Cooking Vs. Baking

It's been a while since I last blogged about anything. I have been cooking but I never seem to give my savory dishes the same attention that I give my baked goods.  I think it is because I see cooking savory dishes as something much easier than baking. I have always believed that cooking is something intuitive and driven solely by each and every person's individual tastes experiences and exposure to flavors when they were growing up.  There is nothing wrong with that because it makes us unique individuals.  Baking is a science. I am of the opinion that the sciences deserve a special respect and attention.  Sciences are the backbone of life, all matter and living; and must come together precisely in order to be able to provide life and living and a normal organism.  This is what baking is about.  All ingredients must come together exactly in order to yield a finished product and there is no forgiveness.  If one thing isn't right then the final product will be...off. I made cookies for Christmas and immediately ran for my camera.  I made some savory dishes and others had to take pics because I completely dismissed it.  I need to get on the ball!

Le Croque

I saw a recipe for a croque madame and simply had to try it.  I made it for a brunch for family on Christmas  eve and I do believe it was a hit.  Thick slices of artisan sourdough bread filled with ham, bechamel sauce, gruyere cheese and topped with a lovely fried egg.  One of the egg yolks got a little more firm than I would have liked but...I didn't have to eat it :-)  The other 3 were perfectly runny.  This classic was simply served with a side of warm spinach salad.  I enjoyed trying this recipe as I have never attempted to make this sandwich before and those who ate it thought it came out quite nicely so it was a success!

I hope to make some nice nibbles for New Year's Eve along with various drinks.  I don't know what it is about those around me lately, but nobody drinks.  I have never been a drinker and now it feels as though everyone around me is dry as well.  How odd.  I have all this alcohol and nobody wants it.

I think I'll start drinking.

Whipped Cream

Whipped cream is everywhere lately. It is my friend's birthday today.  His favorite dessert is tiramisu.  I had to make this for him but also do not like to serve raw eggs to people.  Most of the recipes called for folding raw egg yolks into softened mascarpone and sugar.  So I made the egg yolks, sugar and some chocolate liqueur into a zabaglione and that was it.  I made a chocolate zabaglione and folded in whipped cream.  The rest is a traditional tiramisu with the espresso soaked lady finger-style cookies and topped with coffee and rum flavored whipped cream unsweetened cocoa and shaved dark chocolate.  He tried it and and seemed happy!

I made powder puffs a few weeks ago.  They are almost like tiramisu except for the chocolate and coffee. Lady finger-like cookies (homemade this time), filled with sweetened whipped cream and raspberry jam.

I want to make different desserts now because with the holidays approaching traditional desserts will grace my table. 

Is that Autumn in the Air and Sky?

Do I feel, see and smell autumn?  Every season has its appeal, but autumn is my favorite.  The end of the dog days of summer where you sweat like a pig 24 hours of the day without a break when the sun goes down and only intensified when the sun is up.  Summer here in Miami is rough.  The humidity engulfs you and keeps you sweating and looking like a wilted flower.  Every time the temperature rises I can't help but think that heat breaks DNA bonds and always wonder if this affects our bodies?  

"DNA doesn't actually decompose when heated. It just melts. DNA comes in two 

mirror image strands that you could visualize as a zipper. The chemical bonds that make up each strand of the zipper are permanent joins, but the teeth that connect the two strands are much weaker and sensitive to heat. So when you expose DNA to heat (for instance, by boiling it), the two strands of the zipper separate. By 

very slowly cooling that denatured DNA, you could actually get the strands to 

reanneal or zip up again.

Christine Ticknor, Ph.D.
Ireland Cancer Center
Case Western Reserve University"

As you can see above, slow cooling gets it to "zip" up again, but can it do that inside the body?  It just freaks me out and gives me yet another reason to dread summer temps and sets my mind to thinking about all sorts of things.  

