Monday, October 01, 2007
When I was in high school I had an English teacher with the brooding dark looks of Edgar Allen Poe. We all knew that he was brilliant, and one of the hallmarks of his scowling intelligence was that-- it was said-- he read the New York Times, cover to cover, every day. "Even the weather!" someone breathlessly explained to me, and I vowed to become a genius myself.
CLA confided to me the other day that she is realizing that maybe my fussiness about dinnertime isn't so crazy after all, and that since moving away to school she has become an avid reader of the NYTimes' Wednesday food section. She reads the rest, too, and so is, I presume, on her own way to genius. It was through her that I was directed to this interesting cornbread cake recipe. Apparently it gets served with maple pecan ice cream, and this recipe looked like it had potential, although I must confess I have had only limited success with custard-based ice creams in the past. At the farmer's market Saturday LCA and I came upon a vendor who had Grade B maple syrup, which is what was recommended, and which isn't all that easy to find, so we broke out the yokes and made some custard. I think a couple of things went right for us. The corn starch, although cheating a bit, is only cheating a little bit. And we let the custard chill overnight before adding the milk, which meant that my ice cream maker didn't have to work so hard at bringing the dense mixture to the proper temperature. It was mighty good stuff, in any event, and I will make it, and the cake next weekend.
CLA confided to me the other day that she is realizing that maybe my fussiness about dinnertime isn't so crazy after all, and that since moving away to school she has become an avid reader of the NYTimes' Wednesday food section. She reads the rest, too, and so is, I presume, on her own way to genius. It was through her that I was directed to this interesting cornbread cake recipe. Apparently it gets served with maple pecan ice cream, and this recipe looked like it had potential, although I must confess I have had only limited success with custard-based ice creams in the past. At the farmer's market Saturday LCA and I came upon a vendor who had Grade B maple syrup, which is what was recommended, and which isn't all that easy to find, so we broke out the yokes and made some custard. I think a couple of things went right for us. The corn starch, although cheating a bit, is only cheating a little bit. And we let the custard chill overnight before adding the milk, which meant that my ice cream maker didn't have to work so hard at bringing the dense mixture to the proper temperature. It was mighty good stuff, in any event, and I will make it, and the cake next weekend.
// posted by Bill @ 1:57 PM 
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