so it doesn’t kill me to type. However shingles recovery isn’t a fast-moving affair, so don’t be surprised if I’m not as prolific as usual this week. I’ll do my best! What a lousy thing an attack of shingles is. Avoid them if you can. As a public […]
READ ON…and I’m doing the cornmeal crust for the pregnant lady yet again! But it’s all good practice. I’ve come to the conclusion that the soaker method is really the only method for getting a non-gritty texture, and will update the recipe accordingly. A little extra water won’t hurt anything since there’s so much corn meal […]
READ ONWell, I’m on the mend friends. The hand and arm are healing and I’m on the verge of typing normally. Thanks to all of those who’ve wished me well. I’ll be back bright and bushy-tailed Monday morning. But before I sign off my shortest blogging week so far, I wanted to ask everyone to say […]
READ ONIn all my discomfort and self-pity, I forgot that yesterday was International Talk Like a Pirate Day. Don’t mind if I celebrate it a day late do you?
READ ONTurns out that I don’t have poison ivy, but am instead afflicted with shingles. I always laughed when I heard people talk about shingles, since I couldn’t imagine such a funny-sounding word actually hurting anyone. But brothers and sisters, I’m here to tell you it really and truly does hurt. Bad. What’s weird is that […]
READ ONThere are a couple of things that make me wonder a bit about chocolate. Specifically that wherever it’s been introduced as a flavor (say as a candy or in an ice cream) be it in parts of Asia, Africa, the Middle East, what-have-you, it generally becomes the number one flavor in that product category in […]
READ ONCould it be something so pedestrian as it simply tastes good? Sure, it’s tempting to want to find some deeper pull to a food that elicits such passions in people, one that many feel they’re helpless in the face of (sort of a “Devil-made-me-do-it” dynamic). But what if it turned out it was just, well…yummy? […]
READ ONThe big tip-off that a flourless chocolate cake is actually a custard is the cooking method: the water bath, also known as the bain marie in French cooking circles. It’s purpose is to ensure that custards (and other heat-sensitive dishes) bake as gently as possible, slowly creeping up on the final setting temperature without overshooting […]
READ ONThis is a question that takes us back to earlier discussions of how proteins work. As you may recall, proteins (like egg proteins, for example), are extremely long molecules made up of chains of amino acids. In their natural state they occur loosely coiled, or “folded”. Yet by applying gentle heat we can coax their […]
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