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creamy oatmeal

March 2, 2021 by Kathryn Pauline 47 Comments

oatmeal with strawberries

I’m not one for making big splashy statements. But since oatmeal is probably the least splashy food of all time, maybe you’ll allow me just one. The way we have all decided to cook our oatmeal is not making us happy! We have turned oatmeal into a stodgy blob, and it is no longer living its best life. If you enjoy that gloopy texture, or if you’re already a fan of creamy oatmeal, you can totally sit this one out. I am not here to yuck your yum, or to tell you something you already know.

This post is for everyone who finds oatmeal to be a constant disappointment. So if oatmeal makes you feel as though your own personal malaise has somehow manifested in a non-newtonian fluid, this post is for you. Only 6% of folks in the US consume it (4% in the under 35 age bracket). So even though you’re here voluntarily reading about oatmeal, I have to imagine you might have some reservations.

Oatmeal was never my personal favorite, until I started recreating the creamy oatmeal my grandmother makes. A lot of other Assyrian and Middle Eastern porridges share a similar texture, and the technique is always super easy:

For silky-smooth and creamy oatmeal, use way more liquid than the side of the box tells you to.

Drown your oats with water and milk and simmer until they go from watery to velvety smooth. Then pour (yes, pour! not plonk!) some into a bowl and top with your favorite fruit. With stodgy/gloopy oats, the fruit pieces tend to perch atop the rock-hard surface like ducks on a frozen lake. But you’ll know you did something right when your fruit pieces gloriously nestle into the porridge.

what’s in this post

Before I get to my recipe, I’ve got a little intro to creamy oats:

  1. I’ll talk a bit about why I think rolled oats tend to be under-appreciated.
  2. I’ll also explain why I think some folks tend to be nervous about adding extra liquid.
  3. Finally I’ll share the details of this method.
  4. Or feel free to skip to the recipe if you’re already excited to try creamy oatmeal for yourself.

first, know your oats!

There are lots of different kinds of oats, but there are three popular ones that you should know about. This post is a love letter to old fashioned rolled oats. But I’ll be referring to the other two as well, so you should know the differences:

  • Irish/steel cut oats: These are just whole oat grains that have been cut into chunks. And since they’re whole chunks of oat, they take longer to cook than the rolled variety. Steel cut oats are known for their ability to retain a chewy texture, but you can also use them to make a thinner, creamier oatmeal.
  • Old fashioned rolled oats: These are the oats that you’d simmer on the stovetop for about 10 to 15 minutes. (They’re also the kind you’d use in an oatmeal cookie recipe). They look like someone took an oat grain, steamed it, smashed it flat, and dried it out… which is actually quite literally how they are processed. Flattening them shortens their cook time.
  • Instant oats: These look a little like old fashioned rolled oats, and they’re processed in the same way. But instant oats are merely flattened to the next degree, and usually a little broken up into smaller crumbs. These oats are designed to be so flat that you can just steep them in hot water instead of simmering. I don’t love these, and don’t really know anyone who does, but they work great for backpacking and busy mornings.

why rolled oats are under-appreciated

While steel cut oats have a pretty strong fan club, old fashioned rolled oats tend to go under-appreciated. I think that’s because folks often ask rolled oats to behave in a way that doesn’t play to their strengths. Here are a few ways I believe rolled oats are misunderstood:

1. You can’t replicate the chewy texture of steel cut oats in rolled oats:

Steel cut oats are a great idea if you’d like to really embrace the chew (though they are very versatile, and also work perfectly well in a silkier, creamier porridge). But old fashioned rolled oats are wonderful on their own terms, and are best made into a velvety, creamy porridge. Unfortunately, most recipes use way too little liquid in an attempt to create a steel-cut-adjacent texture. This results in a stodgy gloop. Best not to try to make your old fashioned oats behave as steel cut oats.

2. Overnight oats don’t deliver on their promises:

Some have tried to solve the mushy oatmeal texture problem by introducing an overnight soak for rolled oats. This supposedly retains their chew and texture. Full disclosure, the texture of overnight oats is just not for me (though again, not yucking your yum). But even if you enjoy overnight oats’ texture, you have to admit, they’re not exactly chewy. Rolled oats just can’t be expected to “retain” their chew, since they were never really chewy to begin with.

3. The ingredient ratios on the old fashioned rolled oat box are questionable:

This is the original sin, which led to the need for such interventions as overnight oats and chewy steel cut. Following the ingredient ratios on the box of rolled oats results in the gloopiest oatmeal texture ever, one that sets up even before it hits the bowl. There’s just not enough liquid.

If you don’t like oatmeal, it might just be because you’ve had it prepared this way. Again, I’m not here to tell you to stop enjoying something you love. But given oatmeal’s staggering unpopularity, as well as the entrenched status of this cooking method, I have to assume this method of preparation is not working for many people.

4. Instant oats give people watery oats anxiety, but “watery” is not the same as “smooth and creamy”:

Whenever I tell someone that I add a lot of liquid to my oats to make them super creamy, people often respond by saying “hmm, but wouldn’t that just make them super watery and mushy?” If you’ve ever had instant rolled oats steeped in boiling water or milk, you’re probably familiar with that watery/soggy texture. I’m pretty sure the soggy disaster of instant oats is the reason folks are afraid of adding more liquid to their old fashioned rolled oats. But this sets up a totally false dichotomy between watery/soggy oats and gloopy/stiff oats. There is a creamy alternative out there, which is nothing like either.

The bottom line: when cooking old fashioned rolled oats, always shoot for creamy and silky, rather than firm and chewy. When cooking steel cut oats, go for either firm and chewy or creamy and silky. And when cooking instant oats… maybe consider cracking open a box of pop tarts instead! (Save me a s’mores or strawberry one please!)

silky-creamy oatmeal

My favorite method of cooking rolled oats: 1 part oats to 4 parts liquid (by volume).

The key to perfect old fashioned rolled oats is to use about twice as much liquid as most recipes say to use. Most recipes (including oatmeal boxes) have you use a ratio of 1 part oats to 2 parts liquid by volume, but I much prefer 1 part oats to 4 parts liquid by volume (that’s about 1 part oats to 9 parts liquid by weight). Or if you don’t feel like doing the math, just follow the recipe at the end of this post.

If you’ve never made oatmeal this way, you’ll probably feel like you’ve made a huge mistake at first. Indeed, it looks like an awkwardly large amount of liquid for such a small amount of oats. It will look incredibly watery at first, like instant oats gone horribly wrong. But after about 15 minutes, its starches will swell and burst, a small amount of the liquid will cook off, and it will magically thicken into a velvety texture. It might still look slightly too thin, but it will set very slightly as it cools at the table.

As my grandmother would probably want me to remind you: Don’t forget that this method has fewer calories than thick gloopy oatmeal (depending on the kind of milk you use). So be generous with the serving size if you’re hungry. It’s very light, so you might want to eat a bigger bowl than usual if you like to start off your day with a big breakfast.

a world-wide love of creamy oatmeal:

This cooking method isn’t limited to just my family. When I lived in Hong Kong, I’d order porridge in cha chaan tengs, and it always shared the same texture. When my sister visited Peru, her host families all cooked their oatmeal the exact same way. In Melbourne (where I live), porridge is on every brunch menu, and it’s always perfectly silky smooth, never gloopy (and often topped with macerated rhubarb, *swoon*).

I also recently asked friends from our intersectional food writers’ facebook group, and we shared a similar experience of smooth and creamy oatmeal, having grown up in Indian, Filipino, Jewish, Puerto Rican, Korean, and Assyrian families (thanks Celeste, Nandita, Jessica, Caroline, Twilight, and everyone!).

how to top it:

The following recipe includes instructions for macerating strawberries, a really easy method for preparing a lightly sweetened fruit topping. You can macerate pretty much any fruit (especially peaches, plums, nectarines, other berries, etc.) by sprinkling them with a little sugar, and letting their juices accumulate in the fridge for at least 30 minutes (more like 24 hours is ideal). Use the syrup that collects sparingly (or generously!) as a little sweetener.

I packed some macerated berries, rolled oats, and dry milk on a camping trip a couple weeks ago, and we had such a lovely breakfast of porridge and coffee. I mostly brought the oatmeal for myself, but for lack of anything else to eat, Simon accepted a bowl of smooth and creamy oatmeal with a weary smile, and ever since, it’s become his new favorite breakfast. It was a fun turn of the tables, since Simon has always loved the outdoors, and I am a city mouse who has suddenly started to love camping after being cooped up indoors all year. It’s a good time to try something new!

Print

creamy oatmeal

oatmeal with strawberries
Print Recipe

★★★★★

5 from 13 reviews

  • Prep Time: 5
  • Cook Time: 15
  • Total Time: 20
  • Yield: 2 servings

Ingredients

for the oats:

  • ¾ cup old fashioned oats (gluten free ones, if necessary) [75g]
  • 1½ cups water [355g]
  • 1½ cups your milk of choice* [355g]
  • ¼ teaspoon salt
  • Toppings (e.g., macerated fruit, chopped nuts, spices, etc.)

for the strawberries:

  • 8 oz container strawberries [225g]
  • 2 tablespoons brown sugar [25g]
  • 1 teaspoon cinnamon (optional)
  • 1 teaspoon sumac (optional)
  • ¼ teaspoon salt

Instructions

  1. For the oats: Bring the oats, water, milk, and salt to a simmer in a small saucepan* over medium heat, stirring every minute or so. Once it comes to a simmer, reduce the heat to medium or medium-low and continue to simmer for about 15 minutes, stirring occasionally, until the liquid thickens and the oatmeal softens. It will start out watery, and at a certain point it will noticeably thicken (e.g., the bubbles will get bigger), while still remaining very pourable and creamy. Leave it uncovered the whole time, and be careful not to let it bubble over.
  2. Pour into bowls and let it cool off for a few minutes (it will thicken a little more after a couple minutes). Add your favorite toppings at the table (here, pictured with chopped walnuts and macerated strawberries).
  3. For the berries: Hull and quarter your strawberries, place in a jar along with brown sugar, cinnamon, sumac, and salt. Shake together until evenly coated, and place in the refrigerator for at least 10 minutes, up to overnight.
  4. Spoon the berries and rendered syrup over your oats.

