blue artichoke

Move over Irma, there's a new eggnog in town.

My last effort at eggnog turned out to be my best:

Eggnog #8 "Holiday Eggnog #2"
Recipe from Raising the Bar cookbook. The recipe calls for you to make a creme anglais first, then add additional milk, cream, spices and, oh sweet glory, dark rum, bourbon and brandy. I'm sure you could use just one if you didn't want to buy 3 bottles of booze. I, however, enjoy buying booze, so I took a shine to this recipe immediately. It would probably be good without alcohol too.
ease of preparation: +, can be made in stages for the ADD cook
flavor: +, eggnoggy without being too overpoweringly alcoholic
texture: +, smooth, creamy and easy going down

Holiday Eggnog

For the crème anglaise:
16 ounces milk
4 large egg yolks
3 tablespoons sugar
2 tablespoons flour
Pinch of salt
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
16 ounces milk
16 ounces heavy cream
¼ teaspoon cinnamon
¹/8 teaspoon ground cloves
6 ounces dark rum
3 ounces bourbon
3 ounces brandy
½ cup confectioners’ sugar, optional
Freshly grated nutmeg, for garnish
Grated orange zest, for garnish, optional

To prepare the crème anglaise, have ready a large bowl full of ice. You’ll also need a double boiler.

Place the milk in a saucepan over high heat. As soon as it begins to boil, stir briskly and remove from the heat. Meanwhile, in the bottom of the double boiler, add just enough water so that the top part of the double boiler or the bowl remains above the water. Bring to a boil, then reduce to a low simmer.

In the top of the double boiler, whisk together the egg yolks, sugar, flour and salt. Whisking constantly, slowly pour in the hot milk.

Cook the mixture over, not in, the simmering water, stirring constantly until the mixture is thickened and coats the back of a spoon.

Remove the double boiler top from the heat and set it in the bowl of ice for five minutes, stirring occasionally. Add the vanilla extract and stir.

To prepare the eggnog, mix the crème anglaise and all remaining ingredients except the nutmeg and confectioners’ sugar in a bowl. Taste, adding as much confectioners’ sugar as you wish for a sweeter nog.

Transfer the eggnog to the punch bowl and grate the nutmeg and orange zest over it, if desired. Chill for an hour or serve at room temperature.

Makes 16 4-ounce servings.

Notes from Blue Artichoke: If, like me, you don't have a double boiler, boil, then simmer water in a saucepan and put a metal mixing bowl over the saucepan. Make sure the boiling water doesn't touch the bottom of the mixing bowl. Ice bath is very important. Don't forget it.

Dinner last night: Kickass Chicken Casserole (my title). This chicken casserole had chicken, hard-boiled eggs, rice and potato chip topping. Super excellent.

Dinner tonight: special new year's eve dinner party at a friend's. I made a Hazelnut Chocolate Cheesecake for the occasion. I'm still getting the hang of cheesecakes. I usually like to whip the tarnation out of the cream cheese, but I read that that makes the cheesecake crack because it incorporates air bubbles that expand and pop during cooking. So, I beat the cream cheese on low speed for a short time. Well, there are cream cheese lumps in the cheesecake and the top cracked! I'll never read again. Writers only lie to me. I covered the top with a dark chocolate ganache and toasted hazelnuts. I can't do anything about the lumps, except accept the ensuing shame and humiliation. I deserve it.

Happy New Year's Eve!

Posted by Blue Artichoke at 05:49 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

All I've been talking about for the past few days has been eggnog. One might think that my days are consumed with feverish stirring, heating and and cooling of custards and taking nips from the bottle of bourbon that is never far from my reach. That's only partially correct, though I did dream about eggnog last night. I might have found a winning recipe (fingers crossed).

But first, a follow up on Eggnog #6 (Aunt Kat's):
I didn't even finish making it. Or taste it. After the custard curdled when I added the bourbon, I refrigerated it for a few days, as instructed. I checked in on it today and it looks like oatmeal and smells sour. Maybe the recipe was originally titled "Crazy Aunt Kat Who Can't Cook a Lick's "Creamy" (i.e. Oatmeal-Chunky) Eggnog", but was edited down because of space constraints. Definitely not a winner. Sorry Aunt Kat.

