OK, so recently I have become addicted to cadbury's "Crunchie" candy bar. Sadly, the only shop that sells them in my city is a good fifteen minute drive, and they're like $2 apiece, making this a rather expensive addiction.
So, metaphorically speaking, I want to try to freebase this candybar crack.
the chocolate should be easy enough to approximate, but what in hell's bells is honeycomb toffee? how is this amazing candy made?
any help given would be appreciated.
OK, so I get some things about polenta, but not really others. I understand that, raw, polenta is almost like grits, and prepared kinda similarly(or so i've been told). but once you've got your cakes/patties/whatever of polenta, what exactly do yo do with them? i've heard it said that in northern italy they're often used in place of pasta, but...uh, how? are there any "classic" or "iconic" polenta recipes?
OK, so it's my secret shame to admit that I have absolutely no flippin' clue what one does with pita bread.
i mean, i understand that it is usually to be stuffed with things, but...what? how?
are there any guidelines suggestions as to what one might shove inside his breaddy pockets?
firstly, anyone from philly, i gotta ask--nobody in philadelphia gives a damn about cheesesteaks, do they?
secondly, and on to the point of this discussion, a tragedy and a horrible thing happened this week. a little sandwich shop up the street from my house closed, meaning now I have to make my own cheesesteaks.
and I understand the basic idea: cheese and steak, meet hoagie roll. steak can bring his friends onions and green peppers if he wants.
but what sort of proportions should i use? what kind of cheese? what cut of meat?
any help would be appreciated, cos i'll be honest, i'm totally jonesin' for a big meaty tube of awesomeness right now.
So lately i've become interested in making chocolate at home--bars and chunks at first, but eventually truffles and general candies as well.
I'd like to do as much of the work as possible myself--starting from whole cacao beans if at all possible.
I admit my knowledge on the subject is limited, so i can't say too much of what i'm looking for here, but does anyone know of any good resources(books or websites or anything like that) on the subject?
thanks!
So i'm trying to make my baked goods somewhat healthier, and i've found kinda quasi-healthy ways to replace everything except butter.
i don't really like the idea of using margarines or chemical-laced spreads. Will Rodgers once said, "Nothing you can't pronounce will ever work," and i think that works pretty well in the kitchen as well.
Can anyone point me in the right direction? i'm not opposed to using soy-based products, i should add.
So it's like this. I work for a coffee shop, in which we also sell gelato. Trouble is, we've all been well trained at making coffee, NOT at making gelato. further trouble is, there's not really any material with which to train, meaning that we're usually doing it wrong in some way, shape, form or fashion.
Anyway! so it's like this. our gelato is often rather stiff--really, really hard. we've got two regular ice cream scoops, and this random flat shovel thingy. (like I said, we're all coffee people, not gelato people; none of us have been trained in the serving of gelato). So, is there any way to better serve gelato so that it's soft and creamy and delicous, rather than stiff and hard?
I've done this a few times...you're not going to get as exact a roast as you might with a "real" roaster, but if you like good light roasts or serious dark roasts, you're in luck--if you're a fan of city roasts or medium roasts, not so much--that sort of nuance is hard to get here. with a bit of practice, though, you'll develop an "intuition" as to when to hit the power.
the one downside here is that it can be difficult(or impossible, depending on your popper) to add flavorings and whatnot.
Unarata--I believe it's the same thing marketed to different parts of the world; Crunchie is to Britain and Europe, whereas Violet Crumble is mostly Australia.
i'm not a fan of "eating contests," or really athletic contests in general(at least, watching them), but I'd guess it's kinda the same idea across the board--competition. you might say "oh that's stupid," but is eating a hundred hot dogs in ten minutes really that much dumber than kicking a ball around a field for an hour?
I"m mostly a baker, so let me reccommend my two favorite books--Rose Levy Berambaum's "The Bread Bible", and Taste of Home's "Complete Guide to Baking."