Notes

* Feel free to use whole cow’s milk, or any vegan milk. Coconut milk is one of the strongest tasting vegan milks, so only use it if you’d like some coconut flavor to come through (if you’re using coconut milk, use the kind from a carton in this recipe—you can use the kind from a can, but you need to water it down to turn it into something more like the kind in the carton).

** If you’re using a wide pan instead of a small saucepan, you may need to add a bit more water as it cooks (more water will evaporate from a wide pan).

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Filed Under: breakfast, dairy free, every recipe, family recipes, gluten free, vegan, vegetarian Tagged With: berries, cinnamon, middle eastern, oats, porridge, strawberry, sumac

banana éclairs with orange blossom (+ variations)

February 9, 2021 by Kathryn Pauline 2 Comments

eclairs topped with chocolate ganache, a banana slice, and orange zest

Last week I promised I’d be back in March with some new recipes. But I just couldn’t resist bringing you these banana éclairs a little sooner, just in time for Valentine’s Day. Whip up a batch, box up a few to leave on your friends’ doorsteps, and don’t forget to save a few for yourself.

There’s a lot of technical stuff involved in éclair baking, but I’ve included all the important details in the recipe for orange blossom banana éclairs at the end of this post. So you should be able to tackle this project even if you’ve never worked with choux pastry before. It’s actually not as impossible as it seems, especially if you measure everything in grams. While éclairs do feature three separate components, each component is actually extremely doable.

the perfect éclair

Growing up, my family would routinely pick up desserts from the Swedish Bakery in Chicago (now sadly closed). They have a special place in my heart as the small business that gave my family so many of their first jobs after immigrating to the US. But they also just objectively had the best cakes, cookies, and éclairs in the city. So whenever I make a Swedish or French pastry, I do so with their baked goods in mind. In particular, their éclairs had a few important qualities that stand out:

1. A thick pastry cream:

Éclairs are usually filled with crème pâtissière (a custardy pastry cream). But the Swedish Bakery’s was significantly thicker than other éclairs I’ve tried. My ideal éclair’s creme pat doesn’t run or ooze easily, sets up super firmly after chilling, and doesn’t make the choux soggy. This banana pastry cream might seem like it has a lot of cornstarch, but it’s essential for the right texture.

2. Fudgy yet thin ganache glaze:

Éclair recipes are generally divided between those that include a chocolate glaze or icing and those that include a thick ganache. The Swedish Bakery topped theirs with a fudgy yet thin layer of ganache, which I’ve emulated here. It’s a little thinner than what you’d use to frost a cake, but a bit thicker than a chocolate glaze.

3. Crisp yet custardy pâte à choux:

Removing your shells from the oven at the exact right moment comes with practice, and it’s important to err on the side of a little more done if you’re ever unsure, lest they collapse at room temperature. Ideally, you’ll learn to time it so that they’re crisp enough to completely hold their shape as they cool, but not totally dried out inside, and still holding onto a very slightly custardy layer.

While I accurately recorded the times and temperatures in my recipe, it’s important to use your senses. Pay attention to what the éclairs look and feel like when you pull them out of the oven. They should feel hollow and brittle on the outside, and they shouldn’t have much give when you gently squeeze them. If you go much further beyond this point, they will burn and dry out. But if you pull them a few moments too soon, they will collapse as they cool.

pastry cream flavor variations:

The following recipe is for orange blossom-flavored banana éclairs. But you can easily change the pastry cream, ganache, and decorations. Just make sure you follow the following substitution guide, whether you’re replacing the banana, the orange blossom, or both:

  • For a more classic pastry cream, leave out the mashed banana and add 120g [1/2 cup] additional milk in its place. That’s a total of 720g [3 cups] milk, and no mashed banana.
  • You can also replace the 1 tablespoon orange blossom water with 1 teaspoon vanilla extract, rosewater, or almond extract. Feel free to do this with either banana pastry cream or plain pastry cream. Also leave the orange blossom water out of the ganache.
  • To decorate:
    • vanilla pastry cream éclairs: just go with a plain, undecorated chocolate glaze (omit the orange blossom water in the glaze).
    • rosewater pastry cream élciars: add 1/4 teaspoon rosewater to the chocolate glaze in place of the orange blossom water, and sprinkle some edible dried rose petals on top of the chocolate ganache.
    • almond pastry cream éclairs: sprinkle some sliced toasted almonds or finely ground raw green pistachios on top, and omit the orange blossom water in the glaze.
Print

banana éclairs with orange blossom water

eclairs topped with chocolate ganache, a banana slice, and orange zest
Print Recipe

★★★★★

5 from 1 reviews

  • Prep Time: 40 minutes
  • Total Time: 2 hours
  • Yield: 12 to 14 éclairs

Ingredients

for choux pastry:

  • 235g water [1 cup]
  • 55g butter [4 tablespoons]
  • 10g sugar [2 teaspoons]
  • ½ teaspoon salt
  • 165g flour [1¼ cup]
  • 4 large eggs broken into a measuring cup [200g]

for pastry cream:

  • 600g milk [2½ cups]
  • 130g granulated sugar [⅔ cup]
  • 15g orange blossom water [1 tablespoon]
  • 2 large eggs [100g]
  • 1 egg yolk [20g]
  • 50g cornstarch [¼ cup + 1 tablespoon]
  • 1 large ripe (not overripe) banana, mashed [140g]
  • Salt

for ganache and decoration:

  • ½ cup heavy cream [115g]
  • 3.5 oz dark chocolate (at least 70% cocoa) [100g]
  • ½ teaspoon orange blossom water
  • Salt
  • Banana chips and orange zest for decoration (optional)

Instructions

for the choux pastry:

  1. Preheat your oven to 400°F [205°C].
  2. Place the water, butter, sugar, and salt in a small saucepan, and bring to a low boil over medium-high heat. Once the butter has melted and you see a few big bubbles, remove from heat and immediately dump in the flour. Stir together until it forms a firm ball. Move the ball to a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment. Turn the mixer to medium-low for about 15 seconds just to break it up and help it cool down. Once it stops steaming momentarily, turn the mixer back to medium-low and add the first egg while it’s running. Once the first egg has incorporated into the dough completely (about 30 to 45 seconds), continue adding one egg at a time, waiting to let each one incorporate between additions. Once the eggs have been incorporated, the pastry should drop from the tip of the lifted paddle in a distinct v shape. Transfer it to 1 large or 2 small piping bags.
  3. Line two sheet pans with parchment paper. Cut the tip of the piping bag to leave an approximately ½ to ¾-inch diameter opening. Place a small dot of pastry under the 4 corners of each parchment sheet to help it stick to the sheet pan. Pipe 4 to 5-inch-long straight lines, leaving a generous amount of space between them (they will approximately double or triple in size).
  4. Move to the oven and bake for about 15 minutes, then lower the temperature to 350°F [180°C] and bake for about 20 more minutes. Let them cool at room temperature for at least 15 minutes before cutting open or piping.

for the pastry cream:

  1. Combine the milk, sugar, and orange blossom water in a large saucepan or small stockpot. Set over medium heat and let it come up to a simmer.
  2. While it comes up to a simmer, separately mix the eggs, yolk, cornstarch, and banana together in a medium mixing bowl until there are no raw cornstarch lumps.
  3. Once the milk is just simmering, remove from heat and slowly dribble it into the egg/banana mixture while whisking constantly. Return the egg/banana/milk mixture to the saucepan and bring to a simmer over medium heat, stirring constantly. It will thicken as it comes to a simmer.
  4. Once bubbles break the surface, continue to cook for about 1 more minute, then remove from heat to cool.
  5. Once it’s not piping hot, move to a pastry bag (ideally fitted with a large round tip, but if not, just fill the bag and snip it when you’re ready to use it. If you’re not using a pastry tip, it’s usually best to slice/pipe/sandwich instead of fill, otherwise it can be tricky to get the plastic tip to insert into the end of each eclair). Pipe it while it’s warm or at room temperature.

for the ganache:

  • When you’re ready to dip, bring the cream to a bare simmer over medium heat in a small saucepan. Once the cream is barely simmering, remove from heat and add the chocolate, orange blossom water, and a pinch of salt. Swirl to make sure the chocolate is completely submerged. Let it sit for about 1 minute, and then whisk it together until it’s thickened and completely homogenous. Do not reheat, and dip within about 5 to 15 minutes of making.

to assemble:

  • Once the shells cool, slice the eclairs open along their length or poke a hole on one end. Pipe or spread pastry cream into the middle (then sandwich them back together if you sliced them open). If you’re met with resistance halfway through piping, feel free to pipe from the other side as well. Make the ganache at the last moment. Dip the eclair tops in the ganache. Decorate immediately with banana chips and orange zest, if using (go easy on the orange zest, otherwise the delicate orange blossom flavor will get lost in the shuffle).

