Justin & Meredith Winokur's Kitchen Cooking Notebook
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KitchenKatalog: Blog 267
Thursday, February 13, 2014, 05:22 PM
I made angel food cake. I had 4 leftover egg whites and other eggs I wanted to use up. I got the recipe from the book Ratio which is all about the ratios in baking/cooking. The basic Angel Food Cake ratio is 3:3:1 (I'll come back and add the actual recipe) (Added 2017-07-16: Angel Food Cake).
I used 254g egg whites (from 8 eggs) so the rest scales. This is my first time making this cake and I didn't know what the expect. I also know you're supposed to use a tube pan but they said that a spring-form pan would work. I actually clamped it over parchment paper (and then released a bit, pressed out the air, and clamped again). It still rose up enough and seemed to work fine.
I followed the directions including folding the flour/sugar into the eggs but when I poured it into the pan, I realized I had missed a good amount of flour. So I had to fold the egg white inside the pan (and I then whipped it).
It was fully cooked at 30 min or so. I cooled it upside down. The cake was very, very good. It reminded me of what I have had in the past. The only thing is that it was really a bit too sweet and sticky. Next time, I'll do 3:2.5:1 (or 6:5:2) ratio
[Recipe to follow]
Original Wordpress ID and Date: 7432, 2014-02-13_172215
Wednesday, February 12, 2014, 08:36 AM
I made cauliflower fritters with the regular recipe with a bunch of feta, rosemary, paprika, and other seasonings. They came out a bit wet but I was afraid to cook them too much longer as I could smell the cheese melting. So, they were a tad undercooked but really, really good. The feta really adds a lot of flavor! And they are really easy!
I also tried seitan again. I tried to use the 1:1 ratio (by volume) but it really was too wet. I ended up adding extra gluten to make it more doughy. The ingredients (including the gluten are below). I cooked them in the pressure cooker (no aluminum foil) for 30 minutes (Time starts when steam vents, setting 2/10 to hold pressure). I combined the dry ingredients a bowl and the wet in a cup. I mixed them and then hand-kneaded for 5 minutes (timed!) I didn't rest the dough. I keep reading mixed reviews on if that matters
Dough:
Broth:
They were better than last time but still not incredible. They were almost too light and fluffy. I think I need to increase the gluten. Also, I want to work out a measure by weight for both the water and the gluten
Original Wordpress ID and Date: 7247, 2014-02-12_083652
Tuesday, February 11, 2014, 08:36 AM
I made low-fat patty melts and rutabaga chips. To make the patty melts, I made two 1/3 lbs patties. After they were done, I sautéd onions in the same pan. I kept having to deglaze with wine but it worked well enough. The onions didn't really caramelize too much but they had a lot of flavor. I then assembled with fat-free thousand island and a bit of shredded cheese. I spread Brummel and Brown "butter" on the outside of the bread and I tried to grill it. It worked better when everything was warm. (I had made lunch for the next day and refrigerated the stuff and then assembled dinner the next day). As you can see from the picture, it came out a bit messy. I was afraid of over-cooking the bread (I burned a slice the day before) and I was just having issues all around. Oh well, it still came out pretty good.
The rutabaga chips were also really good. I played with slice thickness and settled on the second-from-the-smallest (3/8" I think 1/8"). I baked them at 425 for 30 minutes. I flipped them and did another 5. Unlike potatoes, these crisped up really nicely. I wouldn't say they were better since rutabaga has a very different flavor, but I liked them a lot. I will do it again! (note, I may be wrong about the times. I seem to have lost my notes so I am using the best of my recollection)
Original Wordpress ID and Date: 7244, 2014-02-11_083607
Sunday, February 09, 2014, 09:32 PM
I had done a bit of reading on seitan and most recipes call for a 1:1 vital wheat gluten to water (by volume) ratio. I decided to test it with sausages. I also tried adding all seasonings to the water instead of the dough. I used the following ingredients. I brought it all together and manually kneaded it for 5 minutes. I really liked how it came together. It was easier to form and felt like less of a mass of rubber.
