Tag: drinks

About this time last year I started looking for the best biscuit recipe I could find. The first thing that had to be determined was, "What makes a great biscuit?".

My Criteria:

• Must not be dry (I hate eating a biscuit that makes me choke and I have a drink with each bite) 
  
• A mild buttery taste to it 
  
• A tender sort of fluffy finished product (not overly thick and dense)
  

I spent many months trying every biscuit recipe I could get my hands on. Most of them were all to dry. One day Tele decided he wanted to make Biscuits and Gravy. When he was searching for a gravy recipe he found one that also included a biscuit recipe. We used both recipes and both were great. The biscuit recipe became my favorite, for a limited time. The search for the best biscuit recipe finally came to an end the day I realized that there was a biscuit recipe on the back of my SaCo Buttermilk Powder container. I am so happy with this recipe. I have been using this recipe for a few months now and I don't even look at other biscuit recipes anymore. The SaCo Buttermilk Biscuits meet all of my requirements. They are moist, tender and have a wonderful buttery taste.

I try to limit the amount of hydrogenated oils I cook with so I have been substituting butter for the shortening called for. Either way the biscuits come out wonderful.

We've known for bazillions of years that wine is subjective, but it's interesting to learn that white chocolate goes well with caviar, that Slim Jims are made of mechanically separated chicken, that there's a drink made of bird's nest, or that you can eat fish poop. I feel a bit patriotic about my regional specialty, but then again, that's pretty normal, in a world where disgusting vegetarian clones of the already amorphous chicken nugget is sold outside of the endless army of chicken restaurants that all want to look the same. It can be cheaper to make your own breakfast foods, not to mention healthier in a day and age where butter flavoring gets abused and trans fats take all the blame.

This was by far one of the yummiest dishes at Greek night. I am glad that I made it and plan on making it again in the future. I don't really know when the Greek eat this dish, but being a slightly sweet custard pie it makes either a great dessert or a wonderful addition to a breakfast/brunch buffet.

Does it not make you lust for pie!?

I chose to use Cat Cora's Galaktoboureko recipe for this dish. Her directions were very clear and easy to understand. But I did have to make a few changes. I don't know what kind of baking dish she was specifically referring to, so I chose to use my Pampered Chef Deep Dish Baker. It worked perfectly.

Also, I am not sure where to acquire "thick" phyllo dough. None of the stores I went to had it. So, I just used regular thin sheets of phyllo dough.

I brushed one sheet w/butter and then added another sheet on top and buttered it. I continued this process until the stack was 8 sheets thick. I then laid this over half of the round baking dish, letting it drape over the sides. I repeated this process to cover the other half of the dish. Then for the top I prepared 6 more sheets of phyllo dough in the same manner.

I chose not to cut the top dough to fit the size of the dish as Cat Cora suggested, I just rolled up the little bit of extra dough when I rolled up the sides. The original recipe suggests scoring the top of the phyllo with diagonal cuts, but I must admit that while using the thin phyllo sheets this was almost impossible. So I just gave it some strategically placed small pokes with a sharp knife all around the top.

The pie was very easy to cut once it was cooked. Also, it will seem as if there is not enough room for the pie to "drink up" all of the lemon syrup. Just be patient. Give it as much as it can hold and just wait a minute or two, then start pouring more in slowly. It will eventually take it all. This part really adds a lot of flavor so you want to make sure you get all of the syrup in there.

I wouldn't worry too much about clarifying the butter, it really doesn't make that big of a difference in this case. Editor's Note: Liar. Just because you can't tell...

Just melt the butter and allow it to cool before using a spoon to skim off the fat that has crusted on top. That is really all that is necessary.

Now, to find some semolina. Semolina is a flour used to make pasta. It is sold in clear plastic bags and made by Bob's Red Mill. I was not able to locate it at any of the regular grocery stores in town (well at least not on any of their websites). Truth be told, I avoid the large grocery stores whenever possible. When I ran in to my trusted Sunflower Market they had it available right next to all the other great products by Bob's Red Mill. If you are looking for it in the store I would look for it where ever your store stocks the specialty grains. Editor's Note: What the heck, do they pay you?

This is a moon alien.

Really, once you have gathered all the ingredients to this dish together it is a very simple dish to prepare. It also tastes wonderful cold, so it is a recipe that you can make ahead of time, allow to cool and then refrigerate until needed. I love when I can prepare dishes ahead of time... less stress on party day that way!