Eggnog #4 "Holiday Eggnog"
Recipe from the Fannie Farmer Cookbook. I made this several days ago; this also is a make-ahead drink. It is uncooked and alcoholic. Uses lots of bowls, as egg whites are beaten separately and folded into the yolk-and-sugar mixture, then folded into beaten heavy cream with milk, bourbon and rum. After several days in the fridge, it separated into a foamy top egg white layer. After some stirring, it smoothed out. This doesn't taste like eggnog. It tastes like homemade Baileys Irish Cream. I'm keeping this one for mudslides or Irish coffee.
ease of preparation: -, uses lots of bowls and requires lots of cleanup
flavor: + good, but not eggnoggy
texture: +/-, creamy and silky, but kind of thin for eggnog

Eggnog #7 "Cooked Eggnog"
Recipe from The Joy of Cooking. I knew I could count on ol' Irma to lead me through the joy of eggnog. This recipe is what I thought an eggnog recipe should be, especially after the curdling incidents. The custard is cooked slowly over very low heat, strained into a bowl or jar and refrigerated uncovered. When cooled, the alcohol is added (and thoughtful Irma gives a choice of brandy, Cognac, dark rum or bourbon; I chose bourbon since it was in my hand anyway). That ruminates a while in the fridge, then is topped with nutmeg just before serving. The only problem with this recipe was that I added a bit too much bourbon, so it was quite strong. A lighter touch would be perfect.
ease of preparation: +/- Used few bowls/tools, but required constant stirring over low heat, which took an eternity
flavor: +
texture: +, so smooth and creamy, thick enough to be eggnog but thin enough to drink.

I still have another recipe to try. Best get on that, if I'm to finish this snackdown by tomorrow.

P.S. I don't have spell check on my computer anymore. Live with it. I do.

Posted by Blue Artichoke at 12:32 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

I made another batch of eggnog last night and started one today that has to hang out in the fridge for a few days midway through the recipe. I'm still very disappointed with my eggnog recipes.

Eggnog #5* "Baltimore Eggnog"
Recipe from House & Garden's Drink Guide, November 1973. It is an uncooked, alcoholic nog. The egg yolks, whites and heavy cream are beaten separately, which uses a lot of bowls and requires frequent washing of the beaters. There is quite a bit of alcohol involved: brandy, light rum and peach brandy. After combining all of the separately beaten ingredients and the alcohols, the eggnog split into two layers (similar to how water and vinegar split into layers). The egg whites formed a foamy and light top layer that didn't mix into the more liquid nog part, leaving me with a glass full of foam after I drank the nog. The foam had to be scooped out with a spoon. And, because I'm a firm believer that eggnog shouldn't require cutlery, this recipe gets two thumbs down.
ease of preparation: - (too many bowls, too much to clean up)
flavor: - (tasted OK, but the peach brandy gave it a non-eggnogish flavor
texture: - (required cutlery, boo!)

Eggnog #6 "Aunt Kat's Creamy Eggnog"
Recipe from someone's Aunt Kat, in Southern Living, December 2001. This one is cooked and alcoholic. I haven't tasted it yet because it requires several days in the fridge before finishing the recipe. This one, like Eggnog #2, required me to add bourbon to the hot custard and, like the other recipe, curdled when I added the alcohol. Why do recipes instruct cooks to self-sabotage? I did a bit of research and found that the custard will curdle if it gets too hot/cooks too long. But that wasn't the reason this time, because I used a thermometer. The custard was at its ideal temperature (160F) when I added the alcohol. What gives? I'll have to do a bit more research. I'm beginning to think that there may not be a winner to the Snackdown Eggnog Battle.
ease of preparation: +
flavor: ? (haven't finished the recipe yet)
texture: -, curdled and chunky

*You'll notice that I skipped Eggnog #4. It is another one that has to hang out in the fridge for several days. Report forthcoming.

