Castanet

Well this morning, since I got up so early, I decided today was going to be the day that I am going to make that jelly roll. Having learned several valuable lessons over the last couple of weeks, I decided to make sure that I had all the ingredients before I started.
I had everything except the eggs that I forgot to buy yesterday. Anxious to get started, I got in the car and went to IGA. I thought since I was there anyways, I would get a bag of sugar too, I seem to be running low. Because I only grabbed a $10 bill and didn't bother taking my wallet, I wasn't sure if I had enough for both eggs and sugar, I don't know how much sugar costs, but I do know that it is best to buy the bigger bags because they are cheaper in the long run.
I was walking and counting the loose change from my coat pocket and ran right into the store's automatic door that didn't open. While I was picking up the loose change that I had dropped, the store manager came to see what the crash was and saw me. I guess the cashier girls have told him about me and my recent baking hobby, and he opened the door manually and told me that the store wasn't open yet and asked me what I was doing. I explained my dilemma and said I needed eggs. He was good enough to let me in (he knows me very well and we are friends). By now every employee in that store knows me by my 1st name, they all wave now and are always smiling when they see me.
Anyways, I ran to the back of the store grabbed the eggs and didn't bother with the sugar. The manager met me up front and said that there are no cashiers here for another 1/2 hour and he doesn't have a till open. I said, "No problem, I have exact change, how much are they?" He told me, "Don't worry about it, just pay the cashier when you come back later today".
I am not sure if I should feel honoured that he trusts me so much or insulted that he thinks I will need to come back again today.
So, I have wrapped all of the remaining cinnamon buns and put them in the freezer....except for 1.
Important lesson #2. Always have a back-up plan just in case this jelly roll thing doesn't work out.

Well...it's out of the oven, the paper didn't stick and smells pretty good. I guess it's safe to put that "plan B" cinnamon bun in the freezer. It's all rolled up and cooling for the next 30 minutes.
Now.....what's for supper?

Well......it has cooled and when I went to unroll it and spread in the jam........the jam was moldy.

I put my tail between my legs and went to IGA. I bought new jam, a big bag of sugar, and paid for the eggs that I got this morning.

I got 'er done though, here's the proof.

The final result of making this jam roll....

I've never but never made a jelly roll, so congratulations, it looks delicious.

That looks like awhole lotta jelly roll for one single guy ! Can't wait to hear what you do with the left-overs before it grows mould. Oh wait ! I got it ! Slice it up, batter it and deep fry it! Perfect your invention and sell it at the Calgary Stampede.
They'll eat anything there and charge a whack of money for it !

Today, I thought I should take an inventory of some of the things that Mom had and I never seen before.
I am now the proud owner of:
5 mixers:
1 hand held mixer.
1 stand mixer, with two bowls that was tucked way back in a deep cupboard.
2 "stick" blenders. One of them still in the box.
1 Heavy Duty mixer.......the one that I just bought.

4 different types of sugar:
Berry
Regular
Icing
Brown

4 different types of flour:
All Purpose.
60% whole wheat.
Pastry.
Bread.

8 different salts:
Table.
Kosher.
Sea.
Pickling.
Smoked.
Mixed.
Course.
Mediterranean.
Seasoned.

4 different peppers.
Butcher.
Course.
Fine.
Whole.

I haven't got into the pots and pans yet. Glass pots and pans? Really? they were way at the back of a cabinet. I have been here looking after Mom full-time for 14 years, and I have never seen these before? I also have enough plastic food containers (mostly in the original packaging) to last for the next 3 generations.

Don't get me started on how many boxes of different plastic bags..........
Veggie freezer.
Zipper freezer.
Sandwich.
Garbage.
Bread.
Tall.
Orange.
Black.
Heavy Duty.
Easy Tie.
Blue.
Fruit zipper.

23 rolls of tin foil.

At least 11 different kinds of pasta.........Mom hated pasta.

That's enough for today. Mom, I love you, but............."What were you thinking?"

I know, Alzheimer's is strange to those of us that don't understand. I miss you Mom. I wish I learned more about how to bake, you were so great at it.

This thread is a hidden gem for me, I laughed throughout because I've been there.

Growing up, I was lucky in that my parents would prepare food - you know, good food, not the frozen meals you purchase from the store and throw in the oven. They were also very willing to share how to cook. The only downside is that I wasn't willing to listen.

