| As I slowly inherit my mother's legacy of dough |
[Aug. 5th, 2005|08:40 pm] |
| [ | Tags | | | family, food | ] |
| [ | mood |
| |  pretty dang good, man. | ] |
| [ | music |
| | Cibo Matto - Sugar Water | ] |
Hey Dad, Matt, Aunt Sarah, all you folks good at vectors/vertices, try this game. It's a hoot.
I am very much enjoying learning to cook new things. Well, just those things that involve frying or boiling because I can't afford gas for the oven. The latest thing I've learned is Chinese flatbread, the name in Mandarin I have forgotten. It is typically a greasy, chewy, salty bread with embedded green onions. My mom made it for me as I grew up (sans onions, I abhor onions) and I love this stuff to DEATH. She'll make a stack about six inches high and I'd just kill that plate quick as I could and have bread leaking out of all the orifices in my face. Not a pretty sight, but I was HAPPY.
My mom makes it look SO EASY. I've got a long way to go
The flavor primarily comes from heavy quantities of sesame oil that are worked into the dough. Unfortunately I had no prior experience with dough, it's simple enough in explanation but takes years and years of practice to get right. I'm still working on kneading and getting the texture the way I like it. (These pictures are 2 months old because I meant to make this post shortly after I returned from Canada)
All the necessary components for a bready good time: Burner, rolling pin, non-stick pan, spatula, mixing bowl, unbleached flour, sesame oil, measuring cup, salt, plate, and a dishrag to expedite cleaning.
Jazz CDs for ambiance, charming yellow man drinking root beer are optional
...but recommended ;)
Sure that pile of stuff looks bothersome, but the point is to enjoy the process of cooking. When I first started out, since I had no idea what in high hell I needed to do with the dough other than what my mom told me over the phone, I think it took me close to two hours to make two cups worth of bread. Over the next two attempts I've knocked that down to around 50-60 minutes. It's still turning out much much drier than my mom made it, but I've got plenty of ambition (and dough and sesame oil) to improve. Dough continues to puzzle me for the moment.
There's always a significant amount of pride that goes into cooking from scratch. Thankfully I haven't had any total disasters yet. So as I heartily chew my dusty, crunchy, flaky as the desert playa bread, I at least know that I MADE IT. And I'll be DAMNED if I'm going to throw away this pile of effort- for now I must improve, yes, improoooooove. *Crunch crunch crunch*
I like food. Food is good. (that's a song I can't remember) |
|
|
| Comments: |
So does it just taste like a salty, greasy tortilla, or...?
It's more dense than a tortilla, chewier and tastes like sesame oil and that's the best description I can muster at the moment. Anyway it's addictive and heavenly.
have you gone to burning man? are you going?
a-nope and a-nope. but someday.
The Descendents. Good stuff.
AHA. That was it. Hi misfit!
I like food, food tastes good!
I like food, food tastes good!
Juicy burgers, greasy fries
Turkey legs and raw fish eyes
Teenage girls, with ketchup too!
Get out of my way, or I'll eat you
I like food, food tastes good!
I like food, food tastes good!
I'm going to turn dining back into eating.
| |
![[info]](http://p-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif){kind=small}
