Confetti Layer Cake with Miracle Frosting

In my casual and haphazard pursuit of improved skills at various aspects of the kitchen craft, I ponder from time to time how to get better with my cakes, which are so often hit-or-miss. Practice is called for. My eye has been caught by some recipes in recent issues of my various cooking magazines, and I worked into the late hours of a Saturday night not long ago to give one of these a trial run.

The results were not good. The cake layers did not puff up and were painfully and densely underwhelming. The approach to this frosting was rather out of the norm for me and actually took several hours (which gave my cooked cake layers too long to also dry out and develop a stiff crust).

This was one of those cakes that could only be served to Roediger House regulars, who are generously forgiving of my kitchen experiments. I was so disgusted with it, I sent the whole thing home with Sunday night's dinner guest.

The bright spot was the batch of ice cream I made along with it: butterscotch pecan. This was a new ice cream for me to try and it was absolutely delicious. I'll cut the amount of roasted buttered pecans in half next go-round, though.

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"Confetti Layer Cake," from The Great American Cake series in Cook's Illustrated, April/May 2014, p. 33 (inside back cover).

"Miracle Frosting," by Bridget Lancaster. In Cook's Country, October/November 2010, p. 26.

"Butterscotch Pecan Ice Cream" (p. 44) and "Buttered Pecans" (p. 195), by David Lebovitz. In The Perfect Scoop, Ten Speed Press (Berkeley/Toronto),  2007, p. 72.

Meal No. 1222: Brendan's Moroccan Bistro Chicken

The Roediger House dinner this past Sunday night was a chance to return to a true favorite of the abode, a dish that I call Brendan's Moroccan Bistro Chicken (which might annoy friend and former 7th grade student Brendan Shanley to no end). It was assigned that label because it's what Brendan fixed some years ago for my regular Christmas-time visit with him and his family back in Raleigh. On Sunday, I served it as a one-bowl meal on top of quinoa so that the small gathered brood could pursue our new-found addiction to The Blacklist television show.

The sauce was a bit thinner that night but the chicken thighs were spot-on. I started eating hungrily and almost forgot to snap this pic.

Meal No. 1221: Beef Short Ribs in Burgundy Sauce

A long-braised full-of-flavor meal at the Roediger House this past Saturday night: beef short ribs in a rich burgundy sauce, with baked potato and broccoli florets. This seemed appropriate for accompanying the second night of binge-watching the 4th season of Game of Thrones.

Also, a personal note: turns out you're never too old to find out that burgundy is spelled with two Us, and not a U and an A. Thanks, spellcheck!

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"Beef Short Ribs in Burgundy Sauce," by Judy Batson of Tampa, Florida. In Taste of Home, February/March 2015, p. 68.

Meal No. 1220: Turkey in a Pot with Gravy

When I bolted out of Virginia Beach Wednesday morning, in anticipation of the big snow that was scheduled to hit both there and at home in Winston-Salem, I stopped off at a local Farm Fresh and did some snow-is-coming shopping so the Roediger House larder would be well-stocked if the City was shut down for a few days. One of the items I grabbed, which I never seem to find locally in Winston, was an attractive split turkey breast. That's what got featured as the main dish for the Friday night meal, and it was delicious, along with baked sweet potatoes and green beans.

On another note, another sign of likely impending development of the property behind and beside me appeared late Friday afternoon in the form of a public notice regarding a Right of Way amendment to that lot:

The Roediger House property is the blank square in the bottom middle of that graphic, along N Spring Street. I'm assuming this is another sign that Commercial Realty is moving forward, and the rumors swirling on local blogs suggest it's going to be quite a large building. We'll see (and once it's built, I won't see much anymore!).

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"Turkey in a Pot with Gravy," by Diane Unger. In Cook's Country, October/November 2014, p. 4-5.

Meal No. 1219: Sesame-Crusted Chicken with Vietnamese Caramel Sauce

This past Thursday, after a nice snow day at home, I tried out another new recipe that was faintly reminiscent of Japanese Fried Chicken, which I've made a few times (using previous recipes in earlier issues of the same magazine). That sauce was more involved but it was pretty incredible. The chicken sautéed up juicy but with a nice crisp coating that was flavorful. Jasmine rice served as the bed underneath.

