Some of the grad students decided to form an official chemistry department grad student organization. The main goal seems to be "MOAR FUD + BOOZ PLZ" That is an oversimplification, of course. Their goal is to have more social events, with food and booze, and more food (preferably bagels + cream cheese) at seminars, and they have been pretty enterprising in working towards this goal, fundraising, and making their funds stretch as far as possible.
They convinced the department to let them take over the organization of the holiday party and upped the amount of food that was purchased by supplementing with funds from their beer-mug sales. They also only ordered main dishes. To further increase the amount of food, they added a potluck component to it, as well as a best dessert competition. Many chemists like to cook, so it's not hard to convince us to bring something. Perhaps due to the dessert competition, there were a lot of desserts, as well as plenty of side dishes. They tried to hit up some of the faculty for booze funds - I'm not sure how successful they were at that, but they did convince me to contribute booze for the eggnog. They manned the alcohol table and set up a donation jar to collect money from their compatriots. One of them stopped at Trader Joe's when she was home at Thanksgiving and picked up a lot of "Two Buck Chuck" of various varieties, and charged a nominal fee to do a wine tasting/drinking. They ended up making money on that for their future events. (Note - we don't have Trader Joe's around here so not everyone knew how cheap it was. It's hard to find wine here for less than $7/bottle, even bad wine.)
I won the dessert competition. The voting may've been a bit skewed since not that many people voted but there was an enthusiastic contingent from my group. Anyway, I made dark chocolate truffles using a recipe from the latest issue of CI. They weren't perfect, due to some liberties I took with the recipe, but they had very good flavor. Anyway, without further ado, here's the recipe.
CI's Chocolate Truffles
12 oz bittersweet chocolate
2 tbs corn syrup
1/2 cup heavy cream
1/2 tsp vanilla
1 1/2 tbs butter, divided into 8 pieces
Coating
1/4 c powdered sugar
3/4 c cocoa
Melt chocolate carefully in the microwave. Heat cream in microwave until it is warm but not hot. Add corn syrup and vanilla to cream and then stir it into the chocolate. Mix until blended and then add the butter one or two pieces at a time. Mix until blended.
Line a 8" x 8" pan with parchment paper and spray lightly with vegetable oil spray. Spread chocolate in pan and let it sit at room temperature for a few hours. (The slow cool will prevent the truffles from being grainy.) Place pan in fridge for a few hours, then cut into 64 1"X1" pieces.
Mix cocoa and powdered sugar and then roll the squares into balls and roll in the cocoa/sugar mix.
Showing posts with label Cook's Illustrated. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Cook's Illustrated. Show all posts
Sunday, December 18, 2011
Wednesday, November 16, 2011
More from the CI Experiment: Roasted Brussels Sprouts
Back at my former job, there was a cafeteria. Every week or so, they made roasted brussels sprouts. I don't know the exact secret, but I think they cooked them slowly. It stunk up the whole upper floor as all the sulfur compounds got cooked out of the sprouts. Keep in mind that the cafeteria was next to the chemistry lab, so it's not like weird odors were that unfamiliar. Nonetheless the brussels sprouts were very tasty.
I haven't had much success making them at home. They always came out overcooked. So I was intrigued with a recipe from CI. There is no secret ingredient this time, just a secret technique. The brussels sprouts are put on a baking sheet and covered with foil and steamed for 10 minutes, and then the foil is removed and the sprouts are allowed to roast. Without further ado, here's the recipe. You can make less if you want.
Roasted brussels sprouts
2 lbs brussels sprouts
3 tbs olive oil
1 tbs water
Heat oven to 500F and put rack in uppper half of oven. Trim brussels and cut in half. Toss with oil and water. Place cut side down on rimmed baking sheet and cover with foil. Bake for 10 minutes, then remove the foil. Roast for another 10 minutes or so until they are cooked through and are nice and roasty on the outside.
Add salt and pepper to taste, or add your favorite toppings.
This worked pretty well. They were cooked though and not too burnt on the outside. More importantly, they didn't take that long and my whole house did not smell like sulfur. I'll definitely make it again. Nonetheless, they weren't as good as the ones from the cafeteria.
