Breakfast! The most important meal of the day (2004-2011)

[Blether]

RRO, I'd invite you over, but I know you already have a man on the go. And I've seen his frighteningly gnarled hands ! The duck livers look & sound like a fantastic way to start the day.

Here, it was my favourite Kilimanjaro coffee, and breadmaker-white toast with (1) Laughing Cow cheese and deli Milanese salami, and (2) homemade yuzu curd.

[heidih]

Lovely breakfast as usual Bether. I am curious on the Laughing Cow - it has become a diet phenomenon here with all kinds of "flavors". I remember it from the 70's in Europe as a neutral spreadable item. Is it popular where you live?

[Blether]

Thanks, Heidi. Yes, my family (me as one of the kids) too discovered "La Vache Qui Rit" in France in the 70's. Softer, creamier, richer, whiter and more tangy than Dairylea, all at once, right ?

Here, I've only ever seen the standard no-extra-flavour kind; and it's only been here for the last 5 or so years, IIRC. Maybe we can blame big French company Lactalis, whose acquisition of McLelland's means that since, oh, 3 years ago we also get to enjoy imported Scottish cheddar in various maturities.

[rarerollingobject]

RRO, I'd invite you over, but I know you already have a man on the go. And I've seen his frighteningly gnarled hands !

Yes, but I'd leave him in a second for a man who makes his own yuzu curd! A nanosecond.

This was actually yesterday's, a rather extravagant brunch for one.

Pate de foie gras on toast, and a glass of Sauternes:

A beautiful juicy blood plum:

[Ann_T]

OH MY!!!! Sauternes and Pate de foie gras. Rarerollingobject I want to eat breakfast at your house.

In honor of Pancake Tuesday I made Potato Pancakes for breakfast.

Moe has his with Canadian Back Bacon

and

I had mine topped with sour cream, minus the bacon.

[rarerollingobject]

Potato pancakes look great! I love making sweet things in a savoury version, savoury is much more in my wheelhouse.

To wit - oatmeal congee. I like rice congee but often don't have the time or the will to live required to make it in the morning so make a quick version of it with oatmeal. Here we have a specimen with (anticlockwise) green onions, leek flower sauce, crispy fried shallots, lao gan ma black bean chilli oil, a drizzle of Sichuan pepper oil, white pepper, a puddle of soy sauce, and a healthy teaspoonful of duck fat.

Shortly before it all gets mashed into an unholy mess and dispatched to the next world!

Edited March 9, 2011 by rarerollingobject (log)

[Gregg]

Here we have a specimen with (anticlockwise) green onions, leek flower sauce, crispy fried shallots, lao gan ma black bean chilli oil, a drizzle of Sichuan pepper oil, white pepper, a puddle of soy sauce, and a healthy teaspoonful of duck fat.

There haven't been that many times that I actually wanted to lick my monitor (really!), but that sounds SOOOOOOO good. Stuck on the sweet side of the breakfast world here today. DD requested bananas Foster waffles to start Friday with. I'm on it.

[CFT]

To wit - oatmeal congee. I like rice congee but often don't have the time or the will to live required to make it in the morning so make a quick version of it with oatmeal. Here we have a specimen with (anticlockwise) green onions, leek flower sauce, crispy fried shallots, lao gan ma black bean chilli oil, a drizzle of Sichuan pepper oil, white pepper, a puddle of soy sauce, and a healthy teaspoonful of duck fat.

That's just porridge with Chinese accompaniments right? That looks like a heck of a lot of extras!

[rarerollingobject]

That's just porridge with Chinese accompaniments right? That looks like a heck of a lot of extras!

Yep, just porridge cooked in chicken stock. What can I say, I like the extras. Anyway, I eat this breakfast about 3-4 times a week so I've got the prep down to 5 minutes, from start to finish.

This morning, however, was a crusty roll filled with bacon, tomato and some HP sauce. With a strong ice coffee beforehand.

[heidih]

This morning, however, was a crusty roll filled with bacon, tomato and some HP sauce. With a strong ice coffee beforehand.

That looks SO good. Tomato appears to be dead ripe and bacon is meaty. Where do you buy your rolls?

[rarerollingobject]

I look over my balcony railing, and directly into the artisanal sourdough bakery across the street. Sometimes I go out onto my balcony in the morning, flap my arms beseechingly at them to get their attention, and the guys there hold up their hands to gesture to me how many more minutes it's going to be till the bread comes out of the ovens, so I can time my descent for optimum freshness and warmth..

[heidih]

RRO - I was wondering about the actual bakery as my sis and family are bread fiends- they live in the Crystal Cove area

[rarerollingobject]

RRO - I was wondering about the actual bakery as my sis and family are bread fiends- they live in the Crystal Cove area

That's in California, right? I'm in Sydney, Australia..it might be a long way to come for some bread.

Edited March 11, 2011 by rarerollingobject (log)

[heidih]

Oops sorry she is in Castle Cove, Sydney.... When you communicate always via email you tend to forget the addresses.

[Nasi_Campur]

Now THAT looks yummy and original!

Nice work Rarerollingobject!

Potato pancakes look great! I love making sweet things in a savoury version, savoury is much more in my wheelhouse.

