Welcome to #CheckIn for SATURDAY, 2025-05-03
When I moved to Australia I found that lots of cooking things were different. Not only do people measure in metric, some of the non-metric measures--such as a Tablespoon--are also different. Add to that ingredients which aren't quite the same and cook differently.
My first year making Thanksgiving here I couldn't source a box of Jiffy cornbread in order to add that to the menu. Not a problem, I will make it from scratch. So I find a recipe online, and it goes over like a treat! Delicious! People ask for the recipe, but no one can duplicate my results. Eventually, I realise that out of pure dumb luck my substitutes had uplifted the recipe!
Have you had any fortunate accidents in your life, cooking or otherwise, where something turned out better than expected?
Today’s topic is suggested by @Muse but there’s always an element of randomness. Grab your beverage preference (pixel or not), follow Wheaton’s Law and enjoy the space.
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Paul Ferguson
in reply to Muse • • •like this
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Muse
in reply to Muse • • •That's what we want!
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Samuel Smith
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Muse
in reply to Muse • • •Karl Auerbach
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Paul Ferguson
in reply to Muse • • •like this
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Jodi
in reply to Muse • • •Well, there was the Thanksgiving turkey....the short version is my parents were away, and my brother and I were doing it ourselves. He had a fancy new oven, and we didn't really know how to use it. Put the turkey in. Wait. Wait some more. Realize the oven had turned off. Turned it back on. Rinse. Repeat. Finally, after what seemed like weeks, it was done. Best turkey ever.
Similarly, mom left a roast in the oven on low to defrost. Came back much later than expected. Perfectly cooked.
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Griff Ferrell
in reply to Muse • • •Now I want cornbread with jalapenos and cheese. yum
Happy accidents, not that I can think of, but lots of recipe fails
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Muse
in reply to Muse • • •@Paul Ferguson Hey! You're first!
🏆🥳
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Joyce Donahue
in reply to Muse • • •No fortunate cooking accidents I can think of, but...
My life has been a series of accidents, both fortunate and unfortunate. In the end, more fortunate than not. 🫤
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Jay Bryant
in reply to Muse • • •Griff Ferrell likes this.
Cass
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Jay Bryant
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((( David "Kahomono" Frier )))
in reply to Muse • • •In 1997, I was playing poker online at a site called gamestorm.com (it doesn't exist anymore). The regulars on this site would chat. This one player, Panthera Uncia, used to impress me with their knowledge of the game, and ability to fold (a highly underrated action among beginners).
One day I had occasion to ask them for an email address so I could send them some spreadsheets - compilations of odds / probabilities. They were on Prodigy so the address was a random string @prodigy.com. They got the spreadsheets and sent back a thank you email, which game me her name, Jill.
We're together 27 years now, married for 21 of them.
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Christoph S
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Holly Jahangiri
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Griff Ferrell
in reply to Holly Jahangiri • • •@Holly Jahangiri Okay, I've got to know
Rubber bands in red sauce over concrete
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Griff Ferrell
in reply to Griff Ferrell • • •Mark Wollschlager likes this.
Joyce Donahue
in reply to Muse • • •In other news, today is a sunny, cool choir concert day for me. This afternoon we willl be singing the Haydn Te Deum, Eric Whitaker's Five Hebrew Love Songs and more. After that Monday night rehearsals are on hiatus until September.
My life: eat, sleep, sing.
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Mark Wollschlager
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DeanC
in reply to Muse • • •Once I tried making a mint sauce for lamb out of Altoids. Let me just say the recipe needs a bit of work.
I've read On Food and Cooking and am knowledgeable about the basic processes, so usually when I "make a recipe" it is more a matter of glancing at baking temperatures and the ratios of ingredients and doing things I've done dozens of times, and it almost always comes out fine or even quite good.
I do tend to overconfidence, so when particular techniques or exact measurements are important to the success of a dish and all I do is glance at the recipe first, well, my mileage does vary…
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Muse
in reply to Muse • • •@deanc "Once I tried making a mint sauce for lamb out of Altoids."
BWAHAHAHAHA!!! A+ for creativity!
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Lisa Stranger
in reply to Muse • • •The only time I've ever made perfect boiled eggs, I realized after I started them that I lacked a critical ingredient for the recipe they were going into. Turned them off, went to the store (not far), came back and they were just right. Usually I overcook them so badly that they get the green ring. In trying to avoid that, once or twice I've undercooked them.
Now I just buy them in bulk at Costco.
