Posts
I have this thing for buns at the moment. No idea why. It's just one of those "I want" kinda things.
Anyway, I have been having a real hankering for some fast food lately. Mickey D's, Kentucky Freud Chicken, etc - but I really don't like how unwell it makes one feel after eating it. Excessive salt, excessive fat and really - for what it's worth - limited flavour and huge prices.
How to get around this? Easy! Home made hot dogs!
I confess that commercial frankfurters (or what is passed off as a frank at supermarkets) are pretty tasteless, full of preservatives and overall, not that wholesome and healthy at all. However, as a hot dog with fried onions, cheese, hot mustard and some ketchup (real ketchup - not 'tomato sauce') they become a thing of yummy mysticism. Fast and easy feed on a winter afternoon.
You decide how you want your dogs - I'm just going to show you how to make the buns!
Quick'n'easy Hot Dog Buns:
First up, this is a back-to-front recipe when it comes to making the dough. This recipe is designed for people who use a dough-capable piece of machinery, but not a bread maker. If you already make bread by hand, then you know what to do and I won't waste time telling you.
This is a potato bread. Those lovely little buns that were praised so highly in Harold and Kumar Go to White Castle are potato bread. You can go nuts with the recipe for that exact type if you want - use your Google-fu. This is something a bit different.
* 125 ml warm water in the machine chamber
* 2 tablespoons yeast
* 1 tablespoon white sugar
** Mix well on lowest speed for about two or three minutes to get some oxygen into the mix and help those yeasties reproduce.
* Allow this to sit while you peel a medium potato, boil it and mash it with a little milk to make a sloppy potato mash.
* Break two eggs into the yeast mixture.
* Add the quantity of potato mash
** Mix well on lowest speed for a couple of minutes. This evens out the temperature of the mix.
* Add flour. It will be somewhere over 550 grams. You will need to use your experience with your machine to be your guide here as to what is enough or too much. Being a wettish dough, it's easy to go too far either way. Experiment. Have fun.
* Lightly oiled bowl, warm place, cover with cling wrap, wait twenty minutes or until the dough has doubled in size.
* Don't knock it down! Just turn it out onto a well floured work surface and divide it into eight pieces.
* Shape those pieces into hot dog bun shape and place in a medium to tall sided baking pan, lined with lightly oiled greaseproof paper.
* Allow to rise twenty minutes more.
* Preheat your oven to 180C fan forced.
* Sprinkle a little olive oil on top, spray lightly with water, decorate with sesame seeds, spray a bit more heavily with water.
* Bake fifteen minutes or until nicely coloured up on top.
* Cool on a rack for around twenty minutes before separating for storage or eating.
This makes for a reasonably damp kind of bun. If you like them to be less wet, increase the cooking time to 18 or even twenty minutes. The lack of punching down and kneading ahead of shaping leaves a fairly coarse bubble structure in the bread which is great for soaking up all those yummy sauces.
Enjoy!!
Cheers!!
Wednesday, July 22, 2009
Sunday, July 12, 2009
It's Cider-tastic!
Recently, we went for a bit of 4WD fun with some mates up through the Bells Line of Road, taking in Bilpin.
If you don't already know, Bilpin is pretty famous for apples. Many, many different varieties.
However, we were a bit late in the season so I expected less kinds to be available. In fact, there was only one kind and at the time of day we went through there was only one kind to be had. I don't even know what kind it is to be certain. However, at the price, the quality is excellent has made for some exceptional eating.
I bought the apples with a view to making cider. Delicious apple cider!
So, we grabbed about 12 kilos of apples which co-incidentally produced around 6 litres of premium grade juice, with the real ever-so-slightly golden-amber hue that was in real, fresh apple juice so long ago.
Here's the recipe:
** Common Cider
* 24 litres apple juice (6 litres freshly made, 18 litres Aldi)
* 1 x S-04 yeast
* Ferment until SG is stable
* Bottle, adjusting the priming dose to your preferred level of carbonation
* Cellar / mature for at least two weeks. Longer is better.
* OG = 1048
And here's some notes for you to consider for when you try this:
* Juice:
Apples nominally produce 40 - 55% juice by volume compared to weight. In other words, you will get about 4 - 5.5 litres of juice from ten kilos of apples. Smaller apples, less juice. These were fairly large eating apples just past their 'looks good' prime.
* Pasteurisation / anti-microbe warfare:
Apples, for the most part are reasonably clean. However, as with any fruit or vegetable they are likely to have been sprayed with some form of pesticide. You must wash them well to assist in removing any residue which may be on the skins.
