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How Often Do You Burn Things?

partysugar — Wed, 11 Feb 2009 09:00:30 -0800

It seems like in every episode of 30 Minute Meals that I watch, Rachael Ray makes a comment about how she "always burns" things in the broiler. Although I've never actually seen her burn an item, she does seem like the type of person who could be prone to burning. I'm usually pretty good about not burning bread or bacon, but recently, when I made sloppy Joe's, I totally forgot about the buns! How about you? When was the last time you burned something? Is there one item you are more likely to burn than others?

Let's Dish: What Recipe Have You Totally Screwed Up?

partysugar — Wed, 14 Jan 2009 06:45:37 -0800

Readers, I have a confession: sometimes I'm a failure in the kitchen. Take, for example, the picture below. My father recently watched Tyler Florence make the most delectable Spanish tapa where a raw egg is wrapped in jamon serrano, placed atop béchamel and toast, and baked in the oven. TyFlo made it look exceptionally easy.
However, when my dad and I went to recreate the dish, the ham wasn't strong enough to hold the eggs. The eggs rolled off the slippery white sauce and onto the baking sheet. After wasting eight eggs, we managed to get three nestled inside the ham. Then, when we removed the final product from the oven, the toast and eggs were stuck to the pan! Our breakfast was a complete disaster.

While we laughed it off, and managed to take a couple tasty bites of the mess, I got to thinking about failed recipes. Have you ever gone through a similar experience, where the recipe doesn't work? What recipe was it and how did you handle the situation?

Let's Dish: What Was Your Biggest Kitchen Catastrophe?

partysugar — Thu, 11 Sep 2008 03:00:17 -0700

Recently I was making dark-chocolate raspberry ice cream. A friend was over and he was desperate to help. Always one to encourage cooking, I told him to prepare the raspberries. Before adding the sugar to the pan, he held up the quarter-cup and asked me for permission to add it to the saute pan. However, his cup was filled with rock salt! Luckily, our disaster was averted, but replacing sugar with rock salt is a serious error that would make the dish inedible.
We all make mistakes, especially when new to the kitchen, so everyone should have something to share. Fess up: from burnt cookies to boiled-over pots, what ended up in the trash instead of on the table?

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Let's Dish: What's Your Kitchen Pet Peeve?

YumSugar — Thu, 07 Aug 2008 03:00:48 -0700

Whether or not they want to admit it, all of the people in my life have some sort of kitchen pet peeve. My mother? She hates sticky floors. My friend Katie can't stand it when her husband loads two spoons next to one another in the dishwasher, because the silverware doesn't get fully clean. When my boy puts what he thinks is recyclable (but is really just trash) into the recycling bin, I go insane. Do you have any gripes about what drives you crazy in the kitchen? Share them with me in the comments.

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Let's Dish: What Are Your Most Common Kitchen Mistakes?

partysugar — Tue, 10 Jun 2008 05:30:13 -0700

Nobody's perfect and when it comes to cooking, I've had my fair share of kitchen catastrophes. The funny thing is, I often make the same mistake over and over again! For example, every couple of months I forget that a plastic cutting board is NOT a hot plate. Last Saturday, I ruined another cutting board by placing a hot frying pan directly on top of it. I know I'm not the only one who repeatedly messes things up, even the most skilled chefs experience kitchen bloopers. So in the spirit of dishing, tell me your common kitchen mistakes by leaving a comment below!

Well the Recipe Said Eight Cups . . .

YumSugar — Thu, 10 Jan 2008 16:28:11 -0800

This past Sunday, the Entrée Section of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel printed a recipe for Stuffed Chicken. However, instead of calling for 1/8 of a cup, the paper accidentally printed eight cups. I can't imagine making a recipe with eight cups of onions, but I'm sure that some new cooks might have done it.

How about you? Would you have fallen for the eight-cup disaster? Also, have you ever fallen victim to a recipe error, or misread a recipe? Share your tales in the comments below!

