Food Lab: Christmas Eve Edition

Pots de creme is one of my all time favorite desserts.   I discovered the chocolate, "classic" version thanks to a now-defunct gourmet take out place on Long Island.   I wanted chocolate mousse and this is what they had, in a wee cup for a high price.   The chocolate craving was strong so I purchased, grumbling about both cost and size.

Until I tried the first spoonful.

My first thought was, "ZOMG WONDERFULNESS", and my second thought was "Oog, I won't be able to finish this."   I saved half of that wee cup for later.

http://abcnews.go.com/GMA/recipe?id=6867435

I learned how to make it at the first opportunity (a friend shared a pointer to the recipe above), and have made it since, using regular sugar,  Splenda (it doesn't really sweeten properly) and sugar alcohol (with the tummy risks which always go along with sugar alcohol).   I discovered this variant when I was replacing my lost copy of the classic recipe, and since I love eggnog, it was a natural temptation.   I may have substituted vanilla for the omitted booze, or I may have used nothing.

http://www.gourmetsleuth.com/recipes/detail/eggnog-pots-de-creme

I made up a batch on Christmas Eve for the following day's dinner.

It took nearly three hours to cook and another hour to cool enough to go in the fridge.

The cooling hour was expected, the three hours was not. I suspect the bain marie may have had too much water in it. Sigh.

The bit I tasted off a testing knife was pretty good. People nommed it. I'm calling it a win.

Merry Christmas, everybody 8)

Food Lab--Pre-Thanksgiving Turkey Tender Experiment

So, Costco had turkey breast tenders, a meat for which my fondness waxes and wanes. Mostly because it's so damn easy to accidently ruin the texture. It appears to have three states of doneness--Salmonella, Still Not Done and Ropy Sawdust With Poultry Seasoning Overtones 8P

I had seen an online recipe for slow-cooker turkey confit and I wanted to see what would happen. This recipe was flexible wrt: type of fat used, so I added a combination of olive oil and butter with a smidge of bacon fat to the seasoned meat and set the slow cooker on low.

I learned that even slow poached in a metric asston of fat, turkey will STILL become Ropy Sawdust With Poultry Seasoning Overtones.

My slow cooker is wee and by no means mighty. I am at a loss to explain how it can overcook with such depressing regularity when set on low.

I will need to experiment further with the cooking time.

Germs Run Screaming Soup

(Migrated from a social media post from 2014)

I've had a number of requests for this the last few years.     After scrounging about for a copy, here is the "recipe" for  (a semi-homemade) Germs Run Screaming Soup:

I start with Tom Ka Gai ("coconut ginger soup" with chicken), and add  garlic and chopped spinach (which are not traditionally used in TKG). I use the commercial paste from A Taste of Thai.    The package looks like this:

https://www.mysupermarket.com/landingpages/product.aspx?productid=20202&skipregister=true&utm_medium=email&utm_source=Search_US&utm_campaign=Google&utm_content=CPC48303&banner=248303

Fairway Market in NYC carries this, and sometimes you can find it at Wegman's as well as online.   One of my SE PA friends said the Giant stores in her area also carry it.    The Taste of Thai website has a "Find product in a store" button, but the product doesn't have its own page--you have to click "Products" and then "Soups and Sauces"...   http://www.atasteofthai.com/  

Package directions state to add water or chicken broth, and one can of coconut milk, along with uncooked white meat chicken, sliced thin.   After the chicken is done, I add half a box of frozen spinach, and garlic (or garlic powder) to taste.

NOTE:    Taste of Thai's label is misleading in that the critical spice in Tom Kah Gai is not ginger, but galangal,   the root of which looks a bit similar but has a very different taste.     Once, when I had no soup base,  I tried to make the soup from scratch, not knowing about the galangal.    It made a perfectly good pot of soup, but not "the right soup", if you understand me.    The blogger below also draws a distinction between galangal preserved as part of a paste, and the dried stuff, citing the paste as much superior if fresh is unavailable.   I think I may have tried one batch of soup with dried galangal, and that wasn't as efficacious either. This lady has posted both a recipe for Tom Kha Gai from scratch, and reviews of a couple of commercial pastes.    Some of these brands might be available in Asian food stores (which, I must say, I miss rather dreadfully sometimes down here in the Rockaways).http://shesimmers.com/2010/11/tom-kha-gai-recipe-tutorial-for.html

The entry with a few words and pix about Tom Kha paste is here: http://shesimmers.com/2012/08/tom-yam-and-tom-kha-mixes-how-and-when-to-use-them.html

As prepared, this soup does contain meat.    I haven't tried it with tofu.    If one of you does, let me know how it comes out?     As prepared, the soup is low-carb / gluten-free  and (I think) paleo-friendly.    I take the makings with me to Pennsic, in cooler-free form, and canned chicken serves the purpose, although you might want a bit of broth or stock for a deeper flavor. 

