Mmm. What a delectable treat. A creamy custard concocted for the sole purpose of coercing and coddling your tongue with countless culinary sensations, strong enough to turn even the most crass curmudgeon into a charming cherub. Yet again jumping off the angel food cake, I was left with 12 fresh yolks. Mom used a few to make some spectacular meatballs, but I still had about 9 left. What can one do with a massive amount of yolks? Quiche usually uses whole eggs, but custard uses yolks! But I wanted a twist…how about a crème caramel (= flan)?…and that is where the story begins.
Flan
January 22nd, 2010 — history, recipes, technique
Orange Whipped Cream
January 18th, 2010 — recipes
This is just a quick follow-up to the previous post on angel food cake. To top the cake, I made some fresh whipped cream, which was quite simple…1/2 pt of heavy whipping cream, 1/4 tsp vanilla extract, 1/4 tsp orange extract and 1/2 cup of fine sugar (or powdered, but that has some anti-caking agent). Whip until medium to medium-hard peaks and refrigerate or use immediately.
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Angel Food Cake
January 18th, 2010 — history, recipes, technique
A true gift from the heavens deserves its own post, especially since it can be twisted in so many diabolic ways. Â hehehe. In this post I am going to focus on angel food cake and will also highlight the differences between angel food cake, devil’s food cake, red velvet cake and chiffon cake.
Read on young padawan and when you make the inevitable journey to the sky, hopefully by that time angel’s food won’t be a surprise to you — ambrosia is another story.
Crêpes
January 8th, 2010 — history, recipes
My mom asked my brother and I what we wanted for a nice Christmas morning breakfast. A flurry of ideas flew through my cortex. Did I want waffles? We don’t have a good waffle maker. How about poached eggs? Nah, that won’t do. Pancakes? Overdone. Maybe sausages. Nope; forgot to buy them the night before. In the car a brilliant idea hit me and I exclaimed, “crêpes!” But we didn’t have a crêpe pan…what. to. do.
I went to bed after watching Four Christmases with the family (in case you were thinking of seeing it…don’t) and drinking a considerable amount of wine following the Beef Bourguignon.  The next morning, I awoke to a surprise. You guessed it — crêpes!  Biggest secret is you don’t need a crêpe pan!  Any shallow, non-stick will do.  Read on if you want to build up an appetite.
Bœuf à la Bourguignonne
December 25th, 2009 — history, recipes
It’s in the oven right now. And I can’t wait. Cooking coq-au-vin after seeing Alton Brown’s take on the dish has been on my mind for quite some time now, but I never got around to making it (shame on me). However, this past weekend I sat down with my family and watched Julie & Julia and I decided that I had to make Beef Bourguignon for Christmas Eve.
hope mine looks like this...
Popcorn
December 7th, 2009 — history
Whether it’s microwaved, grilled or ‘fried up’, popcorn is one of those staple all-American foods. Come on! What other food can claim its roots to the Native Americans and then end up at the forefront of American culture? (actually, I could probably think of a few, but that’s not the point). Join me as I delve into the poppin’ world of popcorn on GrowingSideways.
vintage popcorn