I haven't had much success making them at home. They always came out overcooked. So I was intrigued with a recipe from CI. There is no secret ingredient this time, just a secret technique. The brussels sprouts are put on a baking sheet and covered with foil and steamed for 10 minutes, and then the foil is removed and the sprouts are allowed to roast. Without further ado, here's the recipe. You can make less if you want.
Roasted brussels sprouts
2 lbs brussels sprouts
3 tbs olive oil
1 tbs water
Heat oven to 500F and put rack in uppper half of oven. Trim brussels and cut in half. Toss with oil and water. Place cut side down on rimmed baking sheet and cover with foil. Bake for 10 minutes, then remove the foil. Roast for another 10 minutes or so until they are cooked through and are nice and roasty on the outside.
Add salt and pepper to taste, or add your favorite toppings.
This worked pretty well. They were cooked though and not too burnt on the outside. More importantly, they didn't take that long and my whole house did not smell like sulfur. I'll definitely make it again. Nonetheless, they weren't as good as the ones from the cafeteria.
Thursday, November 10, 2011
I could've had a V8!
Today's Cook's Illustrated (CI) recipe is minestrone. It's from the January 2010 issue, which is especially good and has at least 5 recipes (out of 8) that I have tried or will try. Like most CI recipes, it's been optimized and there is at least one trick and weird ingredient. Today's tricks are brining the beans overnight, boiling them vigorously to get a nice thick broth, and removing the veggies after sauteeing them to keep them from getting too mushy while you boil the shit out of the beans. Today's secret ingredient is V8 added towards then end of cooking.
To make a long story short, it was ok but nothing to write home about, so I won't post the recipe. The tricks and V8 did work well, so if I make minestrone again I'll do that but use a different base recipe.
To make a long story short, it was ok but nothing to write home about, so I won't post the recipe. The tricks and V8 did work well, so if I make minestrone again I'll do that but use a different base recipe.
Sunday, November 6, 2011
Beef Stew/November Gimmick
November is National Novel Writing Month (nanowrimo) and No Shave November. Nanowrimo is off the table this year, since I am barely blogging or emailing anyone and get tired just thinking of writing a novel. As for No Shave November, I think I'll pass but many guys around here are starting their winter beards. My gimmick for November is to cook recipes from Cook's Illustrated (CI) and blog about them.
I've been subscribing for years, and I have the cookbooks and use them often. But somehow I rarely get around to cooking the recipes from the magazines, even though they usually come out really good. It's not that I don't want to, but there's a disconnect between my bathtime magazine reading and my dinnertime cooking. When I search for recipes I tend to go to the cookbooks or internet, not the magazines. My plan is to cook one or two recipes per week until I get tired of doing so.
The first recipe I tried was beef stew. Now, I've never been really pleased with my attempts at beef stew. I found them bland and runny. The Cook's Illustrated recipe claimed to get around the first problem with judicious use of glutamate containing ingredients like tomato paste, salt pork and anchovies - blech! The second problem was solved by a combination of flour and gelatine. I used my judgement and tweaked the recipe a lot. I added a lot of mushrooms and dash of soy sauce, which should add glutamates, and left out the tomato paste, salt pork and anchovies, as well as the pearl onions. (I have nothing against tomato paste but didn't have any lying around.) So anyway, without further ado, here's the modified recipe.
Old Biddy's Beef Stew with Wine and Mushrooms
3 lbs beef, cut into 1 - 1 1/2 inch chunks (I used precut stew meat but CI recommends a chuck roast)
2 tbs olive oil
1 onion, quartered and sliced into 1/4 inch slices
1 lb root vegetables, cut into 1/2" slices (I used parsnips but carrots would work fine)
3 cloves garlic, minced
1/4 cup flour
2 cups red wine (I used burgundy)
2 cups chicken broth
2 bay leaves
1 lb red potatoes, cut into 1" pieces
12 oz mushrooms, quartered (I used baby portabellas)
2 cups frozen peas
1 packet gelatine, softened with 1/4 c cold water
salt, pepper and soy sauce to taste
Preheat the oven to 350F and put a rack in the middle. In large dutch oven (no, not THAT kind of dutch oven!), brown the beef. You should split it into two portions and use about 1 tablespoon olive oil for each batch. When the second batch is done, dump in the onions and root veggies and cook until the onions are soft (several minutes) Add the garlic and saute briefly until aromatic (30s), and then add the flour. Stir until the flour has coated the meat/veggies (30s) and then add the wine and broth. Bring to a boil and add the bay leaves and potatoes. Cover and put it in the oven. After about an hour, add the mushrooms. Cook for another hour or so until everything is soft enough, and then remove from the oven. Place pot on stove and bring to a simmer. Add peas and gelatine. Cook for 3 minutes or so until peas aren't cold and the mixture has thickened slightly. Season to taste with salt, pepper, and a dash of soy sauce.
