Obscure Journey

[blog entry.1] Cooking Pomme Anna

Publié le 25 Novembre 2013 par Charly Cross

Catégories : #advice, #Cooking, #life experience, #life lesson

So today I wanted to cook Potatoes Anna, or as French called it, Pomme Anna. The recipe is here, and as you can see, not on my blog. BUT, it will be, once I adjust it. And we reached the point where I explain why I felt the need to write a blog entry in my "cooking book."

Sometimes when I follow recipes they don't turn out as I expected. I usually blame it on my stove, not using the same sized pans/pots/so on. But, what if the recipe hasn't been written exactly the first time it has been recorded?

For instance, the recipe for Potatoes Anna above says to use 1/2 cup of melted butter. Another recipe said I can use melted margarine. And this is what I did use, as I didn't have butter on hand, nor time to run to the store to buy it, even if it's literally around the corner.

Pommes Anna by @jwagnerdrums on instagram. mine didn't look this nice.

BUT, you should head over to Wikipedia to read about the dish/recipe, and you'll find out this is a 19th century dish that uses "a very large amount of melted butter." The last time I checked 1/2 cup is nowhere near "a large amount," let alone "a very large amount."

If you want to try this dish, you must do some heavy research on what it's supposed to look like. HINT: it has to look like a round cake. To get this look, you have to turn the pot you cooked it in, upside-down, on a large enough plate. "A very large amount of melted butter" allows this process to be performed easily. During the cooking in the oven, the water in the butter/margarine evaporates, and your 'potato cake' will stick to the pot and burn, which is what happened to me. Thankfully, it was only the bottom that got burned, and the rest was edible. Needless to say, that if the potatoes stick to the pot you'll have a hard time removing the "cake."

So these are my thoughts on cooking Potatoes Anna. I will definitely try this recipe again, and that is when I will post the (I hope) 'right' recipe for you guys. With pictures too.

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"generic" pound cake recipe

Publié le 24 Novembre 2013 par Charly C.

Catégories : #baking, #tips, #Cooking, #dessert, #food, #sweets, #recipe

Hello world~~~

You might have many great pound cake recipes, and I cannot wait to find more. There are a few ingredients needed, just a few steps, and then, BAM! baking and voila!

I'll give you guys the quantities for a single loaf and the ones for 2 loafs in parenthesis, if you like it and want to try it again ;) This recipe doesn't need baking powder because the eggs and oil make it really fluffy.

not my picture :( it belongs to its maker

INGREDIENTS

4 large eggs (7 medium eggs)
1 cup sugar (2 cups)
5 tablespoons water (7 tablespoons)
5 tablespoons oil (7 tablespoons)
some salt
1 cup flour (1 1/2 cups)
vanilla, lemon, or other flavoring you like
cocoa (if you want it marbled)

METHOD

Pre-heat the oven and prepare your baking tray.
Mousse the eggs whites.
Place the sugar in a pot, pour the water over, and melt the sugar over some heat (like on the stove). Make sure you get a syrup like looking ingredient and that you don't burn it.
Pour the above syrup on the mousse and mix well.
Pour the salt over the egg yolks, mix with a fork, and pour over the meringue above. Mix well.
Add the oil and mix well.
Add the flour and mix well.
Add the flavoring and mix well.
Pour the mix in the tray and bake for some 30 minutes. A toothpick should come out clean if you prick the pound cake in the middle.

MARBLED CAKE

Follow the steps 1 to 8.
Pour the mix in the tray saving some 2 or 3 tablespoons of batter over which you pour the cocoa. Mix well and then pour on top of the rest of the batter with a left/right motion.
Bake it like above.

the cocoa mixture on the left. use a teaspoon to 'cut' the batter, to have some cocoa IN the pound-cake

You can further decorate your pound cake with any topping you like. You can also add raisins, nuts, or other dried fruits.

Bon Appetit!

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Making soup? Easy!

Publié le 18 Novembre 2013 par Charly C.

Catégories : #Cooking, #soup, #recipe

Winter is around the corner in this city. The weather is still mostly sunny, but it’s cold. There is no better excuse to warm up with some warm home-made soup, is there?

Now I want to share with you a soup recipe I made and liked. I called it an “all-purpose” soup, because you can alter it to any type of soup. It’s like a basic soup that is eaten as it is, or turned into a chicken soup, and so on. Before you read on, I have 2 warnings:

I’m allergic to onion and garlic, thus my foods never have these ingredients.
I didn’t measure almost none of the ingredients, and I wanted more soup, to have some the next day. Making soup is no exact science for me.

frozen mixes are a good alternative, if you don't want to make the soup from scratch

INGREDIENTS

2 liters of water
3-4 medium potatoes
1-2 medium to small carrots
1-2 small bell peppers
1/4 cauliflower head
salt
any other ingredient (vegetables or condiments) you can think of that would work in a soup

METHOD

Turn the stove top on, throw the salt in the water in a large enough pot, and put the pot on the fire.
Peel the carrots, dice them and put them in the pot. The water doesn’t need to boil, there is enough time.
Peel the potatoes, dice them to bite size and drop them in the pot.

Clean the peppers, chop them and put them in the pot.
Clean the cauliflower, chop it, and drop it in the pot.
Add any other vegetable you selected above. Any condiments should be added some 10 minutes before you stop the fire.
Let boil. It took my soup 45 minutes to completely boil.

MAKE A MEAT SOUP

Separately, clean any type of meat you want in your soup. Dice the meat and fry it in a pan with little oil. Grilled meat works fine too. The important part is to cook the meat well.

When the soup is done, put some meat pieces in a bowl and add hot soup on top for a serving. You can cover the bowl for some 10-15 minutes and then serve.

Meatballs work just as nicely, but make sure they’re properly cooked, like above.

This “all-purpose” soup is great for families in which some members don’ t eat meat while others do. My soup is red because I had put some 2 or 3 tablespoons of tomato sauce. These are added towards the end, with some 10 minutes before you turn off the fire.

Bon Appetit!

this entry was edited in May 2018, with pictures taken at various times.

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