A Grand Resolution
Jun. 19th, 2023 08:39 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
madbakerI'm stealing the format from the last milestone I commemorated, #800 back in 2019.
Why Resolution Recipes?
Back when I first started these in June 2004, I said: "I have a lot of cookbooks. I've read through them all but there are a fair number that I've never cooked from. So: The Resolution. Once per week, I will cook a recipe that I have not tried before."
As I said 200 recipes ago - last time I decided a round number was worthy of a retrospective - I failed in reducing our cookbooks (even though I did purge some, and I no longer have any that I haven't cooked from) but I have expanded our meal rotation dramatically even if many of them haven't ever been redone. I have learned some new techniques, but that isn't a crucial part of the Resolution. And that's part of why I am still going. The other, honestly, is having accountability in posting it weekly even if few people read this anymore.
Numbers Geekery
If I average the goal of one recipe per week, I should have posted #1000 around August 29, 2023. Instead I'm a couple months early! The pandemic "helped" -- I posted 15 Bonus Resolution Recipes after #800 from Pandemic Stress, mostly baking but some drinking. That doesn't count the occasional two-fer.
I often have a recipe or two queued up in advance (i.e. already made and posted privately), which allows me to be sick or uninspired for a week before I jump back in. That flexibility has been key to keeping this going. On the flip side, I don't let myself get too far ahead, because then I lose momentum if I pause for a month. Plus - I get bored having the same thing over and over and I want to try new dishes.
Breakdowns by category
I added tags when the late unlamented LiveJournal introduced them, to make finding the recipes easier in the future. Then my not-OCD made me go back and retroactively classify all of them.
There's no hard and fast rule, but I tend to tag based off the primary characteristics I see in the dish. Osso buco gets resolution meat and resolution sauce but not resolution veg, even though there are vegetables in the sauce. Ice cream is both resolution dairy and resolution sweet. That's why the tags add up to far more than 1k.
The breakdown doesn't really surprise me. Meat and veg generally means main dishes. Sweet is as big as it is because we have weekly homeowners' meetings, and it gives me a chance to make desserts for four rather than two of us eating the whole thing. (Not always, admittedly.)
A few other notes.
I thought about trying to link some of the past recipes that have become regulars, but that quickly became too much work.
I deliberately made a recipe from a cookbook that I hadn't used in a while (Tarts with Tops On, a British pie book whose recipes we have liked before). This seemed like a good excuse to target a cookbook that's been on the shelf unused for a few years.
Finally, this week's Resolution Recipe: Plum and Walnut Pie.
"Plums and walnuts work beautifully together, with a little cinnamon and butter to distract from the sharpness of the fruit."
shortcrust pastry dough made with 3 cups flour and 3/4 cups unsalted butter (I used 1/2 cup butter and 1/4 cup lard)
1 1/2 lb plums, halved, pitted, and chopped
1/2 cuplight dark brown sugar
1 cup chopped walnuts
1-2 tsp cinnamon
grated zest of 1 orange and 1 lemon
1/4 cup unsalted butter, melted
1 egg white to glaze and a little extra sugar
Heat the oven to 425°. Divide the dough in roughly 2/3 and 1/2, roll out the larger piece and line a 9" pie pan. Mix the plums with the sugar, walnuts, cinnamon, and zests, then scrape them into the pie shell. Pour over the melted butter.
Roll out the other piece of dough and cover the fruit, crimping the dough edges together. Cut a central hole for the steam to escape through. Brush the top with beaten egg white and sprinkle over a little extra sugar. Bake for about an hour and serve warm with cream or vanilla custard sauce.
What worked: This was delicious. It was tart but rich. The crust was a beautiful golden brown from the egg wash (see Book of Faces for a picture).
I was afraid that 1) the crust would be way too thick and hard, since it's about double what I normally do for a 9" pie; and 2) that with no thickener, the plums would run. Neither turned out to be the case - I don't know if the thicker crust absorbed juices, but it was still reasonably flaky, and there was no soggy bottom. The slices presented well without any running liquid.
What didn't: Vanilla ice cream would have been a bit better than a splash of cream. Or creme anglaise, which I couldn't be bothered to do for this.
The wife found it a bit too tart, but it was right in my happy place. I used black plums that just started showing up at the market, but of course Santa Rosa plums would be better. Santa Rosa plums are always better.
Leftovers were better warm than cold.
Will I make it again? Yes, this will happen again during plum season.
Why Resolution Recipes?
