Archive for ‘Nibbles & Bites’
72 items.
Jan18
It’s no secret that I like to plan parties. (Sometimes the planning is even more fun than the execution, but only rarely.) Unfortunately, my imagination and notebooks sometimes contain more ideas than I can always accommodate on the calendar. Such is the case with this most recent party idea. Rather than hoard the idea for a year, I’ve decided to share it and hope that if someone uses this idea, they let me know how it goes!
The Commercial Bowl
Not everyone is a football fan but it seems a shame to waste a perfectly good opportunity to party. In order to make the most of the day, why not concentrate on the other fun to be had: the incredible (and sometimes deplorable) commercials that run in multi-million dollar spots throughout the show.
For this to work best, you obviously need a way to view the broadcast plus a DVR
Decorate the party room(s) with all sorts of branded items. Raid the party store for party supplies
Serve a variety of finger foods, just like any other Superbowl gathering. Chicken wings, sub sandwiches, chips and dip, etc. Feel free to spruce up each item, depending on your guest list, with your own twists on old favorites or make it easy on yourself and pick up deli platters with absolutely zero guilt.
Because watching commercials isn’t the most exciting thing in the world, make a game out of it by having guests vote on who they think will have the most ostentatious offering before-hand and then take votes on the winner after. Give guests personal whiteboards (purchased or easily created with special paint) and dry-erase markers to be the judges of each commercial. Add in some other games, like the Adverteasing Board Game
Jan11
You know how it is: you’re in the kitchen trying to come up with something for dinner so you just start tossing things together. Or, maybe, you’re doing a little improv on an otherwise basic recipe. Either way, dinner turns out very yummy and you’re left wondering: now, how did I do that?
Of course, in my case, I’m working on the cookbook so I have to be able to tell others the recipe. But whether you’re situation finds you wanting to write down a family recipe that’s made by memory or follow your own ad libbing, the following tips will help you get to the same destination: a recipe that can be made more than once with the same results! It all comes down to two main parts: Measurements and Records.
Measurements
A pinch of this, a dash of that, but is it your pinch or my pinch? A finger and a thumb or a full-fisted affair? While some vagaries of cooking (the inevitable ’til it’s done’ comes to mind) really are variable due to a number of conditions, if we just pause long enough to measure each thing before adding it to the pot it makes the written account so much easier to follow.
How to do it? First, keep a couple sets of measuring cups
For bigger items (meats, large quantities of flour, etc.) having a digital scale
Records
Measuring is one thing, but unless you have some way to retrieve that information, it’s not going to do you much good. As a friend used to say: the weakest ink is better than the faintest memory. The obvious solution is to keep pen and paper at hand and stop between each step to write everything down.
As simple as this is, it can also wreck that creative flow you get into while playing culinary scientist on the way to a new discovery. Instead, recruit a friend or family member into taking dictation. This is a great position for kids who want to help in the kitchen but may not be quite ready to man (or woman) the range on their own. Finally, if you fly solo at the stove, try a digital voice recorder
So, go forth, create and then replicate your success again and again. Or, if it’s not so much in the success department, at least you’ll know exactly what you did and you can figure out where you went astray.
Dec28
It’s that time of year, folks, when we look back at the year that was (and wonder where it went so quickly!) and contemplate the year ahead (and what we’re going to do differently). As much as I dislike the word “resolutions”–it sounds so official and ominous and unyielding–it is what most people call their intentions (my preferred word, leaves some necessary wiggle room) that they set. Do you have any that are food-related?
No, no, no, I don’t mean the usual big-d-Diet ones. I mean little-d-diet ones, the everyday practices that we have, the getting out of ruts or starting new habits. Whether we live to eat or eat to live, food is a necessary part of our daily lives so it makes perfect sense that there might be some food-related intentions to be made for the start of the next decade.
If you want to eat healthier in the new year, instead of declaring an all-out war on carbs or fats, why not try a more subtle shift like these:
- I intend to eat more vegetables. If you’re more of a meat and potatoes type, try mashed cauliflower instead of the usual spuds, bake sticks of turnips or rutabagas drizzled with olive oil instead of fries, or even creamed spinach on the side of your grilled or broiled steak or chicken.
- I intend to watch my portion sizes. Pick up a deck of playing cards and place it next to your plate at home–that’s the size your portion of meat should be. Does it look very small on your usual plates, making you feel deprived? Buy smaller plates! It’s true, we eat with our eyes just as much as our mouths, and seeing a full plate of practically any size will increase your satisfaction with a meal.
Perhaps you already eat healthily but your usual meals have gotten a bit predictable. Maybe you want to try new things but don’t know where to start. All it takes is an idea:
- I intend to try a new recipe every week. Too drastic a shift in our eating habits can be upsetting on several fronts. Immersion works well for languages, but I think a more gradual introduction to new ingredients, cuisines or cooking techniques is a kinder way to expand ones horizons; knowing that the familiar is waiting around the corner allows us to experiment more easily.
