April | 2022 | A Heritage of Humor - Stories from my Kitchens

Post #856 I DID IT!!!

April 25, 2022 at 10:50 AM | Posted in Uncategorized | Comments Off

Regular readers already know this, and after this post, even casual or new readers will know. I’m Homer Simpson when it comes to donuts. I cannot categorically say that I love all donuts (what the heck is up with bacon covered maple frosted?), but I do love about 95% of all donuts I’ve encountered. I’ve been on a quest detailed here in the blog to find the perfect donut recipe that ticked all my boxes. And I’ve found it at last.

First, though, for those who aren’t familiar with my singular dedication/obsession with the lowly donut, let me explain. It started with my mom. Once in a very great while, my mom would give us donuts for breakfast. She didn’t like us eating too much sugar, so treats like that were not in the house often. Fruit nearly always was, and vegetables were always. She would always get the box of donuts that had four cinnamon, four powdered, and four plain donuts. Sometimes the mix would include four chocolate instead of four plain.

When the assortment had chocolate, we kids dove for those. When it didn’t, the powdered went first, then the cinnamon, then the plain. Sometimes she’d get just a box of plain donuts, and I discovered that I liked those plain donuts far more than any of the others. If there was a small amount of powdered sugar, or cinnamon on them where they sat against those donuts, that was okay. It added a small touch of flavor but didn’t overwhelm the uniqueness of the plain donut.

So for us, the boxed donut was always what we had. Unless we went to Dunkin Donuts, or it’s competitor (in our small Arizona town) Winchell’s Donuts. When were at the donut store, three kids drooling at the counter eyes alight with excitement and noses twitching from the aromas, it could take us so long to choose, my parents would get impatient and might choose for us! You didn’t want that to happen because beyond the chocolate iced donut, and the powdered sugar donut, there were literally dozens more kinds. My brother always went for the biggest so nearly always got an apple fritter or a bear claw. My sister would always be adventurous and try something she hadn’t had before, but there was no system to her choice, just whatever tickled her fancy. She ate a lot of pink donuts. I discovered the delights of the filled donut. We’d had jelly donuts rarely, but at the donut store they had chocolate iced donuts filled with vanilla pudding! Powdered donuts filled with lemon! And nirvana – powdered donuts filled with a fluffy chocolate cream!! Once I had that, the game was over. That was my downfall. When I got older, I made sure to only ever get one.

When I was in the 10th grade, a communications class I was taking gave us the assignment to make a class presentation. We had to stand in front of everyone and present a demonstration to teach the rest of the class something. It didn’t matter what; it was our choice. At that time, I was in the middle of learning “The 52 Ways to Play Solitaire”, so decided to give a demonstration of the current one I was playing. It went pretty well except the cards didn’t want to cooperate with me. But one girl brought in an electric skillet, a bottle of oil, a slotted spatula, a tube of biscuits, some sugar, some cinnamon, and brown paper bag. While the oil heated, she explained how to mix the sugar and cinnamon and did that while talking. Then when the oil was the right temp, she popped open the biscuits, worked them until they were stretched into a round thin donut shape, then put them in the oil. I was floored! Homemade donuts from tube biscuits? Who’da ever thought of that?! I didn’t care for the sugar/cinnamon combo, but I already had a ton of other ideas for toppings. Then, in my brain, I took it one step further and an just fried the biscuit and filled it was chocolate fluff. Boom! I went home, explained it to my mom and we went crazy. Iced donut, powdered donuts, the only one we never tried were plain donuts since we couldn’t add the unique flavor to the biscuit dough.

The unique flavor was the critical factor. Without it, it was just fried sweet dough. And I couldn’t identify it.

Years later, when I got married the first time, one of the things we bought ourselves was an electric donut maker. I hate buying single-use kitchen machines. They tend to get in the way when you’re not using them, and eventually you forget you have them. I should have paid more attention. Following the directions for making the dough, it turned out to be basically pancake batter which was not what I was after. I tried various other doughs, but it was never too successful. At various time through my cooking education journey, I would buy one of those donut makers again, but the result was never ever satisfactory, so I eventually stopped. And was very sad.