I find the turning of the season to autumn, rejuvenating, inspiring and uplifting.  This means the best time of year beginning with my favorite holiday, Halloween! Everything about it is fun and unique.  Dress up in costumes, eat lots of candy and decorate with fun items.  Then have a more relaxed holiday with Thanksgiving where I can eat delicious turkey and enjoy my favorite pies that I only really eat once a year. Pumpkin, apple and pecan/nut.  Rich decadent pumpkin pie with globs of whipped cream.  Delicate apple pie, simply made with a touch of cinnamon and minus all those other heady spices, served up with a giant scoop of cinnamon ice cream.  And pecan/nut pies so rich and buttery and flecked with milk, white or dark chocolate!  Christmas is unnecessary to go into.  It is simply "the most wonderful time of the year," and the perfect time to get together with family and friends.

The weather is changing folks I can feel it in the air because our 90+ degree days are giving way to mid 80's and that is cool for us.   Our leaves don't change color, but instead our skies become orange-coral at dusk and breezes take on the burnished fragrance reserved for northern leaves.  

Pear Frangipane Tart

Short crust pastry shell, almond frangipane filling and luscious ripe pears over the top. I think this turned out very good. I must admit it is not great because there is something way too subtle about it. Pears are one of my favorite fruit. When they are ripe they are yielding and soft, sweet and delicate. I thought they would pair well with an equally delicate frangipane filling. But everything was just...too subtle. It really needs a punch and I am thinking that maybe peaches would pack enough flavor to balance out the subtle frangipane. Maybe even cherries or possibly chocolate or a combo of those? I must say, each element on its own is perfect, the buttery crust, the almond-y flavor of the filling and the ripe juicy pears, and I am proud of my dish.

Eclairs

Have you ever had a freshly made eclair? It's all in the dough. Eclair dough is pate choux and it is not difficult to make. Unlike most baking it is not contingent on weather, humidity or heat. It is like a pop over only lighter. It starts with the usual suspects in dough making like flour, butter, water and a pinch of salt. First you cook this lightly over the stove and then add your eggs. That's it. Then pipe the dough onto a baking sheet and bake into the lovely boat shape for eclairs or round for cream puffs. I prefer a combination of pastry cream "lightened" (HA!) with whipped cream for my filling and they must be covered in bittersweet chocolate glaze. All culminating into a perfect eclair.

I used to think desserts like this were impossible to make at home. But don't be afraid! Try them! You will not be disappointed and if you don't get it right the first time, try again. It is worth it.

Doughnuts

You know what I love about working with dough? The weird fact that even though most doughs for breads, sweet breads, even pizza, etc., are basically all the same ingredients that are introduced just a little differently. That makes all the difference in texture in the end product and during the process. Most doughs for sweet things are soft and tender even when they are raw. Bread and pizza doughs are firm and hearty. This is fascinating to me and I love it when everything clicks and I can "feel" how the product will turn out.

I love all sweets but my favorite home made sweets have to be doughnuts. I make some pretty mean cookies and cakes but doughnuts always turn out beautifully. There is one particular chain of doughnut shops that has a flashing sign that alerts all in the vicinity that they are removing fresh doughnuts from their fryers. I used to drive about 20 miles on the off chance that the sign was blinking. Sometimes I would even make the drive and just loiter around the area until the sign flashed. This all came to an end when I discovered home made doughnuts.

Have you ever had a home made doughnut? They are not difficult to make. As a matter of fact the ingredients are quite simple. You take some AP flour, a little sugar, dash of salt, little bit of butter, milk or water, maybe eggs and yeast. That's it. Those innocuous ingredients merge to create a heavenly little bite. Yeast raised doughnuts are my favorite. They even smell like doughnuts when the dough is raw. Creepy, trippy and absolutely maaaahvelous. These cuties come together in about 3 hours with most of your time spent waiting for the dough to rise. The actual cooking time is over in about 4 minutes in 365 degree oil.

My sister put these together today and I made the toppings. I had to have glazed. The glaze is just confectioner's or icing sugar and a little water, some were topped with chocolate icing, or a cinnamon sugar mixture. The filling today was either cherry or raspberry preserves. The jelly doughnuts weren't really filled. I just took a bite of the doughnut, either icing glazed or sugar coated and slathered on the raspberry jam (my fave!!). The chocolate glazed got the cherry preserves, sort of like a black forrest doughnut. They may not have had the perfect round shape of those you can buy at the store but I must say they are definitely more delicious because a fresh doughnut is something everyone must try. You can use any doughnut recipe. My sister "M" followed The Joy of Cooking recipe for these doughnuts.