I've been waiting almost 3 years to work an E.T. reference into one of my blog post titles.
For whatever reason, I've had quite a few requests lately for a scone recipe video. I should say at the outset, I've never made scones before (or at least never remember making scones before), and I've never been a big fan of eating them either.
I've always found them so dry and crumbly that I just assumed some devious Scottish café owner invented them to increase sales, since most of the scones I've tried take about five cups of coffee to wash down.
Then I thought, maybe I've just never had a really good one. So I did what any social media savvy professional video recipe blogger would do; I asked my friends on Twitter for a recipe.
I got many great suggestions for all kinds of wonderful sounding versions, but since I'd never made them before, I decided to just make a plain, very traditional version to start off with. I figured I'd get the basic recipe down before trying anything crazy.
This recipe is very slightly adapted from one by someone called "Friendlyfood" on All Recipes, who claims it was adapted from a version made at the Savoy hotel in London. I have to say, I am very impressed. It was light, tender, moist and very delicious.
By the way, a couple of my favorite foodies, Denise from ChezUs, and Jennifer from In Jennie's Kitchen, may also be posting scone recipes soon, and when they do, I will share those with you as well (and believe me, they won't be as plain as this one!).
Another friend of mine, Tamar from Starving off the Land, pointed out the controversy regarding the correct pronunciation. While most Americans (and by most, I mean all) say it so it rhymes with "cone," the proper articulation is said to rhyme with "John."
As you know, I've never been big on pronouncing things correctly, and I'm not about to start now, but I wanted to point that out in case you find yourself in Scotland someday. Hey, you don't want to sound like a tourist, or worse, a Brit.
One last thing, you'll see me add the currants along with the wet ingredients. I don't understand why recipes for cookies, muffins, etc., call for fruit, nuts, and/or chips to be stirred in after the wet ingredients are mixed in. These types of recipes suffer greatly from over mixing, so I say add the chunky bits when you combine the wet and dry. Having said that, I'm not a baker, so maybe there's a reason for this common recipe instruction. Is there? Anyway, enjoy!
Ingredients: 8 ounces by weight all-purpose flour (about 1 3/4 cups) 4 teaspoons baking powder 1/4 cup white sugar 1/8 teaspoon salt 5 tablespoons unsalted butter 1/3 cup dried currants 1/2 cup milk 1/4 cup sour cream (and 1 egg plus 1 tablespoon milk for the wash)
There was such an unexpectedly large and enthusiastic response to my knife steel video yesterday, and so many questions about knife sharpening in general, I thought I'd find a video showing the proper use of a whetstone. This extremely well-done demonstration is by Ian Knauer, food editor for Gourmet Magazine. Enjoy!
I don't think there have been any official government studies regarding the use of knife steels, which is a good thing since that would have been a really silly use of taxpayer money (unlike investigating the sexual arousal in anesthetized female rats…true story).
However, if such a study was done, I believe we'd learn that most home cooks have no real idea what this very important tool is for. Many think it's a knife sharpener, and when their knives get dull, they pull it out, only to be sorely disappointed that "it doesn't work."
A knife steel is made to keep a sharp knife, sharp, and will do so for quite a while if used properly. By the way, most cuts in a kitchen are due to dull knives, so this video may save you a visit to the ER. If you don’t have a steel, go buy one, they're only about $20, and worth every penny!
If your knives are dull, please take them to professional knife sharpener (every city has one), and for a few dollars per knife you can have the edge put back on them. Then, using the simple technique you'll see in this video, you'll keep that sharp edge for a very long time. One thing I failed to mention in the clip, wipe the knife after using the steel – there will be a small amount of superfine metal dust produced. Enjoy!
Déjà vu
No, you’re no going crazy, I have done this lesson before, but it was for About.com, and I've wanted to do a Food Wishes version for a long time. I'm glad we straightened that out [rim shot].
This video recipe for Beef Satay is the sixth in a series of videos I'm doing with grass-fed beef from Steve Normanton, focusing on how to cook the various cuts. This time I had some lovely looking sirloin tip to work with, and being in the mood for something Thai-ish, I decided to try some beef satay.
This video recipe is really more about the marinade than the meat, as this will work with almost any cut of beef. If you want to splurge, you can use tenderloin, which is super-tender, and really is a nice choice. If you're on the other end of the luxury meat spectrum, you can use a cheap cut like rump steak, or you can split the difference and use something in the middle, like this sirloin tip.
I'll sacrifice a little tenderness for flavor any day, and as long as you slice nice and thin, against the grain, you can't go wrong. As I show in the video, I like to put lots of meat on the skewer, so I can caramelize the surface without having to worry about the lean, grass-fed beef drying out.
All the ingredients, some of which may sound exotic, should be fairly easy to find in any large, higher-end grocery store. By the way, these skewers can be done with chicken or pork, and I can personally verify they are just as delicious. Enjoy!
Ingredients: 2 pounds thinly sliced beef 3 cloves garlic 1/4 cup brown sugar 3 tablespoons fish sauce 2 tablespoons soy sauce 2 tablespoons fresh very finely minced or pureed lemongrass 1 tablespoon freshly grated ginger 1 teaspoon cumin 1 teaspoon turmeric 1 tablespoon ground coriander 1 tablespoon fresh lime juice
Sorry for the delay in posting the beef satay video recipe, but my iMac died this morning, and I've just been told Best Buy has to ship it out to fix, and that it will be three weeks before it's ready! I still have my laptop, but everything is slower, and the disc is almost full. I'm not happy. Bottom line: Video is coming soon! Thanks for your patience.
I've been waiting almost 3 years to work an E.T. reference into one of my blog post titles.
This recipe is very slightly adapted from one by someone called "Friendlyfood" on All Recipes, who claims it was adapted from a version made at the Savoy hotel in London. I have to say, I am very impressed. It was light, tender, moist and very delicious.
