Recipe Notes: July 2017

6 July 2017
Mark Bittman's Brownies

Recipe from the How to Cook Everything

I have written about several brownie recipes. All have been good, all have been easy. When I learned about the seven-ingredient recipe by Mark Bittman, formerly of the New York Times, I thought it worth trying. I was happy to find the recipe is available on several web sites now that the Times has announced they are putting their recipes behind a paywall.

This recipe was quick and easy. The most time-consuming step was melting chocolate and butter together on the stove. This step could have even been shortened by using the microwave carefully to melt these ingredients. The remaining ingredients are simply stirred into the chocolate mixture which is then baked in an 8x8-inch pan for 20-30 minutes. I made a few modifications as I was cooking these brownies in rural New Zealand where some of the recipe ingredients are not available. Instead of unsweetened chocolate, 72% was used. Salted butter was used and salt was then omitted from the recipe. The brownies were baked in a convection oven using the fan (which, surprisingly, could not be turned off).

The resulting brownies were very good. They were chewy and gooey with good chocolate flavor. The edges were crisp and the center soft. Are they better than the other brownies I have made? That is hard to say as all have been good and all have been easy to make so you can't really go wrong. I would still like to try the recipe from Kopp's Canteen Restaurant in my home town of Chittenango, NY,  to see how it compares to those I have made, and to my memories. (But, alas, I don't have the recipe.) I look forward to trying some of the variations that Mark Bittman suggests for his brownies.

Note: I did try these with almond flour and did not enjoy them as much.

24 July 2017
Smoky Pulled Pork

Pulled pork recipe from Cook's Illustrated, July 2014
Barbecue sauce recipe from Serious Eats
Slider bun recipe from Bread Illustrated, America's Test Kitchen, 2016, p. 137

This is a bit of a mashup. I have made, and written about pulled pork several times on this blog. The pork was smoked on our gas grill using a recipe from Cook's Illustrated. The sauce came from a recipe that I have made once in which the pork is cooked in the oven. I combined the outdoor cooking method with the indoor sauce for this dish.

Since I had a smaller pork shoulder than in either recipe, I only made half of the sauce recipe, and even then there was plenty. When I started the pork was in two pieces totaling about 3 pounds. The pork was treated with a dry rub for about 20 hours before cooking. After the smoking started it was about 5 hours until dinner was ready between the smoking on the grill, roasting in the oven, and resting before being pulled. Since our supermarkets no longer carry slider buns, I make my own. The buns are half the size of regular burger buns, 40 grams of dough comes out about right.

We both thought the pork was too salty when it was first served. I believe the salt came from the dry rub rather than from the sauce. Fortunately, over time, the saltiness seemed to subside and it was not as noticeable when we had it as leftovers: it lasted us a good long time. Originally I put 1¼ cups of sauce on the meat but after the first meal added close to another 2 cups. The sauce was good with a strong molasses flavor. I don't think it is the ideal sauce that I am looking for, bit it is the current front runner.

30 July 2017
Whole-Wheat Honey Sandwich Bread

Recipe from KQED

I have two sandwich bread recipes that I like: a white sandwich bread from the public television station, KQED, and a recipe from Cook's Illustrated for Deli Rye bread. I would like to have a whole wheat sandwich bread recipe. I remember making one from Cook's Illustrated and I wrote about it briefly. I recall it takes more time that other sandwich breads and so I was happy to try this recipe from KQED for a whole-wheat sandwich bread.

The procedure for making this bread is similar to that used to make their white sandwich bread. It is written for active, rather than instant, yeast. I thus modified it so the yeast is not proofed before being used. The dry ingredients, including the yeast, are combined. The wet ingredients are then added in the stand mixer and the rest of the recipe was used as written. I found the resulting dough was a little wet so I ended up adding several additional tablespoons of flour.

The resulting bread is pretty good. It is soft but stands up well to fillings, it doesn't shred when peanut butter is spread on it or sog-out from ketchup or mustard. It is soft for a whole wheat bread and could benefit from a stronger whole wheat flavor and a hardier texture. It doesn't take long to make, less than three hours total, but I will probably continue trying other recipes for whole-wheat sandwich breads.