Shrimp Balls in Miso Broth

I often think of my time in California, where I spent a great deal of my childhood in a Chinese restaurant in Redwood City. My mother was good friends with the owners, Paul and Ann Chin. I was five, six, and seven years old when I ran around the dining room and the kitchen. The chefs spoke mostly Cantonese but were very kind to me. They showed me how to make wontons and shrimp jioa zi. I also had all the pork fried rice I could eat. In the back room was a space for games, a place where locals came to play video games and ping pong tournaments (I am not kidding) and for Paul and Ann's parents to play sevens and mahjong with their friends. It's here that I learned that soybeans were delicious, and that shrimp can take on many forms. 

Here's a recipe for a dish I made the other night--shrimp balls in miso broth with seaweed, garlic and spinach.

for shrimp balls:

1 lb large shrimp
1 egg yolk
1 tbs cornstarch
2 tsp minced ginger
1/2 tsp salt
pepper to taste

for broth:
miso paste
water
fresh baby spinach
garlic cloves
dried seaweed (nori)

Pulse the shrimp meat in a food processor fitted with the chopping blade about 10-15 times. Then add the egg, cornstarch, ginger, salt, and pepper and pulse again until incorporated. Chill for 30 minutes.  Form "meatballs" out of the shrimp mixture and set aside. 

In a pot, take 1 quart of water, heat it to just before boiling, and add 3 tbs miso paste (white is good, but you can use any kind). Add garlic (about 4 cloves smashed) and add the nori (as mush as you'd like) and let soften. Throw in a handful of spinach (I like the flavor it adds, plus the extra vitamins). Let simmer for 10 minutes. Add the shrimp balls and simmer for 10-15 more minutes. Finish with scallions. 

Assassin's Creed Cake

I've been out of commission for a minute, as I started school and have let my blogging go by the wayside. I didn't stop taking pictures or cooking, however.

A few weeks ago, I made my nephew his birthday cake. He loves Assassin's Creed, an historical video game series that features lots of daring do, sword fights and maps of Rome and Constantinople. So I made him a theme cake, using the symbol from the game. For simplicity's sake, I'll just explain the decorating techniques here. I used two nine inch rounds of white sponge cake (made with vanilla extract and greek yogurt to cut sweetness) and a filling of strawberry jam cooked with honey, cardamom, and a vanilla bean with lemon juice at the finish. I made a standard white eggless buttercream (butter, icing sugar, vanilla and whole milk). I used an icing spatula and a dough cutter, dipped in very hot water, to finish the surface of the cake.

I used red and black fondant (commercial) for the decorations. To make the Assassin's symbol, I used a printed stencil and cut the fondant with a paring knife:

My niece helped make the molded fondant rosettes. Note: always oil that mold and don't let the fondant get too warm, or it will stick. 

I then added the birthday number to the top of the cake, and we were ready to go!

As you can see from the cross section, the cake rose well and the filling is nice and even. 

How I Do My Eggplant

A lot of my friends (including my beloved) tell me they don't like eggplant because of bitterness or poor texture. I think you need to try great eggplant once before you make a judgment about it, because it's a great fruit (technically, but we think of it as a veggie which makes more sense--you wouldn't put it in a fruit salad now would you?)

Eggplant came to us from India, but it wasn't used in the west (per written records) until the 16th century.  Through history, the eggplant has been falsely confused with both potatoes and tomatoes in its taxonomy. It is like neither in taste or preparation, however.

Today I used Japanese Eggplant, but you can use any variety you find in the store. The bitterness comes from the dark seeds. If you slice the eggplant and see dark seeds, remove them immediately and rinse and pat dry your eggplant. I like to slice them into semi-circles if the eggplant is small, or quarters if it is large. Make the slices .5 to 1 inch thick. If a few pieces turn out too thick or too thin, don't stress too much. Spread them out evenly over a sturdy paper towel or clean cloth and salt them well with a ground sea salt or table salt if that's all you've got (I used both).