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52 Weeks of Baking: Week 3 - Boston Cream Disaster

YumSugar — Thu, 18 Jan 2007 16:35:06 -0800

Last weekend I went to a friend's house for a small birthday party. I told them not to worry about the cake because I would take care of it. (After all, I like baking and this will be a great excuse for my 52 weeks of baking.) So when I asked what the birthday boy's favorite cake was, I was expecting it to be something standard like chocolate, carrot, coconut, you know, a normal "cake" flavor. I was not expecting Boston Cream Pie! I wasn't even sure I'd actually ever eaten one before, and I knew I sure as heck hadn't made one before. But, since I'm always up for a challenge, I said, "That sounds fun! I'll make one!"

That, my dear friends, turned out to be not such a great idea. I was doomed from the beginning and it turned out disastrously. I even contemplated not sharing this recipe with you guys, but no one's perfect (and I certainly am not), so here it is. To read about my Boston Cream Disaster, read more

Let me start by saying, I'm 100% sure it was me and not the recipe. I've heard of people having great results with this recipe, so if you try it, please let me know how it turned out. Second of all, I'd like you to know that today's baking experiment is really a demonstration of why proper planning, timing and equipment are CRUCIAL to a successful baking endeavor.

Having said that, let me get on with my story.
My friend's house is about an hour away, so I didn't want to make the cake, and have it sit in the car for hours (we had a few errands to run that were on the way there). In hindsight, this was my downfall (after all, it was cold enough) and the fact that I had to bring all the equipment and most of the ingredients with me, didn't really help either.

I ended up arriving at my friend's house at 6pm. Pastry Cream, for those of you that don't know, needs at least 3 hours to set up, if not longer. Unfortunately, it didn't get into the fridge until almost 7. Also, the fridge itself was packed (ie: not very cold) and the opening and closing for beers didn't exactly make for the best cooling environment in the world.

After the pastry cream was put into the fridge, I started on the Foolproof Sponge Cake. Sadly, I had forgotten the baking pans at home (the kitchen in this house is pretty bare) and ended up using a sheet pan instead. Luckily it worked out and I was able to cut the cake in half to make a rectangular layer cake instead.

Around 10 we decided that it was getting close to cake time, so I started on the glaze. When the glaze was ready, I went to take the cream out of the fridge, but WHAT!? it was still pretty liquid-y, like condensed milk. So I stuck it in the freezer for 30 minutes, but still no luck. At 10:45, I gave up and tried to assemble the cake anyway. There weren't any plates large enough to hold the cake, so I used a baking dish and thank goodness, because the pastry "cream" oozed everywhere.

By this point, the glaze had started to firm up. I had tried to keep it warm, but hadn't been keeping an eye on it the entire time, so it was no longer the best glaze in the world. It was thick and messy, and I think I used too much chocolate. In the end I literally slathered it onto the cake. It was more like a ganache frosting than a "glaze."

The end result looked horrible to me. I had this vision of a beautiful cake and ended up with slimy, sticky goo. However, it tasted pretty good and the folks ate it up, so I really can't call it a total failure.

Note: I told PartySugar about the whole thing and she said I should have served it in wine glasses. DANG! Where was she on Saturday night?! That would have made for an elegant boston cream parfait!

Boston Cream Pie
From Baking Illustrated

1 cup heavy cream
1/4 cup light corn syrup
8 oz semisweet chocolate, chopped into small pieces
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
Pastry Cream, chilled
Foolproof Sponge Cake, baked and cooled

Glaze:

Bring the cream and corn syrup to a full simmer over medium heat in a medium saucepan.
Remove from the heat and add the chocolate; cover and let stand for 8 minutes. (If the chocolate has not completely melted, return the saucepan to low heat; stir constantly until melted.)
Add the vanilla; stir very gently until the mixture is smooth.
Cook until tepid so that a spoonful drizzled back into the pan mounds slightly. (The glaze can be refrigerated to speed up the cooling process, stirring every few minutes to ensure even cooling.)

Cake:

While the glaze is cooling, place one cake layer on a cardboard round on a wire rack set over waxed paper.
Carefully spoon the pastry cream onto the cake and spread it evenly up to the edges.
Place the second cake layer on top, make sure the layers line up properly.
Pour the glaze onto the middle of the top layer and let it flow down the cake sides.
Use a metal spatula, if necessary, to completely coat the cake. Use a small needle to puncture any air bubbles.
Let the cake sit until the glaze fully sets, about 1 hour. Serve the same day, preferably within a couple of hours.

