Out & About #969 | Revisiting Apple Pie + Weekend Cooking Chaos

I admit that I can be ambitious to a fault: Planning for multiple concurrent projects then adding in side projects as they emerge is a hasty habit that leads to burnout more often than not.

My weekends (and weekdays) of late have commenced with food preparation that often transcend into the early afternoon hours. Saturday morning following a frenzy of grocery shopping was no exception.

1) Marbled Banana Bread

Spotty bananas prompted usage, so I first took to our household's go-to of SK's marbled banana bread. The flowering fruit appeared ripe at first, but peeling away its casing revealed sturdy flesh instead of a soft, mushy texture. Rusty trails could be found along the length of the banana, along with a few bruised patches.
I proceeded to compile two bowls containing 390 g of chopped banana. One had melted butter poured over the bananas; the other had bananas placed directly into just-melted butter. Let it be known the latter, more convenient method encouraged emulsion, while the other separation.

Due to the lack of banana-y-ness of this batch of fruit, both loaves emerged a bit lacking in terms of potency. Despite bearing near-identical visuals to my regular yield, the outcome was undeniably similar to a loaf cake studded with turbinado.

2) Apple Pie (Revisited)

Next up was Apple Pie. The previous day had seen execution of SK's extra-flaky pie crust mixed with a modified Claire Saffitz method of blending.

​The hope had been to achieve flakier layers by using a bench scraper to cut the butter into the flour and assemble the dough on a flat surface rather than in a bowl. Admittedly, I ought to have reviewed the video in advance of the activity, but too frequently do I dive in first and resort to intuition.

​While reviewing the video, I learned that water was added while large chunks of butter still remained. The Claire Saffitz method hadn't advocated for uniform nibs of butter, but rather a shaggy dough with chunky pieces that could be loosely packed into a disc.
The specified 1/2 cup of water remained consistent with SK's, however my dough exhibited signs of dampness and gluten formation, likely from over-mixing.

SK's recipe provided enough dough for two lid-less pies. In my groggy, exhausted state, however, I had split the entire disc in a 7:3 ratio for one pie, intending to use the smaller mound be reserved for the lattice. Oddly enough, I didn't even question the depth of the base nor the gaping cavity that would emerge.

Three Honeycrisp apples tossed in lemon juice, brown sugar, glutinous rice flour, cinnamon, nutmeg, and pumpkin pie spice would be utilized for the filling. They were sweeter than my typical autumn pick of Ginger Gold, thus leading to a reduction of brown sugar. That said, they retained structural integrity equally splendidly.

​The pie baked to a beautiful bronzed hue with crunchy specks of toasted turbinado. The base, having been rested in the freezer while other operations were in progress, had persisted in flakiness, even with excess runoff from the apples.
My sole gripe was the rigidity of the crimped edges; they were thicker than the bottom and far too stiff to sever with a fork.

Acknowledging my carelessness, I declared a need to revisit pie dough while adhering to Claire's method. The water would be added before transferring the dough to a flat surface, and larger chunks of butter could be left as is. Storage of the pie should take place at room temperature, for transferring to the fridge too soon caused apple-y juices to be absorbed into the mash, rendering utter loss of structure.

​Excess dough was used in a roughly-assembled galette with sizable chunks of Spanish Sugar Apple.

3) Japanese Curry

An open box of Glico Mild had caught my attention earlier in the week during the meal contemplation phase. But alas, I had neither carrots nor potatoes to realize the composition.
The unplanned trip to Asia Food Mart had enabled procurement of produce, including the aforementioned elements. It wasn't until 36 hours later, however, that I returned to my basket to find flimsy, withering carrots with grey speckles. Half of the batch was discarded.

​The curry commenced from a base of caramelized onions - just like the Caramelized Onion Ragu. Onions, shallots, scallions, and garlic would constitute the blend of aromatics. Red Delicious apples were also grated into the pot for depth and improved consistency as an alternate application for their intrinsic powdery properties. Blanched carrots and diced yellow potato chunks would follow; the latter held up quite well despite not being categorized as the Yukon Gold variety.

Albeit slightly runny and containing too great a proportion of potatoes to meat, the dish was delicious, especially when served over freshly cooked, short-grain rice.

4) Swiss Chicken Drumsticks

My attempt at reinventing budget drumsticks led me to the classic Cantonese dish of Swiss Chicken Wings. Most recipes commenced with a braise of common Chinese household ingredients:

• Ginger
• Scallion
• Dark soy sauce
• Light soy sauce
  
• Yellow rock sugar
• Star anise
• Cinnamon sticks
• Bay leaf
• Shallot

The directions involved bringing the ingredients to a simmer and creating a braise. Separately, the chicken would be blanched for the removal of impurities, placed in an ice bath to prevent overcooking, then returned to the braise. Lastly, the chicken would then be removed from the pot and the sauce thickened to a dark, flavourful syrup.

​Adapting the recipe for drumsticks, I took to soaking the drumsticks in a brine the day prior. This step, while devoid of heat, was generally sufficient in removing impurities. That said, I adhered to the blanching stage to ensure a clear base for the sauce.

Things did not continue as planned, however. Bruising along the handle of the drumsticks caused rust-coloured blobs to disperse throughout. Even after equipping myself with my trusty tri-layered mesh ladle, the braise did not revert to its original clarity. Furthermore, the drumsticks neither adopted its glorious hue, nor did the braise condense to a viscous syrup. My blunder likely lay in the addition of too much water.​

​First-day disappointment had me reaching for curry for at least two more meals. When I eventually bit into one of the fifteen drumsticks two days later, my gustatory senses were met with pleasant surprise: the chicken was delicious even! With time, the flesh had adopted the depth of the spices and aromatics. It was tender, despite not overly so. Vague similarities to my Soy Braised Egg formula could be perceived, a possible consequence of using the cinnamon-soy-star anise pairing.

​On the same day, I somehow managed to wash and blanch choy sum and cook rice as well. Needless to say, the sheer number of dishes generated from a combined baking and cooking day was tragic. The entire ordeal extended from 9 AM to 5 PM - essentially a full-time job, but utterly unpaid.

I would collapse onto the floor of my home office for a brief moment before mustering the strength to sit upright, then proceed to conduct cleaning.

​In review of my Thursday evening finds from Asia Food Mart, the following hold true:

• Choy Sum and Gai Lan quality was mediocre, though very clean and easy to wash
• Produce quality was absolutely appalling: from a fibrous, watery mound of imported Chinese grapefruit to a Spanish Sugar Apple that moulded from within to bendy carrots, there wasn't a single item deserving of praise
• Meat quality was passable; biggest advantage is the availability of pre-portioned packets priced identical to the butcher counter blocks