Entries tagged with cooking

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cooking

Black Magic Cookery!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! | Tuesday | Period 3

Nina was exhausted.

She'd made it back just in time for Summer's class and, like, that had left her not much time to work with her own class.

Ugh.

Sure, she could've skipped Summer's class but then she'd have felt bad about it and she enjoyed the ranting even if she was conflicted on the things Summer was ranting about…

On the bright side, there wasn't much to set up. No one else really seemed to be using this room, so it was a matter of sticking the spices at each station and checking the fridge to see what they were going to make today.

"Gooooooooooooooooood moooooooooooooorning!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" she said cheerfully, turning away from the fridge as her class showed up, with a bowlful of tomatoes and another of shellfish. Nina beamed at them as she wandered from station to station, leaving a few tomatoes and a few fish at each place. "Today we're branching off from eggs!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"

She was already predicting a few comments on this day, oh yes she was.

Nina took her spot at the front of the class with the left over tomatoes and shellfish.

"I'm starving!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" she announced, grinning at them. "So, like, I want you to look at what I've given you and guess what we're making today!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"

Were they likely to get it right?

Probably not. But that was part of the fun.

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cooking

Black Magic Cookery!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! | Tuesday | Period 3

"Good mooooooooooooooooooorning!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"

Nina beamed at her class, pleased as punch that, presumably, they'd come back after last week! Each of the kitchen stations were set up just like last week, right down to the cups of five spices of her world (sugar, salt, soy sauce, mayo, and red pepper) and a carton of a dozen eggs.

"Don't worry," she said blithely, "we do cook with more than just eggs!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! But today we'll be covering what happens when you cook with two eggs instead of just one!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"

You would think you'd get double your ice cream or your pudding or whatever but you'd be deeply wrong.

"If you, like, happened to try this at home after class," Nina said, "then, like, I really hope you didn't try just doubling the recipe!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I know that works for recipes from this world but it, like, really doesn't in my world because, like, making something with two eggs is meant to get you something totally different than making something with one egg……………

"So, like, a one egg recipe, like ice cream, can't be doubled just by adding another egg and you'll just, like, wind up with a total eggy mess!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"

Probably the sort of mess that people expected to make when they cooked her way, honestly.

"So, like, remember this: one egg equals ice cream while two eggs equals cake!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"

And not just, like, a slice of cake. She was talking about an entire cake.

"Now, like, you have to be a little more particular before you move with the eggs for this recipe!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Each seasoning is meant to lead to a different subcategory of cakes!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! If you just want cake, you're just going to want two eggs!!!!!!!!!!!!!! But, like, if you want shortcake of any sort, then you're going to want to use two eggs and a cupful of sugar!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Whereas, like, adding a cupful of mayo is going to get you cheesecake!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! You'll get different kinds of cake if you add salt, soy sauce, or red pepper but, like, the three I've listed are the most popular subsets of cake!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

"Questions, anyone??????????????????? If not, then, like I'll demonstrate and then you can get started!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"

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cooking

Black Magic Cookery!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! | Tuesday | Period 3

Was it a little weird to have to bolt from a class she was taking so that she could go and make sure all was set up for a class she was teaching? Yes, yes it was.

Luckily, Nina built to thrive on challenge like that. And she'd set it up beforehand which was, well, the real reason she couldn't do yoga this semester. She needed time to prep things beforehand! Her classroom was the Danger Shop, set up with kitchen stations for each student.

Each station was equipped with a wok, a stew pot, five measuring cups that were each filled with a different item, and a carton of twelve eggs.

There was also a camera set up to record all of this.

( Good morning!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! )

She clapped her hands together. "Okay!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Names and one dish you want me to cover—though, like, with seven weeks I make no promises!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! After that, we'll get to making ice cream!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"

[OCD is up!!!!!! :D]

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cooking

Cooking Through History, Period 2

Today, the Danger Shop was made up like a perfectly normal modern kitchen, with stations for each student. Hannibal leaned on the one at the front of the class. He saw some mistletoe creeping in and raised an eyebrow at it; it burst into flame.

"I've programmed the room to keep that ridiculous plant life out, so feel free to spend as long here as you like. Today is your final; I would like you to take the techniques and lessons you've learned from past classes and make your own food. Ask for help if you need it."

He would be making a Buche de Nöel.

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cooking

Cooking Through History, Period 2

Hannibal came into the Danger Shop to the sound of "Carol of the Bells". Loudly. He sighed and started talking, walking around the banquet table at the front of the simulated Italian hall. "This week, we will be discussing -" The music started again as he rounded the table. He frowned. A few minutes later, it stopped and he continued. "Much of what we know of Italian cooking -" he moved his foot and it started again, since he was now in a corner. He scowled. "Although in the fifteenth century -" More music.