Notes

Storage: Store éclairs the refrigerator after filling and decorating. They will be best after about 1 hour of chilling, they’ll stay very good for several more hours. Try to make them within about 12 hours of serving if you’re making them for guests, but keep in mind that they’re still very tasty for a few days afterwards (they just might start to get some condensation on the ganache, and their shells will soften slightly in texture, but they shouldn’t become soggy). They generally keep for about 2 to 3 days before they decline significantly in quality.

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Filed Under: every recipe, sweets Tagged With: banana, chocolate, choux pastry, icing, orange blossom water

an announcement!

February 3, 2021 by Kathryn Pauline 14 Comments

If you have had a conversation with me in the last year, you’re probably already in the know, but for everyone else: I’m publishing a cookbook with Chronicle Books, scheduled to be out in spring of 2022! It’s pretty much the one cookbook I’ve always wished existed, so I’m pretty proud of it, and I hope it’s something you’ve always wished for too.

I’ll give more details closer to the release date, but for now I’ll just say that it’s a book that works hard for you, and with it you can make just about anything with whatever ingredients you’ve got. It’ll have you thinking on your feet, using what you have, and getting creative while shopping for seasonal produce. It includes lots of ideas for improvisation, and it’s packed to the brim with all of my favorite recipes.

I’m so excited to get to share it in just about one year from now… and if you feel like a year is a long time to wait, just be glad that I didn’t announce this back when I signed on and started working on it in January 2020! 😜

Here are a few updates on where I’m at in the process, where I’ve been, and what to expect of this blog in the next year or so (including a few of the necessary details, but also lots of feeeeeelings! I’ll do an actual post with more details about the book itself further down the line. This is more just me telling you about what’s up with me, dear-diary-style):

  • selecting backdrops
  • first day of shooting

what’s up currently:

I turned in a full draft of my manuscript a few months ago, then got right to work on the photography, which I just wrapped up earlier this week. There’s still a lot to do: we’ve got a bit of editing and probably some reshooting to be done, and the Chronicle design team is now working on creating the book’s layout and design (then comes the marketing plan, and some other behind the scenes stuff).

But it’s still an exciting moment to actually have a full draft of the manuscript and photos, and it’s been fun celebrating those little milestones along the way. I’m so glad to be working with such great editors and designers, and I feel really lucky my book found its home at Chronicle.

  • late night working
  • self care in the form of hiking with kangaroos

what’s been up:

If you’re a regular here, it’s probably no surprise that my blog has been largely neglected for the last few months while in the heart of writing and photographing my book. When you’re working under a deadline, it’s hard not to feel like every second of extra effort might make your book that little bit stronger and better, and the idea that the book is going to be printed and immutable has brought out the perfectionist in me like never before. She’s not pretty!

But I’m really proud of myself for bothering to take care of myself, and that I’ve done a more or less okay job of taking breaks and enjoying life while undertaking this project (especially in the middle of a global pandemic, which has made self care a challenge for us all). But you know… something’s gotta give! And unfortunately, my blog was that something.

It’s funny [she says, not laughing]—I actually had a rock-solid plan for blogging while book writing, but there was a little unexpected plot twist along the way.

Long story short, I had worked on a whole other proposal for about five months leading up to my move to Australia in 2019. While the first proposal I sent out was really strong, it did not get picked up (it was largely deemed too niche). But at the time, I had stockpiled months of blog content to make sure I had a good head start going into my book project.

So when that project went pear-shaped, I ended up burning through much of my stockpiled content while jumping right into the next idea (… which meant I eventually ran out of blog content toward the end of working on this book, and basically just went into radio silence for like four months, eek!). I guess it could’ve been worse—if it wasn’t for that stockpile, I would’ve been off the map for like a year and a half. But still! The best-laid plans, etc., etc.

Thanks in large part to the support of my wonderful agent, Andrianna, I jumped right into the next proposal a few days after abandoning the one that bombed. And it’s funny, one failure actually saved me from another, because I got the idea for my next proposal from yet another old proposal that didn’t pan out.

I wrote that very first baby proposal a long, long time ago, back when I had just been blogging for a year or two, and I stopped working on it to start working in a restaurant for a while. When the restaurant opportunity arose, I very eagerly abandoned the book proposal because I believed it had absolutely no shape, no perspective, and few good ideas.

Later on, I thought maybe I was just being too hard on myself, but I went back to look at it, and I can confirm: it was absolutely awful! It was not as strong as the second one (the one that bombed), and definitely not as strong as the third. But it did have this one little kernel of a good idea.

That tiny idea grew into a robust proposal surprisingly quickly, since it had been slowly percolating for years, and we got a new proposal out to publishers within a couple months of the other one not finding a home. It got picked up, I got to work, and it’s been one of the most rewarding years of my life.

  • so many pickles!
  • so much thorough testing!

what’s up next:

I’ve still got a lot of work to do on the book, but things are definitely becoming chill enough that I feel like I have time to start blogging again. There’ll probably be a little delay from now, because I like to work on a few posts at a time, but I think it’s safe to say you should start to see new recipes regularly here again by March. I’m so excited to get back to it!

Later on in 2021, I’m going to start posting some recipes here that are tangentially related to my book, and I’ll be sharing more about how the book works and what you can expect of it. My book allows you to make just about anything, with lots of possibilities for variation, so we’re going to really put that to the test here and come up with some new exciting things inspired by it next winter/spring.

So stay tuned, and thanks for sticking around. More soon!

x
Kathryn

Filed Under: Uncategorized

rosewater olive oil quince cake

October 8, 2020 by Kathryn Pauline 2 Comments

a rectangular quince loaf cake with light pink icing dripping down the sides and rose petals on top, from a 45 degree angle

Fall is the heart of pome fruit season. There’s all variety of apples, pears, and my all-time favorite: quince. You can absolutely make this recipe for rosewater olive oil quince cake with unsweetened apple sauce instead of quince purée. But if you happen to stumble upon some quince, this recipe is a wonderful opportunity to put them to use.

A little bit about quince:

They’re wonderful cooked down with sugar into a thick paste (membrillo) or reduced less to make a lovely jam. If you cook them for any moderately long period of time, they’ll turn the most incredible coral pink color. They’ve got a crazy amount of pectin, so they set up really well. You’ll also notice that when you cut them open, they will instantaneously start to brown. Don’t stress—this is just part of their charm. Think of it like wrinkles in linen.

Many online produce guides will go to great pains to inform you that eating quince raw is absolutely unheard of. However, they are indeed eaten raw in many parts of the world. This is partly because varieties in regions where they are eaten raw tend to be sweeter and less astringent. But I’ve got to say, my great grand father ate them raw from the time he lived in Syria to the time he lived in Chicago, and it apparently never phased him, so you do you.

serving suggestions

Whether the astringency of raw quince makes you swoon with delight or faint from distress, this cake makes a very happy tea-time snack for just about anyone. It’s lovely served with earl grey, and while you don’t need rose petals to decorate the top, it’s a nice touch. Quince are from the rose family, like most of your favorite fruits. But I’ve always felt like they’re the most floral of them all. So I love highlighting that note with a little extra flower power. Or feel free to go in a different direction with it, opting for a blend of apple pie spices instead of rosewater.

where to find quince

Finding quince isn’t so much a matter of seeking them out in specialty stores, as waiting all year for them to turn up in grocery stores. You’ll most likely find them in larger supermarkets from mid-fall through early winter, sometimes in the surrounding months.

Print

rosewater olive oil quince cake

loaf cake shot from above with a few slices fanned out from one end
Print Recipe

  • Prep Time: 25 minutes
  • Cook Time: 1 1/2 hours
  • Total Time: 2 hours
  • Yield: 8 servings

Ingredients

for the cake:

  • 1 very large or 2 medium quince*, peeled, cored**, and cut into 1-inch chunks
  • 105g extra virgin olive oil (1/2 cup)
  • 2 large eggs (110g)
  • 135g sugar (2/3 cup)
  • 10g rosewater (2 teaspoons)
  • 200g flour (1 1/2 cup)
  • 3/4 teaspoon salt
  • 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
  • 1/4 teaspoon baking soda

for the glaze and decoration:

  • 85g powdered sugar (3/4 cup)
  • 15g lemon juice (1 tablespoon)
  • 1/2 teaspoon rosewater
  • 1 drop pink food coloring (optional)
  • edible dried rose petals (optional)

Instructions

  1. Bring a small pot of water to a boil. Once boiling, add the quince and reduce heat to low or medium-low, just to maintain a bare simmer. Let the quince cook for about 45 minutes. They’re done once they’re soft enough to pierce easily with a butter knife.
  2. Strain the quince. Move to the bowl of a food processor fitted with the blade. Pulse until it’s very finely chopped/puréed. You should end up with 1 cup (235g). It’s ok to use a few tablespoons more if your quince were particularly large and you’ve got a smidge extra, but don’t add very much more than 1 cup.
  3. Preheat the oven to 350°F [180°C] and grease an 8×4” loaf pan.
  4. Combine the quince purée, olive oil, eggs, sugar, and rosewater in a medium mixing bowl. Add the flour to the bowl and sprinkle the salt, baking powder, and baking soda evenly on top of the flour. Mix everything together, being very careful not to over-mix. Stop as soon as there are no dry patches of flour.
  5. Pour the batter into the greased loaf pan. Bake for about 50 minutes, or until a paring knife inserted in the center comes out clean.
  6. Let the cake cool on a rack for at least 30 minutes before decorating or slicing.
  7. While you wait for the cake to cool, make the glaze: Whisk together the powdered sugar, lemon juice, rosewater, and food coloring. It’s done once there are no more lumps. Keep covered and whisk it again right before pouring.
  8. Drizzle the glaze on the cooled cake and immediately top with rose petals. Slice and enjoy. If you have any leftover, store at room temperature for a few days or in the freezer longer (never store in the refrigerator).

