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food awkwardness
Nov. 8th, 2015 10:38 amLast weekend I baked a beef and mushroom pie. It turned out basically fine, but I was disappointed. The smell of it was so delicious it drove me half crazy waiting for it to bake and cool, but the actual eating was only okay.
What I'm realizing, and this is immensely frustrating, is that I don't really like the taste of most braised meat. Chicken is fine, but beef in particular gets too sort of dank tasting, and I don't really like the soft texture either. (Before anyone asks, yes I do braise my meat correctly at a slow simmer, rather than boiling it and making it stringy. And I cut off all the visible fat.) Given my interest in pies and stews, this is fairly not good. *sigh*
There are a couple of things that help. If something is very highly spiced, like a curry, I'm fine with it (although I think it also helps that most curries aren't cooked as long as stews). And if the meat is ground, such as in a soup I made over the summer that had meatballs simmered in it or the chili I made a few weeks ago, that's also fine. But plainish braised/stewed red meat is somewhere between dull and slightly ooky to me. I had the same problem with a lamb stew recently--I had to add olives, lemon juice, and tons of smoked hot paprika before it was palatable.
It's frustrating because stews always sound so good. And I hate being picky; it makes me annoyed with myself.
Ah, well. The next plan is to try a pork pie with minced/ground pork, which I hope will turn out more to my taste. Or maybe something with ham, because the smoky flavor and firmer texture of ham should prevent the ookiness factor.
In other cooking, the oatmeal-cranberry-double chocolate cookies I made for the boss's going-away part last week were a big hit. I thought they were a hair too sweet, but everybody else liked them, and that's always gratifying.
And I've worked out why my bread has been having problems--I got carried away with the long rise thing and had cut down the amount of yeast too much, so that it wasn't rising enough even over 16+ hours. Especially now that it's turned cold here and my apartment is chilly, a bit more yeast improves things.
What have you been cooking/baking/eating? Or if you have any suggestions for the Braised Meat Problem, they're very welcome.
What I'm realizing, and this is immensely frustrating, is that I don't really like the taste of most braised meat. Chicken is fine, but beef in particular gets too sort of dank tasting, and I don't really like the soft texture either. (Before anyone asks, yes I do braise my meat correctly at a slow simmer, rather than boiling it and making it stringy. And I cut off all the visible fat.) Given my interest in pies and stews, this is fairly not good. *sigh*
There are a couple of things that help. If something is very highly spiced, like a curry, I'm fine with it (although I think it also helps that most curries aren't cooked as long as stews). And if the meat is ground, such as in a soup I made over the summer that had meatballs simmered in it or the chili I made a few weeks ago, that's also fine. But plainish braised/stewed red meat is somewhere between dull and slightly ooky to me. I had the same problem with a lamb stew recently--I had to add olives, lemon juice, and tons of smoked hot paprika before it was palatable.
It's frustrating because stews always sound so good. And I hate being picky; it makes me annoyed with myself.
Ah, well. The next plan is to try a pork pie with minced/ground pork, which I hope will turn out more to my taste. Or maybe something with ham, because the smoky flavor and firmer texture of ham should prevent the ookiness factor.
In other cooking, the oatmeal-cranberry-double chocolate cookies I made for the boss's going-away part last week were a big hit. I thought they were a hair too sweet, but everybody else liked them, and that's always gratifying.
And I've worked out why my bread has been having problems--I got carried away with the long rise thing and had cut down the amount of yeast too much, so that it wasn't rising enough even over 16+ hours. Especially now that it's turned cold here and my apartment is chilly, a bit more yeast improves things.
What have you been cooking/baking/eating? Or if you have any suggestions for the Braised Meat Problem, they're very welcome.
