Ham Sandwich Indicted!

Sometimes, the only thing to do on a rainy Sunday night is to bust out a new cookbook and make something that you've never made before. In this case, it was the Golden Book of Baking that my sister-in-law gave me for my birthday (thanks, Eva!) and the recipe was Apple Kuchen Crumble. This was the recipe of choice for a couple of reasons: 1) I had 3 pounds of frozen, sliced apples in my freezer that needed to get used, and 2) I was actually home for the several hours required for raising and proofing the dough. For those of you that didn't grow up with off-the-boat German grandmothers for whom baking was a part of life and not something to blog home about, apple kuchen (cake) is a German pastry with a bread-dough like base that's topped with sliced apples and a crumb topping or maybe a light glaze. It's not overly sweet, as the focus is on the fruit, and it was the de rigeur dessert at many of our family holiday dinners. The thing that was great about my Grandma Ber...

This weekend I had the privilege of making cupcakes for a friend's birthday party. Having been informed that she was a fan of vanilla cupcakes, I busted out a Bon Appetit recipe that I used last Spring. That recipe, however, is fairly coconut-centric, and I wasn't sure how the party guests would feel about it...coconut seems to be rather polarizing, you either love it, or loathe it. The recipe calls for reduced coconut milk to keep the cupcakes moist and add flavor to the batter and icing, but I felt that the concentrated coconut milk might be too much. Having read about the wonders of mayonnaise as a useful ingredient in keeping baked goods moist and delicious, I thought that maybe I could combine some un-reduced coconut milk and some mayo and get the same effect as using straight, condensed coconut milk. Yes, mayo is well, mayo, and the thought of it in a baked good sounds somewhat bizarre. Turns out, however, mayo is pretty fantastic and keeping your cupcakes from drying ou...

Ramps are another one of those things that make Ohio pretty awesome (along with Jeni's Ice Cream and Barley's Brewing Co , and pretty much everything else I mention in this blog...) Ramps, if you don't live in a state bordering the Appalachian Mountains, grow wild in said mountains and foothills of those mountains, and are a short-lived Spring treat. Part of the allium family, they are sometimes called wild leeks or spring onions. They're a cross in taste (in my opinion) of a scallion and garlic. They are also delicious. Having first read about ramps last year in Bittman's blog, Bitten, I found some end-of-season stragglers and made them into some pretty delicious biscuits . This year, I was ready for them, and made a beeline to The Hills market this past Saturday morning to pick some up. Based on my research, I found that you can do a lot of things with ramps to prolong your enjoyment of them. There are several recipes for pickling the bottom white parts,...

I'm sure that by now, pretty much everyone is familiar with the current darling of the condiment world, Sriracha Hot Chili Sauce. A product of Huy Fong Foods, it's been made in California since the 1980s, but has seen a surge in popularity in the last few years, thanks to appearances on Iron Chef, use by celebrity chefs, and write-ups in The New York Times . In fact, this past January Sriracha was named the 2010 Ingredient of the Year by Bon Appetit magazine. So what's the massive appeal? The ingredient list is spectacularly simple: red jalapeno peppers, garlic, salt, sugar, vinegar in a paste in a squeezable bottle. It manages to be spicy without being overbearing (see previous post on Jolokia peppers), and adds great depth of flavor to pretty much anything--soups, marinades, sauces (it's GREAT in pasta sauces), dips and dressings. I thought I'd post my current favorite use of Sriracha since tomato season is not too far away. Come to think of it, a dash of Srirach...

(Image courtesy of www.tastethefear.com) During my weekdays, I spend my time prosecuting those who violate the laws of man. Apparently, my weekend nights are spent violating the laws of nature... The Bhut Jolokia pepper is, without any hyperbole, the hottest pepper in the world. The chart above compares the jolokia with other, more common peppers, as measured in Scoville units. The Scoville scale is named after the American chemist Wilber Scoville, and measures the amount of capsaicin in a pepper. Last night at a cookout, two of my genius friends reconstituted a bag (8 or so) of dried jolokia peppers, then pureed them in a blender. I was told they were going to be "Scoville shots:" a tablespoon or so of jolokia puree mixed with a shot of vodka. My response, was that they were idiots. The jolokia is used, after all, as a pepper spray to ward off wild elephants in India, and being considered for use in non-lethal riot control. Two hours later though, caving less to pee...

Ok....maybe it wasn't quite mayhem. Actually, it was remarkably easy--dare I say, idiot-proof? I bought my cheese making kit from The New England Cheesemaking Supply Co . The 30 minute mozzarella kit has enough ingredients to make 30 batches (!) of cheese. In the kit is a package of rennet tablets, a bag of citric acid, cheese salt, cheesecloth, a thermometer, and directions. First step, add the citric acid to one gallon of milk and heat to 90 degrees (I used Snowville Creamery, whole milk). You cannot use ultra-pasteurized--ultrapasteurization kills all the little bacterias you need to make your cheese work. While that's heating, you dissolve 1/4 of a rennet tablet in 1/4 cup water. Step two, turn off the heat, and gently mix in the rennet solution for 30-60 seconds. Then, step away from the pot (pour a glass of wine, munch on some olives, whatever--just leave the pot alone.) In three to five minutes, the milk will develop a custard-y consistency, and the whey and the cu...

Thank heavens, winter in Columbus is slowly fading into the past...in the last few weeks, we've moved from this: To this: And just in case you're desperate for some serious green in mid-March (how come Chicago gets to have all the fun?): Of course, we'll probably still get our end-of-March/beginning-of-April snowstorm before we're completely out of the woods, but it's nice to know that planting season isn't too far away!