Now put a sheet of paper towel or clean cloth on top of them. Find a pan that fits and put that on top of the whole lot. Put some cans in the pan to provide weight. The salt will leech water out of the tissues by osmosis, and the pressure from the cans will cause the eggplant to shed the excess water than can make it "mushy."  I used four small cans, as I didn't want to compromise the texture of the eggplant. 

Let that sit about 20 minutes. While it's sitting, you can prepare your dish. Today, I did a quick stir fry with eggplant, ginger, oyster mushrooms and baby bok choy. I heated 2 tbs of vegetable oil until very hot but not quite smoking. Toss in the eggplant and move the pan around very quickly. Cooke for a minute, then dump into a bowl (I used a steel mixing bowl) and let sit while you do the rest. Add another tbs of oil to the pan and cook the ginger and garlic for a second. Then add the mushrooms and toss vigorously. At this point, you can add your own sauce recipe or a commercial sauce. My sauce consists of:

1 tbs rice wine vinegar

1 tbs brown sugar

1 tbs. soy sauce

1 tbs. fish sauce

If you toss this in the mixture, the oil from the pan and veggies should be enough to give the sauce a richness without adding extra fat. 

I finished my stir fry with toasted sesame seed. Very nice aroma and flavor!

Fresh Veggies!!

I got very lucky today when some folks from a local farm knocked on my door offering to sell produce.  Sometimes local independent farmers will come into the city and go door to door, but I usually go to the farmer's market for my seasonal goodies. Anyway, they gave me a decent deal--I got 30lbs of fruit and veggies for $25, all organic, no pesticides, and the best tasting I've had in a long time.

My first thought was that I had to use those glorious tomatoes. So I whipped up a quick fresh corn and tomato salad. It is to die for. Here's the result:

Here's all you have to do:

Shuck two ears of fresh corn, and cut the kernels off the cob with a sharp knife.

Dice two large fresh tomatoes and remove as many seeds as you can (if possible)

Dice half a shallot very, very finely

combine 1 tbs oil (I used canola, you can use olive oil or another kind if you want)
with 1 tbs rice wine vinegar and a squeeze of lemon

Toss the veggies with the oil-vinegar mixture. Now season with fresh black pepper, garlic powder, smoked paprika (if you have it) and sea salt.

Skyrim Recipe Part 2: Sweet Rolls!

So after posting about my blog on Reddit, I got some feedback about sweet rolls. 

When I started formulating recipes from Skyrim, I had intended to just use ingredients listed for the pots and spits. However, I got some feedback about wanting sweet rolls. It just so happens I make sweet rolls and I have a great, basic recipe--one that could totally be made in a fantasy realm where modern-day conveniences are scarce. Here goes--trust me, they are delicious. 

1 tbs yeast1/4 warm water (around 105 degrees F)

2 sticks butter

1/3 cup sugar1 cup room temperature milk (2% or full fat)

1 egg

4.5 cups sifted all purpose flour

1.5 tsp salt

filling:brown sugar chopped nuts, raisins (if you want) cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger

Put the yeast in a bowl. Add the water. Stir and soak for 10 minutes. It should foam (proves the yeast is alive and all that).

Heat the milk, butter and sugar in a pan until steaming but not boiling. Stir a lot so that it all blends together. Cool. 
Beat the egg. Add it to the yeast, then stir in the cooled milk mixture. Knead in the flour and salt. Put it in an oiled bowl and let rise 90 minutes. 
Roll the dough and form a rectangle. Brush with butter (seriously, this makes it good). Sprinkle it with the brown sugar and spice and nut mixture. 

Now roll it up into a tube! It should look like a long cylinder with a spiral of deliciousness in the middle. Cut it with kitchen scissors or a greased knife into 1.5 inch thick rounds. Place slices in an 8 or 9 inch round greased cake pan. Place one slice in the middle and other slices around it. Press rolls down to even out and fill pan. Let rise until rolls fill the pan.

Bake at 350 for 20 minutes. 


