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eG Foodblog: Darcie B - Bakin' with bacon


Darcie B

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Congrats also on your wonderful cookie tray; your co-workers are very lucky.  How do you flavor your chocolate merinques?  cocoa powder?  grated chocolate?  Can you give rough amounts for how much chocolate to egg whites you use?  They look great.

You mentioned that the fryer might make an appearance again in the thread, but I wanted to make sure and ask you about the model and brand you have as you seem to be quite happy with it.

The chocolate meringues had 2 egg whites, 6 ounces melted semi-sweet chocolate, 1/2 cup of sugar, 1/4 tsp. salt, 3/4 cup chopped walnuts, and 1 tsp. vanilla. Beat egg whites until foamy; gradually add sugar and beat to stiff peaks. Beat in vanilla and salt. Fold in melted chocolate (let cool for a while after melting) and nuts. Drop by tablespoons (actually I think teaspoons would work better) onto a well greased cookie sheet. Bake at 300 degrees for about 20 minutes.

The deep fryer will make an appearance this evening for wings! I have the Waring Pro. You can find it for about $100 on sale, usually $129 not on sale. Short of a commercial unit I don't think you can do better. You can put the lid on when frying to minimize the oil spatter. I wish it would get hotter than 375 degrees, though, but I can't seem to find a home unit that will do more.

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Well, I had to go back to work today so I could get some rest :raz:. Your tax dollars at work... :laugh:

Anyhoo, I worked through lunch as I do many days, so I just went downstairs to the "snack bar" and got a BBQ and salt and pepper chips to eat at my desk.

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Doesn't it look like the BBQ is sticking its tongue out?

Then to partially make up for the unhealthy eating I made a salad out of greens I brought from home.

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You may wonder what the weedy-looking thing is on the top of my salad. It's a weed - chickweed to be precise. It tastes a lot like fresh garden peas and I have no trouble growing it all over my yard! In addition to baking, my loves include gardening and foraging. I love early spring when I can go out into the woods and find all kinds of greens, violets, redbud, and more to nibble on. I love to use violets in a salad or to candy them and use them on cakes. Chickweed is available year round, as are dandelion greens. I only pick them from my backyard, which is insulated from traffic and dogwalkers :hmmm: It's too bad that clover isn't better tasting because I have an endless supply of that, too.

Right now the garden is quite bare except for some overwintering leeks, a few tenacious herbs and sprouts of garlic, just peeking through the top of the soil, asking "is it spring yet?" This year I am cutting back on the garden because I don't have enough time to devote to a big affair. I will hopefully be changing responsibilities (or maybe even jobs) in about two years when my boss retires, and I am looking forward to having more time to garden then. This year will be leeks, garlic, a few tomatoes, tomatillos, haricots vert and some salad greens. Maybe shallots if I am feeling really frisky.

Edit to add photo

Edited by Darcie B (log)
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Gee, Darcie, your coworkers, family, friends, hubby and neighbors are sure BLESSED to have you in their world! Now, I am really jonesing for a coconut cake, because yours looks divine. I DO like a heavier cake for coconut myself, I prefer the way the texture of a denser cake holds up to the texture of the coconut in the topping. Now, I'm going to make a late lunch, and I'm throwing some strawberries into it, too! And, I've shown kiddle just now your blog, too. I told her the picutres of baked goods is our dessert. :raz:

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Gosh, I envy you - baking AND gardening? I am hoping to start a garden this year but I don't expect much from it. I'd love to pick wild plants to eat but even in my own yard, I'm terrified of what they might have picked up from the soil in my (rather dirty) urban environment.

The chickweed is pretty!

Jennie

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I love to use violets in a salad or to candy them and use them on cakes.

Darcy, foraging. Envy icon indeed! So cool!

Please elaborate. What kind of salad is enhanced by violets, and how do you candy them?

Have you tried nasturtium blossoms? Does color make a difference?

What about pickling the seeds as capers?

This is so fab, to get guidance on flowers-as-food. Molto grazie!

"You dont know everything in the world! You just know how to read!" -an ah-hah! moment for 6-yr old Miss O.

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Darcy, foraging. Envy icon indeed! So cool!

Please elaborate. What kind of salad is enhanced by violets, and how do you candy them?

Have you tried nasturtium blossoms? Does color make a difference?

What about pickling the seeds as capers?

This is so fab, to get guidance on flowers-as-food. Molto grazie!

Violets are very mild tasting so can be used with most anything - I use them mostly for color. However, I think they especially go well with greens that have a bit of a assertive flavor like arugula. Nasturtiums tend to be more peppery so I pair them with a looseleaf or romaine lettuce so they stand out. I have not noticed any taste difference in different colors in either violets (some are blue, some ummm...violet, and some are white) or nasturtiums.

