Flashback Friday: Mock Angel Food

Flashback Friday: Revisiting a recipe from long ago

While paging through an old cookbook a recipe for Mock Angel Food caught my attention.  Boiling water is poured over a flour and sugar mixture which then sits overnight.  The remaining ingredients are added in the morning and baked in a pan that has been rinsed in cold water but not dried.  All of this sounded a little odd to me so I decided to give it a go.  Well, except for the part about starting "about 5 o'clock' in the afternoon."   Because in my book 5 o'clock isn't afternoon, it's evening (but somehow 4:59 is still afternoon?).

 Anyway, I stirred up the flour/sugar/water mixture in the morning before work and baked  the cake later in the evening when I got home.  I believe the idea is to let the mixture cool to room temperature.  As for egg whites, you'll only need 4 instead of a dozen.  I interpreted, "beaten not too dry" to mean beaten to stiff peak stage.  But let's just skip the details and get to the cake.  Sound okay?

Thursday's Thoughts: Learning Curve

Thursday's Thoughts: a taste of what I'm thinking

When something goes askew in the kitchen I like to read up about it and figure out why.  Understanding the principle behind the problem decreases the likelihood of a repeat episode.  Here's just a taste of what I've been reading up on lately along with a few other bites I'm beginning to chew, swallow and digest.

Meringue
1. Underbaking a meringue pie results in weeping, a layer of liquid between the meringue and filling.  This can be prevented by spreading the meringue on the pie while the pie is still hot.  However, the pie should not be too hot or the filling may not have set up enough to hold the meringue.

2. Beads on top of a meringue are the result of overbaking.

3. To prevent a meringue from shrinking and tearing, be sure to attach and seal it to the crust before baking.  Adding certain starches to the meringue also helps.

4. Soft meringue, hard meringue, Swiss meringue, Italian meringue, cooked, uncooked, added starch, ratio of sugar, type of sugar, temperature, beating time, underbaked, overbaked, acidity, humidity....so much to consider.

Pie Crust
1.Overworking a pie crust stretches out the dough which causes shrinking while baking.

2.  A large gap between an upper crust and filling (such as apple) is due to a slow release of steam.  Thick apple slices release steam slowly, but thinner apple slices cook faster, allowing a quicker release of steam.  Thinner apple slices (along with cutting proper slits) prevent the crust from puffing up and leaving a large space.

Eggs in Custard
 1. Stirred custards without starch are heated over a double boiler and require constant stirring.  The eggs thicken anywhere between 160 and 180 degrees F.  The eggs can begin to thicken just one degree before turning to a scrambled curdled mess.  Rate of heat, milk to egg yolk ratio and sugar all influence curdling and thickening of stirred custards.

2. Baked custards without starch need a water bath.  The water for the water bath needs to be extremely hot.

3. Stirred custards with starch can be made over direct heat as opposed to a double boiler. Similarly, baked custards containing starch do not need water baths.

Consomme (just pretend the e has an accent over it)
1. This stock is clarified with egg whites.  As the stock simmers the egg whites coagulate and trap impurities.

2.  The egg and impurity mixture floats to the top forming what is called a raft.  An acidic ingredient such as lemon juice or tomatoes aids in forming a stable raft.

Food for Thought: "Don't fear failure so much that you refuse to try new things. The saddest summary of a life contains three descriptions: could have, might have, and should have." -Louis E. Boone 

Random Recipe Wednesday: Egg Adventures

This week we're fully embracing the random and not so much the recipe.  In other words, I've had lots of kitchen 'adventures' lately.  Where to start?  Hmmm, since it's almost Easter, let's start with eggs. 

Finding myself with far too many eggs in the fridge I decided it was the perfect time for some egg experiments.  Thee experiments at once if you really must know.  I planned to feature eggs both yesterday and today, but by the time I finished I was about ready to throw eggs at the wall and then stress-bake an eggless cake.   I resisted both and continued peeling those extremely stubborn eggs and turned them into egg salad.  Sorry, I'm getting ahead of myself again.  

In conjunction with tea from Monday I planned to share Chinese Tea Eggs with you. I dabbled with them last year but haven't tried them since.  I think the eggs below were the first food photo I took with my then new camera.  The crackled appearance seemed like a fun twist for Easter so I set out to make them again.

After hard-boiling the eggs then steeping them for hours in tea, soy sauce and spices you have flavored eggs with an almost stained glass appearance   However, if you put them in the center of the top shelf in my fridge, you will have frozen hard-boiled eggs with shattered shells that rip and tear the rubbery yet frozen egg.  What fun.  Needless to say I wasn't up for another round.

Flashback Friday: Soda Cracker Macaroon Pie

Flashback Friday: Revisiting a recipe from long ago

Still enamored with this vintage mixer, I decided to whip up some more egg whites.  I love how that mixer works.  Unlike my last mixer, it effortlessly transforms egg whites and sugar to stiff, snowy white peaks.  It's the little things that make me smile.  Anyway, this meringue acts as the base for a pie recipe belonging to my great-grandma.   The term pie is used loosely here as the dessert resembles a pie only in shape.

Crushed soda crackers, nuts and vanilla are folded into the fluffy white base and spread into a pie pan.  Great-Grandma Hattie folded in chopped dates for a little variety and usually served up a slice with whipped cream.  Her daughter, Carol (whose cookies we ate last week), wrote it is "excellent served with ice cream and chocolate syrup."

Festive Friday: Mint Meringue Trees with Chocolate Centers

Festive Friday: You can always find room to squeeze in a few more treats around the holidays.

I think I found the perfect Christmas tree.

It's green and minty and has a chocolate center.

It's easy to assemble and even easier to dispose of.

The only watering required is mouthwatering.

Weird Recipe Wednesday: Egg Coffee

Weird Recipe Wednesday: Because some recipes are so weird I just HAVE to try them.  My curiosity always gets the better of me.

Last month I randomly mentioned egg coffee.  You knew I'd give in and try it sooner or later, didn't you?  You should have placed bets for how long I'd hold out before I tried this weird technique.  Maybe you did, in which case I hope you won.

I found some old percolators at my grandma's house and mentioned them to her.  She told me about the egg coffee she used to make where whole egg, shell and all, is added in with the grounds. And we're not talking an electric drip coffee maker here either, just a stove top coffee pot.  She claims it's the best coffee she's ever had and they just don't make it like that anymore. (Gee, I wonder why?....no I don't.)  So after raising my eyebrows for awhile and plenty of skepticism on my part, I gave in.  Truth be told, I had several other weird recipes planned for today, but they crashed, flopped and withered a little too hard to make it all the way here.  Since this egg coffee concept seems weird to my generation, I decided it would work in a pinch.

It's actually a technique that's been used for years by countless coffee brewers and served to plenty of unsuspecting guests.  A Scandinavian tradition, this coffee is also known as 'Lutheran church basement coffee.'  I looked up quite a few recipe variations and had fun learning about this weird tradition.  It wasn't until afterwords that I found this food science post explaining the chemistry involved.  I'll spare you the details, but the egg and shell supposedly remove bitterness and acidity, producing and incredibly smooth cup of coffee.

Let me just show you what happened.