About glazing: powdered sugar was produced in Sicily as early as the 800s. So I can't say that it's "modern." If you want to use it, I make this glaze:
1 c. powdered sugar
1 tbsp. milk


I like to use vanilla, but that wasn't available until the conquest of mesoamerica. If you want to go all old-school, you can just use a mixed of honey, cinnamon and hot mead or hot wine, all mixed into a syrup and poured over the rolls. 

First post for the Skyrim Cookbook

So I want to write a Skyrim cookbook, and here is my first post.
Apple and cabbage stew!!

4 tablespoons unsalted butter (olive oil for vegan)
1 head thinly sliced green cabbage
1 large vidalia onion, roughly diced
Fresh thyme (about 6 to 8 springs, depending on your taste)
1 bay leaf
2 quart chicken stock (veggie stock if you are vegan)
4 small-medium Granny Smith apples, peeled and diced.

Heat butter or oil and sauté the cabbage and onion until soft and onions start to turn a yellow-brown. Add thyme and stir, wait about 5 minutes. Stir vigorously. Add the rest of the butter or oil and then add the diced apple. Saute for another 5 minutes on high heat or until apple pieces appear a little brown. Now add the stock and bay leaf and bring to a simmer. Reduce heat and cook for 10 more minutes. Add salt and pepper to taste.

Corn Chowder--Vegan Style

2 large russet potatoes

2 cups corn kernals 12 cup diced sweet onion 1 clove garlic, minced 1/2 tbs red pepper flakes 1 tsp spanish paprika 2 cups vegetable stock 12 ounces silken tofu salt and pepper to taste.  Peel and dice the potatoes. Cook them quickly in boiling water (just until you can pierce the pieces with a fork, but not all the way done). Drain, and add the corn, onion, garlic red pepper flakes and stock. Cook for ten minutes on medium heat.  Now cut the mixture in half. Puree one half with the tofu. Then add it to the rest and simmer for 5 minutes. You now have vegan corn chowder!

Ribs!

I'm still learning to grill, but I am very proud of my ribs. They're awesome. And I'm going to share the recipe. My beloved's been working out a lot and eating really well, and on Saturday he said, "can we have ribs? Please? Pleaaase?" So we took a break from the quinoa and grilled chicken and got some pork spare ribs.

Here's what you need:

2 racks St-Louis cut pork spareribs (2 to 3 pounds each)

For the rub:

1/2 cups brown sugar

1 tbs chili powder

1/2 tsp cumin

1 tbs. garlic powder

1 tbs onion powder

1/2 tbs smoked paprika

1 tbs kosher salt

1 tbs of your favorite mustard

1/4 cup canola oil

mix the sugar, oil, and mustard together and rub it on the ribs. then rub them with the dry ingredients. They will look like this: 

Let it sit for an hour while you make the sauce. Now, you can make your own sauce, or you can buy it. I made it, but I'm particular:

2 cups ketchup

1/4 cup water

1/2 cup cider vinegar

1/2 cup apple cider

1/4 cup honey

1 tbs Worcestershire sauce

1 tbs soy sauce

1/2 cup dark brown sugar

8 tbs melted butter

1 tablespoon sweet paprika

1 tablespoon chili powder

2 cloves garlic, minced

Whisk it all together and simmer over medium heat (about 20 minutes). Please adjust the sauce to your taste--if you want it sweeter, add more brown sugar or honey. If you want it spicy, add chili powder. Honestly, you cannot screw it up. 

After you heat the grill (you can use a smoker or smoke pouch, if you want. I used a smoke pouch with applewood chips) place the ribs meat side up on the grill and maintain a 250 degree (approximately) temp. Mop the ribs every 30 minutes with some apple cider/vinegar mixed together. Grill for 3 hours. Remove them, then brush with sauce and wrap them in foil and grill for another 2 hours, brushing with sauce every 30 minutes.

Uncover the ribs, toss the foil, and grill for another 30 minutes or so, or until you can slide a dull knife into the meat very easily. Remove them, sauce them again, and let them sit until your friends can't stand it anymore!