So I moved out (long time ago) and to Vancouver and discovered, now I have to be responsible for my own food. So for a full two years - I'm not kidding - I ate only fried eggs, French toast, and a whole roasted chicken with potatoes and carrots cooked in the chicken fat. That's it. I would make the chicken and veggies probably three times a week, eat left overs, and repeat. Even to this day, I'm not tired of roasted chicken ...

I bought my very first cooking book - called the Professional Chef. Very few recipes and the ones they do have are merely examples on how to apply the cooking methods it covers to food. I opened it once and discovered that I'm so sorely unprepared that I immediately closed it and put it away. It was never reopened for years.

After that, while still being employed full time in my actual career and profession, I went to culinary school. I never intended - or even now, intend - on transitioning to cooking as a career, but since graduating from culinary school, I've worked one or two days a week for about six years now. Starting at Earls as a line cook, and having worked at many of the top restaurants in Western Canada.

I have a bunch of different kitchen gadgets, but the last few years, I've been very much into some very innovative cooking techniques and ingredients. While I'm not saying that you need all the weird stuff that I've been using - a centrifuge, chamber vacuum sealers, and liquid nitrogen - but I do highly recommend investing in an immersion circulator for cooking sous vide - food, under vacuum, in a water bath to a precise temperature. You literally do nothing and it cooks food perfectly, and you can finish it off with a sear when you're ready to eat. It removes the whole, playing human thermostat out of the cooking process and enables you to achieve textures and doneness otherwise not possible - like a perfectly medium rare, braised texture beef short rib.

Apologies though, your thread clearly struck onto a passion of mine but I will veer it off topic no longer.

I highly recommend you try this salmon recipe from the link below. It'll give you a bit of an idea on how sous vide can elevate your food, and you only need a kitchen sink, water, a pot, and an accurate kitchen thermostat.

http://modernistcuisine.com/recipes/sous-vide-salmon-in-the-kitchen-sink/

That is a well appreciated and inspirational post, thank you. I would love to be able to learn from your experiences. I am just trying to relive my my childhood through the smells and flavors that I enjoyed so much as a child. (I even have grown to like Brussel Sprouts).
My goal is to teach myself the cooking and baking recipies that I should have learned many years ago from my mother.
Thank you for sharing your personal experiences with me.

alanjh595 wrote:That is a well appreciated and inspirational post, thank you. I would love to be able to learn from your experiences. I am just trying to relive my my childhood through the smells and flavors that I enjoyed so much as a child. (I even have grown to like Brussel Sprouts).
My goal is to teach myself the cooking and baking recipies that I should have learned many years ago from my mother.
Thank you for sharing your personal experiences with me.

It's funny, because the smells and flavors from our childhood were amazing because that's all we knew at that time. But there's always a better way to do it.

There are recipes that I cook to this day that come from my parents; they aren't as good as some of the better ways to do it, but the nostalgia enforces its quality. It is what it is, some people like a) and some like b). There's no right answer, it's literally all about preference.

New project today. I have been inspired by another topic on CNet. viewtopic.php?f=6&t=59999&view=unread#unread

I am going to make pizza tonight. I don't have one of those fancy stones or steels, but I do have a couple (12) heavy, black steel fry pans that I can't use on my glass top stove. I watched the video from the other thread and think I have learned something. I don't have 2 8" pans, as the recipie asks for, but I have a 7" and a 9". I figure it will work out, without me doing the math.

I have the toppings....pepperoni, mozza, ham, pineapple tidbits, pizza sauce, + veggies. I have corn meal, bread flour, (not the All Porpus). My oven will go to 500F. EVOO.....see, I am getting into it, I know what EVOO means. Of course, I have the FAST yeast and not the "hibernating" kind.

I will get back to you later as to my progress. YES, I know I spelled wrong, but I am busy and have no time to go and fix it.

Reads like you're good to go but do you have a proper pizza cutter, napkins and wine?

So if you put anchovies on your Pizza do you have to drink White Wine?

Bsuds wrote:So if you put anchovies on your Pizza do you have to drink White Wine?

Do I really need to eat a dead fish for an excuse to drink white wine?

Okay, well it didn't turn out toooooooo bad. It was good, but I could have made a meal from whatever fell off before cooking.
Her's the before photo,


Here's the after.


Those were some REALLY HOT pans. I burned up 2 hot pads, and caught fire to 1 oven mitt.

The crust was crunchy and I can see that if you are going to do this multiple times, get one of those big boat paddle things and lots of corn meal. That is pizza, sliding lube.

The black, cast iron fry pans worked great, I just over loaded on the toppings and cooked too long. 10 minutes at 550F is too much. 6-8 minutes would be better.