Another thing I like to do with nasturtiums is to sandwich them between sheets of pasta and cut out large squares with a leaf in each one, then serve with a simple butter sauce. Very pretty, but a PITA to make.

Making candied violets is also a painstaking process. I brush each one with egg white (I use powdered) with a very small paintbrush (a cheap children's watercolor brush works great). Then I sprinkle superfine sugar on it and set it on parchment or waxed paper to air dry. I have tried various methods to do more than one at a time and I just end up with clumps of unrecognizable goo. I have no idea how they do it commercially but I can see why they cost so much.

If you live in Appalachia, redbud tree flower buds are really sweet tasting and beautiful in a salad. :wub:

Many other flowers are also edible but I haven't experimented much beyond nasturtium and daylily buds, which taste a lot like green beans when sauteed in butter or oil. I usually go for the greens, searching for purslane and lamb's quarters, and of course utilizing the ubiquitous dandelion. I have wild strawberries in my yard, but unfortunately they are of the tasteless variety (there are two basic kinds of wild strawberries; one is intensely flavored the other is nearly flavorless).

I have never tried pickling nasturtium seeds as capers. That is intriguing...

Edited by Darcie B (log)
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Darcie, your energy makes me envious! All that baking! Does your husband cook meals or participate in KP duty to help out? One of the things about getting crazy in the kitchen is that I'm the one to clean too so I try to make sure I don't wear myself out on the cooking alone :).

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Darcie, your energy makes me envious!  All that baking!  Does your husband cook meals or participate in KP duty to help out?  One of the things about getting crazy in the kitchen is that I'm the one to clean too so I try to make sure I don't wear myself out on the cooking alone :).

Basically I'm a one woman show. My husband cooks now and again but doesn't do the cleaning thing much (of course his idea of cleaning under the fridge involves a leaf blower so maybe it's not so bad).

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Well I was too pooped to do any more baking tonight, but I did manage to use my deep fryer. We made tortilla chips and wings, served with beer of course.

Here are the chips taking their warm bath

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Oops I let them go a little too long

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Now onto the important part, wings. The little place I showed upthread where I get most of my meat is wonderful. I called and asked them to set aside some wings, expecting I would have to dissect them myself. To my surprise, when I opened the package, they were all neatly trimmed. So I really paid less for them than at the big box store, since I wasn't paying for all the wingtips (although I usually save those for stock). But I was happy not to have to spend time on the wings. I tossed them lightly with flour, then they took a bath too. Coming out of the fryer...

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Although I only did a dozen the first go round, this fryer can safely handle 18 wings (larger than what you usually get in restaurants) at a time. Here they are with sauce:

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We served them with a fine homebrew that a friend made:

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Edited by Darcie B (log)
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The deep fryer will make an appearance this evening for wings! I have the Waring Pro. You can find it for about $100 on sale, usually $129 not on sale. Short of a commercial unit I don't think you can do better. You can put the lid on when frying to minimize the oil spatter. I wish it would get hotter than 375 degrees, though, but I can't seem to find a home unit that will do more.

I have that deep fryer too. I bought it after many ppl on egullet recommended it. I had a deep seeded fear of frying and this fryer has helped me conquer it.

I got mine for 104 at amazon. 129 on sale, minus the 25 dollar houseware credit. I believe that promotion is still going on.

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Basically I'm a one woman show. My husband cooks now and again but doesn't do the cleaning thing much (of course his idea of cleaning under the fridge involves a leaf blower so maybe it's not so bad).

:biggrin: Leafblower?

So Darcie B, how did you make the candied orange peel? Did you use powdered egg whites?

"I used to be Snow White, but I drifted."

--Mae West

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Basically I'm a one woman show. My husband cooks now and again but doesn't do the cleaning thing much (of course his idea of cleaning under the fridge involves a leaf blower so maybe it's not so bad).

:biggrin: Leafblower?

So Darcie B, how did you make the candied orange peel? Did you use powdered egg whites?

Nope - hadn't heard of using egg whites. I peeled the oranges, scraped out the pith, cut into thin pieces, and blanched them in two changes of water. Then I put them in a simple syrup and cooked them for about half an hour. I let them cool down a bit, then sprinkled with sugar and dried them in the toaster oven at 200 degrees for about 45 minutes. They were pretty tasty; I kept nibbling on them all day.

Edit: let me tell you about the leafblower. It sure cleaned out under the fridge, but left greasy cat fur and dust on the walls, ceiling, countertops, you name it. It took me two hours to clean up after he got done "cleaning."

Edited by Darcie B (log)
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Darcie,

thank you for blogging. Its been a pleasure to read and I've enjoyed learning from you. The image of that beautiful coconut cake in the glass dish will stay with me a long time.

And thank you for inspiring me to make Ling's cookies last night. Simple and delicious.

