shain

Firstly, if you are happy about the texture and flavor, I would not blame the recipe for the difference between the two. The most likely reason is a difference in the pan - material, color, thickness, weight all have effect on rise. Another reason might be that the batter is not distributed evenly - i.e. maybe it's not evenly mixed, or that the raisins sink to the bottom, leading to one layer having more of them. Try pouring the batter in small batches, switching between both. The last reason I can think of might be an uneven oven. Try using the convention fan if you have one (lowering the temperature a bit to compensate). Also try swapping the cakes mid way through baking.

Hamminados egg (egg baked overnight) with Japanese rice, Lo Gan Ma chili oil with fermented beans, a bit of black rice vinegar. Sooo good.

Details here: https://forums.egullet.org/topic/161954-dinner-2021/?do=findComment&comment=2286798

Tchoulent. Mixed chickpeas and beans. Lots of caramelized onion, mushroom, potatoes, carrots, kohlrabi, turnip. Wheat berries, eggs. Plenty of spices. I decided to try various "meat substitutes", though I don't like thinking of them as such - rather I see them as ingredients good in absorbing flavor, and some textures. The three i added are tofu and seitan - which I often use, and TVP, which I rarely do. The tofu is my favorite texture wise, the seitan absorbed more flavor and has a nice chew, but is a bit dry, the TVP absorbed a lot of juices which release when biting it, but tough the long cooking tenderized it, the texture is still not my favorite - That said, I might still include it for variation next time. Simple salad, cucumbers, radish, dill. Vinegar, cold pressed sunflower oil, caraway, pepper. Served with pickles, wine, some crisp warm bread.

Toast, ricotta, mulberry preserve, a bit of rose water. The tree is already in blossom and we still have so much preserved and frozen.

Roasted potatoes with green beans, eggs, olives - in a vinaigrette with plenty of Dijon mustard and a little smoked paprika. It's a warm take on the classic French salad. A casserole of mushrooms, zucchini, spinach, cheese. With mixed herbs, pepper, nutmeg and almonds. Wine.

Parents over for dinner and while they never complain on being served vegetarian food, I decided to make some fish (which is among their favorites). A Persian menu. Ghalieh mahi - Meagre fillets stewed with lots of herbs (cilantro, parsley, dill, some fenugreek - most from our garden), fenugreek seeds, tamarind and onion. Vegetarian dish - omelette with sirene cheese over the same sauce. "Green" rice - basmati rice with lots of dill and other herbs (some cooked with the rice, some added for serving), peas, raisins and cranberries, pumpkin seeds, spices: turmeric, coriander, fennel seed, pepper, garlic, lemon, tarragon. Salad shirazi (cucumber, tomato, onion, green chili, mint and parsley, lime juice). Sirene cheese, pickles, yogurt, olives. Semi dry Gewürztraminer.

When the soup is not broiled, it is just hot enough to eat - no waiting needed (though I do enjoy peeling and eating toasted cheese bits)

You are too kind ☺️ I think that the traditional method of broiling the cheese on the soup is more dramatic and enticing.

French onion. Croutons with Gruyere. Served with salad (lettuce, pear) and a nice mellow Cabernet Sauvignon. I don't broil the cheese over the soup, since I really don't like the resulting soggy croutons. In prefer to make the croutons separately and add them while eating. I flavor them with a bit of thyme and pepper.

@Objective Foodie very similar to the recipe I use, only difference is that I use slightly less cheese and keep the garlic raw. I want to try and make trofie one day. I love it and it's not available here.

We got some pretzel-caramel ice cream, which was topped with a pretzel and salted caramel spread. The ice cream was OK, too sweet, but the spread is interesting. It reminded me of both halva (the sesame kind) and of cookie spread. Which made me think of Indian wheat halwa, which I never had. It is made by toasting flour in butter and cooking it into a thick paste with sugar and spices. Have you ever had wheat halwa? How do you find it differs from a cookie spread (other than flavoring)? It seems like grinding actual cookies might be unnecessary if you could just use fried flour. Obviously, baking develops flavors, but I'd guess toasting in butter yields similar notes.

@blue_dolphin Looks tasty, I was never fully sold on the texture of shredded coconut in macaroons. This seems like it will be much more pleasant texture-wise.

Rigatoni alla Norma. Tomato sauce, eggplants, dry strong sirene (in lieu of ricotta salata), basil, toasted bread crumbs with olive oil. Limoncello (last year's batch coming to an end). Mine mixed with a bit of gin.

Pear and blue cheese quiche. With thyme, oregano, walnuts, more blue cheese. Served with wine and a salad.

@blue_dolphin Sounds nice and simple. I guess the sherry is there to sub for rice wine.

One of the links above starts with brown mustard seeds. I'm pretty sure it will work with any noodle - so you can give it a try if you'd like I might not get to it in a while, since the current weather is not one which get me carving cold noodles, but I'll surely share when I do.

Those two pages seem to refer to the same dish and use mustard seeds: https://lightorangebean.com/mustard-paste-buckwheat-noodle-salad/ https://home.meishichina.com/recipe-200467.html It seems pretty similar to what i had in mind - garlic, mustard, sesame paste, vinegar over noodles. I didn't plan on using soba, but can't see a reason not to, I also planned to include a bit of sugar, soy sauce and green chilies.

I managed to find one dish that makes use of mustard - http://news.cnwest.com/sxxw/a/2021/01/31/19473314.html - Shaanxi cold buckwheat noodles with mustard and sesame paste.

@liuzhou Thanks! I did mean mustard seeds used as a flavoring for dishes, not as a condiment. When I tried researching a bit for it, I could only find the condiment @KennethT mentioned,d which didn't seem very traditional. From what I could find, it seems horseradish isn't used much either.

Fennel salad, walnuts, feta, orange zest and juice, olive oil, pepper. Basmati rice cooked in a quick stock, roasted acorn squash, some tart apple, strong blue cheese, toasted pumpkin seeds (when serving the leftovers I used walnuts, both work). In the past, I made a very similar dish as a rissoto, but while it was tasty, I didn't make it again - it felt like something doesn't work. I got reminded of the dish and concluded that in risotto I'm looking for simplicity - less flavors, less textures - the rice texture and flavor both are easy to overwhelm. So I made it biryani style instead, which worked great. Instead of yogurt, I added some creaminess with some starch thickened stock, butter, and a bit of the blue cheese. White wine.

Are there any Chinese dishes which are mustard-forward? Ideally a noodle dish or a saucy one. I have some possible flavor combinations that I'd like to play with, and would appreciate having some existing dishes to get some more ideas.

This may or may not have been may breakfast that day.

Generally those are a bit leaner (less butter/oil) than either blintzes or crepes. As thick as blintzes, but a bit less airy. That said, there's a large variation between cooks and recpies.

Palacsinta (Hungarian blintzes) with peanut butter, banana and cornflakes. A bit of additional sugar and salt. Rolled before eating. Very yellow