12/24/19
(Above: Il pane – the bread – that I made this morning.)
Active Summary: After the beef pasture check and the morningly bout of creative writing, I ventured up to Oldhouse and spent the remainder of the day’s early hours in the kitchen. There, I tended to a variety of tasks: mixing/kneading bread dough, dry-brining the turkey, putting together a gravy from vegetables and turkey parts, baking bread, making chocolate/vanilla coconut ice creams (more in TIL), preparing salad / baking potatoes for lunch, and putting together a bacon/egg sandwich for a brother who is not-so-vegetably inclined.
(5:26 PM Update:) Just got in from farm activities, showered, and now I’m about to head out to Aneta’s Bistro for a Christmas Eve meal.
TIL: Today I learned a useful tip and an effective method while pre-cooking a portion of tomorrow’s lunch. The tip occurred while I was making gravy. I had accidentally added ¼ cup too much vinegar (to something that was about 3 cups in total), so I really wanted to take the acidity out. Unfortunately, simmering the gravy did not do anything, so I instead added a sweet potato and half an onion to dilute it. That did not work either, but just as I was about to deem the mixture a failure, I found an interesting fact: Baking soda, when added in small amounts, can remove the acidity of vinegar by transforming the ‘tang-inducing agent’ into carbon dioxide. So, that is what I did. The gravy got foamy – very foamy – for the first two ¼ tsp. of baking soda, but after it settled and became a thick mixture once more, it tasted like gravy. And good gravy at that.
As for the aforementioned method, it involved the making of coconut ice cream. Instead of simply stirring the ingredients together and pouring them into an icecube tray, I whipped the coconut milk/cream* before stirring in the other ingredients. This created a mixture that was much more resemblant to a mousse rather than ‘milk ice’. Thus, it will not need to be blended as it did in the ice-cube tray method, and the texture should end up quite a lot smoother. I learned this method from The Minimalist Baker; the only substitutions I made were 1/2 cup of coconut milk instead of unsweetened almond milk AND 1/2 cup coconut sugar instead of 14-16 ounces pitted dates.
Commentary: It has been a grey drizzly day outside, and as such, provided me with an excellent morning for kitchen tasks. As far as highlights go, I would say that there are three. The first two have already been described in the TIL section. I really was surprised by the efficacy of baking soda when it came to removing vinegar from the gravy, and as for the coconut ice-cream… I’ll just say that I performed plenty of taste tests.
The third highlight has yet to occur, for it shall be happening at 6 PM this evening. At that time, Madre, Padre, my brother, and I will be sitting down for dinner at Aneta’s Bistro in Ocala. There, we shall feast upon an assortment of Polish entrées, drink a variety of Polish beers and wines, and possibly nibble on myriad desserts. No doubt, there shall be much deliciousness involved, and if tonight permits, a picture will be included below:
Final Note: Tomorrow is Christmas Day, so I will likely be cooking in the morning once again.
*I used a mixture of these 1 part milk to 3 parts cream.