Braddy Reads A History of the World in 6 Glasses

So I've made a goal this year - an unwritten goal (well, previously unwritted) to read more non-fiction.  I've decided that I'll focus on some of my favorite subjects and hobbies, mainly food, art, and history.  Admittedly, "history" is a pretty broad subject that could do with some narrowing.  However, sometimes a broad overview is sufficient.  And, heck, if it's an overview that happens to include some food info as well, then that's pretty great.

I learned last year that food makes a pretty great medium through which to teach history, and Tom Standage seems to agree, if his book A History of the World in 6 Glasses is anything to go by.  Standage links some of the most popular and influential beverages with broad sections of human history.  Beer is associated with early human history and a move from wandering hunter-gatherer tribes to fixed farming settlements.  Wine is associated with the rise of Greek and Roman thought.  Distilled spirits reflect the spirit of exploration and ocean travel.  The rise of coffee mirrors the rise of scientific thought.  Tea covered the world in a period of global imperialism.  Finally, Coca-Cola's worldwide popularity is indicative of the triumph of marketing and the spread of American influence, for good or for ill.

Frankly, that's the gist of the book, so I may have saved you a few hours of reading.  However, the details of this expansion are well-worth reading, and Standage's writing is accessible enough to invite even novice students of history to crack open the pages.  I've found a lot of events in here that I want to explore in a bit more detail, but, as an introduction to world history, this text serves its role well.  And it makes its lessons all the more effective by tying historical events in with everyday beverages everyone consumes.

Well, everyone except me, that is.  I'm Mormon.

Out Of The Frying Pan, Aim For The Stars

My Christmas bonus came in my paycheck on Friday morning. That meant that Friday evening was a good day to spend said bonus. I had some extra Christmas shopping to do, so I went to Barnes and Noble. And then I thought, “Well, while I’m here… I might as well pick up something for myself, as well.”

Cuz I’ve been a good boy this year, too.

I went to the cookbook section and found The Flavor Bible by Karen Page and Andrew Dornenburg. It’s not a cookbook as much as a cooking reference – almost a cooking thesaurus, in fact. The idea is that you look up one ingredient, and see what flavors the thirty or so top-tier American chefs interviewed for the book would recommend adding to that ingredient.

The book is really for a cook well beyond my skill level, but my imagination sure got fired up. I’mma try at some point to develop a recipe for a yogurt, vanilla, and pistachio chicken. You know, eventually.

Even though I don’t expect to get much use out of the reference part of The Flavor Bible (yet), I thoroughly enjoyed reading the introductory section of the book. I relished how lovingly the authors describe the art of cooking. Sure, the talk of food got me hungry, but, more than that, I relished the way the authors and chefs described cooking as a creative, artistic experience.

I'm gonna guess, though, that the book's writers would probably cringe at the sight of me eating Cheese-Its while reading.

Braddy Reads Curry: A Tale of Cooks and Conquerors

We could use more history texts like this one.

Once upon a time, I attended a religious class, where the instructor spoke about Christ administering the sacrament. He said the reason bread and wine were used were to endow everyday items with significant spiritual lessons. This way, whenever a disciple of Jesus looked at a loaf of bread, they would be compelled to think of him.

I bring that lesson up because that's the approach I see in Lizzie Collingham's Curry: A Tale of Cooks and Conquerors. It's a history textbook that illustrates how the culture of India evolved as foreign influences entered the country. And it tracks those changes through a close analysis of Indian food.

So there are a lot of recipes in the book - many of which are pretty involved. That's pretty cool. For me, though, the real draw here is the connections between food and history. For example, it turns out that peppers, a common ingredient in Indian cooking, were first brought to India by Portugese traders.

The biggest problem I had with the text is actually in the vocabulary. I'm not overly familiar with the region or the history, so I wasn't familiar with a lot of the place names or the different ways of referring to royalty. I took a course on Middle Eastern history once, so that helped a little when the Muslims appeared on the scene. Otherwise, I floundered a bit.