He scowled and threw up his hands, then managed to yell, "Cook!" to be heard over the music, and promptly gave up. You all had tablets with recipes on them. Use them.

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cooking

Cooking Through History, Period 2

When the students arrived today, they would find a lovely calligraphed note on the desk at the front of the room.

I'm afraid being sick precludes teaching any class involving food. If you choose to remain here, you may cook in your own time or watch a movie. You may also choose to leave. - Dr Hannibal Lecter

[Method RP! :P ]

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cooking

Cooking Through History, Period 2

"Next week," Hannibal greeted them, "is a holiday in the country we are nominally a part of. It commemorates people from the continent to the east of us landing and making friends with the people on this one. Which lasted until they decided they could get more out of killing or subjugating them." Rude.

"The holiday is traditionally celebrated by eating food, largely the food of those people from the other continent. Instead, we will be attempting to make the food of the people of this one. Or at least, the people of this one known for welcoming the invaders, the Wampanoag, since those living here were not a monoculture."

He led them to the clay pots they'd be using.

"We will be making Autumn Sobaheg and Puttuckqunnege today. Please plan your time accordingly, and as always, ask if you have any questions."

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cooking

Cooking Through History, Period 2

Hannibal met everyone this week in a medieval manor house, and passed out anachronistic electronic tablets with the instructions.

"This week, we are making Caudel out of Lent and fried crackers. You'll see the original recipes and translations here. You'll also have a number of period food colorings, if you choose to use them. There is a rich history of coloring food in every hue of the rainbow at the time these dishes were from."

He waved them at the period stoves. "Let me know if you have any questions."

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Cooking Through History, Period 2

Hannibal nodded to the students. "Of primary importance, particularly in areas where food might not be plentiful all year, is preserving food so that you have enough to eat year-round. Prior to the refrigerator, this often meant smoking it. Today we will be smoking fish. It's a method that has been used throughout history, and still often is, although less as a preservative these days and more as a flavoring."

He smiled a little. "I hope you've brought something else to do while we wait." He nodded them toward the old-fashioned and simple grills.

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cooking

Cooking Through History, Period 2

"Good morning," Hannibal said, nodding to the students. "We've just passed a holiday that has been around for hundreds of years; similarly, the foods used to celebrate it and other harvest holidays have also been around that long. Varieties of oat cake have come down to us from several countries; parsnips were widely cultivated. You'll note both these dishes are baked. They might also traditionally have been made over a fire; methods vary. Dishes were, however, metal at this point, which allowed for higher heats and faster cooking."

He waved at the medieval-looking kitchen around them. "So, make your cakes and pies. Let me know if you have any questions."

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cooking

Cooking Through History, period 2

When the students arrived today, they would find a note on the door.

Apologies, but due to family commitments, I will not be able to attend today. There is a movie waiting for you, should you choose to stay. The moose assures me it will be appropriate.

The moose's definition of appropriate might be somewhat skewed.

Entry tags:

cooking

Cooking Through History, Period 2

"Welcome back," Hannibal said. He was back being male again, and he hadn't even had a chance to wear all the clothing he'd bought in Paris! He was in a suit once more instead, and the Danger Shop had given them a large mud-brick house with stone ovens and bronze pots.

"Earlier, we worked with one Babylonian recipe; today, we will be completing another. The earliest known cookbook is from Babylon, and not strictly speaking a book, but a clay tablet dating to around four thousand years ago. It contains forty recipes, most of which are simple in ingredients but complex in instructions, which include only the order in which to add them, not measures or times. In this time and place, few could read and write; these recipes were likely an attempt to document haute cuisine rather than as instructions for daily cooking.

"Many meats are included in these recipes, most of which are still eaten today - beef, pork, fowl, and fish appear to have been popular. A number of grains, vegetables, and fruits are also important, along with herbs, dairy, and oils.

"Today, we will be making a wildfowl pie. The recipe reads:

Remove the head and feet. Open the body and clean the birds, reserving the gizzards and the pluck. Split the gizzards and clean them. Next rinse the birds and flatten them. Prepare a pot and put birds, gizzards and pluck into it before placing it on the fire.

Put the pot back on the fire. Rinse out a pot with fresh water. Place beaten milk into it and place it on the fire. Take the pot (containing the birds) and drain it. Cut off the inedible parts, then salt the rest, and add them to the vessel with the milk, to which you must add some fat. Also add some rue, which has already been stripped and cleaned. When it has come to a boil, add minced leek, garlic, samidu, and onion (but not too much onion).