As far as cooking goes, the only real cook book I have is Better Homes and Gardens' "New Cook Book." it covers a very broad range of dishes and styles, and goes into a good bit of detail about technical details surrounding the dishes.
pop tarts are my downfall. I manage a coffee shop, and as such get up at 5 am(after going to bed around midnight)...when I wake up I can't do much more than eat an un-toasted pop tart and drink a cup of milk.
Food network has just gotten stupid these days...it's obnoxiously trendy, with very little real content. (i don't count restaurant review shows as anything worth watching). Good Eats is the only real quality show on there...Iron Chef in kinda interesting to watch, but it's not really got much else going for it...Ace of Cakes is funny, but again, has no real practical application to food; it could just as easily be "Ace of Transmission repairs" and the jokes and setup of the show would still work.
I get really tired of all the road shows and whatnot on food network. that sort of thing is fine on the travel channel, but theoretically Food Network is there to talk about cooking and baking, not to show off restaurants that 49/50ths of the viewing audience will never be able to have anything to do with.
also, as far as Road Tasted with the Neely's goes, isn't that the show formerly run by Laura Deen's two dipshit kids? frankly, i'm kinda glad they fired them.
Most of my knives come from my parents(i'm just starting out on my own, so they gave me their old stuff and bought themselves new equipment). I have no idea what make they are, but i've got a butcher's knife(cleaver), a chef's knife, a 8"(or so, i'm guessing) utility knife, and a 10" boning knife. the only real defining feature of them is that they've got wood handles.
Also, they're old as hell. Like, I think my parents got them when they were first married(so, 80s). My other knife is a carving/slicing knife that looks positively demonic; the serrations are very deep, and in groups of three, and at the front, there's literally fangs; it's sharper than hell, too, which is super nice, cos i can't really sharpen it myself.
as for all my other sharpening needs, I keep a 2-stage sharpener I got from williams-sonoma a few years back. I'd like to get a nice whetstone except 1) they're expensive and i'm broke, and 2) I truthfully have no clue how to use them.
try finding a recipe for blueberry muffins--those are very easy to come across, and add some lemon zest, and maybe lemon extract or something like that.
OK.
i don't know much about T-town, but i live in Montgomery, and if you're willing to drive, there's a couple decent places.
1. Ichiban--pretty cheap, toned down place off Eastern Boulevard.
2. Kabuki--more expensive, but better sushi, too. Located on Vaughn Road.
If your boyfriend hasn't ever had sushi, i'd advise Ichiban, as they've got a lot of "cooked" stuff, so there's less concern about the rawness factor.
I'm also a collector of cookbooks and recipes -- something I regret every time I have to pack up and move!
I agree with those who suggest a good, basic cookbook. The Joy of Cooking, How to Cook Everything, Betty Crocker or Better Homes and Gardens are all good and all appeal to various cooks. I'd suggest you go to the bookstore or library and look at them to determine which one fits you best.
After that, what you choose depends on how you like to cook and eat. I'm very fond of the foods of the Mediterranean and good, old Midwestern home cooking. I'm also fond of quick and easy (or, at least, not a lot of time and effort from the cook). There are quite a few cookbooks already mentioned that I like.
Among my favorites:
How to Cook without a Book by Pam Anderson
The Good Home Cookbook by Richard Perry (this one I found through a mention on a blog, and purchased the book from Amazon)
All of The Barefoot Contessa cookbooks -- I've never had a recipe failure from Ina
How to Cook Everything and How to Cook Everything Vegetarian by Mark Bittman
The Mediterranean Diet Cookbook by Nancy Harmon Jenkins
Jamie's Italy by Jamie Oliver
The Olive and the Caper by Susanna Hoffman
Mediterranean Light and Mediterranean Harvest by Martha Rose Shulman
I'll have to admit that many of the Mediterranean cookbooks I like as much for the reading as the recipes.
However, probably my favorite "cookbook" is my binder of recipes that I've collected over 30+ years from family and friends, magazines, blogs and other sources on the internet. I also copy and put my favorite recipes from cookbooks in my binder. My one true test of whether or not a recipe from a cookbook is a keeper is my willingness to copy it (by hand or typing) to add to my binder.
