There is an Apple Festival this Saturday which is having a pie-baking contest. I didn’t attend last year, which was the premier, so I don’t quite know what to expect. What I do know is that it’s already Thursday and I still haven’t decided whether to join in or not! Even though Lisa has encouraged me, as have a couple of other folks, the jury is still out. What’s my problem? I’ve been telling people it’s mostly because I can be shy and am especially not chummy with the idea of being put on the spot and forced to brag about my cooking in front of strangers, but it’s also because my feelings about Slow Food Pittsburgh are rather mixed these days. Of course, organizations that I support fully, like my Co-op, are helping sponsor the festival, so I should probably just kick my grumpiness under the rug this time.

I would also probably feel somewhat less intimidated if it was called a challenge rather than a contest, which would also clear out the image in my head of rabid bakers whisking each other into a frenzy and planning secret sabotages in order to be the winner. Sometimes my imagination gets a little, well…restless, you know? And so do my italics.

But I baked a pie this week anyway, as a sort of expression of solidarity/frantic trial run in case I end up entering/way to test a theory I had about putting some extra ginger in the pie. I learned a few important things, namely that it’s a bad idea to start baking a pie after 7pm if you want to go to bed at a reasonable hour. You may end up rushing too much and have some problems with your normally foolproof crust because you forgot to chill the shortening (although I have to admit, after being in the oven, it acquired an intriguing “rustic” look that I find sort of charming). There might be charred pie juices all over your baking stone that will have to be chipped off later. The apples you used (a variety, but mostly Jonagold) might surprise you with their exuberant release of liquid, making the inside of the pie a little mushier that you’d prefer. Update: something magical happened after 24 hours and a lot of the liquid disappeared. I also realized that there are just a few mushy patches and the rest is more firm. Hooray! All of these things suggest that pie-baking should be a well-planned endeavor, and most certainly be done in the morning* or on nights in which staying up late will not turn you into a zombie the next day.

I should not complain too much, though…the great thing about this crust is that even though I patched it in about a hundred places and rolled it too thickly, it was still tender and delicious, if only a bit too crumbly. The apple-ginger combination was sublime (see, bragging is much easier when the audience is invisible). I probably should have paid more attention to which types of apples release the most liquid, and I think I’ll pick a firmer batch next time (and also make sure they don’t languish in my fridge for too long). I think next time I’ll choose a more tart variety, either to pair with Jonagold or solo. I also tried to add some spice to the crust, but don’t think it came through very well, possibly due to me not using enough of it or because the ginger was so assertive.

So, it’s not quite contest material, but definitely good eating material. Oh, and if you’re looking for a recipe? It’s no secret, just a variation on one from Cook’s magazine a couple of years back. I’ll post the recipe with modifications after Saturday…just in case!

*Grammar Dork Alert: English prepositions are so funky. Do you find a difference in meaning between baking a pie “in the morning” versus baking a pie “in the night” (putting aside the obvious time of day difference)? For me, it’s more natural (and semantically similar) to bake the pie “at night” rather than “in the night”. But I don’t mind baking it “in the afternoon”. Now try explaining this to an ESL student.

Baking | 2 Comments »

Yesterday we visited some food-loving friends, who were kind enough to have us over for eggs, scones, and amazing smoked salmon they brought back from Seattle in exchange for a hands-on macaron-making session.

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Baking | 4 Comments »

I’ve been getting a bit tired of my low-fat orange-nutmeg muffin experiments. A girl can only make and eat so many muffins before getting sick of them, especially when low-fat baking so often results in a bizarre bounciness of crumb (that’d be rubber if you’re nasty). I am definitely beginning to appreciate the work of all those professional bakers who have produced usable books on low-fat baking, because it’s not as easy at it seems, especially if you have standards like wanting your product to taste good in its own right, not just “good for a low-fat recipe”. There’s no reason to give up quality when trying to make stuff that is less bad for you, right?

So I turned my nutmeg-crusted Microplane towards the blogosphere. Lo and behold, that clever rock and roll gal from Combustication had just posted about banana oat bread, and the familiar sight (and smell) of bananas fragrantly expiring on my counter meant that I just couldn’t help myself but copycat it. And hey, it just happens to be low-fat, to boot.

I have to say, though, in looking at my recipe index, it seems I ought to make a little departure from banana-based baked goods (stop buying bananas!), before they get out of hand…so this will be the last one I blog about for a while.

I did make a few small changes, because, yes, I am one of those people who can’t help but fiddle a wee bit, unless expressly told not to. :) I added some spices and also found that it only needed about 1/4 cup of cane sugar rather than the original 3/4 cup mix of brown and white (but I am sensitive to sugar in breads, so you might like to use more). I also tossed in some toasted hazelnuts, which paired well with the bananas and made it a little heartier. Come to think of it, a teaspoon or so of espresso powder would be a great addition next time.

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Baking | 2 Comments »

Ah, lemon curd. Excuse me while I go a bit gaga over that unassuming concoction of lemon, eggs, and butter, that smooth and rich lemon delivery vehicle, at once all tart and silken on the tongue. But even though I will gladly eat the stuff straight from the jar, I’ve also tasted my share of less-than-delightful specimens. While I think lemon curd is relatively fundamental and hopefully not too pretentious, there seems to be no end to the ways it can go wrong, from overly sweet and runny to unctuous, gloppy, and clogged with too many eggs. Let’s also not forget the dreaded curdling - like other members of that fine family of stovetop custards, lemon curd has to be cooked to just the right amount of thickness so that it cools to a spreadable consistency but before the eggs start cooking too much and leaving tell-tale white strands, those tiny flags of failure.

Of course, some people try to get around this is by pressing everything through a fine sieve, leaving the little eggy bits behind so no one is the wiser. You can also cook the lemon curd on a double boiler, keeping the eggs away from direct flame. I do think that with a bit of practice, the stovetop method becomes just as easy, but as I try not to be much of a cheater in the kitchen (cough-cough), I am all for whatever cooks it properly without relying on dirty tricks. There’s no reason to get complacent and ignore the eggs just because you have to press it through a sieve anyway (and besides, overcooked eggs will infuse the curd with an unpleasant eggy flavor that, er, trust me, can’t be pressed out).

But enough preaching about careful cooking and the ways it can be wronged. Why bother talking about lemon curd at all unless it’s completely extraordinary? It’s true that when it comes to food, I am not usually given to excessive superlatives…throwing around terms like “the best” or “the ultimate” is bound to get a gal in trouble, what with all those opinions running wild and ready for a fight. And I’m not sure if it means that I’m overly self-critical or just open-minded to think that there is almost always room for improvement or variation in a recipe. I mean, take my penchant for making so few things more than once…it’s not because of some frantic race to find the best, but because I can’t bear to pass by all the interesting possibilities that cross my path.

So getting into my rotating queue is not exactly like getting into Per Se - it just means that the returns have to be fairly high or the method particularly uncomplicated. Still, when it comes to basics, having a cache of favorites isn’t such a bad thing - they pave the way for experimentation, and you don’t have to worry about an eternal quest for a recipe that’s both reliable and above average in flavor.

Enter my favorite lemon curd recipe. It hasn’t got frills, unexpected ingredients, or even a clever cooking method. But it’s on the tart side, just the way I like it, not to mention luxurious in texture but not too eggy. For me, this one has the perfect balance of sweet, tart, and silken. I won’t start arguments about whether it’s the ultimate, but it’s the one I always return to…and I think you’ll like it, too.

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Sweet Sauces & Fillings | 9 Comments »