I made a cake two nights ago, using the same recipe I use for cupcakes/muffins. Added a touch more sugar than just a heaping half cup, and a touch more baking powder than just the 1.5 teaspoons, and vanilla for flavorant. The result was a slightly less-dense cake, but I may have to resort to using cake flour in the end in order to get that true fluffy cake texture.
Two days later, I have half a cake left. I decided this evening to try to make chocolate ganache to top what cake we have left. Chocolate ganache... this is an experiment I've been thinking of doing and trying to do since I was able to bake my first cake. The inspiration? The cocoa cake my parents used to get for my birthdays when we lived in Taiwan, some 33 years ago. Just thinking about the cake, I can almost taste the frosting. Light, slight hint of chocolate (not too much though), smooth, fluffy. I want to say that it may have had some butter in the mix as well, since I seem to recall the frosting being slightly greasy. My palate has a long memory.
So tonight I took on this endeavor. 4 squares of Ghirardelli dark (72% cacao), about 1/2 cup of sugar, and about 1/4 cup of cocoa powder - all into a glass bowl on top of a small pot of boiling water (my makeshift double boiler). I took care to not allow steam to get into the chocolate mixture, lest the result be a goopety gop (a high-brow technical cooking term). I started stirring the mixture in the double boiler, and once the chocolate melted and was mixed through the other dry ingredients, I added about 1 cup of heavy whipping cream. Vigorously whipped this mixture above the hot water for about 10 minutes, and then set the mixture into the fridge to chill and set a bit.
I just brought the mixture back out. It took a little more stirring to break up and soften the mass. Taste - not bad, but too much chocolate. The dark 72% cacao definitely came through quite strongly. I'll still top the remaining half of the cake with this experiment, but this attempt completely missed the target. I'll try again, with less chocolate next time, and more air in the whipping.
Wednesday, October 28, 2009
Sunday, October 18, 2009
Mozzarella in the kitchen
I finally got over the mental block of the task of making mozzarella and undertook the endeavor this morning. Easy easy process, but I'll have to refine the method - the mozzarella isn't the best texture I've had. Less stretching next time...
This is what I used, as a variation of the recipe offered on Chowhound.com:
Ingredients:
1/2 gallon pasteurized milk *NOT ULTRA-PASTEURIZED
1.5 t citric acid dissolved in 1/4c water (I used bottled water)
1/4t liquid vegetable rennet dissolved in 5t water (again, bottled water)
2T kosher salt
Equipment:
instant-read thermometer
1 large stock pot (enamel-coated steel)
2 large stainless steel or glass bowls
1 large slotted spoon
1 fine-mesh strainer (preferably one with a little lip to allow it to rest on top of one of the SS bowls)
1c measuring cup
cutting board
knife
2 large wooden spoons
2 pairs of thick rubber gloves, or what I used was double-layered pair of disposable surgical gloves
1. Bring milk to 55 degreesF, and stirred in the citric acid mixture.
2. Bring the milk to about 88 degreesF (takes about 5 minutes max), and stir in the rennet mixture.
3. Continue stirring until the milk begins to separate, into curds and whey (childhood rhyme comes to mind). Once it begins to separate, let the mixture continue to cook undisturbed until the mixture reaches 100 degreesF (1-2 minutes). Turn off the heat, and let mixture sit undisturbed until the curds pull away from the sides, about 5 minutes. When this process is ready, the whey should be almost clear.
4. Remove curds from the whey (KEEP THE WHEY!) with a slotted spoon, and let the curds drain over one of the two SS bowls in the wire-mesh strainer. Press gently with the slotted spoon, but don't press out too much water - otherwise, you'll end up with really tough curds.
5. Measure out 4c of the whey, and discard the rest. Bring the whey with the salt to boil in the pot to about 180 degreesF.
6. While the whey boils, slice the curds into thin strips. Lay strips in one of the empty SS bowls.
7. Fill other SS bowl with filtered/distilled water. This is the storing water for your mozzarella, so please consider using the most filtered water possible.
8. Pour hot whey over curd strips.
9. Donning the gloves, take care as you pull the curd strips out of the hot whey. Holding the strips with the ends in your hands, begin pulling the curd strips, then fold. Hold new ends, stretch, and fold. Repeat this stretching/folding until the surface of the curd mass is shiny. Do not overwork the curds, otherwise the mozzarella will be fairly tough.
10. If the curds get too hard to stretch, dip back into the hot whey to soften before reworking the curds.
11.
And now to make the little balls of mozzarella: pinch a little ball from the end of the curd mass, and drop the ball into the bowl of water. Repeat until you've divided the curd mass into little balls of mozzarella.
To store the mozzarella, I plan to store them in a covered glass bowl. The mozzarella I made this morning was a little tough and quite irregularly sized. I probably overworked the curd strips when stretching/folding. I'll also need to give my pinching method some practice. Given that this process was fairly easy, I'll most likely be making more mozzarella soon and will try lending the process a gentler hand.