Notes

* Can substitute 235g (1 cup) unsweetened applesauce instead.

** Quince need to be cored a bit differently than other pome fruits (e.g., apples, pears, etc.). Split it open and use a small spoon (or measuring spoon/melon baller/corer) to scrape out the core and the stony area immediately surrounding the core. The core has the seeds and tough fibrous parts, but the area around the core also has some gritty bits, which you’ll want to eliminate. You can tell you’re done coring it once you no longer feel any rough gritty bits.

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Filed Under: every recipe, sweets Tagged With: apples, applesauce, cakes, fall, icing, loafcake, quince, rosewater, winter

How to write a reliable recipe

October 5, 2020 by Kathryn Pauline 2 Comments

I’ve been thinking a lot lately about what makes a recipe reliable. Being able to cook a dish is different from being able to teach someone else how to do the same. So in this post I’ll describe exactly how to write a recipe that will work for others just as well as it works for you. The secret? Personalizing your recipe-writing process based on your own strengths and values. (Plus I’ve shared my own process for recipe writing at the end of this post, for anyone who’s interested.)

I’ll start by saying the most important thing: There is more than one right way to write a recipe. Everyone’s process is different, but you can pretty much split things into two categories, which I’m calling the quantifiable approach and the instructional approach.

Folks who take a more quantifiable approach opt for something similar to the kinds of recipes you’d find in a conventional cookbook. On the other hand, some folks take a more instructional approach—for instance, consider the kinds of recipes you might learn orally from a family member, what you might find on a technique-focused cooking show like Lidia Bastianich’s, or a brilliantly conceptual illustrated guide like Samin Nosrat’s Salt, Fat, Acid, Heat.

There are reliable and unreliable versions of each, and writing a reliable recipe is simply a matter of communicating well.

there are effective and ineffective versions of each recipe writing strategy

It’s completely possible to write an absolutely inaccurate and unhelpful recipe that’s got plenty of measurements, times, temperatures, and all sorts of quantifiable information up the wazoo. For instance, let’s say you find a macaron recipe that lists everything in grams, but it just happens to be very poorly tested. You can follow that recipe as carefully as you want—it will always be a disaster.

It’s also possible to create an unhelpful instructional recipe that’s vague and confusing. We’ve all had that experience where we call our grandmother, asking for that cherished family recipe, but we don’t really know exactly what questions to ask, and she only has a few minutes to talk, so it just doesn’t end up translating in the kitchen. The problem is not that your grandmother isn’t providing precise enough measurements—it’s just that actually teaching that intuitive know-how takes a lot of time and effort and is an art form all its own.

But, lucky for us all, it’s absolutely possible to do both kinds of recipe developing well. In fact, we should all probably be doing some combination of both. So even if you find yourself on one side of the spectrum, there’s a lot that can be learned from the other side. Moreover, there are a few very general goals we recipe writers all* share in common, no matter how we get there.

So here we go: how to write a recipe!

universal recipe-writing goals:

  1. Ingredient quantities: The recipe must give readers the right idea of how much of each ingredient to use. This can be done either by providing a list of ingredients with accurate quantities, or by giving readers the tools and know-how they will need to decide the quantities for themselves (or both!).
  2. Techniques and process: The recipe must communicate or demonstrate cooking techniques so that readers feel comfortable performing them at home. It must also communicate the whole process, leaving no step out. This can be done in a number of ways, not limited to conventionally written recipes (e.g., a video, a recorded conversation).
  3. Doneness: The recipe must explain how to know when something is done. This might be a set amount of time or an internal temperature, or it might be a description of what to look/smell/feel for to know when something is done (again, or both!).
  4. Accuracy. This does not necessarily mean you must provide a list of precise measurements and temperatures and times. It simply means that whatever information you have given (whether it’s quantities or descriptions or both) is true. A lot more on that in a minute.
  5. Notes (bonus): While not absolutely necessary, it can be really useful to include some notes about substitutions, solutions to potential pitfalls, words to the wise, etc. Any context you can give is best left for the headnote or end notes.

Ok so! We all want to achieve the same thing: We want to communicate something true and useful, to give people whatever tools they’ll need to create something delicious. But depending on our preferred recipe-writing style, there are better and worse ways to get there. Quantifiable and instructional recipes each have their own rules and expectations. You’ve just got to know what yours are and then commit to them:


the quantifiable way to write a recipe

Let’s say that you want to write a recipe where you give a list of ingredient quantities, with very precise measurements given for everything. There are effective and ineffective ways to go about doing this. I’m going to use bechamel sauce as an example, because mac and cheese sounds really good right now.

The bottom line:

Numbers are only useful if they’re based in reality (especially if they’re representing weight). If you’re going to provide a number, make sure it’s actually accurate, or make it clear that it’s an estimation.

🚫 A less effective way:

You head to the kitchen, cook the dish, taste it, and decide it’s delicious. You then sit down, and approximate how much you used of everything after the fact. Let’s say you think maybe you used about 240g/1 cup of milk in your bechamel sauce, and you think you let the roux sizzle for about 5 minutes. You write these numbers into the recipe, without any indication that they are approximations. If you didn’t actually measure and record it carefully, whatever number you write down is not going to be super helpful to the reader.

✅ A more effective way:

You write up a recipe draft with quantities, times, temperatures, and descriptions of the method and technique. You head to the kitchen, and you carefully measure each ingredient, time, and temperature as you go. While you make a few changes to the recipe as you go, you record those changes to make sure they’re reflected in the final recipe. For example: Maybe you originally thought you’d use 60g/1/2 cup of shredded cheese in your bechamel, but it turns out you actually needed 120g/1 cup, so you made sure to record that change. Or maybe you thought the roux would need 5 minutes, but it actually only needed 3, so you recorded the new number. You also include some helpful descriptions of how to know when something is done, how to adjust for mistakes or inconsistencies, etc. (some of these details might be in the headnote or foot notes of the recipe).

🚫 Another less effective way:

You write up a recipe with volumetric measurements in cups and tablespoons/teaspoons, you test it carefully, but then decide you want to include grams later on, so you decide to backwards engineer gram estimations from cups. Here’s the problem: if you’re going to include a precise weight, it has to be 100% accurate—volume is always somewhat of an estimation, but there’s no wiggle room with grams. So while you can absolutely translate grams into volumetric measurements after the fact (with the help of an accurate conversion chart), you can’t translate cups into to grams after the fact and still maintain accuracy.


the instructional way to write a recipe

Let’s say that super specific times, temperatures, and quantities aren’t really your thing. You might’ve even read the above descriptions and been super stressed out by the idea of recipe developing in such a restrictive way. That’s ok! There is more than one right way to write a recipe, and sometimes a more instructional approach works even better.

The bottom line:

Instructional recipes are not just standard recipes minus the measurements—without precise measurements, you must do a lot more teaching and demonstrating to make sure your reader walks away with the tools they’ll need to improvise and estimate.

Let’s stick with the bechamel example, and explore how that would look from a more instructional perspective:

✅ One effective way:

You make a video where you show how much of each ingredient you use, you demonstrate and explain all the necessary techniques and steps (e.g., making a roux, “folding in the cheese,” etc.), and you show exactly how the sauce’s texture should look when it has the right amount of flour, butter, and cheese. You also explain things like how to correct for too much flour, and you give the viewer enough guidance that they feel comfortable making the dish without having to measure anything.

✅ Another effective way:

You write up a guide that outlines all of the important above features of making bechamel sauce, and you perhaps even include illustrative photos, so that your reader can try it on their own with confidence. If you give any approximated numbers, you give them explicitly as an estimation, and you put more emphasis on what to look/listen/feel for.

For example: “Melt about 2 to 3 tablespoons of butter over medium heat. Once it melts, gradually stir in enough flour so that it forms a thick and bubbly paste (about 2 to 3 tablespoons). It should start out about the consistency of pancake batter: if you drag your spoon across the bottom, it should take a couple seconds to fill back in, but it shouldn’t be super thick and doughy either. If it’s super thin to start with, add a little more flour, and if it’s too thick and gluey, add a little more butter until it reaches the right consistency. After a few minutes of cooking while stirring constantly, the bubbles will start to subside a bit and it will thin out significantly; it should become runny enough that it quickly fills in the gap when you drag your spoon across the bottom of the pan, and it will start to smell nutty. At this point, start to gradually pour in about 2 to 3 cups of milk while you whisk constantly. Stop adding milk once the sauce is still quite thick, but no longer gloopy; it should be pourable, but not thin.”

Since you’re not providing precisely tested measurements for a roux, you’re sure to give the reader the tools they need to figure out how much flour, butter, and milk to add for themselves.