Here in Milwaukee we call in Fairy Food. I think the trick to the foam in the Crunchie bar (and Fairy Food) is molasses and baking soda. Here's a recipe:
http://wiscandy.blogspot.com/2006/11/from-mailbag-fairy-food-recipe.html
You can also get it from Quality Candy/Buddy Squirrel company, though I think the Fairy Food is seasonal (and really expensive). But it is so delicious - like a Crunchie bar to the nth degree.
The new zealenders call this hokey pokey. The bubbles are from bicarb. I made some at christmas and it was really fun to make!
http://forayintofood.blogspot.com/2007/12/hokey-pokey-ha-ha-ha.html
I think I saw what you're looking for -- Gordon Ramsay made what he just called "honeycomb" on an episode of the F-word. (recipe http://www.channel4.com/food/recipes/chefs/gordon-ramsay/greek-yoghurt-with-honeycomb-recipe_p_1.html ). You might try that. . .
I've only had it in Ethiopia at a few coffee rituals when invited into a few homes and the only concern or issue ever was making sure you were close to a bathroon;-)) There was just something a tad different in the way THAT coffee reacted to your gut.
That and the time thang some of those rituals were a couple of hours long!
I guess I'm the only one, but I do enjoy Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives. We travel A LOT, and it's cool to stumble across one of the places that we've seen on TV.
We found Neely's Interstate BBQ in Memphis in March, and the food really was great. Not so fond of "The Neely's" - too much saccharine for my tastes - but, the restaurant jumped out at us, recognizing it from DDD. Feasting on Asphalt - the River Run also gave us a few places to try on our roadie to New Orleans in January.
i love to collect recipes from magazines or websites - Cooking Light, Martha Stewart Living, Real Simple, Food & Wine, Everyday Food, Food Network... I have bunch of cookbooks, but I find I refer mostly to a binder I created where I have organized a bunch of recipes from these sources. I go thru them periodically and throw away stuff I have had for a while and have not tried still.
I tend to also like a lot the Cooking Light year end collection cookbooks and the Everyday Food cookbook - I enjoy seeing how the final dish is supposed to look like. Plus appetite appeal is a MUST for me to get me to try a recipe.
How on earth did I miss this thread!
I have a monstrous collection, between collecting for the past 20+ years (even losing many in a fire), inheriting Gramma's when she passed away and keeping custody of a friend's collection.
One title I am missing, and for whatever reason never think of buying it, is The Joy of Cooking. I do have 3 versions of Good Housekeeping, which have been "go-to" for me for years. I love to pick up books at garage sales and auctions.
I am primarily a baker, but I don't have the "bibles". One of my recent "go-to's" for standard, classic cakes is a compilation of county fair winning recipes "Blue Ribbon Recipes", published in 1958. I LOVE this book.
And, whenever I venture into B & N or Borders (where my son works), I ALWAYS hit the clearance shelves first. Even though in my general cooking I kind of go with ingredients we like and never measure, I do like to look at recipes and get an idea of what ingredients go together to create a certain taste, i.e. certain ethnicities.
And...not sure where they are around the country, but Central Ohio has several "Half-Price Books" stores. There are many used books, and many new books as overstocks at amazing prices.
Subscribe to our feeds:
All of Serious Eats, Talk, Required Eating, Videos, Eating Out, Recipes, New York
Subscribe by email:
Website: http://fresh-films.deviantart.com
Location: Montgomery, Al
About: English Major in my Junior year at Auburn Montgomery...um....i'm kinda the cliche lib arts major, i guess...i work at a coffee shop, i'm wholly insane...you know the drill.
Favorite foods: Anything indian, nearly anything chinese...chocolate is the shit, fo realz. ooh! Pizza! couldn't live without it!
Last bite on earth: It'd have to be either indian food(Narvathan Korma is the shit, yo), or pizza.