Back when I first started these in June 2004, I said: "I have a lot of cookbooks. I've read through them all but there are a fair number that I've never cooked from. So: The Resolution. Once per week, I will cook a recipe that I have not tried before."
As I said 200 recipes ago - last time I decided a round number was worthy of a retrospective - I failed in reducing our cookbooks (even though I did purge some, and I no longer have any that I haven't cooked from) but I have expanded our meal rotation dramatically even if many of them haven't ever been redone. I have learned some new techniques, but that isn't a crucial part of the Resolution. And that's part of why I am still going. The other, honestly, is having accountability in posting it weekly even if few people read this anymore.
Numbers Geekery
If I average the goal of one recipe per week, I should have posted #1000 around August 29, 2023. Instead I'm a couple months early! The pandemic "helped" -- I posted 15 Bonus Resolution Recipes after #800 from Pandemic Stress, mostly baking but some drinking. That doesn't count the occasional two-fer.
I often have a recipe or two queued up in advance (i.e. already made and posted privately), which allows me to be sick or uninspired for a week before I jump back in. That flexibility has been key to keeping this going. On the flip side, I don't let myself get too far ahead, because then I lose momentum if I pause for a month. Plus - I get bored having the same thing over and over and I want to try new dishes.
Breakdowns by category
I added tags when the late unlamented LiveJournal introduced them, to make finding the recipes easier in the future. Then my not-OCD made me go back and retroactively classify all of them.
There's no hard and fast rule, but I tend to tag based off the primary characteristics I see in the dish. Osso buco gets resolution meat and resolution sauce but not resolution veg, even though there are vegetables in the sauce. Ice cream is both resolution dairy and resolution sweet. That's why the tags add up to far more than 1k.
| resolution meat | 348 |
| resolution veg | 257 |
| resolution sweet | 243 |
| resolution sauce | 208 |
| resolution starch | 139 |
| resolution adaptation | 120 |
| resolution dairy | 112 |
| resolution booze | 55 |
The breakdown doesn't really surprise me. Meat and veg generally means main dishes. Sweet is as big as it is because we have weekly homeowners' meetings, and it gives me a chance to make desserts for four rather than two of us eating the whole thing. (Not always, admittedly.)
A few other notes.
I thought about trying to link some of the past recipes that have become regulars, but that quickly became too much work.
I deliberately made a recipe from a cookbook that I hadn't used in a while (Tarts with Tops On, a British pie book whose recipes we have liked before). This seemed like a good excuse to target a cookbook that's been on the shelf unused for a few years.
Finally, this week's Resolution Recipe: Plum and Walnut Pie.
"Plums and walnuts work beautifully together, with a little cinnamon and butter to distract from the sharpness of the fruit."
shortcrust pastry dough made with 3 cups flour and 3/4 cups unsalted butter (I used 1/2 cup butter and 1/4 cup lard)
1 1/2 lb plums, halved, pitted, and chopped
1/2 cup
1 cup chopped walnuts
1-2 tsp cinnamon
grated zest of 1 orange and 1 lemon
1/4 cup unsalted butter, melted
1 egg white to glaze and a little extra sugar
Heat the oven to 425°. Divide the dough in roughly 2/3 and 1/2, roll out the larger piece and line a 9" pie pan. Mix the plums with the sugar, walnuts, cinnamon, and zests, then scrape them into the pie shell. Pour over the melted butter.
Roll out the other piece of dough and cover the fruit, crimping the dough edges together. Cut a central hole for the steam to escape through. Brush the top with beaten egg white and sprinkle over a little extra sugar. Bake for about an hour and serve warm with cream or vanilla custard sauce.
What worked: This was delicious. It was tart but rich. The crust was a beautiful golden brown from the egg wash (see Book of Faces for a picture).
I was afraid that 1) the crust would be way too thick and hard, since it's about double what I normally do for a 9" pie; and 2) that with no thickener, the plums would run. Neither turned out to be the case - I don't know if the thicker crust absorbed juices, but it was still reasonably flaky, and there was no soggy bottom. The slices presented well without any running liquid.
What didn't: Vanilla ice cream would have been a bit better than a splash of cream. Or creme anglaise, which I couldn't be bothered to do for this.
The wife found it a bit too tart, but it was right in my happy place. I used black plums that just started showing up at the market, but of course Santa Rosa plums would be better. Santa Rosa plums are always better.
Leftovers were better warm than cold.
Will I make it again? Yes, this will happen again during plum season.
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