🚫 A less effective way:

You give a vague account of how to make something, but you leave out some key concepts and steps. For instance, you don’t give enough detail about how to know when something is done, how to determine about how much of an ingredient to add, or how to correct for adding too much of one ingredient or not enough of another. You don’t give much of a description or demonstration of what the dish should look/smell/feel like when it’s made correctly. You provide some untested quantity/time/temperature approximations, but you don’t specify that they’re only estimations and not meant to be followed to a tee.


how I write a recipe

The funny thing is, the way you cook for fun or necessity might have nothing to do with the way you write a recipe. For instance, when I cook for fun, I almost never measure anything. Whenever I follow a recipe for fun, I can’t help but use my own intuition, I eyeball pretty much everything, and I often end up spontaneously making major changes.

But when I’m writing a recipe, I tend much more toward the quantifiable side. However, I also try to include as much instructional detail as possible so that readers feel like they can use their intuition if they want to. I try to include these details in the notes (either the headnote or foot notes), especially if they’re longer. So, like most recipe developers, I like to include a bit of both.

While I test my recipes in grams (yes, including the garlic!), I absolutely do not expect that readers will carefully measure every single ingredient. It’s just that if I provide a specific amount, it’s important that it’s an accurate number that I didn’t just pull out of nowhere. That way, when readers do improvise, they have more information to work with and can do their own thing with more confidence.

So I thought I might as well share my own method with you here today. This isn’t the method I’ve always used, but I’ve developed it over the years, and it’s what I do these days. If you want more information about how to find inspiration to create your own recipe/how to credit others, read that post first. But here is the step-by-step of what I do after the point of inspiration:

1) write the ingredient list

I jot all the ingredients down in my notebook, then I write down the quantities I think I’ll use. I try not to get hung up on formatting and accuracy yet. It’s just to get a rough outline down on paper. Once I’ve finished sketching things out, making adjustments, and thinking it through, I transfer it to a doc on my computer, putting them in the order they’ll be added to the recipe.

2) format the ingredient list

If I’m including both weight and volume, I make sure every ingredient has both and that they’re formatted consistently. If I start by saying “1 cup milk (240g),” the rest of the recipe should read with grams in parentheses at the end and volume or number of items at the front.

For some recipes, it’s really important that the reader uses a very specific amount of something. In those cases, I try to avoid giving the number of items, and instead I just say how many cups or grams to use (grams will always be more accurate, but cup of prepped ingredients are still more accurate than number of items). So for my carrot cake recipe, I say to use “325g grated carrots (3 cups),” rather than saying how many carrots you should use, since carrots vary in size and the cake could get messed up from using too few or too many.

Alternatively, if the preparation is complicated, sometimes I say something more like “about 5 medium carrots” in the ingredients, then I describe how to prep them in the recipe in detail, and I note their weight/volume after prepping within the recipe itself.

In some cases, the quantity doesn’t matter quite as much, and I will just say the number of items instead of an exact measurement. So, for instance, in a carrot slaw, I might just say to use “6 medium carrots, shredded” instead of specifying the exact cups/grams of shredded carrots.

Any ingredients that can be listed in their prepped form should be. And anytime you’re listing the number of cups or spoons of something, make sure it’s of the prepped ingredient. Never write “3 cups of carrots”—always write something like “3 cups of 1/2-inch diced carrots” instead, since you can’t measure 3 cups of whole carrots. If you want to explain how to prep something within the recipe instructions, say either “6 medium carrots” or “6 medium carrots (390g)” and then explain how to prep them in the instructions.

With this whole prepped ingredients thing in mind, always remember to be careful where you place the comma. For example, “4 medium carrots, 1/2-inch diced” works just fine. You’ve got 4 medium carrots, *comma*, and now you’re gonna dice them. Likewise, “2 cups of 1/2-inch diced carrots” works great as well. Or even “2 cups of 1/2-inch diced carrots, from about 4 medium carrots (260g)” if you want to get really specific. But you’d never want to say something like “2 cups of carrots, 1/2-inch diced” because (as you now know) you can’t measure 2 cups of whole carrots. This reads as though you’re asking the reader to measure 2 cups of whole carrots and then dice them, which is super confusing.

Where do these numbers all come from? I have a calibrated chart that tells me how much average volumes of different ingredients weigh. I often include volume, weight, and number of items in the recipe, but when I take the recipe into the kitchen I test exclusively in grams. More on that when we get to number 4.

3) write up the cooking method:

I make sure that every step is accounted for, and whenever I can explain what to look/listen/feel for (more instructional details), I add that detail. I also include estimates of temperatures, times, and heat intensity, and I’m careful to note what equipment to use when it comes up in the recipe. Splitting the method up into numbered steps works for me, but some recipe writers prefer longer paragraphs instead. My recipes tend to run a little long, but some writers like to keep things short and to the point.

I want even a novice to be able to make each of my recipes, so I assume no advanced cooking knowledge and tend to explain just about everything in detail, but some recipe writers take for granted that their readers will have more advanced cooking knowledge. For instance, I might describe the whole process of pan-frying something (what kind of pan to use, how much oil, what kind of oil, how hot the oil should be, etc.), while another recipe developer might just simply say “pan fry the croquettes.” All of this is a matter of preference and depends on who you are writing for.

I also like to add any notes on troubleshooting, substitutions, and extra helpful information to the foot notes at the bottom of the recipe, using asterisks to indicate when there’s more information. I generally think of the foot notes as things readers don’t necessarily need to know while they’re cooking, but that they might want to know while they’re reading the recipe ahead of time. You know, the kinds of things where if you included them in the recipe, readers would be standing over a hot stove, their eyes frantically darting back and forth skimming for relevant information, while they mutter “ok but how long will it take before I have to flip them?!” No one needs to know exactly how to make a buttermilk substitute while they’re just trying to get through a pancake recipe, but a note at the bottom is super useful to anyone who needs it.

4) take the recipe to the kitchen:

I follow the recipe exactly as written. I measure everything in grams, I use timers, and I make sure I’m following every single step I’ve outlined for myself. Whenever something seems not quite right, I make a change and then note that change in the recipe. E.g., something might take longer than I think, or I might need to use more of something. This is to be expected, and it a crucial part of the process. It’s important to think on your feet, but you’ve absolutely got to record those changes.

Since weight is the most accurate way of measuring, I test everything exclusively in grams. That way, when I test it again later, I can make adjustments and know that I didn’t accidentally add too much or too little last time or this time. It takes out a lot of the mystery of recipe developing and gives me maximum control. I do this even when I’m only planning on listing the number of items or the volume in the final recipe, because it keeps things consistent.

For instance: Some days, my idea of a “medium clove of garlic” might be bigger than other days, but when I measure 10g of garlic crushed through a press, my calibrated chart tells me I should write 3 medium cloves [10g]. That way, most people will end up with just about the same amount I used, even if they don’t measure carefully. Some days 10g might look like 5 cloves, and some days it might look like 1 clove. Some non-measurers will add 5 cloves, some will add 1, but at least they won’t be so far off since I told them 3. I start with accuracy, so readers don’t have to.

5) do a taste test, and then take notes on what to change for next time:

After doing a taste test, I edit the recipe, make a note at the top that it needs to be re-tested, and head back to the kitchen to try again (sometimes another day). Usually the problems are clear, and the answers are even clearer, but other times it’s not so obvious. Identifying the issues just takes a lot of tasting and thinking it through. And if I’m ever not sure how to solve a particular problem, I research it by reading lots of other recipes to compare mine to, and I even sometimes reach out to my community of recipe developing friends for help. Some things take trial after trial, some things you get right on the first try, but once you get the hang of it, most things take about 2 tries (when I first started, most things took 3 or 4 tries to get just right).

* I will say, it’s much, much harder to write a good baking recipe in the instructional tradition. It makes sense that bakers tend to generally be in the quantifiable camp. But I don’t think it’s impossible, and I do feel like there might just be some genius out there who has the special ability to teach people how to bake with intuition and without measuring, times, or temperatures. There are certainly people who can bake a perfect cake without measuring anything, but actually teaching that intuitive skill to another person is a whole other endeavor.

Filed Under: recipe writing

gazpacho (fattoush-style!)

September 10, 2020 by Kathryn Pauline 4 Comments

I live in the southern hemisphere, but most of my friends and family (and most of the people who read my website, according to my google analytics… hi there! 🙋🏽‍♀️) live in the northern hemisphere. So apologies for the belated tomatoey post. But I’m hoping I made it just under the wire with this fabulous gazpacho, flavored with my favorite fattoush ingredients. Find those last juicy tomatoes of summer, and make it happen.

I’ve been working on some version of this recipe pretty much ever since I started this blog over three years ago. But I only recently finally figured it out. Feel free to read about this soup’s ugly duckling origin story, or jump to the recipe or the gazpacho tips.

how it started

Long long ago, this was a hot lettuce soup. “Hot lettuce soup” is admittedly better than it sounds, but (alas!) worse than actual good soup. Eventually, that hot lettuce soup turned into a chilled gazpacho with absolutely no lettuce in sight. It was the most delicious gazpacho I’d ever had, but it was also the ugliest thing I’d ever created. The problem: fattoush is made up of a bunch of bright green things and a bunch of bright red things. And what do you get when you put those two colors together in a blender? You guessed it—beige soup! Not great!

how it’s going

Then finally, I figured it out. Two batches! Make one for all the green stuff, one for all the red stuff. Pour them together in a bowl, give it a teensy swirl, and you’ve got something that’s as beautiful as it is delicious.

Don’t bother washing your blender between batches. Just move the first batch to a storage container, give the blender a quick rinse, and move onto the next. Toast up some pita chips, pile them high and sprinkle with sumac, and you’re good to go.