When I started my bread-making journey, one of the things nearly every book talked about as a use for risen dough was doughnuts. Not donuts, but doughnuts, to differentiate from cake donuts. The risen doughnuts take a long time to make because the dough has to go through two proofs. They are fried, which is a good thing, and typically they are filled, but can be cut into the true donut shape and then glazed, iced, or sprinkled with sugar. While all this was fun and fascinating, it wasn’t what I was looking for. I know how to make all these doughnuts, but it’s not what I wanted.

I wanted the true, plain donut I remembered as a kid. Something quick, easy, and wouldn’t make dependent on going to the store to buy them. I also wanted a recipe that didn’t make two dozen donuts since I would inevitably end up throwing away 18 stale donuts. So the search went on.

I knew about “cake” donuts, and baked donuts, but a baked donut to me is simple a version of cake. If the batter is too loose, when you pick up that donut with icing on it or not, it’s going to fall apart in your hand. What good is that? I also have fried bread, and batter, and made fritters and hush puppies. And through it all, I hadn’t found my elusive flavor.

Until I “met” The Two Fat Ladies, overly large cooks from Great Britain. Sadly, they only had three and a half seasons of their show before one of them passed away, but what a fun show that was!

The drove/rode all over the British Isles cooking for various folks and teaching their traditional methods using traditional ingredients. Their loving banter interspersed with their instructions highlighted their humor and love for cooking. In one of their episodes, Jennifer, the one driving the motorcycle (yes, they drove that motorcycle all the time) talked about her love for freshly ground nutmeg. “I put it in everything!” she crowed. “I’m aware of that, dear,” replied Clarissa, the one in the side car.

On a whim, I bought some nuts of nutmeg, and tried it. Boom! There was my elusive ingredient. That was the one I’d been searching for. The reason I didn’t find till then is the difference between fresh ground and powdered, in-the-can spices and herbs. We’ve used salt and pepper grinders for years, and now, we grate our own fresh spices whenever we can.

So, to make a long story short (too late!), I went on a multi-year search for the perfect recipe that wouldn’t take hours or days to make and would make the right amount. I found it a few days ago. I made it yesterday. It was exactly what I’ve been looking for for so long. I found it because I’ve been looking for ways to use my sourdough. Here’s the recipe:

1/2 cup sourdough starter/discard
2 Tablespoons oil
1 large egg
1/3 cup buttermilk
2 cups flour
1/2 cup sugar
1/4 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp fresh ground nutmeg, optional but I highly recommend it
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
oil for frying

Prepare a frying pan with enough oil for frying the donuts and heat to 360 degrees. I use my electric skillet so I can keep an eye on the temp. Be aware that just because the light goes out, the oil may not have reached the right temp so use a thermometer to be certain. Once it’s reached the right temp, you can remove thermometer and let the skillet maintain the heat level. Line a plate with two layers of paper towels and set aside. In a small bowl whisk the flour with the salt, sugar, spices, baking soda, and baking powder and set aside. In a large bowl, stir together the sourdough, egg, oil, and buttermilk until very well blended.

[NOTE: Partner/Spouse and I are sensitive to dairy products so we don’t have milk in the house. The buttermilk in the recipe is the acid that acts with the baking soda and powder to give the dough its lift. This is necessary to the success of the recipe. I used Buttermilk powder and water, plus a tsp of vinegar to be certain. You could also use a tsp of lemon juice. There’s a picture of the product I use at the end of the post.]

Mix the wet and dry ingredients together just until blended, then turn out onto a floured surface. Knead gently 3-4 times to bring the dough together then roll or pat the dough down to a half inch thick. Using a donut cutter

dipped in flour cut the dough into donuts. DO NOT TWIST THE CUTTER IN THE DOUGH. This will cause the edges to seal a bit and the donuts won’t rise well when fried. Reform the dough gently and pat down until all the dough is used. Any leftover bits can be fried for snacking on. The next step will be quick. When the oil is hot enough, fry the donuts, holes, and bits for 1-2 minutes per side. Use a slotted spoon to turn the donuts and to remove from oil onto the paper towels to drain. Allow to cool for a few minutes, then sprinkle with plain or powdered sugar or cinnamon sugar. Allow to cool to room temp and glaze with a powdered sugar glaze using vanilla or lemon flavors or make a chocolate glaze. Or ice with cake frosting. Or eat ’em plain like I did.