But that's what reading's for, I guess - learning something new, and sometimes getting in over your head. Although I have to say, the thought of getting into curry over my head is appealing. Sticky, and probably hot, but appealing.

Cooking with Braddy: Glazed and Confused

Money’s going to be a bit tight this week, so I decided I would try to cut back on food expenses. Yesterday, rather than whip out one of the big fancy recipes I’ve collected over the last months, I whipped up a quick batch of Pasta Roni Shells in White Cheddar. I lived on this stuff in college, and loved it, too. Easiest thing in the world to make – boil noodles in water, add a packet of powdered cheese, and serve immediately. Once you’ve got it all done, toss it in the bin. Seriously, this stuff was NASTY. Burned my tongue, too.

Learning to cook real food has ruined frozen meals for me forever.

I’ve given two new recipes from Desperation Dinners a try recently. First up, we’ve got Apple-Glazed Burger Steaks.

I’ve never bought ground meat in a tube before. It was kind of traumatizing. The ground turkey gets mixed up with an egg white, a couple of different spices, and two tablespoons of applesauce. Cook the burgers in a skillet, and then make gravy from the juices.

The result looks a lot like a Swiss steak. Easy to cook, and easy to eat. I expected a much sweeter end result when I read the recipe title. It was almost disappointing to only use two tablespoons of applesauce. Still, this dish was a nice contrast to usual beef burgers. Whether it was the applesauce or the turkey, though, I can’t determine.

I spent all last weekend baking (and eating) cake bites. Come Sunday evening, I just was NOT hungry. So I made myself Buttered Rum-Glazed Ham, just to be an idiot. A FAT idiot.

I had to speak to the woman at the grocery deli counter to get ham steaks the right size for this recipe, which… man, I may have to do that more often. Grocers are great people. Seriously, have you thanked your grocer today? You should. Go do it now.

The glaze was made with butter, brown sugar, cinnamon, cloves, and rum (flavoring – I’m a good Mormon boy, after all). I stuck it all in a measuring cup and microwaved it. Brown sugar and butter make a crazy combo – they boiled up even after getting pulled from the microwave.

The recipe calls for raisins, but, if I make this dish again, I’ll probably leave the raisins out. They absorbed a lot of the glaze in the broiler, and reconstituted grapes are kind of gross. Otherwise, though, this dish was really quick and tasty. Portions wound up being pretty small, though.

One of these days, I should really practice putting together a full meal with side dishes and everything. Maybe.

Cooking with Braddy: Cake Bites

Okay, hands up: Who's never heard of cake bites before?

Their a sweet looking dessert with a really simple underlying concept. Have you ever gone to a wedding reception or something, and you see the three-year-old kid eating their cake by the fistful? They don't break off pieces, but they mash the whole thing, frosting and all, into a ball and shove it in their mouths.

Basically, if the three-year-old washes their hands first and then dips them in chocolate, that's a cake bite.

My aunt brought a couple different kinds of cake bites to our Father's Day celebration, and we all kinda went nuts for them. They were delicious. So she ran off a couple recipes, and I decided to give them a try.

I felt a lot like that three-year-old mashing up the wedding cake. Seriously, you start by baking a cake.

Then you tear the cake to little pieces.

Then you mix it together and roll it all into little balls. And you do most of it by hand.

Of course, after the whole thing is done, you dip them all in chocolate and let them cool. They're pretty tasty.

I've got a batch of Cookies and Cream Cake Bites all done now. They turned out pretty well. There's a batch of Root Beer Float Cake Bites I still have to coat (and is there a more Utah-ded treat than "Root Beer Float Cake Bites"?).

Not too bad for a dessert invented by an antsy toddler.

Cooking With Braddy: Kadahi Chicken

Trying to do a web search for this recipe was frustrating - the only result that ever came back was for "kadai chicken." I'm pretty sure it's the same thing.

