About a month and a half ago, my dad gave me a Cuisinart Ice-40. This is a double-barreled ice cream maker, of the sort where you have to freeze the buckets in advance.
You can make either one or two buckets at a time. You put a bucket on the gear, put in the paddle, and then place the cover on. Then you start the motor, which spins the bucket while the paddle is held in place by the cover. Then you pour in the mix.
The recipes that came with the maker were too sweet and too high volume. The first ten tries I did on just one barrel, and then, having gotten a good feel for the basic recipe, I went to using both barrels every time.
I started with a raw base, and managed to get that working okay. The ice cream was tasty, but not the texture I wanted. I moved on to a cooked base with egg yolks, and that worked much, much better.
A side effect of starting to use yolks was that I was left with the whites, so I made meringue cookies for the first time. They worked really well, so I've started making them each time I make ice cream.
The booklet said to agitate for 20 to 25 minutes. I started with that, and ended up going to 30 trying to get the raw base working. I initially stayed at 30 for the cooked base, but ended up going back down to 25.
The basic process is to simmer the milk and cream along with anything you want to extract flavor from (such as a vanilla bean or strips of ginger). Then blend the yolks and sugar (and cocoa powder, if using) into a paste. Slowly pour some of the warm milk into the paste, while blending. If using chocolate, melt into the remaining milk. Return the milk to the heat and stir in the yolk mix. Bring to a boil and then reduce to a simmer for a few minutes.
After the mix has cooled down, I split it into two containers and put it in the fridge. Then I let it sit in the fridge, after fully cooling down, for between 6 and 24 hours.
Meanwhile, the barrels should be left in the freezer for at least 24 hours. After I start the ice cream maker and add the base, I put a small plate, a small spoon, a wooden spoon, and the ice cream containers in the freezer. For containers, I use either one quart or two pint containers, plus an extra container for the tailing.
After the ice cream has finished in the maker, I fill the quart or two pint containers with the easy to dispense part. Then I put them in the freezer and put the remainder of the ice cream into the extra container, and put that in the freezer.
After the ice cream goes into the freezer, I leave it for at least 4 hours to harden.
Preheat oven to 450°F. Line cookie sheet with parchment paper.
Mix dry ingredients. Cut cold butter into dry ingredients and mix, so the butter is no bigger than pea-sized. Stir in milk all at once, until wet. Drop spoonfulls onto cookie sheet, about 1 inch apart.
Bake until done, about 15 minutes. Take out of oven and put biscuits on a plate to cool.
Makes enough for 2 people. Quick and easy. It can be easily multiplied to serve an arbitrary amount of people.
I move the biscuits from the cookie sheet to the plate by hand. They're rather hot, and the sheet is quite hot, so if you don't want to burn yourself you may want to use a spatula.
That's the normal amount of butter I use, though I vary it between no butter and 2 tablespoons.
A tasty variant uses 2 tablespoons butter, 2 ounces of honey, and 1/3 cup milk.
Preheat oven to 300°F
Combine the sauce, bring to a simmer, and simmer for at least 10 minutes, stirring regularly. At this point the sauce can be used, or it can be refrigerated for use later.
While the sauce is simmering, cut up the beef, trimming off any excess fat. Then, using a bit of fat to get the skillet started, start browning the meat and then putting it into a large (13x9) baking dish. Pour off any excess fat as you go along.
While the last skillet's worth of meat is browning, splash in some wine (I use cream sherry) and let it reduce a bit after removing the last of the meat, and then add it to the sauce.
Mix the sauce and meat together in the baking dish, and then cover (I use a pyrex dish and aluminum foil) and put in oven.
Bake for 3 hours if not adding vegetables.
If adding vegetables, bake for 1.5 hours. Then remove it from the oven, stir in the vegetables, and replace the cover and put it back into the oven. Bake for an additional 1.75 hours.
This is good anywhere from no chillies through really hot and spicy, so add whatever amount of jalapenos, serranos, thai, or other chillies to taste.
I usually prep the vegetables after it's started baking.
This is really good with bread or over noodles.
The original recipe was from The Cast Iron Skillet Cookbook - Recipes for the Best Pan in Your Kitchen, by Sharon Kramis and Julie Kramis Hearne. I've altered it to suit my taste and cooking style.
The other day, I tried rye bread. It was similar to the time before, and still based off of mixer bread.
This time, I used 1/2 cup of molasses instead of the 1/4 cup sugar, and also mixed in 1/8 cup caraway seeds with the flour.
I was thinking of trying more caraway seeds next time, but Carol thought that the amount was just right.
The rise was decent. It's a bit denser than my other breads, but has that tasty caraway-rye flavor. Now I just need something to put on it, liverwurst or corned beef or cream cheese.
I purchased a pack of prime sirloin steaks from Costco, and decided to try different marinades on them to see how they compared.
I cooked all of the steaks the same way. I heated a pan, rubbed fat from the steak across the pan, fried covered over medium heat for about 12-15 minutes, flipping every 2-4 minutes, and then finished it by pouring sherry on it and frying it uncovered for another 5-7 minutes, flipping a few more times.
This is an easy way to fry up a steak without having to pay attention to it, and the steak ends up medium-rare, which is how Carol prefers it.
Three of them ended up all being similar to how my steaks normally are. Tasty, but nothing spectacular to recommend them. The sesame seed oil one, however, was fabulous. A salty-sweet sesame flavor crusted the outside and permeated deep into the meat. Carol also thought that it stood out as the clear winner.
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