Re: Stupid Baking and Sometimes Leftovers are Better
It's the Most Wonderful Time of the Year!
My friend and roommate came home early from work the other day all super excited. One of the bosses gave everbody their very own frozen whole chicken as a happy holidays present. Let me tell you folk, it was a beaut.
But here is where we ran into our first obstacle. Neither one of has ever cooked a whole chicken. Me because I'm a big fat wuss and only ever baked breasts. He's only ever fried legs or wings. But a whole chicken? It's unprecedented. But I was not completely without recourse. I asked and was delivered this recipe from a helpful and invaluable ally:
And now I will regale you with the hilarity. We are such noobs at this that we didn't even have a rack upon which to bake our whole chicken! There was even some contention on whether or not we needed a rack. I, being at least not totally ignorant, insisted there be one lest the consequences be intolerable. I won the discussion but mostly for insisting we follow the recipe precisely and not because the chicken would have been an ugly goopy mess otherwise.
Now, you'll notice that the recipe has some very difficult and hard maths hiding away inside. As I was familiarizing myself with the recipe I note that it asks for a 3 or 3 and one-half pound chicken and anything more requires a degree in algebra. Fortunately for me, I'm no Malibu Stacy, and though math can throw a curve ball sometimes, I was able to overcome. For you see, I guessed that our chicken was much larger than a peonic 3 or 3 and one-half pounds. Based on the outcome, which I'm getting to hold your horses, I guessed rightly at 5 pounds.
We made some deviations from the set recipe otherwise but it all came out alright. We substituted olive oil for butter and added some cayenne and chipotle spices to the mix.
Now, I know that nothing gives a golden crisp skin like butter, but the olive oil worked just fine. Here she is just after stage two, looking good enough to eat already.
And, finally, after everything is cooked and done, our first whole baked chicken, resting before the carnage begins.
I have to say, despite not being more spiced it was tasty and juicy. I'll take responsibility and not lay this at the feet of my invaluable and helpful ally for not sending me more flavor tips before we started cooking. But we'll know better for next time - should there be a next time.
A better story for this was the one side we served for this: Mashed sweet potatoes. Fortunately for all involved I was more part of the process this time because I was documenting the process for this poast, otherwise the sweet taters would have been just PLAIN. My roommate lamented that they weren't very flavorful. I don't know what all he added. Now, before you think ill of my dear friend, let me tell you he's usually very good at extemporaneous cooking. (More on that later.)
But surely I figured it was not beyond saving. So I to the internets and looked through Pioneer Woman's various and sundry tasties. After reading the necessaries, I knew what I could do. I COULD SAVE POTATOES. I added some on hand things: pecans, brown sugar and a touch of vanilla extract. I was very proud of myself because that totally saved the potatoes.
BORT, THE POTATO SAVIOR!
And now, fellow ers, the final chapter in our grand whole chicken adventure: The Leftovers.
There wasn't much left over, to be honest. There was about half a breast remainder, plus random carcass stuff and the juice from the cooking of the chicken. My roommate took all of that and made an excellent soup-like dinner, including rice noodles, brocolli, tomatoes, and I don't know what other fixings were in the fridge. The roasted chicken flavor was heartier in flavor than pan fried which we would normally have used.
So, I made some marmalades to copy Lady Shea because she thought she was all better than me and it was important that I put her in her place. But then, I'm the only person in the world who likes marmalade plain because everyone else is a ridiculous infant, so I'm like OK THEN, CAKE. Then, I made a li'l flat butter and marmalade cake, which was good, but then, I was like, wait! Chocolate marmalade cake!
And not flat, so I made a rised kind, but it was too dry and crumbly. So I added more oil, so now it is basically this:
1 1/4 c. flour
1 1/2 t. baking powder
1/4 t. salt
2/3 c. sugar
2 eggs
2 oz. baking chocolate
1 tsp. vanilla
3/4 c. butter
about 1/4 c. vegetable oil
the correct amount of marmalade
Combine the dry ingredients, melt the butter and chocolate, then add that plus the other wet ingredients (except the marmalade) to the dry and mix it thoroughly, then add the marmalade and mix a little less thoroughly, then bake at 350F in a greased cake pan for about 35 minutes.
(Note that I live at about a mile above sea level, and I forget how to adjust cooking for low elevations, so something might be different but I don't know what. Ha ha! Your problem!)
It's still just a little bit dry, though, despite all the oil and stuff, so that's where you guys come in and fix it for me because I'm tired of making a thousand cakes every minute, and I really don't know very much about how to bake. It tastes just about exactly right, but it's still a little too dry and crumbly. The batter is pretty dry and lumpy, like the consistency of brownie batter about.
Should I put in more oil and/or butter? Maybe milk? Is there something else I'm doing wrong?
Sorry can't help with cake. Cake stuff comes in a box and you add eggs to it.