Not all apples are picked from the trees. Some have fallen. Most orchards use some kind of fertiliser and often it's chook poo (chicken droppings for those of you who don't speak Australian). Chook poo is particularly nasty, biologically speaking, and can harbour some rather deadly bugs.
In addition, there may be wild yeasts living in or on the apple. These may be undesirable for your fermentation. In the case of this recipe, they're undesirable.
What to do? Pasteurise!
Cut and juice your apples as you would normally to make fruit juice to drink. Put the total amount of freshly made juice into a large pot and heat to only 75C. Allow it to cool with a well-fitting lid on the pot. Pasteurisation complete.
Prior to adding the juice to the fermenter, skim off the crud. There is a thick layer of foamy brown stuff on top. The crud won't make your cider taste or look good. Skim it reasonably well. The rest will either drop out in the fermenter or float to the top. Floc up or down, so to speak.
The other option which some people prefer is Campden tablets or sodium metabisuplhite. This has been a reasonably common way of achieving the same effect as pasteurisation and lends itself to some other production methods. However, I'm not a fan because sometimes a sulphur aroma remains for quite some months after bottling.
* Not enough apples?
Go buy some preservative free apple juice. Aldi sells two litre for around $1.80-something at the time of writing. You could even use 100% commercial juice. Think of it this way - you will make 30 x 750 ml cider for about $22 plus yeast. Bargain! Cost at a bottle shop? $195.00 for a rather good one or about $1.35 for something less special.
* Why S-04 yeast?
It's a matter of personal preference. I chose S-04 because I like a little bit of residual sweetness in my ales and cider. You could use S-05 which will give a dryer result. However, according to some folk who have used it, the S-05 can result in too dry a finish and in some cases ferment to SG=<1.000. YMMV, etc.
There are other speciality yeasts from White Labs and Wyeast. Choose what you would prefer to be drinking.
Best of luck on your cidery adventure!
Cheers!!
If you don't already know, Bilpin is pretty famous for apples. Many, many different varieties.
However, we were a bit late in the season so I expected less kinds to be available. In fact, there was only one kind and at the time of day we went through there was only one kind to be had. I don't even know what kind it is to be certain. However, at the price, the quality is excellent has made for some exceptional eating.
I bought the apples with a view to making cider. Delicious apple cider!
So, we grabbed about 12 kilos of apples which co-incidentally produced around 6 litres of premium grade juice, with the real ever-so-slightly golden-amber hue that was in real, fresh apple juice so long ago.
Here's the recipe:
** Common Cider
* 24 litres apple juice (6 litres freshly made, 18 litres Aldi)
* 1 x S-04 yeast
* Ferment until SG is stable
* Bottle, adjusting the priming dose to your preferred level of carbonation
* Cellar / mature for at least two weeks. Longer is better.
* OG = 1048
And here's some notes for you to consider for when you try this:
* Juice:
Apples nominally produce 40 - 55% juice by volume compared to weight. In other words, you will get about 4 - 5.5 litres of juice from ten kilos of apples. Smaller apples, less juice. These were fairly large eating apples just past their 'looks good' prime.
* Pasteurisation / anti-microbe warfare:
Apples, for the most part are reasonably clean. However, as with any fruit or vegetable they are likely to have been sprayed with some form of pesticide. You must wash them well to assist in removing any residue which may be on the skins.
Not all apples are picked from the trees. Some have fallen. Most orchards use some kind of fertiliser and often it's chook poo (chicken droppings for those of you who don't speak Australian). Chook poo is particularly nasty, biologically speaking, and can harbour some rather deadly bugs.
In addition, there may be wild yeasts living in or on the apple. These may be undesirable for your fermentation. In the case of this recipe, they're undesirable.
What to do? Pasteurise!
Cut and juice your apples as you would normally to make fruit juice to drink. Put the total amount of freshly made juice into a large pot and heat to only 75C. Allow it to cool with a well-fitting lid on the pot. Pasteurisation complete.
Prior to adding the juice to the fermenter, skim off the crud. There is a thick layer of foamy brown stuff on top. The crud won't make your cider taste or look good. Skim it reasonably well. The rest will either drop out in the fermenter or float to the top. Floc up or down, so to speak.
The other option which some people prefer is Campden tablets or sodium metabisuplhite. This has been a reasonably common way of achieving the same effect as pasteurisation and lends itself to some other production methods. However, I'm not a fan because sometimes a sulphur aroma remains for quite some months after bottling.
* Not enough apples?
Go buy some preservative free apple juice. Aldi sells two litre for around $1.80-something at the time of writing. You could even use 100% commercial juice. Think of it this way - you will make 30 x 750 ml cider for about $22 plus yeast. Bargain! Cost at a bottle shop? $195.00 for a rather good one or about $1.35 for something less special.
* Why S-04 yeast?
It's a matter of personal preference. I chose S-04 because I like a little bit of residual sweetness in my ales and cider. You could use S-05 which will give a dryer result. However, according to some folk who have used it, the S-05 can result in too dry a finish and in some cases ferment to SG=<1.000. YMMV, etc.
There are other speciality yeasts from White Labs and Wyeast. Choose what you would prefer to be drinking.
Best of luck on your cidery adventure!
Cheers!!
Monday, July 6, 2009
BBQ Pork Buns
As you know, I prepared a large pork belly and it has been very tasty so far.
Utterly delicious, to be quite frank. The chilli in the marinade has started to shine through more and there's still a mild cola taste to it. I wish that I had been able to take to to the BBQ - t'would indeed have been a favourite for most.
I wanted to make bread on Sunday but thought to try my hand at BBQ pork buns - Char Siu Pau/Bao (it can be written many ways, depending on dialect).
Here's how!
* Start with a standard bread dough:
- 500 gms plain flour
- 1 tablespoon dry yeast
- Around 350 ml water (adjust as necessary)
- Knead or machine it as per your choice to make a fine grained bread dough.
- Rise as normal (lightly oiled bowl, cling wrap, non-draughty location, etc).
* After the rising, don't punch it down.
* Cut the dough ball in half and roll into long thick ropes.
* Cut each one into rounds, about 40 - 50 mm thick.
* Roll each one flat but still around 3 mm thick.
* Fill with whatever meat, meat and beg, veg combo you like.
* Put each one on small square of baking / grease prooof paper.
* Commence second rising.
* Set up your steamer (a word on steamers follows)
* When the dough looks risen and plump but before it begins to collapse or leak, put the buns in the steamer for ten minutes.
* You can eat fresh or freeze for later.
Reheating these is easy. You need around one minute for two buns in a 1000W microwave. It's up to you to test and make the right decision. Time decreases to around 1:50 for four buns. If you lightly spray or drizzle a little water on the buns as you put them into the microwave, they will be almost as nice as freshly made. Good tasty breakfast stuff.
Just a word on steamers:
If you have a proper stainless steel double layer one like the one in the photo (being uploaded soon - sorry - am busy), you're more than well equipped.
However, if you're a bamboo steamer kind of person, you will probably need two in order to cook the whole lot at the same time.
If you're planning on cooking them in two batches, start boiling your water earlier so that the first batch will be almost perfectly risen and the second batch will be just past perfect rising.
Experiment and you will know your kitchen equipment well.
Cheers!!
Utterly delicious, to be quite frank. The chilli in the marinade has started to shine through more and there's still a mild cola taste to it. I wish that I had been able to take to to the BBQ - t'would indeed have been a favourite for most.
I wanted to make bread on Sunday but thought to try my hand at BBQ pork buns - Char Siu Pau/Bao (it can be written many ways, depending on dialect).
Here's how!
* Start with a standard bread dough:
- 500 gms plain flour
- 1 tablespoon dry yeast
- Around 350 ml water (adjust as necessary)
- Knead or machine it as per your choice to make a fine grained bread dough.
- Rise as normal (lightly oiled bowl, cling wrap, non-draughty location, etc).
* After the rising, don't punch it down.
* Cut the dough ball in half and roll into long thick ropes.
* Cut each one into rounds, about 40 - 50 mm thick.
* Roll each one flat but still around 3 mm thick.
* Fill with whatever meat, meat and beg, veg combo you like.
* Put each one on small square of baking / grease prooof paper.
* Commence second rising.
* Set up your steamer (a word on steamers follows)
* When the dough looks risen and plump but before it begins to collapse or leak, put the buns in the steamer for ten minutes.
* You can eat fresh or freeze for later.
Reheating these is easy. You need around one minute for two buns in a 1000W microwave. It's up to you to test and make the right decision. Time decreases to around 1:50 for four buns. If you lightly spray or drizzle a little water on the buns as you put them into the microwave, they will be almost as nice as freshly made. Good tasty breakfast stuff.
Just a word on steamers:
If you have a proper stainless steel double layer one like the one in the photo (being uploaded soon - sorry - am busy), you're more than well equipped.
However, if you're a bamboo steamer kind of person, you will probably need two in order to cook the whole lot at the same time.
If you're planning on cooking them in two batches, start boiling your water earlier so that the first batch will be almost perfectly risen and the second batch will be just past perfect rising.
Experiment and you will know your kitchen equipment well.
Cheers!!
Beer in North Korea
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/8115677.stm
Now if only they could strike at the world outside their borders with a truly tasty brew instead of weapons, perhaps they would become beloved trade partners for all instead of sanctioned.
/politics.
Cheers!!
Now if only they could strike at the world outside their borders with a truly tasty brew instead of weapons, perhaps they would become beloved trade partners for all instead of sanctioned.
/politics.
Cheers!!
Fear not the beer belly!
http://www.news.com.au/story/0,27574,25738481-2,00.html
Seems that it's weight gain related genetics, not drinking lots of yummy beer that puts on the paunch.
Eat, drink and be merry!
Cheers!!
Seems that it's weight gain related genetics, not drinking lots of yummy beer that puts on the paunch.
Eat, drink and be merry!
Cheers!!
Sunday, July 5, 2009
BBQ Coca-cola pork belly - Asian Style!
There's nothing better than a beer and a BBQ - and a pork belly!
I know - this article has nothing to do with yeast - just with wholesome flavoursome tasty goodness.
Pork belly is one of those budget cuts of meat as it's rather fatty and doesn't really correspond much to 'standard' Aussie cooking. It was popular in traditional English and European cooking and it's still a major mainstay of Asian dishes as it's actually a really flexible ingredient and is utterly delicious if it's handled well.
I prepared this one for a BBQ at a mate's place, but regrettably didn't go owing to my wife coming down with regular flu / common cold and not wanting to infect everyone else there.
It's a twice-cooked dish - a guarantee of extra special tasty goodness. Once in the oven - once on the BBQ to pick up extra flavours.
Here's how you do it:
* A big piece of pork belly - say >2.5 and <3.5 kg - as long as it will fit your biggest baking dish. It's better if it has the skin on and the rib bones in. That way you get two yummy dishes from one slab of meat.
* A huge baking dish
* 2 - 3 litres of cola
* 1 cinnamon stick
* 2 star anise
- Preheat your oven to 180C fan forced
- Put the pork belly into the baking dish, cover it with the cola as deep as possible and slowly bring it to the boil on the stove top.
- Put the cinnamon stick and star anise into the liquid
- Cook for 2.5 hours or until it's nice and tender. The skin will toughen and may burn a little - it's not important as you will be discarding it.
In the meanwhile, make the marinade:
* 500 grams white sugar
* 200 ml Chinkiang Vinegar (brown vinegar from any Asian grocer - more if you want a sharper taste, up to 400 ml)
* 3 tablespoons crushed dried chilli (you may want to add up to eight or ten if you want more chilli flavour, or use four or five fresh strong chillies for more of a kick)
* 2 cinnamon sticks
* 150 gm Lee Kum Kee char siu sauce (any brand will be OK, but this one is very reliable)
* 80 gm Hoi Sin sauce
* 100 ml of a premium oyster sauce (cheap ones are too salty and not 'oystery' enough).
- Put the sugar into a heavy based saucepan and add enough water to make a thick paste
- Cook over a medium to high heat, stirring often, until it becomes a pale golden colour. If you add too much water, you will end up with sugar syrup and will need to boil it down until it thickens - and it won't go gold, so you will miss out on the caramel flavours.
- Remove from heat and let cool about five minutes.
- VERY carefully add the vinegar. If the sugar solution is too hot it may explode owing to the temperature difference. Be careful.
- Add the remaining ingredients, mix well, and return to the heat to reduce until it thickens to a similar viscosity as the original sugar syrup / caramel.
- Remove from heat and let cool.
-- When the pork is done, remove it from the oven, discard the cooking liquid and let the pork cool down a bit.
- If you are going to BBQ it the same day, now is a good time to remove the skin and place the pork skin side down into the dish. It should pretty much come off in one piece. If you're preparing this a day or more in advance, leave the skin on and put the pork in the dish, skin side down.
- Pour the marinade over the pork. Cover with cling wrap and allow it to rest in the fridge for a few hours.
- The final cooking stage is about ten minutes either side on the BBQ, basting frequently with the marinade. You may want to BBQ longer or shorter depending on your preference.
- With a large knife, cut the ribs away from the slab of meat and serve.
- Slice the meat slab thinly, plate it, drizzle a little extra marinade on top and garnish with green chilli. Yummo!
It is quite possible to not BBQ it and serve as above. Warm out of the oven it's almost irresistible. If there are leftovers, you can refrigerate and consume much the same as cold cuts. Microwaved until warm and then served in slices with a dipping sauce of soy sauce and freshly cut chilli it's a fast and tasty side dish.
You can also make BBQ Pork Buns with leftovers. Keep some marinade and some meat and I will show you how in the next posting!