Dinner last night: Chicken Divan and baby carrots
Dinner tonight: Sephardic Beef Stew

Posted by Blue Artichoke at 02:55 PM | Permalink | Comments (3)

I have returned home after a nice relaxing week at Mama Artichoke's and a whirlwind Christmas tour of Tennessee. Last night I made another batch of eggnog:

Eggnog #3 "Simple Eggnog"
I got the recipe from the local newspaper, which got the recipe from 500 Treasured Country Recipes. This eggnog was cooked and nonalcoholic. The recipe was very easy to follow; I just had to combine all ingredients in a pot and stir over low heat until thickened. That took several minutes of stirring, but I could take breaks as long as I didn't wander too far away. The result was a thick and chunky eggnog that tasted delicious. I follow the recipes exactly and have yet to make a smooth and creamy eggnog. What's up with that?
ease of preparation: +
flavor: +
texture: -

I'm trying out two more recipes today. One has to sit for several days before serving. I might actually make the Jan. 1 deadline for this snackdown battle!

Posted by Blue Artichoke at 01:07 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

The Snackdown continues, even on the road. I'm in east TN and after busy days of spotting mullets in Pigeon Forge, shopping in Knoxville and going through Christmas decorations, I made some eggnog for Grilled Blue Cheese's Christmas party (which I'm considering my surrogate Christmas party because I didn't get to host one of my own). This recipe left out one very important detail: the custard needs to cool before adding the bourbon. I didn't wait, and the nog separated. Not-nog. So, I put it out on the porch to cool and it froze. That was yesterday. Today I tried to save it by adding some more milk and blending the dickens out of it (too much dickens spoils the nog). That smoothed it out a bit, but it still had a grainy texture. I added more bourbon, figuring that if it was strong enough, people wouldn't mind chewing the nog. We'll see how it goes over at the party...

Eggnog #2 "Eggnog"
Recipe from Cooking Light. Encountered some problems. See above.
Ease of preparation: - (but with the new knowledge that alcohol makes hot custard separate, this would be much easier to prepare)
Flavor: +
Texture: - , grainy, but again, that is easily remedied by waiting to add the bourbon

I'm now over at Blue Grilled Cheese's compound. We're sitting on couches across from each other, emailing each other. I heart technology. It keeps me from having to talk out loud.

Posted by Blue Artichoke at 08:51 PM | Permalink | Comments (3)

As per Red Momo's suggestion, the newest snackdown battle is eggnog. I'm going to start scheduling a deadline when I begin each battle. Deadlines are suggestions, of course, and there are no money-back guarantees if I don't deliver (sort of like the post office). Deadline for Eggnog Snackdown: New Year's Day.

I'm not a huge eggnog drinker, but I have nine recipes (some with alcohol, some without), so let the battle begin! Actually, it began last night. I made:

Nonalcoholic Eggnog #1 "Eggnog"
This was really easy to make and I had all the ingredients on hand. It used milk, so the eggnog was rather thin. Methinks eggnog should be thick and creamy, so I'm guessing this won't be the best recipe. It also contained a raw egg, which might bother some people. The flavor was really good, slightly sweet with a hint of nutmeg.
Ease of preparation: +
Flavor: +
Texture: -

Dinner last night: crock pot chicken and rice; mashed turnips

Posted by Blue Artichoke at 12:23 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

For me, it isn't Christmas without homemade Chex mix. So, in a valiant effort to procrastinate studying for my finals, I made Chex mix, the extended version with garlic melba toast. Man, that stuff makes the house smell great! I listened to Pink Floyd while I made it. I listened to Pink Floyd to and from the outlet mall yesterday too. Nothing says Christmas like "The Dogs of War."

Dinner tonight: spaghetti and meatballs

Posted by Blue Artichoke at 06:01 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

You all have heard about how cranky I get after I go to the mall. Well, today I went to the outlet shops. Argh. But that's my style. One day of agony and all my Christmas shopping is done. Actually I pick up things throughout the year, put them in a box and check the box around Thanksgiving to see who I still need gifts for. Then I spend one day shopping, in stores and online, and I'm done. Today was that day. I'm a little scatterbrained and I have a headache. I ate an all-fried lunch today, but felt guilty halfway through, so decided to give the leftovers to the homeless people who hang out at intersections. There were no homeless people along my route today. I also went to the mall. And to Petco, where I got gifts for all the pets on my list. My cat got into the Petco bag while I wasn't looking, so some gifts are pre-played with. Others need to be replaced. Darn cat.