Before I get to the recipe, let me just leave you with a couple quick gazpacho thoughts. Numbers 1 and 3 are somewhat hot takes. But if you’re on the fence about gazpacho and chilled soups in general, they’re absolutely essential.

tips for making gazpacho

1) don’t leave out the bread!

To make traditional Andalusian gazpacho, you blend a piece of bread in with the veggies. But many recipes omit the bread, arguing that it’s just filler. But I strongly encourage you not to skip it! Far from diluting everything, a little piece of bread helps carry all the other flavors. It also softens some of the punchier notes, sort of like adding a splash of cream to your coffee.

So if you’ve ever had gazpacho and felt a bit like you were just made to suffer through a vodkaless bloody mary, allow me to be so bold as to say that I think you might actually enjoy one made with that little bit of bread blended in.

2) add something crunchy (e.g., pita chips)

I’m not usually a big fan of soups that have a totally smooth consistency, which is why this fattoushey version of gazpacho is my favorite. The pita chips absolutely make the dish for me. If you’re like me, feel free to double the pita quantities in the recipe below so you’ll have plenty to serve. You may need to work in batches or use a wider pan. The photos in this post show the amount I usually start with (and perhaps the amount a normal human person would prefer to eat), but I tend to keep a bowl of pita chips nearby so I can add as many more as I want. Don’t ration them and feel free to go nuts!

3) have tomato paste on hand, especially if your tomatoes are lacklustre

There’s an ingredient in the recipe below that I have a feeling may irk some folks—and that, dear reader, is tomato paste. But honestly, it’s my secret to a super flavorful gazpacho, even if you’re stumbling upon this recipe deep in the heart of winter with intensely mediocre imported produce. On the other hand, if your tomatoes are just so perfect that you think they won’t need the boost, feel free to omit it. You can always add it after blending and tasting. But make sure you have some on hand, just in case they’re looking a little wan.

Print

fattoush gazpacho

Print Recipe

★★★★★

5 from 1 reviews

  • Prep Time: 20 minutes
  • Total Time: 3 1/2 hours
  • Yield: serves 6 as a starter, 4 as a soup course

Ingredients

for the soup:

  • 7 medium vine-ripened tomatoes, hulled (930g / 2lb 1oz)
  • 2 tablespoons tomato paste (30g), optional (if your tomatoes aren’t super ripe)
  • 3 tablespoons lemon juice (45g), divided
  • 3 medium garlic cloves (10g), divided
  • ½ of 1 piece puffy Greek-style pita (40g), divided into 2 quarter pieces
  • 2 tablespoons sumac
  • ½ teaspoon black pepper
  • Salt
  • ¼ cup extra virgin olive oil (50g), divided
  • 1 large persian cucumbers (135g)
  • 1 small green bell pepper, seeded (185g)
  • 1 small bunch green onions, roots trimmed away (80g)
  • ⅔ packed cup mint leaves (15g)
  • ½ packed cup parsley leaves (20g)

for the pita chips:

  • 2 pieces puffy Greek-style pita (170g)
  • 1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
  • Salt, to taste

to serve:

  • Extra virgin olive oil
  • Sumac

Instructions

  1. Make the red half: Place the tomatoes in a blender, along with the tomato paste (optional), about half the lemon juice, half the garlic, one quarter piece of pita, all of the sumac, and all of the black pepper. Season to taste (about ¼ teaspoon salt). Blend until completely smooth. With the blender running, very slowly drizzle in half of the extra virgin olive oil through the small hole in the top of the lid, so that it emulsifies and becomes creamy. Remove the red half of the gazpacho by pouring it into a large measuring cup or another container with a pour spout. Rinse out the blender but don’t bother washing it.
  2. Make the green half: Place the cucumbers, bell pepper, green onions, mint, parsley, the other half of the lemon juice, the other half of the garlic, and the other quarter piece of pita in the blender. Season to taste (about 1 pinch). Blend until completely smooth, and again slowly drizzle in the other half of the extra virgin olive oil.
  3. Set both the red and green batches in the fridge to chill for at least 3 hours.
  4. Make the pita chips while you wait: Cut the other pieces of pita bread into little triangles. Toss lightly in extra virgin olive oil and place in a skillet over medium heat. Top with a pinch of salt (to taste) and toss constantly for 2 minutes. Reduce the heat to low and let them cook for about another 10 minutes, stirring occasionally. They’re done once they’re crunchy, very chewy, and mostly dried out. Set aside to cool and dry out further.
  5. Once chilled, serve the soup with a handful of pita chips, a drizzle of olive oil, and a sprinkling of sumac.

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Filed Under: dairy free, dinner, every recipe, lunch, soups and stews, vegan, vegetarian, weeknight Tagged With: bell pepper, cucumber, fattoush, herbs, lemon, mint, parsley, pita, sumac, summer, tomato

the best way to make falafel + a recipe

August 9, 2020 by Kathryn Pauline 21 Comments

If you learned to make falafel from a grandparent who’s been making them forever, or if you’ve read a food science book or two, you probably already know two secrets for really good falafel:

1) start with raw soaked legumes, and
2) raise their pH with baking soda (or another similar edible base).

If you’re already sold and just want to skip ahead, feel free to jump to the recipe. Or if you’d like to read more about my falafel experiment, feel free to read on to nerd out with me.

why it’s important to add baking soda to falafel before frying

Raising the pH of the mix solves a very important problem:

Without baking soda, the raw, soaked chickpeas will have a difficult time cooking all the way through in such a short deep fry.

A very small amount of baking soda helps bean starches burst and gelatinize more quickly, so it’s the perfect thing for their brief dip in the deep fryer. Baking-soda-free balls would remain quite mealy and raw-tasting after frying, and they’d never really get to become the light and fluffy falafel we all know and love.

Some folks add baking powder to the mix instead, which is a combination of an acid and a base; but baking powder is overall slightly basic, so it has a similar effect on chickpeas (if this makes you go “wait, how?!”, scroll down to the note on baking powder that’s above the falafel recipe). There are a few other tricks to making sure the chickpeas cook up nice and fluffy, so baking soda/powder is not absolutely essential to good falafel, but it’s a commonly used technique and works like a charm.

why it’s important to start with raw soaked chickpeas

Raw chickpeas are a non-negotiable.

Why not just start with cooked chickpeas and cut out the need for baking soda in the first place, you might ask?

Well, that would be a bit like making hash browns by starting out with mashed potatoes; I have to admit, fried mashed potatoes do sound delicious (I mean, that’s kind of almost like tater tots or potato chop, right? 😍), but they’re just not the same thing as hash browns, which absolutely must be made with raw grated potatoes to get the right texture.

Similarly, you’d never make mashed potatoes by first puréeing raw potatoes and then cooking them, and likewise, you’d never make hummus by puréeing raw chickpeas and then boiling them. While it can be fun to play around with ingredients and techniques, sometimes an ingredient must be cooked at the right stage for a dish to really be itself.

If you ask me, recipes for deep fried balls of already-cooked chickpeas should really be called something more like “falafel-inspired bean croquettes” or “garbanzo-tots.” I mean, don’t look at me—naming things is not my strong suit, but those balls could take branding lessons from tater tots. Tater tots don’t try to masquerade as hash browns—they’re tots, and they’re very ok with that! But words mean things, and that’s especially important in preserving some essential features of cultural food icons like falafel. But anyway, I digress. On to the testing!

falafel testing: soaking water contents and times

What we already know, and what I’m testing

So anyway, we know that raw soaked chickpeas are essential for good falafel, and we know that baking soda helps them get that desired fluffy texture. Plenty of people have proven that using science and traditional practices. So I didn’t bother testing whether you can make falafel from canned chickpeas, or whether baking soda solution works better than plain old water, since we already know those answers (you definitely can’t, and it sure does!).

Instead, to satisfy my own curiosity, I thought it would be interesting to test different soaking strategies, asking two questions:

  1. How long do chickpeas need to soak in baking soda solution?
  2. Does it matter when you add the salt?

Why I’m testing these two variables

Adding salt to the soaking liquid tends to make beans hold their shape a bit more once cooked, so my worry was that adding salt to the soaking liquid might counteract some of that starchy gelatinization we’re working toward by adding baking soda. I normally add salt to the soaking liquid when I’m making beans for other recipes, and I was curious if adding the salt to the soaking liquid would have an effect on the chickpeas’ texture once fried.

But even more than the question of when to add the salt, I was super curious exactly how long chickpeas need to soak. I’ve always soaked mine for about 12 hours, but wondered if soaking them longer might lead to a significantly fluffier final product.

How the testing works

I tested 4 different soaking times/strategies, as well as 2 different kinds of soaking solutions, for a total of 8 different mixes.

The 4 soaking strategies were:

  • 12 hours at room temperature (22°C, or about 71 or 72°F)
  • 16 hours at room temperature
  • 24 hours in the refrigerator
  • 24 hours at room temperature (with the liquid changed once halfway through, since it’s not super safe to leave beans to soak for that long without changing their water)

The 2 soaking liquids contained:

  • baking soda on its own
  • salt + baking soda

here’s what I found

The bottom line: It doesn’t really matter whether you add salt later or earlier in the process, although the beans that were salted later were slightly fluffier overall. What matters the most is whether you soak your beans for as long as possible in baking soda solution. The best falafel of the bunch were soaked for 24 hours in a baking soda solution, with salt added directly to the mix instead of to the soaking liquid.

While the 24 hour baking soda falafel were the best, the 16 hour baking soda ones were also decent. The ones that soaked for 24 hours in the refrigerator did not take in enough water and were some of the worst (refrigeration really does seem to slow down the soaking process). The ones soaked for 12 hours were similar in texture to the refrigerated ones—12 hours at room temperature is not long enough to yield the best results.

