Candy Making

Mastering candy making is turning out to be a little challenging.  In all of my baking and cooking experience I cannot remember a time when I had so many utter catastrophes. 

There were of course some—that simply comes with cooking.  Like my  several attempts at grapefruit pie.  And then there are the collapsing crusts or the inevitably shrinking meringues.  But relative to the amount of experimenting and cooking I do those are fairly rare and often relatively minor.

Not so with candy.  Sometimes it turns out fantastically well. And sometimes it doesn’t.  And when it doesn’t, it really doesn’t.  Occasionally the subpar attempts are at least somewhat edible.  Then you have the occasions when you end up with a burnt-chocolate flavored block of sugar in a bowl that requires a hammer and screwdriver to remove.  If only I were exaggerating.

Halloween

For Halloween this year I spent the evening at my Grandma’s 70th birthday party.  Unfortunately, pictures often don’t really do things justice.

I mostly did the tattoos myself—they were individual 1 × 1 inch square temporary tattoos, so it took a little while.  My mother tailored my shirt (though she had no idea what costume it was for); my friend Shelli did my makeup.

I typically get a little carried away with costumes on Halloween.  I’ve had a lot of people who have heard rumors ask me about my previous costumes, so here are a couple more of them.  As always, you can click to enlarge.

My Other Half (2006)
My mother helped a lot in constructing this costume.  We cut two sets of clothes in half and she stitched them together into one.  Notice the tie that’s cut down the middle—including the knot.  The zipper on the pants even worked (being half jeans and half slacks).  My friend Nick was my tattoo artist.

Ax Murderer (2007)
I did the bloodying myself.  The stuff I bought to do it was cheap and really realistic.  It was pretty cool, though kinda messy.  And yes, the ax is real and so is the hair matted to the blade (it was kindly donated to the cause).

Earwig Clusters (2006)
Finally, I have to mention the dessert I made for a Halloween dessert making contest a couple years ago.  Made with real earwigs harvested in my parents’ backyard.  I got the recipe from my mother, who’s made them before (though I did modify it a little).

Can’t wait till next year.  As has been customary, I’ll probably wait until about two days before Halloween before I have a great idea for a costume.

The Smell of Baking Pie

It’s been some 3 months since I baked a pie.  That’s remarkable for such a longstanding addiction to baking pies.  And especially considering it is such a strong addictive habit.  Today I finally broke down and baked one.  I had forgotten just how good a baking pie smells.  The smell of a flaky, browning crust combined with a bubbling mixture of berries is a delicately divine aroma.

I had trouble deciding what kind to make.  So I made both of my favorites: Quadrupleberry and Banana Berry.  Two of the greatest pies of all time.  This is the first time that I have split a pie in half and also made a twisted lattice on it.  (I’ve split pies in halves, thirds, and quarters before, and I have made a lot of very complex lattice structures—just never on the same pie.)  It provided a welcome bit of extra challenge—it’s not a pie for beginners, but certainly a pie worth the effort.  It might be worth it just for the smell alone.

A Faulty Smoke Detector

Today I tested my smoke detectors to make sure they work; the result was slightly concerning. While my roommate and a bunch of other people were watching Prison Break in the front room, I started cooking some rice on the stove. Then I went back to my room and forgot about it.

After about 10 minutes Colin came back to tell me that my stuff was burning. I said something like, "Oh yeah, I forgot about that. Can you just take it off the burner. I'll be there in a minute." I finished what I was doing and went out to start over on my rice. I found the front door propped open and my front room thickly filled with smoke. A small cluster of people armed with hot pads were in the kitchen watching smoke pouring out of my pan of rice that was still on the burner discussing whether it was safe to take it off.

So this brings a couple of things to mind. A couple of weeks ago something I was baking boiled over in the oven and started smoking. I remember being surprised that my smoke alarm didn't go off 'cause it was certainly smokey enough it should have. I don't think my apartment has ever been smokier than today. Again, the smoke detector didn't go off. Kinda concerning.

The other thing it brings to mind is how nice it is to have a good sense of smell. I have noticed and prevented kitchen problems similar to this quite a few times because I have a pretty sensitive sense of smell. (Although this does have its disadvantages, too; but that's a topic for another post.) I was kind of surprised how far along my rice got before anyone in the front room noticed. Maybe it was just the movie they were watching. I've heard Prison Break is pretty intense. Apparently the room filling with smoke didn't even distract them.

