It's in the bag... el

Many years ago, I adopted a cookbook that technically belonged to my brother. A friend of his had bought it for him, and it focused on bread. I dedicated myself to learning how to make good bread, and tried the very first (simplest, easiest) recipe several times before I was finally happy with the dough. The bread itself never did turn out the way I'd hoped, but I later learned that was more because of the oven I was using (real bakeries use stone or brick ovens baking at much higher temperatures than the one in most people's kitchens, and that does a lot to provide the hard, crusty exterior I'd wanted). At some point, my brother reclaimed his book, but Dad bought me my own copy for Christmas.  Maybe he knew how much I enjoyed making the bread; maybe he was just taking advantage of the fact that I lived with him at the time, and he enjoyed the results of my efforts.  Could go either way.

I was particularly excited to find a recipe for bagels in the book. It was one of those things I'd never considered before: I never knew anyone who made them, but it made sense that you could, because where else would they come from? Glorious bagel trees? Because I would move to that orchard today. In the years since, they have become one of my signature items. My bagels are a little ugly, but they are big, and toast wonderfully. A friend in Colorado will freeze my bagels for weeks to savor them. My aunt once marveled, "Even your mom never made bagels," thus providing some of the highest culinary praise I've ever received. I've made them so often that I have the recipe memorized, and baked batches in my mind while laying awake in my tent along the Appalachian Trail.

Here's what the Brothers Einstein don't want you to know: it's really easy to make bagels. What's hard is not eating an entire batch straight out of the oven. Below is the recipe from my first bread book, with only a couple small adjustments from my own experience.

Bagels
2 t dry yeast
1 1/2 T sugar
1 1/4 C warm water
3 3/4 C flour
1 1/2 t salt
egg (for egg wash)
1/2 t salt
toppings (sesame seeds, poppy seeds, and coarse sea salt are popular choices)

1. Sprinkle yeast and sugar into 1/2 C of the water. Let stand 5 minutes, stir to dissolve.
2. While the yeast is standing in the water, combine flour and salt in a large bowl, then use the spoon to make a "well" in the center.
3. Pour the dissolved yeast and about half the remaining water into the well.  Stir in flour from the sides of the well, and add more water, as necessary, to make a firm, moist dough. I've found that I have to give up on the spoon at some point and start kneading before all the flour is drawn in to the dough. Otherwise, you'll be tempted to add more water than you need to get all the flour involved, but trust me--the dough ball in the mixing bowl is wetter than it looks, and you'll be able to work in plenty more flour while kneading.
4. Knead the dough for about ten minutes, working in the remaining flour if necessary. You can add more flour at this point to get the dough very firm.
5. Put the dough in a clean bowl and cover with a dish towel. Let it rise until doubled, about an hour. Punch down, and let it rest for ten minutes.
6. Separate the dough into eight equal pieces. Gently roll each one between your palms to get a round ball, then (this is the fun part) pinch the center of the ball between your thumb and  forefinger until they meet, and tear a little hole there.  Stick a finger from each hand through the hole and twirl them a little to widen the hole. Repeat with the remaining seven dough balls, and set them on a parchment paper-lined baking sheet to rest for ten minutes.
7. While the proto-bagels are resting, set your oven to 425F and let it preheat. Then put about two inches of water in a pan and get it boiling. If you want to top your bagels, make an egg wash by cracking an egg into a teacup, adding a little salt, and beating it with a fork.
8. Turn the water down to a simmer and drop bagels into it one or two at a time (depending on the size of your pot). Cook each bagel for a minute, flipping them halfway through. My pot can boil two bagels at a time, and when I remove each pair back to the parchment-lined baking sheet, I brush them with egg wash and sprinkle them with seeds or sea salt while the next pair boils. I count to thirty a lot while making bagels, which makes it very difficult for me to have a conversation with anyone during this step.
9. When your bagels have been boiled, brushed, and seeded, pop them in the oven for 20-25 minutes. I usually forget how long they've been in there (this never happens with most things I bake, which is weird), but I can always tell when they're done by the lovely golden-brown color of the tops. Remove to wire rack to cool.

Boiling the bagels is an important step. Do not skip it. Boiling is what gives bagels that shiny, chewy outside and the tender inside. Without boiling, these are just rolls with holes.

These are not standard bagels. These are from an experimental batch of pumpkin bagels.

fajita filling

Sometime last winter, a coworker emailed this carnitas recipe to the Chief Taster.  The Chief Taster, knowing who makes the bread she butters, sent it to me.  We shared the wholly untested recipe with friends that weekend as fajita filling.  I was quick to remind them that I'd never made it before, in case it was terrible, but it's pretty hard to get a slow-cooker recipe so wrong as to render it inedible.

The spice blend

In fact, it was pretty good.  Not outstanding, in my mind, but everyone seemed to like it, and I tend to prefer flavors that grab you by the ears and shake you, demanding your attention.

'Chess Pie

When Mom used to make Chocolate Chess Pie, I was always puzzled by the name.  I asked her once why it was called Chess Pie, because it was all one color, not a checkered pattern (I was pretty young when I asked.  Cut me some slack).  She told me that it was something baked by settlers, and they didn't always have fruit to put in the pies, so they made this out of relatively common ingredients that everyone had handy.  When asked what kind of pie it was, they'd respond, "oh, it's 'chess pie."

I'm pretty sure she made that up, but who cares?  It's delicious.

1.25 C sugar
1/4 C cocoa
1/4 C melted butter
2 eggs
10 T (5 oz) evaporated milk
1.5 t vanilla
1/8 t salt

5 oz evaporated milk.  Who wants to measure that 1 Tablespoon at a time??

Combine first three ingredients in medium bowl.  Add eggs, beat well.  Blend in last three ingredients.  Pour into unbaked pie shell, and bake at 350F 35-45 minutes.  Serve with whipped cream, ice cream, or coffee.  Hell, serve it with cognac.  Trust me--people dig this pie.  It doesn't really matter what else is on the table.  I served it on the same night we celebrated the Chief Taster's last school loan payment, and I think she liked it even more than the far more complex fish stew.