No lie, start to finish including clean up was 65 minutes. And the flavor was almost exactly what I wanted. I think the next time I make them I’ll cut back on the sugar a little, and omit the cinnamon entirely. And I want to add a few things. I want to try frozen blueberries, and sunflower seeds, and walnuts, and banana, and butterscotch chips, and candied peel. But each of those takes if further away from the old fashioned plain donut I was searching for so long.

Partner/Spouse noted a little while ago that the donuts taste exactly like churros and wants to know if it can be used for that. Yes. And I want to make crullers, too. So fun.

And here’s the buttermilk powder I use:

So, I hope everyone had as successful a weekend as I did! Please share if anything stands out and you’d like to tell us. And feel free to share the post.

As always,

Post #855 Down on the Farm

April 23, 2022 at 5:56 PM | Posted in Uncategorized | Comments Off

It’s getting to be that time of year. The sun is warming things up; trees and shrubs are budding; flowers are sending up new shoots. And farm stands are dusting things off waiting for the first harvest to sell. We’ve been scouring the ‘net and local papers and village pamphlets and random farms seen along the drives we take so often with the goal to find the best farm stand/market/store to buy our weekly produce locally. One place we see often because it’s along one of our favorite drives to get to our major grocery store is the one above. We often say as we whiz by “We’re going to have to stop there one day!”

Today was that day.

Our weekends tend to be busy. We try to get the mundane tasks out of the way as quickly as possible, but they tend to drag along. So we try to intersperse the “fun” things with it so by the time we’re done, we feel not only that we accomplished things, but had a really good day along with it. Today, we started out late because the first store didn’t open till 10. Normally, we like to be close to finished by that time. The first stop was the wine store. We chose the store because it’s huge, local, and sells a wide selection that includes local wines. So I got a couple of bottles of my standard faves, but I also picked up a bottle of chardonnay from a nearby winery that looked intriguing.

I love the picture, although I dislike those chairs. It’s a chardonnay, but their website calls it a “slightly sweet” one with more than delicate overtones of fruit. They have a more standard chardonnay aged in oak barrels with buttery overtones which I prefer, but they’re currently out of stock and won’t see any until late summer. I’m on their email list, so I’ll know when that one comes in. For now, I’m saving this for later in the week. It’s still early for wineries to be opening, but this one has a tasting room open year round. They’re a mite pretentious in that their prices are a little bit above average, and they require reservations for tastings, etc., but I’ll overlook that until I do a tasting and see if I like the wine.

We stopped at a hardware store to get a dowel for Partner/Spouse to start using for learning macrame, and numbers for our doors so the delivery people know which door to knock on, stuff like that. Then Partner/Spouse went to Trader Joe’s while I walked the dog and chatted with people wandering by.

The next set of stops was on the other side of the compass with the house as the focal point, so since we were passing by, we dropped things off, put the dog inside, and got ready for the next jaunt. Before we left, we placed an online order at the Chinese restaurant just up the road (read that “just up the road” anywhere from ten feet to ten miles. It’s a local thing.) So dinner was taken care of. Our next set of tasks was to get the car washed, stop at the farm store, stop at the Dollar General to get dog biscuits, and then pick up the food. The only order was the food had to come last.

And it happened, the farm store came first. What a treat that was! We’d visited their web site a couple of times, so we weren’t unfamiliar with their products. The reality was so charming, it was difficult not to just hand them the card and say, “Stop us when it declines.” The farm store is what it’s called, but it’s located on a local, family-owned and operated farm. The store is right on the road (rural route 5) (I love living in the country) so we turned in and immediately braked to avoid hitting a dog and some chickens. Their secondary sign lists the major categories they offer. The reason they can stay open all year round is they offer fresh milk (raw or pasteurized), cheeses, eggs, and meats along with the produce they grow. They also carry other locally made products. Another sideline of the farm is they offer guest rooms to stay on the farm, and help work it if you want the whole farm experience. I don’t. Been there, done that, bought the tshirt.

