Recipe Testing

I recently (more like in the past year) been watching 99% of the Bon Appetit videos on Youtube. If you are unaware of what Bon Appetit is.. it is an American Magazine that is all about recipes, food, food culture, kitchen gadgets, restaurants and much more.
In the recent years, many BA (Bon Appetit) test kitchen personnel and senior food editors have been in the Youtube spotlight for their individual Youtube series. For example.. Claire’s Gourmet Makes, Chris’ Reverse Engineering, Andy’s Andy Explores and many more.

I wanted to try many recipes that are on the show, but knowing me and my laziness…I attempted to make Brad’s cured egg yolks (video). I understood what I did not do enough and what I could have improved on. But I don’t think that I would be making this again, as I cannot foresee my family and myself using this on a weekly basis. This recipe uses a lot of salt and Brad reuses his salt mixture by dehydrating it…I don’t have one of those and even if I had one I don’t think it would be useful (uses energy and another useless kitchen gadget).

The video is a bit confusing as Brad doesn’t specify how to store the finished cured egg, how long it will last in air dried vs in the refrigerator.

I estimated about five to seven days for the first step, placing the yolks into the salt mixture. As you can see, I did not separate the white from the yolk well enough. I used duck eggs.

This is my favourite picture from the whole process. Don’t the yolks look delicate?

I removed the salt and packaged them using cheese cloth and let them air dry for about two weeks (away from the kitchen as the kitchen has a lot of moisture..that’s the last thing the egg wants to have). Another thing I think I miscalculated is that the eggs are not completely dry and the cheesecloth will stick to the yolk.

This ain’t pretty, but with a few minutes, you can pick away the bits of cloth that is stuck to the egg.

My parents and I had a pasta night, which my mom grated some egg into our pasta. Be sure to grate more than you would with cheese as it’s light in flavour (unless you have spoonfuls of it).

Now that I’m finished school, I’m trying something in the kitchen that I’ve never done – recipe testing. It’s interesting and damn…takes more than one try! I’m trying to be a chemist, says my dad. And I totally agree!

I’m beginning with apple pie…probably made four apple pies within a month…that’s about one pie per week. I should have chosen something easier, but I’m making my way there…slowly!

And I’m finding it extremely difficult to take good pictures of my pies.

Pie 1. The first is always the best. Even though the apples were still crunchy, the crust was to my liking. There could have been more apples in the pie (looks really flat) and there was hardly any pie juice, but I was really impressed with this bake. I’m most proud of the basket weave (lattice), props to my cousin for creating such a weave, he couldn’t have done it without my instructions. Haha! But a little less flour in the apple mixture next time.

Pie 2. I baked two pies this time. Change of apples, used a mix instead aka apples on sale (golden delicious and red delicious). I made some changes, added more cinnamon and changed the top of the pies’ design. Still the pie was dry, no apple juice…not the slightest bit. Things I would change: smaller slits and holes, don’t be greedy and make two pies with one dough recipe. Pie 2’s lattice dough was too thin.

Pie 3. My latest pie. I used a mix of granny smith and golden delicious. This was a changer, as I cut out the flour when tossing the apples with the spices. Results? The bottom of the pie was pooling with apple juice!! The crust was missing a flavour, one that I can’t describe, so I added more salt this time, but there was no significant difference.

Am I frustrated in making so many pies and still not finding the perfect pie recipe? Yes, because every time I make it, I feel rushed. And rushing to roll the dough makes me somehow forget to brush melted butter and top the pie with sugar before putting it in the oven. I don’t want to hate baking, because the kitchen is where I’m most comfortable.

This is definitely not an easy process!

Are there any hints or tips you would recommend? I’d love to know!

Photos are via my mom’s and Amy’s Samsung s4.

Tiffanie's Chalkbored Kitchen

food diaries and explorations

Brad Leone’s Cured Egg Yolks

Recipe Testing Part 1