they go really well together

TGRWT #14: Fruit Cake with Whiskey & Kecap Manis

M. — Thu, 08 Jan 2009 03:49:00 GMT

The Curious Blogqat is the host of the 14th round of 'They go really well together'. This time malt and soy sauce have to be paired.

I am fond of fruit cakes.

This fruit cake is my inspiration. For the sake of this blog event I skipped the spices and the ginger, substituted whiskey for ginger wine and kecap manis for treacle.

I soaked 75 gram currants, 75 gram black raisins and 75 gram white raisins in 4 T whiskey, beated 150 gram butter with 150 gram dark sugar until creamy and light; added 3 eggs, one at the time, mixed through 150 gram flour, stirred in the soaked fruits, 50 gram grounded almonds and 1 T kecap manis, baked the batter for 45 minutes at 140 degrees Celsius (fan) and then for 120 minutes at 130 degrees Celsius, pierced the cake with a cocktail stick, drizzled it with 2 T whiskey and left the cake to cool.

My colleagues (no whiskey drinkers) could not detect the whiskey nor the kecap manis but said the fruit cake was delicious!

TGRWT #14 Blogsearch

TGRWT #14: Mout & Sojasaus

M. — Sun, 04 Jan 2009 11:10:00 GMT

De 14e editie van They Go Really Well Together is van start gegaan en wordt ge'host' door The Curieous Blogqat. Dit keer moet mout worden gecombineerd met sojasaus.

Om de gedachten te bepalen:

TGRWT #13: Caraway and Cocoa|Chocolate

M. — Sat, 20 Dec 2008 11:41:00 GMT

Erik 'Fooducation' is the host of the 13th round of 'They go really well together'. This time caraway [great weblog: Gernot Katzer's Spice Pages] and cocoa|chocolate have to be paired.

Internetsources are warning that [grounded?] caraway turn bitter if cooked too long [or too hot?]. Unfortunately I could not find more detailed information.

I decided to make a kind of cake. I mixed 150 gram self raising flour, 1 tablespoon cocoa, 1 teaspoon caraway fruits, 1/4 teaspoon salt, 150 gram brown sugar, 75 gram walnuts, 75 gram pine nuts, 75 gram raisins and 75 gram chopped chocolate. I added 300 gram Turkish yoghurt, mixed everything gentle but thoroughly, spooned the mixture into a silicon cake pan and baked the cake in a preheated oven, 170 degrees Celsius, for about 75 minutes.

TGRWT #13 Blogsearch

'De Bonte Koe' sells chocolates with caraway (kummel), 'Unlimited Delicious' used to sell cocolates with caraway and anise and 'De Ooijevaar' sells chocolates with caraway liqueur.

(will be continued)

TGRWT #11: Banana Clove Yoghurt Shake

M. — Sun, 05 Oct 2008 13:25:00 GMT

I pushed the thinner ends of 3 cloves into a banana, roasted the cloved banana in the oven (180 degree Celsius) until its skin turned black (about 15 minutes), removed cloves and skin, put the banana in a blender with 200 gram Turkish yoghurt (10 % fat) and juice of one lemon and blended the ingredients until smooth.

Not bad but I could not detect the taste of clove [fortunately ;-)].

TGRWT #11: Banaan & Kruidnagel

M. — Sat, 04 Oct 2008 18:23:00 GMT

De elfde ronde van het moleculinaire blogproject 'They Go Really Well Together ' [TGRWT] is van start gegaan. Bij 'TGRWT' gaat het om het combineren van niet zo voor de hand liggende ingredienten. Dit keer gaat het om de combinatie van banaan en kruidnagel. Gastheer is 'the one & only' Martin Lersch.

TGRWT #11 Blogsearch

Foodpairing

M. — Thu, 22 Nov 2007 01:36:00 GMT

De moeite van het bezoeken waard (via Khymos (the one & only)):

Foodpairing

TGRWT #8: Cocoa Butter's CAS Number (8002-31-1)

M. — Wed, 21 Nov 2007 08:14:00 GMT

“White chocolate” is chocolate-less chocolate: it contains no cocoa particles whatsoever, and therefor has littleor no chocolateflavor. White chocolate (...) is a mixture of purified, usually deodorized cocoa butter, milk solids, and sugar.