After we parked the car, we turned to the store and immediately fell in love with two of the most adorable dogs EVER! One was a little terrier type, black and white, with the typical terrier personality. Skittish, worried looking, but longing for love (if the expression in her eyes was any indication, she got plenty). The other dog was the star. He was a huge animal, sort of a cross between St. Bernard and dalmatian. Huge, fluffy, white and black, with the typical St Bernard expression on his face. Totally not worried about a thing despite these strangers wandering into his kingdom.

We were greeted enthusiastically when we went in and given the layout of the store and told to “take all the time you want.” It was easy because we were the only people in the store. So the first thing I asked? “How much is the big dog outside?” She laughed and said people ask all the time. “He’s the face of the farm. We couldn’t sell him.” A great dog!

We wandered through the small space and thoroughly examined everything they had to offer. We knew we weren’t going to get any produce because most farms haven’t even started plowing yet (although we did see one enterprising 16 year old on the tractor at one point this morning.) They had the milk; they had the cheese; they had the jellies, pasta, dog treats, and breads. But we were interested in their meat.

We love a good piece of farm raised meat. By farm, I do not mean the factory farms, but the homestead, family operated farms where the cows have names, and the chickens are valued members of the community. When an animal is treated humanely, the meat has a more tender and flavorful quality to it. We’ve bought meat at farmer’s markets in various states that actually made us ill due to their mishandling of the product and of the animals. One place in Vermont was so bad, I mentioned it at work and was told “No one buys their stuff except tourists.” We’re hoping this place lives up to their hype. We want a good local butcher.

So, we bought a ham steak that’s bigger than our largest cast iron skillet (12″ across), and two large bone-in pork chops. We also bought a jelly that I found fascinating called 4 Reds. The make up of the jelly varies but as long as the four berries are red, it’s enough. We got some fresh pico de gallo, although they didn’t call it that. I looked for some tortilla chips thinking we’d have them for lunch but no luck. So tomorrow we’ll do that. We also got a few other sundries. Fingers crossed!

One other service they offer that we may take them up on once we get a new stand up freezer for extra storage is buying meat in bulk. They sell meats by half, by quarter, and by 100 pound lots. You can get beef, pork, lamb, or chicken – although chicken is significantly smaller portions. They also have a CSA program which means Community Supported Agriculture. You buy a subscription then twice a month a box shows up at your door (or you can show up at the store before it’s sent) with a conglomeration of the seasonal vegetables. They will skew in favor of what you like, but you also accept what’s available. The subscriptions are full for this year, but we may take advantage next year. And the full CSA shows that the locals are vested in the farm and its methods. A bad farm wouldn’t have community support.

So after the farm market, the next thing along the road was the car wash. Okay, this wasn’t a drive up, insert card, and sit while the machine washes everything. It was a drive in, insert quarters, squirt water at your car and rub. Not bad. I had fun.

Then, on a whim because we still had a lot of time to kill before getting the food, we went to an antique store! It was one of those with no order, rhyme, or reason. Lots of rooms to get lost in, and a whole room for my passion – books! I only got two though. But, we got a prize.

Quirky, kitchy, and just the right thing for us in our library once we get it set up. For those who can’t see it, it’s a chicken basket. I’m not sure you’re supposed to put all your eggs in there, but we’ll find some way to fill it. Hershey’s kisses, maybe?

So, then we stopped to get dog biscuits, but changed our minds and went to get our food. It was ready and we went home. A few things to do and by three o’clock we were done. By four o’clock the fire was set, and the wine was poured, cuz it was Miller time!

We’re still having a good day. The fire is good, there’s good music on the television as we listen to a concert, and all work is done. Tomorrow is likely a repeat of today except that we’ve entered into a new weekly task. Every weekend now includes a hike of some kind. We alternate weeks as to who chooses the hike. I started off last weekend with a one mile hike up a mountain just over the border into Mass in the Berkshires I’ve been wanting to look at. Tomorrow we’re going to the Cherry Plain State Park, if you want to google it. So a good time will be had by all.

Well, that’s all for today. I hope you enjoyed my recount of the day, especially the farm market since it was the highlight! I’m already thawing out the pork chops for tomorrow’s dinner. Partner/Spouse has requested fried cabbage with it so YUM! How is your weekend shaping up? Share if you like. I’d love to hear about it. And feel free to share the post, if you like.

