Various Culinary Mishaps
Jan. 26th, 2008 05:12 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
tyellasToday is one of those "nothing right, stay under rock" days. There have been various social mishaps. One friend has forgotten her manners and been rude to a mutual friend -grits teeth-. Another asked me for advice on her planned course of action regarding a mining company's expansion near her house. She then told me why all of my recommendations - talk to a lawyer, avoid long emotional rants, talk to a mine rep before demanding millions in compensation - were wrong under the circumstances.
I wanted a break from this heavy work/freelance computer time I've been doing, so I tried some cooking, but nothing has gone right in the kitchen either. First, my pickles are going slower than last time. This would be OK if I hadn't promised someone a jar tomorrow. Second, a batch of parsley-mint pesto came out just fine, except it made barely 1/4 a cup, so I can't use it as a food-gift replacement for the pickles. Third, I tried making pomegranate chocolate-chip ice cream today, after reading paeans to it online, and noticing $1.50 pomegranates at a farmer's market.
Juicing a pomegranate was not difficult, but the prep was tiresome, and one pomegranate produced a generous 1/3 cup of juice, recommended in some recipes. So I gave it a try.
Problems so far:
* This is taking forever to firm up. It must be the juice acidity: I noticed this with some Meyer lemon ice cream recently, too.
* Some ice crystals are happening. That's a sign that there's not a good ratio of H2O to fat going on, and it's a common fruit/juice ice cream problem. I thought I fixed it with my milk/cream ratio, but I guess not.
* The fresh pomegranate juice oxidizes from ruby to burgundy - this must be why citrus is part of some pomegranate ice-cream recipes. My ice cream is a light purple more than a purplish-pink.
* It is insufficiently pomegranate-flavored. Haagen-Dazs uses pomegranate concentrate and elderberry juice in theirs, Sheer Bliss seems to be doing what I'm doing.
Next time, juice from 2 pomegranates and full cream. I may even leave out the chocolate chips - they make the ice cream look handsome, and make it more-ish in spite of its problems, but they'd be fine sprinkled on afterwards, too.
I wanted a break from this heavy work/freelance computer time I've been doing, so I tried some cooking, but nothing has gone right in the kitchen either. First, my pickles are going slower than last time. This would be OK if I hadn't promised someone a jar tomorrow. Second, a batch of parsley-mint pesto came out just fine, except it made barely 1/4 a cup, so I can't use it as a food-gift replacement for the pickles. Third, I tried making pomegranate chocolate-chip ice cream today, after reading paeans to it online, and noticing $1.50 pomegranates at a farmer's market.
Juicing a pomegranate was not difficult, but the prep was tiresome, and one pomegranate produced a generous 1/3 cup of juice, recommended in some recipes. So I gave it a try.
Problems so far:
* This is taking forever to firm up. It must be the juice acidity: I noticed this with some Meyer lemon ice cream recently, too.
* Some ice crystals are happening. That's a sign that there's not a good ratio of H2O to fat going on, and it's a common fruit/juice ice cream problem. I thought I fixed it with my milk/cream ratio, but I guess not.
* The fresh pomegranate juice oxidizes from ruby to burgundy - this must be why citrus is part of some pomegranate ice-cream recipes. My ice cream is a light purple more than a purplish-pink.
* It is insufficiently pomegranate-flavored. Haagen-Dazs uses pomegranate concentrate and elderberry juice in theirs, Sheer Bliss seems to be doing what I'm doing.
Next time, juice from 2 pomegranates and full cream. I may even leave out the chocolate chips - they make the ice cream look handsome, and make it more-ish in spite of its problems, but they'd be fine sprinkled on afterwards, too.
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Date: 2008-01-27 03:57 am (UTC)