Formed into 5 equal pieces (3 dinner, 2 lunch). Pressure steamed on setting 2 for 25 minutes. (But too much and not good. See below)
I decided to try cooking it like sausages but steaming in the pressure cooker. I do not know if it was the heat, cook time, method (in the aluminum foil) or something else, but I didn't love the texture or the flavor of this attempt. First of all, I forgot the salt! That was pretty noticeable. And too much seasoning. But it just didn't taste like seitan! So, next time, I will do the 1:1 ratio but with more normal ingredients. I think I will still cook it in the pressure cooker but I will simmer (without foil) instead of steam. You can also see that I tried 3 different shapes.
The soup was more straight-forward. I did the following:
I cooked it all for about 20 minutes, immersion blended it, and gave it another 5 minutes. The soup was pretty good. Not overly nuanced like last time but sweet and flavorful. And very easy. It was a bit thick. I would go with another cup of water.
Original Wordpress ID and Date: 7240, 2014-02-09_213229
Sunday, February 09, 2014, 10:56 AM
A pretty easy and simple breakfast. I baked some thick-sliced peppered bacon (from The Fresh Market) and served it with two fried eggs and toast from extra sour-dough from the night before.
Original Wordpress ID and Date: 7236, 2014-02-09_105645
Saturday, February 08, 2014, 08:42 PM
This was mine and Meredith's anniversary dinner. We had eaten a large lunch earlier so we didn't want anything too heavy so we went with seafood. We had Filipino (I think) coconut shrimp, mussels in white wine and roasted cabbage + broccoli.
Mussels: I did this so I know more about it. I lightly sautéed a bunch of scallions in some oil. Then, as they were almost finished, I added 4-5 minced garlic cloves. When they were all aromatic, I added about half a bottle of cheap white wine (Three Buck Chuck). Finally, I added a bit of crushed red pepper. I used the steamer insert to steam the mussels. Later, I actually decided to do another few minutes to cook them a bit more (this time without the basket).
They were really good, though I was disappointed by the number of dead ones before and after. The sauce was really, really good with the crusty sour-dough bread we bought.
Shrimp: Meredith did this so I am less completes sure of what she did. I think she followed the recipe below with a few major changes.
When she combined it all, it seemed to curdle but that didn't affect the flavor. I really liked them. You could taste all of the coconut flavor (probably from the flakes). I would make this again in a heartbeat.
(as an aside, it calls for 1 lbs of shrimp for two people!!!)
Cabbage: This was nothing special. Just the normal roasted cabbage but with some (old) broccoli that I had around thrown in. Kind of a let down with the other stuff.
Head-On Coconut Shrimp (from Burnt Lumpia)
Local Copy -- password is the name of my dog, all lower case
Original Wordpress ID and Date: 7232, 2014-02-08_204217
Thursday, February 06, 2014, 07:12 PM
Meredith and I made an easy dinner. We started with the crispy roasted potatoes I have done before, but with purple majesty potatoes. As I noted the last time, I used a lower heat. I did 450 but kept the 20 minutes. However, I only did the other side for 6 or so. I again just did half-moons since you have to turn them halfway and this helps. They were in fact rather crunchy, though I thought maybe a tad dry.
We did the salmon the usual way on the stove then oven. And, since the oven was already cranked up, we just did the asparagus for 5 minutes with the smoking salmon. That actually gave them a bit more flavor. The 5 minutes at 500 was perfect for "normal" people, though I prefer them a bit more cooked. The salmon came out dry. I do not know if I went too long, the fish was thinner than I am used to, or this was lower quality salmon but it was far from as good as it often is when I cook it this way. Oh well.
Original Wordpress ID and Date: 7228, 2014-02-06_191211
Thursday, February 06, 2014, 11:08 AM
I made roasted broccoli and seitan chorizo for lunch. I just laid out the broccoli and roasted at 425 (or so) for about 30 minutes. The chorizo was the normal recipe cut in half. I do not know why but I needed to add some more water to get it to all come together. I tried not breaking it into pieces and just chopping as I went. Honestly, it was much easier this way but I didn't like the outcome as much, There were too many kind of burnt crumbs and the rest just wasn't as good. I may try to do a bit of both next time since this was easier; especially with a smaller pan.
Anyway, the lunch was good. Lots of food from the broccoli but few calories.
Original Wordpress ID and Date: 7224, 2014-02-06_110829