Sesame Bread

Saturday morning, my beloved wanders into the living room while I'm reading something mindless on Reddit and sipping a molten hot cup of coffee.
 "Can you bake something today?" he asks, rubbing his eyes and stretching.
"What do you want?"
"You haven't made bread in a while."
"You're right! I haven't, that could be fun! What kind?"
"I don't know. Something with sesame."
 And, lucky for both of us, I happened to have half a bag of Indian Black Sesame seeds that I bought from Penzey's a few months back in order to make bagels. So I made some bread!

 
 Here's the recipe. It's really simple, and I love it.
 4 cups Bread flour
 2 teaspoons instant yeast
 1/2 cup sourdough starter
2 teaspoons salt
1 tbs sugar
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 and 1/4 cups warm water (100 degrees)
 3-4 tbs sesame seeds

 Just add the yeast, oil, salt and sugar to the water, stir and let sit until it foams. Stir in the 1/2 cup of starter and then start working in the flour. You can knead by hand, but I used my dough hook on my kitchen aid mixer. I added some of the sesame seeds while kneading to make sure some got inside. Knead until you've made a smooth, elastic dough. Place the dough in a lightly greased bowl, turn to coat, cover, and allow it to rise for 1 1/2 to 2 hours. Gently deflate the dough, and then form either one big loaf (as I did) or divide into two equal pieces and roll into logs. over the braid and allow it to rise for 1 to 1 1/2 hours, until it's almost doubled in size. Beat an egg white and brush the top of the bread, then sprinkle on the rest of the sesame seeds. Bake at 400 degrees for 25 minutes.

It's so easy to grill! My beloved told me he wants to lose weight. I can help him with that, because not all tasty food has to be high fat, high calorie food. So I made a grilled sweet potato, grilled zucchini, yellow onion, portobello mushroom and summer squash, and grilled chicken (marinated in lime juice, 1 tbs vegetable oil, cumin, salt, black pepper, garlic powder). Anyway, I microwaved the taters for 8 minutes while I heated the grill. Then I grilled the chicken for 8 minutes on each side on medium. Take the chicken off the grill and put it in foil in the oven on warm. Grill the veggies for 10 minutes. While the veg is cooking, put the taters on the top part of the grill (to get the crackle and the smoke flavor). Take the veg off, take the chicken out of the oven. Serve the chicken with the juice it releases into the foil. Serve the squash, mushrooms and onions on the side. Put the potato next to it, serve with butter if desired.

Perfect Black Bean Dip

When I was in graduate school, I taught a cooking skills group for schizophrenic adults. It was interesting, especially since they got to use knives. One day we had a party and I brought a black bean dip. I was very proud of this dip, a recipe I had devised from basic ingredients I found in the Mexican store a block from my apartment. One of the patients, Albert, was a small, turtle-like man who rarely spoke and could never remember what year we were in. He was convinced it was 1982 and he was still a sports journalist, not a broken man with frequent fungal infections on disability. He had the dip and was very happy, and three months later, when I left the job to move on to my next internship, he shook my hand and said, "I remember you. You're the one who made the bean dip." So there you go. This dip will stick in your brain when even the current year won't.

Start with one yellow onion, three roma tomatoes, one tomatillo, one anaheim chile, one serrano chile, and two jalapeños. Clean the seeds from the chiles well and soak in cold water for about 20 minutes. Pat dry and dice. Roughly dice the onion and chop the tomatoes and combine with the chiles. Heat 2 tbs of vegetable oil in a pan until shimmering and add the veggies:



Cook until very soft and almost melting on medium heat, about 20 minutes. Here's where you add the beans. I've found that canned beans are just fine, but make sure you rinse them first to get rid of excess sodium. Add two 16 oz cans of beans to the pan.