*Note: My experience was more of a Boston Cream Disaster, however I know someone who has used this recipe and had fantastic results.

Pastry Cream
From Baking Illustrated

2 cups half-and-half
1/2 cup sugar
pinch salt
5 large egg yolks
3 tbsp cornstarch
4 tbsp cold unsalted butter, cut into 4 pieces
1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract

- Heat the half-and-half, 6 tbsp of the sugar and the salt in a medium heavy-bottomed saucepan over medium heat until simmer, stirring occasionally to dissolve sugar.
- Meanwhile, whisk the egg yolks in a medium bowl until thoroughly combined.
- Whisk in the remaining 2 tbsp sugar and whisk until the sugar has begun to dissolve and the mixture is creamy, about 15 seconds.
- Whisk in the cornstarch until combined and the mixture is pale yellow and thick, about 30 seconds.
- When the half-and-half mixture reaches a full simmer, gradually whisk the simmering half-and-half into the yolk mixture to temper.
- Return the mixture to the saucepan, scraping the bowl with a rubber spatula; return to a simmer over medium heat, whisking constantly, until a few bubbles on the surface and the mixture is thickened and glossy, about 30 seconds.
- Remove from heat, whisk in the butter and vanilla.
- Strain the pastry cream through a fine-mesh sieve set over a medium bowl.
- Press plastic wrap directly on the surface to prevent a skin from forming.
- Refrigerate until cold and set, at least 3 hours or up to 2 days.

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Foolproof Sponge Cake
From Baking Illustrated

1/2 cup plain cake flour
1/4 cup unbleached all-purpose flour
1 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
3 tbsp milk
2 tbsp unsalted butter
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
5 large eggs, at room temperature
3/4 cup sugar

- Preheat oven to 350F.
- Grease pan and cover bottom with parchment or waxed paper.
- Whisk the flours, baking powder and salt into medium bowl.
- Heat milk and butter in a small saucepan over low heat until the butter melts. Remove from the heat and add vanilla. Cover and keep warm.
- Separate 3 eggs, placing whites in the bowl of standing mixer, reserving the 3 yolks plus the remaining 2 whole eggs in another mixing bowl.
- Beat the 3 whites at low speed until foamy.
- Increase the mixer speed to medium and gradually add 6 tbsp of the sugar; continue to beat the whites to soft, moist peaks. (Do not overbeat.)
- Transfer the egg whites to a large bowl and add the whole-egg mixture to the mixer bowl.
- Beat the whole-egg mixture with the remaining 6 tbsp sugar.
- Beat at medium-high speed until the eggs are very thick and pale yellow color, about 5 minutes. Add the beaten eggs to the whites.
- Sprinkle the flour mixture over the beaten eggs and whites; fold very gently 12 times with a large rubber spatula.
- Make a well in one side the batter and pour the milk mixture into the bowl.
- Continue folding until the batter shows no trace of flour and the whites and whole eggs are evenly mixed, about 8 additional strokes.
- Immediately pour the batter into the prepared cake pans; bake until the cake tops are light brown and feel firm and spring back when touched, about 16 minutes for 9-inch cake pans and 20 minutes for 8-inch cake pans.
- Immediately run a knife around the pan perimeters to loosen the cakes.
- Place one pan on a towel and cover the pan with a large plate.
- Using the towel to protect your hands and catch the cake, invert the pan and remove the pan from the cake.
- Peel off the parchment.
- Reinvert the cake from the plate onto the rack.
- Repeat with the remaining cake. Cool cake layers to room temp before proceeding.

Note* I made this cake at someone else's house. This was the only cake pan they had. It still turned out perfectly.