Rinse crushed grain, then soften it in milk and add to it, as you knead it, salt, samidu, leeks, and garlic along with enough milk and oil so that a soft dough will result which you will expose to the heat of the fire for a moment. Then cut it into two pieces. Take a platter large enough to hold the birds. Place the prepared dough on the bottom of the plate. Be careful that it hangs over the rim of the platter only a little. Place it on top of the oven to cook it. On the dough which has already been seasoned, place the pieces of the birds as well as the gizzards and pluck. Cover it with the bread lid [which has meanwhile been baked] and send it to the table.

"As you can see, there are a number of things missing: do you initially cook the birds in water or in fat? What sort of birds are used? And there are also questions of translation. Fortunately, somebody has translated this into a modern recipe." He handed out tablets with the recipe on them.

"So, cook your foods, and as usual, please let me know if you have any questions."

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cooking

Cooking Through History, period 2

"Welcome." Today, class would step into a wooden house, brightly painted. "There are any number of ancient cuisines we could discuss once humans got the hang of further techniques. Today we will be making Babaofan - Eight Treasure Glutinous Rice - a Chinese food that has been documented from around 1000 BCE, or three thousand years ago.

"It is a type of congee, or rice porridge. Rice was first domesticated in China around ten thousand years ago, and has fed more people over a longer time than any other crop in human history. There are several legends as to how this particular dish came about, and it is still eaten today, mostly upon special occasions. Eight is a lucky number in Chinese culture. It is made from glutinous rice and a combination of eight "treasures", traditionally fruits and legumes. Some of the commonly used ones are dried dates, lotus seeds, candied plums, sweetened winter melon, red bean paste, assorted nuts, vegetables, meat, or potatoes. Since we're replicating the ancient foods as much as possible, we will be using ones that were most likely available then: lotus seed, red dates, longan, goji berries, winter melon, apricots, and lily bulbs. These are meant to balance tastes and medicinal properties - each ingredient has a different taste and different properties."

He waved to the wood-fired stoves awaiting them. "We will be cooking the rice and ingredients in pots, steaming and boiling. These were the earliest attested cooking methods; frying was not known until much later, when the materials in use allowed for higher heats. So, cook your food, and let me know if you have any questions; I will be making my own."

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Cooking Through History, Period 2

Hannibal greeted the students in a comfortable-looking living room today.

"I apologize to you all, but my preparations for today became somewhat derailed by..." he stifled a sigh. "...Men with coconuts pretending to be horses." Honestly, Jono, your world was more insane than Fandom. "They were attacking the other school I teach at. We're still not entirely sure why, for once."

They hadn't seemed to harbor anti-mutant sentiments. They'd just been...ridiculous.

"Therefore today will be a movie day. this one comes highly recommended.

"By the way, should any of you have people visiting this weekend, I will be in my office and available for speaking with. If there is anything you would like me to tell them or avoid saying, please let me know ahead of time."

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cooking

Cooking Through History, Period 2

When the students arrived today, they would find themselves in a large, fairly open cave. To one side, the stone had been excavated into an alcove and a fire built there. Hannibal stood, tending it with a poker that was distinctly not appropriate to any time prior to the last few centuries. There were limits to his willingness to embrace history.

"Welcome," he said to them, waving them toward logs to sit on that were surprisingly comfortable. "Once humans had mastered fire and learned to use it, they also began taming it. One of the first ways they did that was by using hearths. Broadly, a hearth is any area dedicated to having a fire in it, but more specifically, we're discussing the type that was bound by stone - or later, brick - and that allowed for other methods of cooking than simply putting the food directly on or in the fire."

He picked up a pair of anachronistic tongs and dug in the coals, pulling out a good-sized rock. "Once pottery was also invented, stones could be put in them to warm liquid food, making soups and stews easier, and making it possible to eat foods that took longer, slower processing. Agriculture was made more palatable, literally, particularly in some areas where limestone was used.

"Today, we will be cooking two things: zamzaganu, which comes to us from a Babylonian recipe, and beer, which is possibly more ancient in provenance." Don't get excited, kids. "There are plenty of stones for you to use to heat your water, and you will all have modern tongs to retrieve them with." Again, please try not to set yourselves on fire.

He waved them toward it. "Please ask if you have any questions."

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cooking

Cooking Through History, Period 2

"Good morning and welcome back," Hannibal told the students once they were seated. The Danger Shop today looked like a grassy plain, forest bordering it on one side, and several good-sized firepits scattered around. He wandered as he spoke. "When we start with the history of cooked food, we should likely begin with why ancient humans would have wanted to cook their food. Cooking is as old as civilization, after all; human ancestors may have been cooking as far back as two million years ago, and there is evidence of it for at least half a million years.

"The earliest people were hunter-gatherers; that is, they did not grow their own vegetables or raise their own animals for food. They sought out what they needed from the area around them. At first, this would naturally have been raw plant materials and meat.