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Lisa Stranger
in reply to Muse • • •and I haz cornbread envy 😋 made chili tonight, but didn't feel like finding the cornbread mix, making a mess, then not having anywhere to stash the resulting leftovers (went to Costco yesterday, fridge is kinda stacked)
at least I can get gf cornbread... Kroger's is the best available, Krusteaz is good too—but I'd smack somebody's grandma for a stash of Kentucky Kernel
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Mark Wollschlager
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Jodi
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Griff Ferrell
in reply to Jodi • • •@Jodi
This is content I signed I signed up for
Recipe please?
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Jodi
in reply to Muse • • •@Griff Ferrell here you go.
This is a Jacques Pepin recipe
Chocolate Hazelnut Brownie
5 Tbsp unsalted butter
6 oz. semisweet (or bittersweet) chocolate
1/2 cup shelled hazelnuts
1/2 cup light brown sugar
1/2 cup granulated sugar
2 large eggs
1 tsp vanilla extract.
Heat oven to 350. Line 8 inch tart pan with foil and butter that with 1/2 tsp of the butter.* Break up the chocolate and add to a glass bowl. Then add the remaining butter. Microwave for 1 minute on high, then let it sit for 5 minutes. If necessary, heat again for 1 minute. Remove and stir until it's all melted.
Pour the hazelnuts onto a cookie sheet and toast in the oven for 5 minutes. Let them cool, put them in a plastic bag and crush them with a pot or a rolling pin.
Add the sugars, eggs, and vanilla to a bowl and whisk until smooth. Add the nuts and the chocolate and fold with a rubber spatula until its all mixed. Pour into the brownie pan. Bake for 20 minutes
... show more@Griff Ferrell here you go.
This is a Jacques Pepin recipe
Chocolate Hazelnut Brownie
5 Tbsp unsalted butter
6 oz. semisweet (or bittersweet) chocolate
1/2 cup shelled hazelnuts
1/2 cup light brown sugar
1/2 cup granulated sugar
2 large eggs
1 tsp vanilla extract.
Heat oven to 350. Line 8 inch tart pan with foil and butter that with 1/2 tsp of the butter.* Break up the chocolate and add to a glass bowl. Then add the remaining butter. Microwave for 1 minute on high, then let it sit for 5 minutes. If necessary, heat again for 1 minute. Remove and stir until it's all melted.
Pour the hazelnuts onto a cookie sheet and toast in the oven for 5 minutes. Let them cool, put them in a plastic bag and crush them with a pot or a rolling pin.
Add the sugars, eggs, and vanilla to a bowl and whisk until smooth. Add the nuts and the chocolate and fold with a rubber spatula until its all mixed. Pour into the brownie pan. Bake for 20 minutes.
He had an optional whipped cream and Grand Marnier garnish (which I did't do, I just went with vanilla ice cream):
1 C heavy cream
1 1/2 T Grand Marnier
1 tsp grated orange zest
5 05 6 fresh mint leaves
For that, put everything except the mint in a bowl and mix until the cream forms peaks. Scoop some of that over the brownie, and add the mint.
*Not having a tart pan and since I hate using foil, I used a baking dish and buttered and floured it. You can also use a brownie pan. He cut the tart in wedges; the brownies would be in squares.
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Griff Ferrell
in reply to Jodi • • •@Jodi Jacques Pepin, ah then it is delicious. I watched all the PBS shows with Jacques Pepin
thank you for the recipe and info
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DeanC
in reply to Muse • • •Lisa Stranger
in reply to Muse • • •🙋♀️ guilty of sweet cornbread
slathered in butter
texture is what varies wildly
Pamela's is delish but disintegrates when you touch it (much less butter it)
Krusteaz holds together pretty well
Kroger is better
Kentucky Kernel is virtually indistinguishable from gluten-glued stuff
stands on Dean's marble stoop with a gravy cup
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((( David "Kahomono" Frier )))
in reply to Muse • • •Slather it in butter & brush it with honey.
Cornbread is allowed to be as sweet as it wants!
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Griff Ferrell
in reply to Muse • • •Crowder, field, or black-eyed peas cooked with onion a hunk of fatty smoked pork (turkey), and salt. With turnip, mustard, and/or collard greens, with bacon grease and/or pork fat, seasoning. Steamed butter cabbage. All served with a basket of jalapeno cornbread*, and tea (un-sweet ofc)
chicken fried steak, mashed taters, cream gravy
*jalapeno cornbread is un-sweet and perfect for sopping up the pot liquor **
**I am hungry now, insert homer drooling.png
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((( David "Kahomono" Frier )))
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Lisa Stranger
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