Anyway, it smelled really good while it was cooking and did not disappoint me - it was everything I was aiming for, flavor and texture wise. It was very thick and had a nice beefy/winy flavor - sort of like beef burgundy. The beef was nice and tender and stringy in that tasty stew way. I probably could've added the potatoes later, when I added the mushrooms. They got really soft and fell apart, but it did help thicken things.
Next time I'll use more mushrooms and root veggies, and I'll probably make it on a slightly larger scale since it came out so well and makes prime leftovers.
I've been subscribing for years, and I have the cookbooks and use them often. But somehow I rarely get around to cooking the recipes from the magazines, even though they usually come out really good. It's not that I don't want to, but there's a disconnect between my bathtime magazine reading and my dinnertime cooking. When I search for recipes I tend to go to the cookbooks or internet, not the magazines. My plan is to cook one or two recipes per week until I get tired of doing so.
The first recipe I tried was beef stew. Now, I've never been really pleased with my attempts at beef stew. I found them bland and runny. The Cook's Illustrated recipe claimed to get around the first problem with judicious use of glutamate containing ingredients like tomato paste, salt pork and anchovies - blech! The second problem was solved by a combination of flour and gelatine. I used my judgement and tweaked the recipe a lot. I added a lot of mushrooms and dash of soy sauce, which should add glutamates, and left out the tomato paste, salt pork and anchovies, as well as the pearl onions. (I have nothing against tomato paste but didn't have any lying around.) So anyway, without further ado, here's the modified recipe.
Old Biddy's Beef Stew with Wine and Mushrooms
3 lbs beef, cut into 1 - 1 1/2 inch chunks (I used precut stew meat but CI recommends a chuck roast)
2 tbs olive oil
1 onion, quartered and sliced into 1/4 inch slices
1 lb root vegetables, cut into 1/2" slices (I used parsnips but carrots would work fine)
3 cloves garlic, minced
1/4 cup flour
2 cups red wine (I used burgundy)
2 cups chicken broth
2 bay leaves
1 lb red potatoes, cut into 1" pieces
12 oz mushrooms, quartered (I used baby portabellas)
2 cups frozen peas
1 packet gelatine, softened with 1/4 c cold water
salt, pepper and soy sauce to taste
Preheat the oven to 350F and put a rack in the middle. In large dutch oven (no, not THAT kind of dutch oven!), brown the beef. You should split it into two portions and use about 1 tablespoon olive oil for each batch. When the second batch is done, dump in the onions and root veggies and cook until the onions are soft (several minutes) Add the garlic and saute briefly until aromatic (30s), and then add the flour. Stir until the flour has coated the meat/veggies (30s) and then add the wine and broth. Bring to a boil and add the bay leaves and potatoes. Cover and put it in the oven. After about an hour, add the mushrooms. Cook for another hour or so until everything is soft enough, and then remove from the oven. Place pot on stove and bring to a simmer. Add peas and gelatine. Cook for 3 minutes or so until peas aren't cold and the mixture has thickened slightly. Season to taste with salt, pepper, and a dash of soy sauce.
Anyway, it smelled really good while it was cooking and did not disappoint me - it was everything I was aiming for, flavor and texture wise. It was very thick and had a nice beefy/winy flavor - sort of like beef burgundy. The beef was nice and tender and stringy in that tasty stew way. I probably could've added the potatoes later, when I added the mushrooms. They got really soft and fell apart, but it did help thicken things.
Next time I'll use more mushrooms and root veggies, and I'll probably make it on a slightly larger scale since it came out so well and makes prime leftovers.
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