Really Awesome Whole-grain Rice (Technique)

Really Awesome Whole-grain Rice

Technique

Ingredients:

whole, slow cooking rice (about 1/4 cup per person)

2-3 T butter

Liquid equal to 3 times the amount of rice (1 cup rice = 3 cups liquid)

Salt about 1 1/2 tsp per cup (reduce salt a bit if your are using a salty broth)

Equipment:

Pot w/ tight fitting lid

Wooden spoon or spatula

Directions: 

Melt butter in the pot with tight fitting lid. 

Sprinkle the rice over the melted butter and leave the rice to set and brown. Stir occasionally to encourage the rice to brown evenly. 

When the rice has achieved the color of brownness desired, add the liquid.  I add half of the total needed liquid now and smaller amounts later in the cooking process.

The first addition of liquid will cause steam, as seen in the foggy photo above.  The liquid will also bubble violently with first contact with the hot pot.  Place the lid on an turn the heat down to medium low. 

In about 30 minutes, the pot will need more liquid.  Add 1/2 of the remaining liquid, stir and replace the lid. Continue to simmer slowly. When all the liquid has been incorporated or the rice is the desired done-ness, replace the lid and turn off the heat.
Allow the rice to rest until it is time to serve. Whole grain rice is dense and therefore it will stay edible-ly warm for up to 1/2 an hour.

Extra notes:
1. Rinsing the rice is not necessary in the US. If it is rinsed it will have a harder time browning.
2.  Rice is browned in butter or sauted in butter so that it will cook as individual grains and not bunch up and be sticky.
3.  Broths make a tastier rice.  My favorite is mushroom or chicken broth. Many commercially prepared broths are high in salt and devoid of nutrients.  I'll post later how to make homemade broth in the crock pot.
4.  Onion, peppers, and garlic are nice additions.  Add these 1/2 way through the browning in butter phase. Added too early, these ingredients scorch and are not tasty.
5.  Make ahead tip, Complete all the steps up to the point where the pot simmers for 30 minutes on medium/low.  Once the first addition of liquid is added, turn off the burner or push the covered pot to the back of the stove. The rice will steep as it sets in the hot liquid. Later in the day, return the pot to a medium/low heat and add a small amount of liquid.  The rice will be ready to eat in about 10-15 minutes.

Making a Basic Wedding Cake

Making a Basic Wedding Cake

I had the pleasure of creating a wedding cake for the daughter of a very close friend.  I took plenty of pictures to demonstrate the building of this simple and elegant cake.  

These were my supplies.  

1. 10" Round Wilton cake boards, optional. (You can cut your own out of cardboard if you like.  However for special occasions where polish is important, I buy the boards.  The car board circles I cut tend to have irregular edges and do not look as professional when covered).  
2. Aluminum foil 
3. Paper cake doily
4. Cake pedestal
5. Cake topper 
6. Three layers, 8" round, white cake
7. Triple batch of white butter cream frosting
8. Paper towels, for smoothing icing,
9. Off-set spatula for spreading icing. 
10. Decorator's bag fitted with coupling
11. Small round decorator tip and star tip
12. Wax paper.

Tape 2 cake circles together.

Cover double cake circles smoothly with aluminum foil.

                

Gather your icing, offset spatula, and prepared cake boards.

Spread a small amount of icing in the center of the cake circle.

Put cake circle on the pedestal. 

Place a doily centered over the aluminum foil covered cake circle.  Press firmly.

Spread the doily with thin layer of frosting. 

These are the 3 layers of white cake, which I crumb iced.

 

Crumb icing is a thin layer of the decorator icing put over the cake to keep crumbs from appearing in the final smooth layer of icing on the cake.  

To crumb icing a cake, remove several large tablespoons of decorator icing to a separate bowl.  Add a tablespoon of water, stir vigorously.   Using the off-set spatula, coat each cake with a thin layer of this crumb icing.  This layer will contain crumbs.  No need to fret.  This is the point.  Once dried, this crumb icing layer will create a smooth professional finish. Allow cakes to set uncovered to dry which will take about an hour, perhaps two hours.  This step should not be rushed. 

Set the first layer on the doily.  Then spread icing completely and evenly over the layer.

Set the next layer.  Spread icing completely and evenly over the second layer.

Set the final layer.  Spread icing completely and evenly over top and sides of cake.

Smoothing the icing.

Once the top and sides of the cake are iced as smoothly and evenly as possible, allow the cake to sit uncovered for about 30 minutes.  When the icing is dry to the most delicate touch, cover the cake with paper towel, as shown in the photo above. Then rub your hands gently over the paper towel, slowly lifting the paper towel every few strokes to see if you are creating a smooth surface. If the icing is too wet, it will stick to the paper towel.  If you are pressing too hard, the pattern on the paper towel with transfer to the cake. Some of this pattern will smooth out overnight.