Now, you may notice that there's no garlic in the picture above. I noticed it, too. The author of the Mighty Spice Cookbook must not have, though, because he lauds this recipe for the simple flavor the garlic adds.

The author's not the only one to make a mistake, though. I wound up chopping the onion, ginger, and chile all at the same time and dumping them into a bowl together, when the recipe CLEARLY states that the garlic is to be sauteed first, and the other ingredients added later.

Oh, well, obvious errors aside, the recipe's a good one.

I hadn't ever tried cooking with turmeric before, but I knew about the spice already. Turmeric is the yellow spice. It colors EVERYTHING yellow (including my fingers, for the record).

The resulting dish has a great curry flavor, and made more than enough for several people. I only had one person to share it with, which left me with a ton to eat over the next several days. In fact, I still have some at home, so I think I'll help myself to one more portion.

Right after I clean up the kitchen.

It may be time for me to invest in a wok or something. I've never heard of a wok boiling over.

Cooking with Braddy: Cheese Quesadillas with a Green Mole Sauce

Not pictured:  Sesame Seeds

It seems like every time I get a free evening with absolutely nothing planned, I feel an almost overwhelming impulse to try a new recipe. It's shaping up to be quite the expensive habit, as I almost always have to run to the store to get new spices and herbs. Sometimes, I have to go twice, like when I forgot to write down that I needed sesame seeds for this recipe from the Mighty Spice Cookbook.

My mother will tell you that I used to eat a TON of quesadillas - although I'm a little confused as to why you're actually talking to my mother right now. Anyway, I always wanted to try this recipe, as it looked to be pretty darn easy. Basically, you take everything pictured above except the tortillas and mozerella, add the one ingredient not pictured (sesame seeds), and mix it in a blender. Then you let it all simmer for a half hour, blend it again, and serve.

I actually felt pretty handy putting this recipe together, as I had food going on two different burners at once. It wound up being a lot of work for what basically amounts to a glorified appetizer - especially since the mole tended to spit a bit. Perhaps it was angry that I'd forgotten the sesame seeds.

Still, the end result, after minimal fuss, was pretty delicious.

Seriously, though, don't forget the sesame seeds.

Cooking with Braddy: Meat and Potatoes

My brother said recently that my family is full of "meat and potatoes" types. I don't know that that's 100% true (I'm more of a "grilled-cheese sandwich and ice cream" type), I do like me a good steak. So I was pretty excited to try a quick meat and potato recipe from Desperation Dinners.

Unlike a lot of the recipes I've been trying recently from The Mighty Spice Cookbook, there aren't a lot of complex or hard-to-find ingredients in this recipe. I think the most exotic component of the dish was garlic powder. Makes it pretty easy to put together. The steaks go into a skillet to cook.

Or, you know, overcook, as the case may be.

Don't worry. I did better with the second batch.

The meat goes into the oven to keep warm, while the hash browns go into the pan to cook. Just before the hash browns are done, you pour the collected juices from the steaks into the pan with the potatoes and stir in until it's all absorbed. Sadly, I must have bought fairly lean steaks, because there wasn't all that much juice left. What was there added a pretty good flavor.

Arrange decoratively on a plate and serve.

Cooking with Braddy: Indian Chicken and Spinach Curry

Ten years ago, there was no chance I'd EVER try a dish called "Indian Chicken and Spinach Curry."

Heck, FIVE years ago, I'd probably not have touched it.

Yet here we are. It's 2012, and not only did I TRY a dish called "Indian Chicken and Spinach Curry," not only did I MAKE a dish called "Indian Chicken and Spinach Curry," but I really LIKED it, too.

Who's come a long way now, Virginia?

I picked this recipe out of the Mighty Spice Cookbook because I already had a couple of the ingredients. Spices are fun to cook with, but they're EXPENSIVE. Luckily, I still had some leftover garam masala, so the only spices I needed to pick up were cumin and ginger.