So yet again the EU crew chose a food category that I really have no experience with. Baklava and eating at the Mad Greek in Baker, CA once is the extent of my Greek food influence. So, I immediately began searching out desserts... this is my specialty, after all. I had about five different ones that I was tempted to try, but I narrowed it down to three. I chose two cookies and one milk pie. Let's start with the first cookie that I tackled: on Friday, with 4 kids running around, I began the process of making powdered sugar dome cookies, otherwise known as Kourabiethes.

These cookies were super easy to make. A little expensive, if you don't have a cognac drinker in the house as a bottle of Hennessy is $24 and you only need 1 1/2 tablespoons. As luck has it, Tele likes to drink a little Hennessy on occasion, so it all worked out. Now, it seems to me that most Greek recipes were designed to feed an entire army, so I had to halve this recipe. If I knew how to split an egg in half I would have sized it down further, but since I don't have a laser egg yolk/white splitter, I stuck to just half the recipe, which still produced 30 large Kourabiethes.

Apart from sizing the recipe down I did not make any other changes to the recipe except omitting the rose water as it was optional anyhow.

Now a photo journey of the process of making Kourabiethes.

Creamed butter and sugar.

1 1/2 tablespoons Hennessy.

Here is the Hennessy after the baking powder was added.

I had sliced almonds in the fridge so I just chopped them up and roasted them in the oven on 350 degrees until they just started to darken in color.

The almonds have been added into the creamed butter and sugar along with the cognac/baking powder mixture, eggs and vanilla.

The dough after about 1/2 of the flour has been mixed in and another bit has been added.

One more addition of flour to go.

The dough is now ready to be formed into little domes.

Start by scooping out a small mound of dough, such as this.

Then begin pressing the dough together into a ball.

Now use your palm to form the top into a dome shape and flatten the bottom of the cookie.

I found that for me the base of the cookie need to be about the size of the middle of my palm.

And that 2 of my fingers was about 3/4 of an inch tall so I used my fingers as a guide to get the proper dome height.

The cookies waiting to go into the oven.

Now that the cookies have come out of the oven, it is time to start coating them in powdered sugar. Up till this point the kids have only helped me out by being my photographer (and they did a great job of that, if I do say so myself), but now they are ready to get busy.

LittleRoq is the first one to jump on the chair and start the sugar coating process (this was of course after he thoroughly washed his hands. I am quite a stickler about this important kitchen rule. CLEAN HANDS always!).

Now it was time for JoieGirl to get in on the action. She ended up putting the first coating of powdered sugar on almost all the cookies. Such great cooking assistants!

And finally we have all 30 cookies coated in powdered sugar twice and put away in a container waiting for Greek Night.

My boy can drink a glass of juice in about 60 seconds and immediately request another glass. My day goes something like this. Boy wakes up. "I need a drink." I get said drink. Hand it to him and start to do something else. Just as I sit down, boy says, "I need another drink." And so goes the entire day until he goes to sleep.

We need a drink fountain so this boy can get his own drinks. He's 4 1/2 years old it is about time that he drive himself crazy with his own need to drink over a gallon of liquid a day. So began the search. And I found a site all about the home soda fountain. This guy is great. He explains everything from start to finish on how you can get your own soda fountain. I worked with soda machines for 3 years (everyone has to do their time in fast food), so I know the basics of how the system is set up, but not the particulars. Hey lays out everything you need here. The first thing you must aquire is an actual soda fountain. Best bet appears to be on Ebay. Then the list rolls on. It is simpler to get going than one might think. So if you have an endless drinker in your house maybe you should install your very own soda fountain. I know we are continuing to look into this project very seriously. Besides what would be cooler at a party then having your own soda machine. No more cans with only 2 sips taken out of them and then left behind. Bliss.

I was shopping yesterday and decided to pick up a box of Good Earth Decaffeinated Chai Tea Bags that were on clearance at Smiths. (Sales are good!) Upon arriving home I boiled water and poured it in a mug, placed my tea bag in, steeped it for a few minutes and then sat back to enjoy the spicy tea. However, I found the tea to not be very spicy at all. I was dissapointed. The box says to add milk and honey if desired. So this morning I was on a mission. How do I make my own Chai Tea taste yummy without having to go to the local tea house? I set out on the internet for my search. I found a great website Chai! that has all sorts of recipes to make the tea itself from scratch and gave me the info I needed on how to make my pre-made tea bags taste yummy.

So here is what I did. I filled my mug with water, poured it into a sauce pan, added 1/4 cup milk and 1/8 cup honey, then I placed in the tea bag and brought the whole thing to a boil. Then I allowed it to steep for about 5 minutes before consuming. Ahh, much better. I am still looking for some more spicyness, so I think I will try it next time with table sugar so that the honey flavor doesn't dominate.