Harold McGee in On Food and Cooking (2004, page 705)

The CAS number of cocoa butter is 8002-31-1. I googled for the combination '8002-31-1' and 'caviar' and this is the disappointing result. According to this website cocoa butter contains among others palmitic acic, stearic acid and linoleic acid. Caviar doesn't contain one of them. If it is not the cocoa butter then what makes the combination white chocolate and caviar so special? Or is it an emperor's article of clothing?

Hostblogger is Chad at Chadzilla.

TGRWT #8: Witte Chocolade & Kaviaar

M. — Tue, 20 Nov 2007 03:49:00 GMT

Het is weer zo ver. De achtste ronde van het moleculinaire blogproject They Go Really Well Together [TGRWT] is van start gegaan. Bij TGRWT gaat het om het combineren van niet zo voor de hand liggende ingredienten. Dit keer witte chocolade & kaviaar. Weird but Wonderful. Onbetaalbaar & politiek incorrect.

Eerdere ronden:

TGRWT #7 Cacao & BLoemkool [Round-up]
TGRWT #6: Appel & Lavendel [Round-up]
TGRWT #5: Chocolade & Vlees [Round-up]
TGRWT #4: Munt & Mosterd [Round-up]
TGRWT #w: Aardbeien & Koriander [Round-up]
TGRWT #2: Banaan & Peterselie [Round-up]
TGRWT #1: Knoflook, Koffie & Chocolade [Round-up]

TGRWT #8 Gastblogger is Chadzilla.

TGRWT #7: Cocoa Tagliatelli With Roasted Cauliflower Florets & Walnut Sauce

M. — Sat, 27 Oct 2007 18:37:00 GMT

The combination home made cocoa tagliatelle [1 egg : 85 gram flour : 15 gram cocoa : ? water], roasted cauliflower florets [florets sprinkled with walnut oil roasted in the oven at 180 degrees Celsius until brown & soft] and walnut sauce [200 gram cream : 100 gram grounded walnuts : 2 garlic cloves : 0,5 cube mushroom bouillon: 60 minutes simmered & sieved] works!

TGRWT #7 Hostblogger is Papin at Flavor alchemy.

TGRWT #7: Keller's Cauliflower Panna Cotta With Blumenthal's Cocoa Jelly

M. — Sun, 14 Oct 2007 11:15:00 GMT

At this point, I had to open the kitchen windows because it was starting to smell like a bad Southwest Airlines flight I was on a few summers ago with a bunch of tourists who'd just eaten at Burger King before boarding the plane. [...] I also contemplated stripping the walls and repainting them to get the cauliflower stink out of my house. Instead, I just burned the whole place down. Kidding.

wrote Carol who cooked Thomas Keller's Cauliflower Panna Cotta with Beluga Caviar at French Laundry At Home.

I roasted cauliflower florets with olive oil in the oven at 180 degrees Celsius for 45-60 minutes until light brown. I brougth 250 gram of them to simmer with 2,5 dl cream and let them simmer for 15 minutes. I pureed the cauliflower-cream with a immersion blender, added salt for taste and 2,5 gram in cold water soaked gelatin. I spooned the cauliflower-cream in glasses and let it chill.

It didn't stink like Carol's did but possibly there is something wrong with my cauliflower aroma receptors. Or with hers.

I heated 0,65 dl water to boil, added 5 gram agar agar, mixed to dissolve and added 3,5 gramcocoa and 1/4 t glucose. Comparing the result with rubber is offending rubber. I should have tried again but I didn't. Instead I sprinkled cocoa powder on the cauliflower panna cotta.

The combination works like the combination cauliflower and nutmeg works [in the traditional Dutch kitchen] (masking both unpleasant sulfur components in [over]cooked cauliflower?).

Food for thinking about the combination 'caramelized' cauliflower & cocoa:

French Laundry At Home, Cauliflower Panna Cotta with Beluga Caviar, 31 juli 2007
Art Culinaire, London's calling (...) (Cauliflower Risotto with Cocoa Jelly), 2003
Kokenmetkanker, Wetenschappelijk Bewezen: Over Smaak Valt Echt Niet Te Twisten, 12 oktober 2007 [with a reference to Andreas Keller et al, Genetic variation in a human odorant receptor alters odour perception, Nature 2007 Sep 27 449(7161) 468-72]

TGRWT #7 Hostblogger is Papin at Flavor alchemy.