Coconut Shrimp with Peanut Sauce


I was really impressed with this recipe and I don't even really like coconut that much. The recipe, from Good Eats: The Early Years, incorporates some Asian flavours with some from the tropics. The Asian flavours are courtesy a very nice peanut sauce that complements the sweetness of the shrimp nicely. As you may have guessed it is based on peanut butter, with some soy sauce, cilantro, fish sauce and a few other ingredients. This was my first experience with fish sauce and boy does it stink, but it adds body that I think would be missed if it was not there. The tropical flavours come from the coconut crust on the shrimp. Pan fried to perfection, gives the shrimp a nice crunch.

I have to thank my mom for helping me out with this recipe.

Here is the link: Coconut Shrimp with Peanut Sauce













Since I was home for reading week and didn't want to study I thought I would fry/bake up a couple of things. These aren't from the random recipe list so I won't spend much time on them, but I have to say homemade doughnuts are awesome!

Cake and raised doughnuts, tortilla chips and oat fudge bars

Procrastination never looked and tasted so good!

Don't forget next week (insert epic music here:Epic Music(ignore the video)) ...  beef tongue.

Beer and Cheese Dip in a Bread Bowl

This one would be great for a party, or you could just eat it for dinner like I did. A pretty simple recipe, from the Joy of Cooking, with some excellent results. It basically consists of melting some cheese and then pouring it into a hallowed out loaf of bread. The inside of the loaf is used for dipping; veggies are also great for dipping! I was a little concerned about the bread bowl's structural integrity but it held up fine. It should be interesting to see what it is like as leftovers, I'm excited! One note of caution for people inexperienced with blue cheese, like myself, its pretty potent stuff so add it carefully.

If you read the first blog in the series the moment I'm sure you have been waiting for will soon be here. The grocery store finally had beef tongue. Its in the freezer for the time being as I will be going home for reading week next week but when I get back, it will be time to try one of the more interesting commonly available meats.

I couldn't find this recipe online, so if you want it go buy the Joy of Cooking, even if you don't want this recipe you should buy the Joy of Cooking. Best cookbook for the buck!

Soft Pretzels 


This recipe coincided with Super Bowl weekend perfectly, although the pretzels didn't make it to Sunday. In other words they were pretty awesome! Pretzels can be dated back to 7th century Italy, where a monk decided to reward the local children with a snack in the shape of praying hands (people used to pray with their hands crossed from what I've read). He added salt, a sign of purity, and one of the most beloved snack foods was born.

Pretzels are actually closely related to bagels in construction. A yeast dough is briefly dunked in boiling water and then baked. The only real difference is the shape and the salt. One thing about home made pretzels is that they will not have the dark brown colour of store bought pretzels. There are two techniques that can be employed to get homemade pretzels to their signature colour. The first is a dip in a basic solution, the high pH will instantly gelatinize starch on the pretzels surface and denature proteins and yada yada yada. Commercial operations use a solution of lye (sodium hydroxide, NaOH) and this could potentially work for the home cook but it is pretty dangerous and requires goggles, gloves etc. There is an alternative though baking soda is the most common kitchen base. With a pH of around 9 it is 1,000 times less alkali than lye (pH around 13), but it won't make you look like the guy at the end of Raiders of the lost Ark if you splash a little. The second technique is a simple egg wash. I'm curious to see how much of an effect the baking soda really had, something to experiment with next time I guess. One thing I learned the hard way was: add the baking soda to the water before it boils, or else you will end up with a huge column of bubbles spilling out of the pot, not fun trust me! Other than that little mishap its a pretty straight forward and delicious recipe.

Recipe link: Soft Pretzel Recipe

Culinary insight curtsey of Alton Brown and Good Eats 3: The Later Years