No Plans No Prototype No Backup
Mar. 28th, 2012 03:07 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
tanarillThis is how I cook.
So, we are in the run-up to Passover. There are lots and lots of prohibitions involved in doing a Passover, but practically it means that right about Purim, we stop buying food. Everything from then on is just eating up what is already in the house, or going, "Why do we have this fuzzy green thing in the fridge, and when did it get there?" and then tossing it.
We had, in the freezer, two pie shells and massive bag of frozen blueberries. Also we had bits of leftover brown sugar and some flour. Clearly, this meant pie.
So I made the filling. First I dumped blueberries into a pan, and added sugar until is was just sweet enough to taste. Then I cooked it down until I could not press a spoon down and get only liquid, and added sugar until it was actually sweet. Then I added potato starch, which caused it to gel right up. The whole goopy mess went into the pie shell, and the oven at 350F. It stayed in the oven until bubbly, and then I put crumble top on.
(A thing about adding starch, which I think should be in the section of the cookery book titled "basics," along with how to bloom yeast* and why you need to let the meat rest. To add starch, take an equal amount of starch and a liquid, and mix them in a small cup or bowl. The liquid is orange or grape juice for a sweet thing, tomato juice for a savory thing, and water if you don't have anything else to hand. If you have a recipe, use that amount. Otherwise, three tablespoons of starch and another three of liquid generally works. The starch will immediately form a moisture-proof barrier, which is why this mixing is best done with a knife. After stabbing if for maybe thirty seconds, it will do some non-Newtonian magic and suddenly become almost milklike in consistency. This slurry is what you add to your gravy, or pie filling, or whatever else you are thickening; but whatever you do, do not just dump the starch straight in. And now you know.)
(Crumble top is made thusly: cut some butter/margarine with an equal amount of flour. That is, 1/2 cup butter needs 1/2 cup flour, 1 cup needs one cup, etc. You mash it together with a fork or a cutting tool, if you have one, and you get something that looks like dampish sand, stuck in clumps. Then you add brown sugar to make it sweet, and your choice of ground cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves, etc. You sprinkle it on top in the last 10 minutes or so of baking. Do not do this too early, or the fat melts and the top just drips off of the pie. Boo.)
So then there was pie, made of my favorite fruit. It is the best pie I have ever made, I think. The filling was gelled enough that instead of oozing when cut into, it stayed where it is, allowing you to remove the pie slice with no mess. The crumble top was indeed crumbly, but only after being forked, so it wasn't making crumbs everywhere. The pie crust was flaky, not so much tender, but delicious all over the place. Altogether, a successful pie.
But no recipe. I don't need no stinkin' recipe.
* To bloom yeast: to take yeast from the fridge, which is both alive and dormant, and wake it up. To do it, you get warm, not hot, water, and mix in the yeast. It takes two minutes, but if you are nervous about the water temperature, it will start foaming after about ten minutes if the yeast are alive.
So, we are in the run-up to Passover. There are lots and lots of prohibitions involved in doing a Passover, but practically it means that right about Purim, we stop buying food. Everything from then on is just eating up what is already in the house, or going, "Why do we have this fuzzy green thing in the fridge, and when did it get there?" and then tossing it.
We had, in the freezer, two pie shells and massive bag of frozen blueberries. Also we had bits of leftover brown sugar and some flour. Clearly, this meant pie.
So I made the filling. First I dumped blueberries into a pan, and added sugar until is was just sweet enough to taste. Then I cooked it down until I could not press a spoon down and get only liquid, and added sugar until it was actually sweet. Then I added potato starch, which caused it to gel right up. The whole goopy mess went into the pie shell, and the oven at 350F. It stayed in the oven until bubbly, and then I put crumble top on.
(A thing about adding starch, which I think should be in the section of the cookery book titled "basics," along with how to bloom yeast* and why you need to let the meat rest. To add starch, take an equal amount of starch and a liquid, and mix them in a small cup or bowl. The liquid is orange or grape juice for a sweet thing, tomato juice for a savory thing, and water if you don't have anything else to hand. If you have a recipe, use that amount. Otherwise, three tablespoons of starch and another three of liquid generally works. The starch will immediately form a moisture-proof barrier, which is why this mixing is best done with a knife. After stabbing if for maybe thirty seconds, it will do some non-Newtonian magic and suddenly become almost milklike in consistency. This slurry is what you add to your gravy, or pie filling, or whatever else you are thickening; but whatever you do, do not just dump the starch straight in. And now you know.)
(Crumble top is made thusly: cut some butter/margarine with an equal amount of flour. That is, 1/2 cup butter needs 1/2 cup flour, 1 cup needs one cup, etc. You mash it together with a fork or a cutting tool, if you have one, and you get something that looks like dampish sand, stuck in clumps. Then you add brown sugar to make it sweet, and your choice of ground cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves, etc. You sprinkle it on top in the last 10 minutes or so of baking. Do not do this too early, or the fat melts and the top just drips off of the pie. Boo.)
So then there was pie, made of my favorite fruit. It is the best pie I have ever made, I think. The filling was gelled enough that instead of oozing when cut into, it stayed where it is, allowing you to remove the pie slice with no mess. The crumble top was indeed crumbly, but only after being forked, so it wasn't making crumbs everywhere. The pie crust was flaky, not so much tender, but delicious all over the place. Altogether, a successful pie.
But no recipe. I don't need no stinkin' recipe.
* To bloom yeast: to take yeast from the fridge, which is both alive and dormant, and wake it up. To do it, you get warm, not hot, water, and mix in the yeast. It takes two minutes, but if you are nervous about the water temperature, it will start foaming after about ten minutes if the yeast are alive.
no subject
Date: 2012-03-29 04:20 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-04-13 10:35 pm (UTC)I have to admit though, that there is a part of me that will never quite stop feeling uneasy at using and eating stuff like yeast and yogurt, which is alive. D:
no subject
Date: 2012-04-18 05:56 am (UTC)