As always,

Post #854 A New Chocolate Chip Cookie

April 22, 2022 at 10:29 AM | Posted in Uncategorized | Comments Off

Who woulda thought it, after over a century of happy baking of one cookie recipe, there would be a new version of it? The recipe actually says “Tollhouse Chocolate Chip Cookies.” The caption below the title says “Inspired by the classic Nestle Tollhouse recipe, these cookies remain soft and easy to eat.” It certainly is a modification of the original Tollhouse cookie recipe, but it’s always been my understanding that when something is owned by someone else, and a different person undertakes to change that, they can’t then call it by the same name due to copyright laws? I mean, if that’s the way to circumvent those laws, I’m gonna re-write Harry Potter so Harry and Voldemort become best friends and all Voldemort’s old spells are reversed and it’s all rainbows and unicorns from there on. Okay, enough ranting.

Seriously, though, these cookies are inspired by the original Tollhouse cookie, and I was intrigued enough by one extra step to try them out.

First, here’s the recipe. I ran across it in my FB feed since I’m so food oriented that at least half my timeline is recipes from strangers.

1 3/4 cup AP flour
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp baking powder
8 tablespoons butter (one stick)
1/4 cup light brown sugar
1/2 cup white sugar
2 tsp clear vanilla extract
1 large egg
2 cups semi-sweet chocolate chips
1 cup chopped nuts

In a small bowl, whisk the flour, baking soda, and baking powder together and set aside. Using your preference of electric mixers, cream the butter, sugars, and vanilla until fluffy. Add the egg and mix until now yellow streaks are visible. On a low mixer speed, add the flour gradually and blend thoroughly. Use a wooden spoon to mix in the chocolate chips and nuts evenly throughout the dough. Cover the dough with plastic wrap and refrigerate for one hour. Before taking the dough out of the fridge, preheat your oven to 325 degrees and prep your cookie sheets. Remove the dough from the fridge and scoop dough into rounded tablespoons. Roll the cookie dough quickly into balls and place on the cookie sheets 2 inches apart. Bake for 10 minutes. Remove from oven and allow to cool 1-2 minutes. Transfer to a cooling rack.

So, let’s talk about this recipe for a moment. First, there’s no salt added. Second, the ingredient proportions are for a smaller batch, but the recipe says it’s 36 cookies. It uses half the butter and almost half the sugar. It adds baking powder which I’ve never seen in a chocolate chip cookie recipe emulating the Tollhouse cookie. It’s not in the original Tollhouse recipe. I’ve stared at the back of that bag of chips often enough to have that recipe memorized. It uses a LOT of chips and nuts in proportion to the dough. And the most intriguing thing to me is it chills the dough, bakes a shorter time, at a lower temp. It’s almost as if to remain chewy, they don’t allow it bake fully. One thing I did appreciate was the reduction of sugar. I’ve always cut the amount of sugar in half and bumped up the amount of flour. With all the chocolate, I never thought that much sugar was needed.

My experience with the cookie was mixed (no pun intended.) Overall, the things I liked about it were the reduction of the sugar, and the smaller batch. I used my standard cookie scoop so I got significantly fewer cookies, which was okay for us. With just the two of us eating the cookies, there was far less waste than usual. The things I didn’t like about it overabundance of chips and nuts which made scooping difficult. I didn’t like the chilling time and impact. When I make Tollhouse cookies, for me start to finish with cooling and cleanup, 45 minutes. This step added an hour for not a lot of benefit. And finally, I didn’t like baking process. The cookies came out pale, doughy, and underdone in my opinion. So I added five more minutes and they were more acceptable.

Will I make these cookies again? I don’t think so. I’m used to what I’m used to. I’ve been making the original Tollhouse recipe since I was 13; I can do it in my sleep. I’ve made my own modifications (cinnamon, sunflower seeds, peanut butter) but it’s the same old recipe. I like it.

However, if any of you try it, please let me know what you think. I’d like to know.

