Recipe Fail Times Two and a Birthday Present
Not all my first attempts at recipes are successful, but I'm optimistic enough to tell myself that, if I've learned something from the attempt that I can take and use the next time, it's not a TOTAL fail.
Fail #1 - Dragonfruit Jam
I've never made jam but, through a confluence of events, ended up with a very ripe, and supposedly red-fleshed Dragonfruit or pitaya in my possession. If you've ever seen the inside of these intriguing fruits, which originated in Mexico, Central and South America, you understand the attraction.
It turned out that, in spite of the label which said "RED PITAYA", that only meant the outside skin, NOT the colour of the flesh inside. I COULD have made one of the other dragonfruit recipes I had researched, but I had decided to make jam ... so that's what I made.
And this was the result.
It tasted good but resembled frog spawn. Which is not a particularly appetizing look for a dessert. :)
Fail #2 - Swiss/Jelly Roll Trial #1
One of the dishes on my cooking bucket list is Buche de Noel. It's a pretty complicated presentation of a number of different elements so I thought I'd start with the Swiss or Jelly Roll. After all, it's based on a genoise cake batter and I've made madeleines, which are also based on it, successfully.
This is the genoise batter recipe I used.
I learned that there's a big difference when handling 6 eggs compared to only dealing with 2.
While beating the eggs and sugar together until they tripled in volume, my 'inexpensive' stand mixer proceeded to throw batter out of the bowl which spun merrily on its stand. And then my melted clarified butter had cooled so that, by the time I was ready to add it to the egg/sugar batter, it was almost solid. And I didn't think to rewarm it slightly before adding it to the batter. With those two strikes under my belt, I then neglected to incorporate the flour thoroughly into the egg/sugar/butter mixture. Strike three.
I had the correct sized sheet pan but seemed to be a bit short of batter. I suspect that my initial egg/sugar mixture hadn't QUITE tripled in volume. And then, I removed the swiss roll from the oven after 20 minutes.
The roll was freed from its baking sheet easily and cooled, wrapped in its icing sugar coated towel. I filled it with some leftover citrus curd ... not enough it turned out. Again, the results tasted all right but was very far from being what a real swiss roll should be.
As you can see from this sad little slice, there's barely any filling and the center of each flat layer is gummy looking rather than being thick, light and airy.
ETA: On a positive note, a LJ friend, spikesgirl58, offered to write me a story, or make me a drawing, for my birthday back in FEBRUARY. It took me a while to decide, but I finally chose a drawing based on a series of Addams Family/Man From UNCLE crossover stories that she has written. (She's a lady of many talents and a generous person.) The drawing arrived in the post today.
Thank you, my friend. I love it.
Fail #1 - Dragonfruit Jam
I've never made jam but, through a confluence of events, ended up with a very ripe, and supposedly red-fleshed Dragonfruit or pitaya in my possession. If you've ever seen the inside of these intriguing fruits, which originated in Mexico, Central and South America, you understand the attraction.
It turned out that, in spite of the label which said "RED PITAYA", that only meant the outside skin, NOT the colour of the flesh inside. I COULD have made one of the other dragonfruit recipes I had researched, but I had decided to make jam ... so that's what I made.
And this was the result.
It tasted good but resembled frog spawn. Which is not a particularly appetizing look for a dessert. :)
Fail #2 - Swiss/Jelly Roll Trial #1
One of the dishes on my cooking bucket list is Buche de Noel. It's a pretty complicated presentation of a number of different elements so I thought I'd start with the Swiss or Jelly Roll. After all, it's based on a genoise cake batter and I've made madeleines, which are also based on it, successfully.
This is the genoise batter recipe I used.
I learned that there's a big difference when handling 6 eggs compared to only dealing with 2.
While beating the eggs and sugar together until they tripled in volume, my 'inexpensive' stand mixer proceeded to throw batter out of the bowl which spun merrily on its stand. And then my melted clarified butter had cooled so that, by the time I was ready to add it to the egg/sugar batter, it was almost solid. And I didn't think to rewarm it slightly before adding it to the batter. With those two strikes under my belt, I then neglected to incorporate the flour thoroughly into the egg/sugar/butter mixture. Strike three.
I had the correct sized sheet pan but seemed to be a bit short of batter. I suspect that my initial egg/sugar mixture hadn't QUITE tripled in volume. And then, I removed the swiss roll from the oven after 20 minutes.
The roll was freed from its baking sheet easily and cooled, wrapped in its icing sugar coated towel. I filled it with some leftover citrus curd ... not enough it turned out. Again, the results tasted all right but was very far from being what a real swiss roll should be.
As you can see from this sad little slice, there's barely any filling and the center of each flat layer is gummy looking rather than being thick, light and airy.
ETA: On a positive note, a LJ friend, spikesgirl58, offered to write me a story, or make me a drawing, for my birthday back in FEBRUARY. It took me a while to decide, but I finally chose a drawing based on a series of Addams Family/Man From UNCLE crossover stories that she has written. (She's a lady of many talents and a generous person.) The drawing arrived in the post today.
Thank you, my friend. I love it.