Dinner last night: pan-seared pork chops with dried fruit; brown rice casserole, peas
Dinner tonight: no dinner tonight, too tired to cook or eat. well, maybe cereal.

Posted by Blue Artichoke at 07:02 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

OK, so I went to all the trouble yesterday of posting about all the muffin recipes I've tried and I forgot to include the muffins I made for yesterday's breakfast. Oh, sometimes I'm a silly bunt. Yesterday we had Banana Walnut Muffins, recipe from Cook's Illustrated. These are (were) most excellent. The top was a bit crunchy and sugary and the bottoms were moist and springy. Flavor tasted like bananas and walnuts and goodness. Gentleman Caller was particularly enamored with the muffin tops, but I say the nubs were quite worthy too.

Today was filled with small amusements, such as the toothless old guy at the post office who was rapping Christmas carols or the lonely lady who wanted to brew me a cup of coffee at 3:30. A man at the grocery store fell all over himself apologizing for getting in my way and I actually use the phrase pshaw, as in "Pshaw, don't worry, I can get around you."

Dinner last night: 10-bean soup and cheese popunders (supposed to be popovers, but they didn't rise much).
Dinner tonight: steak, mashed sweet potatoes, spinach nuggets

Posted by Blue Artichoke at 06:43 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

This Ultimate Snackdown is a bit different from the pumpkin cheesecake and chocolate chip cookie battles because the goal isn't to find the one perfect muffin recipe. I have 41 muffin recipes right now and they are all so different from each other that there isn't really a basis for comparison, other than "good" and "bad." So, this battle is designed to weed out the bad muffins. Luckily, the Blue Artichoke household adheres to a few routines, one of which is to have muffins on Sunday morning. Usually I make the muffins on Saturday and sometimes Gentleman Caller's friends come over for breakfast before heading off to Sunday disc golf league. So, I have already tackled several muffin recipes. Here's the tally so far:

Keepers:
Applesauce Spice Muffins, recipe from Gourmet, tastes like fall
Apricot Almond Muffins, recipe from Cook's Illustrated, really soft and light texture
Banana Chocolate Chip Muffins, source unknown, also makes a good loaf bread
Banana Coconut Muffins, recipe from Gourmet
Blueberry Buttermilk Muffins, recipe unknown, perfectly fluffy and soft, not too sweet
Buttermilk Blueberry or Cranberry Muffins, recipe unknown, made both variations and liked the cranberry version better
Honey Banana Muffins, recipe from Taste of Home, tastes great and low fat!
Lemon Raspberry Jumbo Muffins, source unknown, really easy and tasty in a good way
Orange Poppy Seed Muffins, source unknown, balanced sweetness and moist texture

These recipes are in danger of being tossed out, but might be redeemable with a few alterations:
Blueberry & Wild Rice Muffins, source unknown, not sweet enough
Cranberry-Walnut-Orange Muffins, recipe from Cook's Illustrated, not enough orange flavor

These recipes have been tossed out, and spat upon:
Honey Bran Muffins With Figs, recipe from Bon Appetit, I made it to use up some extra dried figs. The muffins were actually pretty good, tasted a lot like Fig Newton bars, but it took all my bowls and required lots of cleanup. In the end, they just aren't worth the trouble
Cranberry-Orange Muffins, recipe from Cooking Light, oddly rough texture
Double Chocolate Chip Muffins, source unknown, not particularly sweet with a crispy texture. I've had better.

So, you can see I've made quite a dent already, but there are still many more muffins to put through the paces.

Posted by Blue Artichoke at 11:07 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Another way to make people feel uncomfortable:
Stand close to the closed door of an occupied stall, with your toes just peeking under the door.
Wouldn't you just freak out if someone did this to you? I would.

Dinner tonight: chili shrimp on sweet potato cakes with vanilla butter sauce; salad

Posted by Blue Artichoke at 05:18 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

OK, folks, we started with 21 cookie recipes and have whittled the competition down to the Sweet Seven: batches #1, 4, 7, 8B, 10, 17 & 20. Batch #9, though a favorite, was disqualified for testing positive for a special ingredient (molasses), so will compete in Ultimate Snackdown Chocolate Chip Cookie Category 3 (Special Ingredients). Recipe #14 will also compete in Category 3, as it has a basic cookie recipe (which failed to qualify in Category 1) with several variations that will be put to the test in Category 3.

