Wrapped in plastic to make it manageable.
Mustard goes very well with fruit preserves.
White bread
Somewhat wet dough baked in a clay cloche designed for roasting chicken. Half bread flour half all purpose flour.
100% hydration, that is equal amount of water to flour by weight. That is, 1.5 cups water to 3 cups flour.
Yeast and salt, obviously.
This is extremely easy bread to make. Due to the amount of bread flour, the gluten molecules form quite readily. Kneading is minimal. The dough is brought together in the bowl, turned out onto a work surface and kneaded very briefly. You can feel it become softer and softer with each press and turn.
Instructions always say when kneading by hand, go for about then minutes. But even with 100% all purpose flour I never go that long. My manner of kneading is quite rough. I really stress the dough as I smash and shove it across the work surface nearly tearing it apart with each push. I manhandle the dough, stretching it out into a pizza shape then rolling it into a log then stretching the log into a snake then folding the snake in half and stretching that, then rolling the snake into a ball and stretching that into a pizza shape again, and so on. I can feel the gluten forming with each turn. It seems the dough forms connections as self defense against my abuse.
Pork loin roast
I think that's what this is. It looked like the tenderloin roasts except larger.
The whole bowl is brown sugar. The other things are on top of it.
Salt
Dry mustard
Garlic powder
Prepared curry powder
Cumin
Black pepper
*Giada De Laurentiis voice* "Dry mustard for warmth, garlic powder for warmth, curry powder for warmth, cumin for warmth and black pepper for warmth."
How did I determine what to use and the amounts?
I used the customary things and chose from them the things that I like. I imagined how much it takes to cover the meat.
Omg, omg, omg, omg, the dry rub is MUCH better than I had hoped. It is perfect. Brown sugar and pork works very well together. The prepared curry is wonderful. The other elements expand the curry. It's all evident and it all comes together.
If I made this for the king of America he'd give me the Medal of Freedom in the dry rub for pork category. It is amazingly delicious.
Honestly, this is the best that I've ever tasted.
Commercial instant mashed potatoes and instant gravy
Man, these things are good.
The industrialists have brought this science to very high art form. I love these so much I could live on them. I've been eating it everyday, a cup of mashed potatoes and a cup of gravy. Both products are out of this world.
And I would have them everyday. It's like the perfect hospital food except a lot better tasting.
I've come way out of character by accepting these things. I had earlier resolved against them but that was decades ago before they became this spectacular. I can have my favorite things with no trouble at all. In just a few minutes. The time it takes to bring a cup of water to boiling in the microwave.
But then I looked at the ingredients and was horrified.
I'll finish what I have but then they must go. Too bad. For I love them so.
I must stick with the program of using basic ingredients, potato, butter, milk and chicken or beef stock, and eliminate all extraneous chemistry no matter how innocuous each one.
After these packages are used then it's back to ricing a microwaved baked potato, an additional four minutes plus cleaning the ricer, plus bringing out the butter and milk, and making my own gravy from my own stock, a matter of a small pot and roux that is butter and flour and whatever herbs and spices strike my fancy that moment.
Because these beautiful chemicals and their magical properties are outrageous.
What's that? What's that. Shhh, shhh, shhh, hold on a second ...
What's that?
That's my central nervous system saying, "thank you."
This stuff is fantastic.
I mean it.
I must admit, it tastes better than my own gravy. I'll have to learn from their flavor specialists. After all, they paid a fortune for their superior expertise over decades of honing their acutely focused mad flavor perfecting skills.
Good Lord. Mad scientists. You're all quite insane.
I like salt. But I like the gray colored mineral-y Celtic sea salt best. It has a lot less sodium.
This product is simply amazing. Most impressive. You add a few rounded tablespoons to a cup of boiling water and it goes, stir stir stir soup soup soup soup soup schwing dense mashed potatoes.
It's magic! Right before your eyes. It's actually fun to make.
I could just cry.
Really?
This is the chemistry it takes to pull off the magic.
Compare all this to: potato, butter, milk, salt / pepper.
I must revert to my old fashioned ways. Not even my old fashioned ways. Not even my mother's old fashioned ways, rather, I must revert back to my grandmothers' old fashioned ways. Except she didn't have a microwave to speed up cooking a potato and she didn't have a ricer. Her way was boil peeled potatoes that are cubed then smash smash smash with handheld smasher. There were always some lumps.
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