- I intend to buy a new spice and learn how to use it. One of the most fascinating things in food, I think, is how different the same basic ingredients taste when a new spice or seasoning is employed. I recently picked up Ian Hemphill’s Spice and Herb Bible
and am amazed at how thorough a reference it is, including helpful tips about which spices easily combine, what quantities to use with what sort of foods and what each is best suited for.
Or, maybe, it’s the food budget that needs an overhaul:
- I intend to eat out less. While I’m all for supporting local restaurants whenever possible, let’s face it: eating out costs more than cooking at home and, when you are out more nights than in, your food budget can be way out of proportion. This means fast food and take-out, too. Not only will you be doing your wallet a favor, but your waistline may show the difference as well. And when you do go out, pay attention to those portions and bring half of it (or more!) home for future meals.
- I intend to make shopping lists each time I go to the grocery store. There’s just something about having a list in-hand (yes, you have to bring it with you, not leave it on the counter) that curbs the impulse to toss stuff willy-nilly into the cart. It may mean a bit of pre-planning about your menu for the week, but I’m always astonished at how much I spend when I go shopping sans-list compared to with one, not to mention what I invariably forget and have to go back for during the week!
- I intend to shop locally. While not always the case, many times a farmer’s market can yield better prices on fresh produce simply because the farms are down the road and require less transportation costs instead of several states (or countries!) away. Similar deals can be found with local meat markets that do their own butchering and therefore fewer middle-man costs. Even if the prices are the same, you may feel better for supporting the local economy in a more direct way than shopping for everything at the larger chains or big-box stores.
Whatever you intend for 2010, keep in mind that it should be to add something to your life. By keeping a positive spin on things and concentrating on meeting small milestones on a frequent basis you’ll have a higher sucess rate and be able to look back on the coming year with a smile.
Dec14
While listening to the Weekly Geek podcast last week they discussed a submitted iPhone App, Ratio, by the author of the book of the same name
At any rate, the hosts were discussing the versatility of the App that, apparently, breaks down many common food items into formulas–ratios–so that the cook can design their own dishes free from the restrictions of specific recipes. All agreed that it was a cool tool but one opined that it might not be best for beginners while the other said it was PERFECT for beginners since no matter what, if they followed the ratios, the recipes couldn’t fail. Furthermore, using the example of a simple biscuit, that is didn’t matter what type of flour or fat you used, the biscuit would be correct.
SCREEEECH!
Wait, seriously? Are you thinking what I’m thinking? Not all ingredients are created equal and using the wrong one can spell disaster for a recipe. Even if an item is chemically correct, if it doesn’t taste good or have the correct texture, it has failed in it’s purpose of flavorful sustenance.
Because I’m a hands-on type of girl, I propose the following hypothesis:
Using a fairly basic 3:1:2::flour:fat:milk ratio for biscuits (allowing self-rising flour for simplicities sake) the use of cold butter, melted butter and olive oil (a fat frequently interchangeable with butter in other culinary applications and generally considered to be healthier) will produce vastly different results, 2 of which will not be what is normally considered a biscuit.
So I tried it. And the results were pretty much as I predicted. I used self rising flour only because I didn’t want to make a huge batch of biscuits each time (another claim by the pro-beginner host was that if you only wanted to make one of something, you could) so I did things in a single-serving size and used the traditional cold butter, melted it because I can see folks thinking that they’ll maybe soften it and going too far but using it anyway and olive for the stated health and versatility reasons.
I’m assuming a tiny bit of knowledge that I maybe shouldn’t: that the fat should be cut into the flour before any sort of liquid is added. I have no idea what level of instruction (if any) the Ratio App provides, but since the other two options are semi-liquid and liquid fats I figure we’ll get a sense of the dump-it-in technique as well. When I mixed the olive oil and melted butter each with the self-rising flour there was definite clumping and, as I figured would happen, so much of the flour bonded with the liquid in those fats that when it came time to add the milk it… didn’t mesh well.
But I baked them anyway! Placing each on a labeled piece of parchment paper and into a 435-degree oven for about 20 minutes. Once again, the results were predictable. The regular (control) biscuit was flaky, buttery and what you would generally expect when you hear the word biscuit. The melted-butter version was kinda clumpy and had a horrible texture inside: definitely not light and fluffy. If some of the butter doesn’t stay by itself so it can get all hot and steamy inside the flour, it just doesn’t turn out well. The olive oil had a slightly better texture and the flavor wasn’t actually bad, but it was more like a pancake than a biscuit–olive oil has no structure of its own to lend to the biscuit and it incorporates well with the flour and milk because it lacks milk solids the way the butter does.
And I haven’t even touched on the differences that could arise (hah!) from the use of different flours or if they wanted to, say, substitute buttermilk for regular milk–yes, you can do it but it affects the leavening you need, etc.
Don’t get me wrong, I love formulas and the idea of the Ratio App is fabulous for someone like me who knows ingredients and techniques and is more likely to sit down and figure out a ratio for myself so that I can experiment with a recipe. I love books like Rose Levy Beranbaum’s The Cake Bible
