While in Mexico earlier this year, I decided to try my hand at some pork carnitas. The only cut of meat the butcher had was a beautiful loin, so I went with that. Traditionally carnitas are nice fatty roasts fried in lard in a big copper pot. Here I was with no copper pot, and no roast. Time to figure something else out. I did… and it is spectacular.
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Author Archives: Ben
Sweet Potato Fries. Double Fried Goodness.
This recipe works well with regular potatoes as well, but with a good sweet potato these things rock! Continue reading
Tuxedo Cake. It’s big. It’s delicious. It’s contrasty.
This is my “go to” cake recipe. This thing is so tasty and fun to make. The recipe comes from Rebecca Rather’s “The Pastry Queen” cookbook. If you are tired of buttercream icing and want something a little more fluffy and light, try this one out. Continue reading
Hollah if you like Challah!
Last night I had some time to myself for a bit, and decided to make some Challah. According to Judaism 101, “Challah is a special kind of bread used for Shabbat and holidays”. I am not Jewish, but the bread looks beautiful and tastes great! This recipe comes from George Greenstein’s book, “Secrets of a Jewish Baker’.
The Restoration of an Enterprise No. 60 Gristmill circa 1916
After a great trip to Homestead Heritage in Waco, TX last year, I told my wife, “Man, I sure would like a gristmill!” At Homestead Heritage they had a nice water powered grinding stone where they would grind all sorts of grains. Being a bread baker, I really wanted to try my hand at some freshly ground grains for a change. No less than 48 hours later, my wonderful wife came home with this gorgeous piece of history: Continue reading
Goat Milk Ice Cream with Olive Oil and Sea Salt
Here’s the thing…I love ice cream. I always have. That being said, I REALLY love homemade ice cream, I don’t think anything compares. In search of my favorite recipe for ice cream, I can only thank one of my oldest friends from grade school for letting me in on the secret (Thanks, Aaron). Four ingredients: (Milk, Cream, Sugar, Vanilla), no cooking, no cooling, just straight up, mix, and put in the maker. Continue reading
Norwegian waffles! …the way my friend’s great grandmother used to make!
Let me just start by saying, these things are AWESOME! I discovered these little beauties while travelling in San Miguel de Allende earlier this month. We had the privilege to meet some wonderful people that were part of an acrobat troop there called Gravity Works, one of which was Norwegian. Kalyana was nice enough to invite us to his house and cook for us. Continue reading
Agarita Jelly, how to harvest and how to make it
Back in May of 2010, I noticed around the farm that we had an ABUNDANCE of beautiful agarita berries. If you have never heard of agaritas before, they are a Texas native plant that produce a very sweet-tart like red berry about the 1/4″ in diameter. Someone said, “Hey you should make some agarita jelly!”. Sure, why not. Continue reading