This is what I used, as a variation of the recipe offered on Chowhound.com:
Ingredients:
1/2 gallon pasteurized milk *NOT ULTRA-PASTEURIZED
1.5 t citric acid dissolved in 1/4c water (I used bottled water)
1/4t liquid vegetable rennet dissolved in 5t water (again, bottled water)
2T kosher salt
Equipment:
instant-read thermometer
1 large stock pot (enamel-coated steel)
2 large stainless steel or glass bowls
1 large slotted spoon
1 fine-mesh strainer (preferably one with a little lip to allow it to rest on top of one of the SS bowls)
1c measuring cup
cutting board
knife
2 large wooden spoons
2 pairs of thick rubber gloves, or what I used was double-layered pair of disposable surgical gloves
1. Bring milk to 55 degreesF, and stirred in the citric acid mixture.
2. Bring the milk to about 88 degreesF (takes about 5 minutes max), and stir in the rennet mixture.
3. Continue stirring until the milk begins to separate, into curds and whey (childhood rhyme comes to mind). Once it begins to separate, let the mixture continue to cook undisturbed until the mixture reaches 100 degreesF (1-2 minutes). Turn off the heat, and let mixture sit undisturbed until the curds pull away from the sides, about 5 minutes. When this process is ready, the whey should be almost clear.
4. Remove curds from the whey (KEEP THE WHEY!) with a slotted spoon, and let the curds drain over one of the two SS bowls in the wire-mesh strainer. Press gently with the slotted spoon, but don't press out too much water - otherwise, you'll end up with really tough curds.
5. Measure out 4c of the whey, and discard the rest. Bring the whey with the salt to boil in the pot to about 180 degreesF.
6. While the whey boils, slice the curds into thin strips. Lay strips in one of the empty SS bowls.
7. Fill other SS bowl with filtered/distilled water. This is the storing water for your mozzarella, so please consider using the most filtered water possible.
8. Pour hot whey over curd strips.
9. Donning the gloves, take care as you pull the curd strips out of the hot whey. Holding the strips with the ends in your hands, begin pulling the curd strips, then fold. Hold new ends, stretch, and fold. Repeat this stretching/folding until the surface of the curd mass is shiny. Do not overwork the curds, otherwise the mozzarella will be fairly tough.
10. If the curds get too hard to stretch, dip back into the hot whey to soften before reworking the curds.
11.
And now to make the little balls of mozzarella: pinch a little ball from the end of the curd mass, and drop the ball into the bowl of water. Repeat until you've divided the curd mass into little balls of mozzarella.To store the mozzarella, I plan to store them in a covered glass bowl. The mozzarella I made this morning was a little tough and quite irregularly sized. I probably overworked the curd strips when stretching/folding. I'll also need to give my pinching method some practice. Given that this process was fairly easy, I'll most likely be making more mozzarella soon and will try lending the process a gentler hand.
Sunday, October 11, 2009
From a child's mouth, truth
As Baby1 grows her vocabulary and those descriptive terms to tell us how she feels about this and that, she has also been able to give me feedback about the food I'm cooking. On a couple of occasions, I'd ask her if she wanted to try more of this or that, and she'd reply, "Mmm, no, I am OK." That's code for "I don't like that dish so much." On other occasions, she has told me, "Mommy, this is yummy." That's code for, well, damn mommy, this is yummy.
So she has said, of my pasta sauce, stir fried chicken with black bean sauce, pasta alfredo, vegetable curries, chicken with spicy coconut sauce, several different curries, ground beef roasted in pumpkin, chicken soup, roasted chicken, chicken salad, and, occasionally, even salmon (I gotta admit, I'm not the best salmon cook, and often it comes out overcooked and too dry). But whenever she encounters spicy foods, she still gives me that bewildered whisper "spicy!" I've gotta work on those taste buds of hers, and get them used to spicy food. But, in the mean time, we're giving her definition to the different senses on her tongue - for flavors of sweet, spicy, salty, sour, bitter. Umami... I may have wait for a scrunch of her forehead with tasting something or other one of these nights, and be able to tell her the story of umami.
So she has said, of my pasta sauce, stir fried chicken with black bean sauce, pasta alfredo, vegetable curries, chicken with spicy coconut sauce, several different curries, ground beef roasted in pumpkin, chicken soup, roasted chicken, chicken salad, and, occasionally, even salmon (I gotta admit, I'm not the best salmon cook, and often it comes out overcooked and too dry). But whenever she encounters spicy foods, she still gives me that bewildered whisper "spicy!" I've gotta work on those taste buds of hers, and get them used to spicy food. But, in the mean time, we're giving her definition to the different senses on her tongue - for flavors of sweet, spicy, salty, sour, bitter. Umami... I may have wait for a scrunch of her forehead with tasting something or other one of these nights, and be able to tell her the story of umami.
