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5 ways to a perfect Thanksgiving Dinner
Thanksgiving is always a busy time and of course you want your Thanksgiving Dinner to be perfect, but each year you seem to behind. Guests show up and dinner is not ready. Well, these five ways for a perfect Thanksgiving Dinner should help ease your...
Chicken with White Wine & Pasta
Here is a great recipe that is so simple to make. You will find that most of the ingredients are relatively inexpensive as well. Happy Eating!
Recipe:
3 Tbsp. Olive Oil
1/2 C. Chopped Onions
4 Tbsp. Chopped Garlic
Sautee all of the...
Christmas Recipes: Main Dishes. No.7 of 12 - Garlic Poussins and Kumquats
Christmas recipe Serves: 6
Preparation time: 20 minutes
Cooking time: 1 hour
Calories per serving: 580
Not suitable for freezing
Christmas recipe ingredients:
* poussins, 3, about 700 g (1.5 lb) each
* salt and pepper
* kumquats,...
The Popularity of Humorous Aprons -
One of the earliest references to aprons comes from the story of Adam and Eve. They were said to have sewn together fig leaves to cover their bodies; this is certainly the first historical account of an apron being used. Fast forward to the 19th...
The Secret to Cooking for a Crowd
Having a large family growing up, I learned to cook in a big
way. With 5 brothers and 3 sisters plus Mom and Dad, I started
out cooking for eleven people by the time I was twelve. Mom
needed help and taught her daughters to cook at an early...
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The Stuff of Poetry – Mead
People have been drinking fermented beverages since the dawn of civilization. At first, the production of alcohol may have been accidental. Over time, it became an art.
Mead is a beverage made from fermented honey. This very drink was the founding father of wine and beer. A purist might just stick to just the simplest recipe of honey, water, and yeast, but some people, like myself, add a few additional ingredients to compliment the main ingredient.
My first introduction to mead was on my birthday. I prepared a medieval feast, each ingredient carefully chosen to be historically accurate or at least as accurate as it could be. A friend of mine brought along mead made by a brewery also known for brewing Tej, an Ethiopian honey wine. It was a welcome accompaniment to the sweet and savory flavors of the various medieval dishes.
I acquired a taste for mead while in Denmark. I was attending a folk school, and two of our favored activities were singing and drinking. A local liquor store carried mead in a ceramic bottle. The label depicted two Vikings, who seemed rather happy enjoying their brew out of horns. My friends and I started having little parties we appropriately dubbed “Viking Giggle Fest.”
After school ended, I returned home. I yearned to make mead. I had been brewing for years, but most of these experiments ended in failure. This time around I was determined to make something drinkable. My first batch was rather scaled down. I boiled honey in water, let it cool to room temperature,
added yeast, and set it aside to ferment for two weeks. I wanted to try it, so after the two weeks were up, I decided to try it. It wasn’t bad, but it wasn’t wonderful either. It showed signs of carbonation, its bubbles gently tickled my palate. The taste was a little watered down, but I was working off of a theory and not off of a recipe.
The next time I brewed I was prepared. I went out and got a basic brewing kit. I used more honey this time and also decided to use a few additives and clarifying agents such as gelatin, hops, lavender, and rose hip. I used champagne yeast instead of bread yeast for better flavor. This brew fermented for two weeks, I then aged it for two more, bottled it, and left it to age on a rack for about two more months. The end result was something wonderful, and I gave my grandfather a taste. He had been an avid amateur vintner, so he knew a thing or two about how wine should taste. A tear came to his eye, and I could tell he was proud that I had been successful.
For more information, visit these sites:
http://www.gotmead.com/making-mead/
http://www.solorb.com/mead/mead.html
http://sca_brew.homestead.com/files/recipes/Crystal_5.htm
About the Author
Paul Rinehart is the founder of www.onlinecooking.net.
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