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Under Pressure

partysugar — Thu, 11 Jan 2007 03:17:43 -0800

The other day I went to my girlfriend's house for lunch. She was in the kitchen when I arrived, and I was shocked to see that she was making a Spanish style garbanzo bean stew with a pressure cooker! When I asked in wonder if she was using it to reduce the cook time of the stew, she replied that she was. Her statement was quickly followed by an "I use it all the time, more often than you use your food processor." Ever since then, I have become obsessed with pressure cookers and can't stop thinking about them.

A pressure cooker looks like other kitchen pots, except the lid is a bit more elaborate. The heavy-duty lid completely seals the pot and when the liquid inside boils, it is trapped inside. Having nowhere else to go, steam builds up pressure which results in higher cooking temperatures and shorter cooking times.

Cooking with a pressure cooker is kind of like a science project that can result in a kitchen catastrophe. The first and only time I used a pressure cooker I ended up cleaning vegetable puree off the ceiling for the next week. Still, I'm eager to get my hands on one. Today's pressure cookers have at least three valves for safety and will automatically release pressure should it build too high. Different types of pressure cookers have different styles of valves, but if you hear hissing or noise coming from the cooker, it's the valve telling you to check the pressure.

I'll keep you posted on my adventures in pressure cooking and if you've got one lying around the kitchen, take it out, it's time we bring pressure cookers back.

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Yum Gift Guide: The Reader

YumSugar — Sat, 16 Dec 2006 11:53:09 -0800

Even the most well read foodie will find room for one of these on their bookshelf.

Baking: From My Home To Yours
by Dorie Greenspan

If the foodie on your list loves to bake then be sure to give them Dorie Greenspan's latest new gem. This beautiful book contains scrumptious recipes (like Perfection Pound Cake and Chocolate-Chocolate Chunk Muffins) and helpful tips all wrapped up in warm anecdotes. Baking: From My Home To Yours is available for $26.40.

The Omnivore's Dilemma
by Michael Pollan

Not everyone wants to know about where their food comes from, but in his latest expose, Michael Pollan follows food from beginning to end. Not always an easy read, but really fascinating and well written. A must for anyone who cares about what they eat. Buy The Omnivore's Dilemma for $18.86.

Three more, so read more

Joy of Cooking 75th Edition
by Irma Rombauer

You know this book, you've seen it on countless numbers of cook's shelves. Your mom may have had it and her mom too. If the foodie in your life doesn't have a copy on their shelf make sure you pick up the newly revamped version that came out this year. The editors have gone back to their roots and taken the best bits of the original and revamped them for how we eat now. Buy the Joy of Cooking 75th Edition for $18.00.

I Like You: Hospitality Under the Influence
by Amy Sedaris

Funny lady Amy Sedaris (best known as Jerri Blank in Strangers With Candy) has done something really special with her semi-spoof of an entertaining book. It's a bit quirky, a bit kitschy and a lot of fun. Pick up a copy for the party thrower in your life. Warning: it's pretty hard to let go of, so you may need to pick up two. Grab a copy of I Like You for $19.59.

Don't Try This at Home: Culinary Catastrophes from the World's Greatest Chefs
by Kimberly Witherspoon and Andrew Friedman

Sometimes even the best chef in the world suffers from a kitchen catastrophe. This book is a fantastic collection of disasters that will make every inspiring chef (and non-chef) laugh out loud.
Don't Try This at Home is available for $24.95.

YumSugar Has Arrived!

YumSugar — Thu, 14 Dec 2006 18:59:47 -0800

Hello ladies (and gentlemen)! I am extremely excited to announce the arrival of the latest Sugar Network installment, YumSugar. I'll help plan your parties while teaching you how to poach an egg. You'll learn how to pick the perfect peach, jazz up store bought guacamole and pair a dry Jack with a medium bodied Pinot. I'll also help you find innovative ideas for themed invitations and delectable menus to create culinary masterpieces.

Whether you are the hostess with the most-ess, a rookie looking to polish your chopping skills or a domestically challenged diva, YumSugar is your go-to site for all things fabulous in and around the kitchen.

Do you have a no fail recipe that gets compliments every time? Send it to me! I look forward to hearing all about your kitchen catastrophes and mouth-watering memories. If you're hungry for more, keep on reading because YumSugar is here and it's so good, it's to die for!