Still, no matter what success or failure was served at the table the night before, every night she sits at our table, eagerly anticipating dinner. Or, better yet, she has always wanted to see what is cooking on the stove and in the oven, even before she was able to walk. And it's at these moments that I find utmost joy, at her curiosity and her anticipation for our food, and she hasn't yet fallen into those childhood patterns of picky eating or distractions by play. Maybe part of the reason is that I've engaged her in my cooking, asking what she thought of one dish or another, and I'd reason with her the next go-around of the same dish, adjusting some flavor based on feedback from before. It has become a fantastic game for us, this cooking thing, and besides the fact that my cooking is often accompanied by an instantaneous unloading of all items in the lower drawers of our kitchen all over the floor, preparing our evening dinners is actually quite enjoyable.
Saturday, October 03, 2009
Worn worn worn
Wake. Feed. Change. Pack. Work. Lunch. Work. Rush. Cook. Feed. Change. Sleep.
Repeat.
That unfortunately, is what my life has seemingly boiled down to these days. There is the occasional variety, but for some odd reason it seems that we're getting closer and closer to that suburbia Brave New World roboticism than we had in the past, unable to break the usual hum-drum of daily life for fear of even slightly throwing things off balance. I don't know if it's because we have two kids now, and paired when with two adults, we can't offset the human:human ratio.
Which then brings me to this question: those people whom we've seen hermit themselves and completely adjust their schedules to accommodate their children when they had one child, what are they like now with 2, or more? How far have they changed from who they were before children, or how much closer have they gotten to who they originally were? Or perhaps, have they become clones of their parents instead?
Who knows. But I'm keeping a keen eye on how much of my life really shifts in having kids, and keeping aware of my growing theory that mid-life crisis happens to those who change themselves or their habits too much from how they lived for much of their life. I mean, it's all balance, right - too much one way, you snap back like a rubber band, back to equilibrium. It's the human inertia.
In the mean time, to cater to my growing inertia, here's a cupcake/muffin recipe that I loved at first sight. Super easy - you only need a 1/2 teaspoon and 1/2 cup to do the mixes.
Makes 12 cupcakes.
1 c flour
1 1/2 t baking powder
pinch salt
3 eggs, room temperature
1 stick butter, room temperature
(for cupcakes) heaping 1/2 c of superfine sugar (or just take regular sugar through a food processor)
(for muffins) leveled 1/2 c of sugar
(for cupcakes) 1/2 t vanilla
1/4 c milk
Preheat oven to 350. Prep cupcake cups.
Mix dry ingredients together in a small mixing bowl.
Cream butter and sugar.
Mix in eggs one at a time, mixing well after each addition.
Mix in vanilla.
Then, alternating milk and dry mix, add each to the sugar mixture, starting and ending with the milk.
Then, for muffins - you can add ingredients to your liking. I've added banana, bacon/cheese/jalapeno, and lemon/poppy seeds in the past. I haven't yet tried blueberries or apples, but I will.
Divide mix into cupcake cups, about 2/3 full.
Bake 18-20 minutes.
Repeat.
That unfortunately, is what my life has seemingly boiled down to these days. There is the occasional variety, but for some odd reason it seems that we're getting closer and closer to that suburbia Brave New World roboticism than we had in the past, unable to break the usual hum-drum of daily life for fear of even slightly throwing things off balance. I don't know if it's because we have two kids now, and paired when with two adults, we can't offset the human:human ratio.
Which then brings me to this question: those people whom we've seen hermit themselves and completely adjust their schedules to accommodate their children when they had one child, what are they like now with 2, or more? How far have they changed from who they were before children, or how much closer have they gotten to who they originally were? Or perhaps, have they become clones of their parents instead?
Who knows. But I'm keeping a keen eye on how much of my life really shifts in having kids, and keeping aware of my growing theory that mid-life crisis happens to those who change themselves or their habits too much from how they lived for much of their life. I mean, it's all balance, right - too much one way, you snap back like a rubber band, back to equilibrium. It's the human inertia.
In the mean time, to cater to my growing inertia, here's a cupcake/muffin recipe that I loved at first sight. Super easy - you only need a 1/2 teaspoon and 1/2 cup to do the mixes.
Makes 12 cupcakes.
1 c flour
1 1/2 t baking powder
pinch salt
3 eggs, room temperature
1 stick butter, room temperature
(for cupcakes) heaping 1/2 c of superfine sugar (or just take regular sugar through a food processor)
(for muffins) leveled 1/2 c of sugar
(for cupcakes) 1/2 t vanilla
1/4 c milk
Preheat oven to 350. Prep cupcake cups.
Mix dry ingredients together in a small mixing bowl.
Cream butter and sugar.
Mix in eggs one at a time, mixing well after each addition.
Mix in vanilla.
Then, alternating milk and dry mix, add each to the sugar mixture, starting and ending with the milk.
Then, for muffins - you can add ingredients to your liking. I've added banana, bacon/cheese/jalapeno, and lemon/poppy seeds in the past. I haven't yet tried blueberries or apples, but I will.
Divide mix into cupcake cups, about 2/3 full.
Bake 18-20 minutes.
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