I may just have to try making the tea itself from scratch, but in the mean time this will satisfy my Chai needs.


Just a side note: Wikipedia has a great bit of info (don't they always) on Chai. They explained that really Chai means tea and what we drink is really Masala Chai or spiced tea. Also Wiki says that you must use much sweetener to get the flavors of the spices to come out. Lesson learned. On with the Masala Chai experementations.

Welcome back to Hobo Fortnight at Edible Unknown, where I'll put down my tin-can soups and edible whatnottery until such time as my pile of paychecks become fungible. Tonight, I'll be using the metaphysical SCIENCE!! of alchemy and antimatter.

Now, every red-blooded American child has known one fact since their vagrant mother sent them a cheap Radio Shack science kit (with magnets!!) in the mail: opposites attract. And, in so doing, they change the fundamental properties of the whole. Riddle me this. Hydrogen is 'splodey. So is oxygen. Together, they make water, which under most situations won't ignite no matter how many times you hold a blowtorch to it. So, in the quest to drink myself into a coma until such time as I can afford to buy the food that makes this site exist, can several horrible tasting things that have lurked in the fridge since the ancient ones first founded their aquatic R'lyeh underneath the cruel tides somehow... synergize into something wonderful and tasty? Especially if it contains alcohol? In the name of American Science, I was willing to find out.

Now, the ancient Aztecs did this. They took bitter cocoa, mixed it with pepper, and made a drink. Of course, nobody knows if it was tasty, but I bet anyone who complained turned into the next 'virgin' crop sacrifice. Here's what I had in the fridge that I was willing to sacrifice:

1. A twelve-pack of Vault Zero.

This was a mistake buy. Vault tastes like an energy drink; Vault Zero, which is presumably lacking in calories, fats, tars, nicotine, vitamins, and drinkability, tastes like an extremely diluted septic tank which has, through the miracle of years of decay, begun to produce its own internal bubbliness.

However, on the way home, Vitamin A (ever sensitive to my plight of not having booze to turn my Seroquel 1-2 into a knockout punch) told me that she had some flat Rockstar and vodka in a water bottle.

My interests were noticeably piqued.

Did I dare do it? Did I dare mix two energy drinks with booze? WOULD THE EDIBLE UNKNOWN KITCHEN BURN LIKE GOMORRAH AT THIS UNHOLY CONCOCTION?

Obviously, the perceptive reader can tell from my vomitous prose that the experiment has already taken place.

First, I sampled the mixture. I'm not sure what the origin of this rancid bile was, but at some point in time she'd come home reeking of distilled grain and managed to lose two bottles of liquor in my car (I discovered them today. Joy!)

Apparently, even running off of alcohol combustion, she wouldn't drink it. I don't blame her. The energy drink portion had somehow lost its spirit, soul and essence; it turned normally bitterharsh vodka into something mellow and thoroughly unpalatable, like regurgitated scotch.

In the interests of being a Patriotic Citizen, I forged on.

Upon an equal mixture (the Rockstar/Vodka, by my estimation, was about 70% vodka), I took a sip. Then I immediately poured in more of the R/V mixture, to get rid of the horrid taste of Vault Zero.

Now it's a sippin' whiskey.

UPDATE: I think I just found a chunk in my drink.

UPDATE: Upon closer examination, it was just a really weird bubble.

Balsamic vinegar is a flavored vinegar traditionally served with italian meals and is rumored to have originated sometime during the middle ages.

There are only two true regions where Balsamic vinegar is made today, Modena and Reggio Emilia. If the Balsamic you're buying says its from somewhere else, I wouldn't get it!

Since vinegars are very closely related to wines, their age makes a distinct impact on their flavor and consistency. Younger Balsamics (1-5 yrs) will be very thin and have a light sweet taste with the acidity of a red wine vinegar, whilst more aged Balsamics (12-80+ yrs) will be thicker and have a consistency more akin to a syrup. Also, older Balsamic vinegars usually lose most of their acidity in lieu of a higher sugar content and much sweeter, smoother taste. Some people even consider these as an after dinner finish, they pour a small glass of a usually 12-18yr Balsamic and drink it straight, somewhat like Port wine is used!

Recommended Usages

Balsamic vinegar (depending on the age) can be used for every course of every meal of the day, if you so desire. The younger varieties lend themselves well to breakfast dishes, soups, salads, as a dipping sauce for breads, pastas, chicken, portobello mushrooms... well, you get the idea. The older of the Balsamic family can be used for any of the above, but is also good as a topping for ice cream, desserts (Panna Cotta!), cupcakes, or as an after dinner finish (as above).