Add a splash of vegetable broth and a diced garlic clove and simmer for another 5 minutes. Now add some spices. I like to use 1/2 tsp of ancho chile powder, a pinch of cinnamon, 1/4 tsp of good cumin, 1/2 tsp black pepper and salt to taste. Start mashing the beans with a large fork or a masher.



For those of you with a food processor, you can puree the mix now to make it smooth. If you want it a little chunky, you can just keep mashing in the pan, but I like to puree it.



Up to now, it's all vegan. You can adjust the recipe from here. Return the mix to the pan but take it off the heat. Squeeze in the justice of one lime, stirring well. You can now add 1/4 cup of sour cream for texture and extra flavor. When you serve it, you can melt an ounce of cheddar or queso fresco across the top. However, this dip tastes great as a totally vegan option for your friends.

Grill Pan!

So this past weekend, we went to Bed Bath and Beyond to get new sheets and serving stuff for our upcoming party. There, I found the Grill Pan. It was four dollars.



This is the best investment I've made in cooking since my Kitchen Aid. I sliced portobello mushrooms, sliced Vidalia onions, and fresh spring asparagus, and added 1tbs of olive oil and 1 tsp of sea salt, a pinch of celery salt, and a hefty dose of black pepper, garlic powder and red pepper flakes. Toss and let sit 10 minutes.



Grill on medium high for 9 minutes, tossing ever 3 minutes or so...



Now for the steak...



Take two 1.5 inch ribeyes and sprinkle them with sea salt, freshly ground black pepper, garlic powder, dried lemon peel, and dried sage. Rub them like they're your true love and let them sit for 5 minutes. Sprinkle them with a few shakes of soy sauce and a few shakes of Lea&Perrins. Let sit at room temp for 30 minutes.



Get the grill hot and add the steaks. Cook for 5 minutes on high (propane, 450 degrees F). Flip and cook for 4 minutes on the opposite side. Using a meat thermometer, check the temp. If it's 145, remove it immediately and wrap it in aluminum foil. This will make it medium-rare. Let it rest for 10 minutes and then enjoy!!

Chicken Cacciatore

okay, so, tonight my beloved asked for something with tomatoes, shrimp, chicken, wine and vegetables. I thought for a moment, and then I came up with Cacciatore. True, Cacciatore doesn't include shrimp, but I thought I could do a basic chicken Cacciatore with shrimp added at the end! In Italian, Cacciatore means “hunter." In cuisine, alla cacciatora refers to a meal prepared “hunter-style," which basically means rustic and hearty. This is not a fancy dish! My recipe:




1 lb chicken breasts, cut into 2 inch pieces and dusted with flour
(Note: I think this works better with chicken thighs, but since the bf doesn't like them, I used breasts)
1 strip bacon, diced
1 tbs diced fresh garlic
1 tbs olive oil
1 cup carrots chopped
1/2 cup yellow bell pepper chopped
2 cups tomatoes, diced
1 cup chicken broth
1 cup medium-bodied red wine

For this dish we picked a red wine from Lisbon that's a blend. It's awesome! Behold Lab Red!



Add bacon to a hot pan and cook until it starts to sizzle. Add the olive oil and swirl until it gets hot, just before the smoke point. Add chicken quickly on high heat in batches and remove until all are browned. Add garlic. Add onion. Cook for 5 minutes on medium. Add wine. Cook for 5 minutes on high. Add broth. Cook for 10 minutes on low and slowly add the tomatoes, pepper and carrots. Stir and cook on low for 20 minutes or until chicken is done.

While pasta is cooking:

Add shrimp and cook for two minutes while sauce is still bubbling!

This shrimp was fresh and had to be cleaned and deveined, but you can get pre-cleaned ones at the store (it's just costlier).



Don't cook the shrimp too long! Remember, this is a hunter's stew, modified to meet certain tastes! Don't cooke the shrimp for more than 5 minutes....

Red FIsh!

I made Redfish for dinner recently. This particular fish is Sebastes Fasciatus or Acadian redfish. I got a fabulous 12 oz side of redfish for a ridiculous deal at Central Market.