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"Sesame-Crusted Cutlets with Vietnamese Caramel Sauce," in Cuisine at Home, Issue 109, January/February 2015, p. 22-23.

Meal No. 1218: Creole Shrimp Burger

I was working in Virginia Beach this week. Well, I worked one day in Virginia Beach. Then came some snow that closed school yesterday, with another storm rolling in last night that closed school for Thursday as well.

So I was able to scoot out of town on snow- and ice-covered streets and headed west on the relatively well-cleared interstates. That put me back in Winston-Salem early Wednesday afternoon.

I figured I'd try out another new recipe, this time for Creole shrimp burgers. I don't recall ever having a shrimp burger before, although I've heard people rave about a certain shrimp burger shack that they hit whenever they go to the beach.

I thought it was good but it did overwhelm me, to where I couldn't actually finish it. I'm glad I gave it a go, but it might be a while before something like this shows up on another dinner menu at the Roediger House.

Update. Shrimp burger fans have looked at this picture and said it looked nasty. Now I need to find out what a shrimp burger is supposed to really be like. I can see where this photo would suggest it was some horrible Morningstar Farms veggie burger, which is an abomination.

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"Creole Shrimp Burgers," in Cuisine at Home, Issue 110, March/April 2015, p. 22-23.

Winter Finally Gives Us a Decent Snowfall

For all the cold we've endured locally here in Winston-Salem (and across the southeast), we've seen hardly any wintry precipitation. That finally changed overnight, when we got a pretty decent snowfall, of around 5 inches. It was heavy wet snow and it was still quite beautiful. It also was quick to begin dissipating as the day wore on, but I still managed to snag some decent photos.

Meal No. 1217: Caribbean-Style Chicken with Coconut Milk & Cilantro

On Sunday night, with an extra day at home thanks to all the winter weather of the past week wreaking havoc on school schedules, I tried out a new recipe for Caribbean-style chicken over rice, with an aromatic coconut milk-based sauce to go with it. This was better than I was expecting, but I was also moderate with how much crushed pineapple I added to it. Some crushed cashews on top finished it off.

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"Caribbean-Style Chicken with Coconut Milk and Cilantro," in the center recipe cards section of Cook's Country, February/March 2015.

Meal No. 1216: Linton Hopkins's Bucatini Carbonara

This past Saturday night at the Roediger House, I reached for a favorite alternative to a Roediger House favorite: pasta carbonara. The version here is a little fancier, a little silkier, than the excellent version that my friend Monie Lawrence trained me to make as a simple weeknight meal. With it fitting nicely into a single bowl, there was no problem slurping it down while catching another episode of the original Batman TV series.

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"Bucatini Carbonara," by Linton Hopkins. In Food & Wine, July 2009.

Meal No. 1215: Baked Dijon Salmon

On Friday night, with a roaring fire going in the fireplace, I made a fairly healthy meal of baked dijon pecan-crusted salmon on a bed of asparagus. More than enough to fill my belly!

By the way, yesterday (Sunday) turned out to be unseasonably nice, after all this winter weather and cold of the past week. Cyprus and I enjoyed sitting outside in the sunshine and temps in the low 50s, before the clouds came back in.

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"Baked Dijon Salmon," by Esmee Williams. In AllRecipes Magazine, February/March 2015, p. 21.

Floor Refinishing: Second Coat

Ricky and Nubee Sneed from Clemmons Flooring LLC were back at the house on Friday and hung out with me the whole day. That's because they wanted to make sure they got two coats of poly laid down on the stairs and the first floor hallway. Here's how it glistened in the late afternoon light while still wet and fresh:

The continued Siberian air mass occupation leaves us in a perpetual deep-freeze here in Winston-Salem, so I was more than ready to make another fire on Friday night. It was a good evening to sit fireside since the main floor and the upstairs are off limits while the poly cures.

