when it's cold outside
7 March 2010 22:01![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
chrryblssmninjaHappy Birthday to ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
zorabioz and azuresquirrel!
and now,
Yesterday, I tried a recipe for Scottish shortbread that I found in a cookbook.
When I went to the freezer, I found that there was very little butter left, even for the reduced batch I had in mind. So I had to make do with two tablespoons of butter - 1/20 of the recipe. Everything else was converted to about 1/20 of what was recommended. However, I was probably off in determining 3/10 and stuff.
The batch was so small that much of it got stuck inside the hand whisk. I had to use a knife to scrape what I could out.
The result:
There was probably too much butter.
It had to be scraped off the tray like butter.
Yet even though the batch was too small to succeed as shortbread, it did make for a good-tasting butter, more interesting than browned butter. This failed shortbread would be a great spread, especially on a hard-crusted bread.
LESSON 1: Don't worry about excess - sometimes you need to make extra in order for the recipe to succeed. Going past 1/10 of a recipe may lead to things not mixing well or getting stuck because it's so small.
LESSON 2: Sometimes failed experiments lead to something new.
Next time I have a hard-crusted bread, I'm going to do this 1/10 shortbread recipe with extra butter to make a cool spread in the toaster oven.
My next victim that night:
I didn't feel like sitting down just yet. We didn't have much left to experiment with, besides a pack of Roma tomatoes.
So I preheated the toaster oven. Then I sliced up the tomato. Then I brushed the slices, outsides and insides, with the little remaining olive oil we had. I dusted half a plate with ground black pepper and let the tomatoes pick up the pepper.. (I suggest using a pepper shaker instead of just the hole-filled opening of a giant canister, though.) Then I placed them in the toaster oven, set to around 300 degrees Fahrenheit, for five minutes.
Finally...
SUCCESS!
Take them off the oven tray, and let them cool for a minute. Then they are ready to serve.
The olive oil adds a light rich complimentary flavor to the cool tomato and slight spice of the pepper. I tried it without toasting, and the flavors didn't go together as well as when toasted.
YAY SOMETHING TURNED OUT THE WAY I WANTED
here's an earlier (February 25) thing I did with white tea.
Adding just a little juice to white tea. Just a little of the super sweetness of this particular cranberry juice went well with the warmer sweetness of this tea.
I'm finding out with these food posts that there need to be more terms in English for types of sweetness. Are there any terms you know of, in English or other languages, that differentiate types of sweetness? I have vague knowledge about various Japanese terms, but stuff like umami doesn't cover sweetness.
Oh, and adding two masala chai tea bags to flavor my oatmeal definitely has an effect on the look but not a major effect on the taste. I think the flavors emerge best in baking.
zorabioz and azuresquirrel!and now,
Yesterday, I tried a recipe for Scottish shortbread that I found in a cookbook.
When I went to the freezer, I found that there was very little butter left, even for the reduced batch I had in mind. So I had to make do with two tablespoons of butter - 1/20 of the recipe. Everything else was converted to about 1/20 of what was recommended. However, I was probably off in determining 3/10 and stuff.
The batch was so small that much of it got stuck inside the hand whisk. I had to use a knife to scrape what I could out.
The result:
There was probably too much butter.
It had to be scraped off the tray like butter.
Yet even though the batch was too small to succeed as shortbread, it did make for a good-tasting butter, more interesting than browned butter. This failed shortbread would be a great spread, especially on a hard-crusted bread.
LESSON 1: Don't worry about excess - sometimes you need to make extra in order for the recipe to succeed. Going past 1/10 of a recipe may lead to things not mixing well or getting stuck because it's so small.
LESSON 2: Sometimes failed experiments lead to something new.
Next time I have a hard-crusted bread, I'm going to do this 1/10 shortbread recipe with extra butter to make a cool spread in the toaster oven.
My next victim that night:
I didn't feel like sitting down just yet. We didn't have much left to experiment with, besides a pack of Roma tomatoes.
So I preheated the toaster oven. Then I sliced up the tomato. Then I brushed the slices, outsides and insides, with the little remaining olive oil we had. I dusted half a plate with ground black pepper and let the tomatoes pick up the pepper.. (I suggest using a pepper shaker instead of just the hole-filled opening of a giant canister, though.) Then I placed them in the toaster oven, set to around 300 degrees Fahrenheit, for five minutes.
Finally...
SUCCESS!
Take them off the oven tray, and let them cool for a minute. Then they are ready to serve.
The olive oil adds a light rich complimentary flavor to the cool tomato and slight spice of the pepper. I tried it without toasting, and the flavors didn't go together as well as when toasted.
YAY SOMETHING TURNED OUT THE WAY I WANTED
here's an earlier (February 25) thing I did with white tea.
Adding just a little juice to white tea. Just a little of the super sweetness of this particular cranberry juice went well with the warmer sweetness of this tea.
I'm finding out with these food posts that there need to be more terms in English for types of sweetness. Are there any terms you know of, in English or other languages, that differentiate types of sweetness? I have vague knowledge about various Japanese terms, but stuff like umami doesn't cover sweetness.
Oh, and adding two masala chai tea bags to flavor my oatmeal definitely has an effect on the look but not a major effect on the taste. I think the flavors emerge best in baking.
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
no subject
2010-03-08 06:12 (UTC)no subject
2010-03-08 06:24 (UTC)no subject
2010-03-08 15:12 (UTC)no subject
2010-03-08 08:40 (UTC)no subject
2010-03-08 08:51 (UTC)no subject
2010-03-08 12:16 (UTC)no subject
2010-03-08 21:29 (UTC)no subject
2010-03-08 22:55 (UTC)There need to be more English words for "say" and smile" too XD But sadly I can't think of any more words for sweetness, not culinary ones anyway.
no subject
2010-03-08 23:32 (UTC)yeah - you'd think we'd come up with more terms for "say" at least
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2010-03-08 23:34 (UTC)no subject
2010-03-08 23:42 (UTC)I tried a bigger batch of shortbread today. I can't get them to stay as individual cookies, but I found out that if I let them cool they become proper shortbread. So I'm thinking about putting the mix as "frosting" when baking something else. It could be a fun shortbread top! Could also be a crust too,-shrugs-
yay! yeah, it's just a simple mixing of things, but it's probably cheaper than those bottles of flavored white tea at the store
no subject
2010-03-09 03:03 (UTC)no subject
2010-03-09 05:25 (UTC)I made a bigger batch today and I think where I went wrong was that I didn't make enough and didn't wait for it to set. But my mistake gave me an idea for putting "shortbread" frosting on other things, so it's good after all!
no subject
2010-03-09 05:26 (UTC)i love baking!!!!!!!!!!!
no subject
2010-03-09 17:49 (UTC)I want those tomatoes, yum.
no subject
2010-03-09 21:06 (UTC)yay!