I lined a roasting pan with aluminum foil, then spread a tbs of extra virgin olive oil on the foil. I then placed two shallots, diced, in the pan, and laid the fish on top. I patted it dry and seasoned it with salt, pepper, garlic powder and lemon zest. I roasted it at 400 degrees F for 25 minutes.

Guacamole in Mortar and Pestle

Tonight, I wanted to make a simple meal. I decides on Sandwiches and Salad, but I wanted to make the sandwiches special. I decided to make guacamole from scratch as a spread for the turkey, tomato and red onion sandwich on 12-grain bread.
My boyfriend bought me a mortar and pestle at an estate sale last week. I had a mortar and pestle that my sister bought me in college, but I lost it in a house fire, after the fire department told me that it was contaminated by the chemicals in the smoke from the fire. I still wonder if that was a lie (it's granite, for heaven's sake!) but I now have a solid marble mortar and pestle, thanks to my beloved. I ground the garlic clove to a paste. It took a lot of work. The garlic will look chunky for a while, but keep at it! It will break down with about a minute of grinding.



I then worked in two avocados. I was careful to squeeze the juice of half a lemon over the avocados in the pestle:


I then added 1/2 tsp salt, 1/2 teaspoon ground cumin, and 1/2 tsp cayenne pepper. Because I have a small pestle, I worked it in batches until all four halves of the avocado were mashed:



I then added 1/4 cup diced red onion and another spritz of lemon juice to taste. If you need to add more salt, do it! Guacamole is all about your personal taste.



You can do what you want with this guacamole! I spread it on toasted 12-grain bread and added smoked turkey and sliced tomato and celery salt and served it with a salad. It was delicious!

A Late Idea for Valentine's Day

I came home on February 14th and found my boyfriend preparing dinner. He was sautéing mushrooms in butter, beef broth and red wine, as I have shown him a few times. They smelled amazing. I then saw that he had procured this from the market:



We seasoned it with sea salt, pepper, garlic powder, celery salt and smoked paprika. We grilled it at medium-high heat on a propane grill for 8 minutes on one side and 7 minutes on the other. The reason for the long cook time was the volume and the thickness of the steak--it was just about 2 inches thick! We allowed it to rest for 10 minutes wrapped in aluminum foil. When we cut into it, it was still hot and juicy and nicely pink in the center. We put the mushrooms on top and served it with a salad (spinach, arugula, romaine, tomatoes, avocado, sunflower seeds and a balsamic vinaigrette dressing).

All in all, it was an awesome Valentine's Day!

Venison!

We got some venison steaks and sausage from a friend who likes to hunt. When I unwrapped the steaks, they were small and falling apart, so I had to improvise. I decided to stew them in red wine and broth and add veggies to make it all delicious.
The trick with venison is that it has a finer texture and is leaner than comparable cuts of beef, but it still has a gamey flavor. Stewing it takes that flavor out, but I still advise brining to remove the gamey taste. I cut the steaks into 1-inch cubes, then I soaked in this solution for 30 minutes:

1/2 cup beef stock
1/2 cup red wine
1 tbs Worcestershire sauce
1 tbs soy sauce
1 tbs olive oil
2 tsp Tony Chachere's
1/4 tsp smoked paprika

I then drained them, patted them dry, and sprinkled a little flour over the chunks. I got 2 tbs of vegetable oil hot in a deep pot and then seared them on all sides:



I then added 2 cups of dry red wine and 1 cup of chopped onion and a bay leaf. I let it simmer for 5 minutes and then added 2 cups beef broth. I let it cook for 30 minutes, then I added:

1 bunch celery (chopped)
2 sweet potatoes (diced)

Now we come to the sausage. We got a beautiful chunk of sausage, and it had a good salt content. I sliced it on the diagonal and added it with the rest of the vegetables:



Slice the sausage diagonally and drop into the stew. Follow with:
1 lb baby or sliced carrots
2 lbs (or six medium) red potatoes, cut into cubes or small wedges
1/5 cups green peas
2 cloves garlic, crushed
1 tbs corn starch, mixed with 2 tbs water

Add the corn starch and water slurry while whisking. Then, dump in all the veg and sausage and bring to a boil. Reduce heat and cook on low for an hour.

