Sweet Potato Buns – Great for Burgers, and Learning How to Bake Without Fear

Not only does adding sweet potatoes to a burger bun make it more nutritious, delicious, and significantly more beautiful, but it also presents the perfect opportunity to get pass your flour amount phobia, and finally be able to make dough by feel.

Every once in a while, I’ll get an email from someone whose dough was way too wet, or dry, and I always think the same thing; why would you stop? Some actually tell me they had to throw out the whole batch, which is insane. Your dough’s too wet? Add some flour. Too dry? Add some water.

No matter how exact a recipe is written, you simply can’t go by measurements, volume or weight, and expect perfection. There are too many variables that effect how much flour is needed – like a cup of mashed sweet potatoes, for example.

The best strategy is to not add all the flour at once, and only add enough to achieve the soft, slightly tacky dough seen herein. One of the great advantages of video is being able to see what the dough should look and feel like.

Once you get comfortable with not worrying about exact amounts, but rather exact results, the world of bread opens up to you and your new-found powers. Now, you just need to practice, so with that in mind, I really hope you give these amazing sweet potato buns a try soon. Enjoy!

Ingredients for 8 large, 16 medium, or 32 slider-sized rolls:

For sponge:

1 package (2 1/2 tsp) dry active yeast (I used Fleischmann's “RapidRise” Yeast)

1/2 cup warm water

1/2 cup AP flour

Then add:

1 cup mashed orange sweet potato (also sold as yams)

2 tsp honey

1 1/4 teaspoons fine salt

1 large egg

3 tablespoons melted butter

3 to 3 1/2 cups flour AP flour, as needed to form the right texture dough (see blog post)

- Bake at 400 F. for 15 minutes, or until browned. Large buns may take an extra few minutes, and the sliders-sized may take a minute or two less.

Lucky Idol

 

Numéro Homme Berlin launches it's premiere issue with an uncanny fourteen page spread of Lucky Blue Smith channeling young Billy Idol.  And why not? After all, it is a nice day for a White Wedding.

 

 

 

Amazing Grace

This afternoon, I watched and listened to Obama's Eulogy at the funeral of  Clementa C. Pinckney in South Carolina.

For the first time, I think I really understood what Grace means.  Whenever God gives me an insight that makes me grow a tiny bit, he is giving me Grace.  And Grace is truly amazing, because I haven't done anything to deserve it.  My first experience of God's Grace, when he came into my life and saved it, I really see no reason why that should have happened to me.  It's like an unearned gift from God.

I think in our daily lives when we do something for someone else without expecting anything in return, we are bestowing Grace on them.  However, with people this may be often material, whereas Grace from God is entirely spiritual.  God works through people to bestow Grace, but it is really coming directly from Him.

One thing that amazes me about getting old, is how many old people I meet, who have lived such selfish, useless lives, seemingly having gotten nothing out of their life's experience, while great men who do nothing but good in the world die so young.  I trust that God has his reasons.  Maybe the very good deserve to go to a better life faster, but also maybe their death serves a purpose for the people left behind.  A purpose much greater than what they could accomplish while still living.  Obama said something to this effect in his eulogy.

As for the Confederate Flag, I can't see any reason for defending something that offends so many people. It's only White people who defend it, which shows a total lack of understanding of how the other people feel.

Clementa C. Pinckney

Victory... But The Fight's Not Over

 

There's no question that this has been a big day.  Yesterday I saw a picture on Advocate.com of my own niece proudly marching in the Iowa City Gay Pride Parade, and today the Supreme Court of The United States made marriage equality the law of the land.  Honestly, I have always been of the opinion that one of the advantages of being gay is that it meant you avoided pressure to get married.  I am very happy, though, for the many couples I know who are married or planning to marry.

 

Not to be too much of a Gloomy Gus, but keep in mind that 1) it still is legal in many states to discriminate against LBGT people in such areas as housing, employment, etc., and 2) Vigilance is the price of Liberty.  Take a moment to celebrate, but remember, there are still mighty forces working against us.

Teriyaki Burgers and a Sweet Potato Bun Tease

Your classic teriyaki burger is usually nothing more than a plain patty, which has been glazed in teriyaki sauce; and by “teriyaki sauce,” I mean a thick, one-dimensional syrup made from sugar, soy, and MSG. If you’re enjoying your third pint at a sports bar, these work out just fine, but good luck adapting them for your next cookout.