My sourdough is doing great! I used part of it a couple of weeks ago to make bread that didn’t really turn out well, so I decided to keep working it for a while. It’s so healthy I’m about to give it a name. I’ve found doughnut recipes, cookies, cakes, breads, muffins, fried dough, and I want to try all of them. I’ve heard of people who developed a taste for sourdough who eat a spoonful of the starter to help their digestion, and other who put a spoonful into hot water to make a kind of “tea” to drink. I’m probably not going to do that.

Well, I’m going to leave you now with a couple of pics of good things around here:

And, as always,

Post #853 Cooking an Irish Boxty

April 16, 2022 at 1:08 PM | Posted in Uncategorized | Comments Off

I seem to be thinking about boxes a lot lately. Breaking down boxes, recycling boxes, cooking outside boxes, and now I’m cooking an Irish box. Actually, what happened is I made a traditional Irish dish designed to use up leftover mashed potatoes. It’s a sort of potato pancake, but it’s skewed more in favor of cake although it’s a savory dish, not sweet at all. And it uses fresh grated potatoes to give it a fresh taste so it doesn’t reek of leftovers. Like any simple recipe, it’s deceptively difficult to get right, or in this case, traditional. It’s a recipe that everyone knows, and everyone does differently, and everyone is right, and everyone is delicious. Let me tell you how I came to make this dish.

Partner/Spouse and I have been to Ireland a lot of times, and we always try to eat the traditional foods whenever we can, but we’ve never had boxty. Very few things are as traditionally Irish as potatoes. My mom was 100% Irish and she made potatoes six times a week. I’m 50% Irish, so I only make potatoes three times a week. Kidding, but I don’t make them as often as other Irish folks do. I’m always looking for different ways to cook them beyond the basic mash, baked, or fried. I developed my own version of this dish by adding an egg and some flour to mashed potatoes, forming them into shallow bowls and baking them until they were set and golden brown. Then I filled them with leftover Thanksgiving fare – turkey, gravy, veggies, etc. reheated and chowed down.

I’m on a constant search for a donut recipe that I can make at home that tastes like the wonderful plain donuts I can buy in nearly any store or bakery. I’ve finally figured out that the flavor I’m looking for is nutmeg, but the dense cake-like texture is hard to come by. Baking doesn’t do it, and the only other way to make a donut is to fry it. But don’t have a deep fryer, and I’m not about to buy a kitchen machine that does just one thing, fry. For one, I don’t do a lot of frying, and I hate filling a skillet with oil to fry something only to have that oil cool off, and then either get tossed, or sit until I inevitably get tired of seeing it. So, I finally remembered the electric skillet.

I remembered for two reasons. We pay our own propane bill in the new house, and our stove is a gas stovetop. Every time I’m cooking, I’m calculating how much propane we’re using, its cost, and how long before we have to fill the tanks again. Our oven is electric so that’s not an issue. We bought a fairly large electric skillet a long while ago for the same reason as now, I wanted to make donuts. However, somewhere along the line we misplaced the plug. I held onto it because I kept running into the plug in odd places, but never managed to actually connect the two pieces. We were in Target one day recently and found a small electric skillet, large enough for the two of us, and large enough to make a 2-4 donuts at a time, for only $20. It was a no-brainer. We now have two electric skillets. But not for long. The next time I see the plug for the larger one, I will take the time to put them together, and then donate the thing.

Since we’ve had the smaller e-skillet, I’ve used it several times. Last night, I made a chicken stir fry, and tonight Partner/Spouse is going to make fried chicken and fried okra. But ever since I bumped into this recipe for Irish Boxty, I’ve been wanting to make it. We don’t keep milk of any kind (except powdered for bread making) in the house routinely, so it was something we had to make a trip to get. Then, on the night I planned to make it, I didn’t start until 5:30pm and it requires a cooling period of 2 hours or more. Since we wanted to eat before 9pm, I didn’t make them that night. The next day, I started earlier.

