Cooking with a safety net
I’m an amateur in the kitchen. The preparation of daily meals, done under the pressure of watching hungry eyes doesn’t lead to experimenting. A failure costs too much in terms of takeout menus to replace the meal that wasn’t delivered in a timely fashion. But, I am intrigued by “new cuisine” as opposed to “old”; my cookbooks fit the tastes of my family and rarely try new directions.
Out of curiosity, I stumbled upon an interesting site for the person that not only wants a recipe, but would like to have a mentor. Along comes the site at Videojug.com with lots of YouTube style content. Tonight, I tackled the mysterious world of Irish Soda Bread. After all, got to get the hands dirty from time to time, and I managed well.
The first bump in the road is that the recipe calls for buttermilk, and I was disinclined to go shopping. Another site suggested milk with a trace of lemon juice as an alternative, and the cook was back on course. Next was the mental arithmetic needed for measures. I had a scale, some measuring spoons and a modicum of common sense, so the required ingredients were soon lined up like worthy communicants, although I think I underestimated the original allocation of flour. No matter, once things were rolling I simply kept adding until things “felt right”. Science at work.
The dough was less elastic and more liquid than I had hoped (see the flour reference for a scientific explanation) but I succeeded in forming a very lumpy ball after scraping my fingers several times. Think “kindergarten baker”. There was no parchment paper around, but a CorningWare dish seemed to be a viable alternative. The oven was hot, and in went my latest experiment.
Close to an hour later, I have tasted, and the results are worth the effort. I’ll have to work on procedures and see if the cosmetic aspect can be improved; my lack of a cross on top was culturally sacreligious. No matter, if ever I run out of bread and have an hour to spare, I can provide an alternative. The apple sauce as condiment worked, too.
