Hold The Fungus

Have a taste for the twisted and bizarre? How about chocolate covered bacon! Or beer for your dog.

These are just a few of the things in the food category at Well, WTF?! - Who thinks up this crap. There are many other categoiries as well and this site is well worth a visit.

Popularity: 25% [?]

The ninth issue of my chocolate, candy, and baking e-zine (digital magazine) is now available. 

It is free, so give it a spin. This 1.15 Mb file is a 5 second download on a cable modem, somewhat longer on a slower connection.

The current issue as well as all back issues may be downloaded here.

Popularity: 25% [?]

Although I used to use lots of crock pots for candle making, it is only recently that I started experimenting with them for cooking food. This recipe makes the best roast pork I have ever tasted, and the onions are easily separated for picky eaters like me.  To suit my family this his just a bit spicy, but I have noted where to add more for a spicier meal.

Pork Roast - I used a boneless shoulder roast. This will work with roasts between 3 and 5 pounds. Boneless pork also works well.

2 large onions - cut into eighths (large chunks) - place in bottom of crock.

6 cloves of garlic - peel and squash - these can be minced if desired but there is no need to chop them up. Add to crock.

Pork Rub
Mix these ingredients and rub into the meat.  Place the meat atop the onions.

• 2 Tablespoons sugar (brown sugar works too)
• 1 Tablespoon Paprika
• 2 teaspoons sea  salt (sub regular salt if necessary)
• 1/2 teaspoon fresh ground pepper (sub - pre ground pepper if necessary)
• 1 teaspoon onion powder
• 1 teaspoon garlic powder

Marinade
Mix the following ingredients. Pour half over the pork and set the other half aside for now.

• 3/4 cup cider vinegar
• 2 Tablespoons worcestershire sauce
• 1 1/2 teaspoons sugar (brown sugar works too)
• 1 teaspoon garlic powder
• 1 teaspoon onion powder
• 1/8 teaspoon cayenne powder (use 1/4 teaspoon for a spicier roast)
• 1/8 teaspoon red pepper flakes (use up to 1 1/2 teaspoons for a spicier roast)
• 1/2 teaspoon powdered mustard seed

Turn on the crock pot and cover. The time will vary from one crock pot to the next but it will take 6 - 8 hours on low or 4 - 6 hours on high.

After 6 hours on low, or 4 hours on high pour the reserved marinade over the roast.

Finishing up
After removing the meat, strain the onions out and serve as a side dish. The juice may be turned into a gravy by adding some cornstarch (dissolve it in cold water first, then stir in slowly). Heat this in a saucepan while stirring until it thickens.

Popularity: 27% [?]

Now that the holidays have passed I can get back to blogging.  It has been a hectic past few months, but with the post holiday slowdown I can now get caught up on this blog.

I have posted 3 great cookie recipes to the site:

Grandma’s Sugar Cookies - This recipe has been in my family for about 100  years.

Gingerbread Cookies - The best gingerbread cookies I have ever tasted.

Cinnamon Roll Cookies - A sugar cookie variant for cinnamon lovers.

Popularity: 57% [?]

After months of work, I have just completed the first of three online courses on chocolate making for Artisanschool.com

This first course - Basics Of Chocolate Molding, teaches how to use all the basic mold types as well as mold painting. Additionally, basics such as equipment, melting chocolate, and de molding are also covered. This course takes approximately 20 - 30 hours to complete, and instructor help is available via course message board which is monitored several times daily for fast answers. Tuition is inexpensive, or free with purchase of the course materials kit.

A free sample mini course Basics Of Chocolate Craft is also offered - This is excerpted from the Basics of Chocolate Molding course and although it is a free sample -  it is a complete course on basic open top molding. The sample course takes 1 - 2 hours to complete. This course will teach the casual chocolate maker the necessary basics - those who wish to advance further or make chocolates for sale will likely want to continue into the full course.

Future courses planned are Advanced Chocolate Molding Techniques, and Techniques for Non Molded Chocolates. Artisanschool features online courses that are self guiding, work at your own pace, and have expert help available if needed.

Popularity: 31% [?]

The eighth issue of my chocolate, candy, and baking e-zine (digital magazine) is now available.  This is the largest issue so far and is packed with projects.

It is free, so give it a spin. This 2.98 Mb file is a 10 second download on a cable modem, somewhat longer on a slower connection.

The current issue as well as all back issues may be downloaded here.

Popularity: 30% [?]

This sugar skull inspired article shows how to make edible skull pops in white chocolate. Unlike sugar skulls, these are edible and a great  simplified Dias de Los Muertos (Day of the Dead)  project for younger children. Obviously, they would also be a good Halloween treat.  They are very simple to make and Free Illustrated instructions are available.

Popularity: 33% [?]

… Along comes something so bizzarre that you have to do a double take to make sure you are not hallucinating. While making a batter for some deep fried pickles tonight, I discovered that my eggs were actually printed with advertising.

Strange, but I figured they must be promoting another product. On closer inspection it turns out that they are not even advertising food - it is an ad for a PBS show called The War. I’m not sure how they made this leap thinking that eggs are a good media for advertising a tv show called The War. Perhaps they have demographics showing that The War’s average viewer cooks a lot.

Popularity: 31% [?]

I just finished putting the finishing touches on this fun and easy project. It uses cookie cutters and non-pareils in a non traditional way to create these cool chocolates. As usual the instructions are free and fully illustrated.

See: Non-Pareil Jack O’ Lantern Project

Popularity: 32% [?]

I recently tried my hand at making ice cream with mixed results. Since my preferred flavor is French Vanilla, that is what I chose to start. It came out very creamy, but was not as strongly vanilla tasting as I would have liked. Why did my vanilla not taste as strong as it should? This prompted me to do some research.

There are 3 main sources of vanilla flavor:

• Vanilla Beans - Obviously the best source, but at roughly 8 ro 12 dollars a bean, not in the budget for half a gallon of ice cream.
• Real Vanilla Extract - Extracted from vanilla beans and seemingly the obvious choice for the budget minded quality ice cream maker.
• Imitation Vanilla Extract - Primarily vanillin, typically a by product of the paper industry. This is the vanilla most of us are familiar with and  has a much higher amount of “vanilla  flavor” than other sources.

I used real vanilla extract. I used 25% more than my recipe called for. I got a really creamy ice cream with a faint flavor of vanilla. I was not a happy camper.

Time to hit the internet. Apparently those of use who have been eaten artificial vanilla all our lives find real vanilla less flavorful. But wait! How can that be ? I have been eating vanilla ice cream with visible beans all my life!

Yes, those black specks may be real vanilla beans, but are what are termed “exhausted vanilla beans”.  Meaning the  flavor has already been extracted - they are just there for show.

The bottom line is that if you want a strong vanilla flavor - stick to imitation vanilla extract.  It has a lot more vanillin than pure extract.  Pure vanilla is a complex taste with over 250 organic compounds, but contains far less vanillin than imitation extract. And for most of us, that vanillin is what we associate with the word vanilla.

Popularity: 40% [?]