Adventures in Baking!

Hey kids! Are you ready for something exciting and new?!?!?! You better be.

This is entry #1 for my new blog subseries called "Adventures in [fill-in-the-blank]", where I will be discussing my experiments in cooking. You see, life as a working girl trying to make it in this crazy world riddled with inflation and a recession has rendered me unable to dump loads of cash on eating out. In other words, I'm broke. But to every stormy cloud there is a silver lining; mine comes in the form of pots and pans.

My first adventure will be in BAKING because:

1) I've been baking since I was 10.
2) I have a killer sweet tooth. His name is Gobzilla, and he has a hunger for chocolate.
2.5) I studied pastry arts in culinary school for about 3 weeks. Then I dropped out.

My recipes were inspired by Baked: New Frontiers in Baking by Matt Lewis and Renato Poliafito. If you're looking for the ultimate baking recipes, BUY THIS BOOK. If you're looking for traditional recipes with a modern twist, BUY THIS BOOK. If you don't own a single baking book, BUY THIS BOOK. I promise you they're not paying me to tell you this; I'm saying this for free.


Their recipes are very thorough and detailed, but sometimes they are straight up science experiments. To ease the process I created a few short cuts for myself.

Sweet & Salty Cake


A moist dark chocolate cake layered with salted caramel and rich dark chocolate caramel frosting, then sprinkled with cocoa dusted sea salts. Ever since I got this book I had been wanting to try out this recipe. But it was too overwhelming. It is basically 3 difficult recipes mushed together to make 1 ultramegadelicious cake.

But as luck would have it, I received a jar of dark chocolate frosting from Williams Sonoma as a birthday present. I knew it would be PERFECT for this cake. For the cake itself, I used Duncan Hines Dark Chocolate Fudge mix (a trick I learned from Alton Brown; it's not about the cake, but the frosting). The only thing I made from scratch was the salted caramel, some of which I whipped with the jarred frosting. Et voila, semi-homemade Sweet & Salty cake! Tip: Nuke it for 5-10 seconds. Eat. Lick plate. Enjoy.

Root Beer Fudge Cake


I deviated from the original recipe by using root beer concentrate instead of soda. This resulted in a much more flavorful cake that melds beautifully with the deep fudge-y fudge. The cake also ages like fine wine; the longer it sits in the fridge, the root beer flavor grows and intensifies. Like a mold. But more delicious.

I actually met the baking geniuses Matt & Renato at Disney's Food & Wine Festival in California Adventure. I can't begin to tell you how starstruck I was; to me these guys are like the *NSYNC of baking. I told them about my substitution for the root beer cake and they fell in love with the idea. Next time I'm in NY I have to visit their bakery in Brooklyn (also called Baked). Who knows, maybe I can talk them into opening a store here in California...

Great Expectations (or Why I Will Always Hate Fusion Food)

As you can see, my blog got a sexy new makeover (thanks to the preset templates available on Blogger - no time to do my own designs). And with this new look, I have another new thing to bring to "Around the World in 3 Meals a Day"...my first negative review.

GASP!

The other day I came home to see a brown bag waiting for me on the counter. I quivered with anticipation as I pulled out something shaped like a toddler's thigh wrapped in deli paper. I peeled back the wrapper to find something that looked like a burrito but didn't smell like a burrito. The aroma had hints of soy and something pickled. My hands trembled with excitement as I realized what it was...a Kogi BBQ burrito! Despite my notoriety as a fatty, I've never had the opportunity to try the infamous Kogi BBQ truck. And thanks to my thoughtful sister, my day had come!!! I took my first bite...

How was it? Well, in order for you to understand my first impression, let's flashback to my senior prom. Thanks to all those damn John Hughes movies I had great expectations of it being the awesomest night of my life. I even got a dress custom-made by my mom's seamstress, a sapphire blue satin crepe evening gown with a sweetheart neckline and a mermaid silhouette. Hot but not slutty. I weighed 15 pounds less back then. I miss those days. Anyways, it all fell apart when my boyfriend asked another girl to the dance. I asked (or beg, it's all perspective) 10 guys to be my date until my dance partner in show choir (a sophomore) agreed to go with me. Then my ex ended up being in the same limo as me. Cue the avalanche. The whole time my ex's date was throwing daggers at me with her eyes the whole ride there. To top it all off, dinner was at Rainforest Cafe (a travesty in itself), and THEN my date ditched me 10 minutes in and I couldn't find him the rest of the night.

That is how my Kogi burrito tasted. Like my shitty prom night.

It wasn't terrible. At prom, I stuck it out through the whole thing, hoping that it would get better. I also had no choice, I rode in a limo with 9 other people. But I had the same attitude toward my Kogi burrito. I ate the whole thing, hoping that at some point my taste buds will realize yes, this IS the greatest burrito ever. But that never happened. Each bite was one disappointment after another. Just like prom. Over-hyped. Great expectations. Great disappointment.

Perhaps under the right circumstances, Kogi BBQ would be great. Like if you have the munchies. Or if you have been waiting in line for 3 hours to try this over-hyped concoction and you're rendered exhausted and starving. At that point even wasabi ice cream with anchovy sprinkles would taste good. But sweet Korean BBQ, kimchi, and cheese wrapped up in a tortilla? Call me old-fashioned, but I like my burritos Mexican.

Kogi's bizarre creations only served to confirm my theory: fusion food will never work. Sure, there are some exceptions to the rule, like tempura ice cream or jambalaya pasta. But when you clash two completely different flavors together, like cheese in Asian dishes or Sriracha-Tapatio cheesecake, you're just creating a recipe for disaster. Like my prom night.

Haters keep on hating.

Holy sssmokin' meat Batman!

Spring Street Smoke House
640 N. Spring Street
Los Angeles, CA 90012
(213) 626-0535
www.sssmokehouse.com

Sorry, I know, I suck. I haven't written an entry in over a year. I'll blame it on the economy. This past year has rendered me penniless, forcing me to survive off Teddy Grahams and Nutella. Not that I'm complaining, I love Nutella. But now I'm all grown up and back on track with my life, so I can resume my culinary quest.

Let me start with Spring Street Smoke House, located right in the heart of Downtown LA, just blocks from Union Station. Oh my God. No. That's not right. OH MY GOD!!!!! Hang on, let me wipe the drool off my keyboard.

It all started a couple months ago, when my boyfriend and I went on an expedition of the concrete jungle formally known as El Pueblo de Nuestra Reina de Los Angeles (I swear to you that's LA's full legal name, look it up). Famished after a day full of subway rides, roaming the LA Public Library, and wandering around Koreatown trying to figure out how the frickin' hell we got there in the first place, we returned to Union Station in hopes of finding a good spot to fill up. We knew our chances were good; after all, we were right next to gastronomic landmarks like Olvera Street and Phillipe's. But we were tired of Mexican food (had a bomb ass quesadilla from Leo's Taco Truck the night before) and I wasn't feeling French Dips. We wanted to try something new. And we had technology on our side. Thanks to the Layars app (buy a Droid), we found barbecue heaven. And it was walking distance.

We walked into a small spot decked out with picnic tables and metal chairs reminiscent of a middle school assembly room. That was the first good sign - they didn't give a shit about the decor, so the food had to be good. Each table was stocked with a loaf of sliced bread and a roll of paper towels. Good sign #2 - they're prepared for a sloppy hot mess of sauce-orgy. And finally, the ultimate nod of approval: the patrons were blacks and fat white people. The ultimate authority on barbecue. It's not a stereotype; it's a fact.

We decided to go for variety to get the most of everything, so we split the Sampler Plate, a massive meat pile of 2 spare ribs, a hot link, pulled chicken, and smoked brisket. That alone was more than enough for 2 people, but we just had to indulge ourselves; we also got a 1/2 pound of pulled pork, a side of baked beans, collard greens, fries, and cornbread. On top of that, they also had beer samplers, only $12 for six 6 oz samples. Holy begeezus. We literally rolled out on our stomachs when we were done, and still had leftovers for days.

Not only was the feast bountiful, but delicious as well. The ribs were great, but where they really shined was the brisket and pulled pork. They smoke their meat for over 8 hours, resulting in tender, moist, juicy, succulent meat smothered in a sweet and tangy sauce (also available in spicy). Their sides paired perfectly with the entrees, only helping to enhance to flavor. It's always a good thing when you can take everything on your plate, swirl it all together into a soupy mess, and it still tastes good. In fact, it tastes even better. But the icing on the cake were the prices. The Sample Plate was $14, but was more than enough to feed two adults with trash compactors for stomachs.

So go buy a Droid, download the Layars app, and load up on pork and beef at Spring Street Smoke House. NOW.