A New Mountain Cookery

Rules

-Why go to a college bar and order wine with dinner?  It doesn't make you elite by drinking wine from a box of Franzia that is sitting behind the bar.

-If a restaurant is saying that they never have private parties where the tables are moved out of the area in question, they are lying to you.

-Grilled hot dogs are better than 95% of all other foods. 

Banana Consomme

...and an unexpected find.

I started today hoping to make a gelatin-filtered consomme with a banana stock, but things turned out surprisingly different. A stock was made with 2 bananas, about 5 cups of water, some cloves, red onion, a bay leaf, and salt and pepper. It simmered for about an hour...

Long story short, it tasted delicious. The banana really came through and provided a base for the counterpoint of clove and onion, which together formed a really nice sweet and savory pairing. Better yet, I didn't even filter it, as it was already fairly clear. Yum.

A funny thing happened on the way however, as the onions in the mixture picked up an amazing amount of delicious banana flavor while still maintaining the onion flavor that is so loved. The texture was really nice as well, as the onion had a really nice crunch while still being full of sweet flavor.

More on what comes of this consomme later...

Summer in Virginia

The waning days of summer are best spent on a patio overlooking the mountains with freshly made sangria.

The Postmodern Pantry

A sample of maltodextrin sitting next to some Uncle Ben's rice and some sunflower seeds and lentils.

Check out Alinea's wiki on the topic...