Fire No. 30

Meal No. 1214: Pub-Style Burgers

This past Thursday night, I tried out yet another way to make a good burger, and I was pretty pleased. This approach depends on grinding your own meat (as I always do with the Roediger House favorite Peanut Butter Bacon Burgers) but it employs a slightly different technique. It also involves adding melted butter to the freshly-ground meat as a way to add back fat and heighten the juiciness of the finished burger. I also like that it called both for skillet-searing and oven-finishing, which gave it a decent but decidedly unbrutal sear on the exterior, while still resulting in a perfectly-cooked and juicy burger. The pub sauce was also very interesting and tasty, built on a mayonnaise base but then flavored with brown sugar, soy sauce, cider vinegar, Worcestershire sauce, garlic, and chives.

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"Pub-Style Burgers," by Bryan Roof, in the Cooking Class feature of Cook's Illustrated, February/March 2015, p. 24-25.

Final Phase of Floor (re-)Finishing

The last portion of floor refinishing needed here at the Roediger House is the high-traffic area of the first floor hallway, the entryway foyer, and the stairs going from the 1st to the 2nd floor.

With all the other work going on in the house, it hasn't been possible to get this lined up, and when I did, it turned out other workers and contractors were not finished on time and we had some stutters in these steps.

Yesterday, though, Ricky and Nubee Sneed of Clemmons Flooring LLC got underway on it. Thanks to a winter weather cancellation of school in Guilford County, I got to be home instead of working, which gave me one final chance to smell how awesome this 110-year-old wood is when it's being sanded.

Here's one shot of the hallway, looking towards the front door, after Ricky and Nubee had laid down the stain and the base coat of poly:

And poor Cyprus did not really seem to understand why her movements were being restricted by the child gate:

Speaking of winter weather, the high yesterday barely reached 20°F and it was projected that overnight we would dip slightly below zero!

That's some bitter cold, coupled with ridiculous winds and gusts that sliced right through you. So I finally broke down and built a fire to make the kitchen cozy on a Thursday eve:

Fire No. 29 (since addition was completed)

Meal No. 1213: Bacon-Wrapped Meatloaf

Last night was a chance to try out another new main dish recipe: bacon-wrapped meatloaf. It was pretty wow.

The sides for this gathering of four of us: company mashed potatoes and buttered corn.

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"The Ultimate Bacon-Wrapped Meatloaf," by Cristin Walsh. In Cook's Country, February/March 2015, p. 4-5.

"Company Mashed Potatoes," a Jones family favorite.

Meal No. 1212: Steak Tips with Mushrooms & Sour Cream Sauce

Last night, the dinner ran a bit late (it was about 9:15 pm) in part because I was finishing up yesterday's Mardi Gras King Cake. It was worth the wait, though: this straightforward take on steak tips sat happily on top of stir-fried rice and under a savory mushroom, shallot, mustard, and sour cream sauce. It was a nice one-bowl meal at the end of a full day in the kitchen.

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"Steak Tips with Mushrooms and Sour Cream Sauce," from the center recipe cards in Cook's Country, December/January 2009.

Mardi Gras King Cake

It's Mardi Gras. For the first time, I've tried to be deliberately conscious of this and to plan my time accordingly. Not because I'm headed to New Orleans, but because I wanted the festive occasion to inspire me to try making a King Cake for the first time. I just had to remember to set aside some time to do it, so I scheduled myself to be working locally this week. It was an added bonus that winter weather gave me snow days off from work today (and maybe tomorrow!).

So, this first effort turned out okay. I'm not sure if I had old yeast or if I managed to kill it with improperly cool or warm ingredients...because it didn't rise enough before I put it in the oven.

In the baking, though, it did puff on out:

I had to try some for dessert this evening after dinner. To be honest, it tasted a lot like a sugar-topped Entemann's cream cheese danish. Which means it was good, sweet, slightly dry and a tad dense.

And there was no baby inside, mind you. I'm not getting that serious about it.

Taking note of this holiday was also the inspiration for the New Orleans Pork Grillades I made over the weekend.

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"Mardi Gras King Cake," by MaryJane Robbins, Blogger and Master Baker at King Arthur Flour.