[food] culinary amusement of the day

[kaberett]

So. I am still processing this enormous pile of apples.

(I am also now set up with a food dehydrator, courtesy of the powers of my mother and Adam combined, with much gratitude to ewt for talking me through considerations!)

Today I have made my second batch of apple-and-mint jelly for the year, this one containing significantly less cider vinegar than the previous.

It turns out that the solution to all of my anxious flapping[1] about But How Do I Tell When The Jam Set is indeed neither the jam thermometer nor even the plate-in-the-freezer-with-which-to-test-the-set...

... but pottering around idly doing Something Else, not really paying attention to the jam pan beyond keeping half an ear on it, and waiting for it to sound done.

I know I do a lot of my cooking by listening and by smell, but I'm entertained that this is apparently how I get to stop agonising about not understanding how jam works.

[1] ... which got rendered by my fingers as "flaffing", being presumably the portmanteau of "flapping" and "faffing"...

Comments

[jenett]

Related to your apple issues, I just posted (and my post is just above yours in my reading page) about making hot buttered apples in a slow cooker (recipe from Budget Bytes

Super simple, could be done on a stove with low heat and more stirring, reduced the apples to a much smaller volume, and incredibly tasty. (I used wine for the liquid because I had some, and a spice blend from a regional seller that includes cardamom, Ceylon cinnamon, orange peel, ginger, cloves) and regret none of my life choices here except maybe that I didn't have ice cream or whipped cream or vanilla yogurt to have with it.)

[ludy]

I love the reassurance of a cold spoon drop test for Jam Set (particularly for marmalade which seems to enjoy being deceptive) but I think I rely as much on the texture feedback from stirring and the sound.


In other culinary thoughts I treated myself to this book of German Festive biscuit etc recipes as recovery reading and keep wondering if it’s something you would approve of or find profoundly Wrong because it’s a different region’s food? Several of the recipes include Apfelmus…

[alexseanchai]

ha, if it works it works!

[momijizukamori]

lol, sound is how I tell when something's going wrong with my 3d printer, or that the cat has found something she shouldn't be putting in her mouth, so it makes sense to me that it works for cooking, too.

[lnr]

I was just thinking yesterday that there are several cooking related things where I literally do play it by ear. These days notably when my toast is ready (when it *starts* to crackle, before it smells burnt). And especially listening to cakes to see if they're done instead of poking them with skewers!

[fyreharper]

Cakes have a sound???

[lunabee34]

Yay for delicious cooking.

[lokifan]

... which got rendered by my fingers as "flaffing", being presumably the portmanteau of "flapping" and "faffing"...

Haha, could be worse! "Anxious fapping" would make you sound like a worried masturbator. (Though honestly as I say that I suspect lots of lovely fandomers are anxious fappers, haha...)

[kaberett]

The thought had crossed my mind...

[jjhunter]

yesssssssss, sound in the periphery of attention is surprisingly keen indication.

I will be processing All The Older Apples this afternoon and I cannot wait for how my kitchen will smell - it is primordial childhood comfort.

[silveradept]

Sound is definitely an important part of cooking, both to know when something is going off the rails and when something is just right. So if it works, then it works!