Anyway, in my reading around the web, most cakes have milk and you have none. You can sub mayo or sour cream. Buttermilk like liv said would be nice I am sure
Should I try it with three eggs? It just seems like so much for such a little cake.
I would try buttermilk, except that it's a special trip ingredient, and I'd just end up throwing out the rest because it is buttermilk. Maybe up the butter to a cup, plus a little bit of milk? Would that do it?
Should I try it with three eggs? It just seems like so much for such a little cake.
I would try buttermilk, except that it's a special trip ingredient, and I'd just end up throwing out the rest because it is buttermilk. Maybe up the butter to a cup, plus a little bit of milk? Would that do it?
A tablespoon of lemon juice in 1.5 cup of milk. Let stand a few mins = buttermilk for baking purposes. I never buy buttermilk because I use it only for soda bread and biscuits
One egg, to start. Most cake recipes call for one egg.
It already has two, though.
I start out cakes with a basic batter, and just adjust that to accommodate different things, so that I can just do it really fast, because if I can't do it really fast, I'm probably not going to do it.
My default cake base is the eggs, sugar, flour, and butter, and I can make that in like two minutes, so I try to start out with that for everything, but it's not translating as neatly to a leavened cake as I'd hoped.
Oh, hey, remember the chocolate marmalade cake project you guys have all been working on because I told you to and, of course, out of a sincere concern for the well being of my cakes?
I just did. Here is what I have now, and I think it's about right. I tried adjusting the proportions to some standard cake formula, but they are so far off that it is crazy. Still a tiny bit crumbly, but I think using cake flour instead of AP should be enough to fix that. A main thing is that I want to make sure it's still easy, and that it uses standard pantry ingredients, but I should have cake flour around anyway, so I guess that would be OK.
1 1/4 c. flour
2 1/2 t. baking powder
dash of salt
2/3 c. sugar
1/3 to 3/4 c. cocoa powder
2 beaten eggs
1 tsp. vanilla
3/4 c. melted butter
1/2 or so cups of milk, enough to make it look like regular cake batter
An amount of marmalade
Combine the dry ingredients, then add the wet ingredients and beat thoroughly. Add the marmalade last, and transfer to a greased cake or pie pan, then bake at 350F for about 40 minutes.
Can curses tell us what sort of horrible filter one could use to make everything look like it was shot in the 70s for a short subject? Maybe for bagels or industrial safety?
__________________
Much of MADNESS, and more of SIN, and HORROR the soul of the plot.
At first I read that as 2 decades before you were old and bitter and I was going to protest that I was born that way.
__________________
"freedom to differ is not limited to things that do not matter much. That would be a mere shadow of freedom. The test of its substance is the right to differ as to things that touch the heart of the existing order."
- Justice Robert Jackson, West Virginia State Board of Ed. v. Barnette
I just got my mind blowned by something I read today. Nearly everything I've ever cooked has come from following a specific recipe. Now, I'm just a simple bort and naively thought that recipe applied only to that specific application. Even from large voluminous cookbooks I'd probably miss making a connection across similar recipes or types of foods. But right here someone laid something out in a way that clicked in my brain.
A plug and play recipe template, y'all. This one for fish.
Also, here's one for soup that, even though this is the Stupid Baking thrad, I knew would like to know about.
I probably won't try more than a couple of the fishes on account of not even baking a lot already but knowing that I have a plethora of options easily at hand feels good.
I know this is against the rule of the thrad, but Julia Child! She starts with a base recipe, like for a dough or a soup base or something, then expands on those, showing you how to make everything building up from those basic skills.
__________________
"freedom to differ is not limited to things that do not matter much. That would be a mere shadow of freedom. The test of its substance is the right to differ as to things that touch the heart of the existing order."
- Justice Robert Jackson, West Virginia State Board of Ed. v. Barnette
It's a mix of chopped onions, bell peppers, and celery. Like mirepoix except with bell peppers instead of carrots.
I don't like those terms because it almost always takes more time to say that, then explain what it means. I mean, I technically know that, but I still have to look it up or ask because I don't remember. TIME SAVED: Negative one million units of time.
I made some banana bread for the first time in my life the other day. I had purchased a bunch of bananas that nobody ate, turned brown. So I used my google-fu and came up with this very simple recipe: 4-5 bananas mushed up with melted butter and a cup of sugar, an egg, baking soda, and vanilla extract along with a pinch of salt and a cup and a half of flour. Baked in a buttered pan for an hour at 350ºF, it turned out bananalicious.
__________________
Sleep - the most beautiful experience in life - except drink.--W.C. Fields
Re: Stupid Baking and Sometimes Leftovers are Better
to the internets and looked through Pioneer Woman's various and sundry tasties. After reading the necessaries, I knew what I could do. I COULD SAVE POTATOES. I added some on hand things: pecans, brown sugar and a touch of vanilla extract. I was very proud of myself because that totally saved the potatoes.
ers, the final chapter in our grand whole chicken adventure: The Leftovers.
Re: Stupid Baking
Linear Mode