Here’s the recipe:

3 pounds russet potatoes
2 cups AP flour
2 1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp baking soda
1 1/2 – 2 cups buttermilk
1/4 cup vegetable oil
2 scallions chopped up (for garnish)
1/2 cup sour cream (for garnish)

Peel and cube two pounds of russets and cook in a pot with enough water to cover them. Add 1 tsp of salt, bring to a boil, cook until fork tender. Drain and place the potatoes in a large bowl. Mash the potatoes until smooth. Cover with foil and cool in the fridge for a minimum of two hours, or longer until you’re ready to make the boxtys. When ready to cook start the oil heating in a heavy skillet over medium heat. Peel and grate the other pound of russets. Wrap the grated potatoes in a kitchen towel and twist until all the moisture has been removed. Set aside. In the bowl of chilled mashed potatoes add the flour, the baking soda, the rest of the salt, and 1 1/2 cup of the buttermilk. Mix everything together, then add the grated potatoes. If the batter is too dry, add more buttermilk by the tablespoon.

Set the batter aside for 5 minutes, and increase the heat under the oil to medium high. When the batter is ready, place the batter in the skillet in large spoonfuls. Flatten the batter if necessary. Fry for five minutes on one side, then gently flip and fry for four minutes on the second side. These will rise well, but still have a heavier potato flavor and consistency.

Remove to drain on a cooling rack or two thicknesses of paper towels. Sprinkle with a light touch of salt. Serve warm. Garnish with a dollop of chilled sour cream and a sprinkle of chopped scallions.

We had this with fried ham. Ham and potatoes, what could be better? While we were eating, we each came up with lots of additions to the batter. Grated or chopped onions in the batter, fried or raw; parmesan cheese on the outside, or shaved on the inside; mashed garlic added to batter; a dollop of barbecue sauce. It’s really limited to your imagination and what you have on hand. You can see in the above picture, I sprinkled the uncooked side with fresh ground black pepper.

So, that’s the tale of the boxty in our house. I noticed that is tasted a lot like the batter around the fish in a good fish and chips shop. If you’re sensitive to lactose, be aware that you will react to this. Partner/Spouse enjoyed the boxtys immensely, but had a bad day the next day.

So, have a great weekend. We’re just relaxing at home. All boxes emptied, broken down, and recycled. Partner/Spouse started painting this weekend; he’s an artist in oils. I’m getting ready to start a large loom knitting project. Life is moving forward.

As always,

Post #852 Cooking Outside the Box

April 13, 2022 at 4:26 PM | Posted in Uncategorized | Comments Off

The other day, I was feeding the sourdough starter. To get to the flour bin (I now have a flour bin that’s basically a large plastic tub with a snap shut lid that holds 15 pounds of flour -cuz I checked- that I got from King Arthur and only fits in one undercounter cabinet), I have to remove that few items I store on top of it, one of those being the container of chocolate chips. I typically set things on the floor for the few minutes I’m using the flour before setting them back on top of the flour bin. That particular time, I set the chocolate chips on the counter since the dog was nosing around and chocolate and dogs don’t get along very well. Since it wasn’t where I usually put it, I neglected to put it back. A few hours later, Partner/Spouse came out of the kitchen and asked, “Were you going to make cookies or something?”

“No,” I replied. “Why? You want some?”

He said, “No, I just saw the chocolate chips sitting on the counter.”

I glanced at the clock and it was really too late to make cookies before starting dinner, a meat loaf that I needed the oven for.

“I can make some tomorrow if you don’t mind waiting.”

So the next day, around 1pm, I started in on them. But I wanted to do something different. Last time, I put a half cup of oats in them to make oatmeal chocolate chip cookies. Other times, in the past, substituted half the butter for peanut butter to get a sort of Reese’s cup cookie thing. Still other times, I’ve rolled the unbaked cookies in cinnamon sugar to make a snickerdoodle chocolate chip cookie. Since I had a new ingredient in the house I opted to go with a Chocolate Chocolate Chip Cookie. Basically it’s the regular Toll House cookie with 1/4 cup to 1/2 cup of cocoa added to it. I decided to use the black cocoa I bought during my last visit to King Arthur.

Black cocoa is a very fine and dry cocoa powder. It’s the same consistency as talcum powder in my estimation. Everything I read about it said that since it’s dry you need to up the fat or liquid in a recipe when you use it. I normally use 1/2-3/4 cup butter for my choc chip cookies, but this time I bumped it up to a full cup which I haven’t done since I was a teenager. I was tempted to add coconut, or pecans, or sunflower seeds, but since I was trying an entirely new ingredient, I wanted to see how they turned out with just the black cocoa.