Top of cake after paper towel smoothing.

Now use paper towel to smooth the sides. 

Sides of cake after paper towel smoothing. Pretty, hey?

Place decorator bag in cup, upside down, spoon in decorator icing.

Using small round tip and holding bag along edge of cake, squeeze bag slowly and steadily, to produce long strings.

Allow the strings to drape over the edge of the cake randomly to form a lacy pattern. (see below) Create the same lace pattern on the top as well. 

Attach the small star tip to decorator bag.

Pipe a shell around the bottom of the cake.  The shell is formed by slowly and steadily piping  away from you for the count of one and then pulling towards you for the count of two. Continue this away and back motion all the way around cake. 

Cut a wax paper piece to fit under topper, by drawing around the base and cutting it out. 

Place the wax paper in the center of the cake.

Pipe a shell just barely outside the wax paper cut out. Using the same away and towards movement used to create the shell along the bottom of the cake.

Place the topper in the center of the shell outline. 

I added star accents in blue, but this is not necessary. It highlights the uneveness of my shells:( 

 I

Wedding cake on the cake table. 

Hints and Timing:  

1. I bake one morning and mix the icing the next. 
2. I freeze the cakes for up to a week and refrigerate the icing for about 3 days at the max.
3. I use clear vanilla in the cake and in the icing. This keeps the batter and icing pristine white. 
4. More than three layers and it might slide. 
5. Keep the cake toppers light. This one was porcelain but hollow.
6. Bring the icing and cakes to room temperature before attempting to decorate. 
7. I crumb ice in the morning and assemble and decorate in the afternoon. I break down many projects into small steps because these are easier to manage, and I have 30 minutes here and 15 minutes there. 
8. Turn the prettiest side to the front and face the couple in that direction. 
9. Decorating mistakes are tasty.  Don't worry if it is not perfect. 

Going to the Library is Like Shopping for Free

Going to the Library is Like Shopping for Free

Without the Commitment

Gently Reader, you many have noticed I have a page dedicated to books.  So it wouldn't be a surprise to you that I love the library.  I love book stores, and I love to buy books on online auctions. 

(Cue the bubbles of fantasy and imagination:)

 In my dream home, there is a wood paneled library with floor to ceiling bookshelves on all four walls, except where the fireplace is, of course.  In this imaginary library, in my dream home, there are large chairs to curl up in, each with its own small side table for a reading lamp and a beverage. This library would be filled with the books I have enjoyed. I would not want to give important bookshelf real estate to an uninteresting book. But how do I know if I'll enjoy a book, you ask? Well, I've had to have read it.  The best way I've found to 'test drive' a book is to borrow it from the library. 

My real life, however, doesn't contain a library but only a few shelves scattered throughout my home where I stash books.  These are vital books; I refer to them often. The virtual bookshelf on my blog reflects the shelves in my home. These vital books have merited my hard earned money.  I spent the money because I felt they were a valuable resource and their contents would enrich my life and the lives of those I love. 

A book makes the shelf only after I have given it a "test drive" from the local library. I screen the books through the borrowing process.  This 'library' concept keeps me from owning books I don't truly enjoy. Thus it is like shopping without the commitment. 

The library in my area has an online catalog with a fabulously detailed search engine.   (Internet Shopping, awesome!)  I have put in searches like homemaking, french cooking, knitting, or pet care. The list of books is overwhelming. I browse and reserve until I'm tired or bored. In a few days, I receive a message the books are available for me to pick up.  It is so much like presents in the mail. What fun.

Currently, I have checked out three books about french cooking. 

1.  In a French kitchen : tales and traditions of everyday home cooking in France

Loomis, Susan Herrmann.  

2.  Picnic in Provence : a memoir with recipes

Bard, Elizabeth (Journalist

3.  Bonjour kale : a memoir of Paris, love, and recipes

Beddard, Kristen,

I've finished In a French Kitchen.   I truly liked it.  I'm not sure it will make the shelf but. . . . there were a few techniques Susan wrote about I'd like to remember.  Humm. . . to buy or not to buy?

All three of these books are in what I would consider a new genre of books.  Perhaps, I'm out of touch but the memoir with recipes seems like a new genre to me.  I wouldn't have gone looking for this 'type' of book.  I was actually looking for traditional cookbooks with good technique and instruction. It was the library search engine that took me to this memoir with recipe and I am enthralled. 

So you see,  the library is so much like a shopping adventure.  I never know what I'll find. I might discover a gem or a dud.  What if I could "test drive" shoes like I can books, or appliances, or a new fruit variety.  Oh, better yet, make up or skin care products.  How many of those do I have shoved in the back of a drawer, only slightly used, because they were wrong for me in some way.