To wit - oatmeal congee. I like rice congee but often don't have the time or the will to live required to make it in the morning so make a quick version of it with oatmeal. Here we have a specimen with (anticlockwise) green onions, leek flower sauce, crispy fried shallots, lao gan ma black bean chilli oil, a drizzle of Sichuan pepper oil, white pepper, a puddle of soy sauce, and a healthy teaspoonful of duck fat.

Shortly before it all gets mashed into an unholy mess and dispatched to the next world!

[rarerollingobject]

Oops sorry she is in Castle Cove, Sydney.... When you communicate always via email you tend to forget the addresses.

Aha! I had just stepped away from the computer, and thought "I wonder if Heidi meant Castle Cove?" and here we are. Will PM you about the bread.

Now THAT looks yummy and original!Nice work Rarerollingobject!

Thanks for your kind words, NC!

[Kim Shook]

rarerollingobject – love the sandwich! We are addicted to HP in this house, but never thought to pair it with a bacon sandwich – thanks!

Breakfast yesterday was buttermilk pancakes and sausage:

The pancake recipe was a new one for me – from Fine Cooking magazine’s new Breakfast special issue. The flavor was good, but they were as flat as…well, pancakes:

I’m pretty sure that my baking powder is fine – I’ve recently used it for cake, so I don’t understand why they were SO flat.

[Kim Shook]

Breakfast this morning:

Scrambled eggs, sausage and Ann’s potato pancakes. Excellent pancakes. These are done with mashed potatoes, which I usually use. The only difference is that Ann separates her eggs and whips the whites to stiff before folding into the potatoes. What a difference to the texture of the pancakes! I am converted. One little confession . I NEEDED to have these this morning. I have been thinking about them since she posted them on the 8th. But I didn’t have any potatoes. I DID have some instant potato flakes leftover from Christmas (bought in case the slow cooker potatoes were too watery), so I made these from instant potatoes . I’m QUITE sure that real potatoes are better and next time I’ll do that. But these were still fantastic!

[andiesenji]

Flat pancakes can happen because the batter rests too long or part of the baking powder is not doing a proper job.

The mechanism is that there is some production of CO2 when liquid is added to the baking powder and some production (and rise) when it is heated.

These are quite fluffy:

Grammaw's Clabber flapjacks

2 eggs - large

2 cups "clabber" I use 1 1/2 cups buttermilk with 1/2 cup sour cream

1/4 cup melted butter

2 1/4 cups plain flour a.k.a. all-purpose

1 teaspoon salt

1 1/2 teaspoon baking powder "double acting" because two kinds were available back then.

1 teaspoon "saleratus" a.k.a. baking soda (bicarb)

Beat the eggs with the clabbered milk and melted butter. (The butter should show clumping after mixing with the buttermilk, that is what you want to see.)

Stir in the flour, salt, baking powder and soda.

Fold and mix till "few" lumps are seen. (Do NOT overmix!)

Set aside for 10 minutes, the batter will become bubbly and thicken a bit. If too thick to pour evenly, stir in a little ice water.

Ladle portions onto a medium hot griddle - you should know the routine from this point on.

Makes enough flapjacks for 6 generous servings, 8 if you have eggs, sausage, bacon &etc.

P.S. You can substitute whole grain flour for up to 1/3 of the flour or you can sub fine corn meal, buckwheat flour or ??? Coconut flour in this proportion produces a nice result.

Edited March 13, 2011 by andiesenji (log)

[Kim Shook]

Thanks so much! I love big, fluffy pancakes so I'll be giving these a try!

[rarerollingobject]

Kim Shook - Your pancakes look damn fine to me (so to speak )

My breakfast was a leftover extravaganza of stale bread I couldn't bear to throw away, some slightly sad silverbeet (chard) and a massive hunk of gruyere that was malingering in the fridge. Soaked in an egg, cream and Dijon mustard mixture, it baked into a very tasty bread pudding. And cayenne, lots of cayenne.

[patrickamory]

Leftover jungle curry with a steamed egg on top, prik nam pla on the side.

[C. sapidus]

And cayenne, lots of cayenne.

Your savory bread pudding already sounded good, and then you said the magic words . . .

Leftover jungle curry with a steamed egg on top, prik nam pla on the side.

Now that sounds like breakfast to me. Did you make the jungle curry and prik nam pla?

Edited March 15, 2011 by C. sapidus (log)

[patrickamory]

Leftover jungle curry with a steamed egg on top, prik nam pla on the side.

Now that sounds like breakfast to me. Did you make the jungle curry and prik nam pla?

Yup! David Thompson on the jungle curry... a little improvisation was needed because I didn't have grachai, otherwise it was straightforward. Yard beans, yellow squash and chicken. It's the recipe with the two pastes (you fry a separate jungle curry paste and a garlic-chile paste).

[C. sapidus]

Yup! David Thompson on the jungle curry... a little improvisation was needed because I didn't have grachai, otherwise it was straightforward. Yard beans, yellow squash and chicken. It's the recipe with the two pastes (you fry a separate jungle curry paste and a garlic-chile paste).

Sweet, I have not yet tried that one. If you get a chance, post on the too-long-dormant Thai Cooking at Home thread.