Here’s how they turned out:

I followed the recipe exactly, but the way my mom taught me to bake, and the method I’ve nearly always followed, it to start with the butter creaming, and add each ingredient separately. I know a lot of people who use the “all in” method, and I knew one woman who used a blender to mix her cookie dough, but I’ve always followed the one ingredient at a time method. So, for the most part, the recipe went along normally. But, before I added the flour, I put a 1/4 cup of the black cocoa in and gently mixed it up. The batter turned blue-gray. It looked almost ghost-like. Creepy. But after I added the flour, it turned the dark, chocolate color I was expecting. But one interesting thing was the texture. It was much fluffier than I’m used to. It was thick and fluffing, and looked like a stiff frosting from Willie Wonka, even after the chips were added. It was also very sticky. I wanted to use my cookie scoop to measure them out, but the dough wouldn’t come out of the scoop properly. I had to go with the two spoon method. Not a problem since it’s what I’ve done for 40 years before buying my first scoop. It was just unexpected. One caveat, I should have increased the sugar by a half cup, and omitted the brown sugar entirely. Black cocoa isn’t bitter, exactly, but there’s no ambient sweetness to it at all.

This experiment was a success, and from the way people on FB reacted to the picture I posted, it was an impressive success.

So, I relaxed for a while, then started dinner. This was Partner/Spouse’s long workday. He finishes up around 7:30pm after a long teaching session online, and a followup with one of his colleagues. I always try to have dinner ready, or ready within a few minutes. Normally, we use that day to make the “quick” dinners. Thinks like ham and eggs and toast, or grilled animal flesh and salad, or BLTs, you get the drift. This day, I wanted to make a meat loaf. We haven’t had one in a while, and it’s one of our favorites. I go all 1950s with this meal and make the classic onion soup mix meat loaf, mashed potatoes, and boiled frozen green beans. But as I was wandering through the cupboards, I realized I didn’t have onion soup mix. It’s easy enough to put together on my own, except I didn’t have one of the key ingredients, cumin. Cumin is a Mexican spice, very earthy, and enhances the flavor of meat tremendously. I knew I could put together something tasty. I once made a meat loaf with a can of diced tomatoes that Partner/Spouse still talks about, so took a look at the canned tomatoes I had and saw one with jalapeno peppers in it. And, when I opened that cabinet, I saw we had a packet of taco seasoning mix. Hmm, so I made this:

I put the hamburger in a bowl, then crushed an entire tube of Ritz crackers to help sop up the juices. Then I added a can of jalapeno peppers (not the tomato and peppers, just the peppers), an egg, some garlic, and the taco seasonings. I stirred until everything was a homogenous mess and put it in a loaf pan. I always want to have a topping for my meatloaf, even it’s as simple as a layer of ketchup, or a sprinkle of sesame seeds. Since I had kind of a taco thing going on, I decided to roughly mash some Frito corn chips, and spread those on. I baked the puppy for a little over an hour, then turned the oven off. There was still several minutes before Partner/Spouse would be done, and I didn’t have the ingredients to make the side dish I wanted to, so I cut up three medium sized potatoes into half inch cubes, heated up some oil, and made home fries, cuz they’re so good even dog wants a share.

The meat loaf turned out perfect, and it did taste like tacos. The potatoes were wonderful, salty and peppery, and the dog got his share too. So yesterday was a good cooking day even though everything I made was “not the norm.”

Tonight, I make grilled steak and the potato dish I wanted to make yesterday. I’ll let you know about those in a day or two.

We spent some time today outside. It was the first day we’ve had that honestly felt like Spring. It was sunny, puffy clouds, cool breezes, warm temps. So we took a drive to find a nearby nature preserve. We found it, and took the dog for a walk. The ground was still very damp and muddy, impassable in spots. But we found the canoe/kayak launch, saw a heron, read about turtles, and generally had a good time. The dog sniffed, pooped, peed, ran, hunted, and generally had a great time.

Here’s where we were, and what the dog has been doing since we got back: