Recipe Redo, is it a Do or a Don't?

So, my partner in crime and I are having a deep, philosophical conversation about the worthwhileness of attempting to fix a flawed recipe.  The recipe in question should have been awesome.  It looked good in pictures, it sounded good on paper, but at the end of the day the finished product was underwhelming.

In this specific instance we decided that the best route to go was to simply find a new recipe online and try that.  But it begs the question, when a recipe doesn't live up to expectation, should you say screw it and move on, or attempt to remedy it?

For me it comes down to a couple of things.  The first is, how badly did I want the recipe to work out?  if it's something that I thought should be fantastic and I was super psyched about, I'll probably try to tweak it or fix it. I might do as we decided to do above and search for an alternate recipe for the same thing, provided that I know where the recipe went wrong, or have an idea of what I'm looking for in an alternate.  The other thing is do I think a redo will improve the finished product?  Recently I made some cornbread from a recipe off the Food Network website, it was okay, not great. The dictionary definition of underwhelming.  The thing that I realized was that I don't really like cornbread all that much.  So this recipe will probably not get a second chance, because I'm just not enthused enough about the finished product to go to the effort of adjusting the recipe or finding a new one, even though that would take me all of thirty seconds and one visit to Google.

What do you think?  Does a recipe that falls flat get a second chance, or do you just move on?


Also, by way of a post script, we will be debuting a new regular feature here at Eat, Read and Be Merry in a few days.  The Cook-Along.  Cook-Along has a few basic rules.  One, the participants will execute the designated recipe on the same day.  Two, the participants will execute the recipe EXACTLY as written, unless other wise agreed upon before hand.  Three, at no time will the participants attempt lemon bars, because lemon bars are my nemesis and my new oven is still really clean and I'd like it to stay that way.  So stay tuned, the first Cook Along should be up for your reading pleasure in a few days.  Ta-ta till then.

AH

Things That Bug Me

There are lots of things that bug me, but these are the two that are on the top of my list right now (it's a revolving list), because I have encountered both of these things a lot in the past two days.

1. The idea that cold weather makes you sick.  This is like, 10th grade biology.  Germs make you sick, not cold weather.  The cold air might not make you feel great, especially if you're running a fever and your body temperature is already wonky, but in itself, it's not going to make you sick.

2. Headlights not being turned on in a torrential downpour, especially when the vehicle being driven is white, gray, black, or even some shades of blue.  It's common sense, people.  If it's raining really hard AND there's mist from the road itself being kicked up by cars, it's probably a good idea to make yourself more visible to other drivers.

A.V.

Recipe Review, Cocoa Brownies by Alton Brown

My project last night was to make brownies from scratch. To complicate matters I was looking for a recipe that only called for basic pantry ingredients, since I only had cocoa powder in the house. Alton is my go to guy for basic recipes, so it made sense to start with him. Fifteen or twenty minutes of perusing the competition online convinced me that I was right. As a CYA here, I’ve linked to the recipe, but I won’t reproduce it here. I’m not sure how Mr. Brown feels about random strangers critiquing his work, sooooooo, we’ll just be a little careful.

As recipes go this was a pretty basic one, eggs, melted butter, sugar, flour, salt, cocoa, etc. The amounts were all reasonable, I mean, I just don’t like a recipe that makes 30 brownies and takes four cups of flour. I don’t keep those quantities on hand, plus, Andrew and I need nine or ten brownies, tops, not 30. I was able to do the whole recipe without an electric mixer. All the dry goods are sifted, which is awkward with the brown sugar, but whatever. Took me about fifteen minutes to put it all together, including buttering the pan and dusting it with flour (although I used cocoa powder, after all, they’re brownies). I followed the recipe instructions, which are pretty basic. I did make sure to add the flour last and to incorporate it with the minimum number of strokes necessary. This is supposed to yield a very tender finished product because the flour cannot build up any gluten as you stir it, which is the thing that makes your baked goods chewy.

Going into the oven, the batter was very thick. We like our brownies on the undercooked side here so I pulled them from the oven after about 50 minutes at 300. A knife inserted in the center came out with a few crumbs. As we also like our brownies warm we did not wait for them to cool completely before consuming them, but AB does say to.

The damage control portion of this evening’s event totaled one mixing bowl, three measuring cups, four utensils, and the sifter. Everything went in the dishwasher except the sifter and the bowl, and I didn’t even get cocoa on the floor, so cleanup was quick.

Finished product was soft, very crumbly, and very good. These are very dark brownies, and they were not overly sweet, which I like. They would pair well with ice cream, fruit, or additions like caramel or peanut butter swirl in the batter. I really want to chop up a RitterSport Milk Chocolate with Whole Hazelnuts and mix that in, but someone in my house doesn’t not like hazelnuts. So, that’s an experiment for another time.

Final Verdict: Good Basic Brownies. These are not apocalyptic, Earth shattering brownies, but they are easy, and they don’t require any special ingredients. They’d make a great base to a fancier dessert, or for cooking with a tiny helper, since there are no sharp utensils, and sifting would be fantastic to delegate to small, eager hands. Just be safe around the oven and turn a blind eye to the inevitable dusting of cocoa all over your kitchen.



As a side note, try the RitterSport Milk Chocolate with Whole Hazelnuts some time. They carry them at Target or some grocery stores. Most satisfying chocolate bar ever. Nice square bars, so you can easily break it up for multiple small servings.

AH


Edit:  This is now day four since I baked the brownies.  First, let's all cheer that they lasted four days.  Second, they get better with age.  Day four is much fudgier and less cake-like than day one.  Definitely worth the wait.

Happy "Top Gun" Day!

Friday the 13^th isn’t usually a day to celebrate.  Typically it’s a day to be viewed with a superstitious eye, but not today…this Friday the 13^th is “Top Gun” Day!  Today marks the 25^th anniversary of the release of quite possibly The Greatest Movie Ever Made.

I’ve seen “Top Gun” more times than I can possibly count.  It’s probably the one movie that I could watch over and over and over again (like, multiple times in one week) and literally, never get bored or sick of it.  It’s always on the list of my Top Five Favorite Movies, and the “Top Gun Anthem” was played as my wedding party and my husband and I were introduced at our wedding reception.  It’s cheesy, and fun, and over the course of two hours, Tom Cruise wears a flight suit, tight jeans, and choker whites.  What more could a girl want?

It’s actually really funny to watch “Top Gun” now.  I can remember as a kid that my mom would let me watch it, but during the sex scene with Maverick and Charlie (which my mom referred to as “The Blue Scene”), she would fast forward it, deeming it too risqué for my little eyes.  Watching it now, it’s funny because it’s really not a bad scene at all…there’s a little tongue and some spit-swapping, but there’s not even any boob shown.

With the dialogue full of sexual innuendos, it’s also a good thing for my mom that I wasn’t very quick on the uptake as both a child and as a teenager.  I was probably 19 or 20 before I finally caught on to what Slider’s “Yeah, well, so’s my Johnson” line to Goose actually meant.

In honor of the 25^th anniversary of the release of “Top Gun,” it was remastered digitally and rereleased into select theaters for special two-night showings.  My husband, mother-in-law, siblings-in-law, and I all went last Monday night for a viewing of The Greatest Movie Ever Made.  Being that it was a movie that everyone in the theater had clearly already seen at least six times, there were lots of murmurings and rumblings throughout the theater, but it was so cool to hear those noises.  People (myself included) were cheering when the opening titles came on the screen, quoting the dialogue along with the movie, and singing “You’ve Lost That Lovin’ Feeling” along with Maverick and Goose.  It was amazing!

And lastly, speaking of Goose…

One of these times that I watch this movie, I’m still holding out hope that Goose won’t die.  One of these times, he’s going to pull that ejection handle and he’s going to clear the canopy with ease.  Until that happens, watching Goose die on a movie theater-sized screen was even more heart-wrenching than usual.  I cry every time it happens, and this time was no exception.  Okay, let’s be honest here…I cried MORE than normal.

In honor of Goose, here's my very favorite "Top Gun" moment.  If I ever get to meet Anthony Edwards, I'm going to ask him if he can still laugh like this.

And remember: there are no points for second place.

A.V.

Wilkommen!

Think of this blog as a multimedia record of what it's like to share one brain between two people.   Because we agree on many things and yet disagree on many things, opinions expressed here only represent half of us at any given point in time.  We'll leave it to you to figure out which half is which.

A.H.