I wound up leaving the cream out of the recipe - it's obviously healthier without it, and, well, I apparently don't quite have a pan big enought for everything.

That's BEFORE I even added the chicken and the spinach. So you can see that space was an issue.

Preparing the spinach for this recipe is probably one of the strangest things I've ever done. First I had to boil the spinach in water until it looked wilted. Then I blended it (with some of the leftover spinach water) until it looked like a... well, a nasty green spinach smoothie. Wish I'd taken a picture of it.

I'm going to have to call the recipe a complete success. The curry is a pretty mild one, but still delicious. This is probably my favorite recipe I've attempted thus far.

Well... I guess the aftermath left something to be desired.

Braddy's Leisurely Weekend Yields Two New Recipes

Man, it's been a long time since I've had a weekend that relaxing. Definitely not since I started working on lines for Blithe Spirit (opening May 4th at the Empress Theatre). So the fact that I had time to try out not one, but two new recipes makes me feel pretty good.

The first recipe, I'll admit, is a bit of a cheat. This recipe for a peach and yogurt soup comes from Desperation Dinners, a book of quick and easy recipes that all supposedly take less than twenty minutes to prepare. This "soup" is really just a glorified smoothie made from frozen peaches, orange juice, and vanilla yogurt. However, when it's all mixed up, it has the consistency of a soup, and really does deserve to be eaten out of a bowl with some blueberries mixed in as well. I found the soup just a little too tart, but delicious and refreshing nonetheless.

The second recipe took me a great deal more time to prepare. This recipe for tamarind and lemongrass chicken stir fry comes from the Mighty Spice Cookbook and calls for a lot of exotic ingredients I've never used before. The dish didn't turn out quite right - I think I mixed too much water in with the tamarind, so the sauce didn't thicken and stick to the chicken like it was supposed to. Still, it was a pretty tasty dish and one definitely worth revisiting... in another month or so, when I get free time again.

Goody Goody... Goulash?

Recently I’ve devoted a lot of energy to trying new things – mainly new movies and books, that sort of thing – but I’ve also wanted to try to branch out and develop some new skills. Cooking’s not exactly something I’ve expressed a lot of interest in, but I decided to give it a go over President’s Day weekend. See, several years ago, while serving a mission for my church in the Czech Republic, I acquired this book:

I don’t THINK the turducken was originally Czech…

I LOVE Czech food – all those fattening sauces and dishes dripping with sauerkraut. It’s all delicious. I picked out a recipe from the cookbook – kotlíkový guláš, a simple beef stew – and gave it a go.

I ran into some problems translating the recipe. There were a couple of words that I couldn’t find in any of my dictionaries, offline or on. Words weren’t the only things tough to translate, either. In my experience, Europeans measure most of their cooking ingredients by weight, whereas Americans usually measure volume. Conversions were a bit tricky, but (with a little help from my math-major roommate) I was able to get all the ingredients together.

Not pictured: The frozen pizza I held in reserve, just in case.

I’ve always viewed cooking as a chore. After all, it’s a lot more work to make a stew from scratch than to heat up a can of Campbell’s Chunky, especially when cooking just for myself. Still, I’ve always been able to follow a recipe pretty well – I haven’t ignored EVERYTHING my mother taught me.

Step One: Melt lard in a big pot with bacon. I’m pretty sure I heard Jenny Craig crying somewhere.

The nice thing about stew, it seems, is that once it gets going you don’t really have to pay much attention to it. After sautéing the onions, carving up the potatoes, and browning the meat, I put the whole thing in a pot with some water and let it cook for about two hours – long enough to watch the entirety of Kenneth Branaugh’s Much Ado about Nothing.

Uncovering the stew only to pose for an action shot.

We ate well last night, my roommate and I. The goulash sat in my stomach like a rock for the rest of the evening (I blame the lard and bacon fat). Sadly, I think the dish lacked something. Potatoes, for one thing – the recipe only called for about one potato to go with about a whole pound of beef, which is just silly. I’ll be trying the recipe again, adding a few more spices and definitely upping the veggie count.