One last observation: if you want to break up your roommate's party at your apartment, I have never seen a better method than putting some rice on to boil for 10 minutes on high. They vacated the place promptly and went somewhere else to watch it. Kinda too bad this time—I was going to start watching it with them when my food got done. But since they left I didn't have anything better to do except blog about it.

The Making of Apricot Jam

My parents have a number of fruit trees. Right now one of the apricot trees is in season, so I ended up getting about 50 pounds of apricots last week. A few years ago I tried making apricot pie. It didn't turn out very well, and I didn't really feel like making another attempt right now. (I actually haven't made a pie in almost 2 months—I think that might be a record.)

So yesterday my roommate Nelson and I made jam out of all the apricots. It took us about 6 hours including pitting all the fruit and cleaning up afterwards. I think we made 10 batches, giving us a total of 33 pint jars plus an extra quart of jam in a container and another 2 quarts of freezer jam. Here're the finished jars:
I've never made jam before; it was a fun experience. Everything certainly does get sticky. And I really mean everything: you, the counters, all the utensils, the floor, the hot pads and gloves, the cabinets (even inside of them), and every other exposed surface. I think the top of our microwave was even sticky, and we didn't even use the microwave. Nelson definitely came out the most scarred and damaged, primarily from stirring each batch as it boiled violently at scorching temperatures, spitting hot jam in all directions.

Almost every batch was different. We had 4 recipes that differed from each other significantly and we used different types of pectin and different procedures with each of the recipes. We also made a couple of unusual batches: apricot raspberry jam and strawberry rhubarb jam (which also came from my parents' garden). When we got all done we sampled each of the major kinds to determine which was best.

Every one of the types of jam we sampled was really good. The difference in flavor and texture between them was really quite subtle. Every recipe emphasized the extreme importance of being perfectly precise with the ingredients and procedures, threatening that the jam wouldn't set or the jars wouldn't seal if you deviated. In contrast, the recipes together spanned quite an array of ratios, quantities, and methods. And the resulting jams were all very close to the same and every one of them set. It makes me wonder how important all the precision in jam really is.

We tried both liquid and powdered pectins. There was a difference in the procedure for the two, but the final products were not very different based only on the pectin. The liquid pectin recipes certainly yielded less per package, but they were slightly cheaper, so it might work out to be about the same costwise per jar of jam.

Between the subtly different jams, it was pretty unanimous among my roommates that the best apricot jam was the one with the (by far) least amount of lemon juice, and proportionately somewhat less sugar. It came from a SureJell Pectin package:

Combine the following in a large saucepan:
     5 cups diced apricots
     ¼ cup lemon juice
     1 package SureJell Pectin
Bring to a rolling boil over high heat. Quickly stir in:
     7 cups sugar
Boil for 1 minute. Pour into jars and process.

This gives the following ratio of ingredients (expressed in three ways; unitless because it is simply a ratio):

1 apricots : 0.2 lemon juice : 1.4 sugar
20 apricots : 1 lemon juice : 28 sugar
0.71 apricots : 0.14 lemon juice : 1 sugar

The apricot raspberry jam was by far the best one. We mixed half a recipe of apricot jam and half a recipe of raspberry jam. Haven't tried the strawberry rhubarb jam yet so I can't report on how well that turned out.

We used the "turn the jars up-side-down to seal them" method instead of processing the jars in a canner, which worked really well and was really easy: all we did was fill the hot jars with the boiling jam, put the boiled lids on, and immediately turned the jars up-side-down for 5 minutes. Then we stood them upright and they sealed after a little while of cooling. Every one of our jars sealed—even the ones that were only half full.

Overall, it was quite fun and very worth it. I'm glad Nelson had the idea to do it.

Coconut Bread

I've been asked for this recipe a number of times, so I'm going to post it here. It is certainly among the very best of all the quick breads that I have made. It is very sweet and has a very intense and absolutely delicious coconut flavor. It's the kind of bread you can just eat and eat.

Coconut Bread

Beat in a large bowl:
     4 eggs
Add and blend well:
     1 cup oil
     2 cups sugar
     2 teaspoons coconut flavoring
Separately, sift together:
     3 cups flour
     ½ teaspoon salt
     ½ teaspoon baking soda
     ½ teaspoon baking powder
Beating well after each addition, add sifted dry ingredients to creamed mixture alternately with:
     1 cup buttermilk or soured milk
     1 cup coconut
     (1 cup nuts)
Pour into greased and floured 10” tube pan and bake at 325° F for 1¼ hours or until a toothpick comes out clean.