I'm planning to make all Sweet Seven recipes at once, for an equal and fair comparison. When that will be is still to be determined. When do I have a big block of time with nothing better to do?

We here at the Ultimate Snackdown show no mercy to losers. All recipes that failed to qualify have been deleted from the JumpDrive, purged from the recycle bin and all paper copies have been shredded. Failure is final.

Dinner tonight: chocolate chip pancakes, cheesy eggs and fake sausage. Breakfast is the new dinner.

Posted by Blue Artichoke at 06:52 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

At last! The qualifying round for the Ultimate Chocolate Chip Cookie (Plain) is over! I made the last two recipes yesterday.

Batch #20 "Dark Chocolate Chip Cookies"
Recipe from Southern Living. These are excellent cookies. I baked one sheet for the minimum time and the other at the maximum time. I prefer the shorter-cooking ones. Gentleman Caller prefers the longer-cooking ones. We both agree that these cookies deserve to go to the next round. The cookies were puffy and didn't spread out very much. Both batches had a bit of a crunch and a chewy inside. Good stuff, these cookies.

Batch #21 "Lauren's Chocolate Chip Cookies"
I don't know who Lauren is, but she makes an awful cookie. I have no idea how her recipe got published in Cooking Light. This recipe had all sorts of deviations from a traditional recipe. For example, no butter. What? Lauren uses canola oil, corn syrup and egg whites. She also uses half regular all-purpose flour and half whole wheat pastry flour. And, the real travesty, she uses grain-sweetened chocolate chips (Sunspire brand). Have you ever had these? They're gross. And they make the cookies gross. Seriously, I spit out the first one, still warm from the oven. Surprisingly, the cookies are a bit better the next day, but not so good that I would want to serve them to anyone. Including myself.

So, that wraps up the qualifying round. I'll have to tally the scores and I'll post the finalists tomorrow.

Dinner tonight: beef and wild rice soup with winter vegetables.

Posted by Blue Artichoke at 04:15 PM | Permalink | Comments (3)

Well, I have returned from sunny 70 degree Florida to snowy 20 degree Missouri. Boo!
Disney World was much fun. I had never been before and had no idea what to expect. I'm not one for roller coasters so I avoided most, but not before getting queasy on Space Mountain and some other space-simulated ride. My favorite was visiting the different countries in Epcot, so much that I demanded a second day there so as to not miss anything. I like it mostly for the food. I had nachos and Dos Equis in Mexico, a waffler and some sort of coconut and cream pastry in Norway, a chocolate crepe in France, a beer in China and was too full for sausages in German or gelato in Italy.

Most memorable comment from the trip: "Listen to my gas," from Gentleman Caller's 3-year-old nephew, as he cocked his leg and farted on me. Children are such treasures.

Posted by Blue Artichoke at 05:14 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

I hope everyone who reads this gets that song stuck in their head. It's been in mine for several days.

But it really is a small world, and here's why. Walking to a restaurant in Downtown Disney, I ran into a guy. I recognized him and knew that I knew him from somewhere. We were running late for our dinner reservations, so I didn't stop him. When we got to the restaurant, I realized how I knew him: I met him at the hostel in Berlin when Magenta Green Goddess and I went to Poland in April. We met in the bar, copied each other's answers on the silly quiz game in the bar, ended up together on the longest walking tour of Berlin, had dinner and some beers and then ran into each other at the train station as MGG and I were leaving for Poland. And then I see him in Downtown Disney. See, it is a small world.

Dinner last night: shrimp and Asian vegetable stir-fry
Dinner tonight: grilled turkey & cheddar sausages, cole slaw, pierogies

Posted by Blue Artichoke at 11:29 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

I had breakfast this morning with Winnie-the-Pooh, Tigger, Piglet and Eeyore, then spent the rest of the day in the Magic Kingdom. I'm at Disney World.

Dinner tonight: a garlic-parmesan pretzel at the movie theater.

Posted by Blue Artichoke at 10:23 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)