While adding salt to the baking soda soaking liquid generally made them slightly less fluffy, this difference was much more noticeable with a medium soaking time. At 16 hours, the ones soaked with salt and baking soda were not very fluffy, while the ones soaked with only baking soda were noticeably fluffier, almost as fluffy as the ones soaked for 24 hours. But once it got to 24 hours, it all evened out, and the ones brined with salt and baking soda tasted very similar to the ones soaked with just baking soda. Still, the baking-soda-only ones slightly edged out the salt-and-baking-soda-soaked ones, even at 24 hours.

What this means for you: If you’re short on time, you can absolutely get away with soaking the beans for 16 hours, as long as you use baking soda water and salt them later by adding it directly to the mix. And if you want the absolute best falafel, soak the beans for a full 24 hours in baking soda solution, changing the solution about halfway through. If you’re soaking them for 24 hours, you can get away with adding salt to the soaking water, but they’ll be just a tiny bit fluffier if you add salt to the mix instead and just stick with baking soda water for the soak.

confounding variables + other things I want to test for next time I make falafel

While I did take care to measure everything exactly and eliminate as many variables as possible (same fry temperature and time, same quantities of ingredients in each batch, down to the gram, etc.), obviously this is not a perfectly controlled scientific study, and there are a bunch of confounding variables and things I’d want to test next time. Here are a few important things to keep in mind in your own falafel experiments:

  • Chickpeas come in lots of different sizes. Mine were on the small side, but I suspect larger ones might need to soak for a bit longer. I’m guessing that larger chickpeas would not be as good at 16 hours, and absolutely must soak for the full 24.
  • Older chickpeas nearing their expiration date will take a lot longer to soak than newer ones. It’s really best to make falafel from the freshest dried chickpeas possible—look for ones with a late expiration date and try to shop at a market that has a lot of turnover on dried beans (e.g., a well-frequented Middle Eastern market or a popular bulk food store that restocks their supply often).
  • I’m also wondering whether the 24 hour soaked beans were far and away better than the others because they were exposed to a bit more baking soda than the other beans (the solution was changed halfway through). Next time, I would love to see how different quantities of baking soda in the soaking water affects the beans. Essentially, you want to add as much baking soda as possible without having them taste weirdly soapy. The amount I used tends to be around the amount recommended in most recipes, but I think it might be possible to use a bit more without affecting the taste of the falafel.

a note on baking powder in falafel

Baking soda is certainly a base, and you might think baking powder is entirely neutral, but baking powder is actually somewhat basic too (at least according to my test strips and the brand of baking powder I use—if you’ve got some pH strips and baking powder at home, please feel free to test yours and let me know what you get!), so I postulate that it lowers the pH of falafel with an effect similar to baking soda. However, baking powder is less strongly basic so it needs to be added directly to the mix to have the same effect, and it also adds a bit of airiness from the carbonation produced from its reaction of acid/base. It’s really up to the cook whether they want to use one or the other.

I determined that baking powder is basic by running a few pH tests. I suspected it might be basic because it always reacts with fruit and other things as if it is a base (e.g., it turns strawberry cake batter purplish, just like baking soda does). I ran a few tests where I dissolved the same amount of baking powder and baking soda separately in the same amount of boiling water. I then stirred to dissolve each and measured their pH levels. The baking soda solution was very basic (as you might imagine, it’s pH is 9 or possibly higher, since my strips have an upper threshold of 9), and the baking powder solution wasn’t far behind, at around 8 or 8.25.

One strange thing I had not anticipated is that it is impossible to get baking powder to dissolve completely in boiling water (at least the brand I was using). I stirred and stirred, and even tried a separate test where I simmered a small amount in water for several minutes, and it never fully dissolved no matter how long I simmered and agitated it (also no matter how strong or diluted I made the solution). I even let the solution sit for a couple hours at room temperature after boiling, to see if it made any difference, and the pH actually seemed to rise about 0.5 or 1 from where it started.

This is kind of annoying, because it means that I can’t get a truly accurate reading of baking powder’s pH. But it’s still useful because it means that it’s at least effectively basic when cooked with. Since those little granules won’t dissolve after boiling, I’m assuming they also won’t dissolve in other cooking situations. Perhaps if these granules could ever dissolve completely, the pH would indeed be different, but they don’t, so it’s effectively basic in any case.

Anyway, I’ll be amazed if anyone is still with me at this point, and if you are, thank you for coming to my TED talk, and here is a falafel recipe for your patience. It’s very similar to my old one, but I’ve updated it a bit and included some metric measurements.

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falafel

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★★★★★

5 from 2 reviews

  • Prep Time: 55 minutes
  • Total Time: 17 to 25 hours
  • Yield: about 30 to 35 falafel

Ingredients

to soak the beans:

  • 1 1/2 cups dry chickpeas (285g)
  • 2 teaspoons baking soda (10g)
  • 8 cups room temperature water (1880g)

to make the falafel mix:

  • 3 medium cloves garlic
  • 1 medium bunch cilantro
  • 1 small bunch green onions
  • soaked chickpeas (above)
  • 1 1/2 teaspoons baharat *
  • 1 tablespoon sesame seeds
  • 1 teaspoon salt (or add more/less to taste)
  • 1 pinch baking soda
  • 3 tablespoons all purpose flour (25g)

to fry and serve the falafel:

  • 1 quart neutral-flavored oil for deep-frying (e.g., peanut, canola, corn, etc.)
  • Pita bread
  • optional: Jerusalem salad (or watermelon Jerusalem salad)
  • optional: Tahini sauce
  • optional: Amba

Instructions

  1. To soak the chickpeas: Cover the chickpeas and baking soda with the room temperature water. Stir until the baking soda dissolves.
  2. Cover loosely and keep at room temperature for at least 16 hours, ideally 24. If you’re leaving the beans at room temperature for 24 hours, change their baking soda solution once about halfway through (2 more teaspoons baking soda + 8 more cups water). If your kitchen is very hot, don’t soak them for the full 24 hours.
  3. To make the falafel mix: Finely mince the garlic in a large food processor. Add the cilantro and green onions to the food processor and pulse a couple times to chop them up a little.
  4. Strain the chickpeas over the sink. Add the drained, raw chickpeas to greens in the food processor, and process them until the mixture is finely minced. You’ll still see little minced grains of chickpeas (it’s not supposed to be a smooth purée), but there should not be any large pieces. It should resemble very fine couscous.
  5. Add the baharat, sesame seeds, salt, 1 pinch baking soda, and flour, and pulse the food processor a couple times to combine. You should be able to press some of the mixture into a cohesive ball, but it should still be able to crumble apart if you squeeze it wrong (i.e., it won’t hold together as well as pie dough, but it will hold together better than wet sand).
  6. To fry the falafel: Set up a safe fry station on the stove or in a dedicated deep fryer. Turn the heat to medium-high so that the oil rises to 360° F and keep a close eye on it.
  7. When the oil is almost hot enough, start to form the first 5 or 6 falafel. Take a heaping tablespoon of mix in your hands and gently squeeze it together by making a fish around it and cupping your hands around it. Each ball should be no larger than 1 heaping tablespoon, otherwise it will have a hard time cooking through to the right consistency on the inside.
  8. Once the oil reaches 360° F, gently drop in the first 5 or 6 falafel. Let them fry for about 4 minutes, until they’re deep brown on the outside (but not burnt) and fluffy on the inside. Constantly adjust the heat to keep the temperature of the oil somewhere between 350 and 370° F. Remove them with a slotted spoon or spider to a paper towel-lined plate, add the next batch, and repeat. Continue to work in batches until all of the falafel are fried.

Notes

* If you don’t have any baharat and don’t feel like making a complicated spice blend, feel free to use a combination of cumin, coriander, paprika, and black pepper.

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Filed Under: appetizers, dairy free, dinner, every recipe, lunch, main courses, meze, side dishes, vegan, vegetarian Tagged With: baharat, beans, chickpeas, cilantro, food science, herbs, pita, sesame, tahini

sweet and sour ribs with pomegranate molasses

July 11, 2020 by Kathryn Pauline 2 Comments

I’ve become a bit of a recipe minimalist over the years. Whenever I write a new recipe, I ask myself, “Is there any ingredient or step that I can easily skip?” Usually the answer is yes. My pomegranate fig lamb shanks are already quite pared down, but I thought I’d try simplifying that recipe even further and adapting it to feature a fall-off-the-bone-tender rack of sweet and sour ribs. As with those lamb shanks, pomegranate molasses is the real hero of this dish. And you don’t need much else to make it delicious.

This recipe makes enough sauce for one rack of sweet and sour ribs, but you can absolutely double, triple, or quadruple it to feed your whole family. But believe me, it’s so easy to throw together, you won’t necessarily feel like you need to meal-prep a big batch to make it worth your while. Whenever you feel like it, just stir together the sauce ingredients, salt/slather/flip/repeat, crimp shut in some foil, and bake for a few hours. If you want to make more than one rack, be sure to read the instructions below the recipe.

Cilantro is completely optional here, but it does add freshness, which goes wonderfully with more long-braised flavors. If you’re not a cilantro fan, feel free to use a little minced parsley, or omit it altogether. Also feel free to experiment with other sweeteners—if you use one like honey, you’ll need to slightly increase the amount of red wine vinegar to compensate. This is a super adaptable cooking technique, which works for lots of different slow-cooked meats. So have fun trying out lots of different possibilities, and enjoy!

