Routined Uniformacy

After a rather hectic weekend that was quite varied, the only thing I felt like going out and doing was something similar to a routine. The pickings are rather slim late at night, and the only places left open were places I could go to right at home. Nonetheless, my party and I settled on IHOP, which I've blasted in the past. Maybe I was in my right mind the last time I went, but my lingering impression was that IHOP wasn't any better than buying a pancake mix at the store, and that their syrup dispensers were always covered with syrup that stuck all over your hands when you picked it up. But never mind that, I wanted pancakes and I didn't want to make them. Also, I admit that I was thrown off by their Horton Hears a Who pancake cake, which really isn't any different than a giant banana split, but it's still weird. And I still think it's weird now.

I split an order of 'sweet crepes with eggs, bacon, and sausage' and 'corn cakes'.

The sweet crepes were Swedish Crepes with Lingonberry Jam and Lingonberry Butter. I have no idea what lingonberry is, and I still don't know. The jam just tasted berryish and sweet.

The corn cakes were basically that, a sweetened cornbread-turned pancake, but with just a touch of cornmeal.

Wow, IHOPS, or the one I ate at in Indy, was incredible. Really smooth, deep, and no bitterness. What that means is that you don't need cream or sugar to drink it, so it's coffee as God intended it to be, if Got intended us to drink coffee like we do at all... I like to say that America wouldn't have progressed as much as it had in the early days without coffee. And cowboys with their cattle drives sans coffee? Forget it.

Back on topic, as I sit here in SBUX, IHOPS' coffee was much better than here (I'm not drinking their regular brewed coffee... And why is that SBUX dude wiping off the tables outside when it's raining? No one is actually going to sit outside in the rain. Odd.

And now back to the food...

The Swedish crepes were interesting. Thinner than a pancake, for sure, but thicker than a French crepe. Also, it was eggier. The texture is best described as an edible rubber, though without the disgusting connotations implied with eating rubber. It didn't taste like rubber, it didn't really feel like rubber, but when you poked it with a fork, well, I don't know, it reminded me of rubber.

The lingonberry jam and butter were pleasant enough, especially mixed with regular syrup.

Now the corn cakes were the ultimate star. The flavor had an undertone of sweetness that mixed well with the cornbread taste, very light, fluffy, moist, and a touch of crispness. The blueberry syrup paired well with it. The 'butter pecan' tasted fake, the normal syrup was normal, and I didn't taste the strawberry at all.

This ends the night at IHOP. Yes, I was too quick to label IHOP as just another chain that wasn't any different than the rest, so I was either snobbish or out of my mind, or the one I ate at before truly was disgusting.

Daring Bakers and the Eclairs

This month's Daring Bakers challenge was one I was looking forward to, but unfortunately I put it off too long and my schedule got a little messed up. The day I made these it was because I had to, therefore I didn't give my full attention to detail that I normally have when it comes to these challenges.

My eclairs puffed well enough, but then many of them deflated. My only option was to create an 'eclair sandwich'. The filling was an orange-ginger buttercream, which was supposed to have cream cheese, but I used sour cream instead.

I found that the eclairs baked on the bottom of the oven before being moved to the top rack baked better than the sheet that began on top. I'm not sure why that is. But I probably should have used a fresh sheet of parchment paper because the bumps made an impression on the bottoms of some of the eclairs, which I think hindered the rise as well. The eclairs that were first on top were also eggier and a bit underbaked than those on the bottom.

I think I did well with the recipe for the choux pastry for my first time, I just rushed through the entire process and that was the problem. Next time, and there will be a next time, I will make these when I have more time to give and hopefully the results will be better.

Don't forget to check the Daring Bakers blogroll to read about others' challenges.

(EoP)

Three Food Blog Trends

No, wait! Before you think you're about to read about three trends that are going to hit the food blogosphere, I have to stop you. What this is about are three previous trends that spread like fire that I either made but didn't blog about, or didn't make at all.

• No-Knead Bread

Now this I actually did blog about, albeit very briefly. As you know, this bread rose from Sullivan Bakery in Manhattan by Jim Lahey. With a little yeast and a lot of time, you'll be able to make an artisan-like bread with a crispy crust, large and moist crumb, and a delicious bread for dinner that's quite different than the typical roll. It's excellent toasted and spread with a little butter for breakfast, and probably would make a great panino.

I will be blogging about this again for an in-depth post.

• The Perfect Chocolate Chip Cookie

From a New York Times article (yet again) comes 'the quest for the perfect chocolate chip cookie', which sounds like the foodie version of an Indiana Jones movie. Their definition of a perfect cookie is crisp edges that give way to a chewy center, the dough part a deep blend of caramel and toffee that plays off the salt sprinkled on the tops of the cookies. The real highlight of their recipe is that the dough is given an aging (they said resting, actually, but calling it an 'aged cookie' sounds funnier to me) time of 36 hours, which helps bring out the caramel and toffee undertones, while maintaining the buttery flavor and crispy-chewiness we all know and love. The recipe, mainly from Jacques Torres, suggests using 'chocolate couverture', chocolate disks used for coating truffles and the like, instead of chocolate chips because it melts to innards of chocolate lines instead of chocolate chunks. My theory on that is since objective is to create a perfect symmetry, the 'lines' of chocolate would meld better with the crumb and flavors than a chunk of chocolate would. It is something I have noticed, especially in peanut butter cookies when the chocolate would overpower the overall taste.

When I try these, I'll make it side-by-side my standard chocolate chip cookie recipe to see how it compares.


• Starbucks Chocolate Cinnamon Bread with Sugar Crust

I will go ahead and say that this was Starbucks' attempt at rectifying their horrible line of pastries. Chef Marcus Samuelsson came up with this recipe as part of a cookbook being made for Starbucks. I figured that if I made this myself it would have to be better than buying it at Starbucks, and seeing the overall raves around the blogosphere sealed the deal, I just hadn't made it. Until now.

The batter tasted really good, light, a deep cocoa taste that the cinnamon played off of well, and just sweet enough without being overkill.

The sugar crust is a mixture of sugar, cinnamon, cocoa powder, and a pinch of cloves (I substituted allspice). I read another blog that said the amount of the sugar mixture was too much, resulting in quite a bit of it falling off the top when you turn the loaf out, but I forgot that course sugar would make for a better look so I kept sprinkling it on.

The loaf rose beautifully and smelled wonderfully, but cocoa is like coffee when you have a headache -- not cool. Besides that, the aroma wafting through the kitchen was really nice and warrants making this again, just for that.

Most of the sugar topping did fall off, but what was left was a crispy, crackling crust that really heightened the flavor of the bread.

I turned the loaf out on a cooling rack on a baking sheet because I knew the sugar was going to fall off. But instead of throwing it out, pick the crumbs out and put it in a container for cinnamon toast or any other way you'd use cinnamon sugar.

I was expecting more of a fudgy center, but what I got was a moist, tender loaf that held up fairly well, but you had to be careful with. My initial reaction to the taste was that it seemed like the quick bread version of the cocoa buns I made about a week ago, except not quite as deep, but cocoa and cinnamon really work well together. At first I didn't think this was anything special. Sure, it tasted good, it didn't repulse me, but other than that I wasn't thrilled. Then, after the second bite, it started to grow on me, the crackly sugar crust heightening the tender chocolate bread.

If you make this, definitely use half the amount of sugar for the crust, maybe substituting half of the half portion with course sugar if you prefer. It's fairly tender at first, so be careful when you turn it out of the loaf pan.

There you go, two trends left to blog about!