"You dont know everything in the world! You just know how to read!" -an ah-hah! moment for 6-yr old Miss O.

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Oh Darcie, the leafblower and greasy cat hair! Thats the kind of help we can do without! (Mine just cleaned out the fridge...the right way....it doesn't happen often so I'll take it!)

What is your wing sauce???? We love wings but generally get them at Hooters (yes, you read right...HOOTERS). And that beer looked faaaaabbbbbuuuulous!

Thanks so much for blogging this week! I really feel like I got to know you some. Your baking prowess is extreme and I'm just a little bit jealous :biggrin:

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What is your wing sauce????  We love wings but generally get them at Hooters (yes, you read right...HOOTERS).  And that beer looked faaaaabbbbbuuuulous!

I added my Tangy Buffalo Wing Sauce to RecipeGullet.

The beer was really good, but I don't know if our friend can replicate it! We just finished the last two bottles... :sad:

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Thanks, Darcie, for the bacon inspiration, the cat news, the meal photos, all of it. I can't believe you cook all day and then cook dinner, with no help! Probably explains why I'm single! Won't do it! I'll try and let you know when the bacon dessert becomes full-fledged reality. Cheers!

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Dear DarcieB, Thank you. I think that anyone who feeds others is a good soul, and you've got that in spades! You are a SUPER baker!

I must say, your photos of that coconut cake have got me thinking about us making some postcards of the best photos from blogs as an eGullet fundraiser... I mean, really, I keep going back to look at it; that is a luscious looking cake, just perfect, artisanal and soft looking! Thank you for letting us peek in on your week, and I hope that you had a wonderful birthday!

PS: We're thinking warm thoughts for your new kitty, too!

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There is one last market I wanted to show you all. It is International Grocery and Spices, and it is where I go to be boggled by ingredients I don't know how to use.

Fresh produce

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And can someone please remind me what the following are:

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and these in the middle:

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They have a lot of SE Asian and Indian things that the photos didn't capture - dozens of varieties of rice, many types of flours including chappati and gram flour, several types of dried beans (mung, dal, fava and more), and even soft drinks. I tried the Basil Seed drink once and couldn't quite get into the slimy seeds slipping down my throat :blink:

There are many brands of soy, oyster and fish sauces, curry pastes and bean pastes.

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They carry some halal meats and can someone please tell me what longaniza sausage is?

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They have so many things that I don't have the slightest clue on how to use

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(sorry about the blurry photos but I couldn't use the flash on the glass cases)

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They also have a lot of prepackaged food products, especially Indian foods and sauce mixes. I don't know, but I suspect, that these are to Indian food what Chef Boyardee is to Italian:

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Nevertheless, I purchase some, and add it to my all-American lunch:

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We do have an Indian restaurant in town, but I won't eat there after being chased out by a 4 inch cockroach. (yeah, I'm a weenie that way. I know there are probably bugs in every restaurant, but as long as I don't see them I'm cool. This also reminds me about the stories my husband tells of his former career as a commercial HVAC technician. :blink: We don't eat out much.)

As for other ethnic eateries, we also have one Thai restaurant, several Chinese places of varying quality, 3 or 4 sushi joints, a French restaurant (it has a painting of the Eiffel Tower near the entrance, covered with Christmas lights, if that gives you a hint at the quality), several Mexican places, and three Italian restaurants (moderately authentic due to lots of Italian immigrants in the mines up north).

We have a few other independent restaurants, some of which are decent, but mostly we have lots and lots of chain restaurants. "It's not just delicious, it's Applebee's delicious." :hmmm:

Would someone please move here and open a Pho place? I will eat lunch there every day, I swear. I'll mop the floors! :wink:

Edited by Darcie B (log)
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And can someone please remind me what the following are:

gallery_28660_2436_11905.jpg

They carry some halal meats and can someone please tell me what longaniza sausage is?

I'm pretty certain those warty vegetables are bitter melon. I've never cooked with them, but have eaten a little bit in restaurants. Yep, they are pretty danged bitter--but they're supposed to be super-healthy for you, and have been used as a tonic food in China and India for ages.

Not sure of the ID of the brown tuberous vegetable, though--want to say it's some kind of cassava, but I could be dead wrong there.

As to what longaniza is, there's a whole topic here on eGullet exploring that very question.

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and these in the middle:

gallery_28660_2436_79018.jpg

"It's not just delicious, it's Applebee's delicious." :hmmm:

I'm thinking this looks like taro root. Just a guess.

And you KNOW Applebee's has to qualify it's definition of "delicious" otherwise they could get sued for false advertizing. :raz:

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I'm thinking this looks like taro root.  Just a guess. 

And you KNOW Applebee's has to qualify it's definition of "delicious" otherwise they could get sued for false advertizing.  :raz:

That's what I was thinking too. I haven't a clue what to do with it, though...

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