The Red Velvet Cake

What is Red Velvet Cake?

What does it taste like?

It's a popular American cake, made with oil or butter (depending on the recipe) and layered with vanilla icing (usually cream cheese icing). It tastes like cake, to be honest. It doesn't have enough cocoa to taste like chocolate or enough of other flavors to taste like anything else. I countered this by adding cinnamon, cardamom, salt and lots of extra vanilla. It calls for vinegar, buttermilk and cocoa. The acid in the vinegar and buttermilk bring out the red pigment in the cocoa, but modern red velvet cakes calls for buttermilk, vinegar, cocoa AND red food coloring. In World War II, U.S. bakers used beets to enhance the color. While I think a tasty cake can be made with beets (see my beet chocolate cake later in this series), I just used the traditional ingredients.



Here's my recipe:

Prepare two 9-inch cake pans by buttering them and placing two parchment rounds in each pan.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

2 1/2 cups cake flour
1 cup white sugar
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon fine salt
1 tbs cocoa powder
1 1/2 cups vegetable oil
1 cup buttermilk, at room temperature
2 large eggs, at room temperature
1 tbs food coloring
1 teaspoon white distilled vinegar
2 teaspoons vanilla
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground cardamom

In a medium mixing bowl, sift together the flour, sugar, baking soda, salt, cinnamon and cocoa powder. In your main mixing bowl, whisk together the oil, buttermilk, eggs, food coloring, vinegar, and vanilla. In your mixer, add the wet ingredients to the dry, pulsing a little between additions, and always starting with the dry and ending with the dry. Mix until smooth, but don't overdo it or the cake will come out tough. Mix until it just starts to look right. There will be bubbles. but don't worry.

Divide the cake batter evenly between cake pans. Place the pans in the oven evenly spaced apart. Bake, rotating the pans halfway through the cooking, until the cake pulls away from the side of the pans, and a toothpick inserted in the center of the cakes comes out clean, about 30 minutes.

You can add as much icing as you like! I made 4 cups of cream cheese icing and made two layers.

Cream cheese icing:

3.5 lbs powdered sugar
16 oz cream cheese
3 sticks butter
1 tbs vanilla
1/2 tsp salt
2 tbs sour cream

cream butter until a little fluffy. Beat in chunks of cream cheese and salt until smooth. Slowly add 3/4 of the sugar (otherwise it will make a mess). Add vanilla and sour cream. add the rest of the sugar and beat at high speed until fluffy. This icing will sit at room temperature for several hours without oozing. It's awesome.

Smoked Pork Shoulder

I didn't eat pork for years due to my acquisition of a pet pig at the age of 11. You just don't want to eat ham when you play with it every day. However, when I was 25 I tried a stuffed pork loin at a Thanksgiving party, and I've never looked back. I'm particularly obsessed with smoking pork. Tonight, I'm working with a smoked pork shoulder.



I chose a 4 and 1/2 pound in-bone free-range pork shoulder. I purchased it in netting, and I opted to leave the net on for smoking. This leaves the pork shoulder with a nice shape when you're done. If you want to take the netting off, though, that works, too.



I used applewood chips to smoke the pork. I took the applewood chips and soaked them in a 1:1 mixture of Boddington's Ale and water for 30 minutes. I then drained the chips and wrapped them in a foil pouch and poked holes in it.



This is an easy way to smoke meat without a smoker. All I have is a cheap propane grill, so I place it like so:


I smoked the pork for about 6 hours, keeping it on low, indirect heat (a temp between 225 and 250 degrees F is ideal) I basted it with a cider vinegar and broth mix every 45 minutes:



I removed the roast when it hit 165F in the center. I let it rest for 30 minutes wrapped in foil before carving: