Food & recipes 12 May 2006 08:06 pm
One of life’s greater mysteries…
well, not really. Not really even close. Here it was: why, when I could cook so many things well, even complicated, foreign things well, could I not master simple basics like Our Daily Bread, gravy, and southern iced tea?
My tea tastes like dishwater, as my well-meaning but too-honest lover told me. Even when people came to my house, took my tea bags and my water and my kettle and showed me every step, I could not make mine taste like theirs. It’s been a mystery.
My gravy was lumpy and tasteless. That is, when I actually got it to thicken. I tried every thing I could, every recipe, every tip on the cooking shows. I eventually gave up.
Bread should have been basic. I was convinced of the health benefits of making our bread, even grinding our own fresh wheat, heck, even growing our own wheat a very long time ago. And yet, even with fresh milled flour, with additives and whole books on the subject, and much advice, all I got were bricks. I gave up.
What changed? Well, my tea still tastes like dishwater, as my lover so honestly pointed out tonight. But one day when I was pregnant with Rowan I was playing around with pan sauces. I was making a sauce with chicken drippings and I drizzled some olive oil and rehydrated morels and some butter and then I took a shot at thickening it and….
well, it was so good that my honest man was in speechless bliss. And pan sauces became gravies and now I”m an old pro, as my baby has turned 18 months.
But what about bread? I don’t have high aspirations; I just want edible. As in, “not a brick”. And something must’ve happened with that wierd pregnancy that had me craving fruit and country music because suddenly I could make a bistro-worthy pizza dough. That turned to a full-bodied foccacia. I was finding my feet.
Tonight I made a loaf of half white/wheat golden egg bread. I didn’t use a recipe and I think that was the breaking point. Somewhere while making pan sauces and pizza dough and growing my fifth wonder I realized I understood the process and no longer needed to measure. No more books to tell me how it’s done. I could do it by feeling it. That shouldn’t surprise me too much, as that’s how I do all of my cooking…and other stuff. And success, the kind where my man says, “Man…it sure is good to come home” while his happy eyeballs roll back in his head and he munches on fresh from the oven bread with a thick smear of butter, is all mine.
He left his glass of sweet tea untouched. Some things need more time to…. steep?
on 13 May 2006 at 10:13 pm 1.gina said …
What a great blog!
on 01 Jul 2006 at 3:29 pm 2.BeBe Bluff said …
Want great tea? Here is what I do….
You take and almost boil a full tea kettle of water.
Turn the pot off and making sure that it is not boiling, put 3 family size tea bags.
Let this sit for at least 6 hrs. I let mine sit overnight to be made in the morning.
When you go to make it, add your usual amount of sugar you use for a gallon(we use 1 cup)
Then…..add 1 tsp of baking soda.
Try this and see if it better for you.
the first thing people ask for is my tea….hope you like it too!
on 14 Oct 2006 at 8:12 pm 3.April said …
Hi Tia,
I recommend changing your brand of tea. If you’ve already tried this, why not try again? I’ve learned there are BIG differences in tea flavor brought about by tea leaves. Unfortunately, many tea brands do not list EXACTLY which “black tea” is in their tea bags, so it is hard to compare. Taste testing is required! For a delicious, strong brew I recommend P&G Tips, which is the generic tea in England. Unfortunately, I don’t know how to get it outside of England. Here in America I think that tins of Twinings loose leaf tea (steeped with a ball infuser) produce a gorgeous cup of hot or iced tea. Freshness is also important, which is why I prefer the tins! If you have a chance to try this, I hope you’ll enjoy it!
I found your web site in a link from Homeschool Blogger. I’ve really enjoyed reading your posts about food and recipes!
- April