But now you have photographic evidence – Braddy CAN cook.

It tasted a lot better than it looks here. Trust me.

Baking Disasters and the Ice Cream Social

I spent a fun-filled frivolous day with Larissa on Saturday, eating junk food and discussing our respective dating woes (her men won't cowboy up, and mine won't back down). Now I can say with certainty that THIS:

Ice cream and... potato chips?

Not a good idea.

Anyway, once the binging was done (and I say "binging" with a great sense of irony, as we had MAYBE five bites of each flavor, and then Larissa sent the rest home with me), Larissa asked if I would be willing to help her bake some cookies. Much to her misfortune, I said yes.

See, I'm not a TERRIBLE cook... at least, I didn't used to be. Years of neglect have left my baking skills a bit limp. Factor in my general clumsiness and you get:

Not Pictured: Smoke

...one burned-out mixer.

Sorry, Larissa. I owe you a new mixer.

Top Five Ice Cream Flavors

Y'know, there are times when I look at everything I've got on my plate and wonder how I have the energy to get it all done. Then I realize it's all thanks to a fluffy frozen mixture of vanilla extract and butterfat.

Yeah, I love ice cream. A lot. Too much, probably. I'm not FAT by any stretch of the imagination, but I do have a tiny shelf just above my navel where I can rest a cup of Ben and Jerry's ice cream... which, of course, builds that little shelf right up. It's a vicious cycle.

Anyway, here are my five favorite flavors of frozen dairy goodness:


5 - Karamel Sutra

There's a surprising lack of chocolate on my list of favorite ice creams (well, the short list, at any rate). And it's not the chocolate in this particular blend that appeals to my baser instincts. No, it's the big fat ribbon of pure caramel running right down the middle. I wouldn't necessarily call it "sexy"... but MAN is it good!


4 - Pistachio Pistachio

I could easily just make a list of my five favorite Ben and Jerry's ice cream flavors... which I may actually do some day. I'm actually trying NOT to feature one brand too prominently, so this'll be the last B&J appearance on this list.

Surprisingly, some ice cream flavors I like because they're gentler and milder. Such is the case with Pistachio Pistachio. The ice cream actually has a few too many nuts for my taste, but it's cool and refreshing in a way other overly-sugary treats can't match.


3 - Overload! Fried Ice Cream

Real fried ice cream is a treat - and not nearly as disgusting as it sounds. You take a scoop of ice cream, cover it in batter and corn flakes, and fry it for, like, thirty seconds if that. Cover it in caramel and cinnamon and you're done.

Bryer's tries to recreate the experience with their Overload! line, and, while it's not a PERFECT match, it's a heckuvalot more convenient. I'll admit to being a little weirded out by corn flakes in ice cream at the very first, but it works well for me.


2 - Strawberry Cheesecake Ice Cream

There was a time, back when I was young, naive, and, by most accounts, stupid, when I would not eat cheesecake. I hated it. I thought it was gross in that irrational way that children KNOW they'll hate a food before they try it.

Even then, I loved cheesecake-flavored ice cream.

Now, here's another flavor where I prefer less over more. A lot of cheesecake ice creams have bits of pie crust or graham cracker ribbons in them, and, to me, that's just too much. I prefer to keep it simple - sweet ice cream with chunks of delicious strawberries.


1 - Caramel Praline Crunch

As you can tell, I loves me some caramel.

Maybe it's cheating, but I'm sneaking in a frozen yogurt flavor in the top spot. I absolutely love this particular flavor (Dryer's or Edy's or whatever it's called). It's soft, creamy, and sweet with just the right amount of crunch in the pralines. Add a caramel ribbon and I'm there!

For more ice cream fun, you might want to check out On Second Scoop, a website I stumbled across while looking for ice cream pictures.