"However, food is easier to digest when cooked, and often more nutritious. There are theories that human brain capacity increased strongly once food began to be cooked. The first method of cooking was roasting, taking meat and placing it onto a stick and holding it over an open fire, or placing it in coals. Early cooked foods would most likely have been meats and root vegetables, along with nuts.

"Today, therefore, we will be making wild boar, scallop, and mushroom kebabs - if you choose to make this on your own later, pork would be an acceptable substitution - and acorn bread."

He pressed buttons on the console by the door and called up several tablets (iPads, not stone) with the recipes on them, which he handed out. "When you get to the step that says to leave the acorns for three days, call me over. I will ensure you have prepared it correctly to that point, and we will simply ask the room to speed things up. If you have questions at any time, please feel free to ask. Meanwhile, I have coffee and tea to share as we cook."

(Recipes from here, copied to Gdocs to avoid you having to scroll through the whole page.)

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cooking

Cooking Through History, Period 2

Class would be meeting in the Danger Shop, but today it just looked like a well-appointed office, with plenty of chairs for everybody.

"Hello, and welcome to Cooking Through History," he told the class. "We will be learning many things about how humans have approached food and cooking throughout the years. There will be field trips involved, and you will also be cooking yourself. This week, however, is for introductions, so I would like to hear from each of you your name, your experience with any kinds of cooking, and also any allergies, aversions, or dietary restrictions you have."

He uncovered several large dishes on his desk.

"Today we will be eating my food. Testaroli, arguably the oldest known pasta, with olive oil and cheese, and peas, perhaps the oldest cultivated vegetable. Also beer, homemade, which is the oldest beverage for which we have recipes. And water for those of you who may choose not to drink it."

He brought out plates and silverware and waved them toward it. "Get your lunch, and introduce yourselves."

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Retro Recipes: This Sh*t is Bananas; First Period [08/22].

Summer knew she was taking a pretty big risk here. Some might say it was a stupid risk; others might claim it was better than she deserved. This class this session had been quite the ride. There had been uprisings; there had been claims of war crimes; even when she tried to throw them a bone and did something normal, things still got heated.

She really couldn't think of a better way to close out her brief stint as a Fandom High teacher, so, in a way, she supposed this was her gift to the poor saps who had to suffer through this class...and yet still kept coming back for more.

"Alright, you guys," she said, "this is our last class ~~I think?~~, and it's going to be a good one. One of the things I've tried to embrace in this class is creativity, and that's what today is all about. Today, you guys are going to make the recipes. You have full range of the pantry, you can mamke whatever you want, and I will eat whatever you make. There are only two rules: 1) It must include bananas and 2) No inorganic or non-edible stuff. My stomach has been exposed to a lot of weird stuff, believe me, but I am still only human, okay? Feel free to ask for help if you need it, or help each other, but that's pretty much it. You'll have a certain amount of time to prepare, and then I'll try everyone's dishes. Is revenge a dish best served cold? I don't know. You tell me. Let's get started."

Ohhhh, she really, really hoped she didn't regret this, but, at the same time, if she didn't regret this? She was going to be terribly disappointed in these guys.

[[ ocd ~~on the way~~ is up! ]]

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cooking

Retro Recipies: BANANAS ARE NICE [08/15].

Well, this was a little...troubling. Summer's class was already pretty wee-tiny, and through various circumstances (one, at least, she knew was thankfully not because of this wonderful, wonderful week), it was now literally as small as it could possibly one.

One student.

She had one student today, and that student was a robotic plush panther.

This was even a little much for her, and that said a lot, but, dammit, they were supposed to keep on acting normal, and so Summer was going to forge forward for appearances' sake, all the same.

"Well, today," she said, "I have some yellow banana scented Play-Doh, and we're going to make banana spaghetti. It's super easy and really fun, you just put the Play-Doh into the pasta maker, press down, and voila! That's all there is to it, and then you can go ahead and add whatever you like to it by...er..." She looked a moment at Shuri's paws. "Well, you'd normally shape the dough into whatever you want to add to your spaghetti, but...well....

"I don't know. Let's just make noodles, I guess."

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cooking

Retro Recipes: This Sh*t is Bananas; First Period [08/08].

Summer was definitely in a weird mood today, her brow pretty much permenantly knitted into a thoughtful furrow, as she was still trying to process a lot of thoughts and emotions about last night. If anything, she hoped this class could be a nice distraction, but, with how it had been going recently, she was just in no mood to deal with it.

"Today we're putting bananas in meatloaf," she told...warned?....them. "And if that's too much for anyone's delicate sensibilities," you're goddamn right she was looking right at you, Wayne, "well, then, I know you know how to find the door. This one's got to take some time to bake, though, so we're just going to get right into it."

[[ so the ocd is ~~on the way~~ up! have at it! ]]