Cheers and Beers!!
I know - this article has nothing to do with yeast - just with wholesome flavoursome tasty goodness.
Pork belly is one of those budget cuts of meat as it's rather fatty and doesn't really correspond much to 'standard' Aussie cooking. It was popular in traditional English and European cooking and it's still a major mainstay of Asian dishes as it's actually a really flexible ingredient and is utterly delicious if it's handled well.
I prepared this one for a BBQ at a mate's place, but regrettably didn't go owing to my wife coming down with regular flu / common cold and not wanting to infect everyone else there.
It's a twice-cooked dish - a guarantee of extra special tasty goodness. Once in the oven - once on the BBQ to pick up extra flavours.
Here's how you do it:
* A big piece of pork belly - say >2.5 and <3.5 kg - as long as it will fit your biggest baking dish. It's better if it has the skin on and the rib bones in. That way you get two yummy dishes from one slab of meat.
* A huge baking dish
* 2 - 3 litres of cola
* 1 cinnamon stick
* 2 star anise
- Preheat your oven to 180C fan forced
- Put the pork belly into the baking dish, cover it with the cola as deep as possible and slowly bring it to the boil on the stove top.
- Put the cinnamon stick and star anise into the liquid
- Cook for 2.5 hours or until it's nice and tender. The skin will toughen and may burn a little - it's not important as you will be discarding it.
In the meanwhile, make the marinade:
* 500 grams white sugar
* 200 ml Chinkiang Vinegar (brown vinegar from any Asian grocer - more if you want a sharper taste, up to 400 ml)
* 3 tablespoons crushed dried chilli (you may want to add up to eight or ten if you want more chilli flavour, or use four or five fresh strong chillies for more of a kick)
* 2 cinnamon sticks
* 150 gm Lee Kum Kee char siu sauce (any brand will be OK, but this one is very reliable)
* 80 gm Hoi Sin sauce
* 100 ml of a premium oyster sauce (cheap ones are too salty and not 'oystery' enough).
- Put the sugar into a heavy based saucepan and add enough water to make a thick paste
- Cook over a medium to high heat, stirring often, until it becomes a pale golden colour. If you add too much water, you will end up with sugar syrup and will need to boil it down until it thickens - and it won't go gold, so you will miss out on the caramel flavours.
- Remove from heat and let cool about five minutes.
- VERY carefully add the vinegar. If the sugar solution is too hot it may explode owing to the temperature difference. Be careful.
- Add the remaining ingredients, mix well, and return to the heat to reduce until it thickens to a similar viscosity as the original sugar syrup / caramel.
- Remove from heat and let cool.
-- When the pork is done, remove it from the oven, discard the cooking liquid and let the pork cool down a bit.
- If you are going to BBQ it the same day, now is a good time to remove the skin and place the pork skin side down into the dish. It should pretty much come off in one piece. If you're preparing this a day or more in advance, leave the skin on and put the pork in the dish, skin side down.
- Pour the marinade over the pork. Cover with cling wrap and allow it to rest in the fridge for a few hours.
- The final cooking stage is about ten minutes either side on the BBQ, basting frequently with the marinade. You may want to BBQ longer or shorter depending on your preference.
- With a large knife, cut the ribs away from the slab of meat and serve.
- Slice the meat slab thinly, plate it, drizzle a little extra marinade on top and garnish with green chilli. Yummo!
It is quite possible to not BBQ it and serve as above. Warm out of the oven it's almost irresistible. If there are leftovers, you can refrigerate and consume much the same as cold cuts. Microwaved until warm and then served in slices with a dipping sauce of soy sauce and freshly cut chilli it's a fast and tasty side dish.
You can also make BBQ Pork Buns with leftovers. Keep some marinade and some meat and I will show you how in the next posting!
Cheers and Beers!!
Thursday, July 2, 2009
Otto-keg-cooler
It's a busy week here, so I won't have a chance to get into a useful article for a few days yet.
However, to keep you amused, check out this link:
http://blog.cooklikeyourgrandmother.com/2009/06/greatest-thing-to-happen-to-beer-since.html
If that's not the coolest use for a wheelie bin / Otto bin I've ever seen... cheap, practical, mobile, quirky. Just pray some smart ass at your next bbq doesn't empty the plates into it.
Cheers!!
However, to keep you amused, check out this link:
http://blog.cooklikeyourgrandmother.com/2009/06/greatest-thing-to-happen-to-beer-since.html
If that's not the coolest use for a wheelie bin / Otto bin I've ever seen... cheap, practical, mobile, quirky. Just pray some smart ass at your next bbq doesn't empty the plates into it.
Cheers!!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)