Hobbies Smogon Food & Cooking Thread 2

[Fishy]

yo!!!

been using my oven before it gets super hot again, only been making and remaking 2 things recently: lemon bars and homemade pizza

fooood

the picture with two pizzas were made a few days ago!! they were eaten so fast by friends i was actually annoyed, i wanted more for myself ehehe

i definitely burnt the lemon bars my first go, my oven gets about 25° hotter than where i set my dial, which i only learned through trial and error. baking recipes in particular always annoy me, at least searching for them, because many recipes will list steps and take their explanations for granted.

my main error with lemon bars has been them browning on top, because the custard is getting too hot!!! WELL apparently i should be chilling the shortbread while i make the custard, which makes extra sense since the custard warms up too fast and gets brown grrrrr if you don't do this. the filling has been DELICIOUS but the browning. i shall defeat thee.

the middle pizza picture also suffered from being a bit overbaked, pre-oven knowledge. still fucking gooood though

 

[The Strap]

This is going to be a massive post. to give some background, I've been a cake decorator for about 2 years at a popular grocery store in the US. I've made all sorts of cakes/cupcake cakes ranging from number changed cakes to novelty cakes such as the ones you're about to see. before i post them, I will be posting them in chronological order to show the somewhat minimal journey I've had. this one is for you folk.

Cakes

Cakes

Cakes

 

[willdbeast]

This is going to be a massive post.

he aint joking don't open this on mobile data y'all

 

[UT]

he aint joking don't open this on mobile data y'all

No really he’s not joking either I have to buy a new phone now

 

[Oglemi]

Those Spider-Man (all of them) and Mario Kart cakes are rad as hell.

I'm really intrigued by the chocolate/coffee flower looking one though, those look like they'd be right up my alley. What flavor were they?

View attachment 773494

 

[The Strap]

Those Spider-Man (all of them) and Mario Kart cakes are rad as hell.

I'm really intrigued by the chocolate/coffee flower looking one though, those look like they'd be right up my alley. What flavor were they?

It's a Chocolate cake with cream cheese icing and chocolate and fudge trim around the edges

 

[Fishy]

HEY, COOKING IS A GREAT SKILL AND YOU SHOULD DO MORE OF IT!!!

my lovely dovely boyfriend got me an Unofficial Studio Ghibli cook book, and the first thing i attempted to make was this:

tuscan salmon with glazed carrots and carrot-top oil

salmon steaks simmered in rosemary & thyme olive oil, topped with a creamy parmesan sauce including parsley shoots and sundried tomatoes, garnished with pine nuts and my arugula* oil! the carrots i could have glazed more by using more sugar and water and less butter, and my sauce was too thick, which i'll correct next time by using half the called for liquid cream and using milk for the other half. it was a THICK, RICH and certainly creamy sauce, but boooy did it make me sleepy. 10/10, this was a porco rosso dish and now i really wanna watch the movie

i also sauteed some broccoli and spinach to add more veggies to the meal, i chose to char the broccoli since there was already so much savory and sweetness present

*i couldn't find carrots with tops where i shopped so i substituted pureeing arugula instead for the green oil sitting on the sauce. MAN i want this again right nowww

 

[uppa]

made pretzels from scratch YUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUM YUM YUM!

dough: 1cup of water, 1tsp yeast, 1tbs sugar, 2tbs melted butter, 1tsp salt, 3-4 cups bread flour depending on what you have. I just kneaded in as much as it could take between rests. Once it's not sticky anymore, let it proof for an hour or more. I went and caught bugs with my friends in the meantime. once it's puffed up youll want to divide it into 4 portions, and then shape them into pretzels using your arts and crafts skills (try to roll out the arms of the pretzels more than the belly, they need to be fairly long) and maybe proof them a final time before they go in the alkaline bath. I didn't and they turned out great, but they might have been fluffier inside if I did.

The bath: the reason bagels and pretzels can get so brown without getting overcooked on the inside is that the surface of the dough is chemically altered when it's boiled in an alkali. I used washing soda for this, which I made by heating baking soda in a dry pan until it stopped clumping. I eyeballed how much washing soda to use, but the goal is for the pretzels to turn a little yellow once they've spent 10-30 seconds in the boiling solution. The wtaer will start to turn yellow as well as you dip more in, I think because the maillaird reaction is happening at such a low temperature and a bit of the starch from the pretzels dissolves into the water and browns. After each one is boiled, dunk them in a bowl of fresh water to rinse off any washing soda particles that could stick to the pretzel and make it bitter.

baking: i did them at 425F for exactly 15 minutes and they came out beautifully. sprinkle salt on then before they go in and while the surfaces are wet. they taste like a mall soft pretzel but with a crispy bottom thats more like a crispy snack pretzel.

 

[Fishy]

View attachment 807229
made pretzels from scratch YUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUM YUM YUM!

dough: 1cup of water, 1tsp yeast, 1tbs sugar, 2tbs melted butter, 1tsp salt, 3-4 cups bread flour depending on what you have. I just kneaded in as much as it could take between rests. Once it's not sticky anymore, let it proof for an hour or more. I went and caught bugs with my friends in the meantime. once it's puffed up youll want to divide it into 4 portions, and then shape them into pretzels using your arts and crafts skills (try to roll out the arms of the pretzels more than the belly, they need to be fairly long) and maybe proof them a final time before they go in the alkaline bath. I didn't and they turned out great, but they might have been fluffier inside if I did.

The bath: the reason bagels and pretzels can get so brown without getting overcooked on the inside is that the surface of the dough is chemically altered when it's boiled in an alkali. I used washing soda for this, which I made by heating baking soda in a dry pan until it stopped clumping. I eyeballed how much washing soda to use, but the goal is for the pretzels to turn a little yellow once they've spent 10-30 seconds in the boiling solution. The wtaer will start to turn yellow as well as you dip more in, I think because the maillaird reaction is happening at such a low temperature and a bit of the starch from the pretzels dissolves into the water and browns. After each one is boiled, dunk them in a bowl of fresh water to rinse off any washing soda particles that could stick to the pretzel and make it bitter.

baking: i did them at 425F for exactly 15 minutes and they came out beautifully. sprinkle salt on then before they go in and while the surfaces are wet. they taste like a mall soft pretzel but with a crispy bottom thats more like a crispy snack pretzel.

omgggg now you need to make some cheese dip!!