Pass the salt
What I did yesterday.
Non-paid plug: I got my pork from Porc Meilleur, at the Jean-Talon market. Hormone-free, it’s called ecological. I’m not exactly sure what that means, but it’s as close to organic as you can get without paying the organic price. Oh, and they also scraped the nipples off the pork belly for me, which I kinda appreciate.
Cannelés
A week or so ago, on one of those food websites where everyone shouts their opinions on the best place in town, someone brought up the subject of cannelés, if anyone had heard of them, what they were, where to get them, etc. Wikipedia has more info here. Ignore the pompous tripe at the bottom of the article.
I remembered making them a few times, but hadn’t since we moved, mostly because the moulds were probably still unpacked. Dug out the recipe, dug out the moulds, and posted the recipe on said website. Of course, having posted the recipe, I figured I should make some myself. These are really easy to make, and they fit perfectly with my style of cooking, i.e. I mix together a couple of ingredients and ignore it for a day. Add the other ingredients, and ignore for another day. Easy as, well, cannelé, because I can’t make pie.
Cannelés
- 2 cup milk
- 25 g butter
- 2 egg yolks
- 1 whole egg
- 250 g sugar
- 125 g flour
- 1 tsp vanilla
- 1/4 cup Frangelico*
Bring the milk to a boil, add the butter and refrigerate. In another bowl, whisk the egg yolks, egg and sugar. Blend in the flow. Mix well and add to the now-cool milk mixture. Refrigerate overnight.
Fill the cannelés moulds 3/4 full. Cook at 355F for 1 hour 15 for large moulds, 50 minutes for small moulds. You could also use muffin tins, I guess.
* The original recipe calls for rum, but because neither the milliner nor I like rum, I use Frangelico. There always seems to be a bottle around, and we’re not going to drink it otherwise. You could also use Amaretto, but we save that for our pain perdu, aka French (freedom?) toasts.
This recipe will normally make about 12 large cannelés. “But Hickory,” you ask, “I only see five on the plate. You haven’t already eaten seven of them, have you?”
Um, no, my cannelé mould produces seven of them, originally eight but the dog ate one corner of the mould (she has a thing for plastic). Anyhow, Monday night I made a batch and put the rest of the batter in the fridge. Left for work yesterday, and covered the remaining cannelés with plastic wrap. I got home last night and noticed the empty plate.
It took a second or so before I realised what had happened. It took the dog’s stomach until 3 in the morning to realise the same thing, and to rebel. Nothing like walking your dog in the middle of the night because she has the runs. Because she ate my desserts!
I know where I’m going on my next vacation*
I’m going to the Creation Museum. For a laugh, check out some of the signs.
*That is, if ever I take a vacation that doesn’t entail recovering from some medical procedure.
Killing time for a cause
Do you consider yourself a sesquipedalian lexiphanes yet find there’s a certain lacuna in your vocabulary? Do you strive for even more philanthropy in your daily life, but find it difficult because of your less-than-stellar pecuniary state? Or, screw it, you just want to kill time at work?
You’re in luck. Scoot over to Free Rice. It’s an online vocabulary game, and pretty straightforward at that. You’re presented with a word, you choose the correct definition. Pretty simple, right? Choose correctly, ten grains of rice are donated. Get it wrong and the words become less difficult.
I’m aiming for level 60.
Thanx to The Snaz for the link. Go give ’em some love, and enjoy some pretty cool videos while you’re at it.
The Tinman's Thoughts 