When the bread is nearly done, boil for 5 minutes:
     1 cup sugar
     ½ cup water
     2 tablespoons butter
Remove from heat and add:
     1 teaspoon coconut flavoring
Pour the hot syrup over the warm bread and let stand 4 hours before removing from pan.

I don't have a bundt pan, so I typically use 5 or 6 small (5¾" x 3") loaf pans and decrease the cooking time accordingly (I haven't timed it—I just use a toothpick). I think there might be just a little too much batter to fit in a large (10") loaf pan, though I haven't tried it.

I also have a PDF version available for download here.

As always with recipes, I'm always looking for the best ones and asking people to be really critical of my baking. So if you know of a comparable or better Coconut Bread recipe I'd like to hear about it. Also, after you use this recipe then let me know what you think.

Enjoy.

Update: I discovered there was a typo in this recipe. I have corrected it now, but if you downloaded the PDF or copied off the above recipe before today (Monday 6 July at 1:00 PM) then you should redownload it. It used to call for 2 tablespoons of coconut flavoring instead of the correct amount of 2 teaspoons.

The Complicated Task of Hard Boiling Eggs

I realize that I'm posting a lot about eggs and cooking, but I can't help but mention this.

As I was perusing my new Joy of Cooking yesterday, I came across the fact that the method for hard boiling eggs that the new version recommends is different from the method that the old version recommended and different from any method I've tried myself. Last night my roommates wanted me to teach them how to hard boil eggs, so I decided to try the new method out.

I think many people consider hard boiling eggs to be a trivial kitchen endeavor requiring no skill or precision. I've thought so myself. However, many people use very different techniques. The hard boiled eggs last night were significantly better tasting than most that I have had in my life. So I think there's more to hard boiling eggs than first meets the eye, and I think that it's worth the extra effort to make them perfectly.

So here's the new recipe from the Joy of Cooking website:

Place in a pot in a single layer:
    Unshelled eggs
Cover them by 1 inch with:
    Cold water
Put the pan over high heat and bring to a boil. Promptly remove the pot from the heat, cover, and let the eggs stand: 15 minutes for large eggs, 12 minutes for small and medium eggs, 18 minutes for extra-large and jumbo eggs. Eggs that are not room temperature will require an additional 2 minutes. When cooking is complete, run cold water over eggs to stop cooking.

The Joy of Cooking also recommended poking a hole through the end of the eggshell with a pin to prevent the eggs from breaking. I did so and didn't have any break (though I don't usually). The eggs last night were done all the way through and they seemed more moist and had better flavor than normal. I think I'm very accustomed to eating inferior, overcooked hard boiled eggs. When they are not overcooked they are pretty amazingly delectable.

The 75th Anniversary of The Joy of Cooking

A couple of years ago in early 2006 I discovered one of the best cookbooks ever published: the Joy of Cooking. If I remember correctly, my roommate Nick checked it out from the BYU library and we both fell in love with it. It wasn't long before we both bought copies. When we bought them then, the newest version was the 1997 edition.

About the Joy of Cooking
The Joy of Cooking was originally published in 1931 by Irma Rombauer. Since then it has been revised and reprinted a half dozen times. It has been in continuous print since 1936 with over 18 million copies sold. It is considered a staple in many kitchens, including many commercial kitchens. A more complete history can be found on the Joy of Cooking website.

The Joy of Cooking is unlike many cookbooks. It is encyclopedic in feel and scope. It is over 1,000 pages and has chapters that cover a very wide variety of topics: sauces, soups, seafood, meat, game, breads, cakes, pies and pastries, vegetables, and candy to name only a few. Each chapter is quite thorough in addressing the entire topic. It talks about the history and customs associated with the categories and subcategories, as well as all of the information you need to become well versed in cooking a particular kind of food. Then it has gobs of tried and true recipes for each variation it talks about. If you need to know just about anything about cooking something, the Joy of Cooking is the place to turn.

There are over 4,000 recipes in the book, and the recipes are organized differently than typical. The ingredients are listed in the middle of the recipes. They are in list format and bold so you can very easily see all of the ingredients in a recipe, but it is far more convenient when you are making a recipe to have the quantity and ingredients right where you are in the recipe. Apparently this also makes the recipes more compact so that many more can be included in the same number of pages.