Here we’re using a different, drier approach, and adding the key teriyaki flavorings to the ground meat. This gives us a burger or slider with the taste of teriyaki, without having to deal with a sauce. This recipe should work no matter the cooking method, although a medium-hot charcoal grill would be my preference, weather permitting.

No matter how you grill these, I highly recommend they end up on a homemade sweet potato slider bun. Besides another way to tweak the humble hamburger, this clip was intended to be a sneak preview for some rather amazing buns. We’ll post that sometime Monday, just in case you want to add it to your 4th of July menu. So stay tuned, and as always, enjoy!

Ingredients for four (4-oz) burgers:

1 pound ground beef (85/15 lean to fat ratio)

1 tsp Worcestershire sauce

2 tablespoons soy sauce

1 tablespoon sake

1 tablespoon mirin

1 tsp sriracha, or other hot sauce to taste

2 tsp brown sugar

Tongue

The Return of Ed!

Seems as good a time as any to share some more pictures of that new old favorite of mine, Ed Bale, owner of the world's most chisled jaw line, a beauty mark of perfection, and eyes, like Gretchen Wieners' hair, full of secrets. 

Butter Puff Biscuit Dough – Faster, Easier, and Not Great for Shortcake

As promised, this is the puff pastry-like dough I used in the apple roses video, and while not exactly “ quick and easy,” this was definitely quicker and easier. Just don’t try and make strawberry shortcake with this stuff.

I wanted to use this dough as the centerpiece of our strawberry shortcake video, but unfortunately the cold pastry was way too hard to cut with a spoon, and so I ended up using a much more traditional, and user-friendly biscuit.   

That aside, as a puff pastry substitute, I think this was a huge success. Hopefully, you saw this in action in the apple roses video, which, by the way, was done with scraps. Besides fruit tarts, I’d love to try this for things like ham and cheese turnovers, and chocolate croissants.

With that in mind, I hope any and all successful experiments with this dough will be shared on social media; mostly so I can copy your ideas. By the way, there seems to a little controversy on YouTube as to the exact number of layers we got, so what say you? I hope you give this butter puff biscuit dough a try soon. Enjoy!

Ingredients:

2 cups self-rising flour (You can make you own by sifting together 2 cups of all-purpose flour with 1 tablespoon baking powder, and 1 teaspoon fine salt)

3/4 cup cold water (add enough water to make a soft, but not sticky dough)

*7 tablespoons frozen unsalted butter (a stick is 8 tablespoons)

*I grated on about 4 tablespoons for the first application, and about 3 tablespoons for the second.

- I generally bake this stuff at 400 F.  Time will depend on what it’s being used for.

What The Well-Dressed Jungle Boy Will Wear

From the Golden Age of Comic Books comes Wambi The Jungle boy, who appeared in 165 issues of Jungle Comics and 17 issues of his own title.  Wambi, who had the ability to talk to the animals (Just imagine it! Chatting to a chimp in Chimpanzee!) lived in some weird conglomeration of Africa and India. A typical story involved him confronting evil,  getting captured by the bad guys, being put into bondage, and calling on his animal friends to save him.  Nice work if you can get it.  This being the 1940s, Wambi was not at all reticent about killing his enemies.  In one story he straps dynamite to the unconscious body of an evil riverboat captain, uses a tree as a catapult to sling the captain onto his the deck boat, whereupon the dynamite explodes, killing everyone on board.  Wambi's response: (I'm paraphrasing) "Well, they'll never bother us again!"

While most comic book jungle men, and there where a lot of them, where straight-up Tarzan rip-offs, I think that Wambi was more inspired by the movie star Sabu. 

Sabu had his own short-lived (and not very good) comic book in 1950, and coincidentally (?) he had the exact same costume as Wambi, red loin cloth and red turban. Unfortunately, that's a style that did not catch on.

Chef John’s "Sunset" Michelada – I Only Refer to Myself in the 3rd Person When I Drink

About halfway through this video production for how to make a Michelada, I realized I was getting paid to drink beer, which made the experience that much more enjoyable, and that’s saying a lot.

This spicy, savory, tangy, amazingly refreshing beer-based cocktail is considered one of the best hot-weather, adult beverages ever. I’ve heard it described as “Bloody Mary meets Mimosa,” which makes me never want to go to brunch again, but it’s also kind of accurate.