I am not a Pharmacist.     I am not approved by the FDA.    This particular brand of chicken soup has no scientifically-vetted proof of efficacy, any more than the colloquial "Jewish Penicillin".    It's simply something that makes me feel better when I get sick, often enough for me to want to share, and to keep the makings in my kitchen.    

My next experiment will involve the microwave, since I was feverish enough over the weekend to not want to turn on the stove (and perhaps forget having done so)...  #GermsRunScreaming

My Favorite Vegetable (and My Brother-in-law's Favorite Broccoli Soup)

Spring, Schming. It's cold, wet and raw outside, and I say the hell with it. I just made a batch of one of my favorite soups, and thought other people might like to see the recipe again.

This time I made it with GF baking mix instead of wheat flour, and it's still awesome. I actually just did the Wile E. Coyote "GAD, I'm SUCH a genius!!" thing :)

For those observing a medieval Lenten diet (vegan + fish), I have no idea whether you can make bechamel-analogue with almond / soy / rice milk and some tasty oil, but I'd love to hear if you try it.

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(The essay below was posted on two social media sites three years ago)

I have a volatile history with broccoli  (stop laughing).   When I was a child, it (along with cauliflower and asparagus) marched in a dreary rotation across my dinner plate, most often prepared by my father with a cheese sauce, and I hated all three.     I have accused my dad of boiling broccoli and cauliflower until they were the same color.    I'm not kidding.   Much.  Sometime after I grew up I began to be able to eat it, and a few years after that I had done a complete 180 and loved it.    I've had / made salads (with red onion, mandarin orange, golden raisins and peanuts or sunflower seeds), stir fry , soup, steamed with lemon juice and a bit of butter (very quick and simple with a microwave), or roasted with olive oil and garlic until it starts to brown.    That last one is inspired by an Italian restaurant which offered "burnt broccoli", more brown than burnt, which brings out broccoli's sweetness.     From a family member at a home care case, I learned how sweet the stalks are if you peel them and use the inside, which I'm sure my foodie friends already knew but others might not.  

I don't actually remember the first time I made broccoli soup at my sister's house.     I do know that she's an awesome cook and uses plenty of fruits and vegetables.      Sometimes I just get the urge to cook, or my body sends me a message like "I need broccoli!" or "I need strawberries!"   I try to encourage those messages, so on a particular weekend I made a batch of broccoli soup and offered to share.    We all like broccoli pretty well, but I was completely unprepared for my brother-in-law's rapture, generous praise and enthusiasm.     Eventually I felt the need to ask him, "Do I need to leave the two of you (him and the soup bowl) alone?"    

Recently, I had occasion to make a larger batch to take to a party, and received a couple of requests to share the recipe.    I'll be glad to--bear with me.    I don't always make it the same way every time, and I've never tried to write this one down.    It's sort of a thinned-out version of creamed broccoli, pureed and thickened (on the other hand) with a white sauce / bechamel.

I start with a bunch (the two or three stalks they usually sell together at the supermarket) of broccoli, cutting off the florets with the little stems and then peeling the large stalks--you have to cut off the bottom just above where it was cut for harvesting.    Chop everything into 1 or 2 inch pieces.    I sautee the pieces (medium heat) with a pat of butter or a spritz of cooking spray, in a big pan with black pepper, garlic (cloves, minced, or powdered--whatever you have and like to use), and a little salt.     When the broccoli is tender, you add about a cup of broth or boullion (I usually use chicken broth from packets or boullion cubes, canned or fresh should be fine), stir to pull everything off the surface of the pan,  and pour the whole thing into a soup pot.      Then put the pan back onto the heat (turn it down to medium low) to make the bechamel:    melt half a stick of butter (this is sort of a rich soup);   add an equal amount (1/4 cup) of flour to the melted butter and stir, cooking until some of the flour has just started to turn tan.    Then add 2 cups of milk (whole milk, lowfat or skim will work), stirring all the while, and keep stirring and cooking until the sauce becomes thick (five or ten minutes--you can stir a bit less once all the lumps are gone), then take it off the heat.     Mix the white sauce and the broccoli (I ladle some of the broccoli and broth into the pan to get all the sauce out), ending with everything in the soup pot.    Puree everything   (I use a stick blender) until it's as smooth as you like it.    You may need another cup or two of broth to thin the soup out to how you like it, and once it's pureed and thinned, I taste to see if it has enough garlic, pepper, etc.   Keep it on low heat for five or ten minutes to "marry" all the ingredients, and then it's time to eat.   Top with cheese or mix in, if desired.   Sharp cheddar or Dubliner are awesome  :)