The Newest Edition
I recently discovered by accident that a new 2006 edition of the Joy of Cooking came out shortly after I purchased my copy of the 1997 edition. I also found out that the 1997 edition was one of the least popular editions because it departed from the historic voice and feel of the historic Joy of Cooking. The 1997 edition was much more formal in presentation and tone. The 2006 edition returns to the informal feel of the older editions, adds back in several sections that were removed from the 1997 edition, adds several more sections that have never been previously included, and has over 500 additional recipes (making a total of 4500 recipes).

Needless to say, I ordered a copy. It arrived today.

The new edition is well constructed. It has 1132 pages and uses a slightly more compact font than the 1997 edition. The layout is much the same, but does have a few tweaks that make it a little easier to find things. I've looked up many of the recipes I've used and sections I've read and find it to be as good or better than my old 1997 edition. There are a number of differences in recipes, though, so I expect to use them both regularly.

To give you a feel for the scope that it covers, here's the complete Table of Contents:

1. A History of the Joy of Cooking
   
2. Nutrition
3. Entertaining
4. Menus
5. Beverages
   
6. Wine and Beer
7. Cocktails and Party Drinks
8. Appetizers and Hors d'Oeuvres
9. Brunch, Lunch, and Supper Dishes
10. Stocks and Soups
11. Salads
12. Sandwiches, Wraps, and Pizza
13. Egg Dishes
14. Fruits
15. Vegetables
16. Pasta, Noodles, and Dumplings
17. Grains
18. Shellfish
19. Fish
20. Poultry and Wildfowl
21. Meat
22. Game
23. Stuffings
24. Savory Sauces, Salad Dressings, Marinades, and Rubs
25. Breads and Coffee Cakes
26. Pancakes, Waffles, Fritters, and Doughnuts
27. Pies and Pastries
28. Cakes and Cupcakes
29. Cookies and Bars
30. Icings, Toppings, and Glazes
31. Desserts
32. Frozen Desserts and Sweet Sauces
33. Candies and Confections
34. Keeping and Storing Food
35. Canning, Salting, Smoking, and Drying
36. Freezing
37. Jellies and Preserves
38. Pickles and Relishes
39. Know Your Ingredients
40. Cooking Methods and Techniques
41. Index

The index alone is 60 pages long; taking that into account gives an average of 26.8 pages and 112.5 recipes per chapter. That's about 4.2 recipes per page overall, though there are usually a couple of pages of introduction at the beginning of each chapter talking about the topic.

How to Get It
I don't own many cookbooks: this newest one brings the total to 4 (and 2 of them are the Joy of Cooking). I love and use them all, but the Joy of Cooking is certainly the most referenced. I got it from Amazon. They currently have it for $23.10 with free shipping (if you spend over $25). It's definitely worth the price; it'd be worth the price even if it cost a lot more. If you don't want to wait for shipping (which I can totally understand—the last week has been excruciating) and you are willing to pay a bit more, I am sure that Barnes and Noble and Borders both have it in stock. The list price for the book is $35.00, but they may have it for less. I absolutely recommend purchasing it.

Happy Birthday Nelson!

Today is my roommate Nelson's birthday. I baked this German Chocolate Cake for the occasion.

I've made German Chocolate Cake from scratch a couple of times before. It's worth making it from scratch even though it calls for pretty specialized ingredients (like cake flour and sweetened baking chocolate) and it is a rather complicated cake to make. This time I varied the recipe for the cake slightly and experimented some with the frosting. Overall I was quite pleased with the results.

The frosting calls only for egg yolks, so at the recommendation of The Joy of Cooking (my favorite cookbook) I added the extra egg whites left over from the frosting to the whipped egg whites folded into the cake to make a total of seven egg whites. This did make a noticeable difference in the texture of the cake: it was lighter and fluffier.

I ended up making two batches of the frosting so there would be enough to frost between the layers and on the top and sides. I made the first batch normally; for the second one I toasted the pecans and the coconut before adding them into the frosting. Initially the difference was pretty stark, but after putting it on the cake and letting it cool the difference was only very subtle. I definitely prefer the toasted frosting. I don't think most people tonight could tell the difference between the two.

I also used half-and-half instead of the usual evaporated milk for the frosting. I think the flavor did turn out better. I am pretty sure it would be even better when made from heavy cream. I intend to do that next time.

Finally, for the chocolate drizzled down the sides I used Ghirardelli semisweet baking chocolate combined with a small amount of shortening. I typically simply use melted chocolate chips for things like that. Ghirardelli was markedly better and is definitely worth the extra cost.

Happy Birthday Nelson!