While that may not sound like something you would enjoy, most people do, and very much so. And the hotter it is, the more they enjoy, both literally and figuratively.  There’s something about how that slightly bitter, effervescent beer works with the sweet-sour-spicy profile of the other ingredients.

Even though they may seem like odd additions, things like the soy and Worcestershire are very important here, since they bring savoriness, or “umami” as the foodies would call it, to the drink.

I would never wish a horrendous heat wave on anybody, but, if one were to come your way, I hope you give this delicious, and restorative, Michelada “beertail” a try soon. Enjoy!

For Each Michelada:

lots of ice

1/2 tsp Worcestershire sauce

1/2 tsp hot sauce or to taste

1/8 tsp soy sauce

juice from half a lime (use other half to rim glasses with salt, freshly ground black pepper, and chili pepper)

1/4 to 1/3 cup tomato juice or homemade vegetable juice (see below)

1/2 bottle ice-cold Mexican lager (6 oz)

lime slices to garnish

For the vegetable juice (makes about 3 cups):

2 pints sweet cherry tomatoes, washed, drained

1/4 cup chopped celery

1/4 cup chopped red bell pepper

salt and pepper to taste (unless you use a ton on the rim like I did)

More Sebastian

Here's Polish dreamboat Sebastian Marcinek.  You've seen him here before, you'll see him here again.

Mocha Semifreddo – Bad Technique Makes for a Great Frozen Summer Dessert

I got a request for semifreddo recently, and since it is a massively underrated summer dessert, I decided to give it a go. I love the rich taste, and the fact that you get what’s basically an airy, custard-style ice cream, without having to use a machine. However, it all comes at a cost.

The classic procedure is a little bothersome, since you need to make three separate components – a zabaione, a meringue, and whipped cream – so, I decided to simply use the eggs whole, and make a “zabaringue.” I knew I wouldn’t get as much volume, but I didn’t care.

One of my issues with semifreddo is that they’re sometimes too airy, and the flavor gets spread too thin.That wasn’t a problem here, and yet this much simpler version retained a wonderfully light texture despite the shortcut. I decided on a mocha-flavored semifreddo, since coffee is a pretty manly ingredient, and this sure would make a nice Father’s Day dessert. I hope you give this a try soon. Enjoy!

Warning: Answering questions about how to use this technique to make other flavors is tough, since there are many variables. Theoretically, if you replace the coffee and liquor, with other “stuff,” then you should get a similar product. Good luck!



Ingredients for 2 portions:
- For the egg/coffee mixture:
 2 large egg eggs
 2 tbsp sugar
1 1/2 tsp instant coffee
1 tablespoon Kahlua
1 tsp unsweetened cocoa
tiny pinch salt
 - For the whipped cream:
1/4 cup ice cold heavy whipping cream
1 tbsp sugar
-Combine and freeze until firm. If using a loaf pan, line with plastic first!

Skinny And Sweet

We could probably get in to a big argument about body image, and unattainable body types, and what's healthy and what's not, but the fact remains that I am hot for skinny guys. Not exclusively, but enough. Let's just say that when body builders display before and after pictures of their progress, I almost always prefer the before. This boy, about whom I know nothing, is a prime example of a very lovely skinny boy. I just like him, that's all.

Nectarine Salsa – Stone Cold Delicious

I’ve always loved the marvelous contrast between a hot, smoky piece of meat, and a cold, fruity salsa; and this version featuring nectarines did not disappoint. In fact, the only thing that pairs better with this fresh fruit salsa is a basket of crispy tortilla chips.

This salsa will work with any stone fruit, but nectarines are my favorite. They’re usually sweet, even when still a bit firm, which I prefer texturally over a perfectly ripe price of fruit. Having said that, if you do have a few peaches to use up this summer, this is something to keep in mind.

As I said in my closing arguments at the end of the video, if you think fruit salsa is just too weird, then you need to be reminded that tomato, a fruit, is the most popular salsa ingredient of all time. I rest my case…again. Hope you give this a try soon. Enjoy!

Ingredients for about 2 cups Nectarine Salsa:

*Note: everything here is “to taste,” so adjust accordingly.

1 cup finely diced nectarine

1/3 cup finely diced onions

1/2 cup finely diced red bell pepper

2 tbsp finely diced jalapeno pepper

1 tbsp chopped cilantro

2 tsp olive oil

1 tbsp fresh lime juice

1/2 tsp salt, plus more to taste

pinch cayenne

pinch freshly ground black pepper