I never grew up with chili, but I understand that there are some Very Strong Opinions out there about what makes a “true” or “authentic” chili. Fortunately, what I primarily care about is whether I get a delicious meal out of my efforts. Authenticity comes a distant second, if it …
It’s been a while since my last post, but I haven’t been idle; mead-making has been taking up most of my creative cycles. However, after hearing about the relative success of Operation Pantry Clearout, a friend recently unloaded the contents of her freezer on to me, which included a sizable …
For this mini-experiment, I measured out exactly 4 pounds of Kirkland-brand honey into each of a large cookpot and the liner of my Instant Pot before I started, since I was aware that I would lose quite a lot of water to evaporation while cooking on the stovetop. After that, …
I’m on a quest to use up pantry items and free up some space, while making tasty things while I’m at it. I have my eye on clearing out the space currently used by applesauce, because I honestly don’t use it that much on a day-to-day basis. Growing up, apples …
You know how I said in my notes for the eight-yolk gold cake that I wasn’t going to make this? I lied. I was out of icing sugar to make the glaze I had in mind, so when I found a carton of pasteurized egg whites in my fridge, I …
Invariably, after making an angel food cake, the pressing question becomes “what do I do with all of these yolks?” Usually the answer is some form of custard; for me, it’s David Lebovitz’s vanilla ice cream recipe. This time, I didn’t have the cream on hand to make ice cream, …
Forever ago, I found a chart that listed all of the readily available non-wheat flours and their properties, for the purpose of helping people bake gluten-free things more easily. I can’t find that chart, so I’m looking around for other options now, and here’s what I’ve found so far. Between …
Every now and then, the seemingly random urge strikes me to make an angel food cake. There’s no obvious trigger for it, and in fact I feel like it’s a little silly to bake something during this season of excess, but I heard the call when some friends were over …
For the past few weeks I’ve been thinking about Southern food. It started when I found a smoked pork hock at my nearby grocery store, which was unusual enough for them to carry that I took notice of it the next few times I was shopping and finally bought after …
Today the fridge decided not to work. This was a situation no doubt aided by the fact that the edge of a block of butter had prevented the freezer from closing completely, leading to the fridge’s cold air intake frosting over. After getting all of the perishables into a cooler …
