duckprintspress

Well, it's Saturday now, but I saw a couple of my mutuals here do this and it looked fun so...

(via thefridayfive, the link was busted)


1. Do you cook regularly or does someone else cook for you?
Both. I mostly make simple stuff, tho, I'm exhausted. More complicated/extensive meals, my wife makes.

2. Which are you better at making: sweet or savory foods?
I'm a little better at sweet, but can do either fine with a recipe.

3. If you had to work as a chef in a restaurant of your choice, which restaurant would best complement your current culinary skills?
I've worked in restaurants and food service, and uh. Well, the one where I was happiest was making sugar flowers for wedding cakes, so I guess I'd most want to do fancy desserts (I have a certificate in pastry arts from a pretty well-known culinary program. But I ended up getting married and moving and having kids instead of following that career path.)

4. What is a cooking tip that you know, but other people generally aren’t aware of?
For pastry, you really do have to follow the instructions. It's science. It'll come out wrong if you don't do what the recipe says. This includes things like putting a thermometer in your oven to make sure it's the right temperature. Obviously, as you learn what you're doing, you can tweak, and local environment can influence things (like proofing times for breads) but like. If it says to chill the dough, chill the dough. If it says to cream the butter before adding the other ingredients, cream the butter first. It really does matter.

5. Do you have a recipe you would like to share?
My mom's oatmeal scone recipe:

2/3 Cups butter, melted

1/3 Cups milk

1 egg

1 1/2 Cups all purpose flour

1 1/4 Cups Quick Quaker Oats, uncooked (or 1 1/2 cups Quaker Old Fashioned Oats)

1/4 Cups sugar (use 1/3 cups if using Splenda)

1 Tbsp baking powder

1 tsp cream of tartar

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 Cups raisins or currants or craisins or dried blueberries or whatever you want

Preheat oven to 425 degrees.

Mix all dry ingredients EXCEPT the last in a bowl (so, combine flour, oats, baking powder, cream of tartar, sand salt). Mix the ingredients and make a well in the center. Pour the butter, milk and egg into the well. Stir the dough until the dry ingredients are moistened. Stir in raisins.

Shape dough into a ball. On a lightly flour a surface, place the dough and flatten it into an 8 inch (approx.) circle. Cut in to 8 to 12 wedges (or as many/few as desired).

Bake wedges 12 to 15 minutes (until light golden brown) on greased cookie sheet in the oven.

Serve warm, room temp or reheated (they get a little soggy in the microwave, though). Taste great with butter, preserves, or honey, and I bet something like nutella would also be awesome.