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sweet and sour ribs with pomegranate molasses

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★★★★★

5 from 1 reviews

  • Prep Time: 15 minutes
  • Cook Time: 3 hours 15 minutes
  • Total Time: 3 1/2 hours
  • Yield: serves 2

Ingredients

  • 1 rack of ribs** (800g / 28oz)
  • 3/4 teaspoon salt (or more to taste)
  • 1/4 cup tomato paste (60g)
  • 1 small minced chipotle in adobo sauce (10g)
  • 2 tablespoons pomegranate molasses (40g)
  • 1 tablespoon red wine vinegar (15g)
  • 3 medium cloves garlic, crushed through a press (15g)
  • 1 handful of cilantro leaves

Instructions

  1. Preheat the oven to 320°F (160°C).
  2. Mix together the tomato paste, chipotle, pomegranate molasses, vinegar, and garlic.
  3. Place the ribs on a cutting board or large plate. Season the ribs evenly with salt on both sides. Place the ribs with the flattest side facing up, and slather that side with about 1/3 of the sauce.
  4. Place a large piece of aluminum foil on a sheet pan. Place the ribs slathered-side-down on the aluminum foil, being very careful not to puncture the foil. Slather the top of the ribs with the rest of the sauce. Place another piece of aluminum foil on top of the ribs. Crimp the aluminum foil shut around the sides, again being very careful not to puncture it.
  5. Bake for about 3 hours, until they’re falling off the bone. Open the foil and let them rest for a few minutes, just until they’re no longer piping hot. Move to a cutting board, slice into individual pieces, top with cilantro, and enjoy!

Notes

* Feel free to double (or triple or quadruple!) this recipe. Each rack of ribs should be cooked in its own foil pouch. You can usually double up 2 pouches side by side on a sheet pan (just make sure they’re in 1 layer).

** I developed this recipe using pork ribs, but you can absolutely use beef ribs if you don’t eat pork. Keep in mind that they may take a little longer to become tender, depending on their shape/size. But also keep in mind that they’ll be just as delicious! 😉

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Filed Under: appetizers, dairy free, dinner, every recipe, gluten free, main courses, side dishes Tagged With: chipotle, cilantro, pomegranate molasses, pork

Black lives matter (+ cherry chocolate sumac skillet pancake recipe)

June 6, 2020 by Kathryn Pauline 4 Comments

Black lives matter. People are being killed. And yes, I know this is just a food blog, but I don’t really see the point in talking about anything else right now. We’ve all got to start acknowledging the way that our professional fields, families, and communities are complicit, and we need to show up and do the work to change things, not just this week but always.

The food world is no exception. Countering the injustice in the food writing world is not going to end the indignity, fear, and tragedy so many people face every single day, but we’ve got a lot of work to do.

So keep donating, volunteering, challenging your own biases, and having difficult conversations with people you love. End the abuses of power, stop calling the cops when you don’t need to, and let’s all do the work together. And if you want to be an ally to Black food writers, here are some ideas of things you can do, no matter who you are.

First, some recommendations. Here are a few of my all-time favorite food writers and websites:

  • Butter Be Ready – Quin quite possibly loves lemon even more than I do, which I never thought was possible. She makes the most beautiful cakes and also has a few extremely mouthwatering dinner bakes.
  • Kitchen Butterfly – Ozoz is a food researcher at heart. She investigates and writes the most incredibly detailed pieces on food and culture. Her post about bottom pot blew my mind, and continues to do so every time I re-read it.
  • The Kitchenista Diaries – In addition to blogging, Angela is a private chef, and thank goodness because every single thing she makes is something I want to eat. Like, literally no exceptions.
  • Lets Taco Bout It – Mica and Charlotte are literary nerds, and I love them for it. Their blog has been a really fun way for me to reconnect with literature since leaving grad school.
  • Benjamina Ebuehi – Benji’s book The New Way to Cake is so elegant and lovely, and really appeals to my minimalist sensibilities. It’s all about baking with ease and sophistication, and I learned a ton reading and baking my way through this one.
  • If you want even more suggestions (obviously this list is just the tiniest tip of the iceberg), Equity at the Table is a great resource. Samin Nosrat also has a wonderful list going on instagram.

And next, here are some action items, some things you can do with all the great lists out there right now, no matter where you fit into the food writing world:

  • Readers: Bet you didn’t think you were a part of the food writing world. But you’re here, reading this blog, and that makes you a member of our food writing community (welcome!). And you’re listed first because you’re without a doubt the most influential (everyone else is listed in no particular order). Here’s what you can do to help make the food writing world more equitable: Seek out Black food writers and support their work. Buy their cookbooks, share their articles, like and comment on their photos, recommend them to your friends when they ask for ideas of new recipes. Challenge your own assumptions about race, and engage with their work meaningfully. You have so much power to change the way food writing works.
  • Conference organizers: Be inclusive in who you invite to lead a panel or give a talk—take a hard look at who you are inviting (are you including enough Black speakers? If not, then what steps do you need to take to change that at the next available opportunity?). Familiarize yourself with the incredible work of Black writers, photographers, stylists, and recipe developers, so that when it comes time to decide on guests, you have many amazing people to invite. Don’t tokenize your speakers, and don’t only invite Black speakers to speak exclusively about diversity and inclusion. Make sure your conference is a truly inclusive space, and seek out resources if you’re unsure how to do so. And don’t forget to always pay your speakers for their time in money, not in experience. If you don’t pay your speakers, know that you’ll be excluding anyone who can’t afford to work for free (even if that wasn’t your intention).
  • Instagram food account curators: You have introduced so many of us to our favorite bloggers and writers, and we love you for it. But it’s important to make sure you’re not perpetuating inequality by promoting mostly white-owned accounts. Do a quick audit of your posts: Are you posting content mostly from white bloggers? Are you posting content from a decent number of POC bloggers, but very few Black bloggers? Ask yourself these questions, set goals, and make changes. Everyone is currently sharing their favorite Black-owned instagram accounts, so this is a good time to find some new people to feature. Let this week be a springboard, and keep it up.
  • Food bloggers: Befriend Black bloggers and introduce them to other bloggers in your circle. Once we’re all eventually back to safely socializing, invite them to blogger gatherings and networking events, even the super casual non-events like grabbing a quick lunch or coffee to catch up with a few blogger friends. Call out/in any racist behavior and work to make blogger communities truly inclusive spaces. Do follow Fridays that prioritize inclusivity, and don’t tokenize. “Turn your performative wokeness into true allyship.” Support each other and share resources. Engage meaningfully with the work of Black food bloggers. Adapt and credit recipes with permission. Collaborate thoughtfully.
  • Editors: It’s a beautiful thing when editors share stories that might otherwise never be heard. Hire inclusively, and commit yourself to featuring more stories told by writers of color.

Above all else, remember that being an ally doesn’t work like a checklist. It’s not a level you can unlock or a thing you can finish achieving. And this particular list is by no means exhaustive, even with regards to the food writing world. The thing is, checklists feel great, but we need to stop doing things to make ourselves feel better, and start doing things to actually change the world around us.

Thanks for reading, hope you found something useful, and hope you enjoy this (total non sequitur) recipe for cherry chocolate sumac skillet pancake (similar to clafoutis). I can’t have someone over and not serve them food, and it’s the same deal here. Stay safe, stay healthy, and keep making the world around you a little better than it was yesterday.

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cherry chocolate sumac skillet pancake recipe

Print Recipe

  • Prep Time: 20 minutes
  • Cook Time: 40 minutes
  • Total Time: 60 minutes

Ingredients

  • 250g frozen cherries (about 2 cups)
  • 40g sugar (3 tablespoons)
  • 2 teaspoons sumac, plus more for sprinkling
  • 80g flour (about 2/3 cup)
  • 65g granulated sugar (1/3 cup)
  • 3g salt (1/2 teaspoon)
  • 3 large eggs (170g)
  • 30g (2 tablespoons) melted butter
  • 235g (1 cup) buttermilk (or regular milk mixed with a spoonful of yogurt)
  • 15g cold butter (1 tablespoon)
  • 15g brown sugar (1 tablespoon)
  • 75g chocolate buttons or chips (1/2 cup), plus more for melting and drizzling

Instructions

  1. Combine the cherries, sugar, and sumac, and let them sit and macerate for at least 40 minutes. Once they’ve collected lots of juices, place in a colander and strain the syrup away. Save the syrup to pour on top of the pancake later. Set aside while you make the batter.
  2. Preheat the oven to 475°F (245°C).
  3. Whisk together the flour, sugar, salt, eggs, and butter. Once well combined, stir in the buttermilk until smooth. Set aside.
  4. Place the cold butter in an ovenproof skillet and place over medium heat. Once it’s melted, add the brown sugar, stir, and let it sit. As soon as it starts smoking a little, pour in the batter, followed by the macerated cherries, chocolate buttons/chips, and another pinch of sumac. Move right to the oven.
  5. Bake for about 18 minutes, just until it’s set throughout and puffy around the edges. The texture should be custardy, like a clafoutis. Serve right out of the skillet with a little extra chocolate and some of the cherry juices.

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Filed Under: breakfast, every recipe Tagged With: cherries, sumac

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Welcome! I’m Kathryn Pauline, recipe developer and photographer here at Cardamom and Tea, where I hope you’ll find something delicious to make.

I love creating recipes inspired by seasonal produce, community, and the Middle Eastern food I grew up with.

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