As promised, here is my video recipe of the ubiquitous California Roll. Thank God (Buddha, in this case), for the user-friendly crab and avocado roll, as it allows those culinary cowards among us to join friends at a sushi bar. Without it they would have to make up some story about a sudden illness in order to avoid the embarrassment of admitting to raw fish phobia. Since I couldn't find the official term for this horrible affliction, I found a Latin-English translation site and have now coined this syndrome, rudispiscisphobia.
I was hoping to also show some raw fish options using the sushi rice, but there was no decent "sushi-grade" fish readily available in my neighborhood. Maybe next time. The faux crab I used in these California rolls is a nice option if your budget (as I very subtly joke about in the clip) does not allow for the real stuff. Just be sure to check the labels and make sure your fake crab is made from real fish. Enjoy!
Here are a couple of great shots of the dinner roll recipe, as done by two viewers of this blog! If you've made things from the site, send in those photos.
These are from Brian, who writes, "Had some fun making the dinner rolls, thanks for the recipe! They don't look as pretty as the ones submitted, but heres the photo anyway. They came out amazing! I was serving with a vodka sauce baked ziti I made, so at the last 10 minutes of baking I put a small bit of chopped garlic and butter on each roll. Its illegal in most states to not have garlic bread with baked ziti." Well done Brian, and by the way, all dinner rolls are beautiful!
These are from Slobokan at Bits of Dust. I have it on good authority that they made some killer open-face turkey sandwiches!
I am proud to announce I've just been featured in an interview on the blog, Seduction Meals, run by friend of the site, Terry Dagrosa (pictured below). Her site is dedicated to food, romance, and seducing that special someone with a great, sexy meal. Apparently, without my knowledge, or consent, some people are using my recipes for the purpose of seducing the objects of their affection. Hey, I'm happy to help, just don't forget me at Christmas.
After doing so much sourdough lately, I was happy to find out About.com wanted a dinner roll video recipe. The main difference, other than the commercial yeast that's used, is the dough includes butter and eggs for a richer, airy bread. There is nothing like a homemade dinner roll. The curvy shape, the supple feel, the way they touch each other while baking - they're borderline erotic!
While these easy rolls are great served along side that special dinner, what I really love to use them for is hamburger buns. They're a great resting place for a freshly grilled cheeseburger, chicken breast, or even spicy pulled pork. After all the temperamental "wild" yeast I've been capturing lately, it sure was nice to use those reliable little yellow and red packets. Enjoy! Click here for ingredients and transcript
Bonus Roll Video: Click here for greatest roll video ever, and prepare to be rolled!
This very interesting, and disturbing, bit of animation shows, as the creator explains, "An abridged history of American-centric warfare, from WWII to present day, told through the foods of the countries in conflict."
I watched it a few times to figure out some of the battles, and then I realized they have a website to explain the combatants and the conflicts. I was surprised at how I had forgotten about some of these wars, and had never heard of a few! There is something very poignant about seeing food used to show these conflicts. The word juxtaposition comes to mind. Hey, I've always wanted to use that word in a sentence!
During the California gold rush, legend has it, a miner who had just struck it rich, walked into a restaurant in Placerville (known then as "Hangtown") and demanded the most expensive breakfast possible. The cook fried together the three priciest ingredients at the time; bacon, eggs and fresh oysters. This delicious and decadent breakfast became known as the Hangtown fry, which is the subject of this video recipe.
Another interesting historical angle to this dish was its popularity as a "last meal" request among those unfortunate souls awaiting a walk to the gallows. Since it often took a few days to procure all three of those ingredients, the condemned man could stall his inevitable fate. Maybe is gang could think of a way to bust him out, and he could brag from that point on how his life was saved by a scrambled egg recipe.
By the way, the original recipe had the raw oysters cooked right into the eggs, but this modernized versions places fried oysters on top of the eggs for a more "fancified" plate. Enjoy! Click here for ingredients and transcript
Dulce de leche means "milk candy," and it's basically a thick caramel-like syrup made from slowly cooking milk and sugar. It is extremely popular throughout Latin America, and pound for pound, it's the world's most popular caramel confection.
Legend has it that a maid was making "lechada," a traditional boiled milk and sugar drink, and she forgot all about it. A few hours later she returned to find the pot bubbling with a thick caramel-colored syrup…dulce de leche was born. I'm sorry, but there is nothing worse than a boring "how this recipe was invented legend." Here's my version.
In 1836, an Argentinean dairy caught fire when it was hit with a bolt of lightning, during a terrible thunderstorm. The night watchman, Juan Manuel de Rosas, ran next door to the general store, "Walmartes" to grab a sack of salt, which in those days was commonly used to smother and put out fires. He accidentally grabbed a bag of sugar and began throwing handfuls everywhere. But, he was too late and the fire ended up burning down half the dairy. He panicked, stole a horse, and road out of town, never to be seen again (although rumors circulated that he moved to Peru and opened a shoe store).
When the firemen entered the building they found several pots of sugar-dusted milk that had slowly cooked near the fire. As the pots where being moved to start the clean-up, some of the mixture splashed on someone's hand, was licked off, and dulce de leche was born. Now that's a legend! I hope you try this simple and amazing sauce. Enjoy!
As promised, here is my video recipe of the ubiquitous California Roll. Thank God (Buddha, in this case), for the user-friendly crab and avocado roll, as it allows those culinary cowards among us to join friends at a sushi bar. Without it they would have to make up some story about a sudden illness in order to avoid the embarrassment of admitting to raw fish phobia. Since I couldn't find the official term for this horrible affliction, I found a Latin-English translation site and have now coined this syndrome, rudispiscisphobia.
