Considering a return to school.

Culinary school is stupid expensive. It's really interesting I had a lot of fun and did enjoy it but I left. I left school almost 2 years ago. I left for financial reasons as well. They wanted way too much money for me to get a job in a profession that wouldn't pay for the education. It's bad when you hear about that, it's worse when your instructors tell you that on a daily basis. It's not okay to think about how much in debt you will be for a job that will destroy your body faster than other jobs. However I'm thinking about returning. Only this time I want to go for baking. Baking makes me really happy. I find it to be like math. I suck at math I'm really bad at it, I was in special classes and have a learning disability in math but when you get it right that one hard problem that you stare at for 5 minutes, well there are few things sweeter. I'm better at baking then math. I'd like to get better. One day I would like to own my own bakery.
My SO is applying for a job in Chicago. If they would pay him enough we would take the cat and move there. I'm not dumb enough to try to open a bakery in Chicago the competition is far too intense. Plus I'm of the idea the more simple the better and the artisans of Chicago are of the idea the more the better. Regardless I've never been there so I would need to go and see for myself. However first things first I need to apply for culinary school. I need to get some type of formal training before I do anything so adventurous as try to open my own bakery.  I think I would enjoy school. I'm actually fairly positive I would. However I have already been to college three times, I have zero degrees and just a serv safe certificate to show for it.  

Do I really want to do this again?

By the way I created a twitter account today. You can follow me @DomesticDeviant

I mentioned Hard Cider once.

First I'd like to start off with Happy New Year. Second I'd like to say this isn't supposed to be a blog about apples it just kind of happens I cook a lot with apples. Which is funny because apples aren't even close to my favorite fruit. Anyway I had mentioned hard cider in a previous post and thought I should let you all know how that went.

We bought regular cider in the apple stores because we didn't have the right equipment to make our own. The cider was very tasty however at some point in our brewing process it became very dry. Many people claim to like it. While I wouldn't be surprised if they were lying to my face I'm glad they do. However it's not so much hard cider as it is apple wine. We also never tested to check the alcohol content so I have no clue how strong it was. I think we will try again next year but as for this year I'm going to put cider down  ad a not so big success.

I should mention that my S.O. brews A LOT of beer at home.

Over the holidays I was given a lot of exciting cook books. I'm very interested in whoopie pies ever since I made some back in October. One of the books I got was on whoopie pies and I have to say they are quite good, Also I was shocked to learn that whoopie pies originate from north of the Dixie line I only find this shocking because saying the word whoopie pie brings out my southern drawl like nothing else.

The pudding

To make this pudding is a test of patience. It's really very easy. You will need:

• 3/4cup Sugar
• 3 Tablespoon flour
• 3 Tablespoon Cocoa
• 2 cups Milk (for best results use whole)
• 2 egg yolks (if you like meringue I recommend saving the whites for such)
• 1 Tablespoon Vanilla

Combine all of these ingredients into a pan and bring to a boil. Here is the tricky part you must stir the entire time. Your wrist may get tired I don't care don't stop stirring the moment you do you will burn the bottom of your pudding. I made a pie with this pudding last night and while cooking I took a few shots to show you the changes the pudding goes through.

When you first start stirring

Right before it begins to boil

Desired thickness in a pie shell

 

 

My finished pie with homemade whip cream

So there are a few things I should note. One thing is that hot pudding is awesome. Also hot pudding is scalding hot you will curse yourself if you try to just grab a little bit for a taste, keep in mind it was just boiling and it's thick for whatever reason it makes it worse. One more thing if you plan on putting a topping on
the pudding/filling give it plenty of time to cool.

The man behind the pudding

The following recipe is one of actual value to my own personal history.  So before you go trying it out I'd like to share with you where this recipe is from. The man to the right is not a gangster. He is my paternal great grandfather. Roy Luther Dunn. While he looks like he'd be a scary man he actually was a candy maker. While many of his recipes have been lost through the years the recipe I am going to share with you has not and I hope that by making it a small part of his dream of making people smile from sweets will continue.

Applesauce experiment

Last year when I gave you all my Criss Cross Applesauce recipe it was very measure out and clear. Not this year. I've decided to take some apples put them through my apple torture device and throw them in the crock pot with some sugar and cinnamon. The picture is of my apple torture device. It peels cores and slices the apples.

So I put the apples in a crock pot and added a lot of sugar cinnamon and water. We will just see what happens. Why did I decide to do it this way? 

1.  I have guests coming into town and wanted it to be able to can some sauce for them.
2. Seemed like a good idea at the time.
3. I'm lazy.

There now all of that has come to light let me tell you more of the apple plans for this year.
I want to make a pie. I didn't last year. I would like to make some more bread because it was really good. Most of all our biggest plan this year is to make a hard cider.


We were going to make our own cider but that seems pretty difficult so instead we are going to take a second Elijay trip and buy some of their non pasteurized ciders and harden them up a bit.

Apple Day!

So it's that time of year again. As I type into my iPhone I'm on my way to Elijay Georgia, home of delicious apples. I've decided while not my favorite fruit out right apples are probably my favorite fruit to to use in cooking/baking. Because of this we go straight to the orchards to get our apples. It's a nice trip that is not too far away. I plan on sharing a lot of photos once I get home and can update at home. Until then I have a teaser for you, we plan on making hard apple cider this year so stay with me.

Some recognition

So if you are a fan of the author Will Kenyon you may have noticed me on his blog roll. Oh what's that you didn't notice? Oh my well that won't do! Please go and check out how he linked me on his blog and once I figure out how